Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - Ep 490 ｜ Most Misused： Philippians 4_13

00:00:00.000 Hey guys, welcome to Relatable. Happy Thursday. As promised, today we're doing a most misused.

00:00:16.440 Our verse is Philippians 4.13. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. Now,

00:00:22.600 there is a lot going on in the news that I wanted to talk about. And quite honestly,

00:00:27.840 I'm super overwhelmed with everything that I want to talk about when it comes to

00:00:33.100 the corruption that we are seeing in many of our institutions when it comes to the so-called

00:00:41.660 public health response to this virus. New things seem to be unfolding every day, new developments

00:00:47.500 that are extremely disturbing. I think that I'm going to cover all of that on Monday. The reason

00:00:54.540 I'm not talking about it today is because I promised you guys a Theology Thursday. And

00:00:59.180 honestly, I think that this is what we need. I think that this is a lot of what you guys need,

00:01:06.060 what you said that you would like to hear. So we're going to take a step back. We're going to

00:01:12.880 remember what's most important. And even though I think it's important to care about everything

00:01:17.320 that's going on, we have to keep our perspective and we have to stay rooted in what is true. The

00:01:23.340 realest reality, the biggest narrative, the truest narrative that is unfolding always without a hitch

00:01:30.440 is God's eternal plan of redemption. And we get to read a lot about that and gain a lot of hope in

00:01:36.840 that from reading and most importantly, understanding his word. At the end of this episode, we're also

00:01:43.220 going to play a few voicemails that I got from you guys about your dreams. And maybe we'll also play

00:01:52.460 an interpretation of the dreams that I said that I had been having on Monday. And I'm super excited

00:01:58.560 about that. So this is the episode, even though we're not talking about anything that's going on,

00:02:02.260 I really think this is the episode that we need right now. Like we need some biblical,

00:02:06.500 eternal, unchanging truth. We also need some levity. And I listened to a little bit of one of

00:02:11.980 the voicemails that you guys sent me and it was so good. I was cracking up and I know that you guys

00:02:16.760 are going to love it. So, all right, we've done several of these most misused episodes in the

00:02:21.180 past. We've done Jeremiah 29, 11, for I have plans to prosper you, not to harm you. We've done Micah

00:02:26.220 6, 8, seek justice, love mercy. Psalm 37, 4, delight yourself in the Lord. He will give you the desires

00:02:32.700 of your heart. Matthew 7, 1, judge not lest you be judged. If you search relatable, most misused,

00:02:39.580 wherever you listen to your podcasts, all of them should come up. So you can go listen to those

00:02:45.020 previous episodes if you're curious. This is basically where I take a popular verse, a verse

00:02:50.640 that's very often taken out of context and then misapplied, and dig into the actual context of

00:02:57.160 history and of scripture to see what the verse really means. And every time, what we find in

00:03:02.900 doing this is that the true meaning of the verse is always so much better than the popular misapplication

00:03:08.780 and misinterpretation of the verse. I actually can't believe that we haven't done Philippians 4,

00:03:14.680 13 yet, because it's one of the most commonly misused verses ever, especially within Christianity.

00:03:21.700 So verses like Matthew 7, 1, judge not lest you be judged, are not only misused by professing

00:03:28.940 Christians, but it's also used and abused by non-Christians, especially typically while they're

00:03:35.180 judging the views of someone else on Twitter. But Philippians 4, 13, I can do all things through

00:03:40.740 him, Christ, who strengthens me, is one that you have probably seen thrown around a lot in Christian

00:03:46.540 schools, at church camps and youth groups, especially when it comes to some kind of athletic competition.

00:03:51.980 It usually is used to mean, I have this really difficult game in front of me, or this big obstacle

00:03:59.200 in front of me, or a big goal that I want to reach, and Jesus is going to come help me win,

00:04:04.340 or overcome, or accomplish that goal. And it's not necessarily that this verse can't ever be applied

00:04:11.360 to those kinds of scenarios where you need immediate divine power to overcome what's in front of you.

00:04:18.040 It's that using this verse as some sort of talisman, or a good luck charm, or a guarantee of success

00:04:24.380 is wrong. It misses the point of the verse, which is far deeper and so much better than any sort of

00:04:31.540 promise to reach your goals or win your soccer game or pass your test. Again, praying for those

00:04:37.300 things and praying for the strength of Christ in those situations is not necessarily bad, but

00:04:42.960 Philippians 4, 13, it's not a good luck charm. So first things first, let's look at the context.

00:04:50.200 When it comes to reading the Bible, context is king. We need to know a few things when we are

00:04:58.620 looking at a verse. What does the rest of the chapter say? What does the rest of the book of

00:05:03.840 this Bible say? To whom was this book of the Bible written and why? Is there any historical context that

00:05:11.900 helps me understand what this verse is saying? And then how do I read this in light of all of

00:05:18.320 scripture? We also ask, what does this teach me about the character of God? What does this tell me

00:05:24.440 about the gospel? And how do those things apply to my life? Is there a sin that I need to repent of?

