Learning the Secret 

 
A couple of quick testimonies here: A person in our church told me that November is 
usually the slowest month for their business. They are lucky to make expenses. For 
November 2012 they closed the books at double the sales they made last year in 
November 2011. That was without taking 10 percent off each purchase that month, so 
that's good news. Just out of curiosity, having read that declaration, how many of you 
since September have had one of those things happen to you? That's good news. For 
those of you who haven't, we are going to be talking about that today. Testimony 2 – 
Another person got a job working as a cook, and they had no restaurant experience. 
They began treating it like a ministry. They were praying whether they were washing the 
tables or cooking. They were just practicing the presence of the Lord, praying for 
prosperity of the business. After one month they said, “we don't know what it is about 
you, but we really like the way you do things.” And they made him a manager. More 
pay, three twelve-hour days, and he has four days off to pursue some ministry – a dream 
that God put on his heart. So that's good news. Another person, she opened a credit 
card bill, and she owed 5,000 dollars. She laughed because it showed how long it would 
take to pay-off if she paid the minimum. (You know the schedules) she realized she's 
going to be 79 by the time she paid it off, so she began laughing. The person that was 
standing there with her heard what she was laughing at and wrote her a 5,000 dollar 
check to pay it off. Isn't that good? That is good news. 
 
The search for peace: 2:12 mins. 
Well we are in part 10 of a series out of a 150 part series of when Heaven invades your 
finances. Today we are going to look at learning the secret, learning the secret . . . We 
live in a world that is craving inner peace. People look for it in all kinds of places. They 
look for it in drugs – prescription drugs, illegal drugs – relationships, alcohol, parties, 
(?houses), success, marriage partners. A lot of people believe, “If I could just get the right 
marriage partner, then I would have perfect peace.” I used to do quite a bit of premarital 
counseling. I don't do so much anymore. One thing I did – I told them the story of the 
big dog and the flea. So what happens is that when people get married typically is - 
there is a flea and they believe that they have found their big dog. They have found the 
person that is now going to meet all of their needs. They are the flea. They are going to 
latch onto the big dog and just ride this thing and just suck the life out of it and have all of 
their needs met. It's going to be easy now. The problem is that after about two weeks of 
marriage, one flea finds out that they are married to another flea. Here you have two 
fleas, desperately trying to get their needs met from the other person that that person is 
not capable of doing. That is why I always recommend two whole people getting 
married. It is better for two dogs than for two fleas to get married. 
 
People look forward in relationships. One person that I know - she went to a 
psychologist. She was having panic attacks, and the doctor was trying to help her find 
peace. This was the doctor's advice - (remember one hundred bucks an hour) – “what 
 
 
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you need to do is that you need to learn to breathe through your feet.” That's just a little 
freebie right there for you. You see in the covers of magazines on bookshelves people 
are looking for inner peace. There are lots of different names for it: lot of things like 
meditation, inner peace, opening chakras, tranquility, true happiness, knowing yourself, 
sense of harmony on the inside. I want you to know God has given us the answer to 
transcendental meditation. He has given us the answer to finding true peace in any and 
every circumstance. The word the Bible uses is 'contentment.' I want to look at that 
word today. We spent some time looking at greed, looking at discontentment. I want to 
look at contentment today, and how you and I can have God's peace no matter what we 
are facing. It doesn't matter whether you are filthy rich. This is the season that you have 
the most prosperity. It doesn't matter if this is the season where you have never had less 
and you don't know if you have enough gas to get home today. Whatever situation you 
are facing – anything in between – the Bible is going to tell us you can be . . you can 
have peace in the midst of that. Not by denying reality, not by working yourself up into 
something, but there is an actual tangible peace that can come over you, no matter what 
you are facing. 
 
Turn with me over to Philippians chapter four. As you are doing this, I just want you to 
begin to think – What would your life be like if you never again had to worry about 
money? Never had that stress, that anxiety, that tension, the tension you know that it 
causes in relationships over money. What would life be like if you were completely free - 
never had to worry about it. It is like there is a barrier around you protecting you from 
that thing. Philippians chapter four, let's begin in verse ten. (This is Paul writing to the 
Church in Philippians)  
“I rejoice in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for 
me. You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity. . .” 
 
Let's just stop there. Here is what's going on: Paul is in a prison in Rome. He is under a 
guard by the palace guards, under house arrest, and he is awaiting trial. (?He does not 
sure if?) the emperor is Nero, if you know anything about Nero, not exactly emperor of 
the year material. He's the one that would have killed Christians, burned them at the 
stake to light up his garden, plugged his ears because he said, “I hate the way these 
Christians tend to die singing.” He's that kind of guy. Paul is in prison under this and in 
the letter he is like, “Hey, I don't know if I am going to live or if I am going to die. I expect 
I'll be released because it's better for you guys. But whether I live or die, it's all Christ.” 
Paul is writing from prison. He had started this church in philippi and the Philippians had 
a pastor named Epaphroditus, and they heard about Paul's situation. They are kind of 
concerned so they take up this huge offering. Epaphroditus goes there with a huge bag 
of cash and he hands it to Paul. Paul is writing this 'thank you' note to them; he's writing 
about some of the circumstances, some of the things the Lord has taught him. The 
statement he is making, you understand, he is writing from the context of a prison cell. 
He has just received a large supply of cash. That's the concern that they provide for him 
– that he wrote about in chapter one. 
 
