to the book of Philippians. The book of Philippians chapter four, and we're gonna pray in just a moment. And I'm gonna ask you to pray and to do what only God can do. He's the one that speaks to our hearts, but then it will be our opportunity, our responsibility to obey. If he speaks to us, we ought to already have it settled in our heart. We say yes. We be obedient. I think already, if you're a part of this church, you ought to be all in. That should have already been determined. And now maybe just the final little details might need to be worked out, and the Lord's gonna help you do that. And I wanna say tonight, if you're here tonight and you do not know the joy of salvation, if you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ is your personal Savior, you are not even living yet. you are merely existing. Because the Lord Jesus Christ comes to give life and he gives life more abundantly. And I hope and pray if you don't know him, you can meet him tonight and I promise you this, if you meet him, you'll never regret it. And let's look at this powerful passage in the book of Philippians chapter number four and I'm gonna read the last portion of this chapter, the very closing of this epistle. We'll begin reading in verse 10, if you'll follow along with me. The Bible says, but I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at the last your care of me had flourished again, wherein you were also careful, but ye lacked opportunity, not that I speak in respect of want, for I have learned. In whatsoever state I am therewith to be content, I know both how to be abased and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. Notwithstanding ye have well done that ye did communicate with my affliction. Now you Philippians know also that in the beginning of the gospel when I departed from Macedonia, no church communicated with me as concerning, I want you to mark these three words, giving and receiving. Giving and receiving, but ye only. For even in Thessalonica you sent once and again unto my necessity. Not because I desire a gift, but I desire a fruit that may abound to your account. But I have all and abound, I am full, having received of Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you, an odor of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well-pleasing to God. But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory. by Christ Jesus. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we come to you. Lord, we need you. Lord, I pray you'll use your word to speak to our hearts. And then, Lord, when you do, I pray we'll obey you. Lord, the secret, the open secret to your blessings in the Christian life is obedience. So, Lord, I pray you'll help us now. In Jesus' name, amen. This is the very last section of this powerful epistle, this letter to this church at Philippi. The Apostle Paul writing from his heart, he's bearing his heart. Now if you notice, there are two very well-known passages of Scripture that we quote all the time. There's two promises that people quote all the time. They're found in this powerhouse of Scripture. But I want you to understand, and we know the first one is verse 13, I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. Verse 19, But my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Those are two, maybe many of you have those two verses, maybe one of them is your life verse. But I believe those two promises center around the little phrase that I asked you to mark in verse 15, giving and receiving. Both of those promises are centered around this truth, giving and receiving. The Apostle Paul is thanking the Philippian church for giving time and time and time again to his necessity. So he's bearing his heart, he's very grateful that this church is giving, so understand that both of these promises are linked to giving. And then when you look in verse 19, He's thanking them again by them giving and giving to His necessity. And He said it's a sweet-smelling Savior. The Lord Jesus is pleased by your giving. But He also tacks a promise on top of that that is a beautiful promise. He said because you've given, God is going to take care of your needs. Now that's a promise that God's given. By the way, I don't give to get. We should get so we can give. But God gives a promise on top. If we will be faithful in giving, He says He'll take care of my needs. Now, we're going to look at that a little bit at length in a moment, but I want you to notice, number one, I want you to notice the power in this passage. The power. Yes, the Apostle Paul is bearing his heart. He's thankful. He's grateful that this church continues to give to him. But he's also teaching a very powerful principle that I think all of us need to learn tonight. If you'll see this, it's in verse 10 through, really, verse 13. But what we find here is He says, look, I thank you for giving. I appreciate your giving. But I want you to know something. Whether you give or whether you don't give, He said, I've learned where the source is coming from. I know who has equipped me. I know who has given me the power. I know who has given me the motivation to do what God has called me to do. And He said, I know that God has strengthened me to do what He's called me to do. And here's what he says in a nutshell. Whether you give or not, he said, I'm going to stand faithful and do what God calls me to do. Whether I'm hungry, whether I'm in the valley, whether I'm on the mountaintop, whether I'm full, he said, I've learned the secret. The Lord's