In Philippians 4:10-20, the message centers on contentment and strength in christ. Explore Philippians 4:10–20 and discover Paul’s secret of contentment, the meaning of Philippians 4:13, generosity, and trusting God in every season. Rather than treating the passage as abstract theology, the sermon traces what these truths reveal about God, the gospel, and the way followers of Jesus are called to live.
The teaching brings biblical truth into the places where faith becomes deeply personal: fear, uncertainty, suffering, desire, and the questions we carry about what comes next. It invites listeners to let Scripture shape their perspective instead of allowing circumstances, emotions, or cultural assumptions to have the final word. The emphasis is on a durable hope that changes how we think, pray, endure, and respond in the present.
Along the way, the message engages themes including Philippians 4:10-20, contentment and strength in christ, philippians 4, 1020 secret of contentment. These ideas help place the primary passage within the larger story of Scripture and show how its theology speaks to real spiritual formation. At its heart, the sermon helps answer questions such as: What does Philippians 4:10-20 teach about contentment and strength in christ? It also considers how should contentment and strength in christ shape the way Christians live?
For someone studying this passage, exploring the Christian faith, or looking for practical biblical teaching, this sermon offers a clear path from the text to everyday discipleship. The invitation is to hear what Scripture says, receive it with humility, and take the next faithful step in following Jesus.
What does Philippians 4:10-20 teach about contentment and strength in christ? | How should contentment and strength in christ shape the way Christians live? | How can believers apply Philippians 4:10-20 in everyday life?
Philippians 4:10-20, contentment and strength in Christ, philippians 4, 1020 secret of contentment, meaning of philippians 4, trusting God in every season, strength in Christ
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This is the last week that we're in Philippians. We've been in this for 10 weeks, but you picked probably the best day because we're going to talk about uh the the the favorite verse in Philippians. Philippians 4:13. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, right? Probably the most misqued and and misused verse in the Bible. Um but we're going to touch on it today and we're going to have some some fun. And uh if you have your Bibles, turn with me to Philippians chapter 4. And we're going to start in verse 10 here in a moment. But for those of you that have been here, maybe you've been watching online, how many of you, this has been a blessing to you to expositorially go through the book of Philippians, like verse by verse, it's it's something that I love preaching because I don't have to come up with any crazy new ideas. I can just let the word of God speak for itself. Amen. >> The the word can preach way better than me. Somebody give a big amen. >> Come on. But today again, we're hitting this final section here and we're going to be talking about the joy of generosity. Crickets love that. This is not going to be a money talk, church. Okay? This is going to be a joy talk. Somebody say joy talk. >> This is about being a generous people in every part of our lives, not just in our checkbook or in our credit card statement. Joy is this consistent theme that we've seen all throughout Paul's letter to Philippians to the Philippian church. And and you could you could probably make the case that the Philippian church was Paul's favorite church because everybody else got a letter where it's like you need to get right. And the Philippians, he's just like, I love you guys. You know, which is really why I felt like the Lord wanted me to to preach in Philippians because he loves this church. Somebody say, "Amen." >> Amen. But church, what I love so much is is what we see. Paul is writing this letter from prison. And yet almost the entire letter, he's talking about how there's joy in his life. There's joy in following Jesus. There's joy in serving Jesus, suffering for Jesus. There's joy found in sharing Jesus with others, pursuing Jesus, in devotion. There's joy in belonging to a church and in a church in praying and renewing our minds. A life of joy is a life with Jesus. Somebody say amen. >> Amen. >> And I love this this verse at the top of Philippians in Philippians 1 and and it's actually part of the mission statement of Axio's church that we would be living your life in a manner that is worthy of the gospel. And and if I can just say this, I've said it many times. It's not at all saying that you are worthy because how many you know that you're not worthy. We're undeserving of the grace of God. But when we receive this grace, when we receive salvation, there is this compelling love and move within us that says, I want to live worthy of this gift that has been given to me. And that is what it means to live a life in a manner worthy of the gospel and to live a life of joy, live a life of peace, live a life of love. And church, today as we look at joy, we need to understand that joy cannot be dependent on our circumstances. Because how many of you know that our circumstances change? Our relationships change. Our health can change. And I'm I'm learning more and more that your health changes as you age. I almost fell off my a ladder this week and cut my finger. It was really fun. And I was like, I don't think I would have fallen if I was 25 again. Yeah. Hey yo, joy can produce feelings of happiness in circumstances, but joy really looks more like a deep level of contentment and satisfaction and