How To Have It All And Hate It- Pastor Chris Lindberg

Good morning, men and women. It's so awesome to be able to come to you again from Life Fellowship Church right here in McKinney, Texas into your tablet on the Pando app. We're just so grateful for technology and for you just being able to have one. My name is Logan Williams and my TDC number is 1490218. And I did not have a tablet when I was in there when I was in the Texas Department of Corrections. And man, what a blessing it is. There's so much content, so much life that you can access in your spare time or just in your in your not spare time when you're just there and you could be engaging in things that, you know, grieve the heart of God. You can now look on this tablet. You can get filled up. It's it's so good. It's so good. So we're so blessed to be able to be on there and come to you. My heart is for you because I've been there. I haven't maybe been at your units that you're at, but I've been around because I got four more numbers after that. Back and forth, back and forth. Can't get out of this cycle. All those thoughts. Is this it? Is this is this my destiny is just to because, you know, eventually they'll just give you a number you can't fade and and you're stuck. But God, but God, man, I just want to encourage you all this morning that anything is possible with Jesus. And if you're watching this today, he's after you. He's he's leaving 99 to go get you. He's searching for the lost coin. He's got the lights turned on. He's sweeping the sweep of the house looking. He's he's looking for you and I doubt you're going to get away. And that's good news. That's good news. Hey, tell your friends and family they can download the same life fellowship app on on the Pando app. It's you can get it on your phone. I got it on my phone. Y'all can watch the same services, the same teachings and all the same stuff. And you can talk about it when you when you write each other or see each other in visitation or talk on the phone. It's good to do this walk alone, not to do this walk alone, but it's good to do it with family members, especially if you have kids. Don't fall victim to the lie that you can't lead your family just because you're incarcerated. That's that's not true. You can be an example. You can speak life into your kids. You can pray over your kids. You can do all that stuff. Man, I was reading Matthew 11. Verse 28 says, Come to me all you who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Says, Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I'm gentle and lowly in heart. And you'll find rest for your souls. Rest for your soul. It's different than just being tired. You know, our bodies get tired and we can just take

a nap. Right. We can just go to bed early, sleep extra. We can do those things. We can we can take a day off. But he's talking about rest for your soul. That's a different thing. That's that's it's almost like you're depleted and you need to be refilled. And that can't be done with just a nap or a day off. But Jesus says, Come to me all who are all who labor and are heavy laden. Who is Jesus inviting to come to him? All everybody. Gangsters, ex gangsters, drug dealers, crackheads, prostitutes, thieves, all he's they're all invited. In fact, I would submit to you that if Jesus was walking around on Earth today, that's who he'd be hanging out with. We would be who he's hanging out with. People with five TDC numbers is who he would be hanging out with just based on who he hung out with when he was here. If you read the Bible. And so he's inviting you to come, everybody. I don't care if you haven't prayed in in a month. He's saying come. I don't care if you haven't read the word in a month. He's saying come. I don't care if you haven't been to church in six months. He's saying come. He's not mad at you. He's not disappointed in you. He loves you just the way you are. And he says, Come. If you're discouraged, if you beat down, if you're if you're disappointed, if you're like, I don't know if I can do this one more day. He's saying come to me when you think you've got it all handled. But inherently, you know that you don't when you're when you're when you're just at your wits end, man. Jesus says, come. And I know there's many moments in the different situations that you guys are in where you get discouraged, you get anxious, you get fearful, and you wanna just give up, but you can't because this machine just keeps going, this penitentiary thing just keeps on going, like there's nowhere you can go. Jesus says, come to me and I'll give you that rest. And he says, take my yoke upon you and learn from me. And that's interesting to me because what he's talking about there

is a yoke is like a wooden crossbar that used to, back in the day, before now we have tractors and plows, but they used to take two animals and link them together with this wooden crossbar. They would be strapped together so that they could work at the same pace. They could work together. And they found that two animals yoked together would do more work than individual animals not yoked together. And so it multiplies the work. And so he's saying, I wanna put this yoke, this work tool on you when you come to me because you're depleted and you're anxious and you're discouraged and you don't know if you can go on. He said, I wanna put this yoke on you and you're gonna actually be yoked with me and you're gonna do life with me. You're gonna do life at my pace. You're gonna do work at my pace. He says, learn from me for I'm gentle and lowly in heart. So how do we learn from Jesus? We read about him. We can pray and talk to him. We can do whatever we need to do, whatever that thing is that can refocus our attention on the grace and the goodness of God. That is the rest in the moment.

Whatever that thing is, maybe it's praying, maybe it's worship, maybe it's put your earbuds in, man, crank some worship. There's all kinds of worship on the Pando app. I particularly like the Life Fellowship worship, but there's tons of worship on there. Maybe that refocuses you to the grace and the goodness of God. And one of my prayers every day is that, God, that I would never just get to a place where I'm not mind blown by your grace and mercy, by your endless sea of grace and mercy that you have for us, that you have for me, a sinner. Like Paul said, man, of the sinners, man, I'm the worst. Like I can say that, man, I have a, there's a war zone behind me. There is a train wreck in my story, but Jesus's grace and mercy is bigger than that. So if we can take time in the day and focus on that, that will begin to refill us. And so he's saying he's gentle and lowly and hard, and you'll find rest for your souls. This is the soul rest that we need. And I know being locked up, being in those big units, being in those crazy units, many of you need rest. And so Jesus says, come, man, come all. I know that some of you that are in county jails right now, man, and you're sweating that, what, what, what, how much time am I gonna get? You know, how's it gonna go in court?