going to take care of me. And I want you to know something, church, that's powerful to know that God is going to take care of us as we serve Him. But I want you to notice something, and we must go to 1 Corinthians 9. I really would like to emphasize this point. We're talking about this motivation, the power of what Paul's trying to speak of. He basically said, look church, I want you to know I'm thankful that you're giving, but I'm not asking you because I'm wanting. He said, I want you to know the Lord is going to take care of me. Why? I believe in 1 Corinthians 9, we really find the reasoning. Now I want you to stay with me just a moment, and let's just go quickly through the chapter. We're dealing with a very personal matter here in the life of Paul. If you read this chapter, somebody has self-appointed them. Maybe it's a board, maybe it's a group of men, maybe it's a group of people that have stood in judgment, and they've like self-appointed, and here's what they're doing in 1 Corinthians chapter 9. They are questioning the apostle Paul His motives, they're questioning His apostleship. They're questioning why is He doing what He's doing. Basically, they're questioning His motive. So His answer to these critics is this. Look at verse 1. Am I not an apostle? Yes. Am I not free? Yes. Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? The answer to that is yes. Are not ye my work in the Lord? If I being not an apostle unto others, yet doubtless I am to you. Notice this next phrase. For the seal of mine apostleship are ye in the Lord. So these folks are asking Paul, is he really an apostle? Is he free? Is he doing this for the right reason? And so here's his answer. He said, look, you're here, You're like a seal, the people that Paul had reached and God had used in his life. He said, even you are a seal that God has worked in my life because he's worked in your life. So he's answering this question as they're questioning his apostleship and his motive, and it's powerful, church. Notice what he says, verse three. My answer to them that do examine me is this. There's that word. Have you not power to eat and to drink? Have we not power to lead about a sister, a wife, as well as other apostles and as the brethren of the Lord in Cephas? Or I only and Barnabas, have not we power to forbear working? This is powerful. Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges? Who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? Or who feedeth the flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock? Now here's what he's saying. He's saying who's going to put the sweat and the labor in to do the work to get a vineyard going and to get all the fruit, and then not have the power or have the right to partake of that vineyard? He said, who is going to be a soldier that is going to be fighting for a country or for a people to protect them, is not going to go out and are they not, is not that country or the ones that sent them out to fight, are they not going to equip them? Are they not going to, what, give them the resources they need to be the soldier? That answer is very simple. All of us would say, sure, you would do that. You have the power. If you've sweat, if you've labored, if you've toiled the ground, you've pulled the weeds, you've done the work, and you've put all your heart into it, certainly you would say, oh yes, Brother Mark, you have the right to partake of that vineyard. Yes, if you're gonna fight for our country, if we're gonna send our boys over there to fight to defend our freedom, yes, we should give them the resources. Yes, we should pay them. Notice what he says, say are these things as a man or sayeth not the law? In other words, he says, look, it's lawful. Even our law, no one here will go out and do work that your government will not tailor. We have laws that you have to be paid a minimum wage. You have to be paid for your services, right? That's law, everyone understands that. So here's the question. They're examining Paul. They're trying to figure out his motives. They're trying to examine his apostleship. And the way he answers them is powerful. Notice what he says. Verse 11, If we have sown into you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things? If others be partakers of this power over you, are not we rather? Nevertheless, we have not used this power. Now what you think about that? He said we've not used that power. We've had the right, but we've not used this power. Do you not know that verse 13, which minister about holy things, live of the things of the temple, and they which wait at the altar and partakers with the altar? Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel. Notice verse 15, but I have used none of these things. Neither have I written these things, that it should be so done to me. For it were better for me to die, than that any man should make my glory and glory." Here's what he said there. He said, if people thought the only reason that I was doing what I'm doing is what I could get out of people, or what I could get out of the ministry, he said, I'd rather die. He said that's not why we're doing what we're doing. It's bigger than that. Notice what he said, and here's the answer. Verse 16, for though I preach the Gospel, I have nothing to glory of. Here it is. For necessity is laid upon me. We're dealing with men that God has put a necessity on their life. They can't escape it. They can't get away from it. It is a necessity. God has put things in their heart to do. And