 
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 “So you were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity; not that I am 
speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I 
know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. (One translation says I know 
what it is to be in poverty; I know what it is to be in prosperity.) In any and in every 
circumstance I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, of abundance and 
need. I can do all things through Christ Who strengthens me.” 
  
Paul is writing this letter back, and he is basically saying, “Thank you for the love offering. 
I really appreciate it, but I don't want you to think that I am content because you gave me 
money. I was content before the money, and now that I've got the money, I'm going to 
enjoy it. But that is not the source of my contentment. Thank you. I am grateful for it. 
But this isn't what does it for me. I have a secret. I am going to unfold a secret to you of 
being content in any and every circumstance. I've learned some things, so I want to 
teach you some things.” Paul gives us the secret of contentment. The Christian is the 
person who can enjoy riches without going overboard, and then can also be in the midst 
of poverty and still have peace in their life, still have joy in their life. 
 
The Secret of Contentment (8:15) 
We are going to talk about this. You didn't become a Christian because God is in the 
banking business. Did you become a Christian to get wealthy? - Wrong religion – You 
became a Christian because “a pearl of great price;” He is the one worth following. It is 
the only life that really makes sense when you compare it to other ​missions(?)​ on how to 
live. Paul says, “I was content before I had it; I am content now that I've got it. I wasn't 
aching for it, but now that I have it, I'm going to enjoy it.” And so he's interesting, he says 
that he LEARNED to be content. Now Paul wrote in the Greek language and some words 
are just really, really interesting. I don't always like to bring you all my homework unless 
you already know this stuff, but this one is really interesting. Here is what the word 'learn' 
means – This comes right across the board; every study will have this. It means, “I have 
been initiated into the secret.” Obviously if it is a secret, not everybody knows it. “I have 
been initiated into the secret” means “I have been instructed about a mystery, I've been 
let in on a secret, and the secret I have been let in on 
is the secret of being content under every circumstance you can imagine. Hungry? I'm 
content. Full? Then that's great. Poverty? It's ok. Riches? Fine.” I'm not talking about 
being a stoic who has no emotions; the Vulcans go through that (?unclear word) time if 
you are into that Star Trek stuff. I'm not talking about becoming Mr. Spock. I'm talking 
about a person with real emotions who is able to have a tangible peace. It doesn't 
matter what's going on, he seems to be insulated from it. Paul had to LEARN it. He had 
to be initiated into a secret because this doesn't come naturally. 
 
Some people live like they are on a roller coaster. “Oh praise God, everything's good! 
Oh my goodness, get me on the prayer list, life is about to end. Oh agony!” I am not 
saying there are not ups and downs. I am saying that there can be a peace in the midst 
of the highs and the lows. There can be a steadiness. There can be a “come what may, 
 
 
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bring it on, is that your best shot? - because I've learned the secret.” We're going to get 
to the secret. If contentment is something that is learned, apparently it is not a spiritual 
gift. You are not going to get contentment in the prayer line. Nobody is going to lay 
hands on you and impart contentment anymore than they can impart to you the ability to 
be popular. It is something that is learned, something that you have to be initiated into. 
It is not a spiritual experience where suddenly you are praying, “Oh God, I'm so 
discontent . .” then ZAP! “Wow! I am content! This is great!” Hey, it's not a spiritual 
experience. It's something that's learned. 
 
So let me give you a working definition of contentment here. I got this from a guy named 
Dexter McBrown who is going to be here in April. He is going to rock your socks off . . . 
Alright, 'contentment' is a learning to become sufficient in Christ's sufficiency. It is 
learning to be productive in present circumstances, conditions, seasons or restrictions, 
while still looking forward with expectation at God's next season and opportunity for life. 
(Can almost close in prayer. That was good. The he read the same definition again.) The 
word 'contentment' comes from two words in the Greek. One of the root words means 
'self,' the other means 'to erect a barrier, to build a wall, keeping out or ward off intrusion.' 
What does that mean? Kingdom contentment builds a barrier around you so that the 
circumstances outside of you do not become the circumstances inside of you. Let me 
say it again. Kingdom contentment is allowing the Holy Spirit to build a wall around you 
that keeps the circumstances outside of you from becoming the circumstances inside of 
you. Remember when they had those (?vibers? Unclear word) and they had the giant 
metal helmet thing, and they had the big suit. I picture in the Scooby Doo episode, 
remember that guy who came and like everything is Ok. This is the advance group. And 
so what they would do is that they would have a hose that would – one that would check 
the pressure outside, and one that would control the pressure inside. They would make 
sure that the pressure inside was always greater than the pressure outside. Greater is 
He Who is in me than he who is in the world. Contentment regulates that pressure. 
Contentment is what keeps the circumstances outside us and not inside of us.   
 
Godly contentment is God's way of isolating us from the junk that is trying to destroy us 
in our current season until He moves us from our current season into our next season. 
Here is a thing about God – you don't get to skip seasons. It doesn't go fall – summer. It 
doesn't go trials, tribulations, pressing – I get to skip that – blessing! Blessing! Blessing! 
Blessing! This stinks, it's hard, I'm learning – Breakthrough! Oh this is great - break-. . 
This stinks, it's hard, I'm learning. Are you guys living a different life than I am living here? 
Are you reading a different Bible than the one I am reading? Kingdom contentment 
means you are sufficient with Christ's sufficiency. In other words you have everything on 
the inside of you for any circumstance. You are fully loaded.   
 
Another way of saying this is I've learned to be able to take what comes without flinching. 
So today we lose everything. So what?   
 
