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Thank you for joining me at Bible at the Beach today.

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I'm glad you could be with us today.

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We'll be in Philippians chapter 4, verses 10 through 23.

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This is Paul's final teaching for the book of Philippians.

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It was his most positive letter that he

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wrote in his most painful and despairing situation

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from a prison cell.

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Entire letter serves as a metaphor for a perspective

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that we can get in life where we allow peace

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to flow from the inside of us out into the world,

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not expecting our world to be peaceful so that we get

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peaceful, but letting God give us a spirit of peace,

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literal living water flowing from the inside

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that we carry with us into every situation that we have,

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every age, every stage, every season of life.

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This is what Paul is trying to get at.

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And so we'll wrap up in verse 10 today.

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He says, my heart overflows with joy

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when I think of how you demonstrated love to me

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by your financial support of my ministry.

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So I teach cheerful giving.

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We've started ocean water over 3 and 1 half years ago.

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God's always provided.

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When God is in a work, God will provide for the work.

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Paul understood this, and he also reached back out

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and said, thank you to the people that

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understood how God was working powerfully in

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and through Paul's ministry.

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He says, I'm telling you this because I'm in need,

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for I've learned to be satisfied in any circumstance.

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I know what it means to lack.

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I know what it means to experience overwhelming

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abundance, for I'm trained in the secret overcoming

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of all things, whether in fullness or in hunger.

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So what Paul taught was really radical contentment.

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That's how I feel living here in San Clemente.

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It's a place of abundance, but both my wife and I

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have a very detached relationship

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with the material world that we're surrounded by.

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And that's wisdom that God's given us.

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It's also peace that we have in our hearts.

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We've learned to enjoy simple things,

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having no material things and having peace in your heart,

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and also occasionally living in and having abundance.

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And both are fine as long as you're not attached to both.

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The goal is always Jesus Christ.

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He says, I find the strength of Christ's explosive power

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infuses me to conquer every difficulty you see.

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It's God's strength that sees us through every circumstance

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and every situation in our life.

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He says, if you so graciously provided

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for my essential needs during this season of difficulty,

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for I want you to know that the Philippian Church was

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the only church that supported me in the beginning

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as I went out to preach the gospel.

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This is exactly how I feel about the Wesleyan Church.

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Prior to this, I had been working at a Saddleback Church,

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Pastor Rick Warren, and got zero support other than prayer

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support and relational peace.

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But the support that I got, financial support, prayer

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support, that came from an entity I did not expect.

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And often, God will provide through entities and people

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and places that were not on your radar.

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His little way of reminding us that He's

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in charge of this whole thing, it's our job to pray,

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be humble, and then God can trust.

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And work through that.

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I would encourage you to look for provision in your life

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in unexpected places.

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God often shows up.

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But Paul points this out.

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He says, you're the only church that

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sewed into me financially.

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And when I was in Thessalonica, you supported me

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for well over a year.

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So when you're going to pioneer new works,

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pioneer new churches, you're going to need some support.

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And it's actually better that way,

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because you don't want to rely on the people

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that you're trying to teach about the Lord

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to finance the work of the Lord.

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You want to rely on people that already know the Lord, that

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already view giving as worship, that already

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practice cheerful giving.

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You want to avoid begrudging givers, people

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that get mad when you talk about it.

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God always has a group of cheerful people

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out there that are looking to give something genuine

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and something authentic and something real.

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And that's really most of the time the people

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that he works through to get his work done.

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I've practiced cheerful giving since I was 17 years old.

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God's always provided, always taken care of me.

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In fact, always given me way more than I deserved.

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And so I just thank God for it.

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Verse 17, he says, I mention this not because I'm

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requesting a gift, but so that the fruit of your generosity

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may bring you an abundant reward.

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You see, when we give to other people

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that we see God working through, God actually also

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blesses us abundantly for it.

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He says, I know I have all that I need.

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More than enough, I'm abundantly satisfied.

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That's how I feel in my life.

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All of my needs are met.

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I'm blessed.

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I encourage you to give to the Lord.

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The best works of God to give to are the ones where you actually

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see those works helping person after person after person that

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doesn't have that living water flowing up within their life.

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And that's the exciting things that I like to be a part of.

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He says, I know I have all that I need.

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More than enough, I'm abundantly satisfied,

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for I've received the gift sent to you by Epaphroditus

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and viewed it as a sacrifice, a perfume

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with the fragrance of your faith, which is so pleasing to God.

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I want to encourage you to participate in secret giving.

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Participate in giving to the works of God that you see.

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It really changes your perspective on money

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when you begin to look at people that you want to help,

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places that you want to help.

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That's where the fun is.

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That's where the adventure is.

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That's where the excitement is.

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I encourage you to pray to the Holy Spirit.

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Say, where do you want me to give, Lord?

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And get involved.

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That's when life gets fun, when you support things that are not

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just about you, but you get to be a part of something much bigger

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than yourself.

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Paul says, for I'm convinced that my God will fully satisfy

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every need you have, for I have seen the abundant riches

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of glory revealed to me through Jesus Christ.

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And God our Father will receive all the glory and the honor

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throughout the eternity of eternities.

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Amen.

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So what we do as cheerful givers,

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we fund the works that are the pioneering works.

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That's what the cheerful givers are great at.

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You want to fund new works to reach new areas, new people.

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That's where the fun is.

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That's what Paul's saying, thank you for here.

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He says, give my warm greetings to all the believers

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in Christ Jesus, all the brothers and sisters that

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are here with me, sending their love greetings,

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especially the converts from Caesar's household.

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May the grace and favor of our Lord Jesus be with your spirit.

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So man, this concludes our look at Philippians.

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I love doing this every day.

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This is my 203rd episode.

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I'm glad that you can join us.

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God put it on my heart a few years ago to teach his word,

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and he's honored it.

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He's allowed it to go into Facebook and into YouTube

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and into Instagram, raise up disciples and raise up churches

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and fund water projects and send over 200 people on missions.

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Very, very exciting all through Ocean Water.

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I'm thankful for what God's doing,

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thankful for you joining us today.

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God puts it on your heart to give or to support

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the ministry you can do it at OceanWater.com,

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OceanWTR.com.

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And until next time, may God give us

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the eyes to see, the ears to hear, and the heart

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to feel in Jesus' name.