Discontentment and Entitlement (sermon slice of Crisis of Contentment)

Something else that is underneath and really causing our discontentment in America today and that something is entitlement. We actually believe that we deserve something from God, that He owes us something or that He is somehow in our debt and should do something for us that He’s not already doing. Because we believe that, we’re discontent.

But at the bottom, underneath all these things, what is driving and compelling our discontentment is always idolatry. 

Beneath every grumble, beneath every murmur, beneath every moment of frustration, the sin beneath the sin is the fact that we want something more than we want God and that we love something more than we love God. And because we do, until He provides that for us, we’re going to be discontent and dissatisfied.

Beneath every sin is the failure to believe everything I need, I already possess in Christ. That’s what’s at the ROOT of discontentment, our failure to believe that everything we need, we already possess in Jesus Christ.

A Little Hope. A Long Way.

I look around my life everyday as I am running errands or walking around the mall,  I cant help but see the look in the eyes of people whether young or old, on many faces the look is the same. What is life about? Or Am I an accident?




If you were some cosmic accident, then there would be no real reason for existing. If life were a random series of events, the there would be no point to living. It’s would be every man for themselves.  If there was no life after death, then there would be no hope. 

 

Definition of Hope




To wish for something with expectation of its fulfillment.

To have confidence; trust.

But the good news is that there is a reason to hope. You are not an accident but a carefully planned creation of the living God. I was one that did not grow up in the church and I remember distinctly as a young 11 and 12 yr old as I prepared for bed thinking to myself, “there’s got to be more to life than this.”  Thank God He showed me His love just a short time thereafter.




And now I have the privilege of working with people on a weekly basis and from time to time I find a person that wants to grab life by the horns and just believe. Believe in a hope that is larger than them.  These are the type that WANT TO HOPE.  Life is not a series of events. I want you to know, Life is your opportunity to live up to everything that God has for you.




Some one once said,  “I DON’T KNOW WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS BUT I KNOW WHO HOLDS THE FUTURE!” 




That’s something we can all apply in our lives everyday. The catch is we have to trust that our father in heaven has a plan for our lives. God holds not just the future but your now.




I like that story about the boy and his father who were planning a fishing trip for the next day. That evening as the father was putting his son to bed, the boy hugged his father's neck and said, "Daddy, thank you for tomorrow."  




God is in full control and we must trust our heavenly father even as this child did his father




Psalm 25:3
No one whose hope is in you will ever be put to shame,




In this day in age, if we hope on something other than God, our hope is lost.  Our hope must be entrusted to God.  Hope breeds stamina. It helps us to give life another chance.




There was a Scientific experiment that was conducted a while back. A group of behavioral Scientists put some Mice in a tank of water, and observed them to see how long they would survive before drowning.




The average time was 17 minutes.




Then, they repeated the experiment, but this time they "rescued" the mice just before the point of drowning, dried them off and returned them to their cages.... fed them, and let them play for a few days, and repeated the drowning experiment.




This time, the average survival time for these mice increased from 17 minutes to 36 hours!




The scientists explained that phenomenon by pointing out that the second time around, the mice had HOPE. They believed that they could survive this, because they had done so before.




One scientist said "They were able to survive because they had been SAVED".







Where does your trust lie in today? I hope that your attitude and prayer today is like the psalmist in Psalm 71:14 : 




But as for me, I will always have hope; I will praise you more and more.

Dont Overreact! For your sake.

A Seattle man accidentally burnt his house to the ground recently after trying to kill a spider with a cigarette lighter and a can of spray paint. The man later told police that the spider had been lurking in the laundry, and he had accidentally lit the wall on fire with his makeshift flame thrower.

 

Surprisingly, this happens more often than you might think! Just a few weeks earlier, Ginny Griffith of Hutchinson, Kansas, lit her laundry on fire after seeing a spider crawl into a pile of towels. The fire quickly got out of hand, and her home went up in flames. She's been charged with aggrevated arson.

Application:Too often, we tend to overreact to problems. As believers, we need to remember that even in the midst of trouble, it's possible to have a trouble-free heart. Jesus didn't say we wouldn't have problems, but He did say: Let not your heart be troubled. 
Don't take a flame thrower to the spiders that lurk in your life. Remember that it is more important to experience God's peace than it is to rid yourself of life's annoyances.

"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid" (John 14:27). 

TIME Online, July 16, 2014

Holy Spirit Holiness

A.W. Tozer, author and pastor, once said, "If the Holy Spirit was withdrawn from the church today, 95 percent of what we do would go on and no one would know the difference.  If the Holy Spirit had been withdrawn from the New Testament church, 95 percent of what they did would stop, and everybody would know the difference."

The biggest misconception is that somehow if we do right, God will hear us.  Understand this: Holiness is not the way to Christ, but Christ is the way to holiness.

CONQUERING COMPROMISE

CONQUERING COMPROMISE

HOLDING OUR FAITH IN A FALLEN WORLD

Different countries have different cultural norms, and what is appropriate in one culture may be offensive in another culture. For example,

·      You should never touch a person’s head in Thailand; the head is considered sacred.

·      In Portugal you should never write anything in red ink; it is very offensive.

·      Chewing gum is illegal in Singapore and can result in a large fine.

So, as we turn toward the Word of God,  we will look at a young man that made it his personal duty to not concern himself on what others think over what God thinks.  Daniel illustrates for us how to live when we try to live for God and encounter the enemy taking up residence around us. 

Truth:

I must cooperate Fully with God’s desire to transform me.

In order to allow God to transform you, you must have made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ as your savior.

¹⁹ Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord” –Acts 3:19

You want refreshing? Want to make GREAT STRIDES in your faith? 

REPENT and TURN YOUR LIFE TOWARD GOD.  

 Anytime something changes in our lives (a new job, a new house, a new school, a new stage of life), we face challenges to our faith. Daniel illustrates how to live when we leave what is familiar to us and encounter new situations.