 
 
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I'm not trying to give you a motivational pep talk, I am trying to say there is a reality. We 
say, “God is present.” That can be like a lofty thought or it can be a tangible reality 
where we learn how to lean into that. David said, “I set the Lord always before me. 
Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.” I will say this to you – this isn't just 
a cool bumper sticker that he used to just kind of prop himself up. This was the reality 
that he leaned on. Contentment that I'm talking about is in any and every circumstance: 
rejoicing when you've got food, rejoicing when you don't have food because there's a 
tangible reality; there's a secret you can be initiated into where you can be free from 
circumstances. To be content is to have the absence of envy. You are not wishing that 
you weren't in this position. Or that “Oh God, I wish I was somebody else.” Or “Oh God, 
how come they're getting their breakthrough? I am so tired of hearing these financial 
testimonies; I haven't had mine. I don't even know if I believe in this whole thing.” Do 
you want to know why you haven't got your breakthrough? Because it is your season to 
learn contentment, and you don't get to go from not content to breakthrough. You don't 
get to go from counting on your fingers to nonEuclidean geometry where parallel lines 
actually meet; . . . That's the contentment!   
 
Contentment is the protective armor that allows you to rejoice in any circumstance. One 
of my favorite theological movies is ​Kung Fu Panda.​ Here is all you need to know: The 
fat panda – good guy and Tai Lung – bad guy. That's all you need to know for this one. 
We'll bring home the parable here (shows video from to 17:53). Contentment is the 
protective layer of fat that keeps the problem outside from affecting you, even when the 
enemy seems to be attacking you. Did you know that when he was getting punched he 
was laughing? He was jolly the whole time. The punches were not even affecting him. 
That's contentment. 
 
When I say you are content, I do not mean you are satisfied with the way things are. This 
is important. Contentment is not like the song “kay sirah sirah, whatever will be will be, 
we'll pray and nothing happens, we'll blame it on God's sovereignty.” That's not 
contentment. The fatalist just gives up and lays it down. “Hey, whatever. Whatever bro.” 
The Christian is content. As believers we embrace whatever situation we find ourselves 
in, but it does not mean we are satisfied with the way things are. It does not mean that 
we expect things to stay the same. Contentment is not just a pincushion saying, “I'm a 
victim.” You are probably in that situation because there is something for you to learn. 
There is a peace that you can learn no matter what is going on outside of you. You are 
content, but you are also expecting that situation to change. You are expecting 
breakthrough to happen, but the breakthrough is going to happen through you – not by 
God protecting you from circumstances all the time. Contentment does not mean we 
condone what is there. There are some situations which come into your face that are just 
flat wrong, that are flat illegal. It isn't legal for the enemy to attack you with sickness. 
Where is contentment with that? You can have peace in the midst of that, but you are 
expecting that season to change quickly. Today sounds like a good day for some of 
those things to change.   
 
 
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Worldly contentment is defined as “happy and satisfied.” Happiness depends on 
happenings. That's worldly contentment “Oh, everything is great. I'm in Hawaii and I am 
on vacation.” That is a worldly contentment. Kingdom contentment is joyful and not 
satisfied. Godly contentment is you are never satisfied with anything less than more of 
that. The unsearchable riches of Christ – it's an open buffet – all you can eat – all the 
time. You are never going to get full like “Oh my goodness, God, I'm stuffed. I can't 
handle anymore.” There's more! “God, I just ate the last crumb of God, OK?” That's not 
happening. 
 
 
 
Living in His Strength and Sufficiency (20:35) 
What is the secret? The secret means not everybody knows it. You have to learn this 
thing. You have to be initiated into this secret. (It's the secret handshake of the pastors . 
. . I shouldn't talk about that thing – to the congregation). Paul says “I have been 
initiated.” Not everybody can see this, so what is the secret? What is its principle Paul 
has been let in on? First of all, it is not a principle, it's a person. I'm just going to do a 
little rant here . ,. but anyway – I don't know if I can take one more book, one more 
program that gives you principles for life. I understand wisdom in some principles in 
finances and some of those things. I understand – BUT so many of these things are 
principles without the Prince. Principles without the Prince is called 'human effort', it's 
called 'carnal Christianity'. You are not supposed to do anything in your own strength. 
When you do you step into works.We'll touch on this in a little bit. I am not talking about 
“Five principles for a happy life.” I am going to barf if I see one more of those things on 
the internet.   
 
 
Here was the secret: I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Now we 
quote that verse. We put it on the walls of our house. We shout it up and down. The 
context of all of those things that you can do – the context is “whether I am well fed, or 
hungry, poor or rich, . . .” It doesn't matter – in any and every circumstance – that's the 
context I'm in. I am not saying God will not help you do other things. I am just saying it is 
not a blanket promise. In this context in this verse. The secret is, “I can do all things 
through Christ who strengthens me.” What does the word 'strengthen' mean? It means 
“to infuse with strength.” Paul says, “I can face anything because Christ has infused and 
imparted His very life into my body. I can face that situation, not in my own strength, but 
in the strength of Christ. The amplified Bible translates it this way - “I am self-sufficient in 
Christ's sufficiency.”(22:52) 
 
We are going to do a little adventure in your imagination here today. I've got a teapot 
here full of hot water, and it's from the Ming Dynasty. I've got a teapot of hot water. 
Here's the cup, and I'm pouring it in the cup. You guys are seeing this, right? I take the 
 
 
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tea bag. I put the tea bag inside the hot water. What is happening now is that the tea 
leaves are still in the bag, but it is infusing the strength of the tea into the water. The 
water that was just plain, colorless, lifeless water – but now the strength of the tea is 
being infused into it so that the flavor, the color, and the potency of the tea is now in the 
water. The tea is being infused. This is the life of a Christian. You might say that the tea 
has given its life. It has infused itself into the hot water so that the water now conveys to 
me the taste of tea, the color of tea, the strength of tea; but the tea is still in the bag.   
 
