November 1, 2024 • 48 mins
We all want more from life, making contentment seem out of reach. In The ConTENtment Commandments, Pastor Steven shares ten ways to live a more content life.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast.
I wanted to thank you for joining us today.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Hope it gives you perspective to see God is moving
in your life.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Enjoy the message.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
My subject today is contentment. You've heard of the Ten Commandments.
You heard of them, You've broken them. You've heard of
the ten Commandments. This is not the ten Commandments. My
sermon today is called the content mint Commandments. I want
to speak on the subject of contentment and what it
(00:38):
takes to live in a place of contentment. And I
was so mad at Abby's softball, t ball, whatever you
call it, the one where they don't keep score. She
takes all the fun out of it for me. I
was so mad at her game. Yesterday. There was this
eighteen month old and that baby just had me furious
because he was so good and so happy. And it
(01:03):
caused me to contrast how my children behaved at age
eighteen months. And I looked at my oldest son and
then my middle child, and I said, do you see
that baby that is the opposite.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
I asked the.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Mom, I said, is he always like this? And she
said yeah, And I said, I hate you for it.
She said, he's just always content. And I told Elijah
and Graham, I said, you were the opposite of always content,
whatever the opposite was. If you would have been like that,
Holly and I would have had twelve disciples. We would
have just kept populating the earth. One of you is
(01:45):
equal to twelve of those. And the reason I wanted
to choose Philippians for is because there's one verse I
want you to.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
Listen for it.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
It describes Paul toward the end of his journey in
serving Christ. He describes a state of contentment that on
the surface seems natural to him because he's Paul after all.
To somebody say he's Paul after all. But I would
suggest to you that Paul is describing a kind of
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contentment here that is not a disposition you are born with,
but a decision that you make. Because when I think
about Paul, I don't think about somebody who just low
key laid back and waited to see how things turned out.
This is the dude who was not content just to
preach to the Jews. He had to take the Gospel
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to the Gentiles mess everything up, wasn't circumcising them. Had
to confront Peter because Peter was kind of prejudiced, but
didn't want to act prejudice unless he was around his
prejudice friends. He was never content just to maintain the
status quo. And yet the most famous verse about contentment
in the whole Bible came out of his mouth. And
that was interesting to me, almost like he's describing contentment
(03:01):
not as a disposition, but a skill that can be learned.
How many of you would love to learn to be
more content in your life? If your hands up, you're
over thirty five, because still then you just want more stuff,
more stuff, more stuff, more stuff, more stuff, more stuff.
And then you realize you've been drinking ocean water all
your life and it only made you more thirsty. And
(03:24):
the greatest skill in life is not accumulation, but contentment.
And Paul's going to.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
Illustrate that here in the fourth chapter of the Book.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Of Philippians, which is a letter to a church that
he found it. Now, we don't know exactly where Paul
was when he wrote this letter. We know that he
was in prison somewhere. I don't even know if it's
important that we know where he was physically as much
as we study where he was emotionally and spiritually. And
(03:55):
so here's what he says some of the last words
of this letter to a church that he fathered a
decade earlier. He says, I rejoiced greatly in the Lord
that at last you renewed your concern for me. Indeed,
you were concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it.
And I'm not saying this because I'm in need, for
I have learned to be content.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
I wasn't born this way.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
I was born screaming my head off, but I have learned.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
It took me a little while.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
I had to have God say yes to some things
that weren't best for me, so I could learned the
hard way to trust him that what He's given.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
Me is enough. But I have learned by now. I'm
an old man. I bear on my body the marks
of the Lord Jesus, and I have learned to be content.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Whatever the circumstances, slow, Wi Fi, shipwrecks, you name it,
I've been through it, and I have learned to be content.
I know what it is to be in need, and
I know what it is to have plenty. I know
(05:11):
what it is to be in a Hundai. I know
what it is to be in a Mayback. I've learned, though,
that it is not my situation that.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
Regulates my satisfaction.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
So I have learned. Watch there's a phrase again. I
have learned you notice a theme here. I had to
go to school. I have learned the secret of being
content in any and every situation, whether well fed or
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whole thirty, whether living in plenty or in want. I
can do all this through Him who gives me strength.
Yet it was good of you to share in my troubles. Moreover,
as you Philippians know, in the early days of your Queen,
and it's with the Gospel. When I set out for Macedonia,
not one church shared with me in the matter of
giving and receiving except you only for even when I
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was in Thessalonika, you sent me aid more than once
when I was in need. Not that I desire your gifts.
Touch somebody, say I'm good. That needs to be your
opening line. If you are single and dating people, before
you get deep into the conversation, look at them and
say I was good before you got here. So if
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this works out, I'm good. If it doesn't, I'm good.
Look at your neighbor one more time and say I
was already good before they seated me next to you.
I was already good. What I desire is that more
be credited to your account. I receive full payment and
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have more than enough. I am amply supplied now that
I have received from epaphroditis the gifts you sent. They're
fragrant offering and acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God. And my
God will meet all your needs. How did the passage
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that started out talking about Paul's imprisonment in talking about
their needs? We're going to find out today the contentment commandments.
I think the misunderstanding that a lot of people have
about the nature of God in our relationship with him
is that he is a god of restrictions. I've come
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to see him more and more as I study the
written word and the way that his spirit moves, and
just observe general creation, that he is a god of
endless permission.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
Even the rules or.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
Regulations that he gives to his children are designed to
bring us into maximum freedom.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
When the children of Israel.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
Were coming out of Egypt, which was a land of bondage,
or as Exodus twenty calls at the House of Bondage.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
One of the first things that.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
God did after leading them through the Red Sea, drowning
Pharaoh behind them, and getting them out of Egypt, was
to begin the process of getting Egypt out of them,
because that's the hard part. It's the hard part, not
to bring you into freedom, but to teach you how
to live in it. For many of us, true freedom
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doesn't feel familiar, and we would rather stay in something
that enslaves us, that is predictable, rather than embrace something
that is new and good and true and pure. So
we will go back to familiar addictions, We will go
back to familiar mindsets, We will go back to familiar
toxic emotional states because it feels normal to us, and
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we will choose normal over new. When God took up
on Mount Sinai to give him those ten commandments that
we referenced a moment ago, it was in an effort
to teach his.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
People how to live in freedom.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
Look at your neighbors, say God wants you free, I mean.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
Really really free, Tell him really really free. Free from
what people.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
Think about you, free from the need.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
To have more stuff, free.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
From the free from the need to be appreciated by others,
because your dials of validation are internalized, and the Holy
Spirit is your judge and arbitter and vindicator. God wants
you free, be free, be free. So by the time
(09:45):
you get into all the thou shalts and thou shalt nots,
what you're really hearing is a God who wants his
people to be free. And it seems to me that
the Bible is a master course in living in freedom.
Starts with those ten commandments, but then by the time
(10:06):
you get over to Paul, he's teaching true freedom in christ.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
Isn't it interesting.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
That God used somebody who was in chains to teach
his people about freedom. Paul is writing a theological discourse
on freedom from a prison cell.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
Sometimes God will.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
Call you to exemplify or demonstrate something that is directly
contradictory to what you feel, that is directly contradictory to
what your life is manifesting in that season. So when
you come to the Book of Philippians, you might expect.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
A treatise on justice. For Paul has.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
Been the victim of a great injustice, sentenced to trial
before Caesar, treated by the way as a common criminal
when he was indeed a Roman citizen.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
But what you find when you come to the Book
of Philippians is not Paul advocating for.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
His rights as much as he is speaking of his freedom.
And it's kind of interesting because it seems like Paul
in chains is more free than a lot of us.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
We'll make our own decisions and live our own lives.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
What's interesting, though, is by this point in the Book
of Philippians Philippians chapter four, Paul has pretty much said
everything he wants to say to this church he founded
a decade ago. He's expressing several freedoms. You can look
at these sometimes when you're not busy. I know you're busy,
but if you get a chance, go look at chapter one.
(11:49):
He'll tell you about his freedom from fear. This is
one of the greatest freedoms that God desires to grant
to his children, freedom from fear. In fact, for him,
it's gotten so severe by this point he said, I
don't care whether I die or live. Is he suicidal? No,
he's free. He's free. He really believes this stuff. So
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by this point he's like, kill me. I'll see Christ.
There will be a parade when I get to Heaven
of all of the people that I let to Christ
while I was on the earth. So it's kind of
cool because I'd like the party with Jesus. Take me out,
But if you leave me here, I'll keep working so
the party will be bigger when I get there.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
What would it mean to be free?
