And let's start reading in verse 15, where the Bible says,
now you Philippians know also that in the beginning
of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia,
no church communicated with me as concerning giving
and receiving, but ye only.
For even in Thessalonica, ye sent once and again
into my necessity.
Not because I desire a gift, but I desire fruit
that may abound to your account.
But I have all and abound, and I am full,
having received of Epaphroditus the things which were sent
from you, an odor of a sweet smell,
a sacrifice acceptable, well pleasing to God.
But my God shall supply all your need
according to his riches and glory by Christ Jesus.
And the title of my sermon today is Make a Good Investment.
Make a Good Investment.
Here we see that Paul is commending the Philippians
for how they were giving to Paul in his necessity,
how they were giving to Paul in his ministry.
And this is something that's very necessary to understand
because God's work can only succeed
if God's people contribute to the work, right?
The world's not going to fund a church especially like ours.
But the world's not gonna fund some missionary
to go out and get people saved.
We need God's people to fund God's work.
And what a lot of people don't realize is this,
that when you give to the work of God,
you're making an investment.
And there's actually benefits for us.
Obviously we're benefiting the people
that we send the money to.
We're allowing the church to throw different events
and conferences.
We're helping missionaries
to reach more people with the gospel.
But also notice in verse 17,
Paul said, not because I desire a gift,
but I desire fruit that may abound to your account.
Notice that when you give to the work of God,
the Bible says that fruit is a balance to our account,
because we're a part of the ministry that they're doing.
And the people that they're getting saved
and the works that they're doing,
God is giving us rewards for that.
We are receiving fruit that is abounding to our account.
Notice in verse 18, at the end there,
it says that the things having received of Epaphiditis,
the things which were sent from you,
an odor of sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable,
well pleasing to God.
God is pleased when you give to the work of God.
Notice verse 19, but my God shall supply all your need
according to his riches and glory by Christ Jesus.
And so a lot of people like this promise,
but notice the context surrounding this
is that when you're giving to the work of God,
then God is going to provide for you.
As you're being faithful to give to God,
then God's gonna make sure to take care of you.
Just 'cause you're saved doesn't mean
that God's automatically gonna provide for you.
'Cause the Bible says in Matthew,
seek ye first the kingdom of God,
and all these things shall be added unto you.
And so we need to make sure
that we're making God a priority.
And especially as things get tough,
as we see the economy getting rough,
instead of focusing so much in buying silver and gold,
or investing in the stock market,
the sure investment is to invest into God's work.
The good investment is to invest into God's work,
because we have God's promise
that we'll have rewards in heaven,
but also God will supply our needs.
God will take care of us.
And so if there's ever a time to say,
hey, you know what,
maybe I should invest more into God's work.
Maybe I should give more than just my tithe.
Maybe I should give an offering to a missionary
or an evangelist.
This would definitely be the time to do that,
because things are looking tough.
And as things get rough,
I would love to have God's promise and God's word
that he's gonna provide for me
and not trust in uncertain riches
that could go away at any moment.
And so make sure you're making a good investment.