last weekend. I hope you enjoyed our guest speaker, author john lynch, he is a newer friend of mine and connected through um, some acquaintances and family members here. And so I love that he got to come and share his stories and I hope you guys enjoyed his ministry. Well, while he was speaking here, I was actually down in Mexico with some of our team building a house. It was kind of cool. We're in the middle of building a house and I was actually able to pull up the service and livestream our service from Mexico. And so that's cool that we have to live in a day and age where I can be in Mexico building a house and live streaming worship from here at the same time, which is really cool. And so, um, so here's where we stayed, we partnered with a ministry called I 68, which stands for Isaiah 68 where the prophet says, here I am send me and so down. Um, in Rocky Point Mexico, we're camping out, we're staying there. Um, it's a lot of fun. We're eating out of the director's home. Um, and this is actually that yellow building, They actually run a coffee shop for the locals out of there, which is pretty cool. And then we're camping out, having fun, playing games, sitting by the fire at night. And so then we got to meet this incredible family Jose Louise and his family, you see with two of his kiddos and then you're gonna actually see his wife and then another kiddo and then that the older girls actually Jose Louise's younger sister and then the wife is actually pregnant with their fourth. And so you've got a husband and wife, you got three kiddos, uh you got his sister and then they're pregnant with her fourth. But I want you to see this family, we threw a fiesta for it. This is their current living conditions. This is what we walked into. And so this is what they grew up in or not grew up in. But like we're currently lived in, there's a small cement slab on the left hand side of that picture, you see that's their kitchen, they actually have it slanted at an angle with the drain at the bottom so that when they are done they can they can collect the water and then reuse the water. Um because you know, water really is a commodity um down there and then on the right hand side you see some loofahs there on the side that's their shower, that's where they shower. And this will fill up a bag with water And and then kind of poke holes there and that's kind of how they shower and that's how this family was living. And so right next to them, then we had a flat piece of land and so this is where we started, you can kind of see a picture here. And so this is the family and we're praying over the family and there's a pad of dirt and they had got it prepped ahead of time. The ministry I 68. They had all the supplies. We partner with another church. North Valley Community Church were in the same network of churches And so we had a lot of fun partnering with them as well. And so then we got to work and so thursday, friday saturday sunday we're working And we're digging what ended up being a 10-foot hole for the septic. We are framing, we are mixing concrete, we're putting on putting on the ceiling. And so here's where we finished the weekend. And so we finished. This is the inside the house and so they got it framed for several rooms were praying over the family. Um, tears filled the room. It was so incredible. We shared the gospel with the family and saying and really the ministry and mission of I68 is to really cure spiritual poverty by meeting the needs of physical poverty. And so they're saying just as this is a house and we got to give them keys to doors that lock. It's so cool. And then we said, but we don't want this just to be a house. We want you to have a spiritual home as well and they share the gospel and what it means to have faith in jesus and we prayed over the family and it was so cool to see that. And so this was our team from mission growth that we took down and then as well as people from North Valley and then one more slide here. So there's our team. So thank you so much to the Seinfelds who came down and went down with Jackson and her son and then Abby, my sister in law. And so, uh, this was a great partnership. So thank you so much for those who gave and who those who prayed for us. And it was so cool to see that you had a flat piece of land by the end, you had a house that they could live in. But it was so yeah, let's clap for that. And what I love about it is that that house was less than a mile from the I 68 ministry. And so, um, where we stayed there able to say, hey, we are here for you and we love you and we want to, we want this is the beginning of the relationship, not the end. And so now they're gonna have this ongoing relationship with this family to help meet needs and minister them. And so that's so cool that we get to do that. And I love the heartbeat and we're like, we're gonna try to do that again in the future. So thank you so much. This is our first mission trip as a church family and I'm excited to see what God's going to do now. What is interesting is that in the fall, we, we map out our sermons in our series pretty far out in advance. And so we decided to go through what we call the adventurous life. And we're going verse by verse through the book of Philippians. And and we had we had this mapped out before we even knew that the mission trip was possible. And so it's amazing how God works these things out, because today we're going to talk about contentment. And so we had that lined up before we even knew the mission trip was possible. But I came back from that trip and you you cannot help but really refocus on what's important priorities and your values and what do we need to have joy? Because that family that we worked side by side, they built the house with us. I mean, the the wife was incredible. She was, she's pregnant and she's mixing concrete and going through and building this house and just as much involved in the process as we are. And they had such joy in the process. And so today we're gonna take a look at one of the most commonly quoted verses in the bible when paul