Contentment and a Life That Matters

The fountain of youth, the lost city of gold, the genie's lamp. Throughout history, people have searched for something to transform their everyday lives into something spectacular. Not many of us today are traveling the world looking for a literal fountain of youth, but we're still all searching. We sense, deep down, that there's got to be more to life than what we're living. We feel, in our bones, that even though it's elusive, the good life is out there. Centuries ago, an old man with scars on his back, sitting alone in a prison cell, claimed to have finally found it. The secret to the good life. And lucky for us, he wrote it down in a letter to his friends and to us. That letter is the Book of Philippians. Well, good morning, Summit family. Two weeks in a row. Mama, I made it. Unbelievable. Unbelievable. If you have your Bibles, please meet me in Philippians chapter 4, fourth chapter of the Book of Philippians. If you're new with us, we've been making our way through the Book of Philippians, and this is our last week in the book. We're going to look at verses 14 through 23, the closing verses of the Book of Philippians. The guy who wrote this, his name is Paul, and Paul says these words. Pick me up in verse 14. Yet it was kind of you to share with me in my trouble. And you Philippians yourselves know that in the beginning of the gospel, when I left Macedonia, no church entered into partnership with me in giving and receiving except you only. Even in Thessalonica, you sent me help for my needs once and again. Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that, make note of this phrase, increases to your credit. I have received full payment and more. I am well supplied, having received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent, a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God. And my God, hear this promise, will supply every need of yours according to his riches and glory in Christ Jesus. To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen. Don't read over this too fast. Greet every saint in Christ Jesus.

The brothers who are with me greet you. All the saints greet you, especially those of Caesar's household. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Let's pray. God, we rejoice in what you are doing in and through our church. Thank you for the stories of transformation that are coming out of camp. We thank you for the baptisms. We thank you, Lord God, for just all of those who are saying yes to Jesus, those who have said yes to Jesus, who are being discipled in their faith, equipped and unleashed, being sent out to our world in all the spheres of influence. Now, Lord God, would you speak to us as we conclude this series, Lord God? Would you encourage our hearts? Would you challenge us in areas we need to be challenged, pushed against those things that need to be pushed against, Lord God? May our hearts receive the word that is going to be preached. I do pray, Father God, that you would draw people to yourself, that people would say yes to you for the first time right now, Lord God, at this service. I do pray also that there would be people, Father, who would come forward and who would just say, yeah, I'm a follower of Jesus, but here are some specific areas of my life that maybe I'm wrestling with because of what's been preached, and I just need prayer, and I want to offer them up to God as a matter of repentance. God, would you do all of those things? Use me. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. Without a doubt, Alphonse, a.k.a. Scarface Capone, is the most notorious gangster in American history. There's a reverential awe, even to this day, that some have towards him. You listen to some of the hip-hop songs, and there's bound to be a reference in some of them of adoration towards Al Capone. Al Capone came of age during the period of American history known as Prohibition, where in defiance of the government, he thumbed his nose and decided that he would… was going to push away and not conform to their commands. And he decided to build an empire off of peddling and selling alcohol. He was a brutal man. You did not cross him.

If you did, there were dire consequences to pay. So many, so many got murdered. And yet, and yet for all of that, there were so many who looked to Al Capone as a model of the kind of life they wanted to live. As they saw Al Capone parade around town with the most beautiful of women, wear custom-made suits, have the biggest homes, mansions in various cities, smoked fine cigars. Here was this individual that they looked at as a paradigm for the life that they wanted. It might surprise you to know that later on in life and to this day, Al Capone screams, don't live the way that I lived. That's a pretty profound statement, Brian. How can you back that up? Just fly into Chicago, hop into your rental car, drive about 15 miles west of the city, and go to his gravesite. Right before he died, he commanded that these three words be etched on his tomb. My Jesus mercy. My Jesus mercy. Those three words say a lot. I believe it is Al Capone's admission and confession that I've wasted it. Don't be like me. I spent my life, better yet, I wasted my life, chasing after, pursuing those things

