I want to look at verse 13 there to begin with. We've already talked about that verse previously. which strengthens me. And, you know, unfortunately, this verse is frequently quite misapplied in a different context than it was first given to us here. One thing we have to understand when we look at the verses of Scripture, there's always a direct context, a direct application that is clear there through the biblical context. Now, we may be looking at a more general principle here, too, that applies in different situations as well. But first and foremost, we need to understand the context here. What is all things that he's referring to that we can see from the passage of Scripture here? What all things is he referring to here? Yes. Victory over anxious care indeed. There you go. Yeah. That would be in verse 6, right? That he's referring to. Yeah. What are the all things he's talking about? Anxious care. What else? Well, if you look in verse 11 and 12, we see there he is referring to being content in poverty or in riches. And he can do all things, all of that. He can be content in riches. And he had to learn that, mind you, right? We talked about some ways we can learn that last week. It was a discipline, a virtue, even Paul had to learn. But he was enabled, empowered by Jesus Christ to do both. and to be content and to make due in poverty as well in riches. You know, I've mentioned last week, sometimes when things go very smooth, when we're really blessed, that can almost be the most difficult times spiritually. Because we constantly need to remind ourselves how much we need to depend upon the Lord. And so I think the Lord is teaching us here from that direct context that whatever or however the course the Lord has called us to accomplish in our life, with His grace, we can be assured that we will be able to accomplish that. So that's why we have number one here in our study sheet. However difficult it may seem to do what God has called you to do, There is divine enablement, or as it's also called, grace, or strength in Christ to do it. There is divine enablement of grace and strength in Christ to do it. Now folks, this is important to understand. Because many times on the first start of my Christian life, I felt God constantly asked me to do things that were completely and utterly impossible for me to accomplish. And they were. They are. If I'm trying to live the Christian life without the help, without depending upon the Spirit of God, I mean, I'm in trouble. It's utterly impossible. And yet, when we live our life for Christ in dependency upon God, under the control of His Spirit, and according to the guidance and the wisdom that He gives us in His Word, folks, it does make a difference. And as we grow, God enables, He gives us the strength each day to do the tasks that I'm facing and to live for His glory. And I think that is super important to understand here. And this includes, and particularly in the context of being content. Anyone? Ever felt like complaining? Or like being jealous, right? Or being unhappy with where you're at? Well, Paul says, you know what? By God's, by the strength that I find through Jesus Christ, I can learn how to be content. Whether it's pleasant situations or unpleasant situations. I think that's powerful, don't you? Amen? There is... A verse of scripture in Corinthians that teaches us that with every temptation, God will also make a way of escape, amen? And that he will not suffer us above that which we're able, that he will not allow us to be tempted above that which we're able. And so when God gives us tests, when he allows us to face trials, he knows that we can handle it. And He knows that He can give us the strength to make it through that. I think that's comforting. Because I don't know about you, but you know, there are some days where I get up and I'm already feeling defeated, you know? You know, it's like some days you just get up on the wrong side of the bed. You ever do that? Amen? Usually you hit the wall or something, I don't know. And yet God says, you know what? In the strength that you find in your Savior, in the Lord Jesus Christ, you can do all these things that I'm telling you to do. And that is exciting. That is powerful. I think that was where Paul got joy from, right? Because when we're frustrated constantly, it's not very exciting. It's not very joyful to live like a Christian, right? And Paul says, you know what? But when I do that, depending upon God's strength, it is a joyful life. Now, before we go into verse 14, any questions before we move on? I'm just wondering, the Bible says that God sees our frame. So does he perhaps allow certain things to happen to one person but not another? Because one person could handle it better than the other person even though he's enabling it. I believe so. And he also has different purposes with that, right? You may face certain different trials or temptations or difficulties compared to me because God needs or wants to accomplish