actually says I can do all things through christ who strengthens me. But did you know, the actual content and con context of that verse is not about effort and sports, it's actually about contentment. And so today's message is entitled the problem with provisions. The problem with provisions. We're wrapping up our study in Philippians and you have an unlikely apostle paul who's writing to an unlikely church in philippi And he's writing from prison and he's telling them here's how you can have joy. And so in the four chapters, he actually gives them a solution, the things that rob people of their joy. So in chapter one The joy robbers circumstances, and if you're just joining us for the first time and encourage you to download our podcast or go to our YouTube channel or website to go back and watch some of these messages because they all go together. And so in Philippians, chapter one difficult circumstances can rob you of joy, but the solution is to have a holy mind. And then in Chapter two, he says that difficult people can rob you of joy, but the solution there is to have a humble mind. And then in Chapter three, it says that the pursuit of things and stuff can actually rob your joy. But the solution is to have a hopeful mind. And then in Chapter four, as we're wrapping up our series today, is that worry can rob your joy. But the solution there is to have a healthy mind. And so we want to give you the practical tools to have a healthy mind, not just on sunday, not just for an hour here in the room, but on monday and Tuesday and Wednesday. And every day that ends in y as you go through the daily struggles in your life. And so if you're taking notes, I want you to write this down. Here's our big idea for today. Is that God's provision is more than what you have. It's what you see. God's provision is more than simply what you have. It's actually what you see. Here's what I mean. The word provision Is really made up of two words pro and vision and the word pro. When you see it. In other words, it's a prefix. The root means to go before to go forward or to be for. So if you ever made a list of pros and cons, it's okay. How is it for something and cons, how's it against? Or if you've been promoted, that means you've been moved ahead. Or if you're making progress, you're going forward. If you believe in a promise, it's that you're someone is declaring something for the future. If you're going to propel something forward, you are moving it ahead. If a child is really good at something or ahead of his peers, they might call him a prodigy right? Even on the negative side, if you've ever found to be in a place where you procrastinated, what you're doing there is that you're taking a responsibility and you're moving it forward or you're pushing it down the road and say, I'll take care of this tomorrow. I always like to say procrastinators are leaders of tomorrow. But the idea of pro is that your forward, you're going ahead, You're going, you're going before someone else. And then you have vision, what his vision or vision means to see. You might have heard it said that there's no i in team but notice there's two eyes InVision because vision is all about what you see. Now. Put those words together. If we're talking about God, God's provision, they're saying that God sees what you need before you do. God's provision means that he sees what you need ahead of the time when you need it. Same concept is to have a provider, you're going ahead vivid. We think of video right? To provide for someone is to see someone's need ahead of time and to go ahead and and see that and provide for them. God is described in Psalm 23 and in John chapter 10 as a good Shepherd who goes and prepares the field or a table for his sheep, that he goes ahead and he knows what they need. Abraham. In Genesis, I want to get the reference right, Genesis chapter 20 to 14 he calls God. There's a lot of different names in the bible for God. But in genesis 22 14, Abraham actually calls God Jehovah Gira, which means the Lord will see it. And so God's provision isn't simply what you have, it's what you see because do you see God in your circumstances in your situation and that what you see is key to your contentment. And so let's jump into these versus because the idea here is that if your focus is on the world, then you will never have enough. But if your focus is on jesus, then you recognize that he is enough. And so let's jump into it here. So again, he's writing from prison. He's experienced all the highs and lows. He is he's chained to a guard writing to provide joy to a church and he sees this. I rejoice in the Lord greatly. Great Are you Lord? He's singing this, right? I rejoice in the Lord greatly. Now that at length you have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for me. But you had no opportunity notice his gratitude spirit. Hey, you cared for me. Thank you, thank you for being for me. But then he goes on in verse 11, he says, not that I'm speaking of being in need for I have learned in whatever situation to be content. I want to pause here on this first for a second because he says, I have learned. What does that mean? It means that contentment is not a natural thing. Do your kids for those that have kiddos in the room when they're little do they start out and go, thank you, Mom and dad, I don't need anything. No, it's constant 24 7 mom. Dad, Dad, mom, mom. And it always happens when when you like if you're in the car, you're traveling somewhere? When do they need the restroom Right after you passed the last rest stop and it says 40 miles the next service, right? When are they hungry? It's right after the meal and you've cleared the plates and you've gone through or when do they need your attention when you're on that zoom call or that work call or you're going through? Right? It's like mom, mom, dad, mom, mom. You know, it's like it really is those birds from finding nemo, isn't it? Mine mine mine mine mom Dad, Dad, can I have this? Dad, can I have this? Can I have this? And like they think that if you if you say no the first