Christ Our Strength

Rejoice in the Lord always.

Again, I will say, rejoice.

Let your gentle spirit be known to all men.

The Lord is near.

Sorry.

Be anxious for nothing.

Sorry, guys.

Powerful scripture this morning, so bear with me.

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 comprehension,

will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

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.

The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me,

practice these things,

and the God of peace will be with you.

But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly,

that now at last you have received your concern for me.

Indeed, you were concerned before,

but you lacked opportunity.

Not that I speak from want,

for I have learned to be content

in whatever circumstances I am in.

I know how to get along with the 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 of suffering need.

I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

And my God shall supply all your needs

according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

This is the reading of the Lord's word.

Thank you, Chelsea, for reading scripture today.

I guess I'm the one who always cries up here,

so it's good to see someone else cry every once in a while.

We're talking about Philippians.

And we're looking at Paul writing from a prison.

He's been unjustly accused.

He's about to be killed.

And yet he writes and he talks

about contentment

and peace

and being assured

that everything is going to be all right,

that everything is going to be good.

And I ask questions as I hear that.

How does he do that?

What is going on in his mind?

How?

Because he asks us to invite.

He invites us into this experience with him.

He says that we can do it also,

that we should be doing it.

And I ask myself,

how does he do that?

What does it look like?

How do you experience that type of contentment,

that type of peace,

especially in the crazy world that we live in today?

I mean, it seems like as I look around,

I don't see contentment or peace at all.

It seems like my life often is characterized

by a lack of contentment.

This story, I think, speaks to me as I read it.

I laugh every time I think of it.

But the story goes like this.

A boat docked in a tiny Mexican village

and American tourists complimented the Mexican fisherman

on the quality of his fish

and asked how long it took him to catch it.

Not very long, answered the Mexican fisherman.

Well then, why didn't you stay out longer

and catch more, said the businessman.

The fisherman explained that his small catch

was sufficient to meet his needs

and those of his family.

The American asked,

but what do you do with the rest of your time?

And he said, I swell, I sleep late,

I fish a little, I play with my children,

I take a siesta with my wife,

and in the evenings I go into the village

and see my friends and I play the guitar

and I sing a few songs

and I have a full, contented life.

But the American interrupted,

and he goes, wait, wait, wait, wait,

I have an MBA from Harvard

and I can help you.

You should start by fishing longer every day.

I mean, you can sell the extra fish you catch

and with the extra fish you can put that revenue back in

and you can buy a bigger boat.

And eventually you'll buy another boat

and another boat and another boat

and you'll have this entire fleet

and instead of selling your fish to a middleman,

you can negotiate directly with the processing plants

and maybe even open up your own plant.

And then eventually you can leave this little village

and move to Mexico City or Los Angeles or New York

or wherever you want to run your multinational business.

And you can direct your huge operation there.

The fisherman asked him really thoughtfully,

well, how long will all this take?

And the American businessman said,

well, maybe 20, 25 years.

And the fisherman said, so, and after that, what?

After that, well, that's when it really gets interested

and the businessman said,

when you get your business really big,

you can start selling stocks

and make millions and millions

and you can have an incredible amount of money.

And the fisherman looked at him and said, millions?

Really?

And after that, what?

And the fisherman said, well,

I mean, the businessman said,

well, after that you can retire.

You can live in a tiny village near the coast.

You can sleep late.

You can play with your children.

You can catch a few fish.

You can take siestas with your wife.

And you can spend evenings drinking

and enjoying your friends.

Uh-huh.

Now, some of you don't get that.

Especially if you're from Hong Kong.

So if you're not from Hong Kong,

please go by and tap the person on the shoulder

and try to explain to them

what that story is all about.

But it's the story that Paul is talking about.

It's part of it.

He's talking about contentment

and how we can be happy and fulfilled

in that peace.

And I said in other words earlier

that when I look at Hong Kong,

I don't see this played out at all.

