God Will Supply Your Needs
Philippians 4:19
What an incredible year we’ve had. This has been the absolute pinnacle year for this church. After six years of praying for this very building, and after six years of asking the owner if we could lease this very building, miraculously on March 1st of this year we signed a lease on this building (and property).
And on Easter Sunday of this year, we had our first service here, and what an incredible miracle it has been! After sixteen years of meeting in the High School, God supplied our need. With the single best building for a church in this entire town, and not just supplied it – but miraculously supplied it – and miraculously supplied every dollar needed to move into it.
And during those sixteen years we, as a church, and me and my family, learned how to trust God for all our needs. Not just financially, but more importantly, spiritually and emotionally, as we experienced both good times and bad times in the ministry. We’ve experienced abounding and abasing in the ministry. Times of strong and fruitful ministry and times when survival was the highest victory we could ask God for.
And so, as we finish the most miraculous year we’ve had as a church, I’d like to look at Paul’s thankfulness for God supplying all his needs through the Philippians.
As Paul comes to the close of this great letter to the Philippians, he begins to thank them for their giving. (Philippians is a great letter. Once you read through the Gospels, before you get to Romans, read Philippians and Galatians, Colossians, Ephesians. Read those power epistles.) Paul is at the end of this letter and he is thanking the Philippians for their giving.
Philippians 4:10 (NLT)
10 How I praise the Lord that you are concerned about me again. I know you have always been concerned for me, but you didn’t have the chance to help me.
Paul is rejoicing that he has received a gift of support again from the Philippian church. And he knows that they’ve always wanted to give but they were not able to because there had been no one traveling from Philippi to Paul. Some think he was already in prison in Rome, some think still in the Cesarean pit where he spent two years, but wherever Paul was imprisoned the church of Philippi wasn’t able to get a gift to him.
But then Paul immediately makes it clear although he is very grateful for their support he had learned how to live with or without it. This is a crucial truth we need to really grasp.
Philippians 4:11 (NLT)
11 Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have.
Paul isn’t being disrespectful or cavalier.
He is trying to convey the fact that although he is very grateful for the Philippian's support – his true source of provision – is God. So he says, “I have LEARNED how to be content.”
Paul was in prison when he was writing this letter and certainly, it was in his hardships that “he had learned” how to be content with whatever he had.
And then he continues the thought in Philippians 4:12.
Philippians 4:12 (NLT)
12 I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little.
Paul says “I have learned the secret . . . of living with plenty or little.”
And guys, I can really apply this to our church and to those who lead and serve at this church. There have been times when we have had plenty. Plenty of finances and plenty of people serving the Lord with us. And there have been times when we have had little finances and very few people serving the Lord with us.
And the “times of plenty” strengthen and renew us. They fill us up; they give us that soaring time with God. And the “times of little” test our resolve. They check us to see if we are really serving the Lord for the right reasons. Is Christ alone – enough? Are we really serving him alone whether things are going well OR not so well?
Whether we’re serving the Lord or not, is not dependent on how things are going. Whether we’re serving the Lord or not is dependent on our heart and how content we are with what’s happening, whether abounding or abasing.
And it is in this “Times of plenty” and “Times of little” that we find out if the next verse is true for us – or not. Paul says,
Philippians 4:13 (NLT)
13 For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.
Now, if you’ve been around here a while you’ve heard me shred our culture’s blatant misuse of this verse.
What this verse IS saying is:
“We can have STRENGTH for ALL circumstances” through Christ
“We can be READY for any situation” through Christ.
Listen to a portion of the Amplified Bible here.
Philippians 4:13 (AMP)
13 I have strength for all things in Christ Who empowers me [I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him Who infuses inner strength into me . . .]
This is what we as a church and what we as a family have learned over the past seventeen years. Jesus infuses us with the inner strength necessary for any circumstance and any situation. Whether good or bad, whether soaring with the Lord or barely clinging to him to get through the next day, the Lord Jesus has infused us with inner strength to walk with him in plenty or in little.