This is the exact same word where Paul says, “I can do all things through Christ who 
strengthen me.” That's the same word. “I can do all things through Christ who infuses 
his strength into my colorless and tasteless life.” Apart from Christ, you cannot do 
anything that pleases God because he is the originator of everything. Batteries – for a 
battery powered flashlight, gasoline – for a gas empowered car. That's what makes it go. 
When God had a face-to-face encounter with Adam, brought Adam up to His face or 
brought His face down to Adam, it says, “He breathed His Spirit into him. Man was made 
to run on the Holy Spirit. Anything that is not produced from that source is self-works. 
Here is what righteousness is. We broke that with sin, God brought us back to that, filled 
us with the Holy Spirit, and imparted righteousness which is the Life of God into us. 
So now we are able to do things, not just from an “I'm trying really hard!” but it's from a 
whole different kind of source. 
 
This is the whole thing of Christianity. Electricity expresses itself in different ways. We've 
got some lights, we've got an amp here, we've got an electric guitar. They look 
differently as the life force of electricity is flowing through it, but it is the same source. It's 
looks different for each person in different situations. It's going to look different when 
you need peace; its going to look different when you need to raise the dead; it's going to 
look different when you need contentment. But the source of it is electricity.   
 
There are so many people who are trying to live the Christian life. They're trying really 
hard, they're making dedications, they're promising, they're setting the alarm. You've got 
your accountability partner. I'm not against accountability partners as long as they are for 
one purpose. They are not there to make sure that you don't smoke. They are there to 
make sure that you burn. “Did you steal this week? Did you lie this week? Did you 
spend money? Did you look at pornography? Did you do this an that? That's not 
accountability, that's holding you to your lowest, abased self. For goodness sake – 
(sorry, that was rant number 2)   
 
We've got a lot of people trying to live the Christian life. They're trying really hard. 
They're sincere people. They are failing miserably, and they are giving up on it because 
they are not doing it in the way that God told them to do it. It's like the light bulb here 
being unplugged and trying to manifest light. “Oh, this time I am going to do it! This time 
I've got a principle of how this works.” That light bulb can no more manifest light than the 
Christian can manifest joy or patience with a two-year-old or forgiving an obnoxious 
 
 
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coworker. Jesus never said, “It's tough to live this way, but there is a narrow road. A few 
have been able to do it.” He said, “It's impossible! Apart from Me you can do 
NOTHING” You know what 'nothing' means in the Greek, right? NOTHING. So many 
Christians are trying to live the Christian life without Christ. Hear me. I'll say this over and 
over again. We're probably going to take another whole season; I'll probably do 
another whole 150 part series on this someday - six or seven years from now when we 
are done with this money series. You cannot do the Christian life without Christ. You 
were never supposed to. It is Christ living His life through you.   
Paul said, “I have learned the secret of contentment.” It's Christ infusing His life into me 
in any and every circumstance. The secret of the dynamic NOW relationship where God 
becomes available to you is learning how to live out of a different power source. Carnal 
Christians are simply those who have not yet learned how to live out of the Spirit filled 
resources. Are they going to Heaven? Yes. The principle of Christianity is not to get you 
into Heaven when you die, it's to get Heaven into you BEFORE you die. I thought you 
might like that one. That's from Dallas Willard(? Name unclear?). 
 
Paul said, “For me to be alive under any circumstances is Jesus Christ. It's really me. It's 
more me than I have ever been. It's me without my hang-ups, me without my propensity 
for sin, it's the me I really am, but it's Christ expressing His life through me.” It will look 
different through this light bulb than it will through the amp, through the guitar than it will 
for Mary than It will for me. But it's still - He is the source that's animating the light 
because I have been initiated into the secret. Remember He's not just typing some 
theory. He's not some puppet just writing some dictation, (in a robotic voice)“Yes, Lord – 
I have learned the secret of contentment.” He has been initiated into the secret. He 
recognized that everything had to be done with the infused strength of Christ. 
 
God’s way of dealing with our problems (28:40) 
Now a lot of people think that the Christian life is a life for your problems. Charismatic 
churches are the absolute worse in this. Here's the reason typically nonCharismatic 
churches, the only way that they can grow in Christ is to suffer. It's like “My suffering is it. 
That is how you grow in Christ. It's like, you have a problem, we will help you. Come on, 
we have a class for that. We will help you get into a problem. So they are expecting bad 
things, and when bad things happen, they don't pray that they stop. They just enjoy 
them. “God must really love me. I got into a car accident.” I'm serious. There is crazy 
theology out there like that. (Some of you are manifesting right now.) The God of the 
Bible does not remove obstacles. The Charismatic movement is deliverance crazy. God 
will deliver you every time out of sin, sickness, demonic oppression. He will not deliver 
you out of problems, persecution, disappointments, difficulties. He will deliver you IN 
them. Let me explain to you the difference. If God plucked you out of every situation 
when it got difficult, you would never know who you were and you would never know 
who God was. - because you have never faced anything. It is like you are completely 
untested. It's like a college student, and his mom pampered him so much, and he goes 
off to school and doesn't know how to change his underwear. It's like totally helpless. 
 
