How To Be Content With Life | ANDY STANLEY

[Music] [Music] so I this week is a really important week in the life of America and it happens every single year on this very same week this week is the hinge point in the rhythm of American culture that this is the point and rhythm in the rhythm of our culture this is the point where we pivot from thankful for - I want more this is where we pivot from grateful to a cart full right we spend one day being thankful and then we look at a month where we get our fill but the point of this is it's not really all of our fault we're all guilty of this as we transition from Thanksgiving to Christmas but it's really not all of our fault so here's what happened um eight days ago this is embarrassing but I'm you know we're friends eight days ago I said Sandra don't throw away any catalogs I want to use them as a visual aid eight days this is our these are catalogs that came to our house over the last eight days I don't know how there are any trees in the world okay and the problem is I was perfectly fine with everything I had until these things start showing up and they just multiply like rabbits I'd I don't have the right glasses that right I wear I don't make the right kind of cookies I don't have the coolest fishing equipment I don't fish but when I look to do this magazine I wanted to start fishing I don't make the right kind of cookies I don't have a large enough television I don't have a cool enough decorations in our home I need a you know a little more pottery in my barn I don't even have a barn but you know I sir now I kind of want a barn so I can put pottery in my barn anyway it just goes on and on I I look through these things and I just feel like the biggest loser right I'm not wearing the right stuff our house is so 1990s you know everything keeps switching colors and now you know we're supposed to you know it just goes on and are not and we're just constantly dissatisfied with what we have because we live in a culture that constantly constantly reminds us of what there is this is if we're not careful this is why I want to talk about it for just a few minutes this becomes pretty quickly the season of discontentment dissatisfaction with what we have and dissatisfaction with what we can't afford and in the realization that while we have food to eat close to where transportations music the stream smarter than ever phones and flatter than ever televisions this is the season where we're reminded that it all needs to be upgraded now you won't believe this some of you are old enough to believe me most of you won't believe me but once upon a time this is this is crazy once upon a time people used things until they broke I know it's crazy I mean who would do that I mean you're gonna keep that thing till it breaks there I mean don't you haven't you seen the newer one the faster one the cooler one yeah once a bit of time people in our country they kept things until they broke and then get this when they broke you know what they would do with them no not throw them away they would write they would fix them I mean how stupid is that why would you fix them I mean the great news when things break is we get to get a new and right um and then also once upon a time people would improvise if they didn't have something they wouldn't go get something they would look at what they had and they would use what they had in order to do what they needed to get done now Sandra's dad Bob Walker is one of those guys in fact his iphone5s kept wouldn't hold a battery charge this is this year okay his iPhone 5s wouldn't hold a battery charge okay and all the grandkids and all of us are like you know get a phone so you know what he did he found online where he could buy a battery he changed his battery in his iPhone 5 who would do that smart people would do that that's who we do that right the back in the day that's what everybody did and again back to this use what you have to do it needs to get done a few years ago he put some cameras in his mini warehouses he has many warehouses and he bought the cameras but he didn't have a bracket but why would you why would you order a $29 bracket for the camera when you can just take an old license plate and mount it on the ceiling that's what I'm talking about right there ok see it kind of makes you wish you thought of that you have no idea what you might do if you quit thinking so much in terms of upgrade and just look around the house now that's a bit unusual he's a bit unusual but he's an amazing person ok now my problem and he didn't have this problem because he just lives his life differently my problem is this just about every I see one of just about everything I don't have just about every day I see one or a picture of one of just about everything I don't have that I didn't know that I needed until I saw it and it just so happened it just so happened that someone happens to know that I might also like and that what I'm looking at is actually related to items that I've already seen and somehow they know that customers who bought what I'm buying also bought and that what I bought is also oftentimes frequently bought with other things and they know exactly what I'm buying and how it goes with other things so how in the world do you stay content you know in a world where everybody knows what you're buying and what you're thinking and they just keep dangling it out there in front of you and the problem come on if we're honest the problem is not what we don't have it's awareness of what we could have and herein is one of the most important principles that you're ever ever going to hear it is certainly not original with me and if you're not a religious person or a church person or a Christian person this has nothing to do with religion or Christianity but this is important and this may this may save you down the road so let me just throw this up here on the screen okay awareness our problem is awareness awareness fuels discontentment that that's why I'm so discontent because I know what there is out there the reason you're so discontent with what you drive where you live how high your ceilings are and what color the you know the hardware is on your doors and it just goes on and on or not it's because you're so aware what other people have and you're so aware of what's available awareness fuels discontentment this explains why getting more stuff doesn't solve the problem getting more stuff doesn't actually