that in the scheme of eternity don't matter. Now, before we shake our head in pity at Al Capone, I want you to understand that today there will be billions of people at some point who are living today who, when they die, will have to say the same thing. My Jesus mercy. No, it may not be etched on their tombstone, but they will look through the rear view mirror of their brief stay on earth and realize, man, I've wasted it. No, they may not have been like Al Capone and killed people or built an empire and criminal activity, but they would have to admit that in the scheme of eternity I gave my life pursuing things that just didn't matter. My Jesus mercy. And maybe that's some of you. Maybe some of you, you're here today. Maybe you wouldn't call yourself a Christian and maybe you're here because you're just going, man, the stuff I'm pursuing, it just hasn't given me the fulfillment I was looking for. All of us, I think, even Christians, know what it's like to have stretches where we're really not getting after Jesus and what matters. We're getting after the stuff of this life and this looks a million different ways. For some of us, we're just pursuing success.

That's our bottom line. I have to be successful. I love what one individual said. One individual said, I climbed all the way up to the top of the ladder of success only to realize my ladder was leaning against the wrong wall. Other people, their bottom line is money, status and significance. Other people, what they're really after is that kind of relationship. I just kind of find the love of my life. Other people, maybe it's, you know, I'm trying to find social media and the clicks and the likes and the followers and the views. It just works in a million different ways. I love what the Christian philosopher, Dallas Willard says. Dallas Willard once said, we are spiritual beings having a physical experience. And what that means is when I put all of my chips in the physical box, when the physical stuff becomes my bottom line, it's a exercise in futility. I'm not really getting after what matters. So I want you now to imagine you're in a little home there in Philippi. It's a church community of about 30, 40 people. The founder of your church.

is a guy by the name of Paul. You love Paul. This isn't how the Corinthians were with Paul. And there was this friction between them. There's none of that. The Philippians, there's no friction. There's only a deep love and affinity. You've heard some time ago that your founder, Paul, he's in prison. And man, you're crestfallen. You're heartbroken. And so you decide as a means of encouragement to raise an offering. You give sacrificially. You get one of his colleagues, a guy by the name of Epaphroditus, and you say, here, just take this to Paul. Let him know we love him. And we want him to be encouraged. And so they take the gift to Paul who's in prison. Many think he's in prison in Rome and Paul gets the gift and he's touched. So Paul decides I got to give him an update. So he picks up a pen and he writes a letter saying, this is what I'm up to. This letter is now ferried back to the Philippians. They're gathered together again. And someone's reading Paul's letter. And because of the affection and the affinity, they're leaning in. They can't wait to hear. And one of the things they hear is Philippians 1, 12, where Paul says, I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel as it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest. My imprisonment is for Christ. I want you to know. Thanks for being concerned about me. I might be stuck in prison, but the gospel hasn't stopped. I'm getting after it. And your gifts are enabling me to help continue to pursue and to get after what matters. And then we come to chapter four, verses 14 to 23. As this word was read, you should have noticed words like partnership, share. Paul is saying, man, we're in this together. You've given me the gift. I'm advancing the gospel, which means if I'm getting after what matters, you're getting after what matters. He ends by saying, oh, Philippians, be encouraged. There's no my Jesus mercy for you. You're not wasting your life. Your partnership in the gospel, you're living for what really matters. Is this you? Is this you? One of my favorite figures in church history is a guy by the name of C.T. Studd. I don't know if you know that name. If you don't know that name, you should. C.T. Studd has been called the greatest cricket player of the 19th century. He was a beast of an athlete who dominated on the cricket team at Cambridge University. He would later on be selected on the English national team, where he would continue to dominate. Yet, as his star was rising, there was this gnawing hole in his soul that something was missing. It's at this point