Speaker 2 (12:35):
He uses a construct called weather or it's like.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
Saying it doesn't matter.
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It's like he's got his priorities so fixed that he
is free from fear.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
Then if you want to look at chapter.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
Two, you'll see how he's free from his flesh. Oh,
I'd love to be free from my flesh. I would
love to be free from my feelings. I would love
to be free from this manadgment system of my moods
that dictates to me how my day is gonna go.
Paul said, I don't have anything to prove at this
stage of my life. I'm not showing off, I'm not
(13:10):
showing out. I'm just showing up and doing the will
of God. And that's all I gotta do. Because I'm free.
Throw your hands back, say I'm free. Can only go
so far, I understand, crowded auditorium. Freedom from fear, freedom
from flesh, freedom from pride to imitate the humility of Christ.
(13:33):
And then something interesting happens. He's done with this letter.
He had to straighten out some people who are fighting.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
In the church. He calls them out by name.
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How would you like to get in the Bible that way?
And then he says, oh, yes. And it's not in
the English translation. The translators didn't think it beneficial to
include it.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
But it's almost a PS. Isn't that weird?
Speaker 2 (14:00):
Because the passage I read you features two of Paul's
most famous verses in all of the Bible. You remember them.
Philippians four thirteen. That's the weight room verse. I can
do all things through Christ, who strengthens me. Every Christian
high school. The squad rack. That's the verse with an
(14:20):
eagle in a bodybuilder. And then there's that one in
nineteen that you were supposed to shout over, but you
were sleepy.
Speaker 3 (14:28):
It said, and my God shall supply all your needs,
financial ones, spiritual ones, invisible ones, tangible ones, all.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
Your needs according to his glory stretches in Christ. And
those two verses, which are two of his top five
most quoted verses, were in the PS section of his
letter to the Philippians almost called this message the power
of a PS.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
Because it really.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Represents watch this a PS is a prospective shift.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
And he says this.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
He says, oh yeah, by the way, thanks for the gift.
Apparently they had sent a paphroditis. If you're looking for
a baby name, might I suggest a paphroditis.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
It means handsome.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
They sent this handsome messenger with a gift for Paul
to help him perhaps with this mounting legal defense. If
he's writing it from Rome, he's got to keep paying
the bills because he's on house arrest and he's waiting
for his trial. And if that's indeed, the situation is
going to be very expensive.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
He already has a lot of travel bills.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
This is a church that he founded, and they send
him a gift, and Paul says, oh yeah, by the way,
now that I straightened you out on freedom from fear,
Now that I straightened you out on freedom from what's
the other one, freedom from fear flesh? And now that
I got your pride out of the way, and now
that Yode and Synike have been.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
Called out in my letter.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
Oh, by the way, now that I told you to
rejoice in the Lord, I Verse ten rejoiced greatly in
the Lord. Are you ready for the first contentment commandment?
Speaker 1 (16:15):
Are you ready? You want to write these down and preach.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
Them back to your spouse, because your spouse is impossibly
miserable sometimes. And the first one is this, thou shalt
remember to rejoice. Thou shalt remember to rejoice. That staff
member who took the offering at Valentine said he was forgetful.
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I don't know if you heard him. He said, I
tend to be forgetful. I forget my keys, I forget
my wallet. That's not the worst thing you can forget, Zach.
The worst thing you can forget is what he's done
for you, and how he's blessed you, and how he's
kept you. Y'all look kind of forgetful today. Sometimes you
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come to church and you remember to brush your teeth,
but you forget to bring your praise.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
You forget to stir.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
Up your spirit. And that's what the worship leaders do.
The team does it. They say, come on, let's lift
our hands. They're reminding you that God is worthy of
your surrender. Real maturity, real contentment, comes when nobody has
to remind you to rejoice. I didn't tell him this
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last night, but y'all are deeper. He just told them,
rejoice in the Lord always and again I say, rejoice.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
Why'd you say it again?
Speaker 2 (17:44):
Because it's crazy how quick you forget. It's interesting how
selective your memory is. But a selective memory can actually
work to your advantage if you remember in order to rejoice.
So when you evaluate any given day or any given
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period of time in your life, when you evaluate a year,
if you come to the end of one year in
the beginning of the next, you will make.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
A movie in your mind of how this year went.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
Some scenes you will delete, some scenes.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
You will enhance.
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God has given you editing software in your spirit to choose, Jeremiah,
what you call to your mind and what you recall
to your mind determines the revelation that you will have,
and the faith that you can walk in, and the
contentment that you will enjoy.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
Where are my rejoicers? You understand the power of this.
Speaker 2 (18:59):
In Hollyod what they call it final cut. It means
you can shoot the scenes, but somebody has to decide
which ones go on the big screen. And I want
to tell you God has given you final.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
Cut over your life.
Speaker 4 (19:12):
When you open your mouth and bless the Lord at
all times. I'm not blessing him in site of the battles.
I'm blessing him because of the battles. That's what gave
me Grooven assurance of his spirit.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
Lock it down, Lock it down.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
Oh yeah, Paul said, thanks for the gift. Almost forgot
thanks for the gift. I want you to watch because
Paul is awesome at theology, but he is terrible at
thank you notes. His mom raised him right in a
lot of ways.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
You know, tribe of.
Speaker 2 (19:50):
Benjamin, Pharisee, of Pharisee, send him off to study with Gamalia,
all that, But the boy he needs some help on
this thank you note. Now, let's just let's just. I mean,
he's a human, right, He's not Jesus Christ. And I
know it's the Bible, but come on, Paul, listen to this.
How would you like to receive this thank you note?
I rejoiced greatly in the Lord that at last.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
You send me a little something. Now, school is school, school,
I mean, I know, it's just he said.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
Indeed you were concerned, but you had no opportunity to
show it.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
See what he did, There was a period of silence.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
Where the people who should have been helping Paul weren't
helping Paul, and he could have interpreted that in one
of two ways. They don't care about me. Nobody cares
about me. Nobody is there for me, and I loan
them money, and now I need some money. You know
these little things you tell yourself, the interpretation, the assumption.
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How do you interpret silence? How do you interpret the times?
Here's the key to contentment. It's the second key. You've
got to refuse to resent. Wow. I don't know whether
Paul was in prison in Cesarea or whether he was
in prison in Rome, but I can tell you what
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prison he refused to live in the prison of resentment.
And there is no prison like the prison of resentment.
There are no windows, only bars when you lock yourself
into your situation. I'm looking at some of you right now,
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and I know enough about you to know that you
could have resented your situation.
Speaker 1 (21:51):
That's the good thing about being the pastor of the
church and not some little guest speaker. I know what
some of you.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
Could interpret your situation to mean. Or Paul said, I
choose to assume that you wanted to help me but
you couldn't. That's a decision, and it is a key
to contentment. If you don't resist and refuse resentment on
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every level, you will be locked inside a prison of
your mind's own design.
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And look, this isn't just people.
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Sometimes in life you're making decisions about how to view
the support you were not given at a young age.
There are two ways to view it. You can live
in resentment or you can live in contentment.
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Those are your choices.
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You can say to yourself, you know, it wasn't right
that I didn't have, and it wasn't cool that I
didn't get and I could be so much further along.
But that is a prison called resentment.
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God wants his children free. You can look at your
brothers like Joseph and say, it doesn't matter why you
threw me in the pit.
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God got me to Egypt anyway, and now I'm here.
Speaker 5 (23:09):
To save your life because I'm free.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
The only one really free was the one who was
in prison. He sent me to proclaim freedom to the captives.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
That's what Jesus said. What does that mean?
Speaker 2 (23:27):
I will not live another day in my life resenting
what they did, what they said, what they didn't do.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
Who I'm not what I can't be is over. I
refuse to live in resentment.
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When Christ died for sent me free, I'm.
Speaker 1 (23:48):
Done with this prison.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
Okay, thou shalt what's the first one? Thou shalt remember
to rejoice, refuse to resent, and you're going to love
this one. Thou shalt appreciate all seasons. A little technical
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nuance when he says you renewed your concern for me,
it doesn't give the image that is behind the language.
The point a Greek is an expression here that says
you cause your concern to bloom or blossom again. Wow.
Speaker 1 (24:31):
So what Paul is doing. He's saying there are seasons
to life.
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And I made it through winter, and I'm grateful that
spring is finally here. Is how important this is to
discern the seasons of your life if you are going
to live in a state of contentment. I had to
learn this early as a pastor, because there are certain
seasons that Jesus could preach and attendance would be down
in church.
