March 22, 2026 Service - "Give Us Your Eyes" Week 5

The question is, are you joined to the one who is? And when you are joined to Christ, his strength meets you where you are in your weakness and in your brokenness and he carries you forward. When you're joined to Christ, you see our you see yourself differently as a beloved child of God. When you're joined to Christ, it changes our relationships. It changes how we engage with other people. When we're joined to Christ, we can see above culture and politics to a more eternal place. When we are joined to Christ, it changes our allegiance, and it changes how we live completely our exterior lives and our interior lives. It calls us to live differently. [00:57:03] (55 seconds)  #JoinedWithChrist

Contentment is not pretending that things are not hard or, contentment is not, never desiring change or, it's not settling for less than what God has planned and desires for us. Contentment is not even staying in unhealthy places or patterns, but contentment is that our circumstances do not determine our satisfaction. That the things that are rattling around in the world, they're not the determining factors of our deep seated soul satisfaction, but that it is Christ who satisfies all things and alone. And so we too can say, just like Paul, whether we have plenty or nothing, life feels stable. [00:47:41] (53 seconds)  #ContentmentInChrist

Now, cue one of the most misused and taken out of context scriptures in the whole bible. I can do all things through Christ who strengthen me. I can go jump off this place and be a okay because the Lord strengthened me to do that. Well, you're probably gonna hurt a little bit. Alright? The ground is hard. Paul gives us this idea, this thought process. Philippians chapter four verse 13, he says, for I can do everything through Christ who gives me strength. You see Paul's not saying I can accomplish anything that I want. [00:52:32] (37 seconds)  #Philippians413Truth

And likewise, the stronger would carry a bit more of the weight and more of the load. Which leads to an interesting question, I think, in the reading of Philippians chapter four verse 13 when Paul says that he has been joined with Christ, that as you and I maneuver through our day and our life and our circumstances and our stories? Who is it you're joined to? What is it we are yoked to? You see, submit that there are many people who are trying to endure this life in their own strength. [00:54:45] (40 seconds)  #CheckYourYoke

Instead, Paul is saying something far deeper. Paul is communicating this idea that he can endure anything that comes his way because of Christ. If you look at the verses just before this, you see that Paul talks about all the difficult things in which that he has been through, how he's lived with little or with lots. And Paul's saying he's learned that he can endure all circumstances, all situations, all things that might come his way because of the source that he has found in the person of Jesus. [00:53:09] (40 seconds)  #EndureThroughChrist

We live in a world that's always looking for the next best thing. We're in a world that's always looking at the newest fashion, the newest technology, the nicest, fastest, most prettiest car zooming down the road. We live in this world that's just consuming, needing something to satisfy the soul, and all the while Paul is saying, I have found the secret. I have found the soul satisfaction. I've found the source, and it's Jesus of Nazareth. And so the question for you and for me in our lives, I think become this question of, are you content and at rest and satisfied in Jesus or are you reaching for the next thing? [00:49:29] (53 seconds)  #SatisfiedInJesus

He had, those who were seeking him out. He, he had all this prestige and authority. Paul was living in that. And then we find in Philippians, he's writing, as we said last week, not from a cozy countryside Airbnb. He's writing this from a prison cell. See, Paul has lived both sides of this, having everything and then having very little or nothing. He says he's learned this secret and the secret is that contentment is not found in the possessions and the things that we have, but it is found in who we have. [00:46:56] (45 seconds)  #PeopleOverPossessions

He was yoked to the savior who is strong. And so when Paul says that he can do all things, he's not flexing his own strength. Rather, he is confessing his dependence and his reliance upon Christ. You see church, the kingdom, life is not lived by trying harder. It's not lived, by grinning and bearing it. It is lived by staying connected to Jesus. It is lived through dependence upon him. It is lived through surrender to him. It is lived with open hands and open hearts to the Lord. And so the question is not, are you strong enough to handle what you're facing? [00:56:11] (53 seconds)  #DependOnJesus