Like that will wear you down, man, I know. Man, Jesus says, come all. Yeah, but I've never come before, Jesus. He said, it doesn't matter, come all. Yeah, well, I've been all in with you and backslidden and all in and backslidden, and I just can't even imagine how you would possibly wanna give me another chance. He's saying, come, he's saying, come all. He has so much love and grace and mercy in his heart, guys, for us. It doesn't matter what you've done. It doesn't matter if you got high this morning. Jesus says, come, come all of you. He wants a relationship with us so bad, so bad. And so I just wanna encourage you guys with that this morning. As I was reading it and thinking about, you know, my mind went back to being incarcerated, you know, and being in those places and all the crazy chaos and the anxiety and then the wondering, you know, in the county jails, how much time am I gonna get? But then once you get to prison, man, am I gonna make this parole? Am I gonna make this short way? Am I gonna, you know, just the not knowing, man, and it just wears you down. And then the, you know, you try to call your family and for some reason you can't get ahold of them.

You know, your phone runs out of money. You know, you're, and so all. stuff combined just weighs on you man and I just I feel like there's many of you that are in that place that you're just like man just just want to give up but Jesus says come so come to him take him at his word just pray a prayer and say Jesus you say you say in your word to come to you and you'll give me rest and here I am I'm coming and I want rest from this anxiety I want rest from this discouragement I want uh not only to overcome that but I want to have joy in my heart and I want to be able to go into somebody else's dark place where they're about to be discouraged where they're about to give up and I want to be able to speak life into them like he wants to not just save you from the discouragement he wants to flip it into joy so that you can go step into someone's darkness and be the light to them like that's the that's the point it's not just to save us it's to transform us so that he can use us to enlarge his kingdom and make much of his name and guys there's nothing better than that there's nothing better I've experienced it all man all the different drugs all the the drug life the the the the sexual sin and and material things and money and I've been to the top of that mountain nothing touches being used by God and getting to be a light into someone's darkness and so be encouraged man and come to him come to him hold him at his word pray this scripture back to him I challenge you I challenge you guys let me pray for you this morning heavenly father I just love my brothers and sisters who are watching who are incarcerated who are hanging on who are trying to seek something new something better something different something with you and I know that you love that and I can just you can just have an impression in my heart right now of how proud of them that you are like you love them so much in any little act or effort to try to get closer to you even if it's just clicking on this video God you love that and so I just want to tell them right now in this prayer that that God loves you God is proud of you God is not disappointed in you there's nothing that ties his hands from saving you he will meet you right where you're at and I just declare in Jesus name that that will happen for every single person that's watching and I just thank you God that you're that you are a God of endless grace and mercy God that we would never take that for granted and that not a day would go by when we're not weren't just blown away by how much grace and mercy that you have for us God and we thank you we thank you for for sending Jesus man for bankrupting heaven for for giving it all just so that you can have a relationship with us and

in Jesus man we just say thank you for what you did on the cross we uh we love you so much and God I just pray for the men and women who are watching today that you would just pour out your blessings on them and that you would pour out your love and your peace on them right now we pray these things in Jesus name amen amen guys I love you guys hope you enjoyed the message you know I got one more question whose house God's house let's give him some praise so good morning life fellowship church let's all stand up on our feet it is time to praise the king of kings come on let's get our hands together oh our praise in the valley our praise on the mountain our praise is oh Oh, I'm praised when I feel it, and I'm praised when I don't Oh, I'm praised when I know you're still in control My praise is a weapon, it's more than a sound My praise is the shout that brings Jericho down Come on, we say a song, and as long as I'm breathing I've got a reason to praise the Lord, oh my soul We praise the Lord, oh my soul No, I won't be quiet, my body's alive How could I keep it, so I'm going to praise the Lord, oh my soul Come on, do we have any graceful people in the house today? Come on, we are praising the King of Kings He is good, He is worthy of all of our praise Come on, let's get our hands together Why do you believe? Say I praise cause you're sovereign, praise cause you reign Praise cause you rose and defeated the grave I praise cause you're faithful, praise cause you're true

Praise cause there's nobody greater than you I praise cause you're sovereign, praise cause you reign I praise cause you're faithful, praise cause you're true Praise cause there's nobody greater than you I praise cause you're sovereign, praise cause you reinforce Praise cause you rose and defeated the grave I praise cause you're faithful, praise cause you're true I praise cause you're sovereign, I praise cause you reign I praise cause you rose and defeated the grave I praise cause you're faithful, praise cause you're true Praise cause there's nobody greater than you Praise the Lord, oh my soul We're going to praise, with everything we praise We praise the Lord, oh my soul We praise the Lord, oh my soul Oh I won't be quiet, my God is alive How could I keep it inside? Oh I won't be quiet, my God is alive So how could I keep it inside? I won't be quiet, my God is alive How could I keep it inside? Oh I'll praise the Lord, oh my soul We praise the Lord, we praise the Lord How could I keep it inside? Let everything, that has breath Praise the Lord, praise the Lord Let everything, that has breath Praise the Lord, praise the Lord Let everything, that has breath Praise the Lord, praise the Lord