make you feel like oh I'm full I got enough stuff right it doesn't even reduce the appetite in fact it's just the opposite because our desire for stuff is an appetite and like any appetite if you feed it what happens to it it grows it doesn't go away I mean just because you've had a great meal you pull over push you away from the table and go I'm full and you know three hours later you're looking through the refrigerator why it's an appetite and feeding it doesn't shrink it feeding it expands it and we live in a world I live in a world I'm living the same world you do that every single day somebody's trying to feed that appetite and I'm never fully satisfied I'm never fully satisfied with what I Drive where I live what I do you know all those kinds of things it's just constantly being stirred up by our awareness of what's out there now to be fair there is nothing sinister there's nothing sinister about good marketing and there's nothing sinister about great advertising so if you're in the marketing business advertising business everybody's got to eat and live in doors way to go you're being super successful so I'm not dissing an industry but there is something unsettling about too much credit card debt right and there is something a little disturbing about not having enough savings because you've got so much stuff sitting around your apartment or sitting around your house and there is something a little unsettling about not having any financial margin because no matter how much money you make if you don't have margin you don't have financial peace because peace is always found in the margin and there's something a little bit unsettling about the fact that I've acquired so much stuff that even though I feel generous in my heart I can't be generous in my checkbook because I've got so much stuff and there's so much more stuff I'm trying to get so there's nothing wrong with marketing there's nothing wrong with advertising but there is a problem when it gets out of control and when the focus of our lives becomes the upgrade and the focus of our lives become what's next now the other thing that you need to know as we talk about this is not all discontentment is bad in fact there's some good discontentment if you have a bad habit and you and are sick and tired of that habit running and ruining your life and you decide you know what this is the year I'm getting rid of that habit I'm so discontent with where I am because of what I have the money I spend on this habit and what it's doing to my health that's that's good discontentment right if you have sort of in a cul-de-sac in your career and you're just not going anywhere and you're thinking you know I want to do better I want to finish school I want to get a master's degree I want to get a different job I do not need to move on with my life and your discontent with where you are that's a good kind of discontentment in fact dissatisfaction and discontent have led to some powerful things some great things in fact discontentment has led to solutions for some of the world's biggest problems the problem of poverty problems as it relates to hunger joblessness illnesses have been cured because people were so discontent with the fact that what analyst was doing to a person certain or a specific region of the world they just focused their time and attention there they just they just thought to themselves this just can't be this is not alright with me people have found well ways to create and find clean water and regions in the world where they need clean water why because they just thought to themselves it just can't continue to be this way they were dissatisfied with the status quo there was a sense of internal discontentment sort of a holy rejection of what is and this idea that something needs to change for these people but here's the thing here's the thing the people that changed the world and the people that make the world a better place are not controlled by the discontentment that controls most people the people that allow this this discontentment to drive them to do great things to make sacrifices to move to invest their lives and their talents and things that have that really aren't ever going to benefit them in the long run these are people who are somehow free oftentimes from the discontentment that plagues most of us and therein is the secret of taming the Beast you tame discontentment not by deciding I'm not going to be discontent it's not by deciding I'm from now on simply going to be content with what I have no you have to replace it with something and when you do you will discover life now to kind of flesh this out and just give us some handles the Apostle Paul 2,000 years ago wrote a letter to a guy that he was bringing along to take his place one day a fella named Timothy many of you are familiar with the relationship between Paul and Timothy he wrote a bunch of letters two of them survived and they were included in the New Testament and they're called creatively enough first and second Timothy there might have been a pre first Timothy and there might have been a third and fourth Timothy we don't know but these two letters survived and they were included in the New Testament and in this list first letter to Timothy first Timothy the Apostle Paul makes some statements and make some comments about contentment that are so powerful that I thought we should look at him for the next few minutes as we move into this new season in the year and in fact the first statement we're going to look at is so rich it's so powerful that even if you're not necessarily a Christian but you may believe there's some kind of God I would suggest you write this down maybe take a picture of it or find it later and just let it sit somewhere for the next few weeks because it is packed full of goodness here's what the Apostle Paul writes to Timothy we're jumping in in the middle of a conversation he says this but godliness we'll come back to that with contentment is great gain but godliness with contentment is great gain do you want to gain something yeah he says all right let me tell you how to get more godliness with contentment is great gain and a little Greek word great is where we get our word mega you know like Mega Millions but it's mega its big he says you want mega gain yeah godliness with contentment is great gain now godliness shouldn't scare you off godliness simply means God likeness it's you know how can I be like God that's