I mean, the divorce rate in the marriages in Hong Kong

is the highest in any civilized country in the world.

Did you know that?

I mean, there's no other civilized country

that can compete to the divorce rate of Hong Kong.

There's surely not contentment in our marriages.

I mean, in the workplace,

the latest statistics came out

through the Government Happiness Index

that the workplace satisfaction

is at all-time low right now.

People are more unhappy and discontent in their work

than they've ever been in Hong Kong.

I mean, people are showing their discontentment

in their newspapers.

They're showing their discontentment as a shop.

You know, yesterday or last week,

we had this blender.

It was about 10 years old

and it was falling apart.

So Christina's gone.

Yes, Christina's gone.

Some people asked me that already.

They said, well, it looks like

I let the kids dress themselves today.

So obviously, Christina is not here.

And yes, you're right.

When Christina's not here,

I let the kids dress themselves.

And so she's back in Dallas.

But I was looking at her house.

I was thinking of something nice to do with her,

for her, and I bought this blender.

And so I bought this blender

and I felt really good about the blender.

And as I walked out of the store,

the lady said,

oh, be sure to come back in next month

because we have a new version coming out.

Well, I was content

just to have the blender that I had,

but now I'm totally discontent

because there's a new one coming out

and I didn't even know that.

But as we shop,

we see discontentment.

We see it in our relationships all around us

that people aren't meeting our needs.

They're not coming through for us.

They're not asking us enough questions.

We see it at Leng Kui Fung.

As people hop from bar to bar

looking for something that could fill them,

we see it in our education system all around us.

In Hong Kong U,

there's this huge sense of discontentment.

We see it in the racetracks

on Thursday and Saturday nights.

We see it outside the gambling halls

as people are placing their bets.

We see it everywhere.

I was talking to a doctor yesterday,

two days ago, Friday.

And they said that what they see

in the healthcare system is amazing.

But now as a doctor,

he is prescribing antidepressants

to 10-year-olds and 8-year-olds

because they're just coming in

with full of anxiety and fear

and a lack of peace

and totally discontent.

He said he never thought he would see that

in his practice.

But now he has 10-year-olds

coming in asking for the equivalent of Prozac.

So they can feel happy

because their life is not good.

It's not good.

Sometimes we see discontent

even in churches, don't we?

We see people go from church to church to church.

I like this about this church.

I like this about this church.

This church, I don't like this.

The message was a little too hard today.

You know, I realized

even as I was thinking about this message today

that it's probably gonna be

pretty hard for some of us.

It was hard for me to write it

and read it and think about it

and ask the Holy Spirit

to examine my life

and say, am I really living this out?

Or are my words just hollow?

Paul is sitting in a prison

covered in filth

and excrement.

And he hears all these things going on

about different churches he's planted

and some of them are doing well

and some of them are not doing well.

People are using his name.

People are misusing his name.

He's about to be executed

for something that he shouldn't be executed for.

And he writes these amazing words.

Be anxious for nothing.

In all things give thanksgiving.

And I ask myself, how does he do that?

How does he do that?

I mean, I'm anxious sometimes

just going into the office.

And some of you tell me you're anxious

just you're medicating

just to get to work.

And you're meditating, medicating

just to get home

because your lives are so out of control.

And here Paul is in the middle

of the worst situation possible.

And he's talking about contentment.

And so what I wanna briefly, briefly look at

is I wanna look at contentment.

I wanna look at what it is.

But maybe more importantly, what it's not.

I wanna look at how we get contentment.

Maybe more importantly, how we don't get contentment.

And I wanna look at the secret.

And I'm gonna do all that

in just an incredibly short time.

But I've been praying about this

because when Paul spoke these words of contentment,

the words actually had this meaning

in his culture that meant self-sufficiency

and independence.

And so the minute he shared those words,

everybody listening to Paul would have thought,

well, I hear that every day all around me.

The Stoics and the philosophers,

they're saying that to us.

They're saying if you want to be happy,

you need to be content.