Let everything, that has breath Praise the Lord, we praise the Lord I'm going to praise, with all my soul Oh I won't be quiet, my God is alive How could I keep it inside? Oh I won't be quiet, my God is alive How could I keep it inside? Oh I won't be quiet, my God is alive How could I keep it inside? We pray And I'm not sad Jesus, we give you glory this morning, we praise you this morning, we have a reason to praise, we have a reason to be grateful, God, you've been so good, you've been so faithful to us, Lord. So we praise you this morning, Jesus. We lift up our song. We have a reason to praise you. Let's sing this together, Grace upon grace, hallelujah. Hallelujah. And even though I don't deserve it, you did it. And even though I couldn't earn it, you give it. Come on, church, can we sing this together? So who am I that you keep me on your mind? God, I'm just grateful for you. God, I'm just grateful for you. And all my life, you've been right here by my side. God, I'm just, God, I'm just grateful for you. And holy, holy, there's only one. Jesus, I give glory for all that you do.

And even though I don't deserve it, you did it. Oh, and even though I couldn't earn it, Jesus, you give it. So who am I, who am I that you keep me on your mind? God, I'm just grateful for you. God, I'm just grateful for you. And all my life, you've been right here by my side. God, I'm just grateful for you. Oh, God, I'm just grateful for you. So who am I, who am I that you keep me on your mind? God, I'm just grateful for you. We're so grateful, Jesus. And all my life, all my life, you've been right here by my side. God, I'm just grateful for you. God, I'm just grateful for you. I've got so many reasons to bless your name. You woke me up this morning. You put breath in my body, Jesus. Come on, if you may not have a complicated text this morning, Jesus woke you up this morning, so you have a reason to praise him this morning. God, we give you glory. Come on, can we sing this together? And I, I'm lifting both of my hands, because you gave me chance after chance after chance. And I, I'm giving all that I am, Jesus, you gave me. Jesus, I, I'm lifting both of my hands, because you gave me chance after chance after chance. And I, I'm giving all that I am, Jesus, you gave me. Because you gave me chance after chance after chance. Oh, so who am I that you keep me on your mind? We're so grateful for you, Jesus.

And all my life, all my life, you've been right here by my side. We're so grateful for all that you've done, Jesus. Who am I? Who am I that you keep me on your mind? God, I'm so grateful. And all my life, all my life, you've been right here by my side. God, I'm so grateful for all that you've done. So I, I, I, I, I, I, I'm lifting both of my hands Cause you gave me chance after chance after chance Oh and I, I've got so many reasons, I've got so many reasons Cause you gave me chance after chance after chance, after chance Oh and I, when I think of all you've done And all the battles you've put me over I can't help but to be grateful I can't help but to be grateful Oh and I, I'm giving up Cause you gave me chance after chance after chance Cause when I think of all you've done And all the battles you've brought me over Hallelujah In all the storms I saw you come In my life you've been my only song Hallelujah Come on, can we sing that? When I think of all that you've done When I think, when I think of all you've done And all the battles you've brought me over Hallelujah I can't help but to respond I can't help but to say thank you Lord

And how you've never let me fall No word to him who is able Hallelujah So be praised Be praised Be praised Jesus be praised Oh be praised Be praised For you've been glorious Forever be praised So who am I that you keep me on your mind God I'm just grateful for you God I'm just grateful for you All my life you've been right here When I didn't see where they're going Yeah God I'm just grateful Come on, can we sing that one more time? So who am I that you keep me on your mind God I'm just grateful for you God I'm just grateful for you Jesus all my life you've been right here by my side God I'm just grateful for you God I'm just grateful for you Now come on, if there's any grateful people in this room this morning Can we give Jesus a praise? Thank you Jesus You've been so faithful God we're so grateful When you realize how good the Lord has been

When you realize what he has brought you through And where he has taken you out of You have no other choice but to lift up your hands in exaltation To a king who is worthy to be praised Come on, does anybody know that he is worthy today? He is worthy of all glory, all honor That is the reason why we gather here today It is to give him the highest praise God we are grateful for you And you are worthy to be praised I am a ministry of exaltation And I was born to lift your name above all names You hear the melody of all creation But there's a song of praise that only I can hear Who else is worth? Who else is worth? There is no one other than you Jesus Who else is worthy, who else is worthy, there is no one in the image of Jesus. You are the infinite, God of the ages, and if you chose to make my heart in a twirling place, you would be a fool, so I have songs of thanks, not even angels sing. Who else is worthy, who else is worthy, there is no one in the image of Jesus. Who else is worthy, who else is worthy, there is no one in the image of Jesus. Only you Jesus, and who else is worthy, who else is worthy, there is no one. Only you Jesus, and who else is worthy, who else is worthy, there is no one. Only you Jesus. There's only you Jesus, only you deserve the glory, yes you do. Come on, that's your opportunity right there, to begin to open up your mouth in praise, in exaltation, and say thank you Lord, thank you, I know that you are worthy, I know that there is nobody like you, I will exalt you, I will praise you, I will lift up your name, for you are to be glorified, you are magnified, you are lifted high, I will call you worthy and holy and righteous and matchless,

