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15

Dec, 2019

The Gift of Supplying

  • hope
  • Christmas
  • care of God
  • needs
  • Christ
  • Times Square cricket


The Gift of Supplying

Philippians 4:18-19 | December 15, 2019

How good is your hearing?

The story is told of two friends that years ago were walking around Times Square in New York City.

It was lunchtime and the streets were filled with people and cars were honking their horns and sirens were wailing up and down the streets – in other words, it was a normal, super loud, day in the city.

Suddenly, one of the guys said, “What an interesting place to hear a cricket.”

His buddy said, “You must be crazy. You couldn’t possibly hear a cricket in the middle of all of this noise!”

He responded, “No, I’m sure of it. I hear a cricket.”

Again, his buddy said, “That is just plain crazy.”

His friend wanted to prove it to him, though, so he started to follow the sound.

They walked across the street to a big, cement planter where some shrubs were growing, and he looked under the branches and sure enough they saw a small cricket.

His buddy said, “That’s incredible! You must have superhuman ears!”

His friend said, “No. My ears are no different from yours. It all depends on what you’re listening for. Here, let me show you.”

He reached into his pocket, pulled out some coins and dropped them casually on the sidewalk.

Everyone around them stopped and turned in the direction of the sound of those coins.

With all the noise on that crowded street people could still hear money drop.

The man said, “See what I mean? It all depends on what’s important to you.”

Can you hear Christmas?

There is a lot of noise during the holidays – mostly good – but still a lot of noise.

In the middle of all the noise, are you able to hear Christmas?

  • Not just the sound of carols
  • Not just the sound of jingle bells
  • Not just the sound of cash registers
  • Not just the sound of unwrapping Christmas tree lights
  • Not just the sound of wrapping paper
  • Not just the sound of chestnuts roasting on an open fire

But the sound of the deeper message of Christmas.

The message that has been called the “thrill of hope”.

The thrill of hope that can bring:

  • Peace to your stressed-out mind
  • Love to your discouraged heart
  • Joy to your weary soul

What is that message?

And how can you hear it?

How can you hear Christmas?

Let’s see if we can find out.

The Apostle Paul was writing to his friends in a place called Philippi and this is what he said beginning in verse 18:

18 But I have received everything in full and have an abundance; I am amply supplied, having received from Epaphroditus what you have sent,

What can you do if you aren’t completely sure if you are getting the right gift for someone?

You can get them a gift receipt – that way they can exchange the gift for a different size or a different color – or they might return it and get a Belgian waffle maker or a Bacon Express Grill.

In a sense, this is Paul’s gift receipt – not because something needs to be exchanged – but rather because something needs to be affirmed. 

He wants to thank them and affirm them and let them know that he got the gift they sent by way of Epaphroditus. 

Who is Epaphroditus?

We don’t know a whole lot about him, but he seems to be just a regular guy from the church at Philippi who wanted to serve God and the church.

His church sent him out to deliver a message and a gift to Paul and they asked him to stay and be a helper to Paul.

  • A message
  • A gift
  • A helper

If you profess to be a Christian, that sounds a lot like us because we have:

  • The message of the gospel
  • The gift of knowing Jesus Christ
  • The ability to help others know the message and the gift

Although what you are called to do involves a whole lot of things, that pretty much sums up the primary purpose of a Christian:

  • Help the message of the gospel get out
  • Help people see the gift of Jesus

Jacque and Kim Fuhrmann are friends from years ago who served for almost a decade as missionaries in North Africa.

During their time in North Africa, their home church consistently sent mission teams to go and spend time helping them with their work and ministry – and then there was Peggy. 

Peggy had a very special assignment every time that she went – and she went multiple times.

Her assignment was to minister to Kim. 

Jacques and Kim had their six precious children with them, so Kim’s hands were full of ministry just to her own family. 

Peggy would leave Hampton, Virginia, and travel to Africa to spend several weeks loving on and encouraging a young mother. 

  • She didn’t go to evangelize
  • She didn’t go to pass out tracts
  • She didn’t go to teach vacation bible school in the village
  • She didn’t go to help build church buildings
  • She went strategically to love and encourage a young mother

I want to encourage you to approach the church like that.

To love and serve pastors and church staff and church members in such a way that through your love you are strategically:

  • Helping the message of the gospel get out
  • Helping people see the gift of Jesus

So, Epaphroditus was a messenger and a helper and a gift-giver.

And Paul is giving a receipt to the folks at Philippi to let them know that he got the gift and that it more than met his need.

He uses these three descriptions:

  • In full
  • Abundance
  • Amply supplied

In other words, their gift hit the mark.

Like a perfect Christmas day meal at grandma’s house their gift really hit the spot.

What kind of gift was it?

  • Jelly of the month club?
  • Oversized hoodie blanket?
  • A huge box of parchment paper and pens?
  • A huge box of pecan pie cookies?

We don’t know for sure, but it was a good gift that filled Paul up and supplied his need.

