So you bless your word to our hearts
right now.
We ask in Jesus name.
Amen Well church grab your bibles tonight and
turn to boy number 22 In our series
31 week series.
We are in week 22 Already my goodness.
It's gone by kind of fast if you
ask me as we're looking at the disciplines
of life series The disciplines of life and
we've gone through so many disciplines And we've
come now tonight to discontentment Discontentment and you
know, we started this a long time ago
And isn't it amazing that we are approaching
now so close a time of coming to
uh Christmas that we have this discipline Of
discontentment don't go to luke 24.
I don't know where that verse came from
but um, go to hebrews, uh, 13 5
Go to hebrews chapter 13 5 And hold
your finger there as we look at discontentment
Hebrews chapter 13 verse 5 and go a
little bit to the left to matthew chapter
28 Matthew 28 18 hebrews 13 verse 5
We're looking at the discipline of discontentment And
how great it is that it's right at
christmas time Why why do I do that
as you turn to those two references?
I was hoping uh to Show you some
youtube Uh broadcast of spoiled children That's what
I did tonight.
I thought maybe I can show them something
so I youtube spoiled children and uh, either
a they were pretty boring or Or b
they were so bad.
I can't share it to adults these kids
going ballistic because they didn't get their favorite
toy for christmas, but What's my point that
discontentment can be a very volatile issue?
Discontentment what led a man yesterday to walk
into a florida school board meeting with a
handgun to Express his discontentment with life And
he begins to shoot at all the members
of the school board until he himself Was
dead What's going on Why do we have
these feelings of discontentment and listen i'm going
to ask you this question It may sound
like a trick question Is all discontentment wrong
is all discontentment bad?
You might be surprised by the answer tonight
So as we look to this matthew chapter
28 our theme verse for the series verse
18 as jesus spoke to them He said
to them all authority has been given to
me you guys that's a lot of authority
in heaven and on earth Go therefore and
make disciples of all nations notice that verse
19 is The response of the believer in
light of the fact that christ has all
authority We get to do this we get
to make disciples Of all nations baptizing them
in the name of the father and of
the son and of the holy spirit teaching
them To observe all things that i've commanded
you and behold.
I am with you always even to the
end Of the world now we go to
our verse for tonight on discontentment in that
discipline hebrews 13 5 says let your conduct
The way that you act be without covetousness
Be content With such things as you have
So whatever you have be happy with that
For he himself has said I will never
leave you nor forsake you the the christian's
comfort zone Comes from the fact that jesus
christ no matter what happens in life will
never leave us or forsake us now watch
this As we launch off into this Because
we have christ with us at all times
and he will never leave us or forsake
us That's how and that's why you and
I can be content in whatever situation We
are in why why should I be content
if we're losing our home?
Why should I be content?
If I can't get this for christmas or
why should I be content?
If if this is happening or I lost
my job listen because number one christ is
with you if christ is with you Then
everything else is going to pan out That's
a fact We get so caught up into
the things of this world and life that
we think jesus gets knocked off his throne
because we lose our job God He doesn't
get knocked off his throne and maybe god
is taking you to a better job Maybe
god knows more about that situation than you
do and he's setting you up for a
great blessing But we are such uh in
emotional knee-jerk culture that if something challenges
us instantly We immediately think it must be
because i'm bad Why do we think like
that?
We naturally think well, this is happening because
i've done some great evil not necessarily.
So Oh God is at work And I
believe right now in the age that we're
living in that god is working overtime right
now He's not shaken by this global crisis
You know, I love to quote noah webster
and noah webster says discontentment Is the state
of being uneasy in mind?
He says it's an uneasiness A modern rendering
of the word discontentment means the absence of
contentment to be unsettled or restless in the
mind or soul a sense of being Dissatisfied
you ever feel like that in life?
a person unable to find rest A comfortless
individual there's a lot of people like that
more than ever I think maybe in america
at a time like this people are feeling
the sense of being dissatisfied Maybe life didn't
turn out the way that they expected.
We've got people reaching a certain age People
seemingly from 40 to 50 go through a
tremendous Moment of evaluation and some people call
it.
What is it in men the midlife crisis
thing, you know, and they uh, they get
Gold chains around their neck.
They were never prone to wearing gold before
but now they're wearing gold and they were
fine with a with a truck or with
the the Family caravan bus or whatever, but
now they got a little yugo red Uh
sports car or something, I don't know but
they go through a crisis why discontentment why
Because we get our eyes off god being
the target.
We begin to look at Our neighbors, you
know the old saying of keeping up with
the joneses.
That's a trap And it pulls us away
from focusing on christ Or we reach a
place And we begin to evaluate, you know,
I haven't measured up much in life and
you become discontented you become dissatisfied And young
people today, it's not limited to older people
young people today are Dissatisfied And let me
tell you i'm personally very concerned about this
I know many of you are we have
bred a generation It's our fault not theirs.