certain things in your life that may be different than what he's doing in my life, right? Yeah. And you know, in a way that's a good thing because it constantly makes us depend upon Him. Right? And I mean, we're tested every day just by living in this world, right? Where we're called to be holy in an unholy environment. In a body that's still under the influence of our sinful nature, right? And so God says, but you know what? I can enable you to do what I've called you to do in this world. but not by yourself. You'll need Christ for that. Yes. Whether it's dealing with a toothache or being martyred to death, God is with us. He can enable us. He can get us through. But the trouble is, sometimes I think we, when we have success, we might tend to think, wow, I really pulled that off. I got this. The Lord Jesus gave us this picture in, I think it's John 15, of the vine and the branches, right? I mean, if you lay a branch on the ground, I mean, big deal, right? That's really going to give you a lot. That's really going to fly, right? Well, no, absolutely not. It's going to be utterly useless if you just lay a branch on the ground. But if that branch is grafted in the vine, which has deep roots, which gives it, you know, the life-giving juice, so to speak, it brings forth much fruit, right? And that's a difference that we see there. And folks, you know, I think we can all testify how utterly frustrating it can be to again and again and again attempt to, well, I'm going to do my best for God. I'm just going to, you know, put all my willpower together and it's not working. And then we do almost the opposite. We let go and let God, as the old saying goes, you know, we yield ourselves to God. And as James chapter 5 says, the devil flees from us. We humble ourselves before him. And the Bible says that God gives, what, grace to who? To the humble. There in James chapter 5. And I encourage you to look at those verses. And so, That is the key to accessing that strength, that grace from God. I need to acknowledge, I need it. Amen? I need to be willing to depend upon it. And that's where you find true dependence, actually, right? God says, before we served Christ, we were slaves. Now we're free, we're free to what? To choose to serve God, right? And that's true freedom indeed. Instead of being a helpless, bound slave of sin, right? All right, let's look into verse 14. It says, And so Paul's needs and afflictions were genuine. But so was also his gratitude, his thankfulness, right? And to communicate there means to share company with, to co-participate or to fellowship in his afflictions with him. So in other words, they were showing compassion to him, right? That's how we would say it today. And we'd like to turn to James chapter two, verse 15 and 16 for us, please. And just read an illustration, an example for us there. Oh, children are singing out good and loud, Amen. That's good. Yes, James 2, verse 15 and 16, please. Thank you. Prophet, yeah. Thank you. And so, he's giving the illustration there. We see somebody's physical need. We say, oh, God bless you, brother. You know, be warm, be filled. Oh, we're going to be praying for you. Right? What's that going to help them? When we have the means to help them, even physically, materially, right? And of course, the whole context there of James chapter 2 is that our faith and our practice ought to be more and more matching up. And that when we say we love God, we also ought to be willing to show love and show compassion to those that God loves, right? Which in particular is our brother and sister in Christ, but really anyone that's in need, right? And that's one of the reasons why, as a church, I'm trying to encourage people, hey, if you are struggling, let us know. There's no shame in that. We're here to help out one another as much as we can, right? Unfortunately, I can't go ahead and pay off anybody's mortgages or rent, but we try to help out as much as we can, right? That's why we have the gas gift cards laying out there on the Sunday. And there's, you know, and by the way, there's a lot of charity also happening, you know, behind the curtains, so to speak. You know, we don't go around and advertise that and, you know, make sure the newspaper write article about how generous we are, you know, as maybe there's some charities in the world would do. You know, sometimes there's thousands of more dollars going on in helping people that, you know, nobody ever gets praised or known about. And that's OK. That's a good thing because our reward is from the Lord. Amen. When you're driving downtown, do you see the homeless people standing right in the middle of the traffic, maybe on an island, and they're wondering where they are, those people waiting for the light to change? Do you give money to those people? No, never. For two reasons, and it's very sad that that's the fact, but many of these are commercialized. I've heard reports that some of these beggars on our streets make more money than