Are you satisfied? (Sermon notes)

Subject: “Are you satisfied?” February 27, 2011

Text- Philippians 4:13-15

"I can do all this through him who gives me strength. Yet it was good of you to share in my troubles.  Moreover, as you Philippians know, in the early days of your acquaintance with the gospel, when I set out from Macedonia, not one church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, except you only..." (New International Version, ©2010)

This epistle was written during Paul’s imprisonment, and he has a right to grumble. He has been beaten, shipwrecked, talked about, and imprisoned (still). He is waiting for his trial before Cesar. He has a full cup of disappointment. He finds something to rally himself in the service of the Savior.

Many of us have a countenance like lemonade. We frown up on everything in life.

Are you satisfied with the Savior?

Paul finds something to propel him forward in the face of failure. What keeps him with joy on the insides? To do this he (we) needs to have been sincere in what he (you) started.

We need to come into service with a sincere heart. Some of us come into church service with insincerity, and ultimately find dissatisfaction with the Savior. We become dissatisfied to the point that we have come to.

We need to be sincere in the service to the Lord!

Salvation is the birthing pool of sincerity.

We need complete commitment to the call of the Gospel.

Paul is not sorry for serving the Lord.

In Chapter 1, verse 7, Paul is commending the Philippians for laboring with him in this journey. Despite his circumstances, he still finds satisfaction with the Savior.

And that is what we need to find...despite steel mills closing, spouses going on, children who stray from our teachings.

“You only live once, but if you work it right, once is enough!”

Personal success is not the only measure of satisfaction.

How can we find satisfaction in the light of a dissatisfying circumstance?

We must have high standards, and a lot of it is right here in Philippians:

Philippians (King James Version)

2:5 "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus..."

2:10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth..."

3:10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death..."

3:13 "Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before..."

Do you still have joy in the midnight hour or in the midst of your sorrow?

Is it worth it to work for God? Or, are you working for your own appetite?

In my poverty, I am filled with fullness. We need a spiritual diet.

The context of Paul’s epistle is set in suffering.

From the Greek: 4:13

panta            ischuw                          en           tw         endunamounti        me               [cristw]


(panta)       (ischuO)                       (en)          (tO)    (endunamounti)        (me)            [(christO)]       



ALL         I-AM-beING-STRONG     IN          THE    One-IN-ABLING       ME             ANOINTED  
                                                                                 one-invigorating                           Christ


I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. (King James Version)

Panta means - in every way

Iscuw meaning - I endure

What Paul is saying here is that IN EVERY WAY, I ENDURE! [And I’m still standing].

And this is what qualifies m and us for the promises of Jesus. When you reach your bottom, HE is still able to fill you up!

Ilus.: A runner: You cannot get your second wind, until you have expended your first wind, and continue on.

We come to the church and serve God in our limitation, rather than in expectation of the manifestation of God in our lives!

Psalm 42, "As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God.." (NIV)

In Philippians 4:13, the word for Christ is not actually in the greek text Why? We are referred back to John 15:5, where Jesus says very clearly, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” (NIV)

You can do nothing unless you abide in me. Christ has been Paul’s supplier through it all. Although he is suffering on the outside, he is praising him on the inside.

The psalmist says, (Psalm 51:12), “Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.” (NIV)

Paul is an authorized user and point of release of God’s power. He is not in this for, for him own benefit, or by himself!

Paul’s anointing is not his own. Aaron was anointed with oil. Sampson was anointed by the Lord, he shook.

Once you get qualified for anointing power, it does not leave you. It stays in you.

Are you qualified, anointed AND appointed?
When trouble is all around, call on HIM!

Illus.: A lesson we can learn from March Madness, the game of keep away. When the victory is clearly in sight, and time is running out, the players pass the ball around to run the clock down. In “old school” parlance this was called “keep away.” Now it is called “four corners.”

Don’t let the devil steal your joy, play keep away.