a great question the New Testament answers that question the New Testament teaches the New Testament authors right but if you want to be like God the way that you can be most like God is by putting other people ahead of yourself that God likeness is being more loving why because God is love so if God is love the more loving you are the more you put other people first the more you let other people go first the more you put yourself second the more like God you are that's the gospel for God so loved the world because he's loved that he gave the God demonstrated he was for us that's what love looks like so godliness for us in terms of us being godly it's not being sort of weird or kind of this separate holiness in the Old Testament godliness was stay away from anything that might contaminate you Jesus came along assist no we're changing that I'm going to run toward the messes I'm gonna touch untouchable people but I'm not going to get the disease they're gonna be healed so everything got reversed with Jesus so godliness isn't about staying away from something godliness is about engaging with other people in a way that helps other people so Paul says look if you want to gain a lot here's how you do it you put other people first and then you decide you know what I'm fine with what I have I'm fine with what I have - which we say but Paul we're Americans ok our economy would collapse if we did this ok we're Americans and we're not buying it because we're so busy buying other things so Paul says well I'm not finished let me explain so the next word is for whenever you see a four in the New Testament you need to ask what's that there for and it's there for so that you can understand what he just said so here's what he says four four we brought this is such a big idea so obvious we just rushed right by it four we that's all of us brought nothing into the world what does that have to do with anything Paul for we brought nothing into the world in other words you were perfectly content you were perfectly content before you got here you were member that I like no because I wasn't here exactly you you were pretty other word here's think about this you were most lovable when you owned nothing you are most cherished when you couldn't do a thing for anybody this is Paul's subtle ways building the case it's subtle way of saying you have value way beyond what you have that you were of value before you own to think so to grow up as an adult and somehow equate your value with things as a mistake because you brought nothing into the world and then he gives us the corollaries is and you know this and we can take nothing out of it you're not leaving with anything in fact you're leaving everything which brings us to a very disturbing question in fact I I hope this question disturbs you for at least a month it should disturb us our entire life here's the question other than stuff other than stuff because everybody leaves all their stuff you don't get credit for leaving your stuff everybody leaves their stuff other than stuff what will you leave behind other than stuff what will you leave behind you're going to leave behind your stuff you are more valuable than stuff because you showed out without any and you're gonna leave here without any so somewhere in the middle we get all caught up in stuff but when you leave other than your stuff what are you going to leave behind this this is a question that should just just be front and center all the time and if you allow it to be front and center I make you a promise it will curb your discontentment it will quick herb your quest for stuff you might become one of those extraordinary people who devote your life to something that has caused you to be discontent because of the way it's affecting and negatively affecting the world or someone in the world was there to use Paul's terminology other than stuff what we leave behind will there be any great gain will the world have gained anything because you were here well the community have gained anything because you were here are you just gonna leave your stuff and then Paul steps back and sort of toward himself a little bit he makes a statement to Timothy that you got to be careful the way you read this and he says Timothy now let me tell you how I'm applying what I've just taught you and Timothy I'm not asking you to do this and I think he would say to you I'm not asking you to do this and he would say to us I'm not asking all of you to do this but I just want you to know I'm not a hypocrite I'm I'm practicing what I'm preaching let me let me tell you how I'm working this out in my life here's what he says but if we talking about himself and his traveling companions Luke who wrote the book of Lou Gospel of Luke travelled Barnabas he had a bunch of guys that traveled around he says but we have if we have food and clothing we're gonna be content with that now you're not asking you to do that I mean Paul didn't have a family Paul don't have any you know official responsibilities just traveled around his life was in danger he was stoned he was shipwrecked he was bitten by poisonous snakes I mean he knew any day of his life could be his last so he says I'm not asking you to take this to the extreme I've taken it to but I just want you to know I'm practicing what I'm preaching and I know what I'm talking about godliness putting other people first with contentment married to contentment if you know what I'm happy with what I have he's telling he says I'm telling you I'm living this it is great gain now this leads us to another question and that's this what did the Apostle Paul leave behind if godliness with contentment which just seems so you know there's just not a lot to that if godliness with contentment resulting great gain alright Paul if you practice what you preach and you went all the way to the extreme of just being happy with what you had and you know as long as you got food to eat and clothes to wear I mean how did that work for how's that working for you we would ask the Apostle Paul so let me ask you what what did the Apostle Paul leave behind this this should cause all of us to stop and reconsider our whole lives do you know what he left behind he left behind letters that shaped Western culture for 2,000 years Wow even what about your stuff I don't have any stuff and I'm not choosing to leave behind a bunch of stuff I think I'll just help shape the world for 2,000 years you know what else