Christ-Centred Partnership

The scripture reading today comes from Philippians chapter 4, starting at verse 10.

Philippians 4 · chapter mention

Please follow along on the screen or in your Bible.

I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me.

You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity.

Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.

I know how to be brought low and I know how to abound.

In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.

I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

Yet it was kind of you to share my trouble.

And you Philippians yourselves know that in the beginning of the gospel, when I left Macedonia,

no church entered into partnership with me in giving and receiving, except you only.

Even in Thessalonica, you sent me help for my needs once and again.

Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit.

I have received full payment and more.

I am well supplied, having received from Epiproditus the gift 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.

To our God and Father, be glory forever and ever.

Amen.

Greet every saint in Christ Jesus.

The brothers who are with me greet you.

All the saints greet you, especially those of Caesar's household.

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.

Amen.

Amen.

Great.

Thank you so much, Sherman.

Welcome again.

My name is Chris, if you don't know me.

I'm one of the pastors here at Watermark.

What I'd love to do as we just get into God's word and before we get into God's word is just

to pray for us this morning.

So let me pray.

Father, I thank you that you're a God of life, that you're a God who wants to bring us abundance

of joy and of contentment and of satisfaction in you, which overflows to others, Lord.

Lord, I pray even this morning that you would speak to us wherever we're up to, Lord.

Whether we're wrestling with decisions, as Kevin shared.

Whether we are wrestling with discontentment in our own hearts.

Lord, I pray for us, Lord.

I pray for those who are teachers and those who are students and those who are parents,

Lord, who are going back to school.

I did it last week, this week, or the coming week.

Lord, I pray that for them that there would be this real sense of you bringing protection,

you bringing your blessing, but also you bringing a real deeper sense of joy in you

through this process.

I pray that you would be at the center of all of that, Lord.

I pray for our young people.

I pray that they would find joy in you, even as they go back to school, that actually they

would see that you are the one who places them in this place for your kingdom and your

glory.

So I pray for today that you would speak to us through your word in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Okay, great.

So we've been looking at the book of Philippians, and we're coming to the last section of the

book today.

And we're going to look at something about gospel partnership and what's the source of

healthy partnerships and relationships.

Partnerships are everywhere, whether it's in marriages, whether it's in community groups,

whether it's in businesses.

All around, we are involved in relational partnerships with different people.

But I think there is actually in society and in the world, there's a couple of different

types of partnership and relationships that people enter into.

I call them egret partnerships and rhino partnerships.

Okay.

Now an egret, if you didn't know, is a bird.

It is a white bird, which hangs around on the top of elephants.

And what it does, it feeds off the parasites and the insects on elephants.

And it's really a win-win situation.

It's kind of a consumer relationship because the egret gets food for itself and the elephant

gets rid of its itch.

It's like, you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours, literally.

And so the problem with this kind of relationship, if for some reason the elephant has got no more

insects on him, well, the elephant's feeling fine, but the egret begins to then go, hmm,

get grumbling, complaining, this elephant ain't good, let me go and find another one.

That's egret relationships.

They're consumer relationships.

We're in it for what we can get out of it.

But then there are male rhinos.

Now rhinos, they are self-sufficient guys.

They can fend for themselves.

They don't need other people.

They're detached.

They're distant.

If they need a mate or need something, they'll come in, they'll get it, and then they'll head

out and do their own thing again.

You know, they're the kind of people who when the going gets tough, the tough get going,

and they're going to get going by themselves.

You see, these kind of relationships, these partnerships characterize much of Hong Kong.

Much of what we think of as love is actually egret-style relationship.

You know, you make me feel good.

I'll make you feel good.

We'll stay together as long as that's still the case.

Otherwise, we'll look elsewhere.

Or in marriage, you know, after a while, we enter into the kind of rhino style.

You do your thing, and I'll do my thing.

We'll live under the same roof together, but functionally, we live separate lives unless

there's something we need at that moment.

But the book of Philippians has been showing us a different way of doing relationships

and partnerships.

It's Christ-centered partnership.

You see, what you've seen, the whole of Philippians, you're seeing this partnership between Paul

and the Philippians, which is birthed in Jesus, sustained in Jesus, and whose goal is Jesus.

You see, it flows out and is characterized by Christ's sacrificial, generous love.

It overflows in the whole of the book.

Paul has said, I yearn for you guys with Christ's affection.

