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Guest (Male): This is Connect with Skip Heitzig. Thanks for joining us today. Here at Connect with Skip, we're passionate about helping you understand God's word and apply it to your everyday life through clear, practical Bible teaching. That's why we want to invite you to sign up for Pastor Skip's free weekly devotional.

You'll receive biblical encouragement, ministry updates, and information about upcoming resources, all delivered right to your inbox. Sign up today at connectwithskip.com. That's connectwithskip.com. Now, here's today's message from Pastor Skip Heitzig.

Skip Heitzig: I'm guessing that every audience I speak to has some people who are dealing with anxious thoughts or worry. It’s just a given. I say that solely because I'm a human being, and everybody I've ever met deals with that. So, he gives the command. He says, "Don't be anxious for anything, but..." That's a word of contrast.

Now listen, the contrast is the solution. The contrast is the solution. The cure or the solution for anxiety, worry, and care is replacement. Replace the thoughts that are dividing your mind with other thoughts: prayer, supplication, thanksgiving, requests. So, replace anxiety with what the Bible calls in 1 Peter chapter five, "casting." That's replacing, casting.

Peter says, "Casting all your cares, *merimnao*, casting all your cares upon Him because He cares for you." So the cure, the solution, is in the contrast. Don't do that. Don't let your mind—because your thoughts, neuroscientists tell us that the average human mind thinks 70,000 thoughts per day. Your thoughts are like rabbits. You’ve got to harness them. You’ve got to control them. You have to bring every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.

And so when you're having thoughts and they're dividing your mind, replacement, casting all your anxiety, care, worry, *merimnao*, on the Lord, on Him, because He cares for you. When you do that, He gives you a guarantee. "And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard or mount up as a guard or a sentry at your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."

Cast all your cares upon Him. All your cares. Pray about everything. You know, sometimes we go, "Well, I do the big things in life, but I don't want to bother God with the little things. I have this little thought. I don't want to pray about that." Why not? It's when you cast the little things to Him, now when you do that, you're keeping the little things from becoming big things.

The little things grow and become big things. A woman came—this is one of my favorite stories of G. Campbell Morgan. A woman came to G. Campbell Morgan and she said, "Do you think God minds if we bring the little things to Him?" And he smiled and he said, "Ma'am, can you think of anything that's big to God?" You're asking me about little things. What's big to Him? Bring everything to Him.

So don't let it grow. Everything. Casting all your cares upon Him. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ. There is a difference between peace with God and the peace of God. Peace with God happened the day you were saved. The peace of God is an experience that is different from the first.

The peace with God is not a feeling, it's a fact. The war is over. You're redeemed. You're saved. If you're a saved individual, God declares you're at peace with Him. There's nothing that stands in the way. Even though you may have peace with God and you may be a saved man or woman tonight, you may not be experiencing and feeling peaceful.

The peace with God is a fact. This peace, the peace of God, is a feeling. It's a feeling. It's an experience that you have. Jesus Christ as your Savior brings you peace with God. Jesus Christ as your Lord brings you the peace of God. One's a fact, the other is a feeling. A feeling of peace is promised to those who have the fact of peace with God, and you can enter into it. And you're told how right here.

I've always loved that little quip about this guy who was a worrywart. He was a worrier. Every day he’d come to work and just worry and talk to himself, and he just looked miserable. And one day he came whistling and happy, and everybody at work said, "Dude, what's up?" And he goes, "You know how I worried every day, all the time, every week, every month, every year?" "Yeah, yeah, I know that. You’re known for that. We all talk about you in the office."

He goes, "Well, I finally figured it out. I hired somebody to worry for me." And they all said, "You hired somebody? What are you paying this person?" He goes, "I'm paying him $200,000 a year, but it's worth it." They said, "$200,000 a year? You make $50,000 a year. How are you going to afford it?" He goes, "I don't know. That's his worry."