Contentment was the highest virtue in Paul's day.

And everybody tried to attain for that.

Everybody went to that.

And the Stoics said you can do it.

The Stoics said you could do it through your ability.

If you tried hard enough,

if you put aside your desires,

if you just, you concentrated,

the power was within you,

you could do these things.

If you just name it, it's gonna be yours.

Practice meditation.

Deny yourself.

Detach yourself.

Detach yourself from people.

Detach yourself from your feelings.

And if you do all these things,

you're gonna be content.

And your life will be happy

and you'll have inner peace.

But when Paul uses this word,

he doesn't use it in that way at all.

When Paul talks about contentment,

it's a word that basically says

that you cannot be content

unless you recognize

that you cannot do it on your own.

I mean, what he's saying to the people

is that the only way that you can be content

is to realize that I can't be content.

I need help.

I need somebody to step in

to make me content.

The word was this image of this city

with all these high walls

and it's surrounded by this massive army.

And the army's trying to break in

and destroy the city.

But inside, everybody was peaceful.

And everybody's happy.

Because they know that everything they need,

everything they need is within the walls of the city

and they don't need to worry.

So when Paul uses this word,

he would basically have meant something like this.

Contentment is an inner sense of rest and peace

that comes from a right relationship.

A right relationship with God.

Contentment was being able to say

that God is enough.

That no matter what else happens in my world,

that God is enough.

Can we say that?

I mean, today, could you say that God is enough?

Be honest.

I mean, most people in Paul's day,

when they heard this,

they would have laughed at him.

Because they realized that to be content,

you had to follow your passions.

You had to follow those things

that brought up your discontentment.

And so if you saw a woman or you saw a guy

or you saw a relationship

or you saw a marriage

and you felt, oh, I wish I had that,

you need to pursue that.

And if you pursued that,

then you got it.

And when you got it,

you became content.

And so if you wanted relationships,

you pursued relationships.

And you start thinking,

like most of us think,

well, I just got to find the right person.

If I find the right person,

then everything's going to work out.

If I find the right person,

then all my life is going to be good.

I mean, it's going to be perfect

and I'm not going to have any worries.

I'm going to feel peace.

I'm going to feel contentment.

If I just get married,

if I can just get married,

then everything's going to be good.

Have you ever heard anybody say that?

I've heard a lot of people say that.

They think that they look at us

as married people

and we have this kind of secret playbook

and when everything's great

and everything's in control

and there's no chaos in our life

and sex is all there is,

it's great.

If I can just find the right person

to have the right sex with,

then everything's going to be okay

because that's my passion

and that's what I'm driving for

and if I drive for it and I grab it,

then I'm going to be happy, right?

But what happens

when you find that right person

and they let you down?

I mean, what happens

when you find that right person

and they're seeking for the same thing

that you're seeking?

What happens if they say to you,

in you,

I'm hoping that you're going to fulfill

all my needs,

you're going to meet

all my needs perfectly,

you're going to do everything

that I need,

that's why I married you

and you go,

well, that's why I married you

so now you have two people

who are trying to get

what they need from each other

and no one's getting

what they need

and Paul says,

that's not contentment.

Some of the people,

when they heard Paul spoke,

they would have laughed

and they said,

that's ridiculous

because everyone knows

that contentment comes in stuff.

I mean, if I get enough stuff,

if I attain enough things,

if I can get enough money,

if I can collect enough houses,

now I've been told in Hong Kong

you need three houses, right?

You live in one,

you rent the two out

and if you do that,

your life is perfect,

you're going to be content,

you're going to have peace,

everything is great.

So if I just have three houses,

everything is going to be good.

I have a friend

who has three Ferraris.

His idea was,

if I just get Ferraris,

life will be great.

It's amazing

because he's come to Christ

and he's realizing,

well, I have these Ferraris

and they're not really

making me happy or content,

they're actually making me unhappy.

I need to sell them

and I'm like,

can I drive one around

for one week?