and there is nobody like you, come on lift up your voice and say, man of God, anointed one, who was and is and is to come, he's seated on the throne above, holy, holy, righteous one who shall be, Jesus Christ, holy, holy, man of God, anointed one, who was and is and is to come, he's seated on the throne above, holy, holy, righteous one who shed his blood, he proved to us the Father's love, Jesus Christ, holy, holy, anointed one, who was and is and is to come, he's seated on the throne above, holy, holy, righteous one, he proved to us the Father's love, Jesus Christ, man of God, and who else is worthy, and who else is worthy, there's no one, nobody like him, holy, Jesus, and who else is worthy, and who else is worthy, there's nobody, nobody, holy, Jesus, and man of God, anointed one, who was and is and is to come, he's seated on the throne above, holy, holy, righteous one who shed his blood, he proved to us the Father's love, Jesus Christ, holy, holy, man of God, and who else is worthy, and who else is worthy, he's seated on the throne above, holy, holy, righteous one, There is no one, only you, Jesus. You know, we stand here and we sing. We read the words on the screen and we sing with our voices. And sometimes I think I forget, and I wonder if you forget as well, that really what we're doing is we are worshipping the King of Creation. And it doesn't really matter if we know the song, if we like the song, if it's too hot, if it's too crowded. We are worshipping the King of all kings. There's a passage of scripture in Matthew 6 that reminds me of this today. Give me just a second. I want to show you guys this. Matthew 6, 19 says this. Don't store up treasures here on earth where moths eat them and rust destroys them

and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven where moths and rust cannot destroy and thieves do not break in and steal. Now, here's the key part. Wherever your treasure is, there are the desires of your heart will also be. And Jesus closes out this passage of scripture with this. He says, Seek the kingdom of God above all else and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. Now, here's the thing. It's easy to read that. It's easy to sing those songs. It's easy to give the Christianese, Hi, good morning, how are you? I'm good, how are you? But we worship a God that knows us. He knows our names. He knows the number of hairs on our head. He knows the deepest, darkest parts of our hearts, and he chooses to love us anyway. There is no higher name than the name of Jesus. There is no God more worthy of our worship and our adoration. So when scripture talks about seeking him first, that includes our worship. That includes our words. That includes our lifestyle, our giving, our family, our serving. We give him the first, not the leftovers. God has already chosen us. He is not distant. He is not just watching from afar. He's instantly involved in what he's doing in our lives and in his church, and that is worthy of worship, my friends. So as we continue today to worship through giving, through teaching,

I want to pray for us. I want to pray that God will continue to move. God, we thank you. We thank you for the truth of your word. We thank you for the freedom of your spirit, God. And we, there is no one else, God. We give you our all. We give you our best. So, God, today continue to grow us into the men and women you've called and created us to be. And, God, may we see a movement of God pour out among our homes, our neighborhoods, our workplaces, and our nation. It's in Jesus' name that we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. You guys can find your seats. As you're finding your seats, I want to remind our middle schoolers, middle school, you're running out the door. Middle school, go all the way out so they're not listening. Classic middle school experience just happened. You're going to the wrong room. You're going outside. They'll figure it out. It was on my Bible, tell the middle school crew to go outside, and they just went. So you guys saw it happen. Hey, it is a great day here in the house of the Lord. If you came prepared to give today, the ways to give are going to be on the screen.

If you're new today, I want to challenge you to text the word new to 51010. It's going to be a great way for us to meet you, for you to meet us. Or maybe you've been here for a while, and you want to learn more about who Life Fellowship is, what we believe, how you can get involved here. You want to text the word growth to 51010. Attend our growth track class to learn more about us. We good? Is it just me or is it warm? I'm gonna go fix it, okay? While we get the AC fixed, Pastor Chris is gonna bring an amazing word. Let's prepare our hearts to receive the message. I'm not satisfied, not with what I have, not with where I am, not with what God's done. Because everywhere I look, someone has more. So I scroll, I compare, I chase. And what I have never feels like enough. Even God's blessings start to feel small. If you wanna ruin your life, it is easier than you think. Well, hey, everybody. I'm glad to have you in service today. I wanted to show you my cup. I love this cup. This cup is, it's enough. In fact, many of the services, since you preach four services every single week, you just need to fill that cup up and make sure that you stay hydrated because your vocal cords can really take a beating

when you speak this often. But this cup, it's enough. What happens is, is that we introduce a bigger cup. And all of a sudden, what used to be enough is actually, feels like it's no longer enough. So the problem isn't what was in the cup. The problem is, is that enough seems to continually be moving into different places. And today, I wanna talk to us about being dissatisfied. I'm really, really excited for what God's gonna do. I wanna welcome every single one of you. I wanna actually look into this camera back here and say a big hello to our Church Online family. We are one church that happens to be meeting in many different rooms, as well as all of the men and women in all of our Department of Corrections. Can we give them a great big welcome, everybody? God bless you guys. So I would submit to you today that dissatisfaction, I would say, is probably one of the biggest issues that is facing us as people, and really, Americans. In fact, let me ask you a question. I'm gonna ask for 100% participation today. How many of you truly believe with me that money doesn't buy happiness? Come on, where are you at? Money does not buy happiness. Hands up, hands up. Come on, put them up, put them up, put them up. All right, cool.