We understand our true source of provision is the Lord. But we are still very grateful for all the sacrifice and all the giving by so many in this ministry, both here in the local church and through Word By Mail, and Paul was grateful to the Philippians as well.
Philippians 4:14 (NLT)
14 Even so (even though Christ was his true provision), you have done well to share with me in my present difficulty.
Maybe that sounds a little weird – “you have done well.” Maybe we would expect Paul to say – “thank you very much.”
But Paul is leading up to something that is so important. Something that doesn’t have as much to do with Paul as it has to do with the givers in Philippi. Follow Paul through this thankfulness and watch for the truth he’s leading up to.
Philippians 4:15–16 (NLT)
15 As you know, you Philippians were the only ones who gave me financial help when I first brought you the Good News and then traveled on from Macedonia. No other church did this.
16 Even when I was in Thessalonica you sent help more than once.
Paul is calling out how well the givers in Philippi have done. They’re “taking on” their part of the ministry in the spread of the Gospel through Paul.
But then look closely at the next verse.
Philippians 4:17 (NLT)
17 I don’t say this because I want a gift from you. Rather, I want you to receive a reward for your kindness.
Paul has been leading up to this truth that is a crystal clear truth in the Bible. But it is a truth that we see used either too much or too little. Here’s the truth that I promise you is crystal clear in God’s Word.
There is a direct connection between your giving and God supplying your needs.
Here in verse 17, Paul calls it a REWARD for your Kindness.
(again) Philippians 4:17 (NLT)
17 I don’t say this because I want a gift from you. Rather, I want you to receive a reward for your kindness.
The ESV says,
Philippians 4:17 (ESV)
17 Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit.
The words used in this verse are accounting words. We may or may not like it, but the Bible clearly teaches there is a direct correlation between how we give to God and how God stores up credit in our account.
The Amplified Bible says here (verse 17) – I am eager for . . . [the harvest of blessing that is accumulating to your account]
I promise you that is how I feel about every person who has sacrificially given both money and time to this church and to Word By Mail. You are building up a harvest of blessings. Accumulating of our account. Yes, it costs us something now. Sometimes it seems like it might cost us everything. But the sacrifice is supernatural and an eternal investment.
Every dollar that is given to the Lord
Every hour that is given to serve the Lord
Every sacrifice that is made – for the Lord . . .
God promises – and – promises – and – promises again
He is KEEPING ACCOUNT!!
And what we give – he credits as blessings – back to us!
There is a direct connection between your giving and God supplying your needs.
And when you give to the Lord with the right heart it is a sweet aroma of sacrifice rising up to God.
Guys, the work we are doing here at Calvary Nuevo and through Word By Mail is a miraculous and an eternal work. I am so blessed by all those God has brought together to accomplish this work. And I promise you, your sacrifice for the Lord here given with the correct heart is a sweet aroma arising up to God. A sacrifice that is acceptable and pleasing to him, just as Paul says in the next verse.
In Philippians 4:18 Paul says,
Philippians 4:18 (NLT)
18 At the moment I have all I need—and more! I am generously supplied with the gifts you sent me with Epaphroditus. They (the gifts) are a sweet-smelling sacrifice that is acceptable and pleasing to God.
Paul said (in verse 10) I rejoice in the Lord that you have sent me a gift. But then (in verses 11-13) he said – not that I was in need because I have learned how to be content. And then in (in verse 17), Paul says what I want is for you to receive your reward for your giving. Then (in verse 18) he says Your sacrificial gift is a sweet aroma to God acceptable and pleasing to him.
Paul is building up to the key verse in this entire section. This is the power verse that encompasses and explains the famously misquoted Philippians 4:13 verse.
It’s Philippians 4:19.
Philippians 4:19 (NLT)
19 And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.
Guys, listen, please. This is an “in response” verse.