00:05:29.620 Is there something I can take comfort in here? Is there a promise that I can cling to? Is there an

00:05:33.600 action that I need to take that I read here? Is there a lie that I've realized that I now need to

00:05:40.080 reject and replace with truth? And just a quick aside before we get into this verse, I just want to say

00:05:46.400 like we do not have to have seminary degrees to answer all of these questions and to understand God's

00:05:52.120 word. You don't have to know everything about the Bible to do that. If you are new to reading scripture

00:05:57.380 and maybe you're intimidated by it and you feel like maybe you just shouldn't read it because you

00:06:02.480 don't even know where to start or maybe you feel dumb for not understanding it. No, that is Satan

00:06:07.800 lying to you. God has given you the capability to understand his word through the power of his Holy

00:06:14.200 Spirit. And this takes time. It takes diligence. It takes careful study. It takes prayer. It takes

00:06:20.080 faithful teaching by people who love Jesus and his word. It takes reading the same verse and in the

00:06:26.420 same chapter and book over and over and over again for decades. And every time learning something new

00:06:33.600 about the God who made us and who saved us. It is a process. God is faithful to begin that good work

00:06:39.700 in you. He is faithful to complete it as Philippians 1 says. So you have got this with the power of the

00:06:45.720 Holy Spirit. You've got this. My advice is to get an ESV study Bible. That's an English standard

00:06:52.200 version study Bible I've talked about. I think I've done an episode on. I'll link it if I can find it.

00:06:57.360 The previous episode where I talked about why I like the English standard version. It is an amazing

00:07:04.340 investment. It's a little bit of money to get that ESV Bible, but it's a great investment. And if you can

00:07:10.720 also swing systematic theology by Wayne Grudem, that's a great supplement to your Bible reading.

00:07:16.300 And then you take that ESV study Bible, you start in the book of John. Or if you just have a Bible

00:07:20.540 lying around that maybe you haven't opened in a while, that'll work too. You don't have to get the

00:07:24.320 ESV study Bible. Open to the book of John. Read forward from there. Then go back and start at the

00:07:30.580 beginning. Read a chapter a day or even a verse a day. Really dig in. Ask God and other strong,

00:07:37.000 solid Christians around you for help. Join a Bible teaching church in your area. I will link a tool

00:07:42.920 from foundersministries.org where you can find a local church. I will link that in the description

00:07:50.780 of this episode. All right. I want to actually look now at this verse, Philippians 4.13, that I think is

00:07:58.500 so rarely understood. And I am not pretending to be the arbiter of understanding and interpretation,

00:08:05.320 but I do have the tools at my disposal, just as you do, to look at the context of what is

00:08:11.700 happening here. Again, who's writing this? Why is he writing this? Who is he talking to here? What is

00:08:17.840 the purpose? We can even look at some of the original Greek and really understand what this is saying.

00:08:28.940 Okay. So first I look at the commentary in my Bible. When I want to understand a book of the Bible

00:08:34.260 and a particular verse, the ESV Study Bible, like I said, was the one that I, is the one that I love

00:08:41.000 and the one that I used for about 10 years. It's my first study Bible. A friend in college gave it to

00:08:46.600 me, I think, when I was a sophomore in college and it was literally just torn apart. And so I wanted to

00:08:52.700 change things up when I got a new Bible last year and I got the John MacArthur ESV Study Bible.

00:08:56.640 And I love it. I really do. I love his wisdom. I appreciate his wisdom. Got a little bit of

00:09:01.240 different eschatology than him. And so sometimes that colors the commentary as is usual commentary.

00:09:06.480 We know is not inerrant like the word of God is, but it is still super helpful. And I just

00:09:11.500 appreciate his wisdom so much. Honestly, though, I do sometimes miss my ESV Study Bible just because

00:09:17.220 that's what I'm used to. And that's, it helped me so much grow in the faith when I was really starting

00:09:23.260 to take Bible reading and studying seriously. But for this episode, I did use my commentary

00:09:31.580 from the good old Johnny Mac. And so when we look at what his commentary and his analysis has to tell

00:09:39.200 us about the book of Philippians and what it's all about, what we find is that Philippians is a letter

00:09:44.740 written by the Apostle Paul to the church at Philippi, which was a Greek city. The Philippian

00:09:49.480 church was actually the first church Paul established in Macedonia. Philippians is known as a prison

00:09:55.860 epistle because it was a letter that Paul is believed to have written during his first imprisonment

00:10:01.380 in Rome from about 60 to 62 AD, probably toward the end of that stint in prison, probably 61 AD. So

00:10:10.120 Philippi was named after Philip II. He was the father of Alexander the Great who conquered the region

00:10:15.980 in 4th century BC. Philip did. In 42 BC, Philippi became a Roman colony, and the people who lived

00:10:25.860 there received Roman citizenship, which was a really big deal that came with a lot of rights and

00:10:30.600 privileges. So the people of Philippi were very proud of this. They adopted Roman customs. Latin is