that C.T. Studd, this world-famous athlete, had what he called a spiritual awakening. The great hound of heaven, Jesus Christ, tracked him down, got a hold of his heart. For C.T. Studd, what that meant was at the height of his athletic career, he quit. He retired. He threw up the deuces. He decided to go to China to become a full-time vocational missionary. Later on in life, he wrote a poem. I'm sure you've heard of it. Here's the poem. It's this poem called Only One Life, where he said, Only one life will soon be passed. Only what's done for Christ will last. Later on in life, man, he was about to die, and he's got this quote. This is like top three favorite quotes. It's a gangster quote. C.T. Studd said, I pray that when I die, all of hell will rejoice that I am no longer in the fight. That's a beast of a quote. I mean, don't you want that said of you? As you're flatlining, Satan's like, oh gosh, praise the Lord. Get him out of there. He gave us fits. I want that said of me. That's the only set of people who get after what matters. It ain't said of people whose bottom line is letters behind their name, living in a certain community, sending my kid to a certain private school so I can put the bumper sticker on the back of my car, bragging to the, no, it's not said of them. Here's my concern. We're in the South. We're the Bible Belt. We were just so nice. I grew up in Atlanta. So it takes one to know one. Here's my concern. My concern, cultural Christianity. We can have just enough Jesus to be acceptable, but not too much to freak you out.

That Jesus becomes my administrative assistant who helps me pursue what I wanna do instead of my CEO. And we just kind of settle in. Yeah, I'm gonna come to Summit, second service, that's kind of what I do. I'm gonna go to lunch and I'll have a little daily devotions and maybe Jesus will come in and help to rearrange the furniture in my life where Jesus, I'm not coming in to rearrange the furniture. I wanna blow your life up. I wanna get after what matters. At the end of the day, man, I don't care about any of this stuff. At the end of the day, what matters to me is Jesus and making Him known and making Him famous. I don't be careful of the C.T. Studd illustration because I don't want anyone to think in order to really live for what matters, you gotta quit your job in the marketplace and become a full-time vocational minister. Although I don't wanna let you off the hook. I do believe for some of you, that will be the call. Some of you, God is going to say, I want you to have a real awkward conversation with your parents who paid all that money for your college and tell them you're leaving that. I know they took loans out in their name, but you're leaving that because you're following me and I'm taking you somewhere else.

For some of you, that could be the call. But for most of us, the call will be, stay exactly where you are and live for what matters in the marketplace, in your neighborhood, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do. Eat or drink or whatever you do, do all for the glory of Christ. That's the call. Just even this week, man, I was sitting down at lunch with three of the members of our church. None of them are in full-time vocational ministry. They're all in the marketplace. Man, I was so encouraged by the lunch. Man, we're sitting there talking and they're all talking about short-term mission trips they've gone on, missionaries they're supporting. They're giving each other advice on how to vet people who come and ask them to help partner with them financially. One of them's even saying, man, would you just pray for me? Man, I just need more boldness and sharing my faith in my neighborhood. I'm like, you get it, you're in the marketplace, but you're living for what matters. Okay, I've said nothing new to you. There's no aha moments here. If you call yourself a Christian, you've been around church, just a reminder. Then why is it that there are so many Christians

who aren't really living for what matters? Why is that? Because so many Christians, Paul's gonna tell us, are living discontented lives, distracted by the amenities of this life. How do I know that? Verses 14 to 23, he's encouraging them. You're living for what matters, but let's go back and talk about what he just talked about before. Verse 10. I rejoice in the Lord greatly that now at length you revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity. Not that I'm speaking of being in need, for I've learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I've learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance, and need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Notice he connects a contented life with a life that gets after what matters. Or here's my first point of application. Paul is going to show us that contentment frees us to live for what matters. Unless you're resting in Christ. Unless there is this contentment. So let me just go back to what we just talked about