Paul is saying:
IN RESPONSE- to your Sacrificial GIVING
BECAUSE of your GIVING
Blessings are accumulating to your account (verse17)
and BECAUSE you’ve given with the right heart
Your sacrifice is pleasing to God (verse18)
And BECAUSE of this – IN RESPONSE to this . . .
Philippians 4:19 says
this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs
This SAME God who gives Paul strength for every situation (verse 13). This SAME God will DO the same thing for those who are sacrificially giving to the Lord.
And even more, verse 19 says – God will supply all your needs - from his glorious riches . . .
The word FROM isn’t the best choice for the NLT here. The literal translations all say ACCORDING to His glorious riches. It’s not so much out of his riches as it is in accordance with his riches. It means – in a way that AGREES with (or is in line with) his glorious riches.
Guys, because we live in such a money-driven culture we so often reduce God to a divine ATM. And we read a verse like this and all we see is dollar signs. But if you ask somebody who has a lot of those dollar signs, they will tell you that those dollar signs don’t even begin to meet their true needs.
Back in verse in 13, Paul said (in essence) God would supply his need – in EVERY situation. And then in verse 19, Paul says to those who are sacrificially supporting God’s work that God will also supply ALL of their needs according to his glorious riches.
And then verse 19 says,
God will supply all your needs – [according to] his glorious riches - which have been given to us IN Christ Jesus.
Jesus Christ is the CONDUIT through which God supplies ALL of our needs. God’s glorious riches are given to us – IN Christ Jesus. God supplies ALL our needs – IN Christ Jesus.
That’s exactly what God has done for this ministry in 2017. That’s exactly what he has done for our family in 2017 and that is exactly what God has promised to do for each person who is a genuine part of God’s great Kingdom work – in any of God’s ministry, whether here or anywhere else.
Listen to what the commentator William MacDonald says about this verse in the Believer’s Bible Commentary.
Believer’s Bible Commentary
While it is true in a general sense that God does supply the needs of His people, this is a specific promise that those who are faithful and devoted in their giving to Christ will never suffer lack.
GOD will supply ALL your needs!
I am so blessed at the end of this year, as I consider all that God has provided – both for the church and Word By Mail. And I am so thankful to all the people God has called to support and build up these ministries.
BUT… my thankfulness is NOT what is accumulating blessings to your account. It is your sacrificial giving to the great Kingdom work of God that is accumulating blessings to your account.
And so, I rejoice in God’s provision – as Paul did – and I am grateful – as Paul was. But your blessing comes from God, who keeps perfect account of all that we give for his Kingdom’s cause and he re-pays according to his glorious riches IN Christ Jesus.
And, as God supplies ALL our NEEDS – we say with Paul in Philippians 4:20,
Philippians 4:20 (NLT)
20 Now all glory to God our Father forever and ever! Amen.
And so, my encouragement to you and for you is be a genuine part of God’s great Kingdom work. Join in what God is doing here and in Word By Mail. Don’t miss it. And don’t think it is a small thing, because it is a very big thing. As the New Year begins, make a commitment to be part of what God is doing here. Make a commitment to give, not because WE need it but because YOU need it. And make a commitment to serve.
I made a quick list of ministries you could begin serving in right now and I came up with fourteen separate ministries.
Sunday Set-Up
Security
Property Improvement/Maintenance
Sound
Video
Children’s
Youth
Mexico
Homeless
Administration
Website and Social Media
Hosting a Home Fellowship
Marriage Discipleship
New Believer Discipleship
Take that blue card that was on your seat when you came in and write something on it – with your phone number and put it in the giving box on the way out of the door. I know in the past we haven’t been great at following up on those cards, and I’m sorry. But there’s another ministry – Connection Card Follow Up. That’s fifteen ministries you can begin to serve in this year.