Have you ever thought, "I'm God's property. This is His worry"? I've cast it on Him. He bought me with a price. I've got a lot of problems. You’ve got a lot of problems. Let Him have those problems. He can handle them. Cast all your cares on Him.

Finally, brethren. Now, now he means business. In chapter three, verse one, he said, "Finally, my brethren." Really what he meant is he's a man after my own heart. Really, he says, "I'm going to end now." Well, not really. I've got some more things to say. So that really meant furthermore. This really does mean my final thoughts. Finally, brethren, because he's in chapter four.

"Whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue, if there is anything praiseworthy, meditate on these things. The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace—before it was the peace of God, now the God of peace—will be with you."

A couple quick things about the two verses we just read. There is a linguistic structure to these two verses that is a very definite linguistic structure. I know we don't care about that. Except, basically both verses are a list of things tied to a main clause or a main verb. There's a list in verse eight, and the main verb is "think" or "meditate." And then verse nine, another list, and the main verb is "do."

Think, verse eight. Do, verse nine. Do you know that in the Bible there's a close relationship between what you think and what you do? That your thoughts provide the basis for your actions? Jesus said to his disciples, teaching on humility after he washed their feet, "If you know these things, happy are you if you do them." There's always a connection between what you know and what you do, what you think about and what you do.

So that's how it is broken up. And so he says, "Whatever things are true." And by the way, instead of going through all these things, all these things basically mean the same thing. Whatever is true, God's truth, God's word. Whatever things are noble, things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue, if there is anything praiseworthy, meditate on these things.

I wonder if we were to tape that verse on our television, or our computers, or our iPads or phones, if we would, looking at that verse, look at some of the things that we watch. I'm not going to press that and try to make you squirm or feel guilty, but I bet we would be looking at a lot fewer of those things because not everything that we see on those screens fits this bill.

But he says, "Meditate on these things." *Logizomai* is the Greek word, and it means logical thought. So basically, when you logically think through God's principles, they form the basis by which you live your life. You do these things, you see. And so, "Whatever things are those things, the things which you have learned and received and heard and saw in me." So by precept and by example, "these do, and the God of peace will be with you."

But, verse 10. "But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at last your care for me has flourished again, though you surely did care, but you lacked opportunity." What is he referring to? He's referring to, as you'll see, their financial support of Paul. Paul started the church ten years prior, hadn't heard from them or they hadn't heard from him for five years.

However, the Philippians had financially supported Paul. When Paul went through Macedonia, he went through Thessalonica, the next town over, they sent financial help to him. He's going to mention that. Paul's in prison in Rome. Even while he's in Rome, they had sent one of their church members, a guy by the name of Epaphroditus, with a financial gift to help take care of Paul.

Now Paul's sending the letter and giving it to Epaphroditus to go back to Philippi to give them the letter and basically say thanks for your financial support. "So I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at last your financial care for me has flourished or blossomed again, though you surely did care, but you lacked opportunity." You didn't know where I was. Well, here I am in Rome, in jail. Thanks.

"Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am to be content." And he's going to explain that. I could have a lot, I'm content. If I have physical abundance in my life. If I don't have much at all, in fact, if I'm in poverty, I'm still content. Whatever state I'm in. I don't know how many of us could say that.

Guest (Male): You're listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig. Every day, friends like you help connect people around the world to the life-changing truth of God's word through clear, verse-by-verse Bible teaching. And this month, we'd like to thank you with a practical resource designed for the challenges of everyday life.

When you give, you'll receive "Biblical Wisdom for Everyday Living," a collection of four lifestyle booklets from Pastor Skip Heitzig. Through "Pray This Way," "Technicolor Joy," "Unforgiveness: Forgiveness vs. Sweet Revenge," and "Standing Firm in Unsettled Times," you'll discover biblical wisdom for prayer, joy, forgiveness, and finding peace when life feels uncertain.

We'll send this special collection as our thanks when you give $30 or more to support Connect with Skip Heitzig. Call 800-922-1888 or visit connectwithskip.com/offer. Now, if you're looking for a practical way to spend more time in scripture, listen to this special invitation from Pastor Skip.

