Well, the advantage of going second is you get to preach as long as you want. But you can rest assured in a hot afternoon like this with a long drive ahead of me, I'm not going to preach forever. It'll get dark eventually and you all get hungry and can't go on forever. Just don't sit in the window sill. I don't want anybody falling out and telling themselves. I have enjoyed being with you this weekend. I look forward to coming for a long time. Hope to have been here last year and glad that I was able to be here this year. Thank you for inviting me back. We are really pleased to see the lovely saints here in western Iowa and those from all around. I hear some have come up from Missouri and of course Nebraska is just across the border over there. We're glad to have saints from all around and it's been a tremendous privilege to look through the Book of Philippians with you. this conference. I'm going to finish the book this afternoon. I really enjoy it. It's my favorite book. I keep coming back to it over and over again because the Philippians are so similar to me. They love the Lord. They're committed to Him. And yet they have struggles. They have problems. They have concerns. They even sometimes can't get along with each other. We can learn much from what Paul says to the Philippians. These last two and a half years have been the hardest years of my life. I've been going through all kinds of problems, more so than I've ever experienced in my life. I thought the teenage years were rotten. Boy, it's been rough for me these last couple of years. I've never wanted to go back into the high school years again. I feel sorry for anyone who's a high schooler. Those are really traumatic times. But God doesn't always smooth out the paths for those who love Him. Occasionally, He'll send difficulties into your life that will cause you all kinds of frustrations. There's one that you're obviously aware of, that my mother was dying of cancer for several years and passed away a year ago, two days ago. And that was a very frustrating experience to watch her die, the one who taught me about Christ, the one who taught me to love God, the one who led me to the Lord at age five. It's hard. Each of us has to go. We miss our loved ones when they go on ahead, but it's a painful experience to watch a person die of cancer. That was frustrating. Then at the same time, a year and a half ago, I was faced with the most difficult financial situation of my entire life. I was faced with tremendous debt, and I asked an accountant about it, and he said, well, you're getting pretty close. through declaring bankruptcy. And I said, Bankruptcy, you're kidding! I cannot believe this! And he said, well, the Lord may rescue you. And thankfully, a year and a half later, I'm doing much better financially, still with my nose above water, not particularly well off, but certainly not like I was a year and a half ago. And you wonder what the Lord is doing with you when you come through some very difficult experiences. At the same time, I've had this huge cloud over my head for several years trying to finish my dissertation for my doctorate. My students are so frustrated with me at the college, they keep on saying, haven't you finished that stupid paper yet? They don't realize it's not just a stupid paper, it's my whole life in one regard. When you go off to earn a doctorate, you have to be the resident expert on that particular subject, and you have to know more than anyone else in the entire country on that subject. I tell them I've spent a year and a half already working on the thing. It's not as if I haven't put any work into it at all. But they keep on saying, are we supposed to call you doctor daughters, Mr. Daughters, almost doctor daughters? They're rubbing it in constantly and making me frustrated. I have this cloud over my head constantly knowing that what I really ought to be doing... is writing. Why, even some of my former students this afternoon, as we were sitting there at the table eating, saying, I'm sorry, I can't stick around. I've got to go back and write a paper this afternoon. I hope you preach well. And I said, what, go home and write a paper? If anyone ought to be going home and writing a paper, what about me? But they didn't stay anyway. They went home and began to study. Problems. Do you guys have problems? And if we sat down and began to commiserate about the various experiences in our lives, I bet you we could have a lot of fun out doing each other with frustrating circumstances. The Philippians themselves also were struggling. They loved Paul. They loved the Lord. But they were in hard times. They were having hard times financially. They were having hard times interpersonally. And they even had pressure from the outside of the world trying to squeeze them into its mold. Three different directions. Needing money to live and yet wanting to serve the Lord with the money they had. Wanting to please Christ but having a hard time getting along with each other. And then the constant threat of the world trying to... tease them and lure them away from Christ into living for themselves again. That's why I find this book so helpful to me. I find Paul, a wise old man, locked up in prison, teaching me to rejoice. While he keeps on saying over and over again, he says, you've got the wrong attitude if you're not rejoicing in the Lord. And I say, Paul, you're in prison. And he says, that's right. And I'm rejoicing because I have my focus on what God is doing through my life rather than on me and my own personal problems. That's where we have to focus. We cannot allow our eyes to fall off of Jesus and back on ourselves and our own problems. Otherwise, we will fall into discouragement. We must. continue on. We must not grow weary and well-doing. Look