Welcome to Pathway. We're in our series Quit Telling Yourself I Can't, and today we're tackling the lie that you can't handle a life of real faith.

It's 9:00 PM in the Magic Kingdom. The fireworks are over, the kids are sugar-crashing, and you have just enough energy for one last ride. Your family is arguing over two choices.

Option one: "It's a Small World." You know the deal. A calm boat, a predictable track, and a song that will follow you into eternity. It is safe. It is comfortable. And for anyone who's had a rough week, that little boat sounds like heaven. I get it. We all crave a life where the boat doesn't rock.

But let's be honest: a life with zero risk isn't a life; it's a prison. It's turning your back on the courage to really live.

Then there's option two. Across the park is a ride that doesn't promise safety; it promises a drop. The Tower of Terror. You step in, you ascend, and then... you fall. Faster than gravity. And in that moment, you feel undeniably, exhilaratingly alive.

That is the life of faith. It's not a predictable loop; it's a series of drops.

The drop when you get the diagnosis.
The drop when the business fails.
The drop when the relationship ends.

And it's in that freefall that we scream, "I can't!" I can't handle the pressure. I can't take the risk. I can't dream again because I've been burned too many times. Please, God, just put me back on the little boat.

Today, we're going to look at a man who lived in a permanent state of freefall. The Apostle Paul. His life was a highlight reel of shipwrecks, prisons, and riots. And yet, writing from a jail cell in Philippians chapter 4, he sounds like the most joyful and secure man on earth.

He's about to show us a secret: You weren't built for the endless safe and protected loop. You were built for the adventure of the drop and the freewill.

You were built for the courage to really live.

"How I praise the Lord that you are concerned about me again. I know you have always been concerned for me, but you didn't have the chance to help me. Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do all things through Christ, who gives me strength. Even so, you have done well to share with me in my present difficulty. As you know, you Philippians were the only ones who gave me financial help when I first brought you the Gospel and then traveled on from Macedonia. No other church did this. Even when I was in Thessalonica you sent help more than once. I don't say this because I want a gift from you. Rather, I want you to receive a reward for your kindness. At the moment I have all I need—and more! I am generously supplied with the gifts you sent me with Epaphroditus. They are a sweet-smelling sacrifice that is acceptable and pleasing to God. 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. Now all glory to God our Father forever and ever! Amen." (Philippians 4:10-20, NLT)

Six Motivators:
Now, how did he do it? How did he find contentment and strength in the middle of a freefall?

To understand his secret, we're going to look at it through a modern lens you might be familiar with. The performance strategist Tony Robbins identified six core human needs—or as I call them, Motivators—that drive everything we do.

He didn't invent them; he observed what God designed into our souls.

Paul understood these motivators. But he didn't fuel them with self-help; he fueled them with Jesus Christ. And in this passage, he gives us a masterclass on how a soul anchored in Christ can handle any drop.

Let's break it down, starting with: Certainty.

1. Certainty
This is your survival instinct. Predictability

2. Variety/Uncertainty
As much as you crave safety, if you get too much of it, you get bored. You need spice.

3. Significance
You need to feel like you matter.

4. Connection
You are hardwired for friendships, relationships, and love.

5. Growth - Robbins calls these fulfillment needs.
If you aren't growing, you're dying. You have an innate fire to expand, to learn, to become more than you were yesterday.

6. Contribution
You need to give beyond yourself. You need to know that your life isn't just about your survival, but about your legacy.

These six drives are truly human. They are the design specs of your soul. I think they're biblical, and I'm going to show you them in our very section of the Bible today.

But I also think Tony is missing the most important one of all. That's coming.

You might not have noticed, but in that paragraph of the Bible we just read, there's a Masterclass on Living a Full Life. In these few verses, he shows you what it looks like when those six motivations in your heart are both fueled and fed by Christ.

Let's break it down.

1. Certainty
"But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at last your care for me has flourished again; though you surely did care, but you lacked opportunity. Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content" (Philippians 4:10-11)

Here is the lie most people believe: You define Certainty as a full savings account, a happy marriage, and a 10-year plan that actually works. You think certainty is control of your life and your world.

But when he writes these words, Paul is in prison. He is chained to a Roman guard. He has zero control. He doesn't know if tomorrow he's getting a meal or an execution order.

And yet, he says, "I have learned to be content." Do you see what he is doing? He has moved the locus of his certainty from the condition of his external world to the condition of his internal world.

He doesn't know if he will live or if he will die. If Caesar will release him or decapitate him.

He doesn't know, but he's still okay. Why?

Because His certainty isn't based on what's about to happen; it's based on something inside him.

And that something inside him is a very strong faith in the One who holds what's about to happen the palm of his hand.

His soul has been restructured. His inner world has gone through rehab.

It's a rehab based on grace and truth (John 1:14).

The Greek word he uses for "content" is autarkēs. In his day, the Stoic philosophers loved this word as meaning being totally self-sufficient. But Paul hijacks the word. He's not merely self-sufficient; he's Christ-sufficient. It's not self-esteem; it's something better: Christ-esteem.

He has relocated his source of certainty from his circumstances to his Savior... because he embraces his identity in Christ. That's who he is, and that's how he sees himself... not the labels that the bullies, mean girls and absentee parents put on his past self.

But the labels Jesus put on him the day he got saved.

And that gives you more certainty than any motivational speaker ever could.

Weirdly enough the second motivator is uncertainty.