Skip Heitzig: Learning your Bible matters. I'm committed to teaching God's word, and I want you to understand the depth of scripture for yourself. That's why I want to invite you to join me in a 90-day through the entire Bible reading challenge using the YouVersion Bible app. We call it "Jesus People Grow."

So for 90 days, we're going to read together God's word. We're going to learn it, receive it, and we're going to let it shape us so that we can also be faithful in sharing good teaching with others. So join me. Let's learn our Bibles and grow in the word of God.

Guest (Male): Now, let's return to today's teaching.

Skip Heitzig: You're in this state of New Mexico. Are you content? "Whatever state I'm in, I'm content," Paul said. Now, can I make an obvious point? Advertisers don't want you to be content. The advertising world banks their whole industry on a principle of your discontentment, and they work hard at making you discontent.

They feed your discontent. You would be more happy if you bought this product. Look how your life would change. Look how many friends you'd have. Look how successful you would be. You need this. They are working hard, studying human nature to make you discontent. And it's worked.

One hundred years ago, the average American said they could identify 70 things that they need. Today, over 500 things they say they need. It's worked. "Whatever state I'm in to be content." Contentment, the word for content means self-contained, actually, *autarkes*. And self-contained was a word the Stoic Greek philosophers used. That was their aim in life, to come to a place where they were above human desire.

Paul uses the word that people were familiar with and he says, "Yeah, you know, I'm content, but not like the Stoics. It's very different, my source of contentment." And Paul's source of contentment is, well, rejoice in the Lord always. It's sort of like Psalm 23. "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want." That's contentment.

Contentment doesn't come from what you have, but whom you have. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. I'm rejoicing in the Lord always. Whether I have a lot or I have a little, my contentment is not in what but in whom I have. "I know how to be abased, I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."

Yeah, you know what? You don't even have to make comment on that. Just that verse elicits that response because we all know that to be true. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Paul said, "I learned to be content." And I believe contentment is something you have to learn. And to learn it, you have to go through it. You’ve got to go through these hardships. You have to be tested in these areas and you kind of come out the other end going, "I'm good. I'm good. Thank you, Lord."

With thanksgiving, I know how to be abased, know how to abound. Everywhere, in all things, I could unpack that, but I've already done that on a Sunday morning. "I can do all things through Christ who gives me the strength or strengthens me. Nevertheless, you have done well in that you shared in my distress, that you supported me financially."

"Now you Philippians know also that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church shared with me concerning giving and receiving, but you only." Kind of an amazing statement to me that more churches didn't support Paul. You know, if there's one missionary I would say we'll give whatever we have to, it would be him.

I mean, imagine being able to say, "I support Paul the Apostle in the mission field." You know you're going to get fruit from that investment. But Paul said, "No, they didn't do it, but you did. For even in Thessalonica, verse 16, you sent aid once and again for my necessities."

And I love this part. "Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that abounds to your account." Now, I've heard ministries and ministers ask for money on television, on radio. You know, "Dig deep and give to us and we're struggling this month and we could really use a love gift and we need." And he says, "I don't need anything."

And the only reason I'm bringing it up is I'm really just thinking about you and your account. I'll explain that in a moment. Fruit that abounds to your account. "Indeed I have all and abound. I am full, having received from Epaphroditus the things that were sent from you, a sweet-smelling aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well-pleasing to God."

Now, when he says, "fruit that abounds to your account," that's a financial term he's using. And it refers to interest gained on the credit side of a ledger in ancient times. Credit side of a ledger. Interest gained on the credit side of a ledger. So here's what he's saying. "When you support me, Paul the Apostle, and I lead a person to Christ, or I plant a church, or the gospel gets into the Praetorian guard in Rome or whatever, that's fruit to your account."

"We're partners in the ministry. I'm the mouthpiece, but you supported the mouthpiece so that in heaven, people are going to come up to you Philippians and say, 'Thank you. I'm here because you supported Paul the Apostle.'" And so Paul says, "We share in the reward in heaven. It goes to your account. God will put that to your account."

