This is a sermon I took about 2 months after Montana died at Kellyville SDA Community Church in their contemporary service. It was part of a series taken from Willow Creek called Truths that Transform. It is based on Philippians 4:17-19, which as you will read is a passage of scripture that we have really been able to relate to. Enjoy reading this, please note this is a long hand first draft of a sermon and was not written in the form of an article so please excuse the slightly jerky flow of my brain on paper!
419 for a Phone Line
We have been looking at Truths that Transform and my topic this morning is such a fantastic truth that I am learning to really lean on. I have titled my talk 419 for a phone line. There is a story behind that but let me explain the 419 first. If there is only one thing you remember from today’s sermon it is these three numbers 419.
Life is full of TLA and numbers with special meaning. I am going to add one more to your list today.
When you dial 000, even my 5 year old knows whom that will get.
The numbers 747 straight away give you a thought of a Boeing aeroplane
007 The British Spy
Still trying to unlearn 013 and learn is it 1245 for phone directory assistance.
666 is not a good number for Pastor Kerry to get on his personalized number plates.
Since jumping into the consulting industry I have learned that this consulting stuff is not too difficult. Everything can be explained by a matrix or by a TLA. Three Letter Acronym.
Talk about D B A’s, S Q L, W S J’s, E S U, S A R’s, Q
B E’s
& U B E’s and then tell them your invoice is in the mail. That will cost you a L O T including G S T.” And then you can
go home! I love my job!
So 419 is your TLA for today. But I want you to add your initials on the end of it, so in my case it would be 419SC.
Here it is. The Transforming Truth for this week. Turn in your bibles to Phillipians 4:19. There is your 419. And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus. Read it together and add your name at the end. My God Shall Supply ALL your Needs….Stephen Chan.
There is the 419SC. This is an astonishing promise. It’s one of my favourite promises in all of Scripture, and I’ve banked a good deal of my Christian life on this very promise. You know how you get model numbers? Well I have a model number for our house. It is a 419SC. I have the latest release 419SC wife and kids. My mighty magna is an absolute 419SC miracle edition. Every morning it starts is proof that God exists! I have a pantry full of food with 419SC preservatives added. My bank account pin number is 419SC. I don’t even breath O2 or drink H2O, it’s 419SC. You see, everything is a gift from God, and as I came to understand that truth it has transformed, revolutionized my outlook on life.
I really believe that the cultivation of the discipline of thankfulness is the single best anecdote to a complaining spirit, to covetousness, or to greed. If we all saw 419 in more places, we’d say, "Look what God has already provided. Look at how wonderful he has been to us already."
Let’s have a look at the context of this 419SC truth.
As we’ve noted throughout this whole series, Paul writes the letter to the church at Philippi from a prison cell in Rome. In those days, prisons did not provide food and clothing and soap and towels and medicines and personal affects for the inmates. Friends and family provided that stuff, or the prisoner simply went without.
It wasn’t uncommon at all for prisoners to die in prison from starvation or from exposure or from just a little illness that had gotten worse because no medicine was provided by the prison system itself. I mean, you either had family or friends help you out when you were in prison, or you were in a bad way.
So here’s Paul rotting in a dark, filthy prison cell, far away from any family or friends, and word gets back to the Church at Philippi. And, of course, that would mean he was in need. The Church at Philippi hears of his need, and they show up at Paul’s prison cell with arms full of provisions for him — food and clothing, medical supplies, and all the rest.
Can you imagine the emotional impact that would have on somebody? You know I don’t have to imagine it, I can tell you first hand what that is like! And this wasn’t even the first time these kind-hearted people had helped him out like this. On two other occasions when Paul was in desperate need, the church that he had started in Philippi had heard about it, and they had brought provisions to sustain him.
Another reason why this touched Paul so deeply is that he knew the
financial condition of the people back at that church. He knew that most of them
were just hard working people, barely earning enough to put food on their own
table. Here they were providing for him again. So when those provisions show up
at Paul’s cell, he’s just undone. He hardly knows what to do with that sense
of gratitude that he feels.
Man, I hear you Paul! It feels like it could be me writing this letter to you! Do I know how he feels or what? Now I just quickly need to fill in the gaps for those who may be visiting here today. Just to fill you in on why this passage means so much to me. Just 2 months ago, almost to the day we lost our third born daughter, little Montana Sky. My wife was only one or two weeks of giving birth and she had a blood vessel burst, and it is through a series of miracles that Tania is still alive and here today, but we did loose our precious little girl.