he left behind he left behind theology I wish I had time to talk about this because I love to talk about this stuff he left behind a theology that would eventually disrupt the Roman Empire he left behind a string of churches around the Mediterranean rim that shaped how church would be done for Gentiles for almost 300 years so Paulie what are you saying Paul saying I'm just telling you you want great gain you got to take your focus off this stuff it's nothing wrong with it but the problem with this stuff is you'll get to the end of your life and all your life will be about is this stuff and that's not bad that's not morally wrong it's not a sin it's just don't you want more don't you want there to be something left behind that's not a thing if something were to happen to you today come on something weird happened to me what have we left behind Wow well what what needs to capture our attention what do we need to become more aware of where should we shift the energy we have as it relates to how discontent were going to be with what's going on in our world it's a big thought isn't it you should read the New Testament he goes on he says this this is amazing those and this is convicting it's good that next one those who want to get rich fall into temptation in a trap now again we when we read verses like this is like yeah that somebody else will those lists before we rush by those who want to get rich in other words those who are targeting wealth for wealth sake those who are just you know I just I love you know progress and I love moving forward and I just I just want to acquire him he says people who make this their full in other words people who are first in line in their own lives people who prioritize themselves above everybody else that's who he's talking about he says they fall into temptation and a trap now in other words there are specific temptations and there are specific traps for people whose focus is more and if I were to say to you do you know what those traps are the correct question would be no because their traps if they weren't traps and we would know what they are but we don't know what they are and it's why you think come on you think this it's why you think if you won the lottery you'd be able to handle it now I could handle it now these other people they reckon ruin their lives and their families no but I could handle it you know why you think that because you've never stepped into one of these traps you don't understand the temptation that comes with wealth and you don't understand the trapper the temptation that comes with the focus on accumulating wealth and this isn't for rich people this is just for people for whom that becomes a focus and he goes on he says not only that and temptations trap and into many foolish and harmful desires this is a powerful little Greek term that plunge people into ruin and destruction you know what plunges you're driving along everything's fine all of a sudden there's no road plunge into the ravine you're paddling along everything's great and you plunge into the rapids you just you step off well you know you think is everything's great you step off a wall and you plunge into the concrete below he says there they thinks life's great everybody's envious everybody wants to be him everybody wants to be her and then one day they plunge into ruin and destruction and his point is this that unbridled discontentment if you don't do something about this it's dangerous the discontentment is dangerous it will plunge you into credit-card debt it will plunge you into a lease you have no business signing it will plunge you into no savings it will plunge you into no giving so I feel generous in my heart I wish I could do more but I can't do more because I've been reading these it will it will plunge you come on it'll plunge you into more travel and less family and when day you wake up and wonder why are you know anybody's getting along nobody wants to see you and they're just after your money and they're just nice to you when you're giving them stuff and you're thinking how did I get here you step through one of those traps you fell for one of those temptations that you thought you would be too art fall into you Paul's going look I'm just telling you how the world works and then he kind of repeats himself to make sure we're paying attention he says this for the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil now nobody loves money right wrongs yes you just can't see it you might love me you can't see jealousy in the mirror you can't see greed in the mirror and you can't see love of money in the mirror so how do you know because he's saying people who pursue wealth it's the number one thing people who love money it's a root of all evil he's saying the same thing over and over and over to make sure we get the point but how do you know if you love money because I've never met anybody that city and I think the problem is is it's my love of money know wouldn't know we say no I'm careful or I am I ambitious or you know I we have other words we use Paul says no there's some folks you just love money you just don't know it so how do we know here's some things to get you started what what are you willing to do for it I mean you're willing to do crazy things for things you love right remember when you fell in love and you drove all night and see her you snuck out and see him and you wasted all that money on this goofy thing he wanted her she wanted but it didn't matter to you that it cost too much you just that when you love people you just go to extremes what are you willing to do for money who are you willing to hurt for it what or who are you actually what or what are who or what gets prioritize behind it in other words this is somebody at home that feels like they're competing for your stuff competing with your stuff is there somebody at home and that you keep using this message this is kind of a guy thing well I just want to make sure you're taken care of when I'm gone I just want to make sure you're taken care of when I'm gone I'm just sure you're gonna want to be taken care of when you're gone some guys let me just tell you what your wife and your kids are thinking we just wish you go ahead and be gone we issue this you go ahead and be gone we just wish you go ahead and be gone cuz you're not here anyway but we can't get your money so we got you and your money and it's not helping us so if you're not going to be present