We've bred a generation of entitled people And
they don't they don't want to work or
if they do work they want to have
A hundred they want to start out at
a hundred thousand dollars a year They want
to have a company car they they don't
believe in working through the ranks and rolling
up your sleeves They don't know what that's
like They haven't had to have that and
and and we have raised them that way
just handing them stuff is a dangerous thing
And it breeds discontentment It's a great thing
to learn dependency upon god and to pray
and to work hard and to fight for
things When things get handed to us We
have no appreciation and then when listen when
we don't have what others have we want
to take what they have That's why the
bible says thou shalt not covet or If
we don't take it then we want everything
distributed among distributed among Everyone the same and
that's a very dangerous thing so A couple
things we need to look at keeping this
in mind as we look we'll have four
simple points tonight And again, I think the
timing of this is of god seeing how
it's christmas time but most of us Being
humans, uh, we're not living in that place
that god designed us to live in.
Did you know that?
You said well, I I we prayed about
our house I'm, not talking about that that
you and I as spiritual creatures.
Remember this yours.
The real you is housed inside this body
This is not you This is the vehicle.
This is a a An earth-bound Biomedical
or a biochemical machine That god has given
me to articulate and to relate to you
back and forth in this realm When you
and I die or get raptured We are
going to be giving a new body to
relate and to express ourselves in a new
realm a spiritual realm You are spirit uppermost
And your body contains the part of you
that will live forever.
You say pastor.
I don't believe in god I don't believe
what you're saying.
It doesn't matter.
You're going to live forever In a resurrected
dead body Read john chapter 5 read daniel
chapter 12 The bible says everyone will be
resurrected in the end some to everlasting life
and some to an everlasting death notice They
those that are resurrected to an everlasting death.
They don't die.
They just die.
They're they're dying.
They're in a state of dying forever And
you don't want anything to do with that
god doesn't want you to have anything to
do with that But you and I are
not living in the place that god originally
intended us to be living in God intended
us to live like adam and eve lived
before they goofed up In paradise with god
fellowshipping with god in the cool of the
day face to face amazing It kind of
reminds me of that Little kid because when
we think about how we were originally created
to live in the presence of god Now
you and I are struggling with not living
in the presence of god, but we need
to understand that This discipline of discontentment needs
to be managed it reminds me of that
little boy and i'll read it to you
That little boy heard his dad pray every
day father We now enter into your presence
the little boy's listening to his dad pray
we enter into your presence We sense your
presence lord, and we need your presence in
our lives So lord, please give us your
presence always in jesus name.
Amen And at that johnny just couldn't take
it anymore and he said to his father
when?
When are we going to get these presents
daddy?
One guy speaking spiritual the other guy speaking
carnal or of this world Let's get those
presents on and so As we get into
this mark this introductory verse down romans chapter
8 verse 20 Says for the creation was
subject to futility When adam and eve sinned
everything that was normal was turned upside down
And the bible says death entered into the
world at that moment animals began to die
In fact, technically adam and eve began to
die.
It took them 900 years to die But
they from that moment they began to wither
Spiritually, they died in an instant that had
to be freakish Remember when god said the
day that you eat of it you shall
surely die.
He was talking about their spirit That's why
you have to be born again to enter
the kingdom of heaven.
We are born spiritually dead And our life
and our bodies decaying the moment they tell
us physicists tell us the moment a child
is born The child is on his path
toward death Well, that's encouraging I find it
interesting that in the medical world in chemistry
and biology.
Did you know that your body?
Your body doesn't understand why it's dying.
Did you know that doctors will tell us
that the heart?
There is no reason why a heart should
stop beating.
Did you know that?
Did you know that your liver?
That's why they call it the vital organs.
Did you know that your your your liver
your your kidneys?
Did you know that they were designed to
work forever?
there's no reason why they should stop and
did you know that every seven years your
Body chemistry Goes through a revamp.
It tries to reboot itself every seven years.
It goes through a restart It tries to
recover And death technically is a mystery You
don't often think about that God has made
you the bible says you are fearfully and
wonderfully made but one of those things that
we have to grapple with Is that the
whole universe?
Including our lives is subject to futility frustration
discontentment And so point number one jot it
down if you would regarding this it is
that the discipline of discontentment requires us that
we would recognize That physical discontentment can be
bad and I want you to write that
down.
It can be bad Recognize that physical discontentment
can be bad when I talk about physical
I mean the things of life that we
deal with the things that you and I
see with our eyes every day I want
you to think about that.
It can be bad.
