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The Secret to Contentment (That Money Can’t Buy) · Wetumpka Church of Christ Online

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It was that all I wanted to say, before I started.
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I think that's it. Oh, I was going to tell you
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something Jason, you can I just have conversations while I'm up
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here. I'm in the Pulpit.
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You're not. I can do all the talking.
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But the more I studied for this sermon.
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The more I kept writing in the margins and the more stuff.
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I kept Crossing out and writing and so it started out as a typed
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lesson and now it's more chicken, scratch ink pen all
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over the place. And so the more I studied it,
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the more I wanted to say, so who knows how long we're going to be
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here and just bless your hearts. I didn't get a chuckle out of
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that. I thought I'd get more of a
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laugh out of that one. Oh, man.
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Okay. I'll start off with a I guess a
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little example, you know parents are real hard to understand
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sometimes sometimes we look at our parents, you know, from the
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perspective of a young person, look at our parents and think
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what? I just don't understand why
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you're that way and I had one of those particular instances a
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number of times as a young person and I know what young
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people may not know what this is but us who are older?
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Remember Publishers Clearing House.
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Y'all remember? And every once in a while, I
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don't remember how often it was, but we would get the big packet.
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I mean was a big old fat envelope in the mail from
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Publishers Clearing House. And for you young
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whippersnappers that don't know what that is.
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It was basically you got this thing in the mail.
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I don't remember if you scratch something off, but you fill it
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out and send it in and it gave you a chance.
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I think of winning millions of dollars.
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That's basically what it was. And every time one of those came
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in the mail, I as a young person would beg my parents.
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To fill it out. And I remember lots of times, I
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would even offer. Let me fill it out because if we
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fill this thing out, mom and dad and send it in, we could win
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millions of dollars. And they never, they never
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excuse me, they'll never let me fill that out as much as I beg.
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And I remember thinking, what? A boneheaded move parents, not
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not letting us fill this out so that we can win a ton of money.
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You know, it's just something I couldn't comprehend and couldn't
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understand because as a young person, you know, I just really
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wanted to win the big cash prize.
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I guess the only experience that I ever had.
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A really winning something that I felt like was was big was in
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1988 long time ago. Mario, Brothers and Nintendo had
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announced that they were coming out with Mario Brothers 3 and it
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was a big deal. Okay.
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Was a big deal and everyone was super excited about it.
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I remember all the kids in my school, talked about it all the
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time by the couldn't wait till it came out.
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Well, in the summer of 1998, the game was not going to Be
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released until late October, but in the summer, Oreo cookies,
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came out with this, this little game prize that you could do,
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when you bought your Oreos on the back of the Oreo cookie
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pack. It had a little scene from Mario
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Brothers, you know, a little saying it had those little pipes
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that Mario would jump down and inside the pack of Oreos.
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You got one of these little transparent cards and it had a
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picture of Mario on it and then you flip the pack over and you'd
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put the transparent card over the Picture on the back of the
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Oreos and if you're Mario was going into one of the pipes you
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won. Okay.
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Well we opened up our packet Oreo cookies.
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The parents had bought at the grocery store, got out the
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little card and lo and behold Mario was going down in the
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pipe. And so you have to mail in the
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proof of purchase and the receipt and the card in the back
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of the box and all this stuff and you mail it in.
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And I don't remember how many weeks it was Jason that went by,
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but I do remember a yellow colored.
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Third bubble envelope. Coming in the mail one day.
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And the parents saying, hey, this is addressed to my sister.
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Kara is the one who opened the cookies.
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So she got to claim the prize. If she's watching.
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Congratulations, Carol, you won, you won the prize and so it had
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her name on it and everyone started screaming, you know?
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Yeah. Yeah, and we went, we opened it
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up and there it was Mario, Brothers 3.
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We got that game about five months before it was actually
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released for the general public, you know, we fell off.
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Nudie, you know, we went to school and got to brag to people
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about how fantastic it was to win this prize.
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You know, it can feel good. It can feel real good to win
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something. I suppose.
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It could feel really good to win a ton of money.
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Some years ago. I saw a special on 20/20 and it
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was following the lives of 20 individuals who had won the
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lottery. I don't remember the amounts of
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all these individuals. I don't remember the entire
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story, but what I do remember, Remember from that, that special
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on 20/20 is that it showed in these 20 people's lives.
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I know it's not always the case. In fact, it's probably few but
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in these people's cases when they won this money, it
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basically destroyed their lives. You might say, wow, how could
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winning 100 million dollars when they were only making thirty
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thousand dollars a year, 100 million dollars, shouldn't that
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improve your quality of life? Shouldn't that give you
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everything that you ever dreamed of shouldn't that give you
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everything that you would ever wished for.
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And therefore, all your problems would just vanish away.
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And you could live a life of luxury till the grave.
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Well, sadly, in these individuals lives.
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That was not the case. From what I recall from that
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particular News segment is that people came out of the woodwork
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begging for money. They lost friends over the whole
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thing. They lost family members over
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the whole thing. Not only that, but the majority
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of these people were already, not very good.