And he doesn’t just give them a receipt, he gives them a pretty glowing 5-star review.

Listen to how he described their gift:

18 a fragrant aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well-pleasing to God.

He’s not describing a Yankee Candle or an essential oil diffuser.

No, Paul’s using some Old Testament language to uniquely describe the impact of their gift.

In the Old Testament they would take the sacrifice and lay it on the burning altar and the aroma would sweep across the whole community. 

Kind of like when I walk out of the side door at the church sometimes and the folks over at True BBQ are filling up our neighborhood with the sweet, smoky smells of their menu.

Paul said their gift was a fragrant aroma that filled up his prison cell with the sweet smells of loving and sharing and caring.

And he also calls it an acceptable sacrifice.

The gift they sent him cost them something.

It wasn’t a gift card that they picked up the kiosk at the front of the grocery store. 

In some way, the gift they gave impacted them practically or financially.

It was like they had $25,000 in the church’s checking account and they sent Epaphroditus to Rome with $24,900 for Paul.

Or maybe they didn’t have a lot of money, but maybe they had some church property and they sold the church property and sent the money to Paul. 

I know one church that is about 15 years old and when they started, they decided to not own their own building so that they could send more money to international missions.

If I remember right, in their early years, they were sending about $300,000 a year to the people and places that were taking the gospel to where it had never been heard.

We don’t know the details of the Philippian sacrifice, but it was enough that Paul notes they had to suffer something to share with him.

And because of their sacrifice he says that their gift was well-pleasing to God.

Can I just say how thankful I am for so many of you here in our church that give sacrificially so that we can care for the work of the gospel and care for this building and care for the staff and their families and care for the mission efforts we support both here in our community and to the uttermost parts of the world.

Your weekly and special gifts to the church are essential to us getting the message of the gospel out and helping people find the gift of Jesus.

But your giving is also, as one pastor has noted, your offering and sacrifice to the Lord and speaks well of the seriousness of your faith. 

That is a cool thing for a pastor to be able say to the church:

“Thank you for the seriousness of your faith.”

So, for the glory of God and the good of the gospel and the growth of my soul and your soul, I joyfully say, “Thank you!”

These folks could have given their gift with pride and arrogance.

Kind of like some political donations are given in an effort to make a connection with someone important to get a favor later – or maybe like some church donations are given with a request that their name be placed in the bulletin or on a plaque or on the front of a building.

But Paul says their gift was well-pleasing to God – their gift was given with the right heart attitude – an attitude of joyful humility.

Paul gives his receipt and then he describes the impact of their gift with some powerful imagery and then he really kicks his encouragement up a notch.

19 And my God will supply all your needs

Paul is taking God out of some random religious category or some existential conversation on spirituality and clearly and boldly calling him “my God”.

Why does that matter?

This is what God says about himself:

Isaiah 46:9-10

For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me,

 

Isaiah 46:10

Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things which have not been done, Saying,

 

Isaiah 46:10-11

 “My purpose will be established, And I will accomplish all My good pleasure…Truly I have spoken; truly I will bring it to pass. I have planned it, surely I will do it.”

And Paul is saying, “That God is my God.”

The Bible describes the character and nature of God with these kinds of terms:

  • Perfect in wisdom
  • Perfect in power
  • Perfect in holiness
  • Perfect in justice
  • Perfect in goodness
  • Perfect in love
  • Supreme
  • Sovereign
  • Infinite
  • Eternal
  • Unchangeable

And Paul is saying, “That God is my God.”

John Gwyn-Thomas

…he was talking about a God whom he knew, the One who had changed the course of his life, the One who had changed the quality of his life, the One who had changed the destiny of his life,

John Gwyn-Thomas

the One who had changed the whole of his thinking about the world, about eternity, about everything in the world. Paul said, “This God whom I have come to know – he is my God.”

John Gwyn-Thomas

I wonder can we speak in these terms, because this is the great aim of Christianity – to bring us into a personal, living relationship with God through Jesus Christ and if it doesn’t do that, then I don’t know what else it does.

So, has the aim of Christianity found your soul?

Are you in a personal, living relationship with God through Jesus Christ?

Is this God that Paul is speaking of your God?

Has your whole thinking about eh world and about eternity been changed because you have come to know the one, true God?

Geoff Thomas

A master surgeon can offer to remove the cancer, or give me a heart-bypass, or take away the cataracts from my eyes and give me sight. But those are only offers.

Geoff Thomas

Have I accepted God’s offer and acted upon it? Has this God become my God? Has this Savior become my Savior? Has he become my prophet, priest and king?

Geoff Thomas

God has loved the world, true, but I can still perish unless I believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Have I come to God? Have I taken Christ? Have I responded to that proffered love that says to me, “Come and I will give you rest?”

Geoff Thomas

No one here shall perish because God is not love. No one here shall perish because God has failed to offer himself lovingly and sincerely to any of you. But men shall perish because that love is spurned.