what is that? To give the Gospel. And by the way, not only do these men have a necessity on their lives, but as Christians, we have a necessity as well that we ought to be propagating and giving and sharing the Gospel. It's a necessity. God has laid it on us. You can't go around it. You can't jump over top of it. You can't dig under it. God has put it there. Now I want you to think about this. Sixteen years ago I met with wonderful people at Tiftonia Baptist Church. There was a pulpit committee and a group of deacons, the leaders of the church, and I loved them. Many of them, several of them are in heaven now, but these have been good men. And I'm thinking of them even now. I'm green. I'm coming as a new pastor to Tiftonia Baptist Church. But I knew God. He put some things in my heart to do. And boy, I'll tell you what, we met that day down there in that room and I sat with the pulpit committee and I sat with the deacons and they had already sent me 20 questions. And I looked over those 20 questions. We discussed those 20 questions. And man, I got to know a lot about those men. Because I want you to know, it's a big deal when you place your hands and your family in the lives of a church. But it's also a big deal that those precious people have put their spiritual lives in our hands. And I didn't take it lightly, nor do I take it lightly now. And I want you to know something, because those men sat around and we talked and discussed about the church and what we wanted the Lord to do. They asked all those questions and I had one. I just had one. I said, gentlemen, after we had talked about all those things, I looked at those men, and they were so kind to me. I said, gentlemen, I've only got one concern. I said, here's my concern. Can I come here and do what God has put on my heart to do? I said, because if I can't come here and do what God's put on my heart to do, I'm not coming. And one of them older men, he's still alive, bless his heart, he's been a deacon for over 50 years, been a great soul winner in our community, he looked at me, his name's Milford White, he looked at me and he said, Brother Brandon, he said, are you talking about pastoral authority? I said, brother, I don't know if that's what you call it or not. I said, I just know God's put some things, and if you'll give me some time, you won't have to put a bunch of things and a bunch of examination on me, and you won't have to put a bunch of rules and standards and things on my life, because I want you to know why I'm here. God's put it in my heart. I'm on a different level than that. I said, if you'll give me time. And praise God, we've been here 16 years, and I didn't understand this passage. Even as I said that, you know what I was basically telling those men? God has put something in my heart, and it's to give, and to propagate, and to preach the gospel, and to spread the good news to this world. And I want you to know, God gave it to me. It's a necessity. And as long as we serve with that motive in mind, we'll never stop. There's power in that. We're not doing. We're not getting. We're not giving to get. We're giving because God has given us a necessity. We can't go around it. We can't go over top of it. God has put it on us. Number two, let's go back to our text, it's powerful church, the motive of giving, it's powerful. These men, you know I know these men are called of God, and I know Brother Ron knows this and others that have been on the field, they were doing the work before we started helping them, praise God, and they're gonna do it whether we help them or not, but I think we ought to help them. Because they have a necessity put on their life, and God gave it to them. Brother Tran, and all that he has to deal with, you say, oh, that's hard. Yes, but see, it's an inescapable matter. God has given him a necessity. And we can help give to that necessity. Number two, I want you to notice the passion. I want you to notice the passion. Look at verse number 16. For even in Thessalonica, you sent once and again. Once and again. I want you to know something. This church was passionate about giving. You say, how do you know? Because I kept on it. I loved it tonight. Boy, y'all going to be helping a man in Newport, Tennessee, and you're going to help a man going to help a church. Hey, listen to me. That's passionate about it. I'm glad you got a pastor. And by the way, I'm glad he has a church and he can get up and do that. And they just say, yes, sir. Because you know why? We have necessities. And man, God's blessed us. And I want you to know, Tiff told me about this church is the same way. If there's a need and we can help with somebody's necessity, let's get passionate about it. Let's do it. Hey, we're all in. We're all in. Why? Because we got a necessity. We can't get around it. But we also ought to be passionate. And real quick, I went to Africa in May. Had a great trip. Wish we could have stayed longer. But I want to tell you something. We went there. It was their Friday night, Saturday. And we met with a couple of men on Saturday. And listen, they love their Bibles. These Kenyans, they want their Bibles for their people so they can read their Bibles. And there was a little bit of tension with the group because, you know, around here we get jealous if people get a new car. People might get jealous because, oh, well I wonder how much they had to go in debt to get that. Here in America, we get jealous over silly things, but you know what? They get jealous over there. I wish