I long for you.

I love you.

You're my joy.

You're my crown.

And he's poured his life and the gospel into this little church in Philippi.

And the Philippians, in return, they've sent financial gift after gift.

They've sent key leaders like Epaphroditus at huge cost to themselves.

And 2 Corinthians 8 tells us that actually they did all of this out of a condition of

extreme poverty, not out of a sense of wealth and abundance to encourage and support Paul,

even in his darkest moments and in his best times.

And right now, he's in prison.

It's not a great time.

It's not an egret relationship.

It's not a rhino relationship.

It's a Christ-centered relationship.

And it could have been so different because Paul, stuck in this prison cell, lonely, hungry,

dark, for a while, he gets no support from the Philippians.

And instead of grumpiness, he's rejoicing.

He's rejoicing in Jesus.

He's so satisfied in Jesus that when Epaphroditus shows up with a financial gift, he doesn't go,

oh, it's about time.

Where have you guys been?

Talk about a relationship.

He goes, I rejoiced greatly in the Lord that now at length you have revived your concern for me.

And that word concern is the word that's been used at least 10 times in the book of Philippians for the word mind.

And it's a word meaning you're thinking of me.

You're caring for me.

His rejoicing in Jesus is actually not that just his physical needs were just met right now.

But he's rejoicing that when Epaphroditus came to him, it spoke to Paul that actually in Jesus, his grace has come.

You're still thinking of me.

And so what I want us to look at is how do our relationships, how do our partnerships, how, whether it's in our marriages, our CGs, our friendships, our churches,

how can we be characterized by that kind of non-entitled, non-detached, non-grumbling, generous, other-centered love?

And Paul is going to give us the secret to this.

And I'm going to spend much of today looking at this one word, contentment.

So we're going to look at contentment, say how do we get there, and then we're going to look at a few implications and things that flow out, the fruit of contentment.

So let's just get going in chapter 4, verse 10 and 11.

Paul says,

You see, Paul is really keen, as he's writing to the Philippians, that they don't get the wrong idea about his situation.

He's got needs, but he doesn't want to manipulate them or guilt trip them into giving more.

And particularly when he's talking about money, he's trying to help them see he's not just making a subtle request for more money.

Instead, he says, I'm content, guys.

And that word content was actually a very popular word used by a group of philosophers at the time called Stoics.

And what they thought the word contentment meant was rhino contentment, meant using your willpower, just keep calm, carry on, no matter what the storms of life are, push through by yourself, don't rely on anyone else.

You've got to be detached.

And Paul is not saying that.

He's saying, I'm not just, I have needs, but I'm not just needy.

I'm not just self-sufficient.

I'm Christ-sufficient.

He says, in what a situation I am, I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.

You see, he's saying, even when you can't provide for me, I have one who continually sustains me.

And that is Christ.

Now, how can Paul find that contentment?

Well, he's been telling us he's been pursuing knowing Christ and knowing this God in his life.

The God who commands us to praise him is not a needy God.

He doesn't need our worship.

He doesn't need us at all to kind of stroke his ego.

He's all-sufficient.

As the creator of the galaxies, he is rich beyond compare.

And yet he's not.

He's all-sufficient, but he's not self-sufficient in some distant, detached way where he doesn't kind of care about us or need us.

Or just care about us in any way.

Rather, he's a contented, joyful God.

And out of the overflow of his contentment, in fact, Paul says in the book of Timothy, he says,

he is the blessed God.

He's the happy God.

He's the contented God.

And out of the overflow of that, he's told us in Philippians 2 that out of joy and contentment in himself,

God both created the world, but he also sent Jesus into the world.

He came down into that J-curve of humbling himself, sacrificing himself to the point of death on a cross for us,

so that we might be restored.

But then he raised up again to life, and he's exalted at the highest place above all other names.

He's raised in power for us, seated in glory for us.

And if he has loved us with that kind of sacrifice, and if he has that kind of power over even death itself,

and if he has even that kind of authority over all things to command worship,

then Paul in Romans will say,

if God has given us Jesus, then how will he not graciously give us all things?

We don't have a stingy God.

We don't have one who right in our current moment, we've got to wonder whether he's going to provide for us.

Paul can say, no, I can trust this God that I know in any situation because I'm his beloved child.

I don't have to get grumpy and irritable right now because I rest in him.