But some of the people

were saying,

if you can get these things,

if you can collect these things,

if you can satisfy your feelings

and you're going to be happy

and everything's going to be good,

right?

Some people,

when they heard Paul laugh,

speak and said that God is enough,

they would have laughed.

They would have said,

come on, Paul,

everybody knows that

peace, happiness, contentment

is found in education.

It's in getting the right degrees

and it's in status,

it's in power.

I mean,

I can find peace and happiness

through my doctor, right?

I mean,

all I need to do

is to go through the right doctor,

the right psychiatrist

and if I go to the right psychiatrist,

then everything's going to be okay.

He can give me the right pills,

he can teach me how to breathe right,

he can teach me how to burn those candles,

he can teach me how to rearrange

my furniture in my house

so that everything's perfect

and I'll have peace.

I can go on vacations,

I can stop thinking so much,

I cannot be anxious,

I cannot worry,

I cannot fear,

I don't have to be worried

about content

if I could get the right education,

the right doctor,

the right medication,

the right person in my life,

everything's going to be okay.

Really?

Is that what it calls

to be content?

I mean,

have you ever had someone

say those things to you?

I mean,

I've said them to myself

and so I'm trying to be

as transparent as I can

and be as open as I can

but is that really

where those things are found?

I love the quote

in your bulletin

when you get a chance

to go back to it,

we have it up here

but the quote from

one of Sigmund Freud's

best students,

have you ever read this?

It's amazing,

this guy is not a Christian,

he didn't come to Christ,

he didn't have

any kind of religious faith

and he was asked one day

about contentment

and what they do

as psychiatrists

for contentment

and basically what he says

is that if you're looking

for counseling

and psychiatry

to show you that contentment,

it will never work.

I mean,

all it does is it shows you

why you're not content

but psychiatry

and psychology

will never answer

the big questions

it's not going to answer

why you're here,

why you have to die,

how you can make your life

triumphal and meaningful,

how you can live

a life of contentment.

If psychology pretends

to do this,

if it offers

a full explanation

and solution

for your unhappiness

and discontentment,

it's a fraud.

Don't listen to it

because you'll never

be able to escape from it.

All counselors can do

is show you

what you've done

in your life

and why you're discontent

or why you're unhappy

but it can't show you

how to find contentment.

Drugs cannot show you

how to find happiness.

Counselors will just show you

why you're not happy

and maybe they'll tell you

that that unhappiness

isn't real unhappiness.

It's just been forced upon you

but you should really be happy

but you're feeling unhappy

and discontent

and that's just

a false discontentment.

But do you see

what he says at the end?

This is a guy

who's not a Christian.

He's one of the leading

psychiatrists and thinkers

of his day,

one of Freud's best students.

He says this.

He says the only thing

that can answer the questions

and deal with our happiness,

deal with our discontentment,

the only strength

that can overcome

these feelings

is the strength of a God.

I read that.

I'm like,

oh my,

wow.

Here's a guy

and he's at the top

of his field

and doing these things

and trying to make people content

and trying to make people unhappy

and he realizes

that none of it will work.

The only thing

that can make people happy

is God.

I don't know

what is in your life right now.

I don't know

what you're trying

to make yourself content with.

The passage says

a really quick

and easy question.

You look at verse 13.

All you need to do

to figure out

what's driving you,

what's giving you,

what's your passion,

all you need to do

is see,

I can do all blank

through him.

I mean,

I can do all things

through blank

who strengthens me.

I can do all things

through blank

who strengthens me.

What would you put there?

Be honest.

No one else is going to know.

But what would you put there?

Sometimes I put,

I can do all things

through Tobin

who strengthens me.

I hope you don't put that

on yours.

But I put that on mine.

Sometimes I can do

all things

through my family

who strengthens me.

And whatever you put there,

if it's not God,

Paul says

that it's a lie.

That it's hollow.

And if that lie

is taken away

from you,

if you can say

I can do all things

through Tobin

and all of a sudden

my health deteriorates,

where am I?