time like it doesn't even register. It's like, Oh what you're saying by no is ask you 20 more times. And if if you don't give it to me, I will start poking my siblings until you do right? Mom, dad, mom, mom, dad, mom. And so anyway, here's here's why I say this is that that is the default mode. Don't we do that as adults. We think, oh, I need this. I want this. Can I have this? I need this new thing that's there are entire marketing departments of stores. You spend billions of dollars collectively to tell you that you are not enough that your life will be better if you have the new blank, right? And and that's because our default mode is I need more. But what the encouraging thing is is that paul says, I have learned that that means that it's possible to learn it. And so I'm encouraged by that because no matter where you find yourself, it is possible to learn in whatever situation to be content. Now, the word content is interesting as well. It actually means contained. So to be content means that you have what you need contained inside of your self or inside of your life. And so think about this way is that do you have the internal resources to respond to external problems? To be content means that you have enough contained in your life? If you are not contained, you're always searching not from within but without I need that drink. I need that drug. I need that material, I need that and pick your vice, whatever it is that you think you need, you're saying I don't have this and so I need that, I don't have this, I need that if I only had that, I will be happy. But what paul is saying is to be content is to realize that you have God already in your boat, you already have God with you. There are disciples who are facing storms And in Mark Chapter four, they were afraid of the storm. But what calmed them in the middle of the storm was the fact that Jesus was in their boat. And if you've got jesus in your boat, it doesn't matter the storms outside your boat. If you have jesus in your life and in your heart and in your mind it doesn't matter the materials that you have without. So he says in whatever situation and he goes on beyond this notice. Now in verse 12, he gets even more specific. I know how to be brought low. I know how to abound in any and every circumstance. I have learned the secret to facing plenty. Now. That's interesting. He's saying the secret to facing I get the secret to facing hunger. That would be a challenge. But he's actually saying that it is a challenge to have stuff as well. He says, I know the secret to having a lot of materials because what happens is you you take those materials that possession, that promotion, that money, whatever it is and you think, okay, I'm good. The problem is money can't save you that new car, can't forgive your sins. That new shirt, that new shoes, those new that new phone can't restore the relationship with your kids or your siblings or your friends, the world can't give you what you really need. And so what he's saying here, I've learned the secret to facing the challenges of having everything and then losing everything. He says in abundance and in need. And then he comes to this famous verse says, I can do all things through him who strengthens me. So I can do all things is this idea of we think of it in sports? Uh you've probably heard this verse or put on a poster or said by a sports team before a game. Now, I'm not saying you can't say that anytime someone quote scripture and brings God in the mix, I'm all for it. But it's more than just effort. He's saying I can but it's not just I can period. He says, I can do all things how through him who strengthens me. It's God who actually does the strengthening. It's the inside, it's being contained that I have everything that I need. It's God's provision that God is for me. God is ahead of me. God sees what I need and he gives it to me. And so if I don't have it right now, then I recognize that God doesn't think I need it right now. And it's not that you live passive no work hard, put forth the effort. But understand this, don't put your trust in your effort. Because if you get everything you ever long for you're going to get to the end of that and realize no matter money can secure my eternity. Because if your focus is off of your focuses more. When when do you have enough because there's always gonna be somebody making more money than you being prettier than you stronger than you cooler than you bigger house, bigger car, like maybe you have the nicest house for a moment. And so if your identity is wrapped up in that job? What happens when you lose the job if your identity is wrapped up in stuff? What happens when that breaks? If your identity is wrapped up in your health? What happens when you get a bad diagnosis? So do everything that you can. But understand that your contentment, your trust, your value, your identity comes from God, not from the world because then he continues on here, verse 14, he says. And yet I want you. It was very kind of you to share in my trouble. He's very grateful. He continues on, he says. And you Philippians you yourselves know that in the beginning of the Gospel when I left Macedonia. In other words, when I planted the church, no church entered into partnership with me and giving and receiving except for you. So you guys helped me. He continues on, he says, even in Thessaloniki, you sent me help for my needs. Once again, once and again, not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit That increases to your credit. In other words, you weren't giving to me, you were giving through me and that together in our partnership, we bless the community and we saw God's kingdom move. And he says, and I have received full payment and more and I am well supplied. Having received from a path for Otitis the gifts that you sent a fragrant offering a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God and my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory, in christ, jesus and to our God and father be glory and glory forever and ever. And that word amen means I believe