centeredness based on the connection that we have to God through our faith in Jesus. Joy is connected to contentment and peace with God. And it's found again in that satisfaction that we're close to Christ and Christ is close to us. I love this this verse in Luke 2 when an angel spoke to Mary who was the mother of Jesus where the angel said, "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people." I want to just draw your attention to something in this verse. It says all people. You may think that you're in a place right now where you can't experience joy and that's just you're the exception to the rule. But this scripture says the good news of Christ is for all people. That that freedom that we get to walk in is for all of us. You are not the exception to the rule. And you may be in a place where you're looking at everybody else in your in your Christian life and they're like, "How is it that they have peace? How is it that they have joy? How is it that they have this love? and yet I don't walk in that. Well, today we're going to find out what the secret weapon is because that joy again is is offered to everyone. And if you want to grow in joy, you grow in Jesus, in prayer, in his word, in worship, and in generosity. And in Philippians 4:10, as we start and finish out this section, there's a secret weapon to a life with joy. I'm not going to ask for a show of hands, but this is Tennessee, and I know that some of y'all are packing in the house today. I see you. You are the secret weapons here. It's really funny because uh whenever I I walk into a store with my son Nikki and he sees a sign that says no guns allowed, he leans over to me and he's like, "Daddy, I better put these puppies away." [laughter] I taught him that. You know, clearly as Christians, we have the biggest weapon that there is. It's Christ Jesus in us. Somebody say, "Amen." Amen. >> Philippians 4:10 says, "I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity." Again, Paul, he's the founding pastor of of the church in Philippi. He's being held in a Roman prison. And in this moment, he has received some kind of a care package from the church in Philippi. And he's kind of referring back to Philippians 2:25 when Apaproditis had come to visit Paul. The Philippian church sent him something. And Paul is closing out this letter by thanking God and thanking the church really just for the heart that this church has, this church family that he has in Philippi. Just note the Christians in this church, they cared for Paul. they cared for his ministry calling, what he's doing in ministry and and that he's really thankful not just for their prayer, but also for their financial support within this gift. And for some reason, we don't know all the details, but for some reason, the church in Philippi had disengaged and then they re-engaged. And Paul is bringing that out in this in this verse. They've sent him some kind of financial support, a care package, whatever. And Paul is so encouraged by this support of the people that he so cares for as their pastor. And I'll just say this as your pastor today. I am grateful. I am grateful for you. I'm grateful for this church. I'm grateful for the texts that I get, the emails, even the cards that I get. I know we have like pastor appreciation in October, but I feel like some of y'all think pastor appreciation is every single month. Um, and I just want you to know I'm grateful. My wife and I are so grateful and we're just excited that we get to do what God is calling us to do together within this church body because God is moving. God is moving here in Franklin. People are being set free. Sons and daughters are being raised up and discipled. Do you see it? Do you feel it? Maybe. We're serving each other. We're building something great. And we're so grateful that we all get to be a part of this. And if you're not part of what's going on here, come on, join us and see God do an incredible work here. But if you want to fight and be dramatic, I will help you find another church real quick. Again, I rejoice in the Lord greatly that now at length you've revived your concern for me. And so he says that and then he kind of gives this disclaimer here in verse 11. He says, "Not that I am speaking of being in need." Somebody say in need. Pastors, including Paul here, we can kind of extrapolate this from here. Pastors do not like talking about money in church because we never know what people in the church think about when the pastors start talking about money. And even when I say money, I could see some of y'all's butt cheeks like clench up like that. I know I said butt cheeks in church, y'all. Come on. Wake up. Some of y'all smile awkwardly whenever we we call the offering or whatever it might be. Like, but I I'll just be honest, like, no good pastor likes talking about money. And so I'm I'm trying to be a good pastor, but I I've heard this many times, and it's really sad that the news media has really painted out so many ministers and churches in this way where we see the the 1% of pastors that are flying on private jets and living in mansions and calling everybody demons. And so we think all a pastor wants is our money so he can build his big house and let all these kids in Africa starve, right? And we can virtue signal like that really really quick. But I love that even Paul said this. He's like, "I'm not grateful because I was in need. I'm just grateful because of your generosity." Because Paul says this. He says, "For I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content." Somebody say, "Content." Has anyone else fully learned contentment in their life? With a show of hands, anybody in the house? Nobody. Come on. I just really appreciate Paul's honesty when he says, "I've