So it's not like I need anything. What I'm really thinking about is fruit. I want you to have a fruitful spiritual bank account. Fruit that abounds to your account. Indeed I have all and am full. Epaphroditus, etc. To me, this puts a whole new light on how we should give financially.

When a ministry goes on television and says, "We're really struggling and we need your help," I’m going, "Well, I wonder then if they're really fruitful." And I shouldn't give because they need a special love gift. What I should do is find fruitful ministries, successful, fruitful ministries teaching the word, leading people to Christ, doing evangelism, training up others, and give to that. Because in heaven, I'm going to get that reward from all the fruitful ministries.

So Philippians really sheds light on that practice and how we should give. We should look for ministries that are fruitful. He says a sweet-smelling aroma, well-pleasing to God. Verse 19, "And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus."

Another great promise that I've heard quoted many times. Unfortunately, I've heard it quoted out of context. People quote this verse as if it's a blanket promise for all Christians. I don't believe it is. I believe that it has a context. Every text has a context. You know that you should never take any text out of context.

A text out of context becomes a pretext for a subtext. You have to look at a text in its context. What is the context? Paul doesn't make this promise to the Corinthians. Paul doesn't make this promise to the Thessalonians. He doesn't make this promise to the Galatians. I mentioned them, but he makes it to the Philippians.

So the context is those who are generous in their finances, giving to fruitful ministry like the Philippians. "My God shall supply all your—you've supplied all my need and I've been fruitful to your account, but my God, because of that, will be generous to you and supply all your need." That's the context.

That's what the verse means. You Philippians who have been so generous in your gifting, my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in Christ Jesus. So if you're stingy, don't be grabbing this verse. The better solution is just be open-handed. Be generous. God's generous. Be generous.

Now to our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen. Now, he says amen, but he's not done. "Greet every saint in Christ Jesus. The brethren who are with me greet you." And notice who the brethren are, or at least among them. "All the saints greet you, but especially those who are of Caesar's household."

You see, Paul is chained to guards 24/7 in six-hour shifts, Roman Praetorian elite guards that guarded Caesar and his palace and were stationed in Rome. They were fastened to Paul. That was part of the house arrest of a Roman citizen. But imagine being chained to Paul the Apostle.

And because they were chained to Paul and because he would be telling them the gospel, many of those Praetorian guards had become brothers in Christ. They're part of the saints in Rome. Those of Caesar's own Praetorian guard. You know, I can imagine maybe the Philippians were saying, "Lord, because Philippi was a Roman colony, Lord, if there's any way somehow that you could even reach Caesar's household with the gospel, I mean I can't think of how that is possible, but in Jesus' name do it."

Lo and behold, Paul gets arrested, thrown in a Roman prison, chained to a Praetorian guard. Bingo. And many of them came to Christ. When you go to heaven, you're going to meet Praetorian Roman guards who were chained to Paul. Isn't that cool? Okay, we're done. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. And the second amen counts. Amen. Books done.

Guest (Male): Thanks for joining us today on Connect with Skip Heitzig. Before we go, remember your generosity helps share God's word with people around the world, bringing biblical truth, encouragement, and hope to those who need it most. And this month, we'd love to thank you for your gift of $30 or more by sending you "Biblical Wisdom for Everyday Living," a collection of four lifestyle booklets from Pastor Skip Heitzig: "Pray This Way," "Technicolor Joy," "Unforgiveness: Forgiveness vs. Sweet Revenge," and "Standing Firm in Unsettled Times."

These practical resources will help you apply God's truth to everyday challenges and grow deeper in your walk with Christ. Give today at connectwithskip.com/offer or call 800-922-1888. See you next time.

Skip Heitzig singing: Make a connection. Make a connection at the foot of the cross. Cast your burdens on His word. Make a connection. Make a connection.

Guest (Male): Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times.