All Things Are Possible

Dr. Bernie Miller: So we fall into discouragement and we fall into failure, and we think that those two things really make us who we are. You stay down on the ground, wallowing around in the mud and thinking God will never forgive you, but he has already forgiven you. He forgave you on the cross.

Announcer: From New Covenant Fellowship Church, this is All Things Are Possible. Worship with us on Sunday mornings at 10:30, where you'll enjoy great music and solid teaching from the Bible. We are located on North Moore Road in Chattanooga. Directions and details are at ncf.church. We are a place for every race.

Guest (Male): I walk this road by faith when I can't see the bend. I hold a little hope and you keep holding it. Your ways are hard to understand, but you don't let go of me. My days are in your hand even when I cannot see. So I lean in close. I lay it down what I can't carry.

You have found your ways. Your ways are hard to understand, but my days are in your hand. Your ways, your ways, hard to understand, but my days are in your hand. When fear comes calling out, you calm the storm in me. When I run out of words, you speak me patiently.

So I lean in close. I lay it down what I can't carry. You have found your ways. Your ways are hard to understand, but my days are in your hand. Your ways, your ways, hard to understand, but my days are in your hand. If I don't know the why, I know the one who stays. If I don't see the road, I trust your hidden ways. You were there before, and you'll be there when I stand. So I rest my heart in your hand.

Dr. Bernie Miller: Everybody wants contentment. They want to be content. But do you have the proper content? What do you mean, Pastor? I mean, do you have "greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world" in you? That is your content.

If you don't have that, you can't be content because contentment comes from someone other than yourself, someone other than your spouse, someone other than your friend, someone other than whatever it is you assume will give you contentment. Contentment is something that only God can give and it is something that you have got to learn.

Is "greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world" in you? That is the question. Our problem is we give contentment a starting date. Have you noticed that? It is an adverb: when. I'll be content when I get a better job. I'll be content when my bills are paid off, or when I get married. If you are married, when we have kids.

Talk to some of the people that have kids and maybe you may have a second thought about that. I'll be content when the kids grow up. I'll be content when they leave. Or I'll be content when I retire. That is always one of those nice ones. And then you discover your spouse had plans for your free time. Now you are busier retired than you were employed.

We keep telling ourselves we'll be content when, but Paul destroys the "when" way of contentment. He doesn't say I have learned when everything gets right I'll be content. He says I have learned in whatever state I am I'll be content. He makes the declaration while he is a prisoner.

He is imprisoned and he is writing to Timothy to try to help him understand some things. We would expect Paul to say he had learned to complain. But here is what I found out: we don't have to learn how to complain. We are born with that gene. Have you noticed?

It starts very early with babies. They cry because they want something. They are complaining. They want some attention and they are not getting it and they are going to cry until they get it. When they get a little older, my wife and I watch these little videos on TV like America's Funniest Home Videos. These kids can put on an act.

They will have these crocodile tears and as soon as they get what they want, there is not a teardrop that comes out of that eye. But they will be standing there like their whole world is coming to an end. They learn how to complain very early. We don't have to learn that because we are born with a complaining gene. But contentment has to be learned.

A baby complains by crying. When we get older, we are more sophisticated about our complaining. We just give people the silent treatment. You know what I mean. We just say, "Is anything wrong?" "No, nothing is wrong." "But you are not talking." "No, I am okay." Or we avoid them altogether. Contentment is learned.

That is what Paul is trying to teach us in Philippians 4. It can be summarized as Christ-centered stability in unstable circumstances. Let's jump into Philippians 4. Let me give you how the whole chapter lays out and then you can appreciate it when we get to verse 11.

Philippians 4:1. "Therefore, my beloved brethren, whom I long to see, my joy and crown, in this way stand firm in the Lord, my beloved. I urge Euodia and I urge Syntyche to live in harmony in the Lord. Indeed, true companion, I ask you also to help these women who have shared my struggle in the cause of the gospel together with Clement also and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the Book of Life."