And if you believe that, you're gonna believe what the Apostle Paul said in Timothy. He said, but godliness with contentment is great gain. And honestly, that is an unquestionably true statement. It is. He goes on, he says, for we brought nothing into this world and you're gonna take nothing out of it. In fact, let me ask this. Has anybody ever seen a hearse pull in a U-Haul, you know? Because we come into this world with nothing. You leave this world with nothing. But then he says, if we have food and clothing, we're gonna be what? Come on, everybody, you're gonna be what? Content with that. Now, that last line is where everything breaks apart for most people. So, here's what I know, that before you came to service today, every one of you, either you had something to eat or you're gonna have something to eat later on today. And looking out, I'm thankful that every one of you have clothes on, all right? That's a really good thing. That's a really good thing. So, scripture says that if you have clothes and if you have food, you should be content. Problem is, is that we have this aching on the inside of us that we just want more. I'm just not satisfied with what I've got. In fact, let me ask you another question.

And again, this is really important that I get participation from every person that's here. How many of you would just be truthful enough to say that if you had just a little bit more money, your life would be just a little bit better? Come on, how many of you would say, just give me some more and I'll be better, I'll be better? Okay, so what's the deal here? Like, which is it? Because I just asked you, I said, hey, how many of you agree that money doesn't buy happiness? And everyone's yes. And then I ask, how many of you would agree that if you needed a little bit more money, that your life would be a little better? And yes. So, like, what is it? So, here's what happens. We're actually saying things that we actually really don't believe. So, years ago, Gallup, they did a survey of about 10,000 individuals in America. They asked the question, how much money would you need to actually be happy? What they found out is that the people that are making $30,000 a year, they found out, they said, man, if I could just make $70,000 a year, then I'd be happy. Well they asked people that are making $50,000 a year, how much do you need to be happy? And they said, well, if I'm just making $100,000 a year. So they asked the people that are making over $100,000, how much do you need? And they're like, man, life is not cheap.

You've got to pay for mortgage, and you've got car payments, and you're putting your kids through college. And what they came to the conclusion was, it doesn't really matter at what level you're at, there's this rot, there's this aching inside of all of humanity that just is dissatisfied with what we've got, and we just want more. I mean, it's what happened with Adam and Eve. God put them in the middle of perfection. It was a sin-free environment. He said, everything that is here, it's all yours. Eat whatever fruit of any tree that you want, except you see that one tree right there, that one, that fruit right there, don't eat. Side note, for those of you that like to do a little deeper study on things, a lot of people have speculated as to what that tree was, what kind of fruit was that. Interesting, a lot of scholars believe it was actually a fig tree. Because what was it that Adam and Eve covered themselves with immediately after falling? It was a fig leaf. Could be true, maybe not, who knows? But what I do know is that Satan showed up into the garden, and he said, hey guys, I know God said that you can have everything, but you don't have that. And because you can't have that, you don't know what living really is. So he tempted them, he put the carrot out with, you just need a little more. Dissatisfaction, it's the rot inside of so many in culture today. In fact, this is exactly what happened when Jesus was driven out into the wilderness to be tempted for 40 days. In fact, interesting, the word driven there is the exact word, exact word that was used when Jesus drove the money changers out of the temple. The Holy Spirit drove Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan, and he takes him up on the top of this mountain, and he says, man, look at everything that's in this world. He said, you can have it all, if you'll just get on your knees and you will just worship me.

And obviously Jesus didn't fall for that, but we do all the time. There is this thing inside of us that we just clamor, we fight, we kick, we scream, we claw, we just try to get, we just try to get more. In fact, that's why Jesus said this in Luke chapter 12, he said, and Jesus told them this story, this parable, that the ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop, and the guy thought to himself, man, what am I going to do with all my stuff? I got no place to put all my crops, and don't you feel bad for the poor rich man, huh? And he said, this is what I'll do, I'm going to tear down my barns, I'm going to build bigger ones, and there I'll store all my grains and my goods, and I'll say to myself, you've got plenty of good things laid up for many years, so take life easy, eat, drink, be merry. And reality is, is that's what we all hope for, right? We all hope that we get to the place in our lives that I'll have all these such and such things, and when I get these things, then I'll be happy. We think if I just get a certain amount of money, then I'll be happy, and if I can get my body to look a certain way, then I'm going to be happy. You know, if I can just lose 20 pounds, if I can just maybe gain 20 pounds, I'll be happy. Something if I can just get my relationships right, then I'm going to be happy. If I can just get my spouse to do what I want her to do, then I'm going to be happy. Some of you are thinking, my gosh, I love my iPhone, until you see the new iPhone that's coming out. And you're thinking, my gosh, I want the new iPhone because it's got an app on there that'll scramble your eggs, you know, I need to get that one. And so here's the thing, here's what happens is that all the things that we feel so dissatisfied with, when we finally get them, it still doesn't quell that longing for more on the inside. So we keep fighting, we keep striving, we keep being dissatisfied, and it just is this never-ending cycle. And so the story continues, God speaks, God said to him, you fool, this night your life will be demanded from you. This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich for God.