I am so grateful for all the Lord has done in our midst this year and I am grateful for all those who have sacrificially given and served to provide for the Lord’s work here and I can assure you – on the promise of God’s Word
That this same God who has taken care of this ministry
will supply all your needs according to his glorious riches,
which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.
And on Easter Sunday of this year, we had our first service here, and what an incredible miracle it has been! After sixteen years of meeting in the High School, God supplied our need. With the single best building for a church in this entire town, and not just supplied it – but miraculously supplied it – and miraculously supplied every dollar needed to move into it.
And during those sixteen years we, as a church, and me and my family, learned how to trust God for all our needs. Not just financially, but more importantly, spiritually and emotionally, as we experienced both good times and bad times in the ministry. We’ve experienced abounding and abasing in the ministry. Times of strong and fruitful ministry and times when survival was the highest victory we could ask God for.
And so, as we finish the most miraculous year we’ve had as a church, I’d like to look at Paul’s thankfulness for God supplying all his needs through the Philippians.
As Paul comes to the close of this great letter to the Philippians, he begins to thank them for their giving. (Philippians is a great letter. Once you read through the Gospels, before you get to Romans, read Philippians and Galatians, Colossians, Ephesians. Read those power epistles.) Paul is at the end of this letter and he is thanking the Philippians for their giving.
Philippians 4:10 (NLT)
10 How I praise the Lord that you are concerned about me again. I know you have always been concerned for me, but you didn’t have the chance to help me.
Paul is rejoicing that he has received a gift of support again from the Philippian church. And he knows that they’ve always wanted to give but they were not able to because there had been no one traveling from Philippi to Paul. Some think he was already in prison in Rome, some think still in the Cesarean pit where he spent two years, but wherever Paul was imprisoned the church of Philippi wasn’t able to get a gift to him.
But then Paul immediately makes it clear although he is very grateful for their support he had learned how to live with or without it. This is a crucial truth we need to really grasp.
Philippians 4:11 (NLT)
11 Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have.
Paul isn’t being disrespectful or cavalier.
He is trying to convey the fact that although he is very grateful for the Philippian's support – his true source of provision – is God. So he says, “I have LEARNED how to be content.”
Paul was in prison when he was writing this letter and certainly, it was in his hardships that “he had learned” how to be content with whatever he had.
And then he continues the thought in Philippians 4:12.
Philippians 4:12 (NLT)
12 I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little.
Paul says “I have learned the secret . . . of living with plenty or little.”
And guys, I can really apply this to our church and to those who lead and serve at this church. There have been times when we have had plenty. Plenty of finances and plenty of people serving the Lord with us. And there have been times when we have had little finances and very few people serving the Lord with us.
And the “times of plenty” strengthen and renew us. They fill us up; they give us that soaring time with God. And the “times of little” test our resolve. They check us to see if we are really serving the Lord for the right reasons. Is Christ alone – enough? Are we really serving him alone whether things are going well OR not so well?
Whether we’re serving the Lord or not, is not dependent on how things are going. Whether we’re serving the Lord or not is dependent on our heart and how content we are with what’s happening, whether abounding or abasing.
And it is in this “Times of plenty” and “Times of little” that we find out if the next verse is true for us – or not. Paul says,
Philippians 4:13 (NLT)
13 For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.
Now, if you’ve been around here a while you’ve heard me shred our culture’s blatant misuse of this verse.
What this verse IS saying is:
“We can have STRENGTH for ALL circumstances” through Christ
“We can be READY for any situation” through Christ.
Listen to a portion of the Amplified Bible here.
Philippians 4:13 (AMP)
13 I have strength for all things in Christ Who empowers me [I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him Who infuses inner strength into me . . .]
This is what we as a church and what we as a family have learned over the past seventeen years. Jesus infuses us with the inner strength necessary for any circumstance and any situation. Whether good or bad, whether soaring with the Lord or barely clinging to him to get through the next day, the Lord Jesus has infused us with inner strength to walk with him in plenty or in little.