Paul urges all believers to stand firm in the Lord. He also addresses disagreements. I know you all are looking for a perfect church. It isn't out here. In every family, you are going to have disagreements. How many of you have never had a disagreement with anyone? Raise your hand. I'm glad you all didn't lie to God.

Paul is going to address the disagreements. He says, "Look, check on those ladies." Contentment doesn't mean there will never be conflict. It means Christ can keep us stable even when relationships are seemingly irreconcilable. One thing that he did in 1 Corinthians chapter 3, verses 1 through 3, he talks about those.

He says, "I tried to give you all some meat, but I couldn't because you were still babes in Christ." Then he described them. He said not only babes in Christ, but you were carnal Christians. What is a carnal Christian? A lot of people think it is someone who keeps on sinning over and over again, whatever it may be.

If you want to know what a carnal Christian is, just read that chapter. It is someone who is jealous and someone who is envious and someone who won't mature. That is what a carnal Christian is: an immature believer who is envious and jealous of other people. They start little cliques so they can be the head of the clique because they have to be the head of something to feel okay.

Paul is talking to some people who are taking issue with the Apostle Paul and saying Paul is not really an apostle. He is having to defend himself. Then they are taking sides. They are saying, "Well, I am for Paul" and others are saying, "Well, I am for Cephas," which is Peter. Others are saying, "Well, I am for this person or that person."

They are all finding someone to come under because, to them, Paul was not a very good orator. They were saying other people can outpreach Paul. They found their little hero. Paul says you all are just jealous and envious. He says you are carnal Christians. He urges the believers to rejoice and pray.

He doesn't say rejoice in our circumstances. He says rejoice in the Lord. Then he says be anxious for nothing. He means do not be consumed with anxiety. A lot of people are. They are consumed with anxiety. They are anxious about this instead of praying about everything or giving thanks.

They are anxious about things. But Paul says make your requests known to God. He says the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Before Paul teaches contentment, he teaches us where to take our anxiety.

Chapter 4, verse 4 says, "Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice." Always? Always. Then he says, "Let your gentle spirit be made known to all men. The Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

Verse 8 says, "Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things." I use that verse a lot because I remember the state of mind I was in at a certain point in my life.

I had to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. When I took every thought captive, I had to focus on something else. So I focused on verse 8. If there is anything worthy of praise, I let my mind dwell on those things because my mind was running rampant. I was thinking about all kinds of things: all my failures, all my faults, and all that I didn't have.

I was thinking of all that I wanted and couldn't get. I had some bitterness about things that had happened to me and people that... God says, "Why? I've saved you. Why are you worried about all this? Let your mind dwell on these things that are true and honorable and right." I started thinking about that. I said, "Man, you know, I'm thinking about the wrong things."

I'm thinking about the things that don't mean anything. I can't change any of those things. Paul urges the believers to control their thinking by dwelling on the things in verse 8. Why? Because you can't cultivate a contented heart while constantly feeding a discontented mind. Whatever repeatedly occupies our mind will eventually influence our attitude and our heart.

Today we're going to look at three things. First, we are going to look at how to learn through the changes that we go through. Then we'll look at how to learn with contentment and how to learn from Christ. Verse 11 in Philippians 4 says, "Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am."

The word "learned" means to come to understand. It means to discover. It means to acquire knowledge through instruction or experience. It is not natural to be content. I want to tell you that. It just isn't natural. It has to be learned. Contentment isn't automatic at conversion. You can be saved and still be dissatisfied.

How many of you know that the hard way? You can love Jesus and still spend too much time comparing yourself with everybody else. You can know scripture and still be jealous of what Elon Musk has. You ask why God hasn't done that for you. God doesn't just change our circumstances.

Sometimes God uses our circumstances to change us. Paul had been enrolled in God's University of Contentment and some of his classes were difficult, like shipwreck a night and a day, beatings several times, rejections, hunger, opposition, and prison. Changes are in God's classroom. Contentment is the lesson Christ gives us.