It's not necessarily having to be bad, but
it can be bad Number one jot it
down proverbs 27 20 says hell and destruction
are never full So the eyes of man
are never satisfied a man's eye, you know
what I mean by man, mr.
And mrs.
Man mankind Mankind's eyes are never satisfied apart
from god.
We're never satisfied.
That's why when you read ecclesiastes This is
solomon Who started with god was blessed by
god and then in his wealth began to
forget god and he went off on all
kinds of Uh experimentations of life.
He had all the women he could ever
have he had all the wealth.
He had all the power And what does
uh scripture tell us you look at proverbs
in some areas And it's the The end
of uh, it's all vanity it's it's ridiculous
The man that had it all but people
say if I just could have it all
if you could have it all you'd be
discontented Because only god can satisfy your soul.
You can be sitting on a yacht in
paradise uh you know Weighing your proper body
weight Having the best looks You know all
of this stuff And be absolutely having a
storm in your soul And not be satisfied
Discontentment it can be bad.
Why can't it be bad?
Why why is that?
Well again, listen now this part's kind of
negative and then it's going to go positive
and it's going to go negative And there's
going to we're going to end positive So
just don't leave now you'd be all bummed
out all week James 4 listen, this is
amazing.
James 4 James chapter 4 verse 1 James
says what causes fights?
And quarrels you have any kids?
What causes fights and quarrels among you?
Do they not come from your desires that
battle within you Is that not true?
You ever seen kids in the playground?
And you see a kid getting a fight
or something because they don't want to share
their toy.
Where did that come from from inside?
that kid You want something but you don't
get it you kill and covet but you
cannot have what you want You quarrel and
fight and you do not have because you
do not ask god When you ask you
do not receive because you ask with wrong
motives That you may spend what you get
on your pleasures Oh god, if I just
win the lotto If you just win the
lotto what?
What?
Any person who prays that prayer I can
already tell you what's going to happen to
their life No Matthew 27 3 says then
judas Boy, listen to this talk about discontentment
Then judas his betrayer Seeing that he had
been condemned was remorseful.
Isn't it interesting your bible doesn't say he
repented He was sorrow.
Sorry.
He got caught And brought back the 30
pieces of silver to the chief priest and
the elders Saying I have sinned by betraying
innocent blood Notice that's a true statement.
Is it not?
He sinned against jesus.
It is true, but he's not repentful.
He's sorry he got caught And they said
what's that to us loser?
We don't care about you.
You big dope.
We just used you And you were a
sucker enough to turn jesus in You see
to it Then he threw down the pieces
of silver in the temple and departed and
he went and he hung himself hanged himself
By the way, even today in israel who
they don't read the new testament when you
drive in the bus You drive To the
kidron valley on your left the temple mount
on your right Then you come to the
tomb of absalom and then king the city
of david the excavations are right there Then
you turn right And you go to the
valley of hennam gahanna The valley of burning
that's where they would burn the trash.
It's valley of hell It's a picture of
hell to the hebrew mind.
That's where it comes from and then you
come around to the field of a seldoma
or a keldama It's a steep cliff.
It's beautiful.
By the way, nobody goes there Nobody there's
nothing built there.
It's really pretty but the hebrews there in
israel say that's a cursed place They don't
even know if you say why is it
cursed?
Oh, it's just it's cursed They don't know
the new testament story.
They don't they won't read it They'll tell
you it's cursed now.
I don't believe it's cursed.
I don't believe in that stuff but they
do And when you drive right there and
you look over there's steep cliffs and rocks
it's about a hundred and About 120 foot
fall It's there where judas hung himself from
a tree and the gospels tell us that
the tree busted after he hung himself And
he fell down and all of his guts
came out He hung himself falling and hanging
himself and he burst open on the rocks
and it's the spot is right there today
Still today 2 000 years later.
It's amazing How did that happen discontentment why
do people kill themselves often What causes people
during this time on wall street in the
last year and a half to pull a
gun out wall street?
Movers and shakers and they kill themselves for
fear for the Thought of losing stuff not
knowing that their life is more than stuff
Discontentment.
Oh, man, if I don't get that ipad
i'm gonna lose it You have set yourself
up my friend for destruction We may laugh
at that and think it's almost kind of
cute.
But listen, that is what's wrong with america
today If I don't get this, well, I'll
tell you what i'm just leaving If I
don't have if I can't if you don't
get me this i'm gonna quit or i'm
gonna whatever Wow You can just see a
40 year old guy in his diapers throwing
his rattle down in his crib That's exactly
what's going on Discontentment yes, it can be
bad.
There's a great emptiness and frustration that comes
When we pursue things Here's the funny thing
you can spend your whole life pursuing things
god will maybe be protecting you from getting
them And then there's the dangerous situation where
people pursue things and get them And then
a month later wake up to the fact
that they're empty inside You can't admit it
to anybody because then you'd look a fool
This is real stuff In micah chapter 6
verse 13 to 15.
