Ron Dunn Podcast - Christ - The Power of Life

Episode Date: June 4, 2025

The chronic complaint of the carnal Christian is "I can't". This message shows us how through Christ we can do all things.

In Philippians 4, beginning with verse 9 and reading through verse 13, we are discovering what the Christ-filled life means in everyday application. And tonight we come to discover that Christ is to be the power of our life. Philippians 4, verse 9, and verse 13. Those things which ye have both learned and received and heard and seen in me do, and the God of peace shall be with you. But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at the last your care of me has flourished again wherein you were all so careful, but you lacked opportunity. Not that I speak in respect of want, for I have learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased and I know how to abound.

Everywhere and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ, which strengtheneth me. Verse 13 is the text for Christ, the power of our life. I can do all things through Christ, which strengtheneth me. The chronic complaint of the carnal Christian is, I can't. I can't. I can't control my temper. I can't overcome my jealousy.

I can't love my mother-in-law, I can't tithe my income, I can't witness for Christ, I can't do this, I can't do that. The chronic complaint of the carnal Christian is, I can't. It's the easiest phrase that rolls off the average Christian's mouth. I can't do it. The confident cry of the Christ-filled Christian is, I can. I can do all things through Christ, which strengthens me. This is an astounding statement that Paul makes. He makes this statement under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and he backs it up with the inspiration of his life. And no other life that I know anything about outside the life of the Lord Jesus so much

demonstrates this truth that I can do all things through Christ, which strengthens me. Three things about Christ being the power of our life. First of all, the sufficiency of this power. The sufficiency of this power. Paul says, I can do all things. all, the sufficiency of this power. Paul says, I can do all things. The word translated do there is an interesting word. It means to be in full health or to be vigorous.

I visited a 71-year-old man yesterday who was bed-fast and has gone through four major operations. When I went in to see him, I asked him how he was doing, and he said, I'm just laying here waiting until St. Peter calls me home. No health. His health is completely gone. Just laying there waiting, just laying there waiting, helpless, filled with inability. And that's so much like too many Christians, just lying here waiting until the trumpet

sounds, filled with inability, not doing anything. And yet Paul says, I am in full health to do anything. I have vigor, I have strength, I have the power, I have whatever is necessary to do all things and anything through Christ that strengthens me. So Paul is saying that this power that Jesus supplies makes me sufficient for anything, makes me adequate for anything. I think it's good for you to underscore those two words, all things. He doesn't say just a few things. All things,

whatever it is. Now, of course, this is the all things of the will of God. It's not the all things of your wishes and your ambitions. It's the all things of the will of God. Whatever it is that God requires of me, whatever it is that God wants me to do, whatever it is that God wants me to be, God has given that God wants me to be, God has given me the ability, the power, the strength, the vigor to do anything that His will commands me to do. This kind of power that Jesus puts inside of me makes me sufficient to obey His will. Remember a few weeks ago when we preached on James chapter 4 and verse 17, Therefore

to him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin. We said that it is a sin because of the divine enablement. And I made the statement, and I want to make it again, and I want to make it again and again, that God never asks the Christian to do anything without giving him the power to do that. God never asked me to do anything without giving me the power to do that. God never asked me to do anything without giving me the power to do it. Every command is a promise. Did you know that? Every command is a promise because when God commands me to do something, it means that he is going to also give me the power and the ability to obey that command. So every command is

a promise that God will enable me to keep that command. So every command is a promise that God will enable me to keep that command. So when God commands me to tithe, that's a promise that I can. When God commands me to love my enemies, that's a promise that I can. When God commands me to witness, that's a promise that I can. You say, I can't witness, yet God says you can. Now you know, you say I can't witness, yet God says you can. Now who's right? Now just who's right?

Have you ever looked at it that way? God says I want you are my witnesses. I want you to be a witness for me. You say I can't do it. God says you can. Who's right? I believe God's right. I believe you think you cannot witness

because you have not discovered the power that Paul discovered in his life, this kind of power that made him sufficient for anything. Boy, that excites me when I begin to think about it. I can do all things, anything that God has for me planned out to do. If God wants you to teach a Sunday school class, don't despair, don't worry about it, don't fret about it. Paul says you can do anything that God will command you to do because He makes you sufficient.

The sufficiency of this power is that I can do it. I have the spiritual health to do it. Now notice in the second place the scope of this power. What are these all things that Paul is talking about? These all things that Paul is talking about? You know, every once in a while when we begin talking about the power that Christ brings into a person's life, I wonder what registers in your mind. What mental pictures appear in your mind when you begin thinking about the purposes or the uses of this power?