learned this." He may have been gloriously saved and filled with the Holy Spirit, but he was not a man with the maturity enough to understand contentment. He didn't receive contentment on the road. When the Lord showed himself to Paul, he said, "I've learned this. In whatever situation, I'm to be content." And in verse 12, it says, "I know how to be brought low." Remember his story. He was shipwrecked multiple times. He was left for dead floating out in the ocean. He was beaten 40 lashes minus one, not just once, but five different times. And he's been in prison for multiple years. He knows how to be brought low. He knows how to live in that state of discomfort and being humbled again and again and again. But then it also says past that, I know how to abound. I know how to be brought low and I know how to abound. I've been through low low moments and I've been through the high high moments. Remember he he even talks about this. He says he was he was the top dog. He was the Hebrew of Hebrews. He was the Pharisee of all Pharisees prior to knowing Christ. He's been to the highest heights and the most excruciating lows. And Paul is saying, I had to learn this contentness through experience. Some of us, again, we want that microwave maturity where it's instantaneous. And some of us have even bought into the lie in the church world that if you'll come to Jesus, then everything in your life will be perfect. That there will be just instant transformation. But he said he had to learn to be patient. He's had to learn to be content. He's had to learn maturity because you can be an immature Christian, right? And I don't know if you knew this, but maturity is not one of the fruit of the spirit. Again, we got love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. But maturity is a process where you have to go through some stuff in order to begin to walk in it. You grow in maturity through the highs and the lows. And again, some of us have high high circumstances. So many things are going good for us in our job, with money, with family and kids. Every day looks like it's better than the day before. And some of us have had some low points. We've had to deal with some financial crises. We've had the bad diagnosis. We've had depression and anxiety and maybe even questioning our faith. If there's a God, I don't know where he is in my life. Right? But Paul shares this in Philippians 4:12 and 13. It says, "In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need." I love the juxtaposition here as he leads into saying, "I can do all things through Jesus who strengthens me." We love that verse, right? It's a great verse. It's on bumper stickers. You see it in gym locker rooms. Like, it's all over the place. Like, even if people aren't Christian, they love to say this this thing. I think it's one of the most misqued texts in Philippians and maybe even the entire Bible right up next to only God can judge me, right? Tupac said that, guys. It's actually in 1 Corinthians 4:4 where it is the Lord that judges me. Right? God loves Philippians 4:13. And that's that's why we're preaching on it today. But again, this this verse is bigger than a bumper sticker or a slogan for a workout gym. This is the secret the secret to a life of joy. The secret to a life of centeredness. It's a secret. The secret to a life of contentment. Are you ready to start walking in it, church? >> A content life is a joyful life. A content life is a centered life in Christ. And there are thousands of self-help books out there, lectures, podcasts, Dr. Phil, Oprah interviews, all the things that are trying to sell you the secret of happiness. The get-rich quick schemes, the drop 30 pounds in 30 days schemes. I actually saw recently that there's a international bestselling book called The Secret and it suggests that the law of attraction is the secret to help you have a joyful life. That you can will it and manifest it into existence. That you can attract good into your life if you have enough good and then you'll have all joy. Kind of Buddhist, right? A little karma in there. If you believe hard enough, if you say it enough, if you keep it in your mind and, you know, just vibe out with this positive energy, you can actually attract joy to your life. And and many of you have heard this before, just being a part of a Pentecostal movement, statements like, "We're going to name it and we're going to claim it, right? We're going to blab it and grab it. We're going to confess it and possess it in Jesus name. Hallelujah. Thank you, Lord. Right? The problem is Jesus didn't die for you to own the universe like that. It just doesn't work. Not everyone is going to prosper by the world's standards. That prosperity gospel mindset does not work because it makes us think if God doesn't bless me like I want to be blessed, then God must not be with me. What a lie >> that so many in the West are believing. I actually heard a story this last week. I was at a pastor's conference and there was a they were talking about a minister in a in a a nation in Africa in a refugee camp who's been there for 20 30 years living in a shipping container and inside that shipping container it can get to 110 120 degrees when the sun is out and he's lived there in this refugee camp pastoring people within this church. And I look at my life. I compare my life to him and I'm just like, your faith is a faith that I I don't even know if I can understand the suffering that you've had to endure. God does not have equal blessing by the world's standard for all of us. But he has equal blessing and salvation and freedom for all of us. Amen. >> Amen. But the way again to grow in maturity is to go through some stuff, go through some tests and trials and trust Jesus through