00:10:36.540 their official language. They changed their city government to imitate Italian cities. Philippians

00:10:41.860 are said to have really adopted this identity in a very proud way. And so they put on this Roman 0.92

00:10:52.900 citizenship. They put on their identity as Romans. So when Paul says in Philippians 3.20 that, hey, 0.84

00:10:59.600 our citizenship is in heaven, he is likely speaking to that, reminding them that, you know, this is all

00:11:06.220 well and good. Paul himself was a Roman citizen and exercised some of the rights and privileges that

00:11:11.900 he had with that. But he reminds them, hey, where you belong, where your identity ultimately comes

00:11:18.160 from, what you place your hope in, and what you boast in, is it here? It's not your citizenship on

00:11:25.420 earth. It's your citizenship that's in heaven. It is the hope that you have in eternity because of

00:11:32.100 Christ. There was a small Jewish population in Philippi to whom Paul shared, or with whom Paul

00:11:38.100 shared the gospel. This is where Lydia, who was a very wealthy merchant, converted to Christianity

00:11:44.060 after hearing Paul's teaching. Immediately, the church suffered spiritual and political opposition,

00:11:50.540 as we read in the book of Acts. They were seen as a threat in some ways to Roman power and

00:11:58.100 identity because of that piece of citizenship elsewhere, citizenship in an eternal dwelling

00:12:06.100 place. And yeah, the Philippian church, in the midst of that persecution, was faithful and was

00:12:12.240 generous. They supported Paul throughout his missionary journey, attending to his needs however

00:12:17.120 possible. So part of this letter to the Philippians, while Paul is in jail, is thanking them for their

00:12:22.660 generosity. He also speaks to them about his circumstances in Rome and in prison. He urges them to

00:12:28.080 remain unified in the gospel, to stay away from false teachings and teachers, and to remain

00:12:33.340 steadfast and joyful and thankful in the Lord. The tone of this letter, even while he is in prison,

00:12:40.140 is one of joy and one of gratitude, a very fatherly type love that we see from Paul, not just in this

00:12:48.440 epistle, but also in other epistles of pride and expectation in the Philippians' faith in their

00:12:56.020 pursuit of Christ. And I mean pride, not in the negative sense, but in the positive sense,

00:13:02.400 an exhorting kind of pride, a thankful kind of pride that a father has in their child when they

00:13:09.440 are emulating the Lord. He reminds the Philippian church where they belong, ultimately to whom they

00:13:17.800 belong, why they are still there on earth, what they should be doing, what they should be looking

00:13:23.560 forward to in heaven. And then after explaining all of this, we get to the last chapter of the

00:13:28.500 book of Philippians, chapter four, which starts with this word, therefore. Now you've probably

00:13:34.380 heard if you grew up in church, when you see the word therefore, you ask, what is it therefore? And

00:13:38.880 so that's what we're going to look at. Philippians 4.1 says this, quote, therefore, my brothers whom I

00:13:45.060 love and long for, my joy and crown stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved. So that therefore

00:13:52.540 is in relation to all that he's just explained in the first three chapters about who they are and

00:13:58.440 what their purpose and belonging and hope is in Christ. And now he's saying, in light of that gospel,

00:14:03.760 in light of that good news, in light of who you are, remember and do these following things. So

00:14:09.580 verses two through three, these are obviously my words summarizing what he's saying. He's saying,

00:14:15.200 agree in the Lord with fellow believers for the sake of the gospel, even if you have disagreements.

00:14:19.740 Verses four through seven, rejoice in the Lord always. You guys probably know these verses. Again,

00:14:26.080 if you're familiar with the Bible and grew up in church or have spent any amount of time in church,

00:14:30.740 rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I will say rejoice. I won't sing the song that is now coming

00:14:36.260 into my mind from my childhood, just to spare you, spare you that. Let your reasonableness be made known

00:14:43.780 to everyone. And just as an aside, so many people today lack reason. We all unfortunately suspend

00:14:50.560 our reason when we allow emotions to rule us. But surely, certainly, I should say that reasonableness

00:14:58.440 is certainly not seen as a positive characteristic today or an important characteristic or Christ-like

00:15:07.740 characteristic that we need to prioritize. It seems like many people even within the church have

00:15:12.580 forgotten that that's an important characteristic of a Christian. James 3.17 says the wisdom from

00:15:18.460 above, so heavenly wisdom, wisdom from God, it lists a number of qualities, but one of them is

00:15:24.700 open to reason. It's open to logic, to biblical truth, to factual truth, to scientific truth,

00:15:30.520 to truthful persuasion. People who do not have the wisdom from above are not open to reason.