The bible says because of your sins You
will eat but you'll not be satisfied You
will sow but not reap you will tread
the olives but not anoint yourself with oil
and you will make sweet wine But not
drink any of it Isn't that the ultimate
frustration if you think about it, you know
people today now listen I don't often bring
this topic up, but it's exactly what's going
on in our culture today and seemingly physically
it makes no sense but people christians today
Say things like I can't tithe.
These are hard times I can't give god
anything because I gotta keep my direct tv
going and my cell phones going in my
Listen You're you are on the brink of
absolute discontentment number one if you're a christian
Giving to god and that's why it's so
amazing giving to god is part of our
christian discipline Not only that listen god doesn't
need your money.
Well, then see I there you go pastor
You and I literally need to give it
away What?
Yeah listen If the offering goes by on
sunday or wednesdays and you go, oh man
here it comes.
Oh, man You know what keep your money
The bible says god loves a cheerful giver
Now don't ever do this in this church.
But when in your spirit when it comes
by you should be going Praise the lord.
Thank you.
Jesus.
Yes Boom.
Yeah.
Oh That's how your heart should be now
you actually just Right, that's how your heart
should be why because god owns everything everything
you and I have he owns everything And
when we give unto the lord, it keeps
our heart, right?
I know how this is I had nothing
growing up and then I got a great
job and I went from making hardly any
money to huge I called it stupid money
No kid at 19 years of age 18
19 should be making that kind of money
But I was and I worked for it.
Don't get me wrong But the more I
got the stingier I became I just I
was like ebenezer scrooge I would run the
you know, like the broth through and you
know suck on a sock and and It
oh, you know, this is it was horrible
and then and I just watched the zeros
build on my accounts It's mine mine and
three weeks from getting married Carpet pulled out
from underneath me I lost that job Couldn't
believe it And let me tell you something.
My faith was tested in an instant And
little did I know man, I tell you
that god was preparing for ministry and priority
About what is valuable and what god owns?
You start looking at stuff like that and
the bible says you look to money and
money will sprout wings and fly away And
god will have that happen in your life
because he loves you not because he hates
you Proverbs 13 11 says wealth gained by
dishonesty will be diminished So be careful don't
be tricked And watch out what your pursuits
are Here's the fix by the way ask
the lord.
I really believe this.
Here's the fix You say what do I
do if I find myself in this condition
right now tonight?
Here's the fix ask the lord now for
a grateful heart and mind Grateful people are
the happiest people to be around They're great
to be with Hosea chapter 10.
How does this happen?
Hosea chapter 10 verse 12 says for so
for yourself righteousness That is okay.
That's it.
I'm going to take this message tonight and
i'm going to do righteous stuff I'm going
to do righteousness.
It sounds so lofty.
This is what it means do the right
thing I'm going to do the right thing
reap and mercy break up the follow ground
for it is time to seek the lord
Till he comes and rains righteousness on you.
What a great thing number two The discipline
of discontentment is this recognizing that physical Discontentment
can be good Physical discontentment can be good.
What do you mean by that?
This is a great picture of this in
first samuel 22.
This is great amazing to me David's an
amazing guy god tells him when he's a
kid you're going to be the king And
for 10 years he is running for his
life in the engedi wilderness down in southern
israel For those of us many of us
who have been there down toward masada in
the valley of the goats by the dead
sea And david's hiding out think about it
He's living in a cave running for his
life knowing that god has told him many
years earlier You're going to be king of
israel.
Well, wouldn't you say what's the deal then?
Shouldn't things be going a little easier for
me And so he's there and listen to
this first samuel 22 1 Before I read
it if any of you are struggling with
discontentment tonight By the way, it traffics in
the area of grumbling griping moaning complaining whimpering
whining uh mug dragging in the dust You
know the eeyore thing all all is over
My life's come to an end If that's
you tonight, listen, here's the fix.
There's great.
Hope Doesn't have to be bad David therefore
departed From there and escaped to the cave
of adulim.
So when his brothers and all his father's
household heard it They went down there to
him Here it is and everyone who was
in distress.
Are you in distress?
Everyone who was in debt.
Are you in debt?
And everyone who was discontented Gathered to him
so he became captain over them How would
you like to lead these guys and there
were about 400 men with him 400 whining
whimpering griping eeyores Life's over And david inspired
them And you know what's awesome about that
Oh, you keep reading samuel You start running
into a title of some men And these
and those and these guys and they went
and did this and they were david's Yeah,
mighty men of valor You know what?
They grew up to be giant killers They
did they killed giants I can't believe it.
My life's over and then snapshot move ahead
one year later.