it all. And this is really what Paul is talking about. The secret to contentment is not everything working out my way. The secret weapon to a life of joy and contentment and centerness is realizing that I can go through the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. I can have more than enough or never enough. I can have good times and bad times. I can do all of these things. And it's only through Jesus that I can do it all. He's the one that gives me the real strength to endure these things and to live this life. The secret is not us. The secret's not your story or your testimony and speaking good vibes over our stuff. The secret is walking through the valley of the shadow of death, knowing that greater is he that is in me than he than he that is in the world. Knowing that he's walking closer to me than a brother, that he never leaves me. He never forsakes me. That because I belong to Jesus, he belongs to me. I can go through anything because he is going through it with me. The secret is not avoiding pain or trying to fill comfort into those painful moments. It's walking through that pain with Jesus. Something that my my uncle used to say all the time, if Jesus brought you to it, Jesus will bring you through it. So whatever you're facing right now, if if I know God has brought you to the crossroads that you may be in, he may have brought you to the difficult conversation or the difficult moment, the whatever the the crisis may be, Jesus has brought you to it. And so Jesus will bring you through it. So lean on him in this process. Lean on him in this walk. Again, the secret is not having more stuff. It's having more strength in Christ. Because how many of y'all know more money more problems, right? Another rapper said that. Sorry. I'm all about the rappers today. A life of joy and contentment is more of Jesus. So, I I just want to encourage you and I and and I'm going to say this gently and not scream at you. You can endure hard things, church. >> You can go through great things. You can walk through anything as long as you're walking with Jesus. You can walk through relational failures. You can walk through the job loss. You can walk through the the terrible diagnosis of your health. You can walk through extreme wealth and blessing. I know some of y'all are praying for that walk. Amen. You can walk through any of it. And it'll never own you. It'll never destroy you because Jesus is the Lord of your life who walks with you through it all. It's the moment that we shift and we make these blessings our God that we realize that we're not walking with Jesus anymore. When you go allin in your faith, live every day of your life fully devoted to Jesus. When you're straining towards Jesus, when you're choosing to live axios, to live worthy of the gospel, you can handle it all. And literally look in the face of the devil and say, "Bring it, bro. Bring it. I have Christ in me. I can do all things through Jesus who is your strength." Again, we love to misquote this scripture like, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. I'm going to jump out of a plane with no parachute. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. I'm going to rob a bank. No. Listen, we can't misuse the Bible to try to build a better you. It's not a self-help book. It's it's transformative. It changes us to become more like him, not making us more like oursel. Because without Christ, you are just yourself. Again, this is why we say to live worthy of the gospel because you can't do that without going allin following Jesus. With Jesus, Paul's attitude is it doesn't matter what happens to me. This is the secret of contentment. I can do it all. I can handle every circumstance because I'm in relationship with Jesus. And again, remember, he's writing this from a prison. just put it into perspective for him to be able to say something like, "I've been in this prison for two to three years and I can handle it all because Christ is with me." We may think that our life is in A REALLY TOUGH SPOT, BUT then when I look at Paul, I'm just like, man, that's not so bad. I've got Christ with me just like Paul, and I can begin to walk in this contentment every single day. And then Paul makes this shift to generosity. Because there is joy in generosity. And it's more than money. It's being generous with your time, generous with your skills, your abilities, generous with your resources. Joyful. Generosity is when it's about partnership with God's mission. Because it's not enough to just be generous, but what brings joy and generosity is when we partner our generosity with all of the things that God is doing. And how we behave when it comes to our finances, our time, our resources is a reflection of that joy. And it's a reflection of our relationship with Christ. Says, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. It's basically saying, I'm content. And then in verse 14, it says this, yet it was kind of you to share my trouble. If you if you like to write in your Bible, underline this word share. It was kind of you to share my trouble. And you Philippians yourselves know that in the beginning of the gospel, when I left Macedonia, no church entered into partnership with me in giving and receiving except you only. This is cool. It's perfect time for it to start raining. I want you to underline this too if you'd like to underline your Bible. No church entered into partnership. And then underline this except you only. Verse 16. Even in Thessaloni, Thessalonica, you sent me help for my needs once and again. Paul wrote two letters to the church in Thessalonica. the Thessalonians. But Philippi, the Philippian church, sent him help. They sent him money, resources, letters of encouragement. And they did