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Money managers, with their income to begin with, you know,
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a lot of them are going in and they're spending all their
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hard-earned money on these lottery tickets.
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All the time. So, so now they've got all this
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money, they begin to squander it, into waste it and to buy
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frivolous, extravagant things. And in the life of these 20
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people, they experienced nothing but heartache, part of the
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reason is because when money comes so does responsibility and
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for many people, they're not very responsible with their
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money. In fact, I think we read
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somewhere in Scripture that if you're not going to be
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responsible. Isabel with a few things.
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You're not going to be responsible with a lot of
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things. How sad it is that as that show
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came to a conclusion that you think about the turmoil that
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these people faced at the conclusion of that show, it
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began to talk about how these people's lives were turned
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upside down. It destroyed marriages.
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It broke up homes mothers were taking their own Sons to court
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and even wives were suing their own husbands.
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Because of this money I suppose in the lives of those people at
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first, they thought their life would be changed for the better
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because of this money, but sadly, that's not the case.
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We're aware of what the Bible tells us in first Timothy
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chapter 6 and verse 10 that the love of money is the root of all
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evil and that's perhaps why these people experienced so much
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heartache, maybe because their love was misplaced.
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They weren't loving the right things.
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They weren't loving the right people.
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In fact, they were loving the money riches are a fleeting
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Thing. Once you take your Bibles for a
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moment and turn to Colossians chapter 5, if you would, please
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the Estes chapter 5. I want to read verses 10 through
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16 and just talk about it for a second.
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As we know the Book of Ecclesiastes written by one of
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the wisest men that has ever walked the face of the Earth.
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He was also a man who was incredibly wealthy.
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He was in tune to what it meant to have a great deal of wealth,
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and in experiencing that wealth and that Fame.
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And even the wisdom Solomon came to understand some things about
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that welt, we read it. Beginning of verse 10, of
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Cleves. Yes, he's chapter 5.
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I hope you're looking there with me.
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He that loveth silver shall Not be satisfied with silver nor he
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that loveth abundance with increase.
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This is also vanity, when Goods increased, they are increased
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that eat them. And what good is there to the
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owners thereof, saving the beholding of them, with their
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eyes, the sleep of a laboring, man is sweet whether he little
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or much, but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to
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sleep. Now.
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Why? Is that maybe he's so worried
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about how he's going to store it.
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How he's going to spend it? Who's going to ask for more of
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it? I'm not sure but he can't suffer
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to sleep verse 13. There is a soar evil, which I
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have seen Under the Sun. Now.
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Remember, remember the Book of Ecclesiastes Solomon talks about
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everything that he had experienced.
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He tried to find something in life, that would fill that void.
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And he talks about all the things that he had experienced.
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And of course, at the end of the book of Ecclesiastes, he tells
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us that the Collusion of the whole matter.
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The duty of man is to do what to fear God and keep his commands,
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but he had experienced a lot. So in verse 13 He says their ass
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or evil, which I have seen Under the Sun, namely riches kept for
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the owners thereof to their hurt.
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But those riches Parish by evil travail, and he begat a son and
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there is nothing in his hand as he came forth of his mother's
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womb naked, shall he? Return to go as he came and
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shall take nothing of his labor, which he may carry away in his
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hand and this also is a sore evil that in all points as he
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came. So shall he go?
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And what prophet hath. He that hath labored for the
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wind. I know that's a rather lengthy
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passage, but I thought it really kind of made a point to, at
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least it resonated with me. I hope it does with you.
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Solomon tells us that riches. They pass away either.
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You can lose it in this life or you need to come to the
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realization that when this life ends, you can't take it with
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you. My dad used to tell a what I
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referred to as a preacher joke, and he talks about that man that
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That he wanted to be buried with all of his money.
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You've probably heard this story.
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Jason. He wanted to be buried with all
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his money and all of his friends came by viewing him in the
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casket. And there are these wads of
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hundred dollar bills just laid all in there, in his casket.
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And one of his friends came by and wrote a check for 1 million
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dollars and he put it in there and took out some change.
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You know, you can't take it with you.
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You've heard that time and time again, you've heard it over and
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over and over. What I want us to do this
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morning as we go through the remainder of my lesson is I want
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us to understand that we as a people, we as God's people need
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to understand what it really means to be content with what we
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have. We talked about some of the
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basic building blocks of good health.
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For those of you that don't know.
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I probably been saying it loud to everybody because it's been
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on my mind. I'm dieting.
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FYI, and I absolutely hate it. But I've lost 13 pounds.
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Congratulations to me. You're welcome.
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But you know, when you talk about the building blocks of
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Health, you know, you talk about exercise, you talk about getting
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good rest. We talk about eating good
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healthy things. We talked about getting your
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heart rate up. Pino keeping your cholesterol
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under control, regular doctor's visits.
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Those are some of the basic building blocks of good health.
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When we begin to talk about the basic building blocks of
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Christianity, are some of the basic building blocks of a good
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character contentment has to be on that list.
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Would you agree? Contentment has to be one of
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those basic building blocks of a good Christian character?