with me then, please, at Philippians chapter three, beginning with verse eleven, where I left off last time. In Philippians three eleven, he speaks about his goal of going to be with Christ, that he is working toward that goal in his life of being called up at the rapture and attaining to the resurrection from the dead. But he says to the Philippians, I want you to realize something. We're not done yet. Listen to what he says in verse twelve. Not that I've already obtained it, for I've already become perfect, but I press on in order that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet, but one thing I do. forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. That's exactly what I need to hear. I can't start coasting in the Christian life. I can't take my eyes off of Jesus and start worrying about my own problems. I must on a daily basis continue to press on. There's no going back in the Christian life. There's no sliding back into the world. I must press on. Brothers and sisters, I think you're here with me this afternoon. I think you're here on a Sunday afternoon and a hot afternoon. summer day heading into the fall where you're saying I'm here because I want the Word of God because I do want to go on but if you're anything like me and I suspect you are there are times where you're faced with discouragement why some of you have been frustrated with the weather now that sounds rather strange but unfortunately the weather has actually caused catastrophe in our state this year you may say I don't know why God is allowing this to occur, but it must be for a purpose. Others, if you have different kinds of problems at work and you have frustration with the job responsibilities that you have, some of you have difficulty getting along with your friends at work and perhaps with your bosses. Others, if you actually have friction in your own home, sometimes between spouses, sometimes with the children, but there's friction in the family. Others of you are saying, I heard you when you talked about financial problems, I'm right there with you. And you say, I know what it's like to be stressed out. Paul says, don't give up. Don't turn back. You haven't obtained it yet. Keep pressing on. He says, yes, your focus is going to be on the rapture. Your focus is going to be on going to be with Christ. But that doesn't mean you stop serving Him. You don't just collect your fire insurance and then stop. You go on for the Lord. Press on, he says. Accomplish what it is that God wants you to accomplish in life. Listen to what he says in verse fifteen. He says, let us therefore as many as are perfect and he uses this almost as a play on words he just said he wasn't perfect but now he refers to us in our position saying that we're complete in Christ as many of us who are complete in Christ have this attitude and if anything you have a different attitude God will reveal that also to you I might add your wife helps as well remember I told you about the DRA the dirty rotten attitude he says Exactly what my wife is saying here. He says, if you have a different attitude about the way you ought to go, somebody's going to remind you, be it God or a wife or a friend, you've got to get your attitude straight. You know, that's where we're so often defeated as Christians. It's not so much what we go through is how we respond to it. Why, sometimes we can go through the most difficult experiences in life and we can shine for Jesus. because He's filling us. One year ago this afternoon, I was preaching my mother's funeral, which is the hardest thing I ever did in my entire life. This very afternoon at this time of the day, one year ago. Hardest thing. But God shined through it because I was filled with the Spirit as I did it. And some of you were even praying for me, I heard, and I appreciate it very much. There are other times in my life where I have fallen into discouragement, and frankly, I've been a disgrace. And you have too, as you have allowed Satan's accusations and Satan's deceit and his lies to fill your heart, and suddenly you start saying to God, this isn't fair. I don't deserve this. What happened? What happened is God's allowing trials in your life to mold you and to shape you to be more Christ-like. And he's saying, keep that chin up. Keep that attitude going. Keep serving me. Don't grow weary in well-doing. He says, verse sixteen, however, let us keep living by that same standard to which we've attained. The standard to which we've attained is our position in Christ. And He says, now live up to your position. You are redeemed now. You are filled with the Spirit. You are controlled by the love of Christ. Live for Him. Live up to the standard and the power that He's placed within you. Don't turn back into the world. Some of us forget just how awful the world is. And so he reminds us in the next verses. He says, brethren, join in following my example and observe those who walk according to the pattern which you have in us. You can't see which way to go. Just start following us. He says, for many walk of whom I've often told you and now tell you even weeping that they are enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly. whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things. Don't go their way. Don't go back where you just say, I'm just going to grab all the gusto I can on this life. Don't go back and say, it's my lust, my appetite, my belly that I will satisfy, not God. When you do that, you're an enemy of the cross. And yet, just look at the news these days. Look at what they're glorying in, which ought to be their shame. These people without Christ, they set their minds on earthly things. Their end is destruction. We must be careful who we follow. We must follow those who are following Jesus