this often. And there's this reoccurring pattern of generosity from the Philippian church. Paul starts by affirming that that their kindness and their generosity. And he thanks them for sharing his trouble. Remember he said, "It was kind of you to share my trouble." The Greek word for share is actually the same word that we have for fellowship. Say that word with me. Fellowship. >> Fellowship is when we gather and and it's when we get together. It's when we do life together. All the things. We don't really say fellowship outside of the church. Like nobody calls you up on the phone in your in your office and says, "Hey, you want to go fellowship today for lunch?" I was like, "Dude, you're creeping me out. What are we doing? We're about to join the Church of Scientology or something." You know? Paul said, "It was kind of you to fellowship fellowship with my trouble and my ministry." And here's what he's saying. The Philippian church had deep abiding relationship, friendship, and affirmation of Paul's ministry, his trouble, and his life. That deep connection of whatever Paul is doing, wherever Paul goes, we're going to roll with Paul. If Paul's doing this, we're doing it, too. If Paul's planting churches and in Thessalonica, we're going to plant churches there as well. We're going to give to that. And again, this is why like we're we're making some shifts more and more to begin partnering with ministries like Convoy of Hope. We already support over 35 missionaries all over the world. And just just like a total sidebar update, um some of you guys know Bobby Clayton. Um incredible man of God uh in Mongolia. And uh his his mom is actually on her deathbed right now. And here's what's so cool about partnership. Our network of churches was able to raise the money instantly to fly him back home to be with his mom. Isn't that awesome? But he needs your prayers, guys. Be praying for for for Bobby and Lindsay and their family. um just just really tough spot that they're in right now. But again, it's because of those partnerships and relationships that we're able to help these missionaries when they're in need. How cool is that? So, when we we say that we're giving 10% of our income away as a church and giving it to the church, it's not just writing checks to people that we don't know. Like I know it's not cool to give to fix light bulbs. It doesn't feel like kingdom work to us, right? It doesn't it doesn't necessarily feel even like kingdom work to build a playground out here. If it would stop raining, we could get it done. My gosh. But it's giving to see people come to know Christ to equip the saints for the work that God has called them to in reaching the lost. church. You're called to reach the lost. You're called to reach people on whatever platform that you're on, whatever influence that you have. Use it to build up the kingdom and disciple people. Come on. It's partnering with organizations and ministries. Partnership is such a key word here. We're we're in partnership and and stepping into partnership to begin feeding people around the world and to pre even provide clean water for them. Paul's saying, "My ministry is your ministry. You share a deep connection and fellowship. You're sharing these things." And Paul is saying, "I'm just so grateful for your generosity and your kindness that you're showing here." Again, he said, "I wasn't in in need, but thank you. Thank you for your partnership." And many of you in this church are already above and beyond givers. You're tithing 10% of your income, the first fruits of what God has given you. Many of you have just automate automatic giving and it just goes straight to the church and it's incredible. But I know many of you give above and beyond that to missions and and even other charity works throughout this nation and around the world. And that's incredible. And I and I and I know that God will continue to entrust you with more as you continue to say yes in that. Many of you share the vision of our church and and wanting to help build this great church. Be a part of lead Axio coming up. And I know many of you are reaching the lost Monday through Saturday, serving on Sunday. We're getting ready to do life together again in small groups. But I just want to thank you for sharing in the ministry of this church, Axios Church, for the fellowship and believing and partnering with the ministry and the vision of this house. Because here's what's so cool, and this is like this blew my brain when I first saw it. I was talking to the our elders about it this last week. Paul makes this statement where he says, "No other church except you has done it like this. No other church, you're the only one out of all the churches that I've planted, of all the the ministries that I've been a part of, you're the only church that gets it. You're like nobody else. Have you ever known someone, a friend, family member, somebody close to you, or just meet somebody randomly and you're like, I don't know anybody like you. I don't know anybody like you. Someone just crazy enough and wild enough to believe in Jesus with an all-in attitude. I I actually met someone like this a couple weeks ago, and his faith just astonished me. And he even made the statement. This is this guy makes millions and millions of dollars every single year. And I loved his attitude because he said,"I don't make money for the kingdom. I'm a servant of God. I just do what God's word commands, what his Holy Spirit speaks to me, and I choose to live not of this world." And it's my prayer that we as Axios Church would be a no other church type of church. That we would be a a a church that's like no other. There's a lot of churches here in Franklin. If you don't like this church, this is your