Speaker 1 (24:57):
Church attendance is seasonal. First year, I didn't know that.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
The first year I thought the church was falling apart,
but it was really just summer vacation. We love your pastor,
but we're going to Disney World and we will be back.
It'll come back around. This is what Paul learned. But
you have to live through enough seasons, especially some losing
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seasons in sports.
Speaker 1 (25:29):
They call it a rebuilding year. Is code for we.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
Suck right now, but we're trying to do something about it.
And some seasons, let me put it in a profound way,
some seasons just suck. When you know it's just a season.
When you know that, yes, right now, the nights are
long and the days are sure. Right now, I'm lonely
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and I feel barren. But touch somebody say, it's.
Speaker 1 (25:58):
Just a season. It's just a season. It's just a season.
Speaker 2 (26:02):
Now.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
The worst thing you can do is to get stuck
in a season in your mind.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
That God is trying to bring you out of in
your life.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
So Paul says, it was a long winter. Perhaps Paul wondered,
do they care about me? Do they remember what I
did for them? Do they have any loyalty whatsoever?
Speaker 2 (26:23):
But he chooses to see it as a season and
do everything. There is a season, a time to be born,
a time to die, a time to live, a time
to plant, a.
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Time to uproot. A time to destroy.
Speaker 2 (26:38):
There is a time that the ground must be fallow
so that it can be fertile again and sustain.
Speaker 1 (26:45):
What it produces. It's a season thing. It's a season thing.
I know how to have plenty and I know how
to be pruned both our growth.
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And the key is to be as content in one
season as the other. I often wonder does stuff really
make you more content or does it just make you
more insatiable.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
The quieter it gets, the more accurate the teaching.
Speaker 2 (27:31):
It's kind of weird because it's easier sometimes to be
content when you don't have something that you want.
Speaker 1 (27:38):
And you think you're going to.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
Get it one day, because in that season, you can
tell yourself, I'll be content when. But what about when
you got it and the contentment didn't come with the package.
Just thinking with you here, I think the key is
you've got to if you're going to survive the seasons
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of winter while waiting on spring to come and live
in contentment. I think you got to keep Here's number four,
thou shalt keep a secret. Stash Well says, I got
your gift. Finally, Thanks for the gift. It's about time.
(28:23):
No God, it's Okay, it's just I know you didn't
have a chance. I know there was something that was
keeping you from it. I choose to believe the best
about you. Verse eleven.
Speaker 1 (28:34):
And I'm not saying this because I'm in need.
Speaker 2 (28:37):
This thing, you know, just gets worse and worse and worse.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
I got your gift, it took a while. I didn't
really need it.
Speaker 2 (28:48):
I think what he's saying is I had my own
to live off of, and I wasn't waiting for you
to give me something.
Speaker 1 (28:59):
This is the best thing you can do.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
If you go over to somebody's house for the first
time and they're feeding you and you don't know about
their culinary ability, pre eat, pre eat. It's just a
way to make sure that whenever they serve.
Speaker 1 (29:19):
See you ought to come.
Speaker 2 (29:20):
To church full that way, no matter who preaches or
what they say.
Speaker 1 (29:25):
I ain't go far.
Speaker 2 (29:26):
Okay, come on, magnify the Lord with me.
Speaker 1 (29:31):
Let us exalt his name together.
Speaker 2 (29:36):
I got much of sin, and I appreciate it, but
I didn't need it.
Speaker 5 (29:41):
Don't somebody say it's nice but I don't need it.
Speaker 2 (29:52):
It's nice to be appreciated, but I don't need to
be appreciated to serve God. I got my owns off.
I get high on my own supply. Help me somebody
that happen in charge fifty three years. Got a secret stash.
(30:14):
I got some scriptures I can preach to myself. I
got some songs I can sing, Oh by myself. I
got some truth I know in my soul. I can't
do all things.
Speaker 1 (30:33):
Through Christ, who strengthens me. It's not from me, but
it's in me.
Speaker 2 (30:42):
I got a secret stash. Now this is important. Come
in at number five, y'all doing good? You want the rest?
Speaker 1 (30:51):
All right? Number five so important. Critical distinction.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
Thou shalt not Thou shalt not confuse the supply with
the source. What happened to the Israelites was while Moses
was on the mountain as God was teaching his children
to be free, they started dancing around a golden cat
(31:17):
because they got the created things confused with the creator.
And when God provides your needs. Notice that Paul starts
by saying, I rejoiced in the Lord for the gift
that you sent. I did not rejoice in the gift.
I rejoiced in the one who gave it. And he
(31:39):
wants the Philippians to know it wasn't you You just
brought it.
Speaker 1 (31:44):
To the table.
Speaker 2 (31:46):
I've told you before that my family has a blessing.
The lyrics are, thank you Lord for all you've done
for this food and for Christ, your son. Amen, let's
see some food, and thank you mommy. It's the family blessing.
We sing it, we pound the table, the savages that
(32:07):
we are, but when we go out to eat, we
change it, we modify it slightly. It's an alternate version,
thank you Lord for all you've done for this food
and for Christ.
Speaker 1 (32:16):
You're Sunday.
Speaker 2 (32:17):
Amen, let's see some food and thank you Daddy. T
The other day, well, Graham thought it would be cute
to thank the server, and this rationale was, why are
we thinking you? You didn't cook it or even bring
it to the table, Which.
Speaker 1 (32:39):
Gave me an opportunity for a theology lesson.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
I said, James brought it because I bought it. See,
you can't preach like me a cracker barrel.
Speaker 1 (32:53):
I promise you can't. I don't have to have a
pumpit to preach.
Speaker 2 (33:01):
And it's about realizing that, however God blesses you in
any season, whoever he uses it to do it. His
hand was behind it, whether in plenty or in want.
Here's the secret of being content. Sometimes you'll have plenty
in one area and not enough in another.
Speaker 1 (33:22):
I guarantee you, in your life you are living in
dual seasons.
Speaker 2 (33:26):
You might have a lot of money plenty, but not
a lot of time want. You might have a lot
of peace plenty.
Speaker 1 (33:34):
But not very good health. Want.
Speaker 2 (33:37):
You might have good career path trajectory plenty, but a
relationship with your teenager that is completely incomprehensible and you
really see no way out other than homicide.
Speaker 1 (33:50):
And you know that that's a commandment you can't break.
Speaker 2 (33:52):
I'm telling you everybody's living in both. But the key
is to know that it all comes from the same hand.
Speaker 1 (34:03):
That's what Job said.
Speaker 2 (34:04):
Shall we accept good from his hand and not also trouble?
Shall I accept the blessing and reject the burden.
Speaker 1 (34:15):
The supply is not the source.
Speaker 2 (34:19):
Those speakers are not the preacher, right, They're nice speakers,
They're not preaching.
Speaker 1 (34:31):
Really, I'm not the preacher. I'm the straw. I'm not
the drink. I'm the straw.
Speaker 2 (34:45):
Darn any idea how much pressure that takes off of me.
It's so good to know that if God choosees to
bless you through these words today. That's that's God that
did it. All I can do is hope not to
(35:06):
screw it up, so you can slorp it out.
Speaker 1 (35:11):
For the first time I ever touched your neighbors, say,
slorp it out.
Speaker 6 (35:16):
And the last that's the last time. God gave you
a new car. It's great, it's great.
Speaker 2 (35:30):
I know it smells wonderful. But don't get the leather
confused with the Lord. God gave you a relationship, that's right.
Speaker 1 (35:42):
God gave you a wife.
Speaker 2 (35:43):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (35:44):
It's good, but she's not God.
Speaker 2 (35:48):
Every good and perfect gift comes from above.
Speaker 1 (35:54):
Make a confession. God is my source. God is my source.
One more time. God is my source.
Speaker 2 (36:09):
If you believe that, you'll have no problem offering your
life to him because He gave it to you to
begin with. And I know what to do when I'm
not getting what I want. I know how to live
in plenty. I know how to live in more. Paul says,
I'm not thinking you because I'm in.
Speaker 1 (36:30):
Need, but I have needs. I have needs.
Speaker 2 (36:36):
In fact, you hear a little bit of pain in
the apostles voice when he says, when I first started out,
not one church shared with me in the matter of
giving and receiving. How would that feel? How would it
feel to have to make tints on the side because
people were accusing you of being greedy, and so rather
(36:59):
than violate the con of the people, you would.
Speaker 1 (37:01):
Rather stay up late and go without.
Speaker 2 (37:06):
Paul said, there were some people who could have helped me,
should have helped.
Speaker 1 (37:08):
Me, and they didn't.