Christ. And so he calls us again to our citizenship, and he says, I'm not a citizen of this world. My citizenship is in heaven. He says in verse twenty, From which also we eagerly wait for our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of his glory by the exertion of the power that he has even to subject all things to himself. Sometimes you just grow so tired of all the stress. with all the problems and you just grow weary and you say, this body can't hold me up any longer. What does God say? He says, I know that. He says, your bodies may be suffering decay, but there's coming a day when I will take your body and I will transform it into the body of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Your citizenship is not here. Your citizenship is in heaven. Don't live for the world. Don't live for the here and now. Endure the trials that I've sent your way that are meant to conform you to Christ's image. And instead, live for me. Glorify me. Honor me. Because that power that will someday transform your body, that power that he exerted to subject all things in the world to himself, he is capable of using to sustain you in your time of need. Brothers and sisters, let's listen as Paul, the apostle, chained in prison, advises us concerning contentment in life, concerning dealing with these trials in our lives, learning how to have the proper attitude. Have this attitude which was in Jesus, he says. But once again, as a good preacher, he teases us with the closing of the letter, and he says, Therefore, my brethren, in verse eight, he says, Finally, my brethren, and you get the impression he's beginning to wind down. But sure enough, this time he is headed towards the end. It's all downhill from this point on. He says in chapter four, verse one, Therefore, my beloved brethren, whom I long to see, my joy and crown, so stand firm in the Lord, my beloved. Don't waver. Stand firm. Chapter four, verse one, is repeating the essence of what the book was about back in chapter one, verse twenty seven, when he says, when I come and see you, I want to see that you're standing firm in one spirit with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel. The theme of this letter is standing firm in one mind for the gospel. Chapter one, verse twenty seven. He repeats that here as he closes the book. He says, so stand firm, my beloved. But we can't stand firm unless we walk that worthy walk, just as he said back in chapter one, verse twenty-seven. And so he's about to rebuke them in a rather public way, rather direct and forcefully concerning the essence of the problem that is causing them so much discouragement. But he doesn't approach them as an apostle throwing his weight around, but he approaches them as a dear brother in Christ. And he has deep love with him. Just look at the way in which he cushions what he says. Count how many compliments he combines in this one verse, chapter four, verse one. First of all, he calls them beloved brethren. Then he says, whom I long to see. Then he says, you're my joy, you're my crown. And then he even ends up again repeating himself at the end of the verse saying, You are my beloved. What he's about to express to them is a rebuke, but he states it in such loving terms. And he says straight out in verse two, I urge Yodia and I urge Sintaki to live in harmony in the Lord. More literally, to have the same mind in the Lord. Now why is it that we don't name our daughters Yodia or Sindhaki? Why they're fine sounding names. I'm sure every child on the playground would be happy to call out names such as these. No, the reason why we don't name our daughters this name Just because they've gone down in history, recorded in the Holy Scripture itself as two ladies who couldn't get along. That doesn't say exactly what their problem was, but these aren't just ordinary ladies in the church. These two ladies are pillars in the church. These ladies are co-laborers with Paul in the ministry. And he speaks to each individual Philippian when he says, Indeed true comrade, verse three, I ask you also to help these women who've shared my struggle in the cause of the gospel, together with Clement also and the rest of my fellow workers who are names are written in the book of life. Help them, he says. Now, our first reaction when people can't get along is to run... and act like ostriches, hiding our heads in the sand and pretending nothing's going on. We're not going to get in the midst of two ladies who can't see eye to eye. And yet Paul calls on them, first of all, for the ladies to stop it, and then calls on every single member in that body of Christ there in Philippi to get to work to bring harmony back into that local assembly. That means it's my responsibility. That means it's your responsibility. We must learn to get along. These ladies shared in Paul's struggle in the cause of the gospel. They are obviously within the central core of the church. Why is it that we as Christians can't get along? Do you know the number one reason why missionaries come home from the field? It's not because they failed to learn the language. It's not because of culture shock. It's not because of illness. The number one reason why missionaries come back from the field is they couldn't get along with the other missionaries already out there. There's something wrong. And what I suspect is we all have a DRA, a dirty rotten attitude. And we've got to have the attitude which was in Christ Jesus, when He was willing to humble Himself, when He was willing to love us and meet our need at His own expense. If I'm constantly preferring you in love, how can I disagree with you? If we have the same mind, because we have the mind of Christ, and that is to promote the gospel of Jesus Christ, if we're concerned far less with how