So here's what I want to do. I want to show you how to live a life of dissatisfaction. So if you're in your life right now and you feel satisfied, you're grateful for where you're at and what God's doing in your life, and you want to step out of that, and you want to begin to clamor for that more, for that rot on the inside, these are five simple steps that I'm going to encourage you to take. And again, these are a little bit of tongue-in-cheek today as I give them to you. Here's the first one, and that's this, you just need to become super at being super ungrateful. Like, just do it, I promise you. In fact, the writer of Hebrews said this, therefore since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let's be thankful. And hey everybody, if you want to live a dissatisfied life, don't be thankful, and don't worship God acceptably with reverence and awe. So here's the thing, if you are a believer, chances are pretty strong that somebody's going to come to you and remind you that you are a joint heir with Christ, and that you are having an inheritance in the kingdom of God, and that God himself is actually building for you right now a mansion. It's being built right now. In fact, I heard years ago Keith Green talk about how if God created this world and its beauty in seven days, imagine what heaven and your mansion in heaven's going to look like because God's been building it for the last 2,000 years. But even better than that is that you're going to be getting a brand new body. Come on everybody, you're going to be able to be a super eater. You can eat whatever you want, and it won't affect you negatively, whatever you want, because there is food in heaven. The Lord makes it very clear. Like I'm going to be a little bit taller, a little more hair on the back of my head. But don't think about any of that. Listen, if you want to be dissatisfied, don't think about eternity, because that's not what's important.

Important is now. You focus on today. You focus on this life, not just everything of what you do. You focus on now. So, here's what I know. God has given you a lot of great things. But focus on the things that God hasn't given to you. Just think about those things. Just ruminate on them, and let a spirit of ungratefulness just begin to be developed on the inside of you. Just think about them. Ladies, you know, just if you don't like your hair, just find some other lady that has better hair than you, and just go, well, why don't I have hair like her? Just become ungrateful with that. Guys, if you don't have hair, find another guy that does have hair, and just look at his hair and just compare. Right? Because how many of you guys know that are bald? You know that God actually loves bald people more than He loves everybody else, right? Where's all my bald people at? Come on, where are you at? Jeff, when God looks down, man, He sees Himself, man. He sees a reflection of Himself when He looks down. Just compare. Just have a spirit. Resent the goodness of God in other people's lives. So when you get a chance, make sure that you watch Extreme Home Makeover. And just think to yourself, well, why doesn't God do that for me? Why do they have to get the nicer home? Why do they have to get all that?

Just resent the goodness of God in other people's lives. And you're going to find yourself becoming dissatisfied. So don't be thankful. Don't be thankful that your kids are healthy. Don't be thankful that you have health in your body. Don't be thankful that you actually own and drive a car, which puts you in the top 3% of the richest people that are on the planet. Just be ungrateful and complain and ask God, why can't I be in the top 1%? Just resent God. Be like the 99 lepers. So God, Jesus healed 10 of them, but there was only one of them that came back to give God thanks. The other ones dismissed God. They put Him on the shelf. They just received Him. And they just went on with their life like it's it's really important that you become super at being super ungrateful Here's the second one this one's mission critical, and that is can keep comparing until nothing Feels like enough In fact check out this crazy verse in 2nd Corinthians It says we do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves When they measure themselves by themselves compare themselves with themselves they are not wise So here's what you do If you start feeling thankful If you start feeling grateful Just get around some other people that are doing better than you and just compare yourself to them And before you know it you're gonna begin to find yourself filled with such dissatisfaction So if you like your house, and you're satisfied with it Go hang out at somebody else's house. That's better than yours, and you're gonna come home to your little shack Compare hair compare salaries

Compare your social media following Lady can ladies compare your bodies with other Models that are on Instagram that haven't eaten since 2020 you know I'm saying Watch this the best way to kill something special in your life is to compare it You want to destroy the goodness the greatness that the Generosity of God just start comparing it, and you will devalue what it is that God is actually bringing to you Then if you really want to take some great strides make sure you step into number three And that's choose temporal things over eternal treasures Jesus said watch out be on your guard against all kinds of greed And I want you to notice that he said we need to do what they're Watch out why would he say that? It's because there's this tendency in every one of us to do this He said a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his Possessions Can you think of anything that is crazier than that Because we live in america right now. We know that what we have our possessions is what matters the most So what do we do? We value our stuff more than we value people We're not going to walk in love. We're not going to walk in grace We're not going to extend the kindness the goodness of God. We're not going to walk in love We're not going to walk in grace. We're not going to extend the kindness the goodness of God because it's all about what I can get for myself Because I need to build an empire I need to surround myself with everything that I need so that my life can be better even if I have to run over people So we kind of have this idea in america that more is better Bigger is better Newer is better Honestly, that's the american model right there More is better bigger is better newer is better Don't think about the eternal you think about your now you think about building your own empire Don't vest into god's kingdom. Don't help other people out. Just focus in on yourself, and I promise you that if you'll do that

You're going to begin to live this discontented this Dissatisfaction is going to rot on the inside of you And then number four resent god for your situation this one's great Be like the guy In psalms who was in captivity and he cried out in verse 40 in verse 2. He said you are god my stronghold But why have you rejected me? Why must I go about mourning oppressed by the enemy? God, it's your fault I mean you could have done something about this. I mean you are god and you chose not to and so it's your fault So just let it just Percolate on the inside of you bubble over God i'm angry that i'm not married yet God i'm angry that I give and I serve and yet there's other people that are more financially blessed than I am Just just begin to fault god for it I'll just say god because i'm not where I need to be and I should be where I think I should be in my life God it's your fault just begin to resent god for The things in your life that are not going the way that you think that they should And when you do it Oh my goodness, this dissatisfaction in you is going to grow the roots will grow down so deep The enemy is going to take hold of it. He'll begin to corrupt your heart It's going to be the fastest thing possible. And then if you want extra credit number five place gratitude with entitlement. The Bible says in Romans, it says, the wages of sin is death. And I know that the Bible says that we deserve death, but come on everybody, those living in dissatisfaction understand that you deserve more, like you deserve that new purse. You deserve those new shoes. You deserve that $120,000 fishing boat on your $30,000 a year salary. You deserve more, baby. And honestly, I think that these five things, I think they break the heart of God when we