Christina's not here

because last week

we found out

her mom has cancer.

So she flew home

to be with her mom

going through chemo.

So Karen's sitting

in a chair

going through chemo

and I'm talking to her

about this sermon

for this week.

And it's amazing

to see

the resolve

and the contentment

in her life.

Because she knows

the blank

is filled in

by nothing

but God.

C.S. Lewis

on his journey,

I'm reading

his autobiography

right now.

It's really

very interesting.

He talks about

how he came to Christ.

He's in Oxford

in 1920s.

He probably came

to Christ

about 1930.

There's all this

upheaval in Oxford.

All these things

are happening

and he's trying

everything.

He's trying

materialism.

He's trying

money.

He's trying

pleasures.

He's trying

passion.

He's trying

theology.

He's trying

philosophy.

And all of them

fall short.

All of them

leave him empty.

And he comes

to this amazing

realization

that if all

these things

in the world

are leaving me

empty,

then maybe

I'm built

for something

else.

Maybe I'm

built for

something

else

not in

this world.

Maybe

I'm built

for something

more.

And Paul

says that

in his prison

cell to us

today.

He reminds

us over

and over

through his

word and

through his

scripture

that there's

so much

more to

contentment

and contentment

can only be

found in a

person.

Contentment

can only be

found in a

relationship

with Jesus

Christ.

And until we

realize that

even as

Christians,

some of us

say,

yeah,

I believe

Christ and

I came

to Christ,

but we

walk off

our life

and we

filled that

blank in

when we

first said

that prayer,

but now we

say I can

do all

things through

my MPF

or my

finances that

strengthen me.

And we

forgot in our

first love,

an older

brother of

mine

changed my

life.

One day he

came to me,

it was many

years ago,

he looked

at my

life and

my life

was in

chaos.

I was

anxious,

I was

fearful,

I didn't

have peace.

I felt

like my

world was

going around

and I

felt like I

was continually

going around

in circles.

I felt like I

was walking

down this

long corridor

with all

these doors

open and I

was opening

up the

doors trying

to find

happiness and

contentment and

I could just

never open up

the right

door and the

hallway kept

going longer

and longer

and longer

and there's

a lot of

doors on

every side

and I'm

trying to

open up

the one

finding

happiness and

meaning and

contentment and

get rid of my

anxiety,

get rid of my

fear and I

could never

do that.

Have you ever

felt like that?

And he

looked at me

and he said,

Tobin,

the reason your

life is a

mess is because

you don't have a

rudder to your

life.

And I looked at

him and I said,

what does that

mean?

He goes,

well,

our lives are like

these boats and

we're on this

journey and the

rudder is on the

back of the boat

and the rudder

keeps us on

track.

The rudder

balances us.

The rudder

keeps us from

flipping over and

from turning around

and losing direction.

And he said,

the reason I don't

have that is

because I didn't

understand God.

My theological

understanding of

God was about

this deep.

And so whenever

a wave hit me,

whenever something

hit me, I

freaked out.

God, he says,

you need to get a

rudder.

Your God is too

small because you

don't know very much

about God or who he

is or what he wants

for you when even

just a little puddle

hits you.

Your boat goes

and you come in and

you go, my life is

falling apart.

What happened?

I just got a parking

ticket.

Really?

Your rudder isn't

big enough to handle

the parking ticket?

Your view of God

is so small that

you don't understand

that?

There are a lot of

us in here today

and we've been

walking with the

Lord or we've said

we've been Christians

for a long time.

And our rudder is

about that big or

non-existent.

When we say we're

a Christian, when it

comes to understanding

God, his character,

his word, theology,

all these things that

more us, all these

things that strengthen

us, all these things

that help us amongst

the storm, our rudder

is like that big.

Some of us in here,

we've been walking

with God for 20 years

and we don't even

have a rudder.

Now there's some

theological questions

we could ask after

that.

How big is your

rudder?

How well do you

know the Lord?