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So what exactly is commitment now, if you go to Webster's
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Dictionary Webster defines it as the US, happy enough with what
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one has or is not Desiring, something more or different to
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be satisfied to have an ease of mine.
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Now I suppose that's a pretty good definition.
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Of contentment. But I don't know if that's
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exactly what God was driving at when he talked about contentment
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in his word. Godly contentment is not
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willingness to live. Beneath our means Godly
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contentment is not laziness. Godly contentment is not
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willingness to live in filth. And in poverty.
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We understand there are numerous passages throughout scripture.
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One of them, being Psalms or rather Proverbs 6 and verse 9.
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They Talk to us about the need to be willing to work and to not
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be lazy. Proverbs is chock-full of
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passages like that. So we understand being content
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doesn't mean you just sit down in your seat and say, well, I
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don't ever have to go to work again because I have everything
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that I need and even though my bills aren't getting paid and my
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family's not taken being taken care of.
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I'm just completely content that that's not the kind of
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contentment that I believe God is talking about as we look
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through scripture. So what is it?
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Well first and foremost, I think contentment actually begins in a
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place of discontent. Was that a paradox print?
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Well, stick with me for just a few moments.
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I think contentment the kind of contentment that God wants us to
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have as his children. It actually starts in a place of
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discontent. Now, how is that the case?
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Well, without Christ Without salvation, we reflect on our
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lives. We look within ourselves and we
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realized through the study of scripture that I am a sinner and
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that's not acceptable. That's not acceptable.
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I'm not content with the fact that I'm a sinner.
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Romans chapter 3 and verse 9 declares that all are under sin,
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Romans chapter 3, and verse 23 tells us that all have sinned
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and come short of the glory of God.
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If that's the case. Then there are some changes that
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I need to make in my life. I cannot be content with having
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sinned. Therefore, as I read through
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scripture. I begin to learn and study that
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there is a necessity of Faith. There is a necessity of
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repentance, some major changes that must take place in my life.
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I examine my life and I realize I cannot be content with the
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life of sin that I am living and therefore I need to turn and
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change and begin to do differently.
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I cannot continue to live this life.
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I have to follow in the footsteps of Jesus.
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And with more study, I began to learn.
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And realize that I have to confess that Christ is Lord
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before man. I have to be immersed in water.
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So those sins can be washed away and then I have to continue to
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live a faithful life and service to him.
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That's what I mean by contentment has to begin.
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With a little bit of discontent where I realize there are some
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major changes that must take place in my life before I can
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find contentment. As we begin to read and study
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God's word after becoming a Christian.
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We begin to become nourished with the milk of the word, as
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Hebrews chapter 5 talks about. And at second Peter chapter 3,
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and verse 18 says, we begin to grow in the grace and knowledge,
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knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ or begins beginning
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to grow, so I can't be content with.
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Well, you know, I've been baptized my sins are washed
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away. And now I don't have to do
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anything, the rest of my life. No, we can't be content with
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that. We have to study God's word and
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begin to grow. And as we begin to grow and as
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we begin to make those changes, we begin to find ourselves in a
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place where eventually, we can have a type of contentment.
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Take your Bibles. Go me to James 1, James, chapter
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1, Look at verse 2 3 and 4 with me.
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James chapter, 1 verses 23, and four reads my brethren, count,
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it all joy, when you fall into manifold Temptations, knowing
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this. Now.
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This is why you can rejoice in the difficulty that you face in
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life. He says knowing this that the
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trying of your faith worketh patience.
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Okay, so I go through difficulties and I began to
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slowly learn to have patience in my life.
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Another one of those building block.
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Of Christianity knowing this that the trying of your faith
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worketh patience, but let patience have her perfect work.
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That ye may be. Now watch this, that you may be
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perfect and entire wanting nothing.
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When you get to a place in your life where you have no need of
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anything. Do you know what we call that
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contentment? So you've obeyed the gospel
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you've been immersed in water the blood of Jesus Christ has
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washed your sins away. You're beginning to study God's
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word, to take the milk of the word and is nourishing you and
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you continue to study so that the grace and the knowledge of
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Jesus Christ that we read about in studying his word.
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It begins to fill up our lives. And then we begin to face.
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All these Temptations, hardship, persecution.
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And because of those experiences were going to talk about Paul's
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experiences here in a moment, but because of those experiences
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we learn patience. And as we are learning that we
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are, we allow patients to have her perfect work and what does
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patients produce in our lives. It produces someone who is
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perfect and entire and wanting nothing.
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Someone who is content now, I said this several times in our
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adult class across the way during bible class, but that's
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easier said than done. I would dare say if I asked to
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to show a show of hands of who here wants to feel content in
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their life. We probably all would raise our
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hands. You know why we're all still
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trying to learn how to get there.
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Some of us are more mature Christians than others.
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Some of us are very immature, Christians than others.
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Some of us are just now beginning to experience some of
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the hardships of the Christian life because you're in the early
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stages of following the Lord some of us are of an age that
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they've experienced hardship after hardship after hardship
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and it has increased your patience.
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And you have learned. Or continuing to learn what it
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truly means to be. Content.