last week, this idea of contentment, it's the idea of sufficiency. That's what it means in the Greek, that Greek word. But you also gotta understand words only have meaning in relationship with other words. We learned last week that this sense of sufficiency isn't self-sufficiency, but it is a sufficiency that's linked to Christ. How do I know that? Verse 13, I can do all things, all things, all things through Christ who strengthens me. The things there is contentment in its context. In other words, Paul isn't telling them to go the way of the Stoics. We learned last week that the Stoics taught that contentment was the highest Greek ethic. And that the way that you did that is you just willed yourself and you just tried harder and I'm not gonna purchase and I'm not gonna spend and I'm not gonna do that and I'm not gonna do that. Paul now hits them with the left hook by telling them, yes, I want you to be content, but your contentment is not found in you trying harder. Your contentment is found in you leaning into the only real source of contentment, which is Jesus Christ. He enables me and empowers me to live a contented life and yet Paul is clear. You have to learn. He says, I have learned contentment.

Which means contentment isn't natural. What's natural is discontentment. Augustine said, our hearts are restless until they find their rest in you. So one of the things we learned last week is if I'm gonna learn contentment, we've got to be curious about our contentment. The word we actually used last week is we have to interrogate our contentment. Why am I always buying stuff? Why is Amazon living at my house? Why do I have to end every day, especially a hard parenting day with a glass of wine? Why am I always on social media? What's at the bottom of my FOMO? My fear of missing out. Be brutal with your discontentment. Don't let a day go by where you don't stop and interrogate yourself. Why am I so discontent? Now, right on the heels of that, Paul is going to connect the contented life with the financially generous life. He's gonna pair contentment and gospel generosity. This isn't the only time Paul connects contentment with money. Writing to Timothy, who's the pastor of the Church of Ephesus, Paul gives these instructions in 1 Timothy 6, will you look at it with me?

But godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing with these, we will be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. I want you to highlight the word snare, snare, snare. Discontentment is a snare that is, it entraps us, it binds us, it keeps us from something, it keeps us from getting after God's agenda, God's purposes for our life. In essence, here's what Paul is telling Timothy, write this down. Paul is saying, hey, Timothy, do not take orders from money. Live content, teach your people to live content, why? Because it's when I'm content that I'm free to get after what matters. I'm so blessed, man, my parents, I'm just so blessed. My parents modeled a simple, contented life. I didn't grow up poor, didn't grow up poor at all. But you would think that we did

just because of the simplicity. My parents made some very, very clear choices. My dad has got a bit of a national platform. and it's kind of well-known. And so when I'd bring friends over who had just, they were, you know, they were in awe of my dad. When I would bring over to the house for the first time, they would, like the house didn't match what they thought it would be. It's really simple. The cars were simple. No, they were embarrassing. I took our Ford Aerostar, burgundy Ford Aerostar to my junior prom. I still have scars over that. But just simple, simple, simple. And I remember when my dad was teaching me about finances, my dad just had this one line that's always stayed with me. When I was in middle school or high school, they would give me an allowance just to teach me just kind of financial principles. And there would be times in which dad would watch me about to make a purchase. And he would always say this to me, say, son, no is the most freeing word in the English language. A no to lesser things is a yes to greater things. A no to lesser things is a yes to greater things. That's the idea here. I want to say this to us in a very non-legalistic way.

I really believe that there's plenty of you that you want to put your yes on the table, but you can't because you're still taking orders from money. You've gotten into debt. And I want to, of course there's grace. And I want to encourage you, be aggressive in paying it off. And I know this opens the door to all kinds of legalistic foolishness and should you drive this kind of car and should you live in this neighborhood, have that kind of house. Notice Paul doesn't get into any of that. And I'm not getting into any of that. You have the Holy Spirit in you. I love what one pastor says. He says, Christians would rather have a rule than to think. You have the Spirit. You've got other, you know, lean into wonderful Christian community, bounce these things off of them, make decisions. Don't go down legalism road here. But I want to encourage you, live a contented life. And now I'm free. I'm free to get after God's agenda because I'm not taking orders from money. Secondly, Paul says that we should actively participate in the advancement of the gospel. Again, verse 14, Paul says, yet it was kind of you to share my trouble. And you Philippians yourselves know