you and me. And secondly, there are those who are in true need. I don't know that for a second. But sadly, many of them, more likely than not, will tend to immediately spend that money on things that won't help them. and drugs and so forth. But I have rolled down my window and I had food along or a bottle of water and things like that. I'll give them that. I'll give them actual things that I know that, well, if you're in need, that's going to help you. But I know if I give them money, I may actually just put them even further down in misery, unfortunately. Yeah. And you did time. Yeah. You did time. So I know a lot. I know a lot. Mm-hmm. If I wasn't in money, I would spend it on drugs and alcohol. Same dude for me was like, this one guy had a big sign that said, anything helps. And he had two dogs. I was like, I'm going to get coffee. Do you want me to get you a sandwich or something? I'm good. I did that like four times to the same guy, and we parked there at the same time like four times in like a week or something. Yeah, exactly. And you know that's sad, right? That there's people scamming good-hearted Christians out of compassion. But whenever we do need to know, especially of one another, that we're in real need. Whenever we can, we ought to be willing to help one another out. Sorry. I wonder what Jesus would say about them if He was still with us. I mean, are we not judging Him when we say, oh, I know what He's up to? We don't really. No, we don't know. And I'm not going to go and say, hi, you're going to throw that on your booth, aren't you? You know, no, but I just I just want to be wise, right? I'm respecting these people. A lot of them, you know, they may be, you know, I'm not saying everybody that's on the street is an addiction, but the government says most are or many are. And, you know, there may be a lot of tragic and dramatic circumstances, whatever brought them into that, right? Some may have even grown up in that. It's very terrible what these sin and bondages will do. And they're super tough to... get rid of, especially without Jesus Christ. And so, well, the Lord, he could see the people's hearts. He could read their minds, right? So that's an advantage that we don't have. But, you know, he showed compassion to the woman with seven husbands from Samaria at the well. He said to the woman caught in the very act of adultery, well, neither do I judge you, Gunse, no more. You know, and he did have compassion upon the sinners, right? I mean, if he didn't, you and I wouldn't be here, right? And so, whereas what is here, how the Philippians, they communicated, they had compassions with the needs that Paul had, right? He was in prison, he couldn't work for his food, you know, I'm sure he would have otherwise. He would have starved without the help of them and other believers. And so I can see how he'd be thankful that they would feel along with his need, right? Let's go into verse 15. Yeah, that comes after verse 15, but it would apply to verse 14 as well, yeah. Verse 15 goes on to say, And so there's that word communicating again. Now, let's notice there number two. What is involved in that communicating that he's referring to? Probably visiting, taking food, caring for his needs, whatever they were. Yeah. But there's two specific aspects that Maria refers to, what that communicating entailed. Giving and receiving. Giving and receiving, exactly. Giving and receiving. Cause you know, it wasn't just that Paul was always like, gimme, gimme, gimme. It was actually, it was a two way street, right? They were both receiving and both giving. Yeah, I know. And that's sad, right? And that's where sometimes we have to, You know, I mean, obviously you want to be wise and so forth in that. But, you know, I mean, my compassion has been taken advantage of dozens of times. you know, and not just a little at times. And I'm saying, hey, you know what? I'm not going to be bothered by it. I've given that unto them as unto the Lord. I really didn't give it to them. I gave it to the Lord, right? The Lord says in the gospel, whatever you should have done to least of these, you've done it unto me, right? And that's where at the end of the day, you know what? The Lord's going to reward me for that. You know, even if I never hear back from that person ever again. giving and receiving. Now let's look at verse number three. What was it that they gave? What was it that they gave? You see that particularly in verse 18. Yes, that's how God viewed that, but we'll talk about that in a second. It doesn't say specifically what it was, it said things, right? In verse 18, so it says, So some kind of material monetary aid of sorts, right? So number three, what was it that they gave? They gave money or things Generously. And that's where I want to go to 2 Corinthians 8 verse 2. Liam, would you like to look that up for us, brother? Thank you. Yeah, 2 Corinthians 8 verse 2, please. and a great trial of affliction, the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality. Thank