Speaker 2 (37:10):
But I remember how you did, and even when you
weren't helping me, I chose to remember the times that
you did.
Speaker 1 (37:18):
You don't have to number six.
Speaker 2 (37:19):
Thou shalt not downplay disappointment. Wow, it's okay to be disappointed.
You can be disappointed and content at the same time.
You can be disappointed. I'm telling you. Paul was disappointed
that he was waiting for a trial that he never
should have been put on. But he refused to be
(37:42):
defined by his disappointment. And that is the difference between
one who has hope in Christ.
Speaker 1 (37:48):
And one who does not.
Speaker 2 (37:49):
It is not the experience of disappointment that differentiates us.
It is the definition we assigned to disappointment. Paul knew
that disappointment will lead to death. Sinny if I stay
with it, if I do not allow myself to die
in my place of disappointment, I will see the goodness of.
Speaker 1 (38:10):
The Lord in the land of the living, and.
Speaker 2 (38:13):
My God will supply all of your needs.
Speaker 1 (38:17):
How does he do it? I got four more.
Speaker 2 (38:19):
We're going to hit him quick, and I want to
bring you to action. Somebody shout, I'm content. Say it again,
I'm content. I'm content. I'm content in a small space,
a big space, a lot of stress, little stress, big job,
no job, corner office, no office. I'm content. I want
to get there. How do I get there?
Speaker 1 (38:37):
Here?
Speaker 2 (38:38):
It is the final four commandments. Thou shalt number one, recognize,
thou shalt release, thou shalt receive, and most importantly, after
you've done all to stand, thou shalt, and my God
(39:05):
will supply all your needs according to his glorious riches.
In Christ, Paul said, I have found where my needs
are really met, and I will not be moved. I
(39:27):
know the one who knows my needs, and I will
not be moved because I found the secret of being content.
Speaker 1 (39:36):
In every situation.
Speaker 2 (39:38):
The first thing is to recognize it. Some of us
have a paphroditis standing right in front of us. But
we will not recognize the blessing for what it is.
Speaker 1 (39:49):
It made me think about when Andrew told.
Speaker 2 (39:52):
Jesus, we don't have enough food to feed these five
thousand men, and the irony of the fact that he
could be standing in front of the one that John
called the bread of life and be complaining about a
left of bread, because sometimes we do not recognize the
good things God has given us, because our eyes have
(40:16):
been blinded to what we're not and what.
Speaker 1 (40:19):
It used to be and what it could have been.
Speaker 2 (40:22):
That shall recognize God has sent a paphroditis into your situation?
Speaker 1 (40:30):
Will you recognize him when he comes?
Speaker 2 (40:33):
God has sent provision for every need, and My God
shall supply all your needs if you see the need.
Speaker 1 (40:42):
Beneath the need.
Speaker 2 (40:44):
And this is where you've got to release. This is
where you've got to release the frustration, the anger, and yes,
the worry, because you cannot receive the word of God
when your heart is filled with worry and the cares
of life. And only after you have released those things
(41:07):
to Him can you receive. I'm gonna be honest with you,
some of you are really bad at receiving what God
wants to give you. You're stubborn. You don't want to look
like you need any help. A paphroditis comes to your
door and you send him back to Philippi with his bag.
I don't need anything. I'm good, Paul said. It was
(41:29):
good for you to share in my troubles. It meant
a lot to me.
Speaker 1 (41:34):
Sometimes marriage is crumble because of needs.
Speaker 2 (41:37):
We didn't express that the other person was willing and
able to meet if they had known them. Wow, but
see needs not a very attractive characteristic in our society.
We don't want to be contrite. We don't want to
be seen as needing anything. So we filter our lives
(42:00):
and we filter out our frustration, and we wonder why
we're weak, and we wonder why we're alone, and we
wonder why Philippians four nineteen isn't happening in our life.
It's not a lack of supply, it's a lack of
my willingness to receive it. Naymon would have died of
(42:23):
leprosy if he did not receive the instruction from the
servant girl to his wife to go to the dirty
waters of the Jordan and dip and be cleansed to
receive his healing.
Speaker 1 (42:34):
He had to receive an instruction.
Speaker 2 (42:36):
From somebody who he thought was beneath him.
Speaker 1 (42:40):
Paul said, I got your gift, and I appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (42:44):
And here's the thing. I don't know what's going to
happen to me next. Paul says, I'm here in this prison.
I may get out, I may not, but I want
you to know something.
Speaker 7 (42:58):
I'm already out, whether they let me go from prison,
whether the situation changes, whether I get to come back
to you, whether.
Speaker 1 (43:08):
I get to see you again. Oh, I'd love to
see you.
Speaker 2 (43:11):
I appreciate the gift you gave me is so good,
but I will.
Speaker 1 (43:15):
Not I will not leave this place of confidence in
the provision of God. I will remain in Christ, and
my God will supply.
Speaker 2 (43:34):
All your needs according to his glorious richest. That's how
free I am. I'm so free now that you sent
me a gift for my needs. But I'm telling you
that God is going to use what you did to
meet my needs, and He's going to meet all your
(43:56):
needs because I am free me.
Speaker 8 (44:01):
It's not about me, it's not about what I need.
It's not about this prison cell. It's not about Caesar.
It's all about Jesus.
Speaker 2 (44:12):
Heart freeze, be free, be free. Thou shalt be free.
Speaker 1 (44:26):
Be free? Touch three people say, be.
Speaker 9 (44:29):
Free, be free, be free, be free, be free, be free,
be free, be free.
Speaker 1 (44:42):
You hear me, be free.
Speaker 8 (44:44):
You don't have to live like this. Be free, be
small than enough, be free.
Speaker 1 (44:52):
Come on, you see be free?
Speaker 8 (44:56):
Slackly be free?
Speaker 2 (44:58):
Be free?
Speaker 1 (45:00):
Now shall be free. My greatest need is freedom. My
greatest need.
Speaker 2 (45:21):
Is freedom. Contentment is the key. Freedom is the goal.
Contentment is the key. You won't be financially free when
you get more money.
Speaker 1 (45:36):
You'll be financially free when you really believe I've already
got Come on, my God will supply your needs.
Speaker 2 (45:57):
Stand up if you would, I want to pray for
your contentment. I had to learn it now most of
us are still learning. It took me a long time
of trying to perform and thinking that if I could
prove myself to certain people, I would feel like a
worthy human being. But I found out that kind of
(46:19):
identity can be stolen so quickly by the smallest failure
that I decided it was not worth me chaining myself
to other people's opinions or my status in life or
my income. That's the greatest state not CEO, but free,
(46:45):
to be really free. The only way that can happen
is if you know that he knows what you need
and he's got it. That he knows and he's got it,
that not one sparrow falls from the ground, he doesn't
see it, and when hair falls from your head is.
Speaker 1 (47:04):
Moved, he keeps it on record. He knows what I
need and he's got it.
Speaker 2 (47:10):
Because if you don't believe he's got it, you'll run
to all kinds of other things to try to get
your needs met.
Speaker 1 (47:16):
They were put there by God and they can only
be fulfilled by him.
Speaker 2 (47:20):
The greatest trouble of your life will come when you
try to get a god instilled need met in a
non God sanctioned way. My God will supply all your needs,
not just the Church, ones all your needs according to
(47:41):
his glorious riches in Christ.
Speaker 1 (47:43):
The only way you can receive the.
Speaker 2 (47:44):
Provision is to remain in the place that He promised
it would be, in his presence. It's the fullness of
joy and in his right hand pleasures forevermore.
Speaker 1 (47:58):
But you've got to be willing to let him know
that you know that you need him. So why don't
you lift your hands and tell.
Speaker 2 (48:09):
Him that you need him.
Speaker 1 (48:12):
Ab a father.
Speaker 2 (48:17):
Every hour, Most Gracious Lord, no tender voice like bying
can peace Afore, thank you.
Speaker 1 (48:27):
For joining us.
Speaker 2 (48:28):
Special thanks to those of you who give generously to
this ministry. Is because of you that this ministry is possible.
You can click the link in the description to give now,
or visit Elevation Church dot org slash podcast for more
information and if you enjoyed the podcast.
Speaker 1 (48:44):
You can subscribe. You can share it with your friends.
Speaker 2 (48:47):
You can click the share button, take a screenshot and
share it on your social stories and tag us at
Elevation Church.
Speaker 1 (48:52):
Thanks again for listening. God bless you.
Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast.
I wanted to thank you for joining us today.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Hope it gives you perspective to see God is moving
in your life.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Enjoy the message.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
My subject today is contentment. You've heard of the Ten Commandments.