In just a few weeks we are going to be in the middle of the Billy Graham crusade over here in Texas Stadium. Every time I watch him on television and see him give that invitation after that oh-so-simple message, and give that invitation and stand up there and just fold his hands and look so nonchalant that people just flood down the aisles, I say, What power! What power! All of us tonight would agree that you need power in order to preach in Texas Stadium to 65,000 people. But I discover something when I study about the power that makes the Christians sufficient in the New Testament, that that power is not

merely reserved for preaching before great multitudes of people. That power is made available for us for the mundane practical things of life. I want you to look at verses 11 and 12. Paul says, Not that I speak in respect of want, for I have learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased and I know how to abound everywhere and in all things. I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. Why, as a matter of fact, I can do all things through Christ who puts his strength into me. That's the sense in which Paul is saying it. Paul hasn't just got through saying, hey, did you hear about all the people I led to Christ? Well,

I can do all things through Christ. Paul didn't say, hey, did you hear about my great citywide meeting in Ephesus? I can do all things through Christ. Paul didn't say, hey, did you hear about that dead man I raised out of the grave? I can do all things through Christ. Paul didn't say, hey, did you hear about that dead man I raised out of the grave? I can do all things through Christ. He didn't say, hey, did you hear about those seven demons I cast out of that woman? I can do all things through Christ. No, he said, listen, did you know that I was in need, that I was dead broke and I was poor, but I learned to be happy about it? I can do all things through Christ. You see how practical and mundane and livable this power is. The scope of this power that Christ infuses into me, the scope, the reach of it is from morning to night, from the holy to the not so holy, to the sacred to the secular, to the religious

to the not so religious things of my life, the everyday affairs of life. Now, Paul says the scope of this power, first of all, has the power to detach me from outward circumstances. If I am abounding, Jesus is still Lord. If I have a full stomach, Jesus is still Lord. If I am at the point of starvation, Jesus is still Lord. If I have a full stomach, Jesus is still Lord. If I am at the point of starvation, Jesus is still Lord. I do not allow outward circumstances, physical surroundings, I do not let those things dictate to me my spiritual temperature. What a secret. I'm glad to use

that word. I have learned the secret, for friends, it is a secret. It's an open secret. Anybody can learn it if they'll just give themselves to it. Paul says, I have learned a secret. The power that Jesus gives me frees me from outward circumstances. But it not only has the power to cause Paul to detach himself from outward circumstances, it also has the power to give, to help Paul. I looked up this word and I was amazed to find out what this word content really meant. Paul has found the power to delight himself in the midst of objectional circumstances. The word content means to be satisfied, full, adequate, don't need anything. Paul says, I'm always happy.

I'm always satisfied. I'm always delighted, always excited, always contented. I'm always full, he says in another place. Even when he's starving to death, I'm full. Even when he's dead broke, he says I'm rich. For the power that Jesus Christ gives me, since it enables me to detach myself from outward circumstances, then it also enables me

to delight myself even under objectional circumstances. If you can ever get free from outward circumstances, if you can ever come to the place where outward circumstances don't dictate your spiritual temperature, you'll always be at the even spiritual temperature you ought to be, always content. In whatsoever state I am, bear with to be content. Oh, I pray the Lord will teach me that secret. I want to learn that secret more and more and more because Jesus never changes. And this is what Paul is discovering as we go through the book of Philippians. He's discovering that Jesus never changes. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever.

When everything was going great, when you had a full stomach, when you had money in the bank, Jesus was Lord then. He hasn't changed. He's the same Jesus when things are going bad, when you're starving, when the sky is falling in about you. He's the same Jesus. He has not changed one iota. He still loves you. He's still your Lord. He's still in control of the situation. So Paul says I have learned the blessed secret in whatsoever state I am even if it's Chicago, Illinois to be content As someone said one time I know Paul wasn't a Texan because no Texan could ever make that statement I've learned to be content. No matter what state I'm in. I think he's an Arkansas

I've learned to be content. I want to ask you tonight if you've learned to be content. You know you can see contentment or discontentment on faces. You can. You can. You can look into the faces of people and know whether or not they're contented. You can look into the faces of people and know whether or not they're contented. You can look into the faces of people and know what their outward circumstances are by the lines on their face. All because I've learned to be the same, to be adequate. I've learned to be independent of outward circumstances. Jesus, power. Now I want you to know something.

It takes a lot of power, I imagine, to preach to 65,000 people. But friend, I want you to know it takes a lot more power to be content in every circumstance of life. It takes a lot more power to be able to detach yourself from outward circumstances, to be able to delight yourself in objectional circumstances. It takes more power than that. Now, the last thing, I want you to look at the source of this power.