When I read this passage, I just completely understood Paul. I thought that without all of you and without God in our lives this would have been a really lonely experience. God for what ever reason chose not to intervene with Montana, but he sure made absolutely certain that we were going to be well looked after.
So when he writes this letter back to the church at Philippi, you notice he waits all the way to the very end of the letter, the part that’s always reserved when any of us write letters for the expression of deep and personal feelings. So in this letter, just at the end, he says, "Before I close this letter, I want to thank you for the provisions that you’ve brought to my prison cell, and I want to tell you three great truths."
First Great Truth:
Philippians 4:17. He says, "Your gift is credited to your account in heaven." Here’s the idea: Paul says, "Every child of God has a file in heaven where every charitable gift is recorded by God himself there." Paul says, "Every time a Christ-follower meets a need, provides a resource, serves the poor or the imprisoned, every time God notices it, records it, and honors it."
Paul says, "Whoever of you took part in that offering at the Church of Philippi to bring me stuff, your gift is recorded in heaven and will be remembered forever." Paul says, "Be encouraged by that, will you? It’s on record never to be erased."
Kerry Hortop came to visit us that first Sabbath afternoon in hospital, and just before he left he pulled this huge 419SC wad of cash out of his pocket, and just said, here this is from your church family. We were stunned beyond belief. There was about $1200 in cash, and even now when I think about what my family here did for us, I still can’t believe it.
The day of the accident, Tania was due to go shopping, our house was just about completely devoid of anything edible. When we came home after a week in hospital, the fridge was full with 419CC (Chan Clan), the pantry was overflowing with 419CC and there were several bunches of 419CC flowers in every room in the house. The cards, flowers, food hampers just kept rolling in.
I love that text because for us it is nice to know you
are going to be blessed for what you did for us. There is a text that I am claiming for you all, and it is
Jesus speaking in Luke 6:38 If
you give, you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full measure,
pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, and running over. Whatever
measure you use in giving—large or small—it will be used to measure what is
given back to you.”
Like Paul, I want to take this opportunity to say Thank you. I need to tell you that your generosity really pulled us through a very dark time in our lives and I honestly don’t know how we ever would have made it to this point without you. That is financially, emotionally, spiritually and physically. You have been our 419CC church. We are truly blessed to have you in our lives.
The second great truth:
The second truth Paul underscores is found in Philippians 4:18 where he writes, "Your gifts were a fragrant or sweet-smelling aroma to God." This imagery is very easy for us to understand. Especially about now, getting close to 12:00 and everyone is gearing up for Saturday Lunch.
There is something I think that vegetarians miss out on, and that is the smell of a BBQ. I still reckon half the enjoyment of a BBQ is the SMELL, and as good as they are, I am afraid a vege-link just doesn’t stack up in the smelling game. Tania and I don’t eat a lot of meat, but I do know this, or healthy resolve often crumbles under the warm, delicious aroma’s of a BBQ.
I have to tell you a funny story about BBQ’s. A number of years ago, we went to the Black Stump Festival. Christian Music and Arts equivalent to Woodstock. Had a ball, we were camping with some friends, and we would be sitting around the tents just chatting and one of the boys would suddenly sit up looking very intently into the distance with his eyes half closed, flare his nostrils and breath down deeply then exclaim “Hey, can anyone smell that BBQ?” We would all follow suite. Stare off into deep space and concentrate as all your senses shut down for you to focus in anticipation of that mouth watering smell of a BBQ, and breath down deeply. What we didn’t realize was that the culprit announcing the smell had in actual fact….how can I say this nicely so I am not disfellowshiped, well he had a flatulence problem, and had just passed wind. So as you can imagine we would all end up a gagging, coughing spluttering mess, and he would just be rolling around on the ground in gales of laughter. It’s OK because I had the last laugh. I drove home and as the driver you have control of the electric windows don’t you, so they had a choice to either breath in my revenge or die trying to hold their breath!
I can’t believe I just told you that!
But you know what I am trying to say. There is something about the sense of smell that affects you like no other. Guys think of the effect on you when you breath in the perfume on your girl. You go weak at the knees don’t you?
We all know the bliss of a sweet-smelling aroma. Usually we inhale that aroma deeply and we comment on it, and we breathe it in again and again. Paul says to the Christ-followers at Philippi, "Every time you open up your heart, your hands, your wallet, and you help someone in need, every time you give to advance the purposes of God in this world, a sweet fragrance wafts its way heavenward."