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I guess the way that James 1 versus 2 3 and 4 resonate in my
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mind is I think about the two Parables that Jesus told the one
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of the pearl of great price. And the hidden treasure is Jesus
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tells us that the Kingdom of Heaven, it's like this.
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And he says, it's like a pearl that a man finds in the
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marketplace and it's worth more than all he has.
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So he goes and he sells all he has, he's not content with what
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he has, but he gives it all up to go get the thing that will
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make him. Or the hidden treasure.
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It's a treasure in a field. When a man finds it, he goes and
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he sells everything that he has, and he takes that money and he
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buys the field. He's not content with the things
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that he already has already has because he's willing to get rid
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of all of it in order to go and buy the field that has the
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treasure. The thing that will give him
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contentment. Jesus says, that's that's what
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the Kingdom of Heaven is like, we ought to be willing to give
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up everything to follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ.
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And only, then Can we truly have contentment?
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I got all fired up there for a second.
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I kind of scared myself. During our family Retreat.
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We had a number of wonderful devotionals there.
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Some of you weren't able to experience that you didn't get
20:30
the chance to attend. But one of the passages that
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kept coming up was from Matthew chapter 6, in The Sermon, on the
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Mount, when Jesus talks about, what if you skip down to verse
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33, of Matthew chapter 6 were told to seek first, the kingdom
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of God, and his righteousness, and all these things will be
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added onto unto you. If you read back a little bit in
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that chapter and begin to notice some of the things, The Jesus is
20:53
saying that we are not worried about, depending on what version
20:57
version you're reading from. It.
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May, it may say, take no thought to be not anxious or do not
21:02
worry. He's saying that you don't have
21:04
to worry about those basic life necessities and he uses the
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example of the Lilies of the Field.
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He uses the example of The Birds And he says your father in
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Heaven. He takes care of those, aren't
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you more than the birds? Seabirds don't have a soul yet,
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yet. We do.
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And God is our father. Aren't you going to be taken
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care of being content, is a problem with a lot of us today,
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because Sadly, what we're doing is we're often comparing
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ourselves to others. We look around and we see what
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other people have and then we look at our own stuff and we
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think well, I don't have that and look how much fun they're
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having with that. I need that.
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I've got to have that and our mind drifts away from what Jesus
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taught us in Matthew chapter 6. If you go back a chapter in
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Matthew Chapter 5 and look at verse 6, and we see what Jesus
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tells us. We ought to be hungering for.
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It's the opposite of what Satan tells us.
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We ought to be hungering for, you know, as we look around.
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And we see all these different things that that people have
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that. Maybe we do not, we begin to
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think about how great it would be to have those things that
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they have. Satan uses that he allows us to
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feed off of that and he wants us to desire it, more and more, and
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Wants us to be hungrier and hungrier for those things that
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other people have that. We do not whether it be money,
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whether it be Prestige, whether it be power, whether it be
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popularity or the home, or the land, or or the stuff, and Satan
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continues to feed us and feed us.
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As long as we're willing to exchange that, that that
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spiritual thing that we ought to have.
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He says, get rid of the contentment and you can have
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more stuff. But Jesus says in verse 6, of
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Matthew 5 blessed, are they which do hunger and thirst,
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after righteousness. And look at the next phrase?
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If you hunger and thirst after righteousness, what does Jesus
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say, will happen for? They will be filled contentment.
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You'll be full. You'll have what you need.
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When I read that verse, I think of Thanksgiving Day.
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That's what that verse makes me think of.
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I think about meeting up with the family and I've been
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thinking about food a lot here. Okay.
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I'm thinking about those casseroles.
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Just all those delicious casseroles with with Ritz
23:33
crackers. And Butter, and just so crispy
23:36
on top, you know, you switched up a whole pack of Ritz crackers
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and mixed it in the casserole. And then you took Ritz crackers
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and you squished them up on top and then you put the whole Ritz
23:47
crackers. And he just, buttered, it just
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buttered the mess out of it. And there it is.
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It's sitting there on Thanksgiving Day who we're all
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hungry now and you eat those casseroles.
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And how many of us have finished eating on Thanksgiving day and
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we found somewhere in Grandma's house to go sit down.
24:04
Now, and you just whoo? Yo, that that noise right there
24:09
that you know what that means. I'm full and it's time for a
24:13
nap. You know, that noise, Jason or
24:15
maybe, maybe maybe your wife knows that noise better than you
24:18
do. She hears you make the noise,
24:20
woo, you know, being full and satisfied where you can't eat
24:25
another bite, no more food. Jesus says, if you'll hunger and
24:30
thirst for righteousness, not to stuff, not the things not the
24:36
welts on. Amin said, be careful with the
24:38
wealth. But hunger and thirst for
24:41
righteousness, Jesus says, and you will be filled, that's when
24:45
you can find contentment in your life.
24:50
That's why Paul is able to Rejoice.
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We're going to in just a minute. We're going to go to Philippians
24:53
chapter 4 and look at several verses there.
24:55
But but Philippians 4 verse 4 Paul says rejoice.