it is the gospel that's preached, and far more the facts that it is preached, then we will get along with one another. Which is exactly what Paul said in chapter one. So he says, brothers, start rejoicing. Chapter four, verse four. He says, stop it and start rejoicing. I don't care what circumstance you're in. I don't care if you are about to declare bankruptcy. Rejoice in the Lord. Why does he say it twice? In case he didn't believe him the first time, that's why. I don't care if the one you love more than anyone else in life is dying of cancer. Rejoice in the Lord. I don't care if your livelihood is coming apart at the seams. Rejoice in the Lord. I don't care if your spouse is about to divorce you. Rejoice in the Lord. Why? Because the difficulties that occur in our lives are mere external circumstances compared to what God wishes to work in our hearts. We must learn that God isn't so nearly as concerned what it is that we go through as he is concerned how we respond to it as he is concerned with our spiritual development. He wants us to be Christ-like. As I mentioned to you earlier in the conference, at a call from a former student of mine whose wife was leaving him and divorcing him. And he said, what can I do? And I said, the very first thing you need to do, as you've described to me, how this has destroyed you spiritually, is get back in fellowship with God. The very first thing you have to do is repent of the way in which you have pulled away from God and get yourself healthy spiritually. How can you converse with your wife who's leaving you when you're conversing in an angry and fleshly manner and lashing out? You've got to respond filled with the Holy Spirit. And man, I have to look in the mirror and keep preaching it myself, brothers and sisters, because I struggle in my own situations, in my own difficulties, and I must drink my own medicine when I tell you things like this. I must keep myself close to God, serving Him, longing to be raptured. Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say rejoice. Let your forbearing spirit be known to all men. A forbearing spirit is one who responds in love, even though he's been ill-treated. When people treat you wrongly, a forbearing spirit is to treat them back with the love of Christ. He says, Let your forbearing spirit be so obvious that all men know that your love is from God. Why? Because the Lord is near. The Lord's imminent return motivates us to be as tender and compassionate and kind-hearted and forgiving as Jesus Christ has been to us. These Philippians had problems and they had worries and they, I'm sure, had difficulty sleeping at night. And so Paul says to them, Be anxious for nothing. And that's really hard to do. Be anxious for nothing. Just imagine such a requirement. Don't worry about anything. Why, the only people I know that don't worry are dogs. Do you know they actually tried to study ulcers on dogs' stomachs? They started chemically inducing ulcers in these portal of dogs. They were trying to figure out how ulcers work. And the dogs ruined the experiment because they just went and sat off in the corner and healed themselves by worrying about nothing. I wish we were more that way. We worry about so many things. There's a difference between anxiety and worry, which is assuming responsibility that God never intended us to have, and a healthy kind of concern in which we actually call upon God to meet our needs. Can you see the difference? Worry is when we assume the responsibility, when we try to solve the problem in our own strength, and frankly the whole reason why we're pacing in the middle of the night, is because we've discovered there's nothing we can do. And genuine concern, which is a healthy thing, is turning it over to God and asking God to take care of the problems for us. Which is exactly what I've been doing with all these horrible problems I've been experiencing these last couple of years. Now, I'm not quite to the point of James, the half-brother of our Lord, who was nicknamed camel knees because he spent so much time on his knees praying. But I'll tell you, It's been a long time since I've spent as much time on my knees as I've had this last two years. Why? Because it was necessary. As I look back on this time, I say to myself, isn't that a shame? That it took God cut me off at my knees to get me on my knees. Why is it that we cry out to God only when we're desperate? Why I'm always desperate. I just don't know how desperate I am. We've got to stop worrying and instead praying. The prohibition is don't worry about anything. The prescription is pray about everything. He says be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. We have to remind ourselves, brothers and sisters, that Jesus said, You have not, because you ask not. So often, when I'm all messed up, I ask myself, Have I even prayed about this yet? And I realize I have gone through some tremendous problems, almost to the end of the problem, without ever pausing to pray. Now, there's something wrong there. Prayer should be our first. action, not our last resort. The moment that we realize there's a situation, we must be praying about it. That's why he tells us to pray without ceasing. He expects us to never hang up the phone. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." He said, He is perfectly capable of setting up garrison around your hearts, of protecting your mind, of comforting your soul when you give it over to Him. he says he'll give you a piece that is far better than anything you could have figured out that his solution to your problem is superior to anything you could have imagined if you'll only begin by putting it back into his hand that's probably why he has you in that situation in the first place I don't doubt that every time I'm short of money God has me there because he wants to teach me lessons. Every time he has me short of money, it's because he wants me to be dependent upon him. That's why. It's not because he has a lack of concern or a lack of love for me. It's because I have a lack of concern and a lack of love for him at the time. And he's using those circumstances to pull me back to him. We've got to be careful what we allow into our minds, brothers and sisters. We can't allow our minds as a runoff in any old way they want. Why, they'll take us right into sin. Instead, he says, we have to exercise godly mind control. by focusing on the truth rather than these lies that Satan has been telling us, verse eight. Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there's any excellence and anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things. We actually have to filter out and sift what we're going to allow our minds to dwell on. We can't just say, I'll think anything I want to think, as long as I don't act it out. No. It begins in the mind, and it goes through the heart, and it exhibits itself in action. That's why Jesus, when he came preaching the explanation of the law, says, for a man to just lust after a woman in his heart, is just as bad as having committed adultery because the sin starts in the mind and then eventually works out to the action. We've got to stop it before it even gets planted in our minds. We've got to filter what goes into our minds. We've got to cleanse ourselves by the renewing of our minds, by learning the Word of God, by filling our minds with truthful thoughts, honorable thoughts, lovely thoughts. And so he summarizes in verse nine, These things you've learned and received and heard and seen and may practice these things, and the God of peace shall be with you. Now as he closes the letter down at the end of the chapter, he again brings up the issue of what prompted him to write the letter in the first place. And that is that Epaphroditus had carried from them a gift. of money to sustain him as he rented these quarters and was under house arrest. Now he realizes that the Philippians have been the most faithful church in supporting him all these years. And he realizes there was a time in which they couldn't support him because they weren't even able to feed themselves. And he says, I want to thank you for this gift. I appreciate the gift. I've received the gift in full. But I want you to know... that God has met my need. And once you know, you don't need to send anything else. Now, isn't that the kind of preacher you want to hear? Rather than begging for money, saying, that's okay, I got all I need. Nobody give me any money. Just the opposite of what we're used to seeing on television. Paul is outright honest when he says, the Lord has met my needs. Thank you. And he says, far more than the blessing I receive by the financial gift that you've given me is the blessing that I know is going to come to you because I can see your heart attitude. You wanted to send to me, and you couldn't for a while, but now that God has blessed you, you've revived your concern for me. And once again, you've sent me that gift of fellowship, and I appreciate it very much. Listen as we read from chapter four, verse ten on. But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at last you have revived your concern for me. Indeed, you were concerned before, but you lacked opportunity. Not that I speak from once, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means. I also know how to live in prosperity. In any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. Nevertheless, you have done well to share with me in my affliction. And you yourselves also know, Philippians, that at the first preaching of the Gospel, after I departed from Macedonia, no church fellowshiped with me in the matter of giving and receiving, but you alone. For even in Thessalonica you sent a gift more than once for my needs. Not that I seek the gift itself, but I seek for the profit which increases to your account. For I have received everything in full and have an abundance. I am amply supplied, having received from Epaphroditus what you have sent. A fragrant aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well pleasing to God. And my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches and glory. in Christ Jesus. Now there's two particular key verses that I want us to center on as we finish this book. First of all, his statement about knowing how to be content in whatever circumstances he finds himself. And secondly, how our God supplies all our needs. Now think of this for a moment. Paul says, I'm in jail. I didn't have money. Thank you for sending the money. It helped a lot. But I want you to know something. And this little tidbit of something I've learned from God is going to be particularly helpful to you. He says, even if the money had not come, I would have been okay. Because I've learned a spiritual lesson, and that is that my hope is not a roller coaster that goes up and down and up and down depending on what my circumstances are at the moment. But my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus Christ and His righteousness. He says, I am content in whatever circumstance because that's how God wants it at that time. He says, sometimes I have an abundance, praise God, and I feel rich. At other times, he says, I've actually gone hungry. But I've not starved to death. Now I think back at the way in which God has worked in my life. And I'll tell you, I'm not starving. Why, if I were to stand sideways, I'd even say I would like to lose a few pounds. I've never yet gone hungry. And yet I've been in want. I've been in situations where I didn't know where the money was going to come to pay the bills. Now why