00:15:36.180 Verses six through seven of Philippians four say, don't be worried about anything. Paul says this

00:15:42.960 in prison, not knowing his imminent fate. It says, don't worry, don't be anxious about anything. And

00:15:50.120 we see this repeated by Jesus over and over again in his ministry, knowing everything that was to come

00:15:55.360 both soon when he was saying that and also for the millennia afterward. This verse says,

00:16:04.120 don't be anxious about anything, but in everything. Those are really big words. Don't be anxious about

00:16:09.660 anything, anything at all. Big, small, in the socio-political sphere, even in your personal life, don't be

00:16:16.860 worried about anything. Yes, this covers it. Don't be worried about anything, but in everything, everything,

00:16:22.680 every single thing that you go through, every single thing that you find yourself concerned with,

00:16:26.340 in everything, by prayer and supplication, so making requests, with thanksgiving,

00:16:32.220 present your request to God, and he will give you the peace that transcends your comprehension. So even

00:16:40.000 if you don't understand how things are going to work together, even if you don't understand how

00:16:43.820 you're going to get through what's in front of you, God promises for Christians the peace that

00:16:49.160 surpasses anything that your mental faculties can come up with to try to make sense of what's happening.

00:16:55.880 Verses eight through nine in chapter four, Philippians say,

00:16:58.680 to dwell on only that which is true and honorable and just and pure and lovely and commendable and

00:17:04.400 excellent and praiseworthy. There are certainly days and hours and minutes when I am not dwelling

00:17:09.900 on these things. I'm fixing my mind only on the things that are worrisome. But God through Paul says,

00:17:16.220 fix your mind, your thoughts on all of these good things. And not only that, but verse nine says,

00:17:24.460 to practice these things. And then there again in this verse is the promise of the presence of God

00:17:31.040 and his peace. That's a worthy exchange, right? Like that's a pretty good deal for us. Okay. We dwell on

00:17:36.120 good things. We cease to worry. We pray to God. We give him our requests. We lay our concerns before

00:17:41.320 him and we thank him. And in exchange, we get the peace of God. Wow. That's, that's a really good deal

00:17:49.120 that we get. So in this first chunk of chapter four of Philippians, he is saying, um, therefore in

00:17:57.540 light of the gospel and the hope that we have in Jesus, unify in truth and in love, rejoice in God,

00:18:03.860 dwell on that, which is good and right and true. And in doing these things, you will have peace,

00:18:09.800 a peace that transcends circumstance, a peace that isn't predicated on what's to come,

00:18:14.100 but rather is dependent on the unwavering faithfulness of God. Then in this second part

00:18:21.560 of chapter four, Paul thanks the Philippians for their love and care, uh, for their concern as he

00:18:27.980 is in prison in a time of apparent need. But, but he says, yes, you know, they met his needs. He

00:18:37.200 seems to be in a dire situation in prison, but he says in verses 11 through 13, and this gets to the

00:18:43.700 verse that we're talking about today, quote, not that I am speaking of being in need for I have

00:18:48.680 learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low and I know how to abound

00:18:56.040 in any and every circumstance against, again, we're just seeing such encompassing language here

00:19:01.100 and any, in every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance

00:19:07.260 and need. I can do all things, all things through him, Christ, who strengthens me. Let's break that

00:19:15.600 down just a little bit. So Paul being persecuted for Christ in jail, knowing he will likely die for

00:19:21.740 preaching the gospel in a situation that looks pretty darn destitute is saying, no, I'm not in need.

00:19:27.900 I'm not talking about being in need. I actually don't lack anything. Again, this is my paraphrasing,

00:19:32.160 even though ostensibly he lacks most things, but he says in whatever situation, whatever situation he

00:19:40.100 is to be content, whatever situation, even here when, when maybe it seemed like his suffering and

00:19:47.860 his punishment was unjust, even when his plans didn't seem to be coming to fruition in his mission

00:19:55.060 work, even when he may have been struggling alone, maybe tempted at times towards hopelessness and

00:20:02.000 despair in a dank prison cell. Even then he's to be content with where he is. Paul is saying that he

00:20:08.660 has no needs and that he is to be okay and rejoice and dwell on good things even there. So let's do

00:20:17.140 some etymology on this word content. It has its roots in the Latin word contentus, which means to be

00:20:24.800 contained or satisfied. And I really, I really like that description of the word. The word literally means

00:20:31.880 to be held or contained within limits. So when you think of the feeling or the state of contentment,

00:20:38.320 that means your desires are contained within the limits of your current situation. They're not

00:20:42.460 reaching into what you don't have. So it's like a jar filled with, filled to the brim with water.