We plead with you today, do not spurn the love of God.

Come to Jesus and take his rest upon your weary soul.

132 years ago, William T. Sleeper used these words in a poem:

William T. Sleeper

Out of my bondage, sorrow and night,

Out of my sickness

Out of my want

Out of my sin

Out of my shameful failure and loss

Out of earth’s sorrows

Out of life’s storms

Out of distress

Out of unrest and arrogant pride,

Out of myself

Out of despair

Out of the fear and dread of the tomb

Out of the depths of ruin untold

Jesus, I come to Thee.

Is this the moment in history that you need to come to Jesus?

God has supplied the thrill of hope and the promise of eternal life and the guarantee of freedom from the chains of sin through Jesus – come to him today. 

Someone might be thinking:

“If God is going to supply all of my needs, then I don’t need Jesus – I need some better health or a better job or a nicer husband or a more loving wife or more responsible children or a more responsible government – how is coming to Jesus going to solve the real problems I have in life?”

Paul is going to respond to that, but first let me just note some quick math here. 

Who is Paul writing to?

He’s writing to a group of people at a church who made a sacrifice for the good of the gospel.

And Paul is saying that God is not going to ignore their sacrifice. 

As the saying goes:

Paul promised God would meet their needs not their greeds.

So, if you are not engaged in the work of the gospel, then don’t be sitting in your recliner at home expecting God to drop the gospel powerball in your lap just because you asked. 

And even if you are engaged in the work of the gospel, don’t expect to get health and wealth and prosperity. 

Paul is arguably the greatest Christian who ever lived, and he just got through telling us a few verses before this that he had been hungry and beaten and tortured and left for dead.

The modern health and wealth prosperity gospel simply cannot match up with the whole of the Bible.

So, if I could go hungry and could get sick and I could be homeless and I could get arrested and I could be tortured and I could be killed – how in the world is God really going to supply all of my needs?

Paul tells us:

19 according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

God is going to supply our needs through Christ.

The way that God is going to meet your need is through Christ. 

What does that mean? 

Well, notice that Paul says “according to” instead of “out of”.

If a professional athlete makes $35 million a year and gives $1 million to charity he is giving out of his riches – for all practical purposes he will not even feel that the money is gone. 

If you had $500 in mixed bills in your wallet and you lost a single dollar bill you might not even know that you lost it. 

However, if you had $500 in mixed bills in your wallet and you woke up the next morning and found only a single dollar bill in your wallet then you would immediately know the other money was gone.

If that athlete gave $34 million to charity and another $900,000 to his local church, then he would feel the impact of his giving. 

God does not give out of his riches but according to his riches.

Again, someone might be thinking:

  • “Then what gives?”
  • “If God is God then it seems like he’d be the all-time wealthiest.”
  • “So, how come I’m eating beanie-weanies?”
  • “Shouldn’t I be eating steak and lobster every night?”
  • “After all, I’m a Christian – a child of God.”

The best way to answer those questions is with a question:

What is your greatest need?

  • If your greatest need is money, then you don’t need Jesus
  • If your greatest need is an education, then you don’t need Jesus
  • If your greatest need is a job, then you don’t need Jesus
  • If your greatest need is a spouse, then you don’t need Jesus
  • If your greatest need is health, then you don’t need Jesus
  • If your greatest need is retirement, then you don’t need Jesus
  • If your greatest need is a team win, then you don’t need Jesus

R.C. Sproul

There is a God who is altogether holy, who is perfectly just, and who declares that he is going to judge the world and hold every human being accountable for their life.

R.C. Sproul

As a perfectly holy and just God, he requires from each one of us a life of perfect obedience and of perfect justness.

R.C. Sproul

If there is such a God and if you have lived a life of perfect justness and obedience – that is, if you’re perfect – then you certainly don’t need Jesus. You don’t need a Savior because only unjust people have a problem.

So, are you perfect?

Have you lived a life of perfect obedience to your parents and to your teachers and to the rules at work and to the statutes of our country and to the tax laws of the IRS?

Have you perfectly loved other people and perfectly honored the planet that we live on?

Have you perfectly honored the God who created you and the world you live in?

If not, then there is something you need to know – there is a message that is for the whole world – especially you – and here’s the message:

Luke 2:10-11

…I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

F.B. Meyer

Christ is God’s answer to our need. 

Your greatest need is to be right with God and 2,000 years ago in a manger in Bethlehem, God, because of his rich mercy, supplied your greatest need in Christ.

One of the most beloved songs of Christmas was written in 1847 as a poem by a French merchant.

A local minister had requested a Christmas poem from the merchant and as the story goes, he wrote it riding in a carriage looking upon the gospel of Luke for his inspiration, and then asked a friend to create some music for his poem.

At the time that it was presented many church leaders declared it unfit for church services – perhaps that is a gracious reminder that just because a newer church song or an older church song doesn’t strike our fancy doesn’t mean our opinion is right. 