that in the beginning of the gospel, when I left Macedonia, no church entered into partnership with me in giving and receiving except you only. Even in Thessalonica, you sent me help for my needs once and again. Again, the idea of partnership, participate, share, there's a connection. What does that look like? It's actually financial, giving and receiving, help for my need once and again. We've already said that the gift that he received was a financial contribution. And then Paul is very vulnerable. He says, I want you to know when I left Macedonia, which is where Philippi is located, no church entered into giving and receiving with me except you only. In other words, everyone else dropped out. You're the only ones, because of your financial partnership, that really supported me. I love it. We might say in marketing terms, Paul is saying, I became the entrepreneur taking risks for the kingdom of God, planting churches, but I couldn't have done this without you, the venture capitalists. You funded the mission. Wow.

I pastored in the Bay Area for four years, and there were all kinds of people who were entrepreneurs who would come to our church, man, and they had this incredible vision. They had all these dreams, man. They wanna see the startup kind of take off, and they had these great ideas. The problem is, of course, with entrepreneurs in the infancy, they didn't have any resources. So what they were always seeking was to get an audience with a venture capitalist. The idea here is if I could just pitch them, and what venture capitalists were looking for is, are you offering a unique product that will meet a broad need, a unique product that will meet a broad need? Oh, I want you to understand in marketing terms, the gospel is a unique product. Every other religion says there's a gap between us and God. They say their version of we now have to do good things. We gotta work our way up to God. Here's the uniqueness of Christianity. Christianity says, yes, there is a gap between us and God, but we can't do enough good works. You ain't got that much money. You ain't got that much time. You can't go to church enough to work yourself up to God, but thank God that in Christ, God worked himself down to us in the person of Jesus Christ

who lived the life we could never have lived and died the death we should have died. That is a unique product. And you talk about a broad need. All of us need it. Paul says, I became the entrepreneur. You became my venture capitalist. You funded it. Oh, what does this look like here at the Summit Church? Oh, I haven't quite seen a church like the Summit. We've planted about 80 churches in the United States. We have sent out full-time missionaries, 264 of them globally. We have played a part in establishing 679 churches around the world. I'm here to tell you, this is ascending church with frontline entrepreneurs all over the world. And you need to know, I don't say this to flatter you. I've pastored in New York City. I've pastored in Memphis. I've pastored in the Bay Area. I've never seen a church like the Summit where 35 cents of every dollar you give helps to send and fund these frontline entrepreneurs for the kingdom of God. But we're believing God for more. We're believing God for more. Now, if you wanna up your venture capitalist game, you can go to our website, summitchurch.com, and we have these things called Legacy Lanes

where you can give directly to fund global missions. You can give directly to fund our next wave of leaders through the Summit Institute where they're having to raise support. My wife and I just sat down with a couple, Summit Institute residents looking to raise support. Man, we're happy to get on their team, man, but I want you, this is a wonderful opportunity to get after what matters. Because I promise, as you're flatlining about to die, you ain't gonna say, oh, I should have bought that car and gotten the 26-inch rims. None wrong with rims, none wrong with rims. But if we have any regrets, it'll probably be, should have funded more frontline entrepreneurs. Finally, Paul wants us to understand that there's a blessing when we get after what matters. Paul says in verse 17, not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit. What is the fruit? Look at verse 21. Here's the fruit. Paul says, greet every saint in Christ Jesus. The brothers who are with me greet you. Don't miss this. All the saints greet you. Don't miss it, especially those of Caesar's household. You missed it. What are saints?