 
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“Now, what do I do?” And everything – That is not a good situation to be in. That's what 
most Christians seem to want it to be. Imagine if there was a boxer who went around 
bragging that he was undefeated, but he had never stepped into a ring. His body guard 
fought for him. This guy had never thrown a punch. He had never taken a punch. His 
body guard did all the work for him. He's not really undefeated, he's not anything. He's 
dreaming. God is not equipping believers for this kind of life. 
 
Jesus said, “In this world there will be many troubles, but take heart. I have overcome 
the world.” Normally in God's dealing He leaves you right in the middle of the pressure, 
right in the middle of the darkness. Remember it Psalm 23 it says, “You set a table 
before me in the presence of my enemies.” The picture I always get is a table for two, 
me and God – bombs going off, things exploding here and there. God is like, “Hey, I just 
want to tell you a few things here.” He's fine. The table is fine. In the midst of all this, 
you've got more than enough. So when these problems come, it is not God turning His 
back on you. It is actually God knocking at the door saying, “I can only be something for 
you in this situation. I couldn't be it in any other way. I want to show you an aspect of 
Myself.” I'm not saying evil, but any situation, God can turn it for His good and use it to 
conform you to the image of Jesus.   
  
How many of you remember the old Biblical show “MacGyver”? - One of the greatest 
shows ever. MacGyver could take a pine cone an a piece of gum and build a time bomb. 
That is what we love about him. He could use anything in his circumstance to 
accomplish his purpose. Romans 8:28, MacGyver's a lot like God in this facet. It says, 
“and all things work together for the good for those who love Him and are called 
according to His purpose that they may be conformed into the image of Jesus.” God can 
take anything in your circumstance whether it is from the devil, or something that he's got 
planning, or a blessing. He can use it for His purpose, which is to make you like Jesus. 
God is not so much concerned with your comfort as He is with your conforming to the 
image of His Son. So if you are expecting a life of hot fudge sundaes and banners 
waving your name and just (?sport rubs? unclear) all day long – good luck with that. See 
if God just – every time there is a problem, “Oh no no, there's a problem. I'm going to 
whisk it away to this person, I'll whisk it away to that person.” You wouldn't know God. 
You wouldn't know who you were. You would be afraid every time that problem came 
because you never got authority over it. But once you have faced that problem head-on, 
and the strength of Christ comes in you . . . You see, you cannot be an over comer if you 
have nothing to over come. 
 
The three Hebrew boys thrown into the fire – God didn't just as they were about to be 
thrown into the furnace go, “STOP! Hold everything!” and blow out the flames, pick them 
up, put them on a mountain, and then spank everybody verbally for trying to do that. 
That wouldn't have been a great lesson for them because the next time persecution 
came, they would still be afraid. What God did was that there was a fourth man in the 
furnace, and they came out not even smelling like fire, their ropes burn off. Everybody 
 
 
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else falls on their face and say, “This is the true God.” They learned something about 
God in that situation that they couldn't learn if God had just whhh (blown the fire out) So 
now next time persecution came they could laugh at it. We've already been through this. 
We've already had God infuse strength into our life.   
 
I'm not sure if you have ever watched a show on-line. I remember watching one of these 
nature channels the other day, and these animals, they're huge. They are ferocious! 
They showed this pride of lions stalking this poor giraffe. This giraffe is trying to kick 
them off an everything, and they are just locking onto him ripping chunks of meat out. 
Finally they get the thing down, and they are ripping meat off its neck and everything 
like that. That's just intimidating. They are stalking in the weeds. I want you to 
remember – that's what a lion is like. I think when we read the story of Daniel in the 
lions' den, we picture a cartoon. A lion is coming up with a smile on his face. That's how 
it was on the felt board in the Sunday School that I grew up in. It almost looked like it 
would be kind of cool . Daniel is lying on the rump of one lion, and it is just like peace 
and everything. Imagine these ferocious, top of the food chain posturing down there, 
and remember – God didn't deliver him from the lion's den. He delivered him in the 
midst of that. He gave him a peace. Next time persecution came, Daniel could laugh at 
it. This is the pattern of God throughout the Bible. 
 
James 1 puts it like this – He says, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face 
trials of many kinds.” You read that - “What? What? Consider it pure joy whenever trials 
- Why?” “Because the testing of your faith develops perseverance; perseverance must 
finish its course so that you may be made mature and complete, not lacking anything.” 
What does He want? He wants you to see the strength of your super suit. I’ve used this 
before, but Captain America - he’s got the shield made out of vibranium, the toughest 
metal in the Marvel universe. Remember the scene in the ​Captain America​ movie where 
the girl picks up the gun and shoots it (bang, bang) and vibranium can absorb any energy 
and all that stuff. He didn’t know the strength of that thing until a gun hit it. The next 
time a gun was fired at him, he said, “bring it on.” He was just running right at the enemy 
with that thing. That is how God wants you to be mature and complete, not lacking 
anything. So whatever the circumstance, there is something greater inside of you. There 
is this layer of thought protecting you. There is an armor insulating you. There is 
a wall built around you so that whatever is going on outside, it does not get in on the 
inside. But on the inside you are saying, “I’m not going to stay in this circumstance. But 
I’m good because I am going to learn something about the character of God. I’m going 
to learn something about what He’s done on the inside of me because I’m not doing this 
in my own strength. I’m doing it infused with His Strength. Giddyup. Bring it on.” 
 