But the people of the church loved the song and it spread throughout the country quickly and in not long after its popularity spread overseas.

Eight years after its debut in a French church, an American minister translated the French words into an English version. 

What we sing, however, seems to be a true English version of the song and not a literal English translation of the song.

I came across a literal translation of the song and though the words might be helpful for our hearts today. 

Placide Cappeau

Midnight, Christians, is the solemn hour,

When God as man descended unto us

To erase the stain of original sin

And to end the wrath of His Father.

The entire world thrills with hope

On this night that gives it a Saviour.

Placide Cappeau

The entire world thrills with hope

On this night that gives it a Saviour.

Placide Cappeau

People, kneel down, await your deliverance.

Christmas, Christmas, here is the Redeemer,

Christmas, Christmas, here is the Redeemer!

That is the beautiful, glorious message of Christmas.

Can you hear it?

Message by Dow Welsh |

December 15, 2019 © Holland Avenue Baptist Church

more |

Above are pre-sermon manuscript notes, not sermon transcript

Sermon scriptures NASB unless otherwise noted

Lots of help from many pastors and theologians

Weekly help from Bruce Hurt at www.preceptaustin.org

 

 

 



So how is your hearing? How's your hearing? Stories told of two friends that were walking around in Times Square in New York City One day it was around lunchtime hour, so it was packed with people. I mean, people everywhere, cars blowing their horns, taxis flying up and down the road, sirens all over the place. It was It was a loud time in the city and one of the friends turned his other friend and he said, Man, what a strange time to hear cricket. This friend said, What are you talking about getting here? Newkirk. Yeah, I just I just heard a cricket. There's no way you heard a cricket. We're in the middle of Times Square. You did not hear a cricket. He goes, heard a cricket, A promise anyone to prove it to him. So he started following the sound of the crickets and they walked across the street and they found this huge cement planter. And there were some shrubs and the planner and he leaned down and he pulled back one of the limbs. And sure enough, there was a little cricket right there underneath this rope, his friends said. Thing is incredible. you must have super human ears. That's friends and no Myers or just like yours. It just all matters what's important to you and what you're listening for. Hey, guys, not that's crazy. Does not let me prove it to you. So his friend reached down into his pocket, grab some coins, and he threw the coins on the ground and everybody around them stopped and looked toward the direction of those coins, he said. See, he said, in the middle of all of this noise, in the middle of all of this craziness, people were listening for something. They stopped and they looked at those coins they knew in the middle of the noise. When money had dropped, they told us Friends say it's it's all what's important to you and it's all what you're listening for. So can you hear Christmas? There's a lot of noise right now, and most of it's good. Most of it's really good noise, but there's a lot of noise during the Hollies. Can you hear Christmas? Not just talking about you know, the Jingle Bells or the carols, and I just come out, you know, hearing or or listening for wrapping paper unwrapping Christmas lights or even just listening to the sound of chestnuts roasting on an open fire. Can you hear the message that's deeper than all of that? That the deeper message of Christmas, the message that's been described as having a thrill of hope, a thrill of hope that will do something. It will bring peace to your anxious stressed mine, a thrill of hope that will bring love to your discouraged heart, a thrill of hope that will bring joy to your soul that is worn out and weird. Can you hear that? Hope? Can you hear that message and how do you do that? How can you hear the message of Christmas? Well, let's see if we could find out Apostle Paul was writing to his friends in a place called Phillipe. He wrote to them saying this beginning in Chapter four, verse 18. But I have received everything in full and have in abundance. I'm amply supplied, having received from a path rid itis what you have sent. What can you do if you're not completely sure that you're buying someone the right gift? Well, you can get a gift receipt and then that person Congar back and they could use that gift receipt and go up to customer service. And they can say, Can I exchange this for a different color? Can I exchange this for a different size? Or maybe they just return it altogether and go back and get him a Belgian waffle maker or a Bacon Express grill, which is a real thing. I'm looking into it right now. They may exchange or to them, a return it. Well, in some ways, Paul, this is his gift for seats. Not because something has to be exchanged a return because something needs to be affirmed. He's warning these folks. You know how I got it. I got the present that you sent me, and I got the present that you sent through a password itis I got it. Who is a path? Rid itis? Well, we don't have a David McCullough biography on a path for Titus. We don't know a whole lot about him. We know that. He just seems to be kind of a regular guy in the church who wanted to follow Jesus. I wanted to love Jesus, wanted to serve Jesus and wanted to serve church. And so the church. They sent him with this gift and they say, Look, we want you to go find Paul in Rome. We want you to give him this gift, and then we want you to stay, and we want you to hang out and help him. So we have a message. We have a gift and we have a helper. That soup, Aphrodite, this is the rally, is that's who we are, right? If we profess to be Christians, we have a message. We have a gift, and we're supposed to be helping. We have the message of the gospel. We have the gift of knowing Jesus, and we're supposed to be helping people find that gift. So of all the things that you might do in your life, whatever titles you might have, whatever your job or your career is or