this, this is true. And so here is a guy riding in prison and saying, look, if you want to defeat worry, if you're feeling anxious, if you're struggling, I know what it means to have a lot and have absolutely nothing. I know what it means to have status and have it completely ripped away from me and what I've learned, I didn't have it innately. What I've learned is that the secret is to be content and that I can face all things, I can do all things through christ who strengthens me. And if I have christ, he is enough and if he is enough, I am enough and therefore I don't need to enter the room looking to get something from people, I can go into the room and give what's already been given to me. And so you see themes in this book that instead of being anxious instead of being a victim instead of complaining what's gone against him, he can be in a place of gratitude. Generosity, ministry, missions, service and worship because he's saying, you know what this is for God anyway, and so whatever he gives me, I'm gonna just give it back to him. And so we have this incredible picture of what it means to be strengthened by God, I don't know everyone's circumstance watching online or here in the room. Some people are walking through literal health right now. I lost the job, lost a loved one, broken relationship, broken health struggles, internally, struggles, emotionally struggles financially, I don't know, but whatever brought you here today, I want to tell you that there is hope that your value is found in Jesus, the great provider and he provides because he sees he's gone ahead and he is enough and here's hope and I know that why? Because he rose from the dead. It's crazy to think how quickly our world turns on people, isn't it? You can say something or do something in your past and all of a sudden canceled but jesus didn't cancel us. They turned on him too. In fact this day known as palm sunday he was entering Jerusalem and they were praising him, Hosanna, they were thinking he was gonna be this physical king. And just a few days later they killed him on a cross. Talk about a turn, but that same day where satan thinks he won was actually the setup for grace and forgiveness and to give us the greatest picture how do I know that jesus is enough because not even death could stop him, How do I know that Jesus is enough because he has promised to give us eternity forever in an abundant life now and the holy spirit living inside of us, that means that you can do all things, you can handle success, but you can also recover from failure. Yes, you can you can handle that promotion, but you can also handle the job loss or the Brokenness. It says that same writer Paul says in Romans eight that God works all things for good. It's not that all things are good is that in the end he'll work it for good. And so if you're not dead, God's not done, there's a reason you survived, there's a reason you've been resilient. There's a reason that you have come through this. And so it's not a story about being a victim, it's a story about being victorious. Yes, there is evil in the world and bad things happen and unexplainable things happen. And so as christians, what we're called to do is to empathize and to walk inside and that we don't have to have a cliche verse to come alongside someone like when someone is experiencing loss and they're in extreme pain and they're crying, that is not the time to say, hey God works all things for good, but you can know that and you can believe that and then when you have that, then you can just come and be present with the person, just be present with them, mourn with those who mourn, rejoice with those who rejoice and paul saying, look, I've experienced it all, I've had it all and I've lost it all and what I've learned at the end of the day, it's about jesus and about christ and him alone and when I have christ contained in my spirit, I recognize that he is enough and that he loves me and that he must believe that I have what it takes to handle what I'm going through. Did you ever stop to think about that? What if you're going through a hard situation, not because you're weak but because God is strong and he believes you're ready, handle what it is that you're facing because you're not handling it in your strength, you're handling it in God's strength when you have that, you can be content. So let let me just get super practical here, let me just ask you this question, Okay, where is your focus? You're gonna see these on, on the slides, those watching online, you're gonna see it right below here, but take take yourself, you're in the middle, you're in a circumstance, something bad has happened or something good? Even now, vision again, is what you see what you focus on. Okay, now let's say something happens to you, Do you focus on loss I no longer have this or do you focus on gratitude man? I had this for so long, Right next. Do you focus on the obstacle the barriers that are blocking you or do you focus on the opportunity, you can't focus on both at the same time. Now when you experience loss that's grieving. Grieving is healthy, Right? But to do all things to move forward, to go, to grow, to go to that next level to to to mature, you have to shift from here to here And think of these as two opposite sides. You can look. But if you're going back and forth, does that seem peaceful to you? No, a little dizzy right now. That was a little weird. And I'm at the edge of the stage. Hopefully don't fall. How many christians are going through life like this right now? Got your faithful. But I don't know God, I just saying be magnified but I don't know about this one, right? And we're here wait a second. What? Okay God, I believe in you trusting you sunday morning, we're worshiping, we're singing, you reign above it all. You're amazing. And then we go into the business, No one likes me, No one Hates Me. How am I gonna overcome? Where's your focus? Because the same events, same activity two people can have two completely different perspectives, can't they? Next one when something happens, are you focused