Sinclair Ferguson, who's a theologian, he said this,

Christian contentment is the direct fruit of having no higher ambition than to belong to the Lord

and to be totally at his disposal in the place he appoints at the time he chooses

with a provision he is pleased to make.

What he's saying is this.

He's saying contentment is founding knowing whose you are and trusting him with where you are.

My son, Etienne, when he was born, came screaming out of the womb into this dizzying world of lights and sounds and smells.

It's a scary place for a little kid.

But doctors, they recommend that babies have what's called skin-to-skin time.

In other words, in a scary and insecure environment, what happens is you bring the baby to the mother,

to the one who has given this little baby life,

and it's there that that baby will discover the warmth, the safety, the protection, and the provision of his mother.

And it's there, at that place, that the crying stops and peace is found.

His mother will provide for him.

That is Christian contentment.

We want Christ more than anything.

And Jesus doesn't want an egret relationship with us,

where he's died for us, so we've just got to do our bit, pray,

do enough things in return to make him happy with us.

He doesn't want a rhino relationship with us,

where if we just come to him when we've got a problem,

and the rest of the time we forget about him, do our own thing.

No, Paul knows, he said, I can be content in Christ,

because I have a relationship with him as his beloved child,

knowing him is our highest ambition.

We lay our lives in his hands,

because he's a father who loves us,

and will supply all of our needs.

That's what Christian contentment is.

That trusting that even Kevin talked about just now.

But how do we get there?

How do we get to that place of trusting our Father,

and that Christ will supply all that we need?

Paul says this.

He says,

I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.

I know how to abound.

I know how to be brought low.

I know how to abound in any and every circumstance.

I've learned the secret.

I've learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger,

abundance and need.

I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.

You see, what he's saying is contentment is learnt.

Did you notice that?

He said, I've learnt it.

You don't suddenly wake up one day content.

You see, that word, when he says contentment has a secret.

He says there's a secret to it.

And that word is actually a word that is used by the secret societies of Paul's time

for the initiation ceremony that they would come into,

into that little community.

And what Paul is saying is,

if you want to come into the school of contentment,

you don't have to have some initiation ceremony.

The initiation ceremony is Christ,

and the sustaining ceremony is Christ.

And when he says,

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me,

that's one of the most misunderstood phrases

in all of the New Testament, I think, by Christians.

Because we often think,

what he means by all things is,

I can achieve anything.

I can get that promotion.

I can fulfill my dream.

I can be a success in my life through Christ.

That's not what Paul is talking about.

Because if you look back to verse 12,

all things refers to this.

He says,

I know how to be brought low,

and I know how to abound in plenty or hunger.

You see, how do we learn contentment?

That school of contentment is in the humbling

and in the abundance of all of life.

You see, it's through classes of being brought low,

just like Jesus was humbled.

Financially, you lost your job.

Spiritually, you have your sin

and your failure exposed to you.

Socially, you experience criticism,

rejection, even for your faith.

Physically, Paul was beaten.

He was sick.

He was stoned.

He was shipwrecked.

All of this was his school to learn contentment.

You know, when Etienne was born,

and with that skin-to-skin time,

he still didn't actually know how much we really loved him.

You see, how is Etienne going to learn how much we love him?

Well, if you're parents of older kids,

you know that they learn it through all of life.

That actually, the sleepless nights where you're comforting your child,

the times of taxing your child to every place under the sun,

the struggling with homework and helping them come through it,

later on, just all the relational issues that children have,

or when they have their own family,

or when they see other parents and they feel the pain of parenting,

then they realize,

I'd never realized just how much my parents loved me

and sacrificed for me until this moment.

You see, that's the same with God as he takes us through life.

He's wanting it through all of the ups and downs of life

to show us the depth of his love

so that we can only learn that contentment as you go through life

in him, trusting him.

You know, some of us,

we think that if I can just get a job,

then I'll be happy.

Or you think, if I can just get my kids in school,

if I can just get a boyfriend,

I can just get out of COVID,

then everything will be fine.

Then I'll be content.

I think Paul would say,

don't skip classes in the school of contentment.

Don't wish your present away.

He's not saying you can't long for something different.

He's not saying you can't have a desire that things will change.

But no, in this moment,

God wants to bring you contentment.

You see, in Hong Kong,

we live in a world of comparison.

We're always comparing to everybody else.

We always want to be in a different class

than we're in right now.