00:20:49.540 The water perfectly fills the jar without overflowing. So our happiness, our joy, our satisfaction

00:20:55.260 we're reading here is to fill the parameters of our current circumstance without wondering,

00:21:01.700 why me? Or I'd be happier if, or if only God would, or if this person would just do this thing,

00:21:11.000 or this thing would finally happen. If it did, I'd be happy. Or if I wasn't going through this trial,

00:21:17.880 if I found the right person, if I got the right job, if I conceived a child finally, if I lost the weight,

00:21:23.320 I want to lose, if the state of America were just better, if our leaders just got it together,

00:21:27.420 if all of these terrible things weren't happening, both politically and personally,

00:21:31.420 if I just had the life that she had, then I would be content. That's not contentment. That's not what

00:21:39.400 we're called to. We don't see Paul saying here, if I were free, if I were not in jail, if I weren't

00:21:45.700 being persecuted, if I didn't face imminent danger, if I actually knew what was going to happen to me,

00:21:51.500 if I actually knew when I was going to die. We actually see in Philippians 1 that he is torn

00:21:56.260 between wanting to die and be with Christ and wanting to stay on earth and fulfill his mission

00:22:01.540 work and continue sharing the gospel. He doesn't say if I just knew what was going to happen, then I

00:22:06.620 would finally be content. Or if I got more gifts and more aid from the other churches and from the

00:22:14.800 Philippian church, then I would finally be satisfied. He says, nope, I'm not even talking about being in

00:22:19.400 need because I have learned how to be content in whatever circumstance. So the mentality of the

00:22:26.000 Christian, Paul is saying, is not predicated on what does or does not happen to us at all. Not on

00:22:35.840 our accomplishments, our failures, our popularity, our mood, our hormones. How many times do we use that

00:22:41.940 as an excuse to not be content in what's happening to us? The happy things that happen to us or the sad

00:22:47.820 and unfair things that happen to us. It's not dependent on who's in office or the state of the

00:22:52.480 country. Man, I have to remind myself of that every day. It is dependent on one thing and one thing

00:22:58.460 alone, we read here. And that is Christ and his strength. As our verse of the day, Philippians 4.13

00:23:06.100 says, which does not waver. It doesn't change. It doesn't diminish. His strength doesn't depend on

00:23:12.260 our strength. It's not circumstantial or conditional. It became yours when by grace through faith, you are

00:23:18.000 made alive in Christ. Your sins were forgiven and you became a new creation and a child of God.

00:23:23.840 So right now you have the Holy Spirit inside you, a co-equal, a person in the Godhead. The Holy Spirit

00:23:33.120 is the third person of the Trinity. First Corinthians 6.19 says, or do you not know that your body is a

00:23:40.380 temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are bought with a price to glorify God

00:23:46.180 with your body. The chapter goes on saying, Jesus says that this Holy Spirit is our helper. John 14.26.

00:23:53.600 But the helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and

00:23:59.900 bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. So the Spirit is our helper, our teacher,

00:24:06.220 who helps us remember Jesus's words. And Jesus tells us that he who is in us is greater than he

00:24:17.680 who is in the world. And Jesus tells us, he promises us that we will have trouble, but take heart because

00:24:23.120 he's overcome the world. So when we read in Philippians 4.13 that his strength will allow us

00:24:29.900 to do anything that God wants us to do, that's what he is talking about. He is talking about the

00:24:35.840 strength to be content, to be joyful, to rejoice in all kinds of terrible situations. It's not

00:24:42.540 dependent on anything that's happening to us. It's not dependent on any mood that we have or any way

00:24:50.260 we wake up one morning or anything that anyone says to us. It is dependent on the unconditional,

00:24:58.200 unchanging, undiminishing strength of Christ who promises us in Romans 8 that we are going to

00:25:05.780 be, that we are right now more than conquerors, that nothing can separate us from the love of

00:25:10.960 Christ, that all things work together for the good of those who love him. That is what Philippians 4.13

00:25:17.460 is talking about. Philippians 4.13 is talking about a strength that surpasses any kind of obstacle that

00:25:24.880 may be in front of us. And I'm going to talk a little bit more about it in just one second.

00:25:29.480 So, Jesus' strength allows us to be content in every situation. That doesn't mean that we don't

00:25:37.100 care about things that are going on. That doesn't mean that we don't have a responsibility to make

00:25:41.580 the plot of earth that he has placed us on, this speck of eternity that he's placed us on,

00:25:48.680 better. Of course, it is our responsibility in loving God and loving our neighbor and seeking

00:25:53.380 the welfare of those around us. That's something that we talked about in the most misused Jeremiah 29.11

00:25:58.600 episode. Yes, all of those things are good stewardship of the time that we have, the resources

00:26:05.040 that we have. It's part of caring for the least of these. That's why we talk about such what I think

00:26:10.500 are very important subjects on this podcast. As we have said before, politics matter because policy

00:26:18.180 matters because people matter because politics affect policy and policy affects people. I think

00:26:24.640 all of those things matter. So, we have to balance. We have to not ignore politics because they have

00:26:31.880 an effect on people whom we are called to care for and love. It has an effect on our country that we are

00:26:37.080 called to seek the welfare of, but we also can't idolize politics. We also can't allow that to rob us

00:26:43.360 of the contentment that is ours in Christ. Being content and praying for the strength

00:26:50.320 to be content is also making sure that we are obeying the commandment against coveting. Not being

00:26:58.620 content is coveting something else that you don't have, which of course is what coveting means. So,

00:27:05.480 it's wanting maybe you're not satisfied with your schedule. So, it's wanting more time or you're

00:27:10.540 wanting more money or you're wanting another job that is coveting something that you don't have.