They're out slaying Giants cutting heads off of
goliath's brothers and everybody Man, my life's up.
No, it's not over You're a christian god's
on the throne i'm in debt it's so
bad and god's got a plan It's not
altogether bad Discontentment given to god leads to
great victory You can take the situation in
right now and absolutely have it turned around
in your life He'll do it By the
way that word discontentment discontented in the hebrew
In first samuel 22 is to be filled
with bitterness to be filled with anger to
have a heavy burden Wow first timothy chapter
6 verse 6 Says now godliness that is
knowing the lord personally with contentment That's being
satisfied you decide that i'm going to be
satisfied with what I have I'm going to
be satisfied with what I make but contentment
is great gain.
So godliness with contentment is great wealth For
we brought nothing into the world and it
is certain that we will carry nothing out
Is that a great verse?
That's a great verse to have on your
tombstone or something And having food and clothing
with these we shall be content.
That's it That's what god's promised food and
clothes.
He doesn't want you hungry and he doesn't
want you naked I'm grateful for that But
can't but but where's the porsche no, no
porsche If you have a porsche thank god
for the porsche But let me tell you
something He doesn't promise those are those are
cherries on top of the big cake He
said you won't go hungry the bible isn't
it's amazing god says the righteous shall never
be seen begging bread god if It insults
god when his kids Are going without He
said well What's the deal listen the reason
why christians today might go without is because
either they're not fellowshipping in a church or
They're fellowshipping in the wrong church And I
believe this I can't I I ought to
write a book on this thing right here.
I've seen this happen a million times I
have spoken in churches that are extremely wealthy
churches And there'll be poor people in that
church In manhattan, how does that happen?
because God sees to it that his body
is all kinds of colors all kinds of
status all kinds of levels all kinds of
people He loves it.
He loves the quilt Of montage.
He loves it now watch this I think
people who are struggling who love jesus and
doing the best they can God places in
a body to test that body's heart To
see what those who are blessed will do
You may or may not know this but
you guys for over 15 years Boy do
the math Have a benevolence fund that goes
out helping people in this body only this
body up to five thousand dollars a month
We've done that for 15 years Do the
math that's a bazillion lots of money and
here's the thing Here's the awesome thing That's
the lord working among his body And as
a church in totality, I think there's two
reasons why god has I think there's three
reasons why Maybe four reasons why god has
blessed this body One we love the nation
of israel God says genesis 12 you bless
them.
I'll bless you.
That's not why we bless them But god
says i'll bless you we'd bless israel, even
if he didn't bless us Number two Is
to take care of those that are in
need among you the household of faith The
other third thing is getting the word of
god out to the world And the fourth
thing is missionary ventures And if you give
me a couple minutes, i'll think of 10
more other things It's awesome But discontentment can
be a good thing because you can come
to this point to this place where you
say, you know what?
I'm not happy where i'm at spiritually I'm
gonna Tell it like it is I don't
want you ever satisfied in this context or
me Say what I mean this jesus says
eat of the bread.
I give you and you will never be
hungry But then the bible turns right around
and says blessed are those who hunger and
thirst after righteousness Jesus says drink of the
water.
I give you and you never be thirsty
again And then I my soul longs and
thirst after thee oh god Are you with
me?
It's a awesome contradiction How can we be
as christians completely full And at the same
time starving for more of god That's why
you're here i'm absolutely content And yet I
have not I know that i've not yet
finished the work that god has called me
to do I know there's something else.
I don't know what it is yet But
I know there's more that i'm supposed to
do It's an amazing thing So discontentment can
be a great thing some of the young
people I talk to and I just love
it pastor jack I want more I want
more and it's so cute because i'm very
flattered by this, but they don't know that
I know That they do not know When
they say pastor jack, can we just hang
out together?
Can we just be together because I want
more That's very cute.
But what they're really saying is they're saying
they're like peter.
They're saying what they they're saying stuff They
don't know what they're saying What they're saying
is I just want more of god get
out of my way pastor That's what they're
saying.
Just get out of my way I want
more of god and if you or anyone
else can help me get more of him
Then then point me in the right direction.
That's what they're asking And I love that
don't you love that and in your own
life?
Oh god more when we say we love
you I always I always have to say
lord.
I love you.
And then as soon as it comes out
of my mouth I feel like apologizing Because
my love for him is so pathetic So
then I have to say lord, this is
embarrassing god Will you lord give me love
more love for you?
Now, I know that doesn't work in life,
but it works with god because he knows
He's like Telling your wife.
Can you tell me you love me more
honey?
Can you just tell me?
Well, if that floats your boat, you're a
weirdo because If she's okay, all right, then
hey, hey, you told me to tell you
that you that I love you So i'm
calling you to tell you I love you
Oh, okay, that's like kissing your sister who
cares What is that?