you. Liberality means generosity. So that's what I find so stunning there in our point number three. What was it that they gave? They gave money or things generously, so that's your first blank, generously, out of great poverty. for the furtherance of Paul's gospel ministry. I find that stunning. They gave generously out of great poverty. And yet notice, though, when we go back to 2 Corinthians 8, verse 2 there, what was it that they received in return for that? How that in a great trial of afflictions, the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality. What was it that they received in return for giving so generously? Rewards in heaven. Yes. Rewards in heaven. And one other thing. Alrighty, right then and there. It's right then and worse. 2 Corinthians 8 verse 2. How in that great trial of affliction, the abundance of their joy. Do you know what's that? The abundance of their joy abounded. So what was it that they received? Number four, eternal fruit or slash rewards, depending on how you want to call that. Eternal fruit in Philippians 4 verse 17, he talks about fruit that may abound to your account to them. So eternal fruit or rewards. And then also present abundance of joy. Present abundance of joy. And that's I think one truth that we've really lost in our materialistic first world here as believers. That some of the greatest joy we could ever receive is when we give. We think, well, it's the opposite. The more I make, the more I get, the more I can consume and enjoy, the happier I will be, right? Because that's how we were trained from the youngest age, right? In school and at workplace and advertisements everywhere. The more you get, the happier you will be. And God's word teaches us, again, the opposite of what the world thinks. It says, no, no, the opposite is actually true. The more you get to give, the happier. the more abundance of joy you will have. Yeah, there's a lot of people miserable in it, right? And so I really wanted us to see this here, and 2 Corinthians 8 verse 2 is a beautiful verse of scripture there, and we see obviously this is referring to the churches of Macedonia there in verse 1, which Philippi was in Macedonia. And so this church in Philippi will be forever known as a church of generosity and of sacrificial giving. This is their testimony for all eternity. And you know, I was asking, man, Lord, would that be our testimony as well? And I think our church Family is extremely giving and generous. I think we are really blessed with the right heart there. But we always want to remind ourselves to never lose that compassion, to never lose that willingness to give of what we have for the sake of others, for their need. And we'll see here in a minute why that is so important. for our own joy. I notice in verse 16 in Philippians 4 it says there, for even Thessalonica you send once and again unto my necessity. Thessalonica was about a hundred miles distance from Philippi. So these guys really had to make a big trip. They had to go above and beyond in order to help out Paul there in that church plant in Thessalonica when he was there. So I figured it would be helpful to just explain a few words there. Number five, necessity. Necessity means an unavoidable requirement, oppressing needs. So we're talking about the basics, necessities of life here for Paul, right? Food, shelter, clothing, necessity is number five. Number six, we see here their financial support of Paul was a repeating occurrence, not just a one-time donation. And I think that is significant too. They again and again made an effort to try to reach out to Paul and give to him again. And one of those attempts was in Thessalonica and so forth. He said once and again. And so it was a repeating support that they gave to Paul to enable him to bring spiritual blessings to others in the gospel. In verse 17, we've talked about that last week, so I won't really emphasize it too much again, but notice Paul did not preach a prosperity gospel. Paul never begged for funds. I think that is so important. The only time he ever asked for money was on behalf of others. When he asked the Corinthian believers, for example, to make sure to keep up on their promise that they would help out financially the suffering believers in Jerusalem who were starving. But he never went around begging for money for his ministry. You know, give us money, five dollars and we starve. No, he trusted in God to take care of him. You know, just like George Mueller of old. And I think that is so interesting to see here. So when he talks about their giving, about their money, like we did tonight, he didn't do that to get more, all right? He did that to commend them, to encourage them. And I think also he wanted to remind them that it was for their own good that they had learned that secret of generosity and the deep pleasures and joy that it gives when we give to others. Notice this, spiritual fruitfulness is always accompanied by a