You don't have to spend a day in seminary to figure this out. Saints are people who are followers of Jesus. So here's Paul. All the followers of Jesus greet you, especially those of Caesar's household. Man, if I'm sitting in the room as this letter is being read, my mouth is on the floor. Will you say that again? Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. There's members of Caesar's household who have become followers of Jesus? Yes. And your financial gifts help to enable that. Scholars tell us that Caesar's household, it doesn't have to do with people who he shares DNA with. In other words, he's not talking about his children. He's not talking about his spouse or his extended family. Scholars say that Caesar's household is the administrative body scattered all throughout the Roman Empire who helped to give leadership to the most powerful empire. the world had ever seen. These would include palace officials, secretaries, administrators, and those whose job it was to collect the imperial revenue. Yes, it is those individuals, some of those, had come to faith in Jesus Christ. And Paul is saying your gifts helped to make that happen. Wow.

But notice he says, the fruit that increases he's writing in Greek and the Greek word for increases is a marketplace business term. The equivalent in today's culture would be this. Increases means compound interest. But you sowed into the immaterial, you invested into the eternal, and man, this thing just keeps compounding and compounding and compounding, compounding. In a couple of weeks, I'm gonna do one of my favorite things. I'm gonna get on an airplane and I'm gonna go visit one of my sons in the ministry, a guy by the name of Derek Puckett. Him and his wife, Kaylee, have asked me to preach the 10-year anniversary of their church, renewal church that they planted in downtown Chicago. My wife and I love Derek and Kaylee. They used to live with us when he interned with us when I pastored in Memphis. In fact, doing the math, I believe one of their kids was conceived in our house. So they lived with us. And in our church, my wife and I we were their venture capitalists. We partnered with them in the planting of that church. I'm gonna get there and I'm gonna do whatever, what I always do when I visit one of my sons in the ministry's churches.

I'm gonna stand in the back. There's about 500 of them gathered and I'm gonna look around and I'm gonna think compound interest. Some of you know the name Ricky Harris. Ricky used to be on staff here at our church. I just did dinner with Ricky the other night. He's been in town. He planted a church, I think back in March or April of this year in Las Vegas. And over dinner the other night, Ricky said, just this past Sunday, Brian, over 915 people were in church. They're going to a third service in a couple of weeks. And he's invited me to come preach later on this fall. And I'm gonna stand in the back. Ricky was my intern at our church in Memphis. And he's like a son to me in the ministry. And I'm gonna stand in the back of his church in Vegas and I'm gonna look around, I'm gonna think compound interest. And I'm gonna stand in the back of his church in Las Vegas and I'm gonna look around and I'm gonna think compound interest. I wanna encourage you, when you go out of town and you're gonna be at whatever that location is on a Sunday, I wanna encourage you, hop on Summit's website and just look at our Summit collab, all the churches we planted.

And if there's one in the city where you're going, just go. So if you're in Denver, go to the Heights Church. If you're in Brooklyn, go to Crossroads Church. If you're in Charlotte, go to O'Reilly's Church. If you're in New York, go to the New Yorker's Church. If you're in Charlotte, go to Oasis Church. And just, you know, when you get there, just walk in, stand in the back and just start looking. I know some people might look at you like you're crazy and if a usher just comes to you and says, can I help you with something? What's going on? No, no, no, I'm good. I'm just counting compound interest. What car could I buy? What outfit could I buy that could contribute or that could compare with the investment in eternity? The compound interests, churches being planted, people coming to faith. Wow. Secondly, Paul wants us to understand, he pivots in verse 18 from business language to worship language. He says, when you partner in what really matters, he calls it a fragrant offering. In the Greek, that means it smells good to God. It's the picture of a person who comes home, maybe from a busy day, and they walk in the house and their mother or their loved one is in the kitchen cooking their favorite meal,