You heard of them, You've broken them. You've heard of
the ten Commandments. This is not the ten Commandments. My
sermon today is called the content mint Commandments. I want
to speak on the subject of contentment and what it
(00:38):
takes to live in a place of contentment. And I
was so mad at Abby's softball, t ball, whatever you
call it, the one where they don't keep score. She
takes all the fun out of it for me. I
was so mad at her game. Yesterday. There was this
eighteen month old and that baby just had me furious
because he was so good and so happy. And it
(01:03):
caused me to contrast how my children behaved at age
eighteen months. And I looked at my oldest son and
then my middle child, and I said, do you see
that baby that is the opposite.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
I asked the.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Mom, I said, is he always like this? And she
said yeah, And I said, I hate you for it.
She said, he's just always content. And I told Elijah
and Graham, I said, you were the opposite of always content,
whatever the opposite was. If you would have been like that,
Holly and I would have had twelve disciples. We would
have just kept populating the earth. One of you is
(01:45):
equal to twelve of those. And the reason I wanted
to choose Philippians for is because there's one verse I
want you to.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
Listen for it.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
It describes Paul toward the end of his journey in
serving Christ. He describes a state of contentment that on
the surface seems natural to him because he's Paul after all.
To somebody say he's Paul after all. But I would
suggest to you that Paul is describing a kind of
(02:17):
contentment here that is not a disposition you are born with,
but a decision that you make. Because when I think
about Paul, I don't think about somebody who just low
key laid back and waited to see how things turned out.
This is the dude who was not content just to
preach to the Jews. He had to take the Gospel
(02:37):
to the Gentiles mess everything up, wasn't circumcising them. Had
to confront Peter because Peter was kind of prejudiced, but
didn't want to act prejudice unless he was around his
prejudice friends. He was never content just to maintain the
status quo. And yet the most famous verse about contentment
in the whole Bible came out of his mouth. And
that was interesting to me, almost like he's describing contentment
(03:01):
not as a disposition, but a skill that can be learned.
How many of you would love to learn to be
more content in your life? If your hands up, you're
over thirty five, because still then you just want more stuff,
more stuff, more stuff, more stuff, more stuff, more stuff.
And then you realize you've been drinking ocean water all
your life and it only made you more thirsty. And
(03:24):
the greatest skill in life is not accumulation, but contentment.
And Paul's going to.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
Illustrate that here in the fourth chapter of the Book.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Of Philippians, which is a letter to a church that
he found it. Now, we don't know exactly where Paul
was when he wrote this letter. We know that he
was in prison somewhere. I don't even know if it's
important that we know where he was physically as much
as we study where he was emotionally and spiritually. And
(03:55):
so here's what he says some of the last words
of this letter to a church that he fathered a
decade earlier. He says, I rejoiced greatly in the Lord
that at last you renewed your concern for me. Indeed,
you were concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it.
And I'm not saying this because I'm in need, for
I have learned to be content.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
I wasn't born this way.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
I was born screaming my head off, but I have learned.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
It took me a little while.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
I had to have God say yes to some things
that weren't best for me, so I could learned the
hard way to trust him that what He's given.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
Me is enough. But I have learned by now. I'm
an old man. I bear on my body the marks
of the Lord Jesus, and I have learned to be content.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Whatever the circumstances, slow, Wi Fi, shipwrecks, you name it,
I've been through it, and I have learned to be content.
I know what it is to be in need, and
I know what it is to have plenty. I know
(05:11):
what it is to be in a Hundai. I know
what it is to be in a Mayback. I've learned, though,
that it is not my situation that.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
Regulates my satisfaction.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
So I have learned. Watch there's a phrase again. I
have learned you notice a theme here. I had to
go to school. I have learned the secret of being
content in any and every situation, whether well fed or
(05:45):
whole thirty, whether living in plenty or in want. I
can do all this through Him who gives me strength.
Yet it was good of you to share in my troubles. Moreover,
as you Philippians know, in the early days of your Queen,
and it's with the Gospel. When I set out for Macedonia,
not one church shared with me in the matter of
giving and receiving except you only for even when I
(06:08):
was in Thessalonika, you sent me aid more than once
when I was in need. Not that I desire your gifts.
Touch somebody, say I'm good. That needs to be your
opening line. If you are single and dating people, before
you get deep into the conversation, look at them and
say I was good before you got here. So if
(06:31):
this works out, I'm good. If it doesn't, I'm good.
Look at your neighbor one more time and say I
was already good before they seated me next to you.
I was already good. What I desire is that more
be credited to your account. I receive full payment and
(06:52):
have more than enough. I am amply supplied now that
I have received from epaphroditis the gifts you sent. They're
fragrant offering and acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God. And my
God will meet all your needs. How did the passage
(07:14):
that started out talking about Paul's imprisonment in talking about
their needs? We're going to find out today the contentment commandments.
I think the misunderstanding that a lot of people have
about the nature of God in our relationship with him
is that he is a god of restrictions. I've come
(07:38):
to see him more and more as I study the
written word and the way that his spirit moves, and
just observe general creation, that he is a god of
endless permission.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
Even the rules or.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
Regulations that he gives to his children are designed to
bring us into maximum freedom.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
When the children of Israel.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
Were coming out of Egypt, which was a land of bondage,
or as Exodus twenty calls at the House of Bondage.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
One of the first things that.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
God did after leading them through the Red Sea, drowning
Pharaoh behind them, and getting them out of Egypt, was
to begin the process of getting Egypt out of them,
because that's the hard part. It's the hard part, not
to bring you into freedom, but to teach you how
to live in it. For many of us, true freedom
(08:29):
doesn't feel familiar, and we would rather stay in something
that enslaves us, that is predictable, rather than embrace something
that is new and good and true and pure. So
we will go back to familiar addictions, We will go
back to familiar mindsets, We will go back to familiar
toxic emotional states because it feels normal to us, and
(08:56):
we will choose normal over new. When God took up
on Mount Sinai to give him those ten commandments that
we referenced a moment ago, it was in an effort
to teach his.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
People how to live in freedom.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
Look at your neighbors, say God wants you free, I mean.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
Really really free, Tell him really really free. Free from
what people.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
Think about you, free from the need.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
To have more stuff, free.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
From the free from the need to be appreciated by others,
because your dials of validation are internalized, and the Holy
Spirit is your judge and arbitter and vindicator. God wants
you free, be free, be free. So by the time
(09:45):
you get into all the thou shalts and thou shalt nots,
what you're really hearing is a God who wants his
people to be free. And it seems to me that
the Bible is a master course in living in freedom.
Starts with those ten commandments, but then by the time
(10:06):
you get over to Paul, he's teaching true freedom in christ.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
Isn't it interesting.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
That God used somebody who was in chains to teach
his people about freedom. Paul is writing a theological discourse
on freedom from a prison cell.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
Sometimes God will.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
Call you to exemplify or demonstrate something that is directly
contradictory to what you feel, that is directly contradictory to
what your life is manifesting in that season. So when
you come to the Book of Philippians, you might expect.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
A treatise on justice. For Paul has.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
Been the victim of a great injustice, sentenced to trial
before Caesar, treated by the way as a common criminal
when he was indeed a Roman citizen.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
But what you find when you come to the Book
of Philippians is not Paul advocating for.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
His rights as much as he is speaking of his freedom.
And it's kind of interesting because it seems like Paul
in chains is more free than a lot of us.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
We'll make our own decisions and live our own lives.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
What's interesting, though, is by this point in the Book
of Philippians Philippians chapter four, Paul has pretty much said
everything he wants to say to this church he founded
a decade ago. He's expressing several freedoms. You can look
at these sometimes when you're not busy. I know you're busy,
but if you get a chance, go look at chapter one.
(11:49):
He'll tell you about his freedom from fear. This is
one of the greatest freedoms that God desires to grant
to his children, freedom from fear. In fact, for him,
it's gotten so severe by this point he said, I
don't care whether I die or live. Is he suicidal? No,
he's free. He's free. He really believes this stuff. So
(12:10):
by this point he's like, kill me. I'll see Christ.
There will be a parade when I get to Heaven
of all of the people that I let to Christ
while I was on the earth. So it's kind of
cool because I'd like the party with Jesus. Take me out,
But if you leave me here, I'll keep working so
the party will be bigger when I get there.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
What would it mean to be free?