I mean that's weird, but if it comes
from the heart If it comes right out
of the heart So we say oh god,
and I think he's blessed by that.
Oh god Give me more love that I
can love you because i'm so dissatisfied And
i'm so discontented with my lack of commitment
to you.
Holy awesome god That's how we feel And
so we keep it going like this hebrews
13 14 says for Here we have no
continuing city.
Did you know that but we seek?
the one to come Did you know abraham
went looking all around for a city whose
builder and maker is god I love that.
There's no city in this world.
That's going to make us content.
Oh, man, i'm moving to bel-air Big
deal We're waiting to move to a place
where they use gold for for asphalt Can
you imagine you're going to open your door
in heaven, oh man step outside angel goes
flying down the street What do you think
it's going to be like?
I don't think it's going to be like
some strange dream where we're working.
We're wearing these You know robes that kind
of just fade away into nothing like gas.
It's like I don't think so I think
I think I think the millennium how he's
going to restore the earth.
I think things that you and I love
blue skies Mountains, there's there's it's going to
be beyond paul said it's beyond what you
can ask I mean, I mean it's beyond
what mind can imagine or eyes can see
or ears can hear it's beyond all that
I think it's gonna be amazing It's heaven
man It's gonna be incredible It's our city
Psalm 16 11 says You will show me
the path of life and in your presence
is fullness of joy at your right hand
our pleasures forevermore How cool is that and
then matthew 6 33 jesus said this this
is the verse for our culture forever Matthew
6 33 but seek first the kingdom of
god and all these things will be added
to you His righteousness and all things will
be satisfied Number three recognizing that spiritual discontentment
can be bad Spiritual discontentment can be bad.
This is the most Often associated I would
say with bitter people wounded people in heart.
Listen to me.
This is serious This is a grave danger
for our soul And we must regard That
enemy bitterness discontentment of the spirit In a
negative way not longing for god But either
not wanting god or holding god in some
lesser degree Remember how the bible says That
the first commandment is that you shall love
the lord your god with all of your
heart soul strength and mind That's what's required
That's why the born again experience is necessary
for heaven We must guard though our hearts
against listen the scars of pain and Hurt
that come to each and every one of
us church family.
Listen Just get this get this into your
head.
There will be people in your life christians
Who will hurt you and wound you?
It's going to happen Pastor don't say that
It's going to happen Notice that I said
this Guard our hearts against the scars of
pain And hurts why?
Because hurts are impossible to avoid Some of
you who live in some dream world you
say no i'm no i'm never going to
be hurt My life, you know, what's paul
simon say my life's an island.
I'm a rock and a rock feels no
pain What a loony that's insane The only
person who doesn't feel any pain is somebody
who's dead You just understand this if you
get hurt by people and you will listen
You're here tonight But if all the christians
who are at home right now sucking their
thumb Are licking their wounds because somebody hurt
their feelings six months ago or 10 years
ago Right, they're not fellowshipping with god.
They're not being used by god.
They're in a spiritually uh retarded or uh
You know what I mean by they're uh,
they're not advancing they're going backwards They're in
a retarded state a suspended state of spiritual
growth Imagine if people tonight said you know
what i'm just going to take what all
my hurts and pains And all the stuff
that people have done to me i'm just
going to leave it with god and i'm
going to follow jesus with all my heart
Do you realize there will not be enough
churches in america to house all those wayward
people?
And the wayward people predominantly are blaming others
for their carnal situation That will never fly
with god.
We've all been hurt.
We have been misrepresented.
We've been attacked.
We've been maligned Will you name it?
What are you gonna do about it?
Take the scars And give them to god
let him rub the balm of gilead on
them He'll take care of them listen To
not do that is to never grow up
and you know how birds of a feather
flock together Well, whiny spiritual wimps will flock
together and then Yes To each other And
it's on And it just never stops.
I don't know about you.
I I do know about you.
We don't have time for that No, think
about it We can go to people say
come on, let's go If i've wronged you,
please forgive me.
I'm forgiving you.
Let's go.
Let's go build a house for jesus Let's
go take care of the people of mexico.
Let's go something Let's get going don't let
the enemies rob you and steal from you
anymore Why are you letting and will those
people hurt me?
Of course people hurt you But why are
you letting them still have so much power
over your life?
I will not You fall right into the
hands of the enemy bitterness discontentment yes can
be very bad spiritually In matthew 13 15
the bible says for the hearts of this
people.
Jesus said have grown dull Their ears are
hard of hearing And their eyes they have
closed isn't that sad speaks about willful disobedience
Hebrews 5 11.
This is actually if you know the greek
language here, it's actually comical.
