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The Apostle Paul Knew the Secret of Gratefulness

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[Philippians 4:12]

"I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want."

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The Apostle Paul was a very great missionary who preached Jesus to a lot of people. The people heard the gospel shared by the Apostle Paul and countless people believed Jesus and became saved.

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The Apostle Paul did bad things before he believed in Jesus. He persecuted and tormented the believers of Jesus. But God loved this Paul. Jesus appeared to Paul in person and showed Paul that He was alive.

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After Paul saw that Jesus was alive he became a completely different person. From that time on, Paul started to talk about Jesus, whom he had once persecuted. Paul made up his mind to talk about Jesus for his whole life.

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The Apostle Paul told about Jesus to all of the people wherever he went.
Even a church was built with the people that heard the gospel from Paul.
Many churches were built through Paul.

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While doing mission work, Paul also experienced difficulties several times.
In Philippi, he chased out a demon from a possessed girl but he was accused, got beaten and was put into jail.

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In Lystra, Jews that hated the Apostle Paul stirred up a crowd and made them throw stones at Paul. Paul and Barnabas were struck by the stones and fell down so people thought they were dead and threw them out of the city.

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However, the Apostle Paul did not give up on preaching the gospel even after having such difficulties. Instead, he remembered how Jesus suffered on the cross to give him salvation. Then, he overcame the hard times and got back his strength and continued to preach the gospel again.

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Not only this but there also was a financial problem. Paul did mission work with several people, so he needed a lot of money. But the Apostle Paul did not want the church members to be burdened by the money that was needed in doing his mission work.

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Thankfully, the Apostle Paul had an extraordinary skill.
That was having the skill of tent-making.
At that time, the skill of tent-making was said to be one of the most high class skills.

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So, he did tent-making by himself and made the money for the mission work.
He used that money he made for preaching the gospel of God.
He lived simply with less money in order to preach the gospel.

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However, the Apostle Paul thanked God that he had the skill to make tents and that he could do mission work by the money he made by himself. He also thanked God that he did not have to burden the church members that were praying for him.

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A church named Philippi was a church that took offerings for the mission work of the Apostle Paul. The Philippi church took offerings as much as they could and gave the offerings to the Apostle Paul. Like this, Paul became financially stable when the offerings from the church members came.

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However, the Apostle Paul did not use the money carelessly just because he had more by the offerings of the church members. But he stopped making tents for money when he was financially stable and spent that time to preach the gospel. The Apostle Paul thanked God for having more time to preach the gospel.

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The Apostle Paul talked about the measure of his faith to the members of the Philippi church. Let us read it slowly. "I rejoice greatly in the Lord that at last you have renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you have been concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it."

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"I am satisfied with what I have and I have learned to thank God any time. I know how to overcome poverty and I know what it is to have plenty. Hungry or full, have plenty or be in need, I rejoice and am happy in any situation." The Apostle Paul had great faith of rejoicing and being happy any time. He had such a great faith and lived a life of a faithful man.

(This is the sample conclusion provided by CTM.
Please feel free to change the conclusion to best suit the listeners of your sermon.)