He is the teacher. Contentment is a lesson you have got to learn. Christ is the teacher you learn it from. Some of us keep praying, "Lord, get me out of this class." God says, "No, you haven't passed the test yet." Or we say, "Lord, remove these people. I don't want to work around them anymore."

God says they are part of the curriculum. Some folks keep repeating the same spiritual grade because every time the test comes, they say, "I rebuke this test in the name of Jesus." God says you can't rebuke it; it is a midterm. Sometimes the circumstance isn't something to escape; it's something from which to learn.

"In whatever circumstances I am," Paul says. In other words, wherever life places us or places me, high or low, full or hungry, comfortable or uncomfortable, Paul says I have learned contentment. I have learned contentment travels with me. I have learned even when circumstances change, my contentment never does.

If your peace depends on something that changes, then your peace will constantly change because only God is the one who is always stable, circumstances or not. Circumstances are kind of like the weather: sunny on Monday, storming on Tuesday, cold weather on Wednesday, hot on Thursday.

By Friday, you don't know whether you need an umbrella, sunscreen, or a winter coat. Let me ask you something: would you build your house on the weather forecast? Some people live their life like that. They think, "Well, Lord, if it's sunny tomorrow, it means that you're going to answer my prayer." No, that's not how you operate with God.

Circumstances are temporary conditions, not permanent foundations. Our circumstances may change, but Christ never does. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. When you wake up tomorrow, God is still the same. When you go to bed tonight, God hasn't changed. Whatever you feel, if it doesn't line up with scripture, let it go.

Our circumstances may change, but Christ never does. We've learned through the changes. Second, we need to learn with contentment. Philippians 4:12 says, "I know how to get along with humble means, and 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."

My wife went through that. Both of us did when I got married. I had bills so high I was drowning in them. It was all coming from one place: my uncle, Uncle Sam. I was making a lot of money at the time. I wasn't giving Uncle Sam anything. Uncle Sam remembered, though. He remembered daily. Those interests compound daily.

He said, "Oh, I know where everything you own is." monetarily. He locked down everything I had. But God arranged it so I could get from under debt and clean my slate. They released all my funds that they had held. The day that they did that, I remember calling the gentleman in New York.

I was at my wits' end then and he gave me a little something. I knew it was God because when he was getting ready to hang up, he said, "Oh, by the way, God bless you. I am going to let a little bit of this money come your way." When my wife and I got together, God took that whole albatross around my neck and just got rid of all that.

I want to give you encouragement. If you think you're in a situation where you can't find a way out, trust God. I'm telling you, there was no way in the world that I could have paid that sum of money in my lifetime. But God. Fortunately, the law was on my side. Because the law was on my side, my attorney was able to take care of those things where I could get away with paying little or nothing.

Now I take care of my bills. God was working all those things out because I needed to have my credit report clean and perfect in order to be able to get the loan for our church. I am not worth a million dollars, but the people that knew me at the bank said, "We know him. We know him. And we know if he says that they're going to pay it, we're going to give it to him."

A friend of mine told him, "If he doesn't, I will." I told my friend, "I will." He said, "Well, then I trust you." We're debt-free, thank God. Praise the Lord, somebody. I had to get insurance out on my life for the church for the sum of the loan because everybody knew that it centered around me.

They said, "If something happens to you, how are we going to get our money?" So they had to take out an insurance policy on me so that if something should happen to me, the church would be paid off. Some people were wishing I'd die. I am just kidding with you. But then I don't know, I can't read everybody's mind.

God didn't answer their prayer. We're still here, thank God, by the grace of God. Learn means to come to an understanding. You can be saved and be dissatisfied. You can love Jesus and still spend too much time comparing yourself to everybody else. You can know the scripture and still be jealous.

Paul had to enroll in God's university. Every time the test comes, people say, "I rebuke the test," but you can't rebuke the test because it is a midterm. Sometimes the circumstances aren't something that we can escape. It is something from which we learn. Wherever life places me, I'm going to learn something in that.