25:00
And again, I say rejoice now, Paul is, he's writing the book
25:04
of Philippians. He's in prison as he's writing
25:07
it, yet. He's encouraging others to be
25:09
happy. Paul.
25:10
How can you be so excited? How can you, how can you be
25:13
telling other people to be happy with the situation that you are
25:16
in? He was able to be in that
25:18
situation because He knew and understood what Jesus had taught
25:22
in Matthew 5 and verse 6. He knew what Jesus had taught in
25:26
Matthew chapter 6, verses 24 through 33 tonight, get so
25:31
caught up in all the things of this life, but seeking God first
25:36
and he'll take care of you, seek God, first and his
25:39
righteousness, hungering and thirsting after righteousness,
25:43
and he could be filled, he could be content, which was why he was
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able to Rejoice. There was a cartoon that came
25:49
out. A newspaper a number of years
25:50
ago. Perhaps some of you have seen
25:52
it. It was a picture of a big green
25:55
grassy field and right down the middle of the field is offense.
25:58
And on one side of this, big grassy Green Field, there was a
26:03
donkey and he had his his head through the barbed wire, eating
26:07
the green grass on the other side and in this field was
26:11
another donkey and he had his head through the barbed wire
26:14
fence, eating the grass on the other side and they're both kind
26:18
of, you know, pushing each. Hey, get out of my way and they
26:20
got all tangled up in the barbed wire and they were stuck.
26:23
They were stuck eating the grass on the other side.
26:26
When all they had to do was backup, look around.
26:28
There's a whole Greenfield, you know, the this happens often
26:32
with animals. I don't know how many times
26:33
you've tried to feed your dogs and you put a bowl for this dog
26:36
in a bowl for this dog and they keep, ya know, each other get
26:39
away from my boat and they just keep you know musical chairs on
26:41
the bowl of food and this particular picture in the
26:45
newspaper at the very bottom of these two donkeys eaten grass
26:49
through. The fence.
26:50
It had one word discontent. Absolutely, you know, a lot of
26:56
us sometimes our like that is we don't take the time to look at
27:01
the green grass. When I started working on this.
27:04
I I thought I was going to entitle this lesson green grass.
27:08
Wow. I don't know what the title of
27:09
it is contentment or whatever you want to call it.
27:11
But but sometimes we need to take a moment and slow down.
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And look at the blessings. No matter what's going on in our
27:21
lives. No matter what hardship, we're
27:23
facing. And I'm not trying to trivialize
27:26
the difficulties that we all face.
27:30
But look at all the green grass. Here we are.
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I guess most of us. Maybe all of us in this room.
27:36
We were born in America. That's an enormous blessing.
27:41
Can you imagine being born and being yourself and some other
27:45
third world country? But you were born here.
27:50
You live in America. We're worshipping on a beautiful
27:54
Sunday morning in a building. That's keeping us.
27:56
Warm from the elements. We got patted pews
28:00
air-conditioned in the summertime heat in the winter.
28:02
We got electricity. We got running water.
28:04
We got a comfortable restroom. I'm so thankful for our American
28:08
restrooms versus our African and Cambodian restrooms.
28:12
These are nice restrooms. You know, look at the green
28:18
grass. Look at what we have.
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God knew best when he put The principle that we find at the
28:29
end of The Ten Commandments the tenth commandment, we read in
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Exodus chapter 20 and verse 17. They were not to covet.
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And I think God knew that this was one of the most difficult
28:45
things that we as Christians face and I don't think he put it
28:49
at the end because it was less important to be honest.
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I kind of think it's at the end because that one really all in
28:56
compass has Others. Let me make my point when we
28:59
look at the life of David, when we think about King, David for a
29:02
moment and the major mistakes that he made in his life.
29:06
Specifically the mistake that he made with Bathsheba.
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We're all familiar with that story.
29:10
So I'm not going to rehash that entire story.
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But when you begin to look at that story, the Bible tells us
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that David hit Nord the eighth commandment when he stole from
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another man, that wasn't his wife.
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That was another man's wife. He stole her from another man, a
29:27
violation of the eighth commandment.
29:30
He ignored the seventh commandment when he committed
29:33
adultery. He ignored the ninth
29:35
commandment, when he lied about his affair with Bathsheba when
29:39
he tried to cover it up. When he tried to be to be
29:42
sneaky. He became a false witness.
29:45
He ignored the sixth commandment when he arranged the murder of
29:48
your wife, Uriah and had him killed because he wanted to take
29:52
Bathsheba as his own wife, to cover up the fact that that he
29:54
had gotten her pregnant and not Uriah.
29:57
He violated the sixth commandment.
30:00
He ignored the first commandment when God was not the center of
30:05
his life. He himself had made himself God
30:09
in his own eyes. And lastly, he violated the 10th
30:14
commandment because he coveted something that was not his David
30:18
ignored six out of Ten Commandments.
30:21
Why? Because he ignored the 10th
30:24
principle, the tenth commandment.
30:27
He wanted something that was not his and he did what he had.
30:30
The do what he felt he had to do in order to have it.
30:34
He was not content with what he had.