may have been whatever titles you have in your home. Ultimately we as Christians have kind of this shared idea. Here we are supposed to help people find the gift of Jesus. That's our purpose in life. Up Aphrodite. This was a guy who made sure that he was living out that purpose. He was helping the message of Jesus, Sprint, Jack and Kim are old friends of IRS. For about a decade, they served as missionaries in North Africa through International Mission Board Are Lottie Moon. Christmas offering is part of the reason they were able to go those years ago, and while they were on the mission field, they had their six precious kids with them and their home church in Hampton, Virginia, where I used to serve. They would they would send groups all year long to go help out with their work there in North Africa. And then there was Peggy, and I may have told you about Peggy before. I can't remember, but Peggy would go not with the group. She would usually go by herself. She would leave Hampton, Virginia, sometimes once a year, and she would go on and she would spend 2 to 3 weeks, sometimes with their family. She didn't go to pass out tracks. She didn't go toe evangelize anyone. She didn't go to do vacation Bible school in the village. She didn't go to help build anything. Peggy went for one reason, and that was just to encourage Kim. That's what she did. She left her life in Virginia just to go encourage this young mother on the mission field. That was her purpose. She took the message of the gospel. She took her love for Jesus and she went and helped Kim is Kim was helping the world in that area. Find Jesus for the first time, I would love that. We would all be Peggy's, that we would look at the gospel. We would look a ministry. We would look at the church and we would say, You know what? I'm just going to do what I can to help. I'm going to do it. I can't to serve. I'm going to take the message of the gospel. I'm going to take this gift of Jesus in my heart. And I'm going to serve and encourage the pastors and serve and encourage the staff and serve and encourage my fellow church members. I'm going to serve and encourage other believers. Whether they're in Casey, West Columbia wins birth are the farthest end of the earth. I'm going to do what I can with the gospel that's in my heart to serve and encourage others to help them as they follow Jesus. Because if you do if you will, then you will be taking the message to the uttermost parts of the earth. That's what Peggy was doing. Peggy was making sure that this young mom, who is in an area of the world that was very hard to exist as anything as a human, much less as a woman, much less as a Christian missionary, a dangerous place in the world. Peggy went to help to make sure that people found out about Jesus. It's not a hard thing for us to find ways to help and to serve and possum. And I'm so glad, so happy for Pai for night is so thankful to you folks at Phillippi because you all sent a gift and it met my needs matter. Fact. Paul says it. It more than met his needs, right? Like I described it, he says, in full abundance and amply supplied. In other words, he said, You look your gift man who hit the mark like a great meal at Grandma's house at Christmas. This gift hit the spot Paul gives it huge marks is something that kind of kept giving for What was it jelly of the month club? You know, maybe it was an oversized hoodie blanket. Maybe it was a box of pens and paper, which would have been huge to Paller or maybe his box of pecan pie cookies. I don't know what they gave, but whatever they gave it just kind of kept on giving. It was exactly what Paul needed. He was affirming them because they gave a good gift, but he didn't just say thanks for the gift. He goes on to give them kind of a five star review, Liquidy says. Next verse 18 he says, a fragrant aroma and acceptable sacrifice, well pleasing to God. There's a new line of Christmas morning. Thank you so much for these socks. They are a fragrant aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, and will pleasing to God. But that's how he describes this gift. He's just overwhelmed with it now when he says fragrant aroma, he's not talk about a Yankee candle, not talking about a essential old diffuser that you put on the counter. No, he's He's talking about something completely different. He's pulling language and pictures from the Old Testament. See the Old Testament. When a sacrifice was brought, it was. It was put on the burn altar and the aroma of that sacrifice would would fill up the community. It is very similar to what happens to me sometimes when I walk out the indoor down here in the building and true barbecue. Oh, man, you know, it's just they're filling the neighborhood with the aroma of sweet, savory aroma of their menu all over town. You can you can smell it, Paul saying This. This gift you gave it's It's this aroma in my life. I'm sitting here in prison. My freedoms have been taken away for me. But I have this this amazing aroma of love and care and your sharing to May. That's a cool way to say thanks for gift right. But your your gift is it is just this aroma in the midst of what feels tremendously hard, Paul says. It was a fragrant aroma, and then he says it was an acceptable sacrifice. It cost him something. It's not just like they stopped at the kiosk is the right there the grocery store and just got a little gift card. Now this this is something that required something from them. It was some type of sacrifice, either practically or financially. It was almost as if maybe they had $25,000 in the church account and they sent a path for Titus with $24,900. They felt it. It wasn't just some small thing, or maybe they didn't have any money. Maybe they had church property. And they said, You know, we really need to help with the gospel. Let's just sell that property. And I know we were going to build a new gym on it or, you know, build up, build new family Life Center, whatever. But, you know, let's just sell that. Probably less give that money to the work of the Gospel. Listen, that own T'POL. I know a church that when they first started, they made a commitment to not have a building of their own and the reason wise, they just