step into them. I think they crush His heart when we as humanity, when we don't trust Him and we go our own way. I'm going to be honest with you, this series, and it's only two weeks old, has been probably one of the most excruciating message series that I've ever preached. Because it's, I've been using kind of a different communication tactic with you and that is kind of give you the opposite of something so that you push back and you think and there's this contemplation thing that's happening on the inside. Because a lot of you are listening to me going, well, that's not right. That's not true. And it's not, because I don't believe what I just said. I believe we need to do the opposite of those five things. And so it's been like one of the most excruciating things to kind of talk about things in ways that I don't believe. And like it is unquestionable that God is doing something in the middle of this. Like I, I got a tidal wave of all kinds of, I mean it was unbelievable the amount of people that responded last week to the message and what the Lord did. Like it is unbelievable, it is unquestionable that the Lord is using this but there at the same time I just, I really feel like there's a lot of what I'm talking about in this series that people are going, okay, that's, that's nice and there's not going to necessarily be change. So what I did is I actually wrote this and I threw it away this last week. I trashed it. I just said, God, I'm not going to waste people's time. I don't want to bring a message that we hear, we smile, we wave, we nod our heads and we walk out and we go have roast beef at some restaurant. We just move on with our lives. I don't want to waste anybody's time. So I said, God, I'm just not going to preach it. I'm just not.

And I felt like the Lord just all throughout the week, He kept telling me, He said, Chris, bring this, just bring this, bring this, bring this, bring this. Because this is the thing, this discontentment, this dissatisfaction, this striving, I just got to have more. I just, it's what was one of the root things in the life of Adam and Eve. Even though they had everything, it's what the enemy used to kind of pull them. And it's rooted in us more than we even realize in our American psyche that we live in. We just, we clamor for better, for more, for newer, and it's just. So I wrestled, and I finally said, okay, Lord, I'll bring this. I felt like I walked in today with a spirit of faith, but I also walked in thinking, I don't know if it's going to make that much of a difference. Because at the root of it, this is what this series is all about, and that is that don't tell me what you believe. Show me how you believe by how you live your life. And most people, most people, including so many parts of my life, they actually say that what God offers doesn't seem as good as what the world offers. So I stand in front of you today, and I tell you, I don't know what to do. I don't know which way to go. I don't know what to say to convince you. me, that what God offers is not just enough, it is more than enough. I told you that in this series, that this is a repentance series. This is something that God is doing a deep work inside of our hearts. And I'm going to tell you that I have in my own life, I've been in a long season of repentance in my own heart, in my own life. I've been coming before God saying, God, root out this worldliness that I have. Take it out of me. Like just root it out, like take everything inside of me that you hate and kill it. And it's this longing, it's this cry, it's this desire. It's not some like little 30 second prayer that I pray at the end of a message today. It's been this season, a long season of God doing this deep, repentive work on the inside

of me. Just God. And I know that a lot of us, we look at our lives and you come before God and you think, God, how could you ever take something in my life? God, how can you take my mess? How can you take my mayhem? How can you make it understandable? And I'm here to tell you today that if you feel like that, I'm going to tell you that God can do all things. If you'll just humble yourself before God, because I want you to see this here, check this out. I'm sorry for some of you that are sitting on the side, you can't necessarily see this all the way. It says, I couldn't believe that I could actually understand what I was reading. The phenomenal power of the human mind. According to researchers at Cambridge University, it doesn't matter in what order the letters in a word are, the only important thing is that the first and the last letter be in the right place. The rest can be a total mess and you can still read it without a problem. This is because the human mind does not read every letter by itself, but the word as a whole. Amazing, huh? Yeah, and I always thought that spelling was important. Hey everybody, look in my eyes, look in the eyes of a pastor that loves you. You need to know this today. God knows your beginning and your end. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. He's the one that is the finisher of your faith. You can't tell me a story of mayhem. You can't tell me a story of your mess, that your God cannot get into the middle of it

and He can make it make sense. That He can't get in the middle of it and He can bring a miracle out of it. And so I want you to be encouraged today. In fact, I'm about to lead us into a deep moment of prayer before God. Like we're going to encounter God here in just a second. Before I do, I want to read to you a verse that I have not been able to stop meditating on. It was written by the Apostle Paul. He was in a dungeon in Rome. I've actually been in this thing. It's three floors down. It's right by the Senate. All there was was just a little hole that he was being able to look through. There was a chain that he was chained to this cave of this wall. And he's looking back at his life and here's what he says. He says, but whatever was to my prophet, like all the things that I wanted, I now consider lost for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. And I thought to myself that if I can really get to the place that I consider everything in my life as loss, all of the successes, all the failures, all of the accolades, all of the influence, if I can get to the place that I truly see everything that has been done in the past as loss, then I can consider them what? Come on everybody. What's that word? Rubbish. Rubbish. That I might gain Christ. I want you to see that word rubbish there. That word in the Greek is the Greek word scubala. Come on everybody.