Truth is a person. The way you discover the unsearchable riches of Christ is to see Who 
He is in every situation. So the question whenever you have a problem is not, “Why is 
this happening to me? Why God? How long, Oh Lord?” The question is, “God, what are 
you trying to show me now that you couldn’t show me at any other time in any other 
 
 
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way?” (?Lynn? unclear name) and I used to have this thing. We were reading through 
the book of James. We read through it for 30 days, and we enjoyed it so much that we 
read it another 30 days. You know, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you 
face trials of many kinds.” Something bad would happen, and we would look at each 
other saying, “a test, a test.” You begin to picture your problems are just God in disguise 
knocking at your door saying, “Hey, it’s Me, and I want to show you a whole new aspect 
of Me. But you can’t do it on your own. You’ve got to do it infused with My strength 
because if you do it on your own, that’s works and I can’t help.” If there is one percent of 
you that believes that you can do it on your own, you’re going to focus on that one 
percent. And you are going to try to manifest that light. “I’m going to be a good light 
bulb. I rededicate my life to You. I’m going to shine.” No you are not. He’s the only One 
Who can shine. (I’m going to get real practical here in a second, I promise.)  
 
Living out of His Presence and Strength (38:05)  
How does this work? How does Christ infusing His strength into me work? (Maybe we 
should do that next week or something.) Let me read you a quote from Malcolm Smith 
(and as I read it last night, I realized that I need to explain the quote. I’ll read it slowly; this 
is powerful.) It’s from the book ​The Power of the Blood Covenant​. “The Christian life 
may be summed up in the consciousness that He lives within us, and we draw upon His 
infinite life in every situation we find ourselves in. This means that as we grow in Christ, 
and as we become mature - we’ll have an increasing sense of our own weakness that we 
might no longer trust in ourselves, and so proportionately live from His strength.”  
 
Here’s what the Christian life is about. It’s about abiding. It’s about walking in the Spirit. 
It’s about praying without ceasing. What that means is - I cannot afford to allow anything 
to get bigger in my awareness than the presence of God - the fact that Christ is within me 
wanting to give strength into my life. If I am more aware of what I’ve got to do than I am 
of Him, then I’m going to slip into fear, doubt, and worry, and I’m cutting myself off from 
grace and I’m going into works because now I’ve got to make something happen. As the 
Christian life becomes more and more becoming aware of Him and His limitless 
resources on a moment by moment basis. I’m having a conversation with someone, but 
it’s never just one on one, it’s always at least the three of us. It’s like when your kids are 
playing in the back yard, and you hear the wrong scream; you are on high alert. You 
were not necessarily listening for that sometimes, but anything can trigger it. Constantly 
there is a general level of awareness, and it becomes more and more intentional. 
 
So Paul is willing to give us the secret in 2 Corinthians 12 here. He is giving us the secret 
from “it’s Christ infusing His strength in me.” He is going to show you how it works. 
(Guys, I know that ever message is important. Every week I believe it is the most 
important thing going on in Columbus - I am just in that vein or that prophetic. I just think 
God’s good, alright?) This is huge, and I’m about to tell you, it’s huge. I have been 
leading up to it. I’m going to spout it out, uncover it. Here we go: Paul went through a 
ton of pressure. 2 Corinthians 11 is the passage where Paul just kind of unloads his 
 
 
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personal biography. “You know, I have been beaten with rods three times. I’ve received 
40 lashes minus one three times, ship wrecked, people pursuing me, just about dead, 
naked, hungry, and all these things.” He has gone through some stuff. In 2 Corinthians 
12 verse 7 he begins to write about this a little bit. “So to keep me from becoming 
conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations -” (God had taken him 
into the third heaven, showed him some amazing things.) “A thorn was given me in the 
flesh.” Hey Paul, what’s this thorn? “It’s a messenger of Satan to harass me to keep me 
from becoming conceited.” We need to pause right there just so that you don’t get 
caught up in the whole “What was the thorn?” thing. I think it is clear from the context, it 
was demonic persecution at the hands of man. We see that it was a messenger of Satan. 
He is going to go on to describe it here in a second - “weakness, hardships, insults, and 
persecutions and calamities” - the very thing he just described a few verses before. 
Remember, chapter 11 and 12 did not originally come in chapters and verses. It wasn’t 
like a commercial break, and now we come back. They flowed. It was a messenger of 
Satan, a demonically inspired messenger that everywhere Paul went he was persecuted. 
It kept him from depending upon his own strength. Even if you don’t agree with that 
interpretation, it doesn’t matter. 
 
Let’s look at what Paul did. We can all agree that the thorn was something annoying. 
You’ve got a demonic messenger that is trying to drive a stake in your side - 
metaphorically, it is a bad thing. So it doesn’t matter what you believe about the thorn. 
Let’s look at how Paul handled it: “Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it 
should leave me.” Three times is a Hebrew way of saying, “over and over and over I 
pleaded with the Lord.” Paul gets an interesting answer to this prayer request. “But He 
said to me” (this is God’s answer. Paul is like, ‘God, take it away’ and this is what God 
says) : “My grace is sufficient for you -” (get this phrase) “ - My power is made perfect in 
weakness.” So here is Paul’s response, “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly in my 
weaknesses so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ then, 
I’m content with weaknesses, in hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am 
weak, then I am strong.” 
 