did God place me in that situation? For the same reason that he placed Paul in that situation. He wanted us to learn contentment that was independent of circumstances, contentment on what the Lord provides. Do you remember those Israelites as they're going out of Egypt? They should have been saying, thank you, God, thank you, God, from rescuing me from bondage in Egypt. And yet they're saying such things as, this food is bland. Where are those leeks and garlic? We want some spice in our food. And when God provides manna for them, they say this food's getting old. Same old stuff day in, day out. I don't like what God provides for me. We must learn the spiritual lesson that Paul is teaching us in verse thirteen. I can do all things through him who empowers me, who fills me with the strength to meet every circumstance. That means that there's no circumstance that will occur in our lives. that God has not allowed for the purpose of working out His will in our lives. Everything that happens to us, God has allowed for a purpose. And He will take everything and turn it for the good eventually. Well, we ought to just keep on saying to ourselves, this is an eight-twenty-eight situation. Well, I'm speaking of Romans, eight-twenty-eight, of course. We should just say to ourselves, I'm going to have to chalk this one up to eight twenty eight. Boy, that's the only possible way that anything good could have come of this. Because unless God makes good of this, I can't see how anything good could happen. God can do mighty things through us as we yield to him. And the second statement of this paragraph, I think it's particularly apropos for us, is what he says in verse nineteen. He says, Then my God shall supply all your needs according to his riches and glory in Christ Jesus. Now do you realize what just happened? The Philippians just gave money away. And Paul says it's coming back to you. He says, this is coming to you as a credit on your account. He says, you can't out give God. When you give to God, He will meet all your needs. Commensurate with His riches in glory. You're not going to give to the local ministry of the church, to the support of missionaries, to Christian work, and say, somehow I'm going to out give God, because God will faithfully provide for you and meet your needs. Now, his definition of needs and our definition of needs might be slightly different. For example, Paul says in this paragraph, there are times when he went hungry, but he didn't starve to death. That means our level of comfort and God's level of comfort may not be identical, but it will be exactly where He wants us. Can we trust God to meet our needs? Why we keep saying to ourselves, Will, he owns the cattle on a thousand hills. Well, let me tell you a story about the cattle on a thousand hills. Dallas Theological Seminary back in the Depression, they had a really hard time making it through because the kind of people that who were able to support them largely in the past, didn't have much to support them with. There was one time when H.A. Ironside, who was on the board, was down there in the office of Louis Fury Chaffer, the president, and he and other board members were down on the knees praying because they were about to be repossessed by the bank. They were about to lose the buildings and the seminary would have to close. And H.A. Ironside, taking a verse from that song, says, And, Lord, please sell some of that cattle on the Thousand Hills and give us the money. Well, as they were praying there, in that room, there was a knock on the door, and they didn't want to listen to the secretary. They just kept on praying. And the secretary kept on knocking, and they thought, like, don't they realize we're... entreating our God. Why does she keep on knocking on the door? Well, it's because somebody in a cowboy hat and cowboy boots had come into the office because he just sold his cattle and he had ten thousand dollars he wanted to give to seminary. And she was knocking on the door trying to get their attention. And no sooner had Ironside finished his prayer but they opened the door and received ten thousand dollars. Now I doubt that God is going to work exactly to the time as that in your life every single time, because sometimes He's going to make you sweat it out a bit. But I can tell you from the Word of God that you can't out give God, and that our God will supply all of our needs not necessarily wants and lust but needs according to and commensurate with his riches and glory in Christ Jesus now to our God and Father be the glory forever and ever amen greet every saint in Christ Jesus the brethren who are with me greet you all the saints greet you and here is that great punchline of the book, even those of Caesar's household. Why, you thought God had forgotten me when he locked me up in prison. But no, I've been able to infiltrate Caesar's household by witnessing to the Praetorian Guard. You may have meant it for evil, but God meant it for good. You may have thought you were abandoned, but God was working it out for His glory. May we trust God. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, pray. Heavenly Father, it's through this end that we look to you. We sympathize with the Philippians. We've been where they've been. And we long to learn the lessons. that they are learning from Paul. Father, may we never give up. May we never grow weary and well-doing. May we continue to press on. May we live for that goal for which we've been laid hold of. May we stop worrying. May we instead pray. May we give and give and give, expecting nothing in return. May we be of one mind. together preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. May we trust you to meet every need in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you.