first time here, I can help you find probably 20 other ones that are awesome. But our desire is that we would be a church like no other. that we would be known as the church that's different than everybody else. They get it. They're the no other church church. We should make that into a t-shirt. So instead of like speed the light, we'll do no other church. Anybody down for that? Come on. That God would stand up. This This is my heart right here. My prayer is that God would stand up looking down on us and say, "I don't know what anybody else is doing in America, but in Franklin, Tennessee, Axio's church, >> is doing what nobody else is doing. I want us to be a no other church type of church." We had this theme last year that it was whatever it takes, be who Jesus saved you to be. We had to shorten it for the sweatshirt. It couldn't fit all in the sweatshirt. But whatever it takes, our heart is to obey God. Whatever it takes, walk away from sin. We're not going to try to hide our sin or ignore it. We're going to do whatever it takes to reach as many people, to feed as many families, to send as many missionaries around the world as possible to help people find freedom in Christ. And see churches planted all over the world because Christ is coming soon. We're going to do whatever it takes to raise up our children to preach the gospel in their schools. It's why we have Junior Bible Quiz and incredible kids ministry. There are communities that are needing the truth of the gospel right now. And we may think like when I first moved here 25 years ago as a kid, I started telling people about Jesus in my school and I pretty much everybody in my class was a Baptist. They're like, I know all about Jesus. And I'm like, then why aren't you living for him? You got it all here, but is it in your life? Again, I'm painting with broad strokes here, but that's how it felt as a kid. My desire is that we would be a no other church church in our town in this city. And it's my desire that you and I would become no other church Christians. That people would look at us in our lives and say, "There's nobody like you. I I haven't met another Christian like you." You know, you know when you meet a Christian and you're like, "I'm not sure if you are who you say you are." Let it be said of us that there would be no doubt that our lives and our words would call people higher to say, "I I want this, too." That we would pray like nobody else, serve like nobody else. That we would honor like nobody else. That we would invite people to church like crazy. that we would build God's church with these hands, with this heart, that we would walk in holiness, that we would repent from sin like no other time in our lives, that we would seek God for revival like no other church. This fly distracting me. That we would give generously like no other church. That we would dream big. I actually had a dream the other day that somebody wrote a check to pay off our building and I'm just holding on to that. I'm just like, "Cool, God." Like, "Amen. Let's go." Some of y'all have dreams that you put on the shelf. What if we were a like no other church, a like no other believer who said, "You know what? I'm going to hold on to the dream. I'm going to HOLD ON TO WHAT GOD IS CALLING ME INTO. THIS ISN'T FOR THE SHELF. THIS IS FOR HERE AND NOW. that we would live like no other, that we would live worthy of the calling to be sons and daughters. Could it be that we are the church to redefine what a son and daughter truly is based on the word of God? Paul said, "Nobody else is doing this like you, Philippians." And it's really crazy. Again, God told me to preach Philippians this summer back in November because I knew that Axio's Church was going to be part of the the future of this church. And I remember hearing the Lord say, "You're going to be a no other church kind of church. Nobody's giving to me like you have. And only you are receiving a letter full of joy and contentment. Instead of correction, Paul is saying, "I'm not after your money. I'm actually seeking something greater for you." Look at this verse 17. Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit. Come on. I have received full payment and more. I am well supplied, having received from Apaproditis the gifts that you send. It's a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God. He's like, "I'm not after your money, but I seek the fruit of what we can do together." Again, I show videos from from ministries from time to time of partnerships that we have, but I really want to challenge you with this text. If you're not a regular tither or giver, that is where you start when it when it comes to partnership with the kingdom of God. Because yeah, I I believe that tithing pays for the church. Offering allows us to extend beyond the church, but tithing pays for this church to operate. And currently, when we look at the the numbers of giving in our church, we're about 60% behind the giving potential of our church. What it means is only 40% faithfully tithe, 20% give consistently below the tithe, 22% give occasionally, and 18% have not given at all this year. These are just I'm just being real. These are the numbers. And I and sometimes I I look at the the list and oftentimes I don't I don't change how I minister to one person over the other based on what they give. I don't care if you give. I just care that your heart puts Christ first. This is this is going to trigger somebody. And and and just go with me because I got triggered when I heard this. I was at this pastor's conference this last Tuesday and uh I I was sitting there. There's this older older pastor, gentleman, probably twice my age, incredible man, and we just get chatting back and forth, and he just kind o