30:40
Now take your Bibles with me. And let's go to Philippians
30:42
chapter 4, Philippians chapter 4 and this will be the remainder
30:46
of the lesson and then we'll be done in let you go.
30:47
Okay? How today can we have
30:53
contentment? So what we're going to think is
30:56
we're going to think we're all faithful Christians.
30:58
Therefore we are in the right predicament to be able to have
31:02
the the contentment that God. So so graciously offers us
31:06
because we are his children. So how can we have it today?
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And I think the answer is found here in Philippians chapter 4.
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I think there's there are several things that we see in
31:15
this chapter and I'm going to try and quickly go through them
31:18
to show us. There are things that Paul.
31:21
I knew that we need to know today if we want to have what he
31:25
had. Now remember Paul here.
31:26
He's in Rome. He's in prison.
31:28
He's chained to a Roman guard. 24 hours a day on six-hour
31:33
shifts. They would, they would swap and
31:35
trade and his freedom is gone. The food that he gets to eat, is
31:42
not his choice. I suspect the clothes that he
31:44
gets to wear for the most part. Perhaps they're not even his
31:47
choice, his sleeping arrangements or no longer his
31:51
Choice and atomic 24 hours a day.
31:53
I don't know if Paul snored. I don't know if the god the
31:55
guards, Nord, but it could probably be a very uncomfortable
31:59
situation, having to sleep nights with chains to another
32:02
person. You know, some of us can't even
32:05
hardly sleep in the bed with our wives, cause she snores know.
32:09
Maybe it's cause we snoring. We keep getting elbowed in the
32:12
back and we can't get a good night's sleep.
32:13
But but Paul was in a place that any of us might have been in and
32:18
we would have been whiners complainers, murmurs.
32:21
You want to say yet? Paul, even in this life of
32:24
prison could say in verse 11. Now, as you're looking there at
32:29
verses 11 and 12. This letter is being written as
32:32
a thank you to fill a pipe because the Church of Philippi
32:34
had sent a gift to Paul. We don't specifically know what
32:36
that gift is, but they had sent to help with Paul's needs,
32:41
whatever they might have been. And so this letter is being
32:43
written as a thank you. Look at verses 11 and 12.
32:46
He says not that I speak in respect of want so he's not
32:49
writing this letter to ask for more.
32:51
Stuff. He says, that's not why I'm
32:53
writing this for I have learned in whatsoever.
32:56
State. I am therewith to be content.
32:59
I know both how to be abased and he, I know how to be put in a
33:05
lowly place. I know how to live as a
33:08
Christian as a Godly person even when I'm without is what he's
33:11
saying, And I know how to abound he's like, I know how to live
33:16
for God, even in a great place where I'm doing great
33:20
everywhere. And in all things, I am
33:22
instructed both to be full and to be hungry both to abound and
33:28
to suffer needlessly verse 13 as well.
33:31
I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
33:35
Now, that's a verse you see on the football field.
33:37
A lot of times written on people's eye black or you see it
33:39
on a poster and a lot of times, I suppose, some people from
33:43
time. Time, maybe perhaps, use that
33:45
out of a contact out of context. They're like, I know I can dunk
33:48
this ball. I prayed to God and I can do all
33:50
things through Jesus Christ who gives me strength.
33:52
So I'm gonna be able to dump this, but let's not have that
33:54
passage is being used. You look at it in its context
33:57
and Paul says, even in difficulty and even in times of
34:01
great, good and financial, and physical, and mental wealth,
34:08
even during those times. I can still live for the Lord.
34:12
I can do all things through Christ, who gives me strength.
34:16
Paul was content because he had been able to give his life over
34:20
to God. His contentment came from the
34:23
fact that he was as verse 4 says, when he says rejoice in
34:27
the lord always. And again, I say rejoice, he
34:29
says rejoice in the Lord. I think there's verse one verse
34:33
to verse 4, verse 5 in verse 9, all make references to being in
34:38
the Lord. In fact, look at verse 9.
34:43
Verse 8. He just talked about all these
34:44
great things that we ought to think of think of and have on
34:47
her mind at all times verse 8, ended with think on these things
34:51
and then in verse 9, he says those things which he had both
34:53
learned and received and heard and seen in me.
34:56
Do and the God of Peace will be with you.
35:02
So I guess if we're going to make any points, I'm this.
35:04
The sermon felt a little scatterbrained as I wrote it,
35:07
but if we're going to make any points, if you want me to answer
35:09
the question, how can we have contentment today?
35:12
And we're looking at, Sirs here in Philippians chapter 4, I
35:14
would say. Number one is by being in the
35:16
presence of God. We can find contentment Paul
35:20
says in the Lord, in the Lord in the Lord.
35:23
And then he says, the peace of God shall be with you.
35:28
I don't know how many times you recall, as a child being fearful
35:31
of something, but then your father takes you in his arms or
35:34
being afraid of something. And your father takes you in his
35:37
arms, or how many of you wrote down the road headed for lunch
35:41
one day as a With your parents in the car and you just sitting
35:44
in the backseat just biting your fingernails wondering.