I truly believe God has inhales deeply because of Kellyville Church. When we were in Hospital, the nurses were just fantastic. They would come in and sit down with us, talk with us and cry with us. They were also fiercely protective of us, and would screen absolutely everyone coming in to visit. But the interesting thing was they couldn’t believe the amount of visitors coming through and the constant stream of flowers they were bringing in. One of the nurses actually asked us, do you actually personally know all these people? And she asked are they ALL your friends? And we said “No” they are better then friends, these people are like family to us! They just couldn’t believe what a great support a church family could be. I really believe God inhaled deeply several times when he saw your support for us. I know that I have spoken to a number of you who have had some pretty terrible trials in your life and your experience has been the same. So know this, that your giving to each other in times of need is a sweet smelling aroma to God.
Third Great Truth
Then that third truth that he wants to convey to the believers at Philippi is the one that we’re really focusing on today. That 419 truth, the 419 promise: "My God shall supply your needs." My God shall supply Stephen Chan’s needs!
I am learning every day to live by this promise. There is a huge faith thing in here as well. You need to let go, and know that God knows what you need better then you do. Trust him to provide for you. Last time I spoke here I talked about facing impossible challenges, and I talked about my impossible challenge of trying to pay a mortgage in Sydney with a wife and two kids on one wage. Giving God back his Tithe came from a growing realization that everything in my life has a 419 sticker on it anyway. I wouldn’t have any of this stuff if it wasn’t for God.
Just this week, Tania and I had reason to kneel down on our kitchen floor and praise God for some amazing and totally unexpected 419 needs He provided to us. I know I just hugged Tania and we cried together and I prayed with her for forgiveness that I struggled for so long to try and control things my way and not fully rely on God to provide for ALL our needs. He promised to do that, but I just didn’t trust Him, but He came through, just as He promised he would! Believing and trusting in a 419 promise must be followed up by our actions. I still can’t believe how God does show up with a 419 just when you need it most.
It is also really important that you not only learn to live by this promise, but that you remember the way God has provided for you in the past. In the old testament there are a lot of examples of people building monuments to remind them of what God had done for them in the past. Here is a suggestion if you are stuck for a Christmas present this year. Get one of those little Japanese indoor fountains (or alternately just a little decorative bowl) and collect some smooth river stones. Every time you get a 419, write it on a stone and put it in the fountain or the bowl. This will be a great reminder of how God has been providing for you.
What are your needs? I believe if you put your Trust in God, He is going to provide you with 419’s you don’t even know you have. 2 months ago, we sent our angels into overdrive. Tania was in the shower and started feeling faint. She made it out of the shower and collapsed on the bathroom floor. An angel had prearranged the days that Maddison should be at school, and made sure Friday was not one of them. On the day, the angel also arranged it so Tania’s mum would be talking to Maddison on the phone when this happened. Even the best plans of men and angels can go astray! Tania thwarted that plan. She didn’t realize she was haemorrhaging badly inside and our baby was dying, so she told Maddison to tell Nana she would call back later and hang up the phone. She didn’t want to unduly concern her mum. Her angel must have been stamping his feet and kicking himself about now.
Tania got Maddison to call me at work, and she was having trouble getting the phone to work. Here is the 419 that most of your wouldn’t know. When Maddison hung up the phone, Tania’s mum didn’t! She had been sitting on the floor and she popped the phone on the table beside her to get up, but she never put the phone back on the hook. This as you will know leaves the line open, and should have left our line unable to dial out. We tested it to see how long it takes for the line to reset if that happens and it can take up to about 5 minutes for the line to clear if the person making the call doesn’t hang up the phone. If the line doesn’t detect any activity for 5 minutes, then it will hang up. If you keep trying to dial out within the 5 minute time frame your line will never reset and you will simply not be able to dial out.
As I said Maddison was having trouble getting the phone to work. At this point the angel must have realized what had happened and he had to do a micro second dash up to Newcastle to press the hang up button to free the line.
Once the line was free Maddison was able to dial out, and she got through to my number. I was at work and on another call when Maddison’s call came through. I saw Home flashing on my mobile screen and I thought I will call back later and promptly sent the call to voice mail. Maddison did manage to leave a message but started talking before the beep and only managed to leave the tail end of the message on my voice mail which was “and that is all I have to say, Oh, I love you daddy, bye” and hung up. Fat lot of good that message was going to be. Her angel at this point must have been bashing his head on the wall!