Where does this power come from? I'm glad Paul put in verse 13. I think he put in verse 13 because as he was riding along there on verses 10, 11, and 12, perhaps the thought occurred to him. Now, verses 11 and 12 sound kind of egocentric, egocentric. Sounds kind of like I've learned the secret. Look what I am. Look what I've done.

So I feel that Paul inserted verse 13 just to make certain that everybody knew that this secret sufficiency that Paul had did not come from himself. So he says, I can do all things right, but I do it through Christ who pours his strength into me. I love the way Phillips translates verse 13, I am ready for anything through the strength of the one who lives within me. Williams translated in his footnote, this is a literal Greek, he says, I have power for all things through him who puts a dynamo in me. And the word for strength is the same word we get our word dynamite or dynamo from. I heard a preacher one time say that God puts dynamite in us. Well, no, I don't want God to put dynamite in

me. I want God to put a dynamo in me. Too many of us have had these dynamite experiences. You know what dynamite is, don't you? It makes a lot of noise, stirs up a lot of dust, and then it's gone. You don't hear of it anymore. How many of us had experiences like that? Survival comes along, a loud noise, stirring up a lot of dust, leaves flying, papers flying, hands waving, and then it's all over. No, Jesus does something better than give us dynamite. He gives us dynamo. That's a continual source of power, a continual source of energy. And Paul says, the reason that I'm able to live the way I'm able to live, the reason I've learned this precious secret of life is that Jesus Christ pours into me, that's

the literal word, he pours into me his dynamic, his dynamo. The source of this power is Christ himself. The source of this power is Christ Himself. The source of this power is Christ Himself. All the power of the Lord Jesus Christ made available to the Apostle Paul, made available to every Christian. Now this is important. If Paul's power came from his education or from his own natural ability, looking at his life would be like looking at the Sears Roebuck catalog, kind of a wish book. And you know, a lot of us look at this Bible, not like a Sears Roebuck

catalog, like a Neiman Marcus catalog, wish books. Oh, I wish I could have that. I was a little boy. I used to love to read the Sears Roebuck catalog, Monkey Ward catalog. Wish books. Write down all the things I wanted. Knew I'd never get, because a 14-year-old boy didn't have the money to buy those things. You know, a lot of Christians look at the Bible like a wish book. And if the apostle Paul's power and his supernatural ability to cope with life came from within himself, then he would be a super saint and a special character. But when Paul says, listen, the secret, the story of this power in my

life comes from the Lord Jesus Christ who lives within me, that means that it's available for you. And that means that it's available for me. I can be another Paul, you can be another Paul, every Christian can be another Paul because we have Paul's Christ living in us. The same Jesus, that was the dynamic behind his life, is the same Jesus that lives in me. The source of this power is Jesus Christ and the supply of this power is continual. That word, strengthen, is a participle which means it's always happening, it's always happening. It's like a stream that's always flowing. It's like a waterfall that never stops, it's always happening. It's always happening. It's like a stream. That's always flowing It's like a waterfall that never stops. It's always flowing

You may not be aware of it, but it's always pouring into you This is what Paul is literally saying he's saying I am ready to do anything because Jesus Christ is Constantly pouring his strength into me Sometimes you don't know it. But you know, every Christian is setting on a keg of dynamite. Every Christian has latent power in him. It's just lying there ready to be used. When you're washing dishes you say, well, I don't feel very strong. I feel a long way off from God. The doorbell rings, salesman calls. You call on that power to witness to that man and you'll discover that all the time, even though you were not aware of it, there was that latent power of Jesus Christ in you, constantly, continually being poured into you, just ready to be released

at any time. That's your job, sitting behind a desk at school. You may not have a feeling of power. Having the power of Christ in you doesn't mean having goose bumps and chill bumps running up your back all the time. It means having faith in the fact. It means the fact that Jesus Christ resides in me and is constantly pouring his power into me. And at any moment, at any given time when the will of God calls upon me, that power is available. All I have to do is just let it be released through me. The supply, the stream of this power is continuous, continual, always going on, always going on. So Paul says, I'm ready for anything.

I like that. I'm ready for anything. Mr. Sheppey's not here tonight. Jim Allen's here. He's the head of the nominating committee. Boy, wouldn't you like everybody you talk to and say, hey, we pray. We believe God has a job for you, wouldn't it be great if he said, I'm ready, I'm ready for anything, I'm ready for anything, I'm ready for anything.

Are you ready? For anything, anything that the will of God lays upon you, you can be ready and have all the spiritual power you need because Jesus Christ is constantly pouring it into you.