But Christians, we didn't enroll in the school of envy.

We enrolled in the school of contentment in Jesus.

You see, graduates of the envy school

have worry and fear.

You know, it's a different education system.

Worry and fear tell you,

look at your problems, you won't have enough.

Envy tells you,

look at what they have, you don't have enough.

The school of contentment says,

look at Jesus, he is enough

for you, today, right now,

whatever you're going through.

So I don't know where you're up to.

But Paul is not here talking about that holy discontent,

you know, where you can actually want to be more like Jesus.

That's good.

He's not talking about passivity,

just kind of hanging back and just saying,

oh, God will do it and I don't have to do anything.

No, Paul's ambitious.

But he's talking about resting in the sovereign God

and trusting in his fatherly care for us

that whatever circumstances he's brought you into right now,

that he'll provide.

You see, he says, I know how to be brought low.

But he also says,

and this is really interesting,

he says,

I've also learned how to face plenty

and how to abound.

Did you notice that?

I don't know if you would normally think about that,

but Paul himself,

he has experienced all the different things in life.

He's experienced abounding with a full stomach

and everything going well,

and he's not living with a guilt trip of,

oh, I should be suffering at this moment.

No, he's rejoicing.

I've learned how to face it.

Some Christians actually think we should just be

living in a mud hut and poor,

and that's the true sense of spirituality.

Other people think you've got to be totally rich

and blessed and everything,

and that's spirituality.

And Paul's saying,

I don't believe in either of those things

as true spirituality.

I can enjoy abundance,

but with open hands.

He says,

I've learned contentment even in abundance.

You know, Spurgeon,

the English preacher,

he said this.

He said,

it is harder to know

how to be full

than it is to know how to be hungry.

To know how to be hungry

is a sharp lesson,

but to know how to be full

is the harder lesson after all.

Do you know what he's saying?

He's saying,

when you're full,

when you've got your promotion,

when your relationships are going great,

everything's swimmingly moving on,

you might thank God for that,

but secretly we applaud ourselves in that.

Your contentment is often more with your comfort

or more with your achievement

or more of all the other things that you have,

but not with Christ.

And that self-sufficient,

rhino-like attitude towards Jesus

is devastating,

because when later on in your life

you may be brought low,

your contentment will just be blown out of the water,

because it was just dependent

on the things that you had,

not on Christ.

I think many of us,

if I can be honest with us,

many of us,

we don't know how to be content

when we're full.

Many of us actually are abounding

in a lot of different ways in this city,

but we haven't learnt

that actually Christ is enough for us

and that today is a stay

of the school of contentment.

You know,

how can you be content today?

Well, if you realise

that you have to run to Jesus

whatever your circumstances,

if you are abounding,

realise your abundance

is not earned at all.

It is undeserved gift.

That's why Paul has said,

like,

think about all the good things,

the great things,

and see it as grace from God.

That's showing you

that God's heavenly bank account

is far richer

than you could possibly imagine.

He can provide

abundantly more

than you can ask or imagine.

But hold that

with surrendered open hands,

because it's all on loan.

It's yours to steward,

it's not yours to own.

And God may bring you

through times of need

and lack

and waiting for things,

humbling times.

Some of us are going

through that right now.

But you know,

that's the chance

to find contentment,

because in that suffering,

he's showing you,

you didn't need

all the other things

to be content.

He is sufficient for you.

So that all the other gifts

only point you to the giver.

This is what Christ

is trying to do.

And if you're struggling

today with contentment,

because this is a fight,

like we talked about

fighting, rejoicing,

fighting for joy last week,

praying in all circumstances,

bringing our requests

to God.

When we talked about

letting our focus

be on Christ

in everything

and doing it together,

that's the wrestle

that we've got to go through

to fight,

to find contentment.

And if you're struggling,

look back on

Christ's faithful love

in your life

and see where he has

provided again and again.

So if you're in need

right now,

you can have confidence.

Your God will supply

all of your needs.

That is contentment.

Now why

and how does that

even connect

with the idea

of partnership

and relationship?

partnership?

Well,

why does Paul

talk about this?

He talks about this

because

he wants to show us

that when you're content

in Jesus,

when you're content

in Jesus,

when you're not grasping

from others

or just detached

from others,

you can then overflow

that on his mission

with sacrificial generosity

and in gospel

partnership with others.