35:46
I just don't know what we're going to do for lunch.
35:49
No, you never did that because you knew your parents were going
35:51
to take you to lunch. How many of you as a child drove
35:53
down the road, biting your fingernails.
35:55
I hope we got enough gas to make it there.
35:57
No, that was your parent. They were taking care of those
35:59
things. When we're in the presence of
36:02
God, when we have God, we have nothing to fear.
36:08
We can have contentment as a child in the arms of their
36:13
strong powerful loving, father. That's what we can have if we're
36:18
in God's family. So I guess the first one there,
36:21
that we discovered the book of Philippians is the fact that
36:24
Paul was in the presence of God look at verses 6 and 7 that we
36:27
had for our scripture reading just a few moments ago.
36:31
Paul says be careful for nothing.
36:33
Another way to say that is don't be anxious or do not worry but
36:37
in everything by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving,
36:40
let your requests be made known to God and the peace of God.
36:45
Which passes all understanding will keep or will guard your
36:49
hearts and Minds through Christ Jesus.
36:55
What Paul is saying here is is there's no need to worry.
36:58
Despite the difficulties that we face.
37:01
What we ought to do in the face of difficulties in our lab is
37:04
exercise, our privilege of prayer and Thanksgiving to God.
37:11
And in doing that God's peace, which is, which is we can
37:14
understand the people of the world.
37:16
Look at us as Christians and they wonder, how can we have
37:19
this immense amount of Peace in spite of what we're going
37:23
through. It can't be understood, but
37:25
God's peace. It will keep our hearts and
37:28
Minds. What does that mean?
37:30
Albert Barnes and his commentaries and reference to
37:33
the statement. He says that the mind would be
37:35
preserved from distressing anxiety, meaning it will keep
37:39
them from An agitation, so in verse 6, when he says, don't
37:43
worry, whatever it is that you might be tempted to worry about
37:48
the peace of God that you can have in your heart can keep you
37:52
from worrying about those things.
37:55
So, I guess, if we had a point number two, that would be God's
37:59
peace. Have God's presence.
38:01
And we have God's peace, but not only that, as we read in verse
38:04
13. We also have God's power.
38:07
We're given strength by what God has graciously bestowed.
38:10
Toad upon us. Now.
38:13
One thing we learned from Paul in, this is he says, I have
38:16
learned contentment and we don't have time this morning.
38:20
But when you go back to Second Corinthians, 11 verses 24
38:23
through 26. Paul real quickly reminds us of
38:26
his hardships of his stonings. His scourgings, his beatings,
38:31
the shipwrecks, the time he was hungry the time.
38:33
He was a stranger in this place and a stranger in that place and
38:36
befell among these people and fell among those people.
38:40
You know, Paul went through a lot of hardships, hardships,
38:42
perhaps that none of us will ever face.
38:46
And in facing those things. Paul says, in going through
38:50
that, I learned contentment. I have learned in whatsoever
38:55
State. I am therewith to be content.
39:00
But if you'll turn back to chapter 1 of Philippians, 1:12.
39:11
Now again, as I read verse 12, have in mind, all that Paul had
39:14
gone through what he was enduring for the cause of
39:17
Christ. He said I would, I would, you
39:20
understand Brethren that the things which happened unto me?
39:24
The things that happened, second Corinthians chapter 11, those
39:27
things that Paul endured, maybe even more specifically, he's
39:31
writing this from prison. He's a prisoner in Rome.
39:34
Maybe those are the things which happened unto me, he says, but I
39:37
would have, you understand Brethren that the things which
39:39
happened unto me have fallen out.
39:41
Or happened rather unto the furtherance of the Gospel.
39:46
You know, Paul just said, he said everything that I have gone
39:49
through and everything that I have endured was for a reason
39:54
for a good reason for a great Reason Not only as he says in
39:58
Philippians chapter 4, had he learned contentment, but Paul
40:02
also had learned something else. He had learned the value in the
40:06
Providence of God. Maybe we don't talk about
40:10
Providence enough and I don't have enough time to go through
40:12
an entire lesson on Providence this morning, but Providence
40:15
being God, working in our lives in a way that perhaps we cannot
40:19
see her understand until after the fact.
40:22
And even then when we look back and see how a bunch of things
40:25
and scenarios transpired to bring about this particular
40:28
scenario, even then we have to kind of look back as Paul.
40:31
Did. Paul wrote in Philemon in
40:37
discussions with Philemon. Nesmith his slave Paul says
40:41
perhaps onesimus left you for a season.
40:45
I'm paraphrasing. Okay, he perhaps onesimus left
40:47
you for a season so that I could come and talk and contact with
40:50
him teach him the gospel and now Philemon.
40:52
He's your brother in Christ forever.
40:55
He's your brother in Christ forever.
40:57
Even Paul looking back still said, maybe, perhaps this is the
41:01
Y. This is the Y all this happened.
41:03
So here in Philippians chapter 1, verse 12.
41:06
Paul says, everything that has happened to me, even all these
41:08
bad things that have helped, teach me contentment.
41:11
They've also allowed me to to further the gospel.