to God it was like that here. Bibles! And my heart was so broken, man. I FaceTimed my church that night during the service and I said, Church, I just want you to know I've already been brokenhearted. We're going to do more for Kenyon with their Bibles. And so, man, our church got in behind it. And I mean, we're going to try, we're going to get more just designated to Kenyon Bibles. And we're going to give a great big old offering around Christmastime. You say why? Because I think we ought to be passionate about it. We ought to be passionate once and again. Say, does that preacher, is that all he does is keep asking for us to help? Yes, let's keep doing it passionately. Why should we be passionate about it? Quickly. We just read it in verse 18. Why should we give passionately? Because it's pleasing to the Lord. Look at it there. In verse 18 he says, You sent, and it's an odor of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, you giving to people's necessity. Listen, it's pleasing to the Lord. That's enough. We ought to give passionately because it's pleasing to the Lord. Then I want you to notice this. Look at verse 17. Powerful. I get tore up when I read this, man, because Paul really gives his heart here. It ain't about him. It's not about him. He says, not because I desire a gift, but I desire a fruit that may abound to your account. I want you to know as a pastor, man, I want you to know something. You know what tickles me? Y'all use that down here. You know what tickles me? You know what gets me excited? You know what the hardest thing in the ministry for me is? Is I feel like sometimes I want more for people than they want for themselves. That's a burden, boy. I feel like sometimes, and see, here's what's wrong. The devil in the world likes to buy a preacher. He just asks for a bunch of money. Do you know that not one drop of this mission money will go to your pastor? So why would a pastor get up and say, Oh, please, be all in. Because I want to see fruit in the account of my dear precious people that I love. Can I just quickly, and I'm trying to hurry, can I just quickly illustrate in a very humanistic way. I don't know how else to do it. Went to, again, Africa in May. And I think most of you know, I don't try to publish it, but I got sick. I wasn't able to stay the whole trip. It broke my heart. And I got up Sunday morning and I had already started feeling bad on Sunday morning, but I was able to go into the slums of Nairobi. I went with Brother Marilla, Brother Edward. We drove into there and I look, I'm not trying to be ugly, but you know, I've always heard people getting in these big trash heaps and digging in trash. I said that can't be true. Well, if any of y'all doubt it, I can promise you it's true. We drove by there that morning going to the slums and Brother Murillo said, and he was even, he said, Brother Monk, he said, I just want you to know, we're going to have, and I lost my smell in 2020, I've never been able to smell since, so that didn't bother me, but what my eyes seen bothered me. And man, I went back in there and I preached. And when I got there to that church, There was a young man dressed very nice, had a dark suit on, had a nice shirt and a tie and walked up and he was there in that church as the assistant pastor. And Brother Murilla said, I want you to be, he wanted me to greet this young man. And I went over and I started to talk to him and here's what he said. He said, Brother Mock, he said, 16 years ago, he said, I want you to know you and your church has been a great blessing to me. I don't know him. I don't know him. He looked at me and he said, you were here 16 years ago and you preached a Bible graduation. And he said, I was one of the graduates. And now I'm here serving. Man, I'm about to have a shouting, slobbering fit. Now here's my earthly illustration with a heavenly one. This fruit to your account. this fruit to your account. Y'all really know the only fruit that's ever really going to live forever. Y'all know what that really is. It's people. It's people. People are going to live forever. And what really dawned on me, I said, here I flew 23 hours across the world and there was a man there that knew me, but I didn't know him. And I just have a feeling that if we can do that 23 hours in America, I just believe when we get to heaven, there's going to be people that I don't know But they're going to know me. And guess what? They're going to know you. Because they're going to say, thank you for giving to the Lord. I am a life that's been changed. All in. Why? A necessity. It's powerful. It's passionate. but then God tacks a promise on it. Verse 19, but my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory. Not your greed, not our greeds, our needs. The other day, I'm sitting in my office. My secretary wasn't there. I heard the door creak. I looked out there and I seen a vehicle in the parking lot, and I immediately started praying, because you just never know. I've learned, been in it long enough, if someone stops to come here and talk to me, normally I'm going to have to pray and ask God for wisdom, because they expect me to have an answer in about 2.8 seconds. Normally it's a problem or someone's hurting, but man, I heard that door creak, and yes, I'm one of them carrying pastors, amen. I love them, but we're going to protect my family and my people. And when I heard that creak, I said, hey. And it was a familiar voice. I said, hey, what's going on there? He said, hey, pastor. And it