felt like that, that it was going to be a huge expense for the things that they were trying to do. And so they said, you know, we would just love to not have that maintenance expense, and we want to give that money to the work of the Gospel in places where nobody has ever heard of Jesus. And I think in their early years. There were several years where they gave, like $300,000 to the work of the Gospel in places were Never bought. No one had ever heard the name of Jesus. There was some kind of sacrifice the Philippians made. We don't know exactly what it was, but it cost him something. Paul sayss. I appreciate your sacrifice. And although we don't know the details, we know that based on what Paul's saying, their sacrifice was pleasing to God because that's what he says. He's your sacrifice, man. It is a fragrant aroma and it pleases God. How did we know that it Please, God? Well, me see if I can say it somewhat practical here I am. I'm so thankful for you so many of you and the way that you faithfully give to our church. It allows our church to care for the work of the gospel, to care for, for the building in our campus to care for our staff and their families, to care for the mission support that we have here in this community and to the uttermost parts of the earth. And I thank you so much for the way that you steadily sacrificial e give to the work of the Gospel here at Holland Avenue. I love how one pastor described this, he said, You're giving is your offering and your sacrifice to the Lord. And then he says this and it speaks well of the seriousness of your faith that it's extremely cool. It's an amazing thing for a pastor to be able to say Thank you so much for the way you give because it speaks to the seriousness off your face. And can I just say it is an honor for me to pastor church of people who are serious about their faith just through the way that they steadily give what a glorious thing that we can say together? You know what? We are serious and our faith we were giving. We're sacrificing because we have this message. We have this gift and we want to be a help to the work of the gospel. So thank you, and I truly praise the Lord for you. Paul is was praising the Lord for his folks down in Philippa because here's the deal. He could have said this different. He could have said, Hey, your gift. It's a fragrant a worm, A thank you for your sacrifice, but it could've left off the last part. He could have said, That's not really well pleasing to God. You know why? Because they could have given it with pride or arrogance, right? Like a political donation to a candidate. You know, sometimes it's given in the hopes that hey, maybe later on there'll be a little a little favor, my way and sometimes gifts or even given to the church that way, you know, maybe, maybe later on little favor or hey, maybe let's get my name in the bulletin or put it on a plaque somewhere. Let's put it on the front of the building. But Paul says that the way they gave it was well pleasing to God because they gave just like you're giving with the right attitude with joyful humility. That's what Paul sees and the Philippians give way. Just want to be part of the gospel, whatever that looks like. We just want to be part of the gospel, and we're going to sacrifice here because we think the name of Jesus is that important. They gave with the right attitude they gave with joyful humility and thank you for following after the Philippians and doing the same. Paul gives his receipt. He describes the impact of their gift with some fantastic language of a fragrant aroma. Sacrifice something that's well pleasing to guy, and then he really kicks the encouragement up a little bit, Equity says in Verse 19. And my God will supply all your needs. This is an amazing sentence. Paul is taking God out of, you know, just religious chatter. He's taking God out of some existential conversation on spirituality, and he's saying, This God is my God, This God is, is my God, why does that matter? This is what the Scripture says as they have 46. This is how God speaks of himself, for I am God and there is no other. I am God and there is no one like me declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times, things which have not been done saying and listen what the Lord says. My purpose will be established and I will accomplish all my good pleasure. Truly, I have spoken truly. I will bring it to pass. I have planned it. Surely I will do it and Paul says that God is my God, the one that looks out at the universe that looks out of history and says, Whatever I have planned will not be tabled. Whatever I have plan will not be put on the shelf. Whatever I have plan will never be impeached. The God of the universe will not be forded from his plan and Paul sayss. Yep, that's my God, that that's my God. This is the language the Bible uses forgot. It says that he is perfect and wisdom. He's perfect and power. He's perfect in holiness and justice and goodness and love. The Bible says that God is supreme, that he is sovereign, that he is infinite, that he is eternal, and he is a kn changeable, unchangeable, no term limits. We've got imPaul sayss yet that's my guy. That's my guy. He's writing to his friends, encouraging because that got my God, he will supply all your names. John Glenn Thomas said this Paul was talking about a God whom he knew, the one who had changed the course of his life with one who had changed the quality of his life with one who had changed the destiny of his life. The one who had changed the whole of his thinking aboutthe world about eternity, about everything in the world. Paul said this God, whom I have come to know he is my God. And he says this, I wonder, can we speak in these terms? Because this is the great aim of Christianity to bring us into a personal living relationship with God through Jesus Christ. And if it doesn't do that, then I don't know what else it does. So has the aim of Christianity found you? Has this God that Paul speaks of? Has he changed your life? Has he changed the way you look at the entire world? The way you watch the news, the way you read the news, the way you scroll through your social media feed has this God changed How you think about