generous heart, I believe. And that's why we hear some of these old-time preachers preach. It's like, well, you show me where your bank book is, and I'll show you where your heart is at. And it really does go hand-in-hand together. It was the Lord Jesus who said, Where are your treasures, there will your heart be also, right? And so we find this church in Philippi was revived. They were witnessing, they were on fire for the Lord, and that went hand in hand with the giving spirit. And they had joy. In fact, it says their joy abounded. Notice there in number seven. What does the word abound mean? Maybe not really a word we're too familiar with anymore. Yes. It means to have or to possess in great quantity. Right? To have great plenty. To have lots of it. Right? That's how he described their joy. They had lots of it. Yes. No, seven is abound. Sorry. Yeah, abound. E-B-O-U-N-D. Abound. You know, there's so many other verses of Scripture where that word abound is used. In Proverbs 28, 20, the Bible says, In other words, consistently pays more than impatient get-rich-quick schemes. Or in Romans 5, verse 20, And praise the Lord for that. Amen, because no matter how terrible, how great our sin and our guilt may be, God's grace and his ability to forgive and to cleanse us always abounds, always is above and beyond that yet. I always say, you know, no matter how deep the ditch of your sin and wretchedness is, God's grace is even so much the bigger to not just fill it up, but put on top of it yet, amen. And that is his great love and his power and his forgiveness. Oh, and that's so easy to forget, Amen. But why were they having joy? That's where I wanna get to number eight. Number eight. What's the opposite of love? Sorry, you said hate? What did you say? Indifference, yes. That's all true. What else is the opposite of love? Or maybe of charity. Selfishness, exactly. And that's the particular term I'm looking for there. Number eight, selfishness is the opposite of love. The kind of love that we saw that illustrated in James chapter two earlier. Selfishness is the opposite of love. And selfishness then is a main reason for our spiritual decline or lack of revival. Now this is convicting for me to look at, to be honest, but that's the truth. At the end of the day, most times when I felt in great spiritual frustrations, when I felt I'm hitting a roadblock somewhere spiritually, I usually, when I start to examine myself, realize, man, you know what? It's been because I've been living a selfish life. I've gotten self-centered instead of looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of my faith. It's like, oh man, Lord, forgive me. And he does, amen, praise the Lord. One very effective cure for selfishness is by looking at the necessity of others and to sacrificially give to their need. Now what's the opposite of selfishness? Which is always give me, give me more, right? Amen. We're going to number nine. Any more questions? All right, number nine. The Philippian church enjoyed the blessings of giving materially to Paul. So your first blank in number nine is materially, M-A-T-E-R-L-Y. I-A-L-L-Y, materially, to Paul, and receiving spiritual blessings from God as reward. So materially, they gave materially to Paul and received spiritual blessings as a reward. And I have a whole list of other Scripture verses there that illustrate that same truth for us, amen? Let's just quickly read 1 Timothy 5, verse 17. Whoever gets there first can go ahead and read that for us, amen? 1 Timothy 5, verse 17 and 18, just as one illustration of these other verses of Scripture that bear that similar principle. You know what? That's second Timothy, isn't it? Oh, no, no, I'm in Thessalonians, never mind. No, I was in the wrong book. First Timothy 5.17, yes. Who has that for us? Yes. that the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially they who labor in the word and doctrine. And then verse 18? Scripture saith, thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treads out of the corn, and the laborer is worthy of his reward. And so, you know, that's a principle that we see throughout Scripture, right? And here the Philippians were the recipients. They were the givers, but they were also the recipients. of the joy and of that fruit that abounded to their account by every person that Paul brought the gospel of the Lord Jesus to. Now notice there in, let's go back to Philippians chapter four. In verse, I think it's 17, let me look here real quick. Sorry, in verse 18. He says, but I have all in bound, I'm full, having received of Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you. When have you ever heard a missionary say, thank you so much for your giving, I've got enough, thank you, don't send any more? You know? But that's basically what Paul was doing here. And I think it's really a representation of this hard-learned virtue of contentment that he was showing. You know, who in their right mind would write a missionary letter, so