We understand our true source of provision is the Lord. But we are still very grateful for all the sacrifice and all the giving by so many in this ministry, both here in the local church and through Word By Mail, and Paul was grateful to the Philippians as well.
Philippians 4:14 (NLT)
14 Even so (even though Christ was his true provision), you have done well to share with me in my present difficulty.
Maybe that sounds a little weird – “you have done well.” Maybe we would expect Paul to say – “thank you very much.”
But Paul is leading up to something that is so important. Something that doesn’t have as much to do with Paul as it has to do with the givers in Philippi. Follow Paul through this thankfulness and watch for the truth he’s leading up to.
Philippians 4:15–16 (NLT)
15 As you know, you Philippians were the only ones who gave me financial help when I first brought you the Good News and then traveled on from Macedonia. No other church did this.
16 Even when I was in Thessalonica you sent help more than once.
Paul is calling out how well the givers in Philippi have done. They’re “taking on” their part of the ministry in the spread of the Gospel through Paul.
But then look closely at the next verse.
Philippians 4:17 (NLT)
17 I don’t say this because I want a gift from you. Rather, I want you to receive a reward for your kindness.
Paul has been leading up to this truth that is a crystal clear truth in the Bible. But it is a truth that we see used either too much or too little. Here’s the truth that I promise you is crystal clear in God’s Word.
There is a direct connection between your giving and God supplying your needs.
Here in verse 17, Paul calls it a REWARD for your Kindness.
(again) Philippians 4:17 (NLT)
17 I don’t say this because I want a gift from you. Rather, I want you to receive a reward for your kindness.
The ESV says,
Philippians 4:17 (ESV)
17 Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit.
The words used in this verse are accounting words. We may or may not like it, but the Bible clearly teaches there is a direct correlation between how we give to God and how God stores up credit in our account.
The Amplified Bible says here (verse 17) – I am eager for . . . [the harvest of blessing that is accumulating to your account]
I promise you that is how I feel about every person who has sacrificially given both money and time to this church and to Word By Mail. You are building up a harvest of blessings. Accumulating of our account. Yes, it costs us something now. Sometimes it seems like it might cost us everything. But the sacrifice is supernatural and an eternal investment.
Every dollar that is given to the Lord
Every hour that is given to serve the Lord
Every sacrifice that is made – for the Lord . . .
God promises – and – promises – and – promises again
He is KEEPING ACCOUNT!!
And what we give – he credits as blessings – back to us!
There is a direct connection between your giving and God supplying your needs.
And when you give to the Lord with the right heart it is a sweet aroma of sacrifice rising up to God.
Guys, the work we are doing here at Calvary Nuevo and through Word By Mail is a miraculous and an eternal work. I am so blessed by all those God has brought together to accomplish this work. And I promise you, your sacrifice for the Lord here given with the correct heart is a sweet aroma arising up to God. A sacrifice that is acceptable and pleasing to him, just as Paul says in the next verse.
In Philippians 4:18 Paul says,
Philippians 4:18 (NLT)
18 At the moment I have all I need—and more! I am generously supplied with the gifts you sent me with Epaphroditus. They (the gifts) are a sweet-smelling sacrifice that is acceptable and pleasing to God.
Paul said (in verse 10) I rejoice in the Lord that you have sent me a gift. But then (in verses 11-13) he said – not that I was in need because I have learned how to be content. And then in (in verse 17), Paul says what I want is for you to receive your reward for your giving. Then (in verse 18) he says Your sacrificial gift is a sweet aroma to God acceptable and pleasing to him.
Paul is building up to the key verse in this entire section. This is the power verse that encompasses and explains the famously misquoted Philippians 4:13 verse.
It’s Philippians 4:19.
Philippians 4:19 (NLT)
19 And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.
Guys, listen, please. This is an “in response” verse.