everything in your life. Jeff Thomas writes this a master surgeon can offer to remove the cancer or give me a heart bypass or take away the cataracts from my eyes and give me sight. But those air only offers. Have I accepted God's offer and acted upon it. Has this God become? My God has this savior become my savior. Has he become my profit? Priest and king God has loved the world. True, But I can still perish unless I believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Have I come to God? Have I taken Christ? Have I responded to that proffered love that says to me, Come and I will give you rest And he says this No one here shall perish because God is not love. No one here shall perish because God has failed toe offer himself lovingly and sincerely to any of you. But men shall perish because that love is spurned. Don't spurn the love of God for your proud, arrogant heart Come to Jesus and take his rest For your tired, worn, weary heart Hear the message the choir sang There is no sorrow on Earth that heaven can't heal None come to Jesus and take own his rest For your tired, worn out weary soul 132 years ago, William T. Sleeper Rhoda pulling that ultimately was set to music that we sing from time to time. And these were some of the words of his pulling out of my bondage sorrow and night out of my sickness out of my want out of my sin out of my shameful failure and loss. Hearing yourself yet out of Earth sorrows out of life's storms, out of distress, out of unrest and arrogant pride out of myself out of despair, out of the fear and the dread of the tomb. Frank. Thank you, brother. Just reminding us earlier of that reality for our lives. But until that reality is a reality, we have Jesus today, out of the fear and dread of the tomb, out of the depths of ruin. Untold Jesus. I come too, the out of all of it. Jesus, I come to the Is this the moment in history that you need to come to Jesus? Is this the moment that you need to to turn from your sin and and realize that God has supplied the help that you need the most? But he's supplied the promise of eternal life that he's surprised, supplied the guarantee of freedom from the chains of sin. If you come to him today, Jesus, I come to thee now someone might be thinking, Well, if God is going to supply all of my needs, If that's true that I don't really need Jesus. Now. What I really need is I need better health care. I need a better job. I need a nicer husband. I need a amore loving life. I need more respectful Children. I need a more responsible government. Yeah, I need some stuff. It is. It's not Jesus. How is me coming to Jesus? Really going to solve the problems of my life? Paul has an answer to that. But before we get to that answer, let me just do some quick math for our hearts and minds. Who is Paul riding too? He's riding to some folks in this place call Phillippi. And what those folks did was they said, You know what? We need to do something for the Gospel. Hey, let's let's send something to Paul. And it was a sacrifice for them to do it. And so now they're needing to hear the second far. Hey, they have given sacrificial e. Not really sure how that's going to work out, Paul Say, Hey, don't worry about it because you gave sacrificial e. God's going to meet your need, and that's an important part. See if if you're sitting at home at the recliner and you have absolutely nothing to do with the work of the Gospel. Don't expect God to drop that gospel Powerball in your lap just because you think you might deserve it. And even if you are engaged in the work of the Gospel, don't think that that means you automatically get a life of of health and wealth and prosperity. Just just a few sentences back, Paul says. I know what it means to be hungry and thirsty. This guy is arguably the greatest Christian that has ever lived on the Earth. Sorry to offend you, but Paul's a better Christian than all of us. And he says, You know what? I've been beaten. I've been tortured. I've been thrown in jail. I know what it means to go without. In other words, the modern health and wealth and prosperity. Gospel gospel does not match the Bible. You just can't match them up with the whole of Scripture. And so when Paul says God's going to supply your needs, remember, the old phrase is God will supply your need, not your greed. So if you have a need, he'll meet it. Let me just say this. There is a Christian somewhere in the world right now. As we gather this morning, they are sitting in prison for their faith. They may not see tomorrow, and God is meeting their need. How? Stomach down. You losing your mind Here. Thank you, aunt. Too much cold medicine. You're talking foolish when the world you're saying I might go hungry and I might go thirsty and and I might get beaten them. I get tortured, I might get killed. And yet guys going to supply my need. Well, how in the world is he going to do that? How is God going to supply all of my need if it means I might go without This is Paul's answer. Verse 19 And God will supply all your needs according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. God is going to supply your needs through Christ and notice the language here it says. According to Not out of According to Not out of this week. A couple of baseball players made a couple of dollars in new contracts, one of them over the course of the next nine years. We get $35 million a year for playing baseball. Bless. So so Let's just imagine that he gets the 35 million. And let's say that next year he gives a $1,000,000 to charity. Okay, he won't even know it's gone. He won't even feel it at all because he's given out of Not according to. If you have $500 mixed bills in your wallet and you lose a $1 bill, you may not know it's gone. But if you have $500 mixed bills in your wallet and you get up the next morning, pick up your wallet and there's only a $1 bill in your wallet. You're going to know that money's gone. So let's say that he takes a 35 million. He gets 34 million, let's say, get 34 million to charity and then he gives 900,000 to his local church. I'm not good on math. I think that leaves 100,000 and if so, that he's going to feel that right. You go from 35 million to 100,000 you're going to feel that the