Speaker 2 (12:35):
He uses a construct called weather or it's like.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
Saying it doesn't matter.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
It's like he's got his priorities so fixed that he
is free from fear.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
Then if you want to look at chapter.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
Two, you'll see how he's free from his flesh. Oh,
I'd love to be free from my flesh. I would
love to be free from my feelings. I would love
to be free from this manadgment system of my moods
that dictates to me how my day is gonna go.
Paul said, I don't have anything to prove at this
stage of my life. I'm not showing off, I'm not
(13:10):
showing out. I'm just showing up and doing the will
of God. And that's all I gotta do. Because I'm free.
Throw your hands back, say I'm free. Can only go
so far, I understand, crowded auditorium. Freedom from fear, freedom
from flesh, freedom from pride to imitate the humility of Christ.
(13:33):
And then something interesting happens. He's done with this letter.
He had to straighten out some people who are fighting.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
In the church. He calls them out by name.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
How would you like to get in the Bible that way?
And then he says, oh, yes. And it's not in
the English translation. The translators didn't think it beneficial to
include it.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
But it's almost a PS. Isn't that weird?
Speaker 2 (14:00):
Because the passage I read you features two of Paul's
most famous verses in all of the Bible. You remember them.
Philippians four thirteen. That's the weight room verse. I can
do all things through Christ, who strengthens me. Every Christian
high school. The squad rack. That's the verse with an
(14:20):
eagle in a bodybuilder. And then there's that one in
nineteen that you were supposed to shout over, but you
were sleepy.
Speaker 3 (14:28):
It said, and my God shall supply all your needs,
financial ones, spiritual ones, invisible ones, tangible ones, all.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
Your needs according to his glory stretches in Christ. And
those two verses, which are two of his top five
most quoted verses, were in the PS section of his
letter to the Philippians almost called this message the power
of a PS.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
Because it really.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Represents watch this a PS is a prospective shift.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
And he says this.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
He says, oh yeah, by the way, thanks for the gift.
Apparently they had sent a paphroditis. If you're looking for
a baby name, might I suggest a paphroditis.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
It means handsome.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
They sent this handsome messenger with a gift for Paul
to help him perhaps with this mounting legal defense. If
he's writing it from Rome, he's got to keep paying
the bills because he's on house arrest and he's waiting
for his trial. And if that's indeed, the situation is
going to be very expensive.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
He already has a lot of travel bills.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
This is a church that he founded, and they send
him a gift, and Paul says, oh yeah, by the way,
now that I straightened you out on freedom from fear,
Now that I straightened you out on freedom from what's
the other one, freedom from fear flesh? And now that
I got your pride out of the way, and now
that Yode and Synike have been.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
Called out in my letter.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
Oh, by the way, now that I told you to
rejoice in the Lord, I Verse ten rejoiced greatly in
the Lord. Are you ready for the first contentment commandment?
Speaker 1 (16:15):
Are you ready? You want to write these down and preach.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
Them back to your spouse, because your spouse is impossibly
miserable sometimes. And the first one is this, thou shalt
remember to rejoice. Thou shalt remember to rejoice. That staff
member who took the offering at Valentine said he was forgetful.
(16:40):
I don't know if you heard him. He said, I
tend to be forgetful. I forget my keys, I forget
my wallet. That's not the worst thing you can forget, Zach.
The worst thing you can forget is what he's done
for you, and how he's blessed you, and how he's
kept you. Y'all look kind of forgetful today. Sometimes you
(17:01):
come to church and you remember to brush your teeth,
but you forget to bring your praise.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
You forget to stir.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
Up your spirit. And that's what the worship leaders do.
The team does it. They say, come on, let's lift
our hands. They're reminding you that God is worthy of
your surrender. Real maturity, real contentment, comes when nobody has
to remind you to rejoice. I didn't tell him this
(17:31):
last night, but y'all are deeper. He just told them,
rejoice in the Lord always and again I say, rejoice.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
Why'd you say it again?
Speaker 2 (17:44):
Because it's crazy how quick you forget. It's interesting how
selective your memory is. But a selective memory can actually
work to your advantage if you remember in order to rejoice.
So when you evaluate any given day or any given
(18:08):
period of time in your life, when you evaluate a year,
if you come to the end of one year in
the beginning of the next, you will make.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
A movie in your mind of how this year went.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
Some scenes you will delete, some scenes.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
You will enhance.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
God has given you editing software in your spirit to choose, Jeremiah,
what you call to your mind and what you recall
to your mind determines the revelation that you will have,
and the faith that you can walk in, and the
contentment that you will enjoy.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
Where are my rejoicers? You understand the power of this.
Speaker 2 (18:59):
In Hollyod what they call it final cut. It means
you can shoot the scenes, but somebody has to decide
which ones go on the big screen. And I want
to tell you God has given you final.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
Cut over your life.
Speaker 4 (19:12):
When you open your mouth and bless the Lord at
all times. I'm not blessing him in site of the battles.
I'm blessing him because of the battles. That's what gave
me Grooven assurance of his spirit.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
Lock it down, Lock it down.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
Oh yeah, Paul said, thanks for the gift. Almost forgot
thanks for the gift. I want you to watch because
Paul is awesome at theology, but he is terrible at
thank you notes. His mom raised him right in a
lot of ways.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
You know, tribe of.
Speaker 2 (19:50):
Benjamin, Pharisee, of Pharisee, send him off to study with Gamalia,
all that, But the boy he needs some help on
this thank you note. Now, let's just let's just. I mean,
he's a human, right, He's not Jesus Christ. And I
know it's the Bible, but come on, Paul, listen to this.
How would you like to receive this thank you note?
I rejoiced greatly in the Lord that at last.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
You send me a little something. Now, school is school, school,
I mean, I know, it's just he said.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
Indeed you were concerned, but you had no opportunity to
show it.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
See what he did, There was a period of silence.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
Where the people who should have been helping Paul weren't
helping Paul, and he could have interpreted that in one
of two ways. They don't care about me. Nobody cares
about me. Nobody is there for me, and I loan
them money, and now I need some money. You know
these little things you tell yourself, the interpretation, the assumption.
(21:00):
How do you interpret silence? How do you interpret the times?
Here's the key to contentment. It's the second key. You've
got to refuse to resent. Wow. I don't know whether
Paul was in prison in Cesarea or whether he was
in prison in Rome, but I can tell you what
(21:23):
prison he refused to live in the prison of resentment.
And there is no prison like the prison of resentment.
There are no windows, only bars when you lock yourself
into your situation. I'm looking at some of you right now,
(21:45):
and I know enough about you to know that you
could have resented your situation.
Speaker 1 (21:51):
That's the good thing about being the pastor of the
church and not some little guest speaker. I know what
some of you.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
Could interpret your situation to mean. Or Paul said, I
choose to assume that you wanted to help me but
you couldn't. That's a decision, and it is a key
to contentment. If you don't resist and refuse resentment on
(22:25):
every level, you will be locked inside a prison of
your mind's own design.
Speaker 1 (22:32):
And look, this isn't just people.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
Sometimes in life you're making decisions about how to view
the support you were not given at a young age.
There are two ways to view it. You can live
in resentment or you can live in contentment.
Speaker 1 (22:45):
Those are your choices.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
You can say to yourself, you know, it wasn't right
that I didn't have, and it wasn't cool that I
didn't get and I could be so much further along.
But that is a prison called resentment.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
God wants his children free. You can look at your
brothers like Joseph and say, it doesn't matter why you
threw me in the pit.
Speaker 2 (23:06):
God got me to Egypt anyway, and now I'm here.
Speaker 5 (23:09):
To save your life because I'm free.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
The only one really free was the one who was
in prison. He sent me to proclaim freedom to the captives.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
That's what Jesus said. What does that mean?
Speaker 2 (23:27):
I will not live another day in my life resenting
what they did, what they said, what they didn't do.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
Who I'm not what I can't be is over. I
refuse to live in resentment.
Speaker 2 (23:41):
When Christ died for sent me free, I'm.
Speaker 1 (23:48):
Done with this prison.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
Okay, thou shalt what's the first one? Thou shalt remember
to rejoice, refuse to resent, and you're going to love
this one. Thou shalt appreciate all seasons. A little technical
(24:13):
nuance when he says you renewed your concern for me,
it doesn't give the image that is behind the language.
The point a Greek is an expression here that says
you cause your concern to bloom or blossom again. Wow.
Speaker 1 (24:31):
So what Paul is doing. He's saying there are seasons
to life.
Speaker 2 (24:36):
And I made it through winter, and I'm grateful that
spring is finally here. Is how important this is to
discern the seasons of your life if you are going
to live in a state of contentment. I had to
learn this early as a pastor, because there are certain
seasons that Jesus could preach and attendance would be down
in church.