If your peace depends on something that changes, you are not going to have it. Paul says circumstances are temporary conditions, not permanent foundations. Our circumstances may change, but Christ never does. Paul says he has experienced both sides. "Abased" is the word in the King James version.

It means to humble yourselves or experience reduced circumstances. Paul knew what it meant to have less. But he also knew how to abound. That word means to overflow or have more than enough. When you have much, you're tempted to say you need more storage. There was a time when people bought a house to hold their stuff.

Now they just have so much stuff they have to rent a storage unit just for their stuff. Then one day they go to the storage unit, open it, and say, "What in the world is all this stuff?" You're paying monthly rent for things you forgot you even owned. Our problem isn't we don't have enough; our problem is we haven't learned to appreciate enough.

We've got to have this one more thing and we'll be content. I know where you are. I drew the line in my life. Paul says I've learned how to live with less and I've learned how to live with more. We usually think we need contentment when we're lacking, but abundance also requires contentment. Why? Because when we have a little, we're tempted to say we need more.

Paul learned to be content in any and every circumstance. The Greek word is associated with being initiated into a mystery or learning a secret. Paul says I have learned a secret of contentment. I've learned the mystery. I thought I had to be comfortable. I thought I had to have it all together.

I thought that maybe being free was okay, but I found I can be content even in prison. It takes a special kind of person to be content in prison. I'm not that kind of person. But Paul was placed in that predicament. He was confined. Some of the situations we have are bad. It is a circumstance I don't wish on anybody.

Paul learned he can change his circumstances without changing his contentment because you can't take Christ away from him. Christ is always with him. The secret is this: not how to always be rich, not how to avoid trouble, not how to guarantee you are going to be comfortable.

The secret is I can have Christ in any and every circumstance and learn something from that experience. Paul learned he can change his circumstances without changing his contentment because you can't take Christ away from him. How many of you know the difference between a thermostat and a thermometer?

A thermometer simply reacts to the environment. If the room changes, the thermometer changes. Some people's emotions are spiritual thermometers. But God is the thermostat. He is the one that changes the thermostat in your life. He says, "I need you to learn something in this experience, so let me turn up the heat in your life so that you'll learn through this trial."

It is a fiery trial. It's a fiery trial and it is a test. The test is the test of your faith to see who you're going to call on in this fiery trial when the thermostat is up to 100 and you're needing it to be down to 60. God is saying, "No, I've got the heat up because I need you to understand I'm in control of the thermostat and also the thermometer."

He can change either one he wants, but he is mostly the thermostat in your life. When things are good, praise the Lord! When things go wrong, we ask, "Where is God?" God said, "I am always where I've always been, with you." Mature contentment says I'm not allowing everything around me to determine everything within me.

Contentment doesn't deny the temperature; it refuses to let the temperature determine its trust in God. You must learn to depend on Christ. Verse 13 of Philippians 4 says, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." This is one of the Bible's most quoted verses, but you have to put it in context.

Context matters. Paul isn't saying because we are a Christian we can accomplish anything and everything that we are faced with or everything we decide to do. The "all things" refers to all the circumstances that he has described in chapter 4. Paul is saying I can endure abundance and I can also endure need.

I can face fullness and I can face hunger. I can walk through highs and I can walk through lows. He says I can do all that through Christ who strengthens me. It's the Greek word where we get dynamite from: endynamoo. It means to be strengthened with power. It means to be enabled to do something or to make someone strong.

It doesn't mean necessarily in your physique. It means that you have a stronger faith in God. It means you have a stronger belief in scripture. It means when something seems overwhelming, you come to God and you walk away encouraged and strengthened by some scripture, or maybe by a call from a friend.

Maybe you just sit there by yourself, thinking about all the things that God's done for you. You sit there thinking, "You know what? I've been through worse situations and God brought me through." Paul isn't saying look how strong I am; he's saying look how strong Christ is in me. Contentment isn't "I don't need anybody."