How well do you

know his character

which never changes?

How well do you

know how much he

loves you?

How well do you

know the power of

the gospel?

that doesn't just

save you for heaven

but it saves you

day to day.

Today.

And I realized I

didn't know that

and so Henry

basically challenged

me.

He challenged me

just to study my

Bible and he gave

me this passage,

Philippians 4, 6, and

7.

Be anxious for nothing

but in everything by

prayer and supplication

with thanksgiving what

you request may be

made known to God.

And the peace of God

which surpasses all

comprehension will

guard your hearts and

your minds in Christ

Jesus.

And Henry told me

to memorize that

and to repeat it

over and over and

over for one week.

And I did.

I started to

memorize it.

I started to repeat

it over and over and

over.

And one of the things

kept sticking out to me.

I didn't understand

why Paul wanted me

to pray with

thanksgiving before

God even answered

my prayers.

I mean usually I'm

thankful when I get

what I want.

But Paul says to

pray with thanksgiving

before our prayers

are even answered.

Why?

I realized I didn't

understand that because

my rudder was too

small.

What Paul was saying

to me and what he's

saying to us is that

God is always at work.

And we thank God for

what he's done in the

past.

We thank him for what

he's done at the

cross.

We thank him for

bringing us here.

We thank him for

taking us on this

journey.

We thank him for

weaving our lives and

our story into his

story.

But we also thank

him for the future.

And this is really

hard for me to think

through as an old

young Christian with a

rudder about this big

because I didn't read

my Bible.

I didn't know how to

pray.

I just knew I was a

Christian but I didn't

know what that meant

really.

Isn't that kind of

weird?

I mean just think about

it.

You're a doctor and

you're in a clinic and

the new doctor comes in

and you're sitting there

and you're doing your

work and all of a sudden

he comes in and he

goes, hey I got this

patient and he has a

fever and he has a

sore throat.

What do you think is

wrong with him?

He probably has a

sore throat.

Give him some

aspirin and send him

home.

Okay, okay, okay.

And you keep doing

your work and he

comes in.

Hey I got this

patient and he's

exhibiting these

symptoms of just a

rash and a flush.

He's been out hiking

in the woods and he's

itching all over the

place.

What do you think is

wrong with him?

Maybe he has poison

ivy.

Give him some

Benadryl and send

him home.

Okay, okay.

I have this new

guy.

He just came in and

he has these symptoms.

What would you think

if you were a doctor?

You go, what the heck

is this guy doing

here?

He's not qualified.

He doesn't have the

depth and understanding

of his practice.

But you know that's

like a lot of us in

here today.

We say we're

Christians but something

hits us and we just

start freaking out.

Because we don't

understand God.

We don't understand

his character.

We don't understand

who he is.

We don't understand

how he changes.

He never changes.

We don't understand

how he loves us.

We don't understand

the cross.

We don't understand

redemption.

We don't understand

salvation.

We don't understand

what it means to walk

with him day by day

and to trust his

goodness.

But we're Christians.

But we don't

understand because our

rudder is that small.

And Henry challenged

me to read and to

grow the rudder of

theology in my view

of God in my life.

And I've been trying

to do that.

And I realized in

prayer, this is an

epiphany for me.

when I pray, I might

not get what I'm

asking for.

But God will always

give me what I would

have asked for if I

knew what he knew.

Ooh.

Let me try it again.

When I pray, because I'm

trying to figure out a

better way to word this

because you know I make

up words sometimes up

here and I'm not that

great of a speaker or

communicator.

So I was trying to

figure out how I

should make this a

little simpler.

But in Tobinese, I

basically just said,

Tobinese, when I pray,

I might not get what I'm

praying for, but God

will always give me what

I would have asked for if

I see everything the way

he sees it.

Now that's not

original.

That's Jonathan Edwards.

And Jonathan Edwards

stole that from John

Owen.

John Owen stole that

from Tertullian.

Tertullian stole that

from Paul.