Speaker 1 (24:57):
Church attendance is seasonal. First year, I didn't know that.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
The first year I thought the church was falling apart,
but it was really just summer vacation. We love your pastor,
but we're going to Disney World and we will be back.
It'll come back around. This is what Paul learned. But
you have to live through enough seasons, especially some losing
(25:26):
seasons in sports.
Speaker 1 (25:29):
They call it a rebuilding year. Is code for we.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
Suck right now, but we're trying to do something about it.
And some seasons, let me put it in a profound way,
some seasons just suck. When you know it's just a season.
When you know that, yes, right now, the nights are
long and the days are sure. Right now, I'm lonely
(25:56):
and I feel barren. But touch somebody say, it's.
Speaker 1 (25:58):
Just a season. It's just a season. It's just a season.
Speaker 2 (26:02):
Now.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
The worst thing you can do is to get stuck
in a season in your mind.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
That God is trying to bring you out of in
your life.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
So Paul says, it was a long winter. Perhaps Paul wondered,
do they care about me? Do they remember what I
did for them? Do they have any loyalty whatsoever?
Speaker 2 (26:23):
But he chooses to see it as a season and
do everything. There is a season, a time to be born,
a time to die, a time to live, a time
to plant, a.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
Time to uproot. A time to destroy.
Speaker 2 (26:38):
There is a time that the ground must be fallow
so that it can be fertile again and sustain.
Speaker 1 (26:45):
What it produces. It's a season thing. It's a season thing.
I know how to have plenty and I know how
to be pruned both our growth.
Speaker 2 (27:06):
And the key is to be as content in one
season as the other. I often wonder does stuff really
make you more content or does it just make you
more insatiable.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
The quieter it gets, the more accurate the teaching.
Speaker 2 (27:31):
It's kind of weird because it's easier sometimes to be
content when you don't have something that you want.
Speaker 1 (27:38):
And you think you're going to.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
Get it one day, because in that season, you can
tell yourself, I'll be content when. But what about when
you got it and the contentment didn't come with the package.
Just thinking with you here, I think the key is
you've got to if you're going to survive the seasons
(28:02):
of winter while waiting on spring to come and live
in contentment. I think you got to keep Here's number four,
thou shalt keep a secret. Stash Well says, I got
your gift. Finally, Thanks for the gift. It's about time.
(28:23):
No God, it's Okay, it's just I know you didn't
have a chance. I know there was something that was
keeping you from it. I choose to believe the best
about you. Verse eleven.
Speaker 1 (28:34):
And I'm not saying this because I'm in need.
Speaker 2 (28:37):
This thing, you know, just gets worse and worse and worse.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
I got your gift, it took a while. I didn't
really need it.
Speaker 2 (28:48):
I think what he's saying is I had my own
to live off of, and I wasn't waiting for you
to give me something.
Speaker 1 (28:59):
This is the best thing you can do.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
If you go over to somebody's house for the first
time and they're feeding you and you don't know about
their culinary ability, pre eat, pre eat. It's just a
way to make sure that whenever they serve.
Speaker 1 (29:19):
See you ought to come.
Speaker 2 (29:20):
To church full that way, no matter who preaches or
what they say.
Speaker 1 (29:25):
I ain't go far.
Speaker 2 (29:26):
Okay, come on, magnify the Lord with me.
Speaker 1 (29:31):
Let us exalt his name together.
Speaker 2 (29:36):
I got much of sin, and I appreciate it, but
I didn't need it.
Speaker 5 (29:41):
Don't somebody say it's nice but I don't need it.
Speaker 2 (29:52):
It's nice to be appreciated, but I don't need to
be appreciated to serve God. I got my owns off.
I get high on my own supply. Help me somebody
that happen in charge fifty three years. Got a secret stash.
(30:14):
I got some scriptures I can preach to myself. I
got some songs I can sing, Oh by myself. I
got some truth I know in my soul. I can't
do all things.
Speaker 1 (30:33):
Through Christ, who strengthens me. It's not from me, but
it's in me.
Speaker 2 (30:42):
I got a secret stash. Now this is important. Come
in at number five, y'all doing good? You want the rest?
Speaker 1 (30:51):
All right? Number five so important. Critical distinction.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
Thou shalt not Thou shalt not confuse the supply with
the source. What happened to the Israelites was while Moses
was on the mountain as God was teaching his children
to be free, they started dancing around a golden cat
(31:17):
because they got the created things confused with the creator.
And when God provides your needs. Notice that Paul starts
by saying, I rejoiced in the Lord for the gift
that you sent. I did not rejoice in the gift.
I rejoiced in the one who gave it. And he
(31:39):
wants the Philippians to know it wasn't you You just
brought it.
Speaker 1 (31:44):
To the table.
Speaker 2 (31:46):
I've told you before that my family has a blessing.
The lyrics are, thank you Lord for all you've done
for this food and for Christ, your son. Amen, let's
see some food, and thank you mommy. It's the family blessing.
We sing it, we pound the table, the savages that
(32:07):
we are, but when we go out to eat, we
change it, we modify it slightly. It's an alternate version,
thank you Lord for all you've done for this food
and for Christ.
Speaker 1 (32:16):
You're Sunday.
Speaker 2 (32:17):
Amen, let's see some food and thank you Daddy. T
The other day, well, Graham thought it would be cute
to thank the server, and this rationale was, why are
we thinking you? You didn't cook it or even bring
it to the table, Which.
Speaker 1 (32:39):
Gave me an opportunity for a theology lesson.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
I said, James brought it because I bought it. See,
you can't preach like me a cracker barrel.
Speaker 1 (32:53):
I promise you can't. I don't have to have a
pumpit to preach.
Speaker 2 (33:01):
And it's about realizing that, however God blesses you in
any season, whoever he uses it to do it. His
hand was behind it, whether in plenty or in want.
Here's the secret of being content. Sometimes you'll have plenty
in one area and not enough in another.
Speaker 1 (33:22):
I guarantee you, in your life you are living in
dual seasons.
Speaker 2 (33:26):
You might have a lot of money plenty, but not
a lot of time want. You might have a lot
of peace plenty.
Speaker 1 (33:34):
But not very good health. Want.
Speaker 2 (33:37):
You might have good career path trajectory plenty, but a
relationship with your teenager that is completely incomprehensible and you
really see no way out other than homicide.
Speaker 1 (33:50):
And you know that that's a commandment you can't break.
Speaker 2 (33:52):
I'm telling you everybody's living in both. But the key
is to know that it all comes from the same hand.
Speaker 1 (34:03):
That's what Job said.
Speaker 2 (34:04):
Shall we accept good from his hand and not also trouble?
Shall I accept the blessing and reject the burden.
Speaker 1 (34:15):
The supply is not the source.
Speaker 2 (34:19):
Those speakers are not the preacher, right, They're nice speakers,
They're not preaching.
Speaker 1 (34:31):
Really, I'm not the preacher. I'm the straw. I'm not
the drink. I'm the straw.
Speaker 2 (34:45):
Darn any idea how much pressure that takes off of me.
It's so good to know that if God choosees to
bless you through these words today. That's that's God that
did it. All I can do is hope not to
(35:06):
screw it up, so you can slorp it out.
Speaker 1 (35:11):
For the first time I ever touched your neighbors, say,
slorp it out.
Speaker 6 (35:16):
And the last that's the last time. God gave you
a new car. It's great, it's great.
Speaker 2 (35:30):
I know it smells wonderful. But don't get the leather
confused with the Lord. God gave you a relationship, that's right.
Speaker 1 (35:42):
God gave you a wife.
Speaker 2 (35:43):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (35:44):
It's good, but she's not God.
Speaker 2 (35:48):
Every good and perfect gift comes from above.
Speaker 1 (35:54):
Make a confession. God is my source. God is my source.
One more time. God is my source.
Speaker 2 (36:09):
If you believe that, you'll have no problem offering your
life to him because He gave it to you to
begin with. And I know what to do when I'm
not getting what I want. I know how to live
in plenty. I know how to live in more. Paul says,
I'm not thinking you because I'm in.
Speaker 1 (36:30):
Need, but I have needs. I have needs.
Speaker 2 (36:36):
In fact, you hear a little bit of pain in
the apostles voice when he says, when I first started out,
not one church shared with me in the matter of
giving and receiving. How would that feel? How would it
feel to have to make tints on the side because
people were accusing you of being greedy, and so rather
(36:59):
than violate the con of the people, you would.
Speaker 1 (37:01):
Rather stay up late and go without.
