Phil. 4:11-13
"I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content
whatever the circumstances.
I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty.
I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry,
whether living in plenty or in want.
I can do everything through him who gives me strength."
We have been so blessed!
And the Lord is the One who has given them.
Thanks be to God!
Paul says confidently, "I can do everything through him who gives me strength."
He wasn't bragging; he was just telling us how God does His work.
And I'm sure believers of all ages have read those words and thought,
"I wish I had that kind of faith!"
Well, you can!
You can have that kind of faith!
You can do all things through Christ, maybe not all your things, but all His things.
Paul was just an ordinary man, but to have such faith, he had to empty himself of his own ambition,
put aside his pride and throw out his own plans.
Doing all things through Christ means some changes in life.
If Paul seems a bit over-confident, it's probably because he had come to learn his limitations.
Though he was a man of great gifts and was exceptionally bright, he had learned
not to put his confidence in himself, but in the Lord.
God enables people, even you and me, to do great and miraculous things
when we take the step of faith and trust Him.
It means placing our lives in His hands.
But life doesn't always go according to our plans, does it?
We see an open door and go through it, believing this is where we should go,
then we find it's the door to unemployment or bankruptcy.
We marry the one we love, have children and then wonder how they can turn out like they did.
Or else, we wonder who is this stranger we're married to.
We use our intellect to get ourself through college, secure a promising position,
attend self-improvement seminars, work long hours, and then,
one day find ourselves, "downsized" (a.k.a. "fired").
Or, we have a good life with the kids doing well; we've put a nice sum away for retirement
and then, get back the medical report, "It's malignant."
No, life doesn't always go according to our plans.
But the Christian life will always go according to His plans.
He can see the end of the tunnel and He knows what it will take for us to make it through.
And the greatest tool He gives us for the trip is faith-- faith to move mountains,
faith that He loves and forgives us, faith that He will stay with us on the detours we all will take.
St. Paul says,
"I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.
I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty.
I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry,
whether living in plenty or in want.
I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength."
He didn't learn those lessons easily, but he did learn them, because He listened when God spoke.
He paid attention to God.
Whatever you can say about Paul -- he learned from his mistakes.
It's easy to feel picked on.
It's human to think our problems are unique and sometimes, insurmountable.
It's tempting to think God doesn't care.
It's very easy to pity ourselves when things don't go according to plan.
But self-pity won't help us.
Blaming someone else is a waste of time .
Being a victim solves nothing.
To do anything, we need God's power.
A young man in Louisiana wanted to learn to fish.
He asked around and found the best fisherman was an elderly man who took him in a boat far out on the lake.
They stopped the boat and the young man watched intently to see this master fisherman do his work.
He was aghast, as the old man pulled out a stick of dynamite, lighted it, and tossed it overboard.
The explosion stunned dozens of fish that floated to the surface.
In a flash the young man whipped out his Game Warden badge.
"You can't do it that way, it's against the law, and I'm placing you under arrest."
The old man, calmly lit another stick of dynamite, handed it to the Game Warden, and said,
"You gonna just sit there talking, or are you gonna fish?"
There could be times when God has had enough of our complaints and excuses
and hands us a lighted stick of dynamite in the form of some crisis.
When that happens, we have some choices.
We can scream and run for our life.
At least, that gets us away, but the problem still remains.
Or, we can yank the fuse and try our own plan, even if, we have no clue what it is.
Or, we can gripe and complain that God is not fair and just waste a lot of time and energy,
and get blown away.
Or, we can use the power that God gives us.
We can depend upon His Word.
His power will get things done.
The Greek word for power is "dumanis" which means, dynamite -- the dynamic power
the Holy Spirit gives in the Gospel to change people's lives.
We all need hope.
We all need to be rescued from our sins.
And that's why God sent Jesus.
God loves us.
He created us for good and wonderful things, but we have messed up our life with sin.
Our sin separates us from God and from each other, so He sent His only Son to bridge the gap
and straighten out the mess of our lives.
Jesus did all that was necessary, and when we trust Him by faith, we're forgiven and have a new life.
And we should thank and praise Him by how we live, and love each other.
Paul said,
"I am not ashamed of the gospel,
because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes."
(Rom. 1:16)
The Gospel is the dynamite of God to blow up our pride and break apart our rock-hardened ways,
so He can re-make broken people into forgiven and loving people, people willing to trust Him,
people willing to forgive others.
The Gospel rescues the drowning, and gives hope to the hopeless.
It comforts the afflicted and afflicts the comfortable.
And it moves people like Paul and - and us - to say,
"I can do everything through him who gives me strength."
A small congregation in the Smoky Mountains built a new church on a tiny piece of land
willed to them by a church member.
Ten days before the new church was to open, the county building inspector informed the pastor
that the parking lot was inadequate for the size of the building.
Until the church doubled the size of the parking lot, they wouldn't be able to use their new church.
Unfortunately, the church with its tiny lot had used every inch of land except for the hill
against which it had been built.
In order to have more parking, they'd have to move that hill.
Undaunted, the pastor announced the problem the next Sunday morning and said
he'd meet that evening with all members who had "mountain-moving faith."
Twenty-four of the congregation's three hundred members came and prayed
that God would somehow remove that hill and provide the funds
to pave their parking lot before next Sunday's dedication.
At ten o'clock the pastor said, "Amen! We'll open next Sunday as scheduled.
God has never let us down before, and I believe He will be faithful this time too."
The next morning, there was a knock at the door of his home.
A construction foreman was at the door, "Excuse me, Reverend.
I'm from Acme Construction Company over in the next county.
We're building a huge new shopping mall over there and we need some fill dirt.
Would you be willing to sell us a chunk of that hill behind your church?
We'll pay you for the dirt we remove and pave all the exposed area free of charge,
but we need it right away.
We can't do anything else until we get the fill dirt.
What do you say?"
Well, that little congregation held its first service the next Sunday as planned.
And there were a lot more members with "mountain moving faith"
than there had been the previous week!
That's a true story
That's how God works.
Would you have shown up for that prayer meeting?
And if you did, would you have believed the pastor?
Some of us have problems as big as a mountain, and we've prayed and prayed,
but it hasn't moved yet.
But God can move mountains.
He can do great and wondrous things through us.
We just have to trust Him.
And we must pray to God to move our mountain, whatever it is.
Then we'll say with Paul,
"I can do everything through him who gives me strength." Amen!
Sermon By Dr. Harold L. White