Paul is saying:
IN RESPONSE- to your Sacrificial GIVING
BECAUSE of your GIVING
Blessings are accumulating to your account (verse17)
and BECAUSE you’ve given with the right heart
Your sacrifice is pleasing to God (verse18)
And BECAUSE of this – IN RESPONSE to this . . .
Philippians 4:19 says
this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs
This SAME God who gives Paul strength for every situation (verse 13). This SAME God will DO the same thing for those who are sacrificially giving to the Lord.
And even more, verse 19 says – God will supply all your needs - from his glorious riches . . .
The word FROM isn’t the best choice for the NLT here. The literal translations all say ACCORDING to His glorious riches. It’s not so much out of his riches as it is in accordance with his riches. It means – in a way that AGREES with (or is in line with) his glorious riches.
Guys, because we live in such a money-driven culture we so often reduce God to a divine ATM. And we read a verse like this and all we see is dollar signs. But if you ask somebody who has a lot of those dollar signs, they will tell you that those dollar signs don’t even begin to meet their true needs.
Back in verse in 13, Paul said (in essence) God would supply his need – in EVERY situation. And then in verse 19, Paul says to those who are sacrificially supporting God’s work that God will also supply ALL of their needs according to his glorious riches.
And then verse 19 says,
God will supply all your needs – [according to] his glorious riches - which have been given to us IN Christ Jesus.
Jesus Christ is the CONDUIT through which God supplies ALL of our needs. God’s glorious riches are given to us – IN Christ Jesus. God supplies ALL our needs – IN Christ Jesus.
That’s exactly what God has done for this ministry in 2017. That’s exactly what he has done for our family in 2017 and that is exactly what God has promised to do for each person who is a genuine part of God’s great Kingdom work – in any of God’s ministry, whether here or anywhere else.
Listen to what the commentator William MacDonald says about this verse in the Believer’s Bible Commentary.
Believer’s Bible Commentary
While it is true in a general sense that God does supply the needs of His people, this is a specific promise that those who are faithful and devoted in their giving to Christ will never suffer lack.
GOD will supply ALL your needs!
I am so blessed at the end of this year, as I consider all that God has provided – both for the church and Word By Mail. And I am so thankful to all the people God has called to support and build up these ministries.
BUT… my thankfulness is NOT what is accumulating blessings to your account. It is your sacrificial giving to the great Kingdom work of God that is accumulating blessings to your account.
And so, I rejoice in God’s provision – as Paul did – and I am grateful – as Paul was. But your blessing comes from God, who keeps perfect account of all that we give for his Kingdom’s cause and he re-pays according to his glorious riches IN Christ Jesus.
And, as God supplies ALL our NEEDS – we say with Paul in Philippians 4:20,
Philippians 4:20 (NLT)
20 Now all glory to God our Father forever and ever! Amen.
And so, my encouragement to you and for you is be a genuine part of God’s great Kingdom work. Join in what God is doing here and in Word By Mail. Don’t miss it. And don’t think it is a small thing, because it is a very big thing. As the New Year begins, make a commitment to be part of what God is doing here. Make a commitment to give, not because WE need it but because YOU need it. And make a commitment to serve.
I made a quick list of ministries you could begin serving in right now and I came up with fourteen separate ministries.
Sunday Set-Up
Security
Property Improvement/Maintenance
Sound
Video
Children’s
Youth
Mexico
Homeless
Administration
Website and Social Media
Hosting a Home Fellowship
Marriage Discipleship
New Believer Discipleship
Take that blue card that was on your seat when you came in and write something on it – with your phone number and put it in the giving box on the way out of the door. I know in the past we haven’t been great at following up on those cards, and I’m sorry. But there’s another ministry – Connection Card Follow Up. That’s fifteen ministries you can begin to serve in this year.
I am so grateful for all the Lord has done in our midst this year and I am grateful for all those who have sacrificially given and served to provide for the Lord’s work here and I can assure you – on the promise of God’s Word
That this same God who has taken care of this ministry
will supply all your needs according to his glorious riches,
which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.