One of the things I was trying to make clear in the thorn passages - Paul’s was not 
sickness. A lot of people who oppose divine healing say, “Well, Paul was sick.” Where is 
that from in the Bible? “Well, he had a thorn in the flesh.” Yes, you see it is pretty clear 
from the context what that is. “Well, didn’t Paul have bad eyesight?” In my healing serial 
I went through that whole thing. How many of you heard that Paul had bad eyesight? 
“That is why I write to you with such large letters. . .” I have definitive proof that Paul did 
not have bad eyesight. Are you guys ready? Paul circumcised Timothy. There you go. 
“Timothy, is that you? Where are you.” (Between that and the pain, we may just have to 
do a group SOZO . . .) 
 
Verse 9 - “But He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you; for My power is made perfect 
in weakness.”   
 
 
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Here’s the amplified Bible: The amplified Bible simply is a translation where the 
sometimes theGreek words are so rich, that it is hard to get it in one word, so we’ll give 
you a bunch of different pictures of it. So it is more of an expansion of some of the key 
words there. The Amplified Bible put it this way: “My strength and power are made 
perfect (fulfilled and completed) and show themselves most effective in your weakness.” 
Let me put it this way - weak is the new strong. Here is the key to the infusing strength of 
Christ becoming manifest in your life. It’s that you recognize that you are weak. Our 
problem is that we don’t believe we are weak. We believe that if we just try a little 
harder, rededicate ourselves, make a ten years’ resolution, do forty days of “son” focus - I 
am not against any of those things - if you are doing them with the strength of Christ. If 
you are doing them on your own - Good luck with that.   
 
Here’s one of my favorite phrases just for how I am trying to posture my heart before the 
Lord - helpless dependence. The ‘helpless’ part recognizes my weaknesses, the 
’dependence’ recognizes the strength that is now available to me because of my 
weakness. So many of our prayers are not expressions of total weakness. Most of our 
prayers are telling God we are wanting Him to help us by strengthening our strength. 
“Hey, God, I’ve got about 50% of it, but if You could help me with the other 50% here. 
Hey God, I just need a little bit of help here. If you could help me . . .” That’s not prayer. 
That’s a declaration of your independence, That’s a declaration of your carnality. And 
He doesn’t help you then. He helps you when you’re weak. Weak is the new strong.   
 
Let’s look at the end of verse 9: “Therefore - “ (This is Paul’s response to God’s saying, 
“My grace is sufficient.”) “I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses so that the 
power of Christ may rest upon me.” 
 
Paul said, “OK, here is what I am going to glory in. Here’s what I’m going to put my 
confidence in: the fact that I can’t do it. I am absolutely unable to make this light bulb fill 
with light.” Remember that if you think that one percent of you can do it, you will focus 
on that one percent. Weak is the new strong. True repentance says ‘I can’t.’ True faith 
says, ‘but Christ can.’ That’s all. We cannot live the Christian life by our own strength. 
Jesus said, “I never said you could, I always said I would.” 
Paul said, “I was crucified with Christ. (That old man died), nevertheless I live, yet it is not 
me, but Christ living in me”   
In another one of the translations it says, “It is Christ expressing His life through me.” 
What did Paul say? “For me to live is Christ.” - For me to have Christ infusing His strength 
into me in any and every situation, and that’s a secret you can live in. That will build a 
barrier around me. I do not do this life in my own strength. Let me just give you this 
word picture. A problem comes knocking on your door, and there it is. It’s worry, it’s 
anxiety, it’s a bill, it’s that obnoxious person, it’s just temptation - whatever it might be. 
So this thing comes to the door - I want you to get the picture of looking over its 
shoulder, so you know it’s there. You’re not trying to deny it: “I’m not poor, I’m rich. I’m 
 
 
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not poor. I’m rich.” You look at the bank account and it still hasn’t changed. I’m not 
talking about denying reality. This thing comes, and you are aware that it is there. You 
look over its shoulder and you look at Jesus, and as you begin to look to Him - remember 
that the whole Christian life is becoming aware of Him. It’s recognizing Him. It’s 
recognizing that ‘I can’t.’ You’re looking into Jesus and you are saying, “God, I can’t do 
this, but YOU can.” At that moment strength begins to flow into you like an I.V. bag from 
Heaven.   
 
You know what grace is. It’s God’s empowering presence. It’s God’s action in your life to 
enable you to do what you cannot do on your own. So you want to know when you get 
God’s empowering presence, His activity in your life to be able to do that which you are 
unable to do on your own? When you recognize you are weak. You think, “I can kind of 
do this, I just need a little bit of help -” That I.V. bag gets a kink in the hose an you get 
nothing. Weak is the new strong. You can do the right thing and still be wrong if you do 
it out of sheer will power and human effort. You get that? It is because you are not 
supposed to do it. It’s Christ in you.   
That’s the hope of glory. That’s the hope of this world seeing what Jesus really looks 
like.   
 
Closing (48:13) 
So I am going to close with two stories. One - I talked to a friend this week, and he told 
me about a (?unclear?) and his wife. He was part of a company. The company went bad 
out, so a lot of people had their stock in the company, they got cash. Part of his deal that 
he got because he was one of the major shareholders was a stock bail-out. But they put 
a lock agreement on it. What that means is,”we are going to buy your stock from you for 
a few million dollars”. But he could not take that few million dollars for three years. It 
was locked up until the company that bought them could execute their strategy. During 
that three year period when his stock was locked up the company goes bankrupt. They 
buy it, then “We don’t need you guys anymore. We’ll run it.” Well, they run it into the 
ground. So his stock goes from a few million dollars down to zero. How many of you 
know that is a bad day?   
 