Say it with me. Say scubala. Scubala. Come on everyone. Say scubala. Scubala. waste, excrement, human, d-u-n-g, dung. Street language, it's poop. In fact, it's the Here's what it means. word that is used in the English language for the worst version of saying that word poop. That's the word, scubula. This would be considered a cuss word here. Paul literally could have got up and talked about it in that way. In fact, he did. Honest to goodness. This is that word. And he's saying, all of my life, all of my past, everything that I've done, I consider it all scubula so that I might know God. There's this longing, this aching, this desire inside of every single one of us to clamor, to fight, to bite, to claw for more. And there's a lot of things that God in His goodness and greatness has not given to you. Because He knows that if He were to give you some of those things, He would actually destroy you because you're not ready for it. You're not prepared for it. So He's held those things back, and yet we still push past the goodness, the grace of God and fight for more. We are not satisfied and content with what God has given to us. And it leads us down paths that actually begin to rot who we are on the inside. And so here's what's going to happen today. And my heart is literally breaking because there are those that you're listening to this message today, and you have become a professional at brushing off the voice of the Holy Spirit. And the saddest thing is that you're going to walk out from this place and you're going to still continue to live a dissatisfied life. And it's going to affect your relationships, it's going to affect your joy, it's going to affect your marriage, it's going to affect your business, it's going to affect the choices that you make. Dissatisfaction. But then there are others that your heart is softening before the very presence of God, and you're saying, Lord, help me to consider everything, everything as a loss so that I may know Christ. You want to know what heaven is? Heaven is Jesus. It's Jesus. And today I want to give you an incredible gift, something that you really can't get

anywhere else. And that is the gift of solitude. We live in a life that is filled with so many notifications and emails and pressures that I want to give you some space just to assess your own heart, your own life. And so I'm going to ask the team to come, and they're going to play instrumentally over you. And as they do, I want you just to draw a circle in around yourself and just let the Lord himself begin to speak to you today. I want you to begin to ask the Holy Spirit, what is it that you're trying to speak to me today through this message? And I believe that the Lord is going to begin to start and move in a deep way in your heart. So come on, eyes closed all across this place. If you feel comfortable, I want you to just open up your hands and your lap just like this and just receive from express all my gratitude. I could sing these songs as I often do, but every song will stand and you never do. So I throw up my hands and praise you again and again. Cause all that I have is a hallelujah. Hallelujah. And I know it's not much, but I've nothing else fit for a king except for a heart singing hallelujah. Hallelujah. So I throw up my hands and praise you again and again. Cause all that I have is a hallelujah. Hallelujah. And I know it's not much, but I've nothing else fit for a king except for a heart singing hallelujah. Hallelujah. So come on my soul, oh don't you get shy of me, lift up your song. Cause you've got a light inside of those eyes. Get up and praise the Lord. Come on my soul, oh don't you get shy of me, lift up your song. Cause you've got a light inside of those eyes. Get up and praise the Lord. Come on my soul, oh don't you get shy of me, lift up your song. Cause you've got a light inside of those eyes. Get up and praise the Lord. Come on my soul, oh don't you get shy of me, lift up your song. Cause you've got a light inside of those eyes. Get up and praise the Lord. Oh come on my soul, oh don't you get shy of me, lift up your song. Cause you've got a light inside of those eyes. Get up and praise the Lord. So I come with my hands and praise you again and again. Cause all that I have is hallelujah, hallelujah. I know it's not much, but I'm nothing else but for a king. Except for one thing, hallelujah, hallelujah. So I come with my hands and praise you again and again. Cause all that I have is hallelujah, hallelujah. I know it's not much, but I'm nothing else but for a king. Except for one thing, hallelujah, hallelujah. I know it's not much, but I'm nothing else but for a king. Except for one thing, hallelujah, hallelujah. The Lord sees you. He sees your heart. He sees your true heart. He sees what nobody else sees. My goodness, I just feel the presence of God. He's just moving in this place. You know, it's really easy to change your mind about things, but it's a whole lot harder thing to change your heart. And there's some of you that are in this place that at times in your life you've changed your mind about God, but in this moment right here your heart

is longing for Him. And God's never changed His heart or His mind about you. He's never changed it. You're not an orphan. You're not a disappointment. He has not forgotten you. You will not be forgotten. You will not be forgotten. What you feel right now is the presence of your best friend. His name is the Holy Spirit. He's softening that heart that's been hard. Holy Spirit, we give you our lives. Permeate us with your presence. Jesus. If you're away from the Lord, come on, why don't you just ask Him to change your life. Just call upon Him in humility and just say, Lord, here I am. Here's my mess. Here's me. It's my sin. It's my dissatisfaction. I wanted more than what you actually wanted to give. And it led me down the wrong way. Lord, change me. Cleanse me. Make me new. In Jesus' mighty name, I ask. In Jesus' name, I ask. I feel like the Lord is doing a healing, a deep work in the lives of His people today. And so I'm not going to give a formal dismissal. I'm going to basically dismiss you like this by saying, hey, you're dismissed when the Holy Spirit dismisses you. So in other words, when you feel like you're done, you're more than welcome to excuse yourself. Our prayer teams will be here in the front. We'd love the opportunity to pray with you. And guys, you guys just can keep this atmosphere here, just praying, just playing. Pray the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord give His great kindness to you. May you be filled with His goodness and His grace and His presence this week in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. So be it. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

Amen. Amen. Amen.