00:27:14.800 Even if you're not specifically thinking about someone else's possessions, that is still coveting

00:27:20.320 and God calls us against that. That robs us of our peace that He desperately wants us to have. That

00:27:26.000 gives us anxiety. That gives us insecurity. It gives us this kind of self-obsession that doesn't lend

00:27:32.880 itself to a Christ-like and peaceful life. 1 Timothy 6, 3-7 says this. It says,

00:27:41.140 If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus

00:27:45.300 Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing.

00:27:51.300 He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words which produce envy,

00:27:57.640 dissension, slander, evil suspicions, and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind

00:28:03.360 and deprived of the truth. I love that play on words. Imagining that godliness is a means of gain,

00:28:09.500 but godliness with contentment is a great gain. For we brought nothing into the world and we cannot

00:28:16.220 take anything out of the world. I probably could have just given you those last two verses,

00:28:20.160 but I love that whole paragraph in 1 Timothy 6. But these last two verses say again,

00:28:26.380 but godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world and we cannot

00:28:33.640 take anything out of the world. Our life here is relatively, in relation to eternity, it is very

00:28:44.500 short. We take nothing into the world. When we are born, we are dependent on other people for

00:28:52.520 everything. We will take nothing out of the world. And so as Jesus says, we don't store up treasures on

00:28:58.480 earth. We store up treasures in heaven. We seek first his righteousness, his kingdom, knowing all

00:29:03.680 of the things that we need will be added unto us. As we talked about, I think it was last week when we

00:29:10.400 were talking about anxiety and how Jesus warns us against anxiety and exhorts us to trust in the Lord.

00:29:17.360 He reminds us that not even a sparrow falls out of the sky apart from the will of the Father and two

00:29:24.100 sparrows are sold for a penny. So how much more does he care about us who are made in his image,

00:29:30.040 his children who have been bought with the price by the blood of Jesus Christ? Don't we believe that

00:29:34.800 he is going to meet all of our needs in accordance to his will? That doesn't mean hard things aren't

00:29:40.560 going to happen. That doesn't mean that there won't be situations like Paul's situation where it seems

00:29:45.440 like we're in desperate need, when we're lacking the things that we need. However, what Philippians

00:29:52.360 4.13 reminds us is that what we actually need in those situations is not maybe what the world thinks

00:29:59.240 that we need or what it looks like we need. We actually need Christ's strength to remain content, to

00:30:04.220 remain joyful in all situations. So using Philippians 4.13 to say that you want God's strength to accomplish

00:30:11.480 what's right in front of you is not necessarily always wrong. Again, as long as you're not using

00:30:16.460 it as some kind of promise of personal success or promise of a particular outcome that you want in

00:30:24.300 this athletic event or this test or this job interview, whatever it is, he is saying, look, I'm

00:30:30.080 going to sustain you in any and every circumstance. And look, I'll give you peace. Dwell on the things that

00:30:36.260 I'm telling you to dwell on. Practice the things that I'm telling you to practice. Believe in hope

00:30:41.860 in the gospel of Jesus Christ, and you will have peace and you will have strength to sustain you.

00:30:47.280 That's much better. That's a much better realization. That's a much better truth than just saying,

00:30:53.120 okay, Jesus is promising that I'm going to, you know, win my baseball game. It's much bigger than

00:30:59.080 that. It's much more eternal than that. It's much more satisfying than that. Again, like reading

00:31:03.300 scripture and understanding what is meant in all of these verses is so much more satisfying and

00:31:09.780 contentment producing than simply reading the scripture to say, okay, what do I want this to

00:31:15.220 mean? And what does this mean to me? We don't ask, what does this mean to me? Primarily what we ask

00:31:21.600 first is what does this mean? And then we look for proper application in light of all of scripture.

00:31:28.560 And there's a lot more that we could say about this verse. I'm sure that there is a lot of awesome

00:31:34.700 commentary out there, but I hope that it gives you some encouragement and maybe some clarity on this

00:31:40.120 verse and on this book. All right. Before we're going to play a couple, I think we have time. I'm going

00:31:46.600 to play a couple voicemails from you guys, which just crack me up. All right. Now we're going to

00:31:55.040 get into a couple or a few of those voicemails. The first one is telling me about a repetitive

00:32:02.800 dream that this person had. And I'm really excited from the description. I'm super excited to actually

00:32:10.460 hear it. So let's go ahead and play it. Hey, Allie, Rachel here from Denver, Colorado. I never miss

00:32:18.240 your podcast and I just love it so much. Thanks for all you do. I'm calling to tell you about a recurring

00:32:23.620 dream that I had every single year from when I was eight years old until I was 19 years old,

00:32:31.480 but only on one night of the year. And that was Halloween. So every Halloween I would go to sleep

00:32:38.500 and this is my dream. I grew up with a chihuahua named Toby. He was a very obese chihuahua. He was

00:32:45.500 very cute. And so, uh, we would let him out to go to the bathroom and in the dream, I let him out.