I’m sitting across the table from this person. This is a real person with real emotions. 
This isn’t a story. And here is what this person said to me, - it absolutely blew me away. 
It affected me for nearly half a day; I was just like, “Wow, what did I just witness there?” - 
He said, “You know God’s been with me through much tougher things than that. It was 
only money.” It didn’t really affect him that much. Why? He had learned the secret of 
contentment. The rest of the story is about 10 to 12 years later he said he was in a better 
position financially than he was before he lost it.   
 
I would submit to you that he would NOT be if he had not learned the secret of 
contentment. You need to understand that being content in that situation is as much of a 
miracle raising up 20 of those kids from the dead that got killed in a shooting - because 
 
 
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it’s all impossible. Jesus never said that raising the dead is impossible, the rest of it you 
could be good at if you worked at it. It’s ALL impossible. It all has to be done infused 
with the strength of Christ. Otherwise it’s works. Are you getting the picture? So that’s a 
great story. That’s a miracle. 
 
Let me tell you one that may nor be as big on the scale. This is a personal one. Mary’s at 
worship practice on Tuesday, and the boys and I are watching a movie where the 
embassy is going to try to rescue this village. They are trying to get all the people out. It 
didn’t look like they were going to make it, and the bad guys - blah, blah, blah It’s an 
intense movie. I and the older two boys are totally into it. We are locked in there, and so 
Evan is snuggling in the chair next to me, and my nine-year-old is not into this movie at 
all. It is not happening for him at all. He’s singing the whole time. He’s looking at me. 
He’s poking me trying to get Daddy’s attention. And so I’m like a (?walf? unclear). I’m 
locked in there - Are they going to get them? Are they going to get killed and lose a few 
men? I’m locked into this thing. He just won’t stop. He’s wiggling in the chair. He is like 
the most distracting thing at this moment. Something kind of rises up inside of me where 
I just kind of wanted to say, “Hey, can you give me a break here? It’s kind of the end of 
the movie. I’ll give you some attention here in a second. It was like this impatience, as I 
did that I looked over the shoulder of that impatience, and it was like this came up in my 
spirit - “Here’s my chance. Here’s my chance. I recognized I’m doing this in my own 
strength. I don’t have to. I can’t describe to you what happened. It was like time slowed 
down and this love washed over me. I recognized that he’s a kid and he is just trying to 
get dad’s attention. This movie is stupid. Give me a break. I looked at my kids. It was 
like time slowed down, and I just sat there and I just enjoyed them. I thought, “God, what 
a gift these kids are.” I just began to snuggle with Evan.   
 
Here is what Evan said. “Dad, my love cave is a bottomless pit.” This kid can snuggle all 
day long, and be like, “Hey, I need to snuggle.” He’s just that kid. As we were going to 
bed, I just prophesied over the kid. I blessed him. I enjoyed them - I can’t even tell you 
what happened to me that day. I want to tell you that also is a miracle. These kind of 
things are available to you on a moment by moment basis if you will look over the 
shoulder of that thing - if you become more and more aware and recognize that weak is 
a new strong. I cannot do this on my own strength. It’s huge. 
 
The Christian life may be summed up as the consciousness that He lives within us, and 
we draw upon his infinite life in every situation that we find ourselves in. This means that 
as we grow in Christ and become mature, we will have an increasing sense of our own 
weakness that we might no long trust in ourselves, and so proportionately live from His 
strength. Here is how I am going to close this out. I want us to memorize one verse of 
scripture together. I’m just going to read it to you meditatively. 
 
Psalm 23 in the New Living Translation: Verse 1 - The Lord is my shepherd. I have all that 
I need.”   
 
 
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There is a mentor of mine who was talking about what does he do to stay connected to 
God. One of the things he does is he works through Psalm 23 and the Lord’s prayer 
before he gets out of bed. So when you wake up and there is time when you are still 
waking up before you get out of bed. Before he gets out of bed, he works through it not 
religiously like, (speaking quickly and flatly) - “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want . . 
.” I’m not talking about working through it in a religious way.   
I’m talking about recognizing, “It’s the Lord that’s my shepherd. It’s not a man. This is the 
God Who has committed Himself to me in a covenant. He’s my shepherd. He’s looking 
out for me. He guides and He protects me. He leads me and makes sure that I am 
well-fed. I have everything I need. Lord, even in this situation that’s difficult, Lord, I can 
be content and grateful. I’ve got everything. Even if I am in extreme poverty, You said 
to look at the way you take care of the birds in the field. Look at the lilies of the field, the 
way they are - the birds of the air and the lilies of the field. ‘How much more valuable 
you are than that!’ Lord, I just thank you that I have everything that I need, and I thank 
you that if I am in a difficult situation that there is another season waiting for me. But I’m 
not in a hurry to get there. I’m in a hurry to just enjoy you.” Then you do that with the 
next verse, then with the next verse and the next verse. It may be good for you just to 
start to memorize it. 
 
Let’s just memorize this first verse together, “The Lord is my shepherd. I have everything 
I need.” (repeats it). I want you to close your eyes and I am going to read through the six 
verses over you. “The Lord is my Shepherd. I have everything I need. He lets me lie 
down in green meadows. He leads me beside peaceful streams. He renews my 
strength. He guides me along right paths, bringing honor to His Name. Even when I walk 
through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid. For You are close beside me. Your rod 
and staff protect and comfort me. You prepare a feast for me in the presence of my 
enemies. You honor me by anointing my head with oil. My cup overflows with 
blessings. Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life. 
And I will love in the house of the Lord forever. 
 
 
 

 
 
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