was Brother Cobby. I said, hey, Brother Cobby. He said, I don't want to bother you, but can I come in just for a minute? He said, I got to tell you something. He said, it's good news, by the way. I said, come on in, have a seat. I don't get that very often. Man, he sat down. I said, I just want to tell you, the promises of God are real. I said, what do you mean? He said, well, I'm going to tell you right now, it's been a little tight around the house. He said, man, we've had to deal with this. We've had to deal with this. We've had to deal with it. And Patrick said, I just want you to know, it's gotten a little tight around the house. I said, OK, he's going to ask me for money. I said, he never has, but he's getting ready to. But he said, hey, he said, Pastor, I just want you to know something. God's promises is real. All of a sudden, when we have all this need, he said, about that time, he said, two checks came in the mail. He said, I have no idea where they come from and why they came. But he said, I just want you to know, God keeps His promise. He still supplies our needs. He said, let me tell you one other thing before I go. He said, I'm not going to keep you. But he said, we've been having some plumbing problems. He said, man, it's, he said, and I'm not a plumber. I said, oh, I got you. I said, I know that. I said, I'm not either. He said, and we've had a mess. And he said, my neighbor found, my son-in-law found out about it and he's a carpenter. He called his plumber friend and he said, Pastry, come over there. And he took care of all that plumbing. And he said, he didn't charge me a dime. That's what I'm talking about. When you give to necessity, and listen to me, God is going to take care of your needs. I believe that's an individual promise. I'll tell you right now, my wife and I, and I'm hurrying. We wasn't at Tiftonia very long. She got double pneumonia. She was sick. I was scared. I know you're not supposed to be scared, but I said, Lord, she's sick. She was in the hospital for days. And I'm telling you right now, I was down. and it was tight, and I was struggling, and I just knew she was gonna get to come home on that Sunday morning, and I went down early to the hospital, and I said, honey, what have they told you? She said, baby, I gotta stay another day, and it broke me. I says, no, I gotta go to the church. I'm broke. I gotta get up and preach and give them something, and man, I'll never forget. I walked down there in that garage. I was getting in my car. I was down in the dumps. About that time, the Lord said, Mark, did you put your wife in here? I said, no. He said, did you want to hear? I says, no. And about that time he says, well then I do. I said, I got you, Lord. And I'm telling you right now, he gave me a piece. I went to church and man, I was struggling. I walk over and sit in my chair and I'm just sitting there. Man, I got the weight of the world on my mind and man, it was tight and it was tight. Did I tell y'all it was tight? And about that time a man comes up here on the platform, he don't ever do that, he just come up, he said, Pastor, I just want you to know we're praying for your dear wife and we love you. And he gave me a handshake and it was one of them loaded ones. How many of y'all know what I'm talking about? One of them loaded ones, hey, that's what I'm talking about. God will supply your needs individually. But I'll tell you this, I'm gonna close. That's a promise to churches too. I'm gonna tell y'all right now, I'm gonna tell y'all right now, y'all heard Brother Scotty say it last night, them old timers say, hey, if your church struggling, what do you do? Take on another missionary. I'm gonna tell you what, we take them on and we're giving, we're a giving church and I'm gonna tell y'all right now, we've never one time had to have a yard sale to keep our light bill on. Hey, listen to me now, hey! We give with the best of and I'm telling you right now, I've been sitting in my office before and my secretary walking in, she said, Pastor, do you know so-and-so? And I said, no, never heard. She said, well, you must because he just sent a donation. Well, how big was the donation? She said, it's a good one. I said, well, God keeps His promise. All in. Everybody at Calvary Baptist Church ought to be all in. Why? Because there's power. We ought to be passionate about it. And why? God on top of that just puts a promise. Who in the world wouldn't be involved in helping these men with their necessities? And I love these guys. You know what I learned about them? They do a whole lot with very little. But they could do a whole lot more if everybody here would be all in. Why? It's powerful. We're given because it's a necessity, no other reason. God's laid it on us. We ought to be passionate over and over and over. Keep on doing it passionately. Why? Because we're going to have fruit to our account. We're going to see them one day in heaven. And then why? God's tapped a promise. He just talked a promise right on top and said, I'll tell you what I'll do. If you'll do this, I'll take care of your needs. And babe, has he always done it? Let's pray. Heavenly Father, help us. Lord, what you've given us to do is more powerful than any other reason. It's more powerful. You've laid it on us. Lord, these dear folks here have necessity as well. I'm thankful you can speak to each of our hearts personally. So I pray you'll take your word and that we will do what you have us to do. Help us to give passionately, brother, pastor.