So here's two things

that it overflows.

The first thing,

there is an overflow

of contentment

in humble,

generous partnership.

Verse 14 to 16.

It was kind of you

to share,

to fellowship,

to partner

in my trouble.

And you

Philippians know

that in the beginning

of the gospel,

when I left

Macedonia,

no church

entered into

partnership,

fellowship with me

in giving and receiving

except you only.

Even in Thessalonica,

you sent me

help for my needs

once and again.

You see,

Paul,

twice there,

uses this word

for fellowship,

for partnership,

which is the word

koinonia.

And it's a word

which means

to have a common life

together,

to have a common goal

together,

to be focused

on the same things

together.

together.

And the friendship

that these guys

had grew out

of a gospel

contentment that

led to partnering

the gospel into

giving and

receiving.

You see,

when Paul brought

the gospel to

the Philippians

and Paul's life

into them,

the Philippians

have responded

not out of a

kind of,

oh,

we have to give

you back,

but out of this,

what 2 Corinthians

8 says was

an abundance

of joy

and their

extreme poverty,

they overflowed

in a wealth

of generosity

on their part.

Do you get that?

They had joy

in Jesus'

contentment,

that overflowed

in generosity.

Contentment

means

that even if

you feel like

your reserves

are running low

in a relationship,

you're not getting

back where you want,

your tank feels

empty,

your spouse

isn't responding,

your finances

are tight,

whatever,

you can both

have the resources

in Christ

to be able to

keep loving

and lavishly

giving,

but also

you have the

humility to

accept help

when you do

have needs

because you're

not self-sufficient

like a rhino.

Now,

we could play

this out in

marriages,

we could play

it out in

community groups,

in lots of

different places.

Let me make

this a broader

church level.

The early

church

didn't believe

in isolated

congregations.

You see that

in Philippians.

Like,

we don't need

help from you,

we're just

building God's

kingdom in

our little

area.

No,

they didn't

think like

that.

They built

these connections,

these partnerships,

they were a

network of

churches that

mutually supported

and encouraged

one another

in the mission

of God

wherever it

led.

You know,

I think

sometimes,

even when we

think about

mission,

for example,

mission trips,

many people,

I think we

do mission trips

like rhino style

where we think

we're the ones

who are going

to go and

save the poor.

We're the ones

who are going

to rescue the

needy in other

places.

And so we go

as the heroes

without having

the humility

to realize that

actually partnership

is not just one

way,

it's two way.

And we will

learn through

that.

We need

humility.

But partnership,

it's not just

us helping

others,

it's not just

others helping

us,

it's a costly

sense of us

contending Christ

and pouring

things out to

people around us

as we can

and receiving

in ways that

are appropriate.

One of the

things in

Watermark we

want to do

is partner

with local

churches,

international

churches,

churches in

Hong Kong

and churches

around Asia

for the cause

of the gospel

going forth.

We cannot

do the

mission by

ourselves.

That means

we need to

be humble

enough to

receive people

to help us

and to walk

alongside us.

This is one

of the reasons

why we had

Pastor Paul

from the local

church come

and preach to

us.

We've had

Al Gibbs

come and

we've had

other people

who just

walk alongside

different people

in the

congregation.

This is part

of what

pastoring is.

Today Oscar

is preaching

at Emmanuel

English Church.

What a great

opportunity to

pastor.

We have our

resound

church here.

network that

we're part

of with

churches in

places like

India and

Australia and

Japan.

Our prayer is

some of us

might be able

to go over

and to

support and

encourage them

just as

they came

over last

year and

many of

them actually

encouraged us.

God's vision

for kingdom

ministry is

global.

It's not

territorial.

We want to

give away our

best people.

We want to

give away

resources.

We want to

partner with

people like

Amelia in

Taiwan so

that we can

actually be

blessing and

encouraging the

work that's

there.

Our prayer is

that actually

out of

watermark more

and more people

will be able to

send to the

nations for the

gospel.

We even had a

time last year

when our budget

was tight and

we prayed,

should we be

giving more to

missional justice

partners?

God's saying

yes, I will

supply all of

your needs and

God has

abundantly.

Whether we are

financially tight,

whether we're

struggling,

we always want

the generosity

of the contentment

of God to

fill our hearts

so that we're

not just tight

but we want to

be lavish and

humble to

receive as well

when we need.