Paul stole that from

Jesus.

Everything's stolen.

But it's helped me see

things differently.

The theological term for

that is sovereignty.

And God is in control of

everything.

Jesus talked about that.

Not a hair can fall from

your head without God

allowing it to happen.

Does that make sense?

Okay, so Christina's not

here, so I'll share

something, okay?

Can't not tell her this,

okay?

Because I don't think I've

ever shared this to anybody

else.

When I grew up and I went

off to China, I was

serving in Maine, China,

and I never thought I'd

get married.

I really had no desire ever

to get married, and I

never thought that I would

get married.

I dated a lot of girls.

Okay, my kids are here.

I dated a few very special

select girls, okay?

It wasn't like I was

dating a lot.

Okay, so you're not dating

a lot, Rachel or Kip.

You're just a few select

people, okay, Becca?

Why do we have the kids in

here today?

I don't understand that.

What's going on there?

Okay.

Dad let us dress ourselves

today, and he gave us

Pop-Tarts this morning for

breakfast.

What?

Okay.

So, I never thought I'd get

married, ever.

And I came to, because I

just realized what God had

me doing, maybe I should

just stay single.

And I came back from China,

and I started going to

graduate school, and I met

the girl that I never

thought that I would meet.

It was the first girl out

of all those few select

special girls I dated

that I felt like for the

first time I could marry

this person.

And we started pursuing a

relationship.

All our friends confirmed

it.

The church confirmed it.

Everybody said, you're

perfect together.

You're going to get

married.

You're perfect.

And so, it was Super Bowl

Sunday, which I call Sunday

Bloody Sunday from now on,

because on Monday, I was

going to go buy the

engagement ring.

And on Sunday, we hung out

at the time, and after the

time, she came up to me and

said, I don't want to date

anymore.

You need to break up.

And I prayed, and I prayed.

Okay, God, obviously, you

made a mistake here, God.

Something's going on.

Everybody confirmed this.

The church confirmed this.

The elders, you're perfect

together.

Why did this happen?

I don't understand this.

And I just kind of thought,

and I tried to negotiate, and

I tried to pray differently

to kind of trick God into

answering my prayers.

And I know none of you ever

do this, but I did it, right?

And so, it didn't work.

And about a year later, as I

was sharing this with a friend

of just doing the healing and

working through those things,

this friend, whose name was

Christina, was sitting outside

of a barbecue, and we were

talking about life.

And as I'm sharing these

things with her, I look at

her and go, because we'd

been working together for a

year, right?

And I'm going, wow, she's a

girl.

She's just not just one of my

coworkers.

She's a girl.

And I start seeing her heart,

and I've seen her love for

God.

And I'm so thankful that God

didn't answer my prayer.

I'm so thankful that God is

sovereign.

I'm so thankful that whatever

God's doing, he has the best

in store for his children, and

he knows what we need to know,

and he knows what we need to

have, even though we don't

want it.

It's called sovereignty.

I mean, the Bible's full of

stories like that, right?

I mean, if you and me were at

the cross, and Jesus was being

crucified, and we were one of the

followers, and Jesus was crucified,

and he came away, we would walk

home and say, dude, game's over.

Terrible.

Three years we're doing this, and

now it's just, what are we going

to do?

Well, you've got to get out of

Jerusalem because they're trying

to kill us.

I mean, we would have seen things

in our human perspective, but God

had something so much greater

planned.

God had something so much greater

planned, and Paul is saying as he

sits in this prison, and he knows

what's going to happen, that God is

good, that you can trust him with

your life, that he has a plan for

you, and even if you don't get what

you want, he's always going to give

you the best if you're his child,

because he cares for you, and he

loves you.

Paul is saying to the degree that you

and I understand this, to the degree

that we can understand this, that God

is good and he's out for our best, we

will have contentment.

And to the degree that we don't

understand it, we don't understand

God's character, it's what he says in

verse 8, while he's talking about let

your mind focus on these things, all

those things are theological terms,

we're talking about God's character.