00:32:52.480 And then a couple minutes later, I go to let him back in and he's gone. And so I go outside in the

00:32:58.620 yard and I call his name, Toby, Toby, can't find them. And I'm starting to panic. I look up and the

00:33:05.480 moon is full like a classic Halloween moon and, um, the clouds go over it really creepy. And then

00:33:12.980 all of a sudden the street that I live on is deserted. It's on a hill. I hear a tricycle

00:33:18.400 squeaking coming up the hill and I look in the distance and there's a witch driving up with on 0.97

00:33:26.440 her tricycle and she has Toby in her arm. And she says the classic, I'll get you my pretty and your

00:33:34.400 little dog. And so I stand there panicked and all of a sudden I realized that my arm is weighted

00:33:44.320 down. And I look to my arm and I have the classic like eighties, nineties Halloween bucket full of

00:33:50.540 candy, you know, with the jack-o'-lantern, uh, the orange bucket and it's full of candy. And then she 0.55

00:33:55.420 tells me that to get Toby back, I need to give her the candy. Well, I say no. And then I wake up.

00:34:04.400 And as an adult, this dream sounds very funny, but as a child, it was very scary. So I have this

00:34:10.320 dream. Um, okay. I'm just, okay. There are a couple of things. Well, one thing I do not believe,

00:34:17.760 I do not believe that you are from Denver. I hear that Southern accent girl. That is South Carolina,

00:34:24.480 Georgia, maybe some parts of Texas, maybe Alabama. There is no way that you're originally

00:34:29.800 from Denver, Colorado girl. Uh, but Oh my gosh, your dream was adorable and very detailed. Uh,

00:34:38.760 very detailed. I think it got kind of cut off at the end there, but, uh, the fact that you kind of

00:34:44.700 have this like wizard of Oz slash, I don't, I don't know, maybe like, um, like hocus pocus type

00:34:54.420 thing going on. I can't tell you exactly what it actually means, except for maybe that you had a

00:35:01.820 fear that your dog, your obese dog, Toby would be taken from you. And maybe that was a serious

00:35:11.920 concern that you had. And that there was, you know, some kind of fear of the unknown happening

00:35:20.300 there. I think it probably is a little bit more obvious than any kind of profound interpretation

00:35:28.360 that I could give you. If it was on Halloween every year, I guess you were thinking about

00:35:32.760 witches and I don't know, did you watch the wizard of Oz? Cause like, you've got this whole like

00:35:37.400 Toto thing going on and then it's combined with trick or treating. And so I guess it's just that,

00:35:47.380 I guess it's just the time of year. You probably loved your dog. Maybe the candy had to do something

00:35:52.880 with the fact that your dog was obese and you knew deep down that your little chihuahua probably

00:35:57.720 needed to be on a diet. Maybe that was part of it. I am curious to know why it kind of just stopped.

00:36:03.620 I guess when you moved out of your house or maybe when you stopped going trick or treating, you no

00:36:07.460 longer had this, this nightmare. It's a nightmare. Let's not call it a dream. That's a nightmare.

00:36:12.080 Um, Rachel, thank you so much for sending us your dream. That gave me a good laugh. And I need you to

00:36:19.480 tell, I need you to tell the audience though, if you ever call back or you message me on Instagram,

00:36:23.620 where you're actually from, if you're from Denver, Colorado and Denver, Colorado, uh, has people with

00:36:30.560 a Southern drawl like that, then I just must not understand. I must not understand where certain

00:36:36.560 states are in the union and how people are in certain areas of the country. I need to know

00:36:42.760 where you're actually from. All right. Uh, let's play the next dream.

00:36:47.260 Hi, Allie. This is Katie. I'm from Southern Missouri. Love your podcast. This is my response

00:36:52.840 to your, uh, dream interpretation request. So I'm going to say that, uh, your dreams of being

00:37:01.840 pregnant and flying are actually connected. So I hate to break it to you, but I think that

00:37:08.040 you are actually, uh, living in an alternate reality. One day you are going to wake up from

00:37:14.500 whatever trance or dream that you're in right now as a human. When you wake up, you're going

00:37:20.100 to find out that you are actually a stork. Yes, a stork. And all you've been doing your whole 0.82

00:37:27.400 life is delivering babies. They're basically like living in the world of Dumbo. And you

00:37:33.220 don't even know it right now because you haven't woken up yet from these two dreams. So Allie,

00:37:39.180 you're a stork, you're delivering babies, and you're not actually a real person. 1.00

00:37:44.100 All right.

00:37:45.320 I'm opening up your line to share and I can't wait to hear these stories. Super fun. Have

00:37:51.500 a good day. Bye.

