Lessons Learned From a Prison Cell Philippians 4:10-20

What this episode covers

Philippians 4:10-13 Outline with Blanks Completed Outline scroll to 23:35 for sermon Philippians 4:10-20 This is Philippians chapter 4, 4 verses 10 through 13, as Paul kind of begins to wrap up his letter to the Philippian church. And here’s what he writes, I rejoice greatly in the Lord that at last you renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you were concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it. I’m not saying this because I’m in need, for I have learned to be content, whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I’ve learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well-fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want, I can do all this through him who gives me strength. Well, we are going to wrap up the book of Philippians. I don’t know how long we’ve been looking at Philippians, but I’m going to guess about maybe four months. And this morning, Paul begins to bring this letter to the Philippian believers to a close, and you remember the background. It’s really a thank you note. Paul is under house arrest in Rome. He’s awaiting trial. He doesn’t know if he’s going to live or die. And the church at Philippi, where he was the founding pastor, sent a love gift through a man by the name of Epaphroditus, traveled 800 miles, brought that gift to Paul. Got very sick, by the way, and almost died, Paul mentioned. And now Paul’s sending this letter back to them, and it’s really a thank you letter for the gift, as well as many other truths that are in there. And the whole theme of Philippians is rejoice. That Paul, even though he’s under house arrest, even though he’s in prison, Paul chooses joy. And the word joy, rejoicing, 16 times in these four chapters. This morning, we’re going to look at lessons learned from a prison cell, and as I began to look at the last few verses of chapter 4, began to see some lessons that Paul has for the Philippian church and for you and me. Now there’s an interesting verse in Psalm 119, verse 67, it says, Before I was afflicted, I went astray, but now I obey your word. Most of the time in our human nature that we have to live and learn. Sometimes we have to go through the school of hard knocks to learn something. But the Bible wants us, what, to learn and to live, and to avoid some of those difficulties in life. Well, Paul’s writing some lessons from a prison cell, and we actually are going to look at six of them very quickly this morning before we serve and celebrate the Lord’s table and what Christ has done for us on the cross. As I knew this sermon was coming up about 10 days ago, I was thinking about my friend Steve that I’ve talked about many times in the past, my friend Steve that I’ve been a pen pal with for 30 years, my friend Steve who’s in Jackson Prison, been there for 31 years, not just in Jackson, but he’s been moved around, now he’s back in Jackson Prison. And Steve whose life was transformed after he was sentenced to a life sentence in prison. And when I knew, I was going to do this sermon on lessons from prison cell, I dashed off a quick note to Steve, and I said, hey, I’m going to preach a sermon on lessons learned from prison, and if you can do a quick turnaround, I’d like for you to share with me and with our church some lessons that you’ve learned in the 31 years you’ve been behind bars. So, I didn’t know if it would come in time for Sunday, but when I went out to get the mail on Thursday, here is a letter from Steve. And I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Steve also has six lessons in his letter. And some of them parallel what the Apostle Paul writes, what we’re going to study, so I thought I’d just take a couple minutes and share, six things from my friend Steve, this is what he’s learned in 31 years behind bars, and I’ll try to read through this quickly. So, he addresses me and he addresses the congregation. Lessons learned. Number one, the reality of the Ho

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