and the aroma just grabs them. Smile it's just stretched across their faith face. He says that's what what happens with God Paul saying you're you're not ultimately giving to me. You're this is going to God. It's a fragrant offering goes. Oh That smells good And then the promise verse 19 And my God will supply All of your needs According to his riches and glory in Christ Jesus Paul is taking a page from Jesus. I Want you to understand this is Jesus talking not some name it claim it prosperity theologian Give and it will be given to you good measure Press down shaken together Running over will be put into your lap For the measure you use it will be measured back to you But Paul and Jesus are saying is when you take care of God's business God will take care of your business But notice he'll supply all of your needs Needs not greed I Want to be careful here though because somebody might get the idea. Okay, I'm gonna give and I'm gonna give to get back Paul says that's partially true. That's not all the way true To the Corinthians Paul says you will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way which through us will produce Thanksgiving to God listen, listen, I'm in this journey with you and I just got to tell you when my wife and I I don't know 20 years or so ago when When we out of obedience says, okay, we want our at the time checkbooks bank statements To tell the truth of what we really believe matters When we when we said we want to go on this journey of going to war with Discontentment going to war with death. We want to get free

I'm telling you it's almost laughable how God has fulfilled these promises in our lives. I One of my favorite things I'd love to do my kids were in middle school or whatever, you know Tax season comes we do the tax thing and we show them the tax form the line on there that says just this how much We gave last year and you'd watch their eyes get big and then I'd just love to say to them. Now, what'd you miss? You got your cleats You got all the activities we did the big what did you miss And this word haunts me even to this day you will be Enriched in every way to be generous in every way We used to sing a song my little chocolate church growing up on the south side of Atlanta Written by the king of gospel Song says You can't beat God giving No matter how hard You try I Found that to be true Hudson Taylor Great man of God missionary started the China Inland Mission As they were putting their paperwork together For what would form their mission he had this as the first article He said there would be no pleas for money except to God All of their needs would be met by him as they walked in faith, I love this Depend upon it God's work Done God's way Will never lack God's supply I'm just thinking about this other day I was meeting with a young man. He's raising support and you know, a lot of times we don't feel led and playing times we say no, but there have been times when the Holy Spirit says yes, and then he'll give me a number and I'm like I need clarification on that number

And he'll say his version of just trust me I'm gonna put it in your hand to put it in his hand And I've never seen him not come through You So I want to close this way. All of us, all of us, all of us, not all of you, all of us struggle daily with discontentment. It's a daily battle. I'm in it with you. It's frustrating. I hate the fact that when my mind slips into neutral, oftentimes that means discontent and I'm always reaching for things. I want to invite our prayer team people to come now. They'll be to the side. As the prayer team comes, they'll be to the side. For some of you, here's the call. You would say, I'm a follower of Jesus Christ, but over the last couple of weeks, God's just been speaking to me about areas of discontent in my life, or maybe even today, God's just been speaking to me and I just want to come forward and I just want to name that area and I just want to, I just want to get prayer. I want you to receive the promise of James chapter five, confess your faults to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed. So if you're a follower of Jesus, I want to encourage you in just a few moments as the spirit leads you to just, just come and to just say, here's an area of discontent. Would you just pray for me? I want to get free so I can live for what really matters. Others of you, you're here and you don't know Christ as Lord and savior. And Paul says, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. What he is saying is that Christ, the most contented person to have ever lived, empowers us to live the contented life. Jesus Christ loves you so much.

You matter so much to Christ that he gave his life for you. And our response is to give our life to what really matters, which is Christ and Christ alone. So today, Hebrews says the day you hear his voice, harden not your heart. Today the call for some of you is to step out of your seat and to begin your journey with Jesus, to come to one of our leaders and to just say, I want to relinquish control of my life. I want to surrender and I want to follow the contented one, Jesus Christ. So father, would you continue to do your work of stirring in this place today? For those of us who are followers of you, maybe today's the day you're saying, why don't you name that area of discontent and have someone pray over you? Today's the day of freedom. Maybe for others who don't know you as Lord and Savior, Jesus, would you draw that they may say yes to you? It's in Christ's name I pray, amen.