to speak, and say, well, I've got enough. I don't need any more. But that's who Paul was. He wasn't after their giving. Rather, he was more interested in their spiritual joy and their growth in the Lord. And we find so many ministries these days, they become these never satisfied money gobbling machines, and not with Paul. He wasn't burdened down with this big financial apparatus that we know today. I don't think he was looking to build a big ministry necessarily. rather an effective one, amen? And an effective ministry is a reproducing ministry. And so he rather just planted churches that then on their own would plant more churches, amen? And see more souls saved. Now I want to explain this illustration here that may be a bit foreign to you and to me today. there where it says, the things which are sent from you, an odor of sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable while pleasing to God. What does that mean? And we have to go back there to the Old Testament understanding of sacrifices before God, and that's what Paul is referring to there. Let's go to Genesis chapter 8. We read all the way back there the story of Noah, which by the way is a real historical account. There's more than plenty of archaeological and scientific evidence all over the world for it. In Genesis chapter 8 verse 20 and 21. Who has that for us? Please. altar unto the Lord, and took of every keen beast and of every keen fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And the Lord smelled a sweet savour, and the Lord said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake, for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I again smite any more of every living thing as I have done. Yes, so of course you see there the covenant he makes through Noah with mankind here. But notice there that sacrifice he is described, and the Lord smelled a sweet savor. Savor is a fragrance or taste. And I think the Philippian church here could have not received any higher praise or honor than have their giving equated or compared to that language of the Old Testament sacrifices that were burned upon the altar before God. You know, in Leviticus and Numbers alone, we find the word sweet savor 34 times. And so that was a big part of that sacrificial system before the Lord. Matter of fact, when we turn back to the New Testament, to Ephesians 5 verse 2, Brother Jeff, would you be willing to read that for us, brother? Please? Ephesians 5 verse 2. We see where even the sacrifice of Jesus Christ is being illustrated as a sweet-smelling savor to God. And walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and a sacrifice to God. Thank you. He gave us up there for an offering and a sacrifice for God as a sweet-smelling saviour. And so their sacrificial giving is being correlated to the same selflessness that Christ had on the cross, right? And when we give sacrificially, in a sense we enter into a deeper identification with Christ and his sacrifice himself. It's the same attitude, the same spirit and heart of compassion that the Lord had. And that's why I wanna go to number 10, our explanation there, number 10. A sweet-smelling sacrifice to God was an expression of complete, consuming devotion. A sweet-smelling sacrifice to God was an expression of complete, consuming devotion to God. and had the blessing of being received by God as a satisfying, well-pleasing act of worship. You know, when you finally get that sizzling steak of the grill, and you put it on your plate, and you have the steaming potatoes, or whatever you like, right, or the fresh hot burrito, I don't know what you go for, right? And you have that on your plate, and you sit down, and you pray, and you thank the Lord for the food, and then that's, That savor, that smell goes up. It's like, mmm, that water in your mouth, right? It's like, oh yeah, I can't wait to devour this. You know, this is good. This is a hearty meal. This is satisfying, right? You look already hungry, amen? And you know, that's the sort of picture that we're getting here, amen? And so from God, that's kind of sacrificial giving is being received as a satisfying, a well-pleasing act of worship. All right, so you two blanks there, number 10 is devotion and worship. Number 11, we're almost done. Number 11, our giving to those in need and laboring for the gospel is part of our worship of God. Our giving to those in need and those that are laboring for the gospel is part of our worship of God. And that's why we do that every single service, by the way. That's not because, you know, we need to pay the preacher for the sermon, or, you know, well, we just need to beg for money every time we get together. No, this is because it's part of our worship to Him. And, you know, I understand today we have these things to do online, at home, and all that, and sometimes that's easier to be organized that way. I get that. But at the same time, during that offering time, while Esther or whoever plays music, and, you know, let's