picture that Paul is painting here is that God is not giving out of his riches. He is giving, according to his riches again, someone might be thinking, Well, I don't get it then. I mean, if God supposed to be gotten everything, I mean, if if he's the excuse me, I'm so sorry. If he's the one that you know is is the Godof the universe. I'm thinking he's got a couple of dollars, right? I mean, I'm thinking if he's the one true God than that, he's got to be the wealthiest being in the universe. And if that's the case, why am I eating Van Camp's pork and beans? Come on. Now, if God's all that that I'm supposed to have steak and lobster every night, right? I mean, I'm I'm one of his Children. Well, the best way to answer those questions is with a question. What is your greatest need? What is your greatest need if your greatest need is money, you don't need Jesus. If your greatest need is an education, you don't need Jesus. If your greatest need is a job. Jesus. If your greatest need is a spouse, you don't need Jesus. If your greatest need is his health or retirement, or for your team to win the game, the only Jesus R. C. Sproul said this there is a God who is all together holy, who is perfectly just and who declares that he is going to judge the world and hold every human being accountable for their life. That's clearly what we see in Scripture. He goes on as a perfectly holy and just Godhe requires from each one of us Ah, life of perfect obedience and of perfect justice. If there is such a GodAnd if you have lived a life of perfect justice and obedience, that is, if you're perfect, then you certainly don't need Jesus. You don't need a savior because Onley unjust people have a problem. So we won't do a show of hands. But anybody here been perfectly obedient and perfectly just anybody here perfectly obeyed your parents all the time and by perfectly obeyed your teachers all the time. Anybody perfectly obeyed the statutes of our country. Anybody perfectly obeyed the speed laws in our community. Anybody perfectly obeyed all of the tax halls from the I. R. S. Anybody here perfectly loved other people and perfectly honored the planet that we live on. Anybody here perfectly loved the God of the universe who created you? If not, then you have a problem. But there's a solution to the problem. And as a matter of fact, this solution has been given to the entire world. But especially it's been given to you. This is the solution. Luke. Chapter two versus 10 and 11 The angel said, I bring you good news of great joy, which will be for all the people for today in the city of David. There has been born for you, a savior who is Christ the Lord. Whatever you have is a need in your life right now. Just put it in your mind. And it doesn't mean that any of your practical, our financial or physical needs are wrong. It doesn't, but the reality is none of those things or your greatest need. Dewey is believers need to start meeting practical needs. Yeah, yes, it's kind of dumb for us to go up to someone who's hungry and say what Jesus loved you see later, Bud. Now we feed them, and then we tell them about Jesus. But the reality and F. B. Myers has put perfectly he said it this way. Christ is God's answer to our need, Period. Exclamation point. Exclamation point! Exclamation point! Do you need your spouse to be more helpful? Sure. Do you need your spouse to be more loving? Sure. Do your kids to be more loving and helpful. Sure do you need your boss and your fellow employees and your fellow church members and your politicians to be more loving and more helpful? Sure, but your greatest need and my greatest need is to be saved. It's our greatest need in 2000 years ago, in a in a manger and baffle him God because of his rich mercy. Met your need in Jesus. God meets our needs through Jesus, one of the most beloved songs that Christmas was written in 18 47 by a French merchant. A local minister had had heard and known that he was good at writing poetry and he asked him to write a Christmas point for the church. And so as the story goes, he he wrote the point in a carriage. Riding down the road using Luke to as his loot at LOL of Luke really is his inspiration, so to speak, for his point, and he finished the point mop and he went, found a friend. Is that Hey, man, can you put some music to this? And then they presented it to the minister of the church, and the song was sung. Interestingly, though most of the church leaders during that time said that the song was unfit for church service. Now, just a gracious reminder for us. Just because a newer church song or an older church song doesn't tickle your fancy doesn't mean your opinions, right? And that's true for me, too. Back then, they said, Man, this song we sing in that church, it's unfit. And do you know that you've already heard it twice this morning? You and Aly, it's It's fit now. The people of the church loved the song. The church leaders didn't like the people of church. They loved it, and then other people outside of that one church, they heard him, boy, they loved and it spread all over the country super fast. And then it across the seas came overto our country. And eight years after the point was written, an American minister translated into an English version meant, That's the one we sing today. But but it seems to be a true English version and not a literal English translation. An English version, not a translation. But I came across a translation from the French to the English, and I just thought it might be helpful for our hearts and minds today. The song is O holy Night and this is the literal translation. Midnight Christians. It is the solemn hour when God is man descended unto us to erase the stain of original sin and to end the wrath of his father. The entire world thrills with hope on this night that gives it a savior. And then we hear what? Fall on your knees. Oh, here the angel voices. But here's the literal translation people. Neil down Await your deliverance. Christmas Christmas Here is the Redeemer. Christmas Christmas year is the redeemer. That is the beautiful, glorious, wonderful, fantastic saving message of Christmas. Can you hear it? Can you?


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