See, the

overflow of

contentment leads

to humble,

generous partnership

but also

contentment leads

is the final

thing, to

sacrificial worship.

You know, the

whole of the

book of

Philippians is

a call to be

on mission,

making our

greatest ambition

to know Christ,

to follow him

together, to

become like him

and to make him

known.

You know, Jesus

who's the one

who was brought

low is also

the one who

is exalted

and everyone

in this universe

that one day

will bow the

knee and will

confess that

Jesus Christ

is Lord.

That is the

heart.

It's a call for

each one of us

because that is

true, that we

are willing to

follow and

imitate that

J-curve life

of suffering

which leads to

resurrection glory,

of humbling

which leads to

life, of the

way down being

the way up,

and this joy

in Christ flows

out as worship

and praise to

him because he

alone deserves

it.

You see, right

at the end of

this book,

Paul says that

the Philippians,

your love and

your generosity

was a fragrant

gift,

acceptable and

pleasing to God.

That's worship

language he's

using.

And then he

said, right at

the end,

it is all for

the glory of

God the

Father who

provides in so

many ways.

John Piper says

God is most

glorified in us

when we are most

satisfied in him.

But I also think

when we are most

satisfied in him,

we will also

sacrifice the most

for him on his

mission because we

know that he will

provide abundantly

for us.

I had seven

friends.

Some of them

graduated with me

in the UK,

all single,

working men

and women.

And they felt

God calling them

to the Shamshay

Pole of the

city we were

living in at the

time.

They were all

working in

different areas.

They weren't

working with the

church.

But they went

to this place,

this estate,

where there was

about 30,000 to

50,000 people

who had no

gospel witness.

And they moved

on to the

estate and they

took years of

just this slow,

painful process of

getting to know

the neighbors,

of hosting barbecues,

of trying to love

the people.

They ran pub

quizzes.

They did anything

to reach out to

the neighborhood

so that people

could experience

the love of

Christ through

them and the

gospel.

But they also

made this

commitment.

They said if

anyone actually

wants to date

us, you've

also got to be

willing to get

on the mission

that we're on.

And so we

want, like,

we're willing to

sacrifice whatever

it takes because

God has called

us.

You know, 15

years on, many

of them are in

their kind of

40s now.

Some of them

are married.

Some of them

are still single.

And people have

said to them,

listen guys, you

are just crazy

for giving up

those opportunities

to have children,

to have family

because of this

mission.

That's ridiculous.

Others have

said, hey, you've

sacrificed career

opportunities.

That's stupid.

Just to go on to

this rough council

estate where you're

not getting a ton

of great things

back from these

people.

But if you

would actually go

and talk to them,

if you were going

to meet them,

you wouldn't find

bitter, angry,

resentful, regretful

people, you would

find this community

that radiates this

joy in Jesus.

You would find

these people who

would say, we've

walked through life

and we've seen

by our experience,

we've learned that

contentment is

found not in

having the one

as your partner,

not in finding

the greatest

career or anything

else.

It's found in

Jesus and being

with him on his

mission that people

might come to

praise him who

is the Lord of

all.

Because you see,

they're ordinary

messy people,

but their whole

lives are a

picture of

worship, that

Jesus is worth

it.

So is Jesus

enough for us?

God may not

call you, he

may call some

of us to that.

Right now, there

may be some

people that

actually that's

what God is

placing on your

heart right now.

a call for a

mission in a

way that you're

going to have to

sacrifice greatly.

Some of us, many

of us, that's not

going to be the

call in that kind

of way, but

actually the call

is always that we

would find our

contentment so much

in Christ that we

would be these

people who are

partnering with

overflowing,

generous,

humble,

sacrificial

worship to the

one seated on the

throne.

let me pray for

us.

Thank you,

Father, that you

say that my God

will supply all

our needs as we

walk with you,

all of our needs,

not just our

wants, but

everything we need

for true contentment.

According to your

riches, you are

abundantly wealthy.

Father, I pray that

we would not be

those who live with

a poverty mindset,

those who live with

an egret-like neediness,

codependency.

Lord, I pray we would

not be those who live

with a self-sufficiency,

but we'd see that

wherever we are

right now, you are

sufficient for us.

Give us that rest.

Give us that peace.

Even in the struggle,

even in the challenges,

we'd be of a

community that is

the most content

community in the

whole of Hong Kong,

I pray.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.