make sure we use that as an opportunity of devotion to God. Let's make sure we let the Lord know, God, everything I own has been given to me from you and I dedicate it to you. God, me and everything I have is all yours. And we use that time as an opportunity to worship the Lord. Amen? And when we give, it is out of worship to God. You've heard me say this. I hope you don't give to the church. You definitely don't give to the preacher. You don't even give directly to the missionaries, even when we have our faith promise commitments that we use to give directly to our missionaries. You give to the Lord. Amen? That's who we worship in our giving. And you know, I know with the rising costs of everything going on, I was almost like, man, do I really want to talk about giving? But then I looked at the abundance of joy they had. I looked at how they identified in the selflessness of Christ and the compassion of Christ on the cross with that sweet-smelling savor to God. And I'm like, well, we would be foolish to miss out on these blessings, amen? I remember my brother-in-law, Timothy, he was giving a message on giving, and it was just tremendous. And really at the end of it, you were saying, I was like, well, well, well, God, do I get to give? Can I give? Please, amen? Because it's such a privilege. There's such a blessing with it. There's a couple verses of scripture that I'd like to look at, but I'll just let you write them down if you like, and if we have time, we'll look at them. Psalm 96, verses 8 and 9. Psalm 96, verses 8 and 9. 1 Chronicles 16, 28 and 29. Some beautiful verses upon worship to the Lord with our giving. 1 Chronicles 16, verses 28 to 29. So now we get to verse 19, and that is the second, maybe most misapplied verse of scripture, unfortunately, especially out of that passage. So let's go back here to Philippians chapter four in verse 19. I'd like to read that for us, please. But my God shall supply all you need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Thank you. Now the first question he asked myself, what are the riches of Christ? How rich is Jesus? What do you think? What's this? Yes. That's the foremost and most precious. Yeah. Amen. Indeed. Yeah, well we're particularly looking at his ability to supply for our needs right now. You know, so what will we estimate God's network at, right? I mean, Elon Musk is, I don't know, how many billions, right? So let's think about it. How much would God be able to supply? When my wife used to go to the health lab, we'd be the hopeless dinners. And, you know, I think it was Thursday night in the church hall. And, you know, these guys will come along. I mean, they've probably been out to a couple of places already by the time they got around to the evening and come down to our church. But anyway, they used to come along. And it was just before Christmas and they had people in church and other people have donated items of clothing and stuff like that. So they have, you know, like the great big black bin bags that they have, you know, the huge, aren't they? So they have this full of shoes and they said that they kept, you know, guys kept coming up, there were dozens and dozens and dozens, probably not even a hundred, but a lot, and they had this black bag with shoes in, and they kept giving them out, and it never emptied. It just didn't empty. They gave them out to dozens and dozens, and it didn't have that in it, but it was still full. Isn't that amazing? So I'm just thinking of God, you know, if we give whatever we've got, God will provide for us ten times more than that. Absolutely. It's a blessing coming back in another way. It doesn't have to be money. It's whatever, you know. you know, to hold on to things, you know, it's like the Jews, when they were out in the desert, you know, they would gather too much food, and then he said, gather a certain amount a day, and of course they gathered more, and it just went wrong, it went bad, or it made them ill, you know. So he promises to meet us at that point of need, you know. So that was a great illustration of God's grace there, you know. But you made a good point, brother, because whatever our need is, that's God's ability to supply, and far beyond that. You know? Think about it. What are the riches of Christ? Well, the Bible says he owns a camel and a thousand hills. He's put the gold in every gold mine in the world. You know, he holds the whole world in his hands. I mean, you name it, God made it, right? He owns it. He sustains it, right? If it wouldn't be for the power of the word of God, anything and everything you and I see would just disintegrate, you know? And so, what are the riches of Christ, right? And I'm saying that to encourage us to be willing, to have faith, to have trust in God's ability to provide for our needs. And that is so important. He didn't say, God, this is not a promise for God to ever give you anything and everything you want, right? Or that you think you need. It is God providing