It's very funny looking Jesus or excuse me
in hebrews 5 11.
It says you have become become dull of
hearing the word dull means to have lard
The word means to have lard hanging out
of your ears You've you've stuffed your ears
with lard so that you cannot hear anymore
And you see jesus he's going And you're
not even you can't even hear anything and
what will do that bitterness resentment spiritual discontentment
People will say things like this.
Well christianity never worked for me as though
christianity is the problem So the holy spirit,
I don't know where he's at but oh,
he's fine.
It's you You see and so here's the
fix for that Hebrews 3 13 says but
encourage one another daily.
I hope you have friends in your life
christian friends That will encourage you daily As
long as it is called today that speaks
about imminency while we have it we only
have today So that none of you may
be hardened by sin's deceitfulness Pursue peace with
all people and holiness without which no one
will see the lord Looking carefully lest anyone
falls short of the grace of god Lest
any root of bitterness spring up and cause
trouble and by this many become defiled Wow,
and number four we'll end with this the
discipline of discontentment is recognizing that spiritual discontentment
can be a very very good thing It
can be a very good thing like physical
Discontentment can be a very good thing.
So with spiritual By the way, think of
this mankind's the human race's discontented heart because
of the fall But god will change that
listen to this.
This is a beautiful Beautiful event in mark
chapter 9 verse 23.
Jesus said to the man If you can
believe all things are possible to him who
believes and listen to this beautiful response.
This is spiritual Discontentment that is good Verse
24 mark 9 immediately the father of the
child cried out and said with Tears lord,
I believe what does he say?
help my Unbelief, have you ever prayed to
have you ever told god that?
I can't tell you how many times i've
prayed that prayer God, I believe But help
my unbelief And you know when you pray
that prayer and you mean it with tears,
I mean you have to cry about it
but mean it The lord will say all
right.
Watch this.
Come here.
Take my hand And he'll walk you through
it and your faith gets bigger Ecclesiastes 3
11.
I love this verse This is why listen
you guys when you share with people be
bold about it.
I don't mean be rude, but be confident
when you share Jesus with people, please listen
to this.
My wife was such a sweetie.
We were I think we were we were
either engaged or we had just gotten married
and she used to work at state farm
insurance in Costa mesa off the 405 freeway
Huge thing and She would share jesus with
people And they would say oh man, leave
me alone You uh, what was this big
saying back then you jesus freak?
And so she'd call me What's the matter?
I was Was sharing with this person and
they told me to you know, so what
so what are you crying for?
well Um, you know It was so cute
but lisa, I mean It's okay.
You just keep sharing.
I can't do I can't share again.
Yes, you will share again you this listen
This is the way it works And and
someone rejecting the witness of jesus that Loyalty
and in service to the lord even in
the rejection is just as valuable as the
person accepting the lord We are ministers and
ambassadors of his truth no matter what they
decide Listen, we're not to make people make
decisions.
If that were the case, we'd be muslims
I mean right convert we preach the gospel
the decisions theirs I mean truly There's no
compulsion We invite the world we plead jesus
says listen.
He says what shall I like in this
generation?
I have played music and You didn't sing.
I I played the flute and you did
not dance I've asked you to come and
you would not come So then he turns
to his disciples in that parable He says
go out now seeing how the children will
not come that i've invited go out now
to the highways and the byways And to
the hedges And invite as many people as
you can invite them all all who will
come Invite them all Amazing Spiritual discontentment is
a very good thing when you wake up
to the fact that you can't save yourself
That jesus is the only way That religion
is not the answer a relationship is Spiritual
discontentment is when you look around and you
say, you know what?
There's got to be something more to life
and ecclesiastes 3 11 says this that he
has made everything beautiful in his time And
here it is.
He has put eternity in their Hearts, that's
why when we share with people we need
to be bold.
They are all are you listening?
And a lot of young people over here
Listen, okay.
I went over there When we share with
people don't tiptoe around about it and apologize
for it You share while it's still somewhat
legal to share you share because God has
put eternity in their hearts They may go.
I don't believe that Inside they're going man
I want to believe that When you say
jesus died on the cross for your sins
i'm not a sinner And inside they're going
I am a huge sinner I'm telling you
the truth here And when you say but
jesus rose again from the grave Okay, he
did not that's ridiculous And the holy spirit
is inside talking to them.
Hey Everything they're saying is true It's a
fact Why because god has put eternity in
the hearts of every human being that's why
every human being listen, this is gonna upset
people I know because I get emails Every
human being is religious I'm an evolutionist And
your religion takes more faith than any one
of ours At least my religion's founded upon
a fact Almost done.