Whatever's good, whatever's honorable,

whatever's pure, he's saying think of

God, think of things that don't ever

change about God, this is God's

character, it's true, it remains

steadfast.

Focus on those things, and the minute

you stop focusing on those things, you

become anxious, you become worried.

And Paul says if you want a contentment, if

you want a peace that surpasses

everything, if you want a peace that's a

jailhouse peace, if you want a peace

that's a lose-your-job peace, if you

want a peace that my wife or my husband

is leaving me peace, if you want a peace

that you're going through chemotherapy,

you don't know what's on the other end,

Paul says you're only going to have that

peace if your rudder's like this big.

And the only way you're going to have

your rudder that big is by knowing the

Lord, spending time in his word, praying,

being in community with other Christians

on that same journey.

That's the secret to contentment.

He uses the words in verse 12 and 13.

He says it's a mystery.

And everybody would have understood that

because it was full of mystery cults all

around them.

It's a mystery.

It's a mystery.

What is the mystery?

The mystery to contentment is a

relationship.

He says if you're sitting in here today

and you're anxious, you're fearful,

you're worried, you're medicating,

if you're a follower of Christ,

you don't understand God.

And your rudder is that big

and the waves are going to continually

move you around.

The amazing thing about this passage

is that he says I can do all things

through Christ who strengthens me.

Lord, I pray and I realize that there are

some of us here right now that have never

filled that slot in with your name.

They spent their whole lives seeking other

things that will bring them contentment

and peace and happiness.

And if they were to be very honest,

they would realize that those things just

have not fulfilled.

fulfilled.

We know why we're not content,

but we don't know how to be content.

And Lord, I pray for those of us in here

who are at that place in our life

that we would think of you,

the creator of all things.

I pray that they would examine your son, Jesus.

They would ask the people they came to church

with today questions about their faith

and why they believe and what is their hope.

And maybe they would even convict us

when we start to worry and they would say,

I thought you're hoping in God.

Why are you worrying?

We need it.

Lord, I pray that they would see

that what they're hoping in isn't true.

It isn't full.

It's not heavy, but it's light

and it will dissipate.

And the only thing that can fill that in,

the only thing that can give us strength,

true strength, true peace, prison peace,

chemo peace, bankruptcy peace,

marriage, family peace,

the only thing that can give that

is your son, Jesus Christ.

Lord, I know there's some of us in here

who've stepped into that relationship

and we've kind of wandered.

And Lord, I just pray this time

that you would speak to us,

you would show us your peace,

you'd show us your desire for us to come back.

Thank you so much for using this church,

community group,

others in our lives to convict us,

to show us when our rudder is so small,

no wonder we're getting beat up.

And I pray for those of us

who are in there like this,

that we would grab a staff person

or an elder,

ask, hey, can you teach me the Bible?

Can you show me what it means

to have a relationship with God

and how I can trust Him and endure

all these things I'm facing every day?

How can I start down that path of contentment?

I pray that they would enter

into the Bible studies that we have

at community groups and training time.

And they wouldn't be Christians

that have a small rudder anymore,

but they would have rocks

that waves could beat upon.

And the rock would still be there

because the rock is your son.

And what I pray for this church

as we live in this part of Hong Kong

where everybody is discontent,

if they're honest,

and everybody's seeking for the next job

and the next bonus

and the next wife

and the next girlfriend

and a boyfriend

and the next flat.

What I pray that we would be a church

that would be different,

that we'd have people like Henry

that would speak into our lives

and convict us that we're shallow.

And we wouldn't just take it

and be, well, yeah, that's what I am.

But we'd be convicted of that

and we'd come before you

and ask your forgiveness

and start on that process

of studying your word

and praying

and being in groups and fellowship.

So I pray that Hong Kong

would be different

because of us here.

They would see your son

and they would fall in love with him.

So Lord, we come before you this time

and pray all these things

and in his incredible name.

Amen.

Amen.