I normally would wait till I have a spare second to pick up my voice mails. But the angel must have done a quick dash over to Silverwater to smack me on the back of the head so that I would pick up my voice mails straight away. I got the tail end of the message, and again I normally would wait till I have a decent break, like lunch time so I can have a decent chat with the kids. A really hard forehead slap from the angel and I decided I would call back straight away.
When I did ring back Maddison told me Mummy was on the floor and couldn’t get up and I needed to come home. I told her to ask if I needed to call an ambulance and Tania just said “No, I am just a bit faint, and I need you to come home. I will be OK.”
Tania’s angel would have been about ready to ask for a reassignment by now! Here she is bleeding to death and she says she will be OK! So I say to Maddie, I am going to try and call one of our neighbours because I was about 40 minutes away. I called Claire and off goes Tania’s angel again. Had to do a bit of time travel this time and get her out of the house, because if Claire answered the phone, she would have come up, put Tania to bed and waited for me to get home, and she would have died in the comfort of her bed rather then on the bathroom floor! Claire was home but she stepped out to check on her garden for a minute and missed my call.
I called Maddison back and told her that I was going to call an ambulance anyway and that she should let them in the house when they got there.
Once more the Angel dashed off to North Riverstone Ambulance station and made sure those guys made double time to get home. But the time I had grabbed my computer and ran to the car jumped in and was driving down the road, I called home and Maddison had just let the Ambo’s into the house. I still don’t understand how they managed to get there as quickly as they did, and not a second too soon.
Three guys worked on Tania and none of them could find any pulse or get any blood pressure reading she had already lost so much blood. Tania wanted them to take her to the SAN but they felt it was serious enough to take her to a closer hospital, Hills Private, and once again a decision that saved her life, by the time she was in emergency and hooked up to all the machines, she was on the verge of cardiac arrest.
I think about now our Angels must have been ready to collapse with exhaustion, and from here on in Jesus Himself took over. It was from here that he gently lifted our family in the palm of his hand and has carried us through.
You know our story as sad as it is, it is also an amazing testimony to this passage of scripture. My God Shall Supply All Your Needs Stephen and Tania, and Maddison and Brooklyn. Even when that need was as simple as a quick dash up to Newcastle to hang up a phone. Something we didn’t even know we needed done for us, yet God was on it. Supplying our needs according to his riches in glory.
CHALLENGE
Next time you feel like complaining, next time you feel like things are not going your way. 2 things:
Firstly ask
yourself if you are giving God room enough to provide your 419’s?
Have a look
around you and see what you have that has a 419 label on it and Thank God for
it?
IT IS WELL WITH MY SOUL
As for us, There remains the obvious question, why didn’t God go the extra step to save Montana, and we are not going to know that till we get to heaven, but I do want you to know that despite what has happened “It is well with my soul.” Despite the battlescars on our physical body that this earth will leave, “It is well with my soul.”
Invite the musicians back on stage. I didn’t ask for this song and Cherie probably doesn’t realize the significance of this song to us, but this song was sung at Montana’s funeral, it is written by a guy by the name of Horatio Gates Spafford, he had been helping the homeless after a huge fire in Chicago, and was just about to take his family on an evangelistic crusade to England. He sent his wife and 4 daughters ahead of him and he was to follow, but their ship collided with another sailing vessel and sank killing his 4 daughters. His wife survived and sent a message to Horatio with the heart breaking two words “Saved Alone”. It is during this time of grief, the heart ripping sorrow of a parent losing 4 of his children, that the words of this hymn were written.
Through the toughest times God has promised to provide you with your needs. Leave some room for Him to provide you with the 419’s you need. And don’t forget what he has already done for you, and thank Him for the 419’s He has given to you already.
Prayer:
Thank you for this amazing church that I am so fortunate to be a part of.
Thank you for every person here today. I want to claim your promise that they will be repaid for their kindness to us. Give them a full measure, shake it together well, press it down hard, and fill it to over flowing before you give it to them father.
I know that you have been breathing in deeply from their kindness, and I just pray that as a church we will continue to have an outrageous giving heart.
Today we have talked about your 419 promise to provide for our needs. Lord we believe you, and we are asking you today to help our unbelief. Give us the faith we need to make room in our lives for you to provide us with your 419’s, and give us a heart of thanks to remember and thank you for the leading in our lives right up to today.
We trust you, and we have told you, “It is well with our souls today”.
In your precious name we ask it.
Amen.