41:14
So sometimes what we can do as Christians today is we can look
41:17
at the hardships. Look at the difficulties and
41:20
maybe try and have a little bit of an open mind as to what doors
41:24
perhaps is this opening for me. What way providentially is God?
41:30
Working? In my life.
41:32
We can't always put our finger on it and say, I know that this
41:35
is God working providentially in my life, but I can tell you this
41:38
God is Is working providentially in your lives?
41:43
Why can we have contentment today?
41:47
We can have it because of God's Providence.
41:51
If we have the essential things for living our lives here on
41:54
Earth as Jesus talks about Matthew chapter 6.
41:57
Paul tells us here in Philippians 4 that we've got
42:01
enough. We have enough.
42:05
Now. This is not a sermon to
42:06
encourage you to go out, quit your job, sell everything that
42:08
you have and and become a monk and just sit and meditate.
42:12
That's not what I'm trying to encourage you to do.
42:14
What I would like to encourage you to do is heed the warning
42:19
that we have from God's word about being so concerned about
42:22
our jobs and so concerned about our bills and so concerned about
42:27
our paycheck that we forget about hungering and thirsting
42:31
for the righteousness that God gives us in his word, because
42:35
when we do that, We can become discontent.
42:41
Sadly, there are people in this world even in our own
42:44
communities who don't even have the Bare Essentials.
42:48
Most of us here, today. We have the essentials and even
42:52
more. And our problem is not finding a
42:56
coat on a winter day. Our problem is, which code am I
42:59
going to wear? How dare say all of us are stuck
43:04
with, not the problem of, where am I going to find some food
43:07
today? But our problem is, which
43:09
restaurants am I going to select for lunch today?
43:18
We don't worry about if we'll eat but what kind of food we
43:23
need to understand that contentment is not the
43:26
Fulfillment of what you want, but the realization of how much
43:31
you already have. In Hebrews chapter 13, verses 5
43:36
and 6. Hebrews 13:5 and six reads.
43:40
Let your conversation. That's King James version.
43:43
For let your lifestyle, let your life be without covetousness,
43:47
and be content with such things as you have for.
43:50
He hath said, I will never leave thee.
43:52
There's God With Us right there. Our father, holding us in his
43:55
arms were not alone for. He hath said, I will never leave
43:59
thee nor forsake thee so that we may boldly say, the Lord is my
44:03
helper and I will not fear what man shall do.
44:08
To me. No need for worrying about
44:14
those. Those Earthly things when God is
44:16
our father. The writer here is saying that
44:26
contentment is not the same thing as having lots of money
44:28
rather. It is learning that we need
44:31
nothing. More than the promise.
44:33
I will never leave you nor forsake you rather.
44:37
We don't need the money. That is in our banks.
44:39
We can be faithful to God without it.
44:42
We don't need the fancy car or the big house or a lot of land
44:45
and all the little trinkets that we enjoy because without it, we
44:49
still have Jesus Christ. In closing out this morning.
44:55
I want to remind you of something.
44:56
I want to remind you of the thing.
44:57
We talked about earlier in the lesson that there is a such
44:59
there is such a thing as Godly discontent.
45:04
God does not want us to be content with the sin that
45:07
perhaps we have in our lives. We can never be content with
45:10
that. The only way to achieve
45:12
contentment is by being in Jesus Christ.
45:16
If we are children of God and we are Christians, we can't be
45:19
content. with the amount of Bible knowledge, that we feel
45:23
like we already have I think any person in here, who's over the
45:28
age of 80 would tell you, you can always learn more.
45:33
We can't be content with our sin.
45:35
We can't be content with the amount of knowledge that we feel
45:37
like we already have. We can't be content with the
45:40
amount of amount of spiritual work.
45:41
That we feel like we're already doing.
45:43
You know, why? Because there's more work to do
45:45
in this world reaching the lost that any of us could ever do.
45:52
We can't live contently in a community or a society where
45:57
sin? And moral Decay is on the rise
46:02
and do nothing. We cannot be at ease in a world
46:07
of sin where people have not yet had an opportunity to hear the
46:12
gospel. We cannot be content with those
46:16
things this morning. If you're not a child of God, we
46:19
want to encourage you to to come to a place in your life.
46:23
Where true contentment true Joy. True.
46:26
Happiness can be found and that is only in Jesus.
46:29
Christ, Our Lord, if you're not a child of God this morning we
46:32
encourage you to do so. Buying just a moment coming down
46:35
the aisle. If you would like and we'll talk
46:38
with, you will study with you. And if you're willing to repent
46:42
of your sins confess, that Christ is Lord and be immersed
46:45
in water. So, those sins can be washed
46:47
away. Maybe this morning.
46:48
You already are a Christian. You already are a child of God,
46:51
but in your life, maybe you've been struggling with some some
46:55
area. Maybe where you have felt
46:58
discontent. Maybe you need to make some
47:02
changes. Maybe you need to make some
47:03
improvements so that you can have that kind of life where
47:07
Paul says we can rejoice and always Rejoice.
47:10
We can help you in any way. Won't you please come right now
47:12
while we stand insane?