on yourself? Are you focused and others? One of the best things you can do when you're going through a hard time is to look for just a practical way of too sort of somebody else. Because what I've found is that when you start serving blessing other people in return? Like ask anybody that went down on that trip in Mexico when you start serving other people, Do you think you walk away more blessed or more frustrated or blessed when we're having a conversation with our team and the people of North Valley. Every conversation I had is like, I mean, I know we're helping this family, but man, it feels good. Why? Because that's joy. So is itself or others next one here is do you focus on your weakness? Because again, if it's about yourself, it's about what you can do your successes and your failures. You're all good until you mess up. What's the problem? We all mess up. We all struggle myself included. Like we all have issues and struggles and doubts and worry, I still get anxious as a pastor, I still get anxious in ministry thinking about, okay, well where are we gonna meet? We're meeting here, but how long can we meet? And I'm just like, man, I'm getting anxious in preparation for a message about anxiety and then I started thinking about that. Do your thoughts have thoughts, does anyone do that? You know what I'm talking about? You start thinking something and then you start asking, well why did I start thinking about that? And then you go, well, how do I even acknowledge that? I'm thinking that I thought that and then it's like when you put those mirror two mirrors up and it just kind of forever goes down and you just go down this rabbit hole and now the next thing you know you're like what what was I even talking about? I don't know do you get in your head like that or is that just me? I don't know if it's just me sometimes. So what do we do? Okay instead of your focus being on your weakness, what if your focus is on strength? God's strength specifically I can do all things. Why through him, who strengthens me? And if jesus created the world, if jesus sustains the world, if jesus experienced temptation and struggles and doubts and betrayal and death on a cross. But then he rose again and so he conquered death itself. If jesus created the world and save the world and sustains the world and then promises to be with you and me. What problem is too big for God? What problem is bigger than eternal death? He's already won that this easter when we celebrate, we're not asking God to do something in the future. We're celebrating what he's already done in our past so that then we can trust him with our president and say okay God you've got the future. I don't know what this next year brings. No I don't care who you are. No one could have predicted what went down in 2020 with a pandemic. I know some people will say whoa, I knew something was gonna happen sometime. Okay come on like when the pandemic first hit, we're like oh man this is gonna be a tough two weeks. Those predictions look a little silly now, don't they? You know, who wasn't surprised? You know, who's not any less holy and any less in control? God, He knew the whole time. He's still on his throne. He is just as powerful and guess what? We've made it through And so when we come to easter, we are celebrating him and what he's done, not what we need to do. So when it comes to our stuff, the next one, do you think of greed? What can I get? What can I get? What can I get or do you focus on generosity? What can I give Greed says I'm not content. Generosity says, here you go, I don't need it. And the last one, are you focused on your kingdom? Are you focused on God's kingdom? See when your focus is this way you really can do all things through christ who strengthens you. So let me just close with this. We're gearing up for the Super bowl of our faith and that doesn't that's not even a fair comparison right? It seems silly to even compare the salvation of all humanity to a game. But but our world standard. Think about it like our entire faith and belief system and gathering is based on an event that happened next weekend. And so I want to encourage you to come come prepared, come excited. This is a, this is the victory parade if your team has ever won a national championship and then you had a parade. Um, you know what you won't see, you won't see somebody at the parade. Oh are we gonna win? Like if someone like missed the game, they didn't know like what are we celebrating? What's going on the point of the parade and the confetti and the celebration is that you've already won. Let us go into this next weekend and recognize and be content because we've already won. And if we've already won, then we can freely share and give and invite and so take those cards on the tables or shoot someone to text or share a link and say now more than ever look, I know it's been a difficult year, but God's here and God is for you and I'm for you because I'm for you. I want you to experience love and I want you to come with me and experience easter. And it's like, well I've never been in a church. You go, that's okay because we meet in a comedy club. You'll be fine. Right? Church, let's live like we've won. Let's live like he's one. Let us live for the one because God's provision is more than what you have. That's what you see, you pray to jesus, thank you, thank you that we can win the battle of worry in our life. That contentment is something that we can learn through the highs and the lows, the abundance and a need christ. It's only you help us to love you more every day and to love others like you do prepare our hearts for easter God. We pray for opportunity to share with our friends and family and our co workers and neighbors got that. We experience contentment and strength and courage that comes from knowing you as Lord and savior. We love you guys. We give all our worries and our issues and our anxious thoughts and doubts to you. Give us the strength the same strength that defeated death. Give us that strength to face every day. We love you and your son's name. We pray.