for your needs, right? And it says, And again, I want to look at the immediate context there first, though. And that's where number 19 comes in. Excuse me, number 12. Number 12. The context of verse 19 is what? Sacrificial giving. The context of verse 19 is sacrificial giving, and the blessing of God's promise to provide for all needs are received by those who give to God. So giving and give is your blank there. So that promise belongs to those who give according to what God has laid on their heart for the needs of others. It's to those who give cheerfully, who completely and generously find that God cannot be outdone, amen? As a preacher friend of mine always used to say, you cannot out-give God, right? You cannot out-give God. And wherever God leads, his grace will supply. That really, really is true. And, you know, I'm always careful with giving these testimonies because then we always feel, oh, I need to have something like that too, or we're trying to make it more fantastic than it is. But, you know, there's so many times where I could give you examples of where the truth was so true in my life. I remember I, back when I was in Bible college, I would give someone $40 for fuel to drive up to a conference that I thought they really needed, and it was a great help to them. And they couldn't afford to come there by themselves. Now those were the last $40 in my bank account, and I had my college bill up the next week. I was like, well, Lord, you really put this on my heart to give, so here we go. I hope you know what you're doing. And guess what? The next day, I opened up my bank account, and it was insurance payment of $400 in there that I never even knew was coming. You know, now you can call this coincidence all you want. I just don't have enough faith for coincidences like that, you know. And God supplies, you know, and he provides. Now, not always with the Ferrari in the private pool in the backyard, you know, but he takes care of his children. And I believe he's put his word and his honor to that. And so remember, though, we give not to get, right? We give not to get, but to be able to give in return. And it almost seems that the more sacrificial the Philippians gave of their deep poverty, the more God blessed them. And guess what? So they went to Thessalonica to give him again. Then he heard Paul was in Rome, so they sent him again, right? Because God kept blessing them. And that's one thing, by the way, I found true for our church family. That the more we've been giving for others, to missions, to those in need, and throughout the years we've had the bread distributions, we've had the different exchange markets, and so many other things that we do. And for those who are actually in need, and they like to take advantage of that. What was I trying to say now? Oh, but throughout the years, we found each and every time, you know, the more we take on missionaries and the more we give to others, it seems the more God supplies for us. I remember first when I was taking on the pastorate here and, you know, the church was trying to figure that all out financially. We were like, well, this is a big step of faith. We have no idea how God's ever gonna supply for that. And now, you know, we take on each and every year more and more missionaries. And it seems the more we do that, the more God sees fit to keep blessing. And I think that's a wonderful principle there. But it has to be willingly. Right? No one is talking about a coercion, a begging, or this whole prosperity gospel heresy. All right? And that's why I want to close with 2 Corinthians 9 verse 7. Did you know God wants you to have joy? Amen? You know, following God doesn't just mean you have your whole rule of don'ts, don't, don't, don't, don't, and don't you dare have fun or joy in life, right? No, absolutely not. Maybe quite the opposite. Living a life for God and trusting in Him is the most relaxing and most enjoyable thing, the most blessed way to ever live. And as we humble ourselves before Him, as we depend upon Him, God gives grace to the humble, the Bible says. Amen? All right. Well, let's close in prayer together. And then we'll close up in our prayer time. Dear Father, I wanna thank you so much for your grace. And Lord, that it's ever sufficient. Lord, your grace is so much wiser than anything that we could ask for, anything, Lord, we could think that we need. Lord, you know exactly what's best for us. And Father, I pray you'd help each and every one of us here tonight to truly trust you, Lord, like a child would trust their father. And Lord, help us to wait patiently upon your provision. Lord, help us to always look to you, the author and finisher of our faith and the source of supply for all of our needs. And dear Lord, I pray and help us to learn how to be content in all things so that we may receive your wonderful joy. Lord, so that we may enjoy, Lord, the blessings of giving to others as you bless us, Lord. We pray all this in Jesus Christ's name. Amen.