00:37:52.140 You know, I think that that is exactly, I think that's exactly what it is. I think that

00:37:57.480 I am, I am actually a stork and I am actually delivering babies. I think that that, um,

00:38:04.820 it goes together perfectly. You know, I never, I never really thought about that. Um, it's

00:38:09.360 a little bit inception like that. Apparently when I'm dreaming, it's like a dream within

00:38:13.020 a dream, maybe like even within another dream. And if storks have dreams and then I wake up

00:38:20.280 and I remember when I was a human, what's that going to be like? Um, anyway, I really

00:38:23.960 appreciate that very profound and apt interpretation of my dream. I think that

00:38:29.120 you're exactly correct. I'll, so if one day I stopped doing this podcast, it's because I

00:38:33.380 have turned into, I reverted to my real self, a stork that's delivering babies. All right.

00:38:38.000 Do we have another dream?

00:38:38.880 Welcome to your podcast about your request for dreams. Um, my name is Chelsea and I live

00:38:45.220 in Cedar Park, Texas. So I have two reoccurring dreams. One is that I'm back in high school

00:38:52.240 and I don't understand why. So I actually in real life have a master's degree and I have

00:38:59.100 this dream that I'm in high school and in the dream I can't understand why I'm back in

00:39:03.000 high school. I'm always a senior in the dream and in the dream I'm trying to figure out why

00:39:08.180 I didn't get my high school degree, but at the same time I have a master's degree. It's

00:39:13.820 a very confusing dream. And the second is also that I'm back in high school, but in this dream

00:39:20.640 I'm actually, I guess, supposed to be in high school and I am sitting in a class or I'm walking

00:39:28.780 through the hallway and it's the end of the school year in my dream and I realize, oh my

00:39:34.000 goodness, there's these two or three classes I just completely didn't go to. Um, and I'm

00:39:40.620 really stressed out. So very interesting. I'm in my thirties. So very interesting that

00:39:44.480 I have these two reoccurring dreams about high school. Um, I think maybe your dream about

00:39:50.020 pregnancy is kind of the same thing. Maybe it's just fear of, uh, not being in control or fear

00:39:54.820 of the unknown. Um, not sure what the fly dream is. So anyway, thank you so much for your podcast

00:40:00.720 and everything you do. Yes. Okay. So a ton of people, a ton of people have this dream. My

00:40:06.660 husband used to have this dream. I was just talking to my team before this and they were

00:40:09.880 saying that they've had that dream too. I have never had that dream where I'm supposed to be

00:40:14.160 graduating or I'm supposed to finish school and I don't have, uh, I didn't finish a class.

00:40:20.720 Now I actually remember literally having that fear when I was in college that maybe I didn't

00:40:25.640 complete all of my credits somehow, but that didn't happen. Maybe I didn't care enough about

00:40:29.180 school to care whether or not I really graduated, but I hear that a lot. And I, I wonder if it,

00:40:34.460 if you have that dream when you're stressed about something else, if you're stressed about work

00:40:38.140 or if there's some other kind of pressure on you. Um, I wonder if it's a little bit also

00:40:43.400 people have like imposter syndrome that I'm not really qualified for the thing that I'm doing.

00:40:48.460 People are going to find out that I'm not really qualified for the thing that I'm doing,

00:40:52.460 that I don't have the proper credentials. Maybe it's something like that, or you feel like there

00:40:57.620 are other things in life that you don't know if they're going to come together, if you're going

00:41:02.080 to be able to complete them. I absolutely think that you are correct, that it is similar to my

00:41:08.580 pregnancy dream that I dreamed. As I said, I think it was on Monday that I dreamed that I am, um,

00:41:14.420 like 36 weeks pregnant and I, or I'm in labor and I never realized that I was pregnant and I don't

00:41:20.040 even have an OB and I'm like giving birth at home or I'm like trying to text some, someone to ask if

00:41:25.500 they'll be my doctor. I've had that recurring dream. Uh, and so I do think it's similar. It's like

00:41:32.600 you get to the end of something and you are not prepared for it or you don't know what's to come.

00:41:40.100 I think that's probably just like an adult fear. So I don't think it's surprising that you're still

00:41:44.680 having that in your thirties. I think it's probably though, maybe something else that's going on in

00:41:50.580 your life that you're worried that you're not going to be able to fulfill or complete or do well or

00:41:56.560 something or something like that. I, a lot of people, a lot of people, um, have that dream. Like I said,

00:42:03.080 my husband used to have it all the time and I guess it, I guess it stopped. So hopefully it's just

00:42:07.300 seasonal. Maybe you won't have that dream anymore. Uh, all right. That's all I have time

00:42:12.240 for, for today. Thank you guys so much for sending in your voicemails. I would love, we got so many

00:42:17.760 of them. I would love to play all of them. Unfortunately, we don't have time, but if we

00:42:21.180 do another dream specific segment, I will try to play some of the voicemails that you guys sent.

00:42:26.840 Um, maybe I'll do this every week. If you guys like, like it, like I'll ask for a particular type

00:42:31.280 of voicemail on Monday and then on Thursday, you guys, um, I'll, I'll play some of them. Uh,

00:42:37.440 thank you guys so much for listening. I hope you have a great weekend. We will be back here on Monday.

Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - September 16, 2021

Ep 490 ｜ Most Misused： Philippians 4_13

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