Contentment is "I know who I need and his name is Jesus." The other day I was out at a meeting, and I looked at my phone and the battery percentage was down. The meeting hadn't ended yet and it was going to go on for a while. Have you ever had that problem?

Your phone can have the best apps, the newest operating system, a beautiful screen saver, a great camera, and hundreds of contacts. But let the battery hit 1% and panic hits. Suddenly you are closing apps, you are lowering the brightness, and you are asking, "Does anybody have a charger?"

That device still needs power. It needs a source. Some of us are empowered, but because we don't pray and thank God, and because we take God for granted, our spiritual faith is at 1%. You could easily bring it up to 100% and better. All you have to do is go back to doing what Paul says: pray in every situation.

Rejoice in all things, not because of them, but in those things. I am not rejoicing because somebody died; I am rejoicing through this circumstance because I know the God of all grace will always be sufficient for me. The word says, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all of our affliction."

When I'm going through something, I know that I can charge my spiritual battery by going back to what Philippians says: in all these things I have the strength that Christ provides. God says some things you don't need to close; you need to open the Bible because you've closed it too long.

Paul says I know my source. When my strength gets low, Christ strengthens me. When my courage gets low, Christ strengthens me. When my resources get low, Christ strengthens me. When circumstances wear me down, Christ strengthens me. When we are weak, worried, grieving, and discouraged, Christ dwells in us.

He gives us the strength to walk through whatever situation you may face. God is always with us. Changes are the classroom. Contentment is the lesson. Christ is the teacher. That means my confidence isn't in my ability; it is in his availability. Not in my power but in his presence. Not in my strength but in his sufficiency.

Are we learning through changes? Are we learning the secret of contentment? Are we learning to depend on Christ? What have you learned through life thus far? The same Christ who strengthened Paul can also strengthen you. There are times when I thought there is no way I'm going to get out of this or get through this.

This is a problem that's bigger than anything that I've ever faced, and God always came through. I think about Brother Steve and Melissa. They check in with me from time to time. God says, "Yeah, pray for them because you know how you would feel if you were distant from Madeline." Man, that's the hardest part of doing ministry.

Fortunately, my wife and I meet at home every day. She has her things to do and I have mine, but we always come back home and we are able to be together. Everybody's not like that. People work different schedules and they do different things. Whatever situation you are in, be thankful.

Rejoice in the Lord that things are the way they are in your life because the same Christ who strengthened Paul can also strengthen you. Christ is my strength, but is he yours? If you don't have the Holy Spirit in you, you can't be strengthened by God without one of us who are in Christ praying for you.

Think about that. He only listens to the prayers of his children. If you are not his child and you've been praying for something, you need to give your life to Christ. Or you need to get somebody that knows Jesus to pray for you and intercede on your behalf. I have to tell you something: I love going to my Father.

I love going to him because I have a relationship with him and I know that before I even get to him, he already knows what I'm going to say. Before I even get the words out of my mouth, the Holy Spirit has already prayed for me with groanings too deep for words. I know that at the right hand of the Father, Jesus is right there also interceding on my behalf.

When I go into my time of prayer, I already know the fix is in: Holy Spirit has got me and Christ has me covered. Because I'm his child, I know he is going to listen. Is he your God? Do you know him as your Father? Do you need him? If you want Christ's strength, you need to be saved. That's the first step.

Announcer: All Things Are Possible from New Covenant Fellowship Church. Join us in person for worship on Sunday mornings at 10:30 or online at 11:00. Connect with us anytime at ncf.church or on social media at NCF Chattanooga. We are a place for every race.

Dr. Bernie Miller: Remember the alabaster box? It was broken. You know, there is something about the alabaster box you can't open. In order to get in it, you have to break it. God's been trying to get your attention and he's been breaking things up all around you just to let you know he's been trying to get in.

We are quick to send out a prayer hand emoji. Somebody says, "Bernie, I am in the hospital sick," and you send a prayer emoji and you don't say a word. Like that emoji can speak for you. God doesn't want a text message relationship. He wants a personal connection.