Speaker 2 (37:06):
Paul said, there were some people who could have helped me,
should have helped.
Speaker 1 (37:08):
Me, and they didn't.
Speaker 2 (37:10):
But I remember how you did, and even when you
weren't helping me, I chose to remember the times that
you did.
Speaker 1 (37:18):
You don't have to number six.
Speaker 2 (37:19):
Thou shalt not downplay disappointment. Wow, it's okay to be disappointed.
You can be disappointed and content at the same time.
You can be disappointed. I'm telling you. Paul was disappointed
that he was waiting for a trial that he never
should have been put on. But he refused to be
(37:42):
defined by his disappointment. And that is the difference between
one who has hope in Christ.
Speaker 1 (37:48):
And one who does not.
Speaker 2 (37:49):
It is not the experience of disappointment that differentiates us.
It is the definition we assigned to disappointment. Paul knew
that disappointment will lead to death. Sinny if I stay
with it, if I do not allow myself to die
in my place of disappointment, I will see the goodness of.
Speaker 1 (38:10):
The Lord in the land of the living, and.
Speaker 2 (38:13):
My God will supply all of your needs.
Speaker 1 (38:17):
How does he do it? I got four more.
Speaker 2 (38:19):
We're going to hit him quick, and I want to
bring you to action. Somebody shout, I'm content. Say it again,
I'm content. I'm content. I'm content in a small space,
a big space, a lot of stress, little stress, big job,
no job, corner office, no office. I'm content. I want
to get there. How do I get there?
Speaker 1 (38:37):
Here?
Speaker 2 (38:38):
It is the final four commandments. Thou shalt number one, recognize,
thou shalt release, thou shalt receive, and most importantly, after
you've done all to stand, thou shalt, and my God
(39:05):
will supply all your needs according to his glorious riches.
In Christ, Paul said, I have found where my needs
are really met, and I will not be moved. I
(39:27):
know the one who knows my needs, and I will
not be moved because I found the secret of being content.
Speaker 1 (39:36):
In every situation.
Speaker 2 (39:38):
The first thing is to recognize it. Some of us
have a paphroditis standing right in front of us. But
we will not recognize the blessing for what it is.
Speaker 1 (39:49):
It made me think about when Andrew told.
Speaker 2 (39:52):
Jesus, we don't have enough food to feed these five
thousand men, and the irony of the fact that he
could be standing in front of the one that John
called the bread of life and be complaining about a
left of bread, because sometimes we do not recognize the
good things God has given us, because our eyes have
(40:16):
been blinded to what we're not and what.
Speaker 1 (40:19):
It used to be and what it could have been.
Speaker 2 (40:22):
That shall recognize God has sent a paphroditis into your situation?
Speaker 1 (40:30):
Will you recognize him when he comes?
Speaker 2 (40:33):
God has sent provision for every need, and My God
shall supply all your needs if you see the need.
Speaker 1 (40:42):
Beneath the need.
Speaker 2 (40:44):
And this is where you've got to release. This is
where you've got to release the frustration, the anger, and yes,
the worry, because you cannot receive the word of God
when your heart is filled with worry and the cares
of life. And only after you have released those things
(41:07):
to Him can you receive. I'm gonna be honest with you,
some of you are really bad at receiving what God
wants to give you. You're stubborn. You don't want to look
like you need any help. A paphroditis comes to your
door and you send him back to Philippi with his bag.
I don't need anything. I'm good, Paul said. It was
(41:29):
good for you to share in my troubles. It meant
a lot to me.
Speaker 1 (41:34):
Sometimes marriage is crumble because of needs.
Speaker 2 (41:37):
We didn't express that the other person was willing and
able to meet if they had known them. Wow, but
see needs not a very attractive characteristic in our society.
We don't want to be contrite. We don't want to
be seen as needing anything. So we filter our lives
(42:00):
and we filter out our frustration, and we wonder why
we're weak, and we wonder why we're alone, and we
wonder why Philippians four nineteen isn't happening in our life.
It's not a lack of supply, it's a lack of
my willingness to receive it. Naymon would have died of
(42:23):
leprosy if he did not receive the instruction from the
servant girl to his wife to go to the dirty
waters of the Jordan and dip and be cleansed to
receive his healing.
Speaker 1 (42:34):
He had to receive an instruction.
Speaker 2 (42:36):
From somebody who he thought was beneath him.
Speaker 1 (42:40):
Paul said, I got your gift, and I appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (42:44):
And here's the thing. I don't know what's going to
happen to me next. Paul says, I'm here in this prison.
I may get out, I may not, but I want
you to know something.
Speaker 7 (42:58):
I'm already out, whether they let me go from prison,
whether the situation changes, whether I get to come back
to you, whether.
Speaker 1 (43:08):
I get to see you again. Oh, I'd love to
see you.
Speaker 2 (43:11):
I appreciate the gift you gave me is so good,
but I will.
Speaker 1 (43:15):
Not I will not leave this place of confidence in
the provision of God. I will remain in Christ, and
my God will supply.
Speaker 2 (43:34):
All your needs according to his glorious richest. That's how
free I am. I'm so free now that you sent
me a gift for my needs. But I'm telling you
that God is going to use what you did to
meet my needs, and He's going to meet all your
(43:56):
needs because I am free me.
Speaker 8 (44:01):
It's not about me, it's not about what I need.
It's not about this prison cell. It's not about Caesar.
It's all about Jesus.
Speaker 2 (44:12):
Heart freeze, be free, be free. Thou shalt be free.
Speaker 1 (44:26):
Be free? Touch three people say, be.
Speaker 9 (44:29):
Free, be free, be free, be free, be free, be free,
be free, be free.
Speaker 1 (44:42):
You hear me, be free.
Speaker 8 (44:44):
You don't have to live like this. Be free, be
small than enough, be free.
Speaker 1 (44:52):
Come on, you see be free?
Speaker 8 (44:56):
Slackly be free?
Speaker 2 (44:58):
Be free?
Speaker 1 (45:00):
Now shall be free. My greatest need is freedom. My
greatest need.
Speaker 2 (45:21):
Is freedom. Contentment is the key. Freedom is the goal.
Contentment is the key. You won't be financially free when
you get more money.
Speaker 1 (45:36):
You'll be financially free when you really believe I've already
got Come on, my God will supply your needs.
Speaker 2 (45:57):
Stand up if you would, I want to pray for
your contentment. I had to learn it now most of
us are still learning. It took me a long time
of trying to perform and thinking that if I could
prove myself to certain people, I would feel like a
worthy human being. But I found out that kind of
(46:19):
identity can be stolen so quickly by the smallest failure
that I decided it was not worth me chaining myself
to other people's opinions or my status in life or
my income. That's the greatest state not CEO, but free,
(46:45):
to be really free. The only way that can happen
is if you know that he knows what you need
and he's got it. That he knows and he's got it,
that not one sparrow falls from the ground, he doesn't
see it, and when hair falls from your head is.
Speaker 1 (47:04):
Moved, he keeps it on record. He knows what I
need and he's got it.
Speaker 2 (47:10):
Because if you don't believe he's got it, you'll run
to all kinds of other things to try to get
your needs met.
Speaker 1 (47:16):
They were put there by God and they can only
be fulfilled by him.
Speaker 2 (47:20):
The greatest trouble of your life will come when you
try to get a god instilled need met in a
non God sanctioned way. My God will supply all your needs,
not just the Church, ones all your needs according to
(47:41):
his glorious riches in Christ.
Speaker 1 (47:43):
The only way you can receive the.
Speaker 2 (47:44):
Provision is to remain in the place that He promised
it would be, in his presence. It's the fullness of
joy and in his right hand pleasures forevermore.
Speaker 1 (47:58):
But you've got to be willing to let him know
that you know that you need him. So why don't
you lift your hands and tell.
Speaker 2 (48:09):
Him that you need him.
Speaker 1 (48:12):
Ab a father.
Speaker 2 (48:17):
Every hour, Most Gracious Lord, no tender voice like bying
can peace Afore, thank you.
Speaker 1 (48:27):
For joining us.
Speaker 2 (48:28):
Special thanks to those of you who give generously to
this ministry. Is because of you that this ministry is possible.
You can click the link in the description to give now,
or visit Elevation Church dot org slash podcast for more
information and if you enjoyed the podcast.
Speaker 1 (48:44):
You can subscribe. You can share it with your friends.
Speaker 2 (48:47):
You can click the share button, take a screenshot and
share it on your social stories and tag us at
Elevation Church.
Speaker 1 (48:52):
Thanks again for listening. God bless you.
Host
Steven Furtick
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