John 2 13 says now the passover of
the jews were at hand And jesus went
to jerusalem and he found in the temple
those who sold oxen And sheep and doves
and money changers doing business and when he
had made a whip of cords He drove
them out of the temple With the sheep
and the oxen and poured out the changers
money and overturned their tables and jesus said
to those who sold the doves Take these
things away.
Do not make my father's house a house
of merchandise Here's the punch line verse 17.
Then the disciples remembered that it was written
Zeal the zeal for your house has eaten
me up.
That's spiritual discontentment.
You don't think of jesus having spiritual Discontentment
there when jesus walked in the temple.
He was so disgusted with what happened to
the house of prayer That in his actions
the disciples remembering because they're good jewish students
they knew the word The zeal of the
lord hath eaten me up.
The zeal of god is consuming with grief
Jesus is fulfilling the scripture For the lord
shall suddenly come to his temple said the
old testament prophet And so I give you
this last couple of verses here it is
Philippians 3 7 we end with this But
what things were gained to me spiritual discontentment
in paul's life is a good thing But
what things were gained to me these I
counted loss for christ Yet indeed.
I also count all things lost for the
excellence of the knowledge of christ Jesus my
lord for whom i've suffered the loss of
all things And count them as rubbish that
I may gain christ not that I have
already attained notice this discontentment Or am already
perfected, but I press on That I may
lay hold that which christ is christ.
Jesus has laid hold of me brethren I
do not count myself to have apprehended.
But one thing I do forgetting those things
which are behind And reaching forward to those
things that are ahead.
I press toward the goal for the prize
of the upward call of god in christ
Jesus last verse psalm 17 15 as for
me I will see your face in righteousness
That's in the future in eternity I shall
be satisfied when I awake In your likeness
We must live with eternity in our hearts
And with that being our roadmap, we will
be content iphone ipad Cadillac Gucci uh,
I don't know what's out there, but It
won't matter Because what shall it profit a
man?
Jesus said If he get an xbox And
lose his own soul, what shall it profit
a woman if she Gets an unlimited nordstrom's
gift card And loses her own soul You'll
only be discontented Better to have god Than
to die in this world with everything he
who dies with the most toys wins nothing
Father we thank you for your word and
right now tonight we just pray that this
message would realign our soul Our mind our
affections our passions our desires And father that
we would see everything in light of eternity
and it's getting pretty easy Actually lord when
we look around this world, we see nations
economies Failing much of europe we see what's
happening lord in certain parts of the orient
and in america The world is in tremendous
pressure and yet we know we know our
bibles The bible makes it very clear even
that the antichrist will ride in a wave
Daniel warns us of economic peril and he'll
have the answers So we look around this
world and we say lord everything is right
on time Everything's right on target Cause our
hearts father To be in tune with your
will Right now lord.
I pray that we would just yield to
you now And while heads are bowed and
eyes are closed, maybe right now you are
one of those people tonight that are saying
man This is true stuff and I need
jesus jesus christ Wants you personally to know
him He wants your sins forgiven.
That's why he gave his blood That you
can have your sins forgiven but you and
only you can take him up on that
offer And maybe tonight is your night imagine
we come to the end of the year
and eventually we're going to come to the
end of life or the end of time
or maybe You'll come to the end of
your life and the bible says the harvest
has passed and the summer has ended but
we're not saved Where are you if you
die tonight?
Are you confident when you breathe your last
breath and close your eyes that you'll see
jesus on good terms?
That can change for you tonight heads are
bowed eyes are closed christians praying Tonight, maybe
now as I look across the sanctuary you're
saying I want jesus christ as my lord
and savior now I want my sins forgiven.
I want to live for him forevermore.
Put your hand up if that's you tonight
Don't be shy if god stern god bless
you if god stern your heart raise your
hand, you know there's a little bit of
a unusual anxiety in the middle of your
Chest right now.
You can't really recognize it.
But you know, it's him god bless you
in the back Anyone else?
I knew that was going to happen This
evening when I saw you sir, anyone else
back here?
You can put your hand down anyone else?
God bless you You can put your hands
down father I pray that you'd bless our
brand new brothers and sisters right now.
Jesus.
What an amazing work of your spirit I've
asked you father as they articulate to you
right now in their own words That you'd
forgive them that you'd cleanse them that you'd
wash them that your bible says any man
or woman who comes to me You will
in no wise cast out That for god's
soul of the world that he gave his
only begotten son that whosoever would believe In
him would not perish but have everlasting life
It's amazing for us to think lord that
you have that discontentment of spirit when it
says That you're not willing that any should
perish that is a grievous thing to you
it grieves the heart of god And that
you would leave that up to us individually
to choose you Father bless these right now
who have lifted their hands who have said
in their hearts.
Yes god.
I need you now father Do what you
do in their lives in jesus name and
all god's people said Amen, let's all stand
church together and I know we've gone way
late