and love us and be a good father and husband then go ahead and get gone so we can get all that stuff you tell you want to make sure that we're gonna be taken care of when you're gone I mean nobody believes your dad I mean we don't believe you you like being gone you like the thrill of victory you like those cool dinners you like famous people you like it and it's fine that you like it but you've left us back here to compete with it and we can't compete and that just means you love something more than your family and you might be one of these people who loves money and you fall into a temptation you stepped into a trap you're going to plunge into ruin and destruction and you'll wake up one day and that stupid little cramped apartment by yourself going how did this happen and you know what you're gonna do you're gonna blame somebody else for the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil he goes on some people eager for money ready for this some people eager for money basically he's repeated himself three times you know this is the third way of saying if you want to get rich you love money eager for money want to get rich love of money you from any same thing some of them have wandered from the faith and it pierced themselves with many griefs what he's saying is this you got so busy you know the church thing you know you got so busy the god thing then you read a few blogs and it's like I forgot to change my view of my philosophy cuz we're busy cuz we have to lake house we got the boat you've got all this stuff going on and he says over time if rich people aren't careful they get so caught up in more and more and more and more that they changed the way they even if you got and they wander from the faith and then look this look at this and they pierced themselves with many griefs and let me tell you when you pierce yourself with many griefs you won't be aware that you pierced yourself you will find someone else to blame so he paints this very negative picture about you got to get a handle on this contentment because it is dangerous and then he says but let me tell you what to do and he turns a corner and this is the beauty of this passage because he doesn't say Timothy just don't do that he says Timothy let me tell you what to do and if you do what I'm telling you what to do you won't do that but as long as you're focused on not doing something you're gonna have a not goal I'm not gonna be discontent I'm not I'm not I'm not you can't have not goals my friend Adam Johnson he's the lead pastor of Browns furniture she has this incredible message on the problem of not goals that you can't just have a bunch of not goals I'm not gonna be like my dad I'm not gonna be like nations no you gotta decide what are you gonna do and the Apostle Paul says it's not enough to say I'm not gonna be consumed by what I don't have he says let me tell you what to do now ladies remember he's writing this to a guy so don't be offended by this this next line if he was writing to you he would he would change the terminology here's what he says he says but you it's a contrast to Timothy but you man of God flee from this don't just stare at and decide I'm not I'm not I'm not I'm not he says no let you you've got to change you've got a pivot you got to refocus you've got to become aware of something entirely different what is this the constant pursuit of more he says you got to quit you got to flee from something and you've got to pursue something else and here's what you pursue but you man of God flee from all this and pursue righteousness decide you know what my chief pursuit is I'm gonna do the right thing my chief pursuit is to be godly I'm going to put others first my chief of pursuit I'm gonna become dissatisfied if I keep putting myself first in line he said in pursue faith that is God created the world God has a plan this is this big you know overarching thing that God's up to an opportunity we have to participate in love and endurance and a gentleness in other words he says this that contentment contentment is found by redirecting our pursuit that contentment is found not by I'm not going to be discontent I'm not gonna look at the catalogs I'm not I'm not he says no you got to chase something else look up here and if you do in the end great gain now the other thing that's so cool about this Paul so smart because when before Paul became a Jesus follower he was very wealthy and he was very successful I mean he was he was like the guy you know in Judaism and he became a Jesus follower and he turned his back on all that so he's been on both sides of this and here's what he's about to say he's gonna say look this has nothing to do with how much money you have this has nothing to do with how much money you make this has nothing to do with you know how your talent your hard work and your opportunity and you you know stayed up late you came out with that idea and you know he says nothing this is we're not dissing people who accomplished a lot where this isn't a negative thing about rich people this has nothing to do with how much you have or how much you make here's why I say that because then he addresses rich people and he says something surprising he says commandos who are rich in this present world and that's most of us okay if you if you get these in the mail that means you bought something from someone which means you have extra now I want to promise you because I almost didn't bring all these I don't know where all these came from I mean we don't even have little kids okay we don't play with play-doh I mean it's amazing the catalogs that show up because if you buy from one store you know you're on these lists but it's a point is this for those of you with extra for those of you them and put it this way who will get a box in the mail this week from Amazon with your name on it and you don't know what's in it until you open it that's who he's talking to that group of people okay that you've never ever gone into Home Depot or Lowe's or any store with for the one thing and walked out with the one thing okay that that's right the one that you're not about to bend a you know a license play you're gonna buy the bracket okay the people with extra you got money in your ashtray your your you know your car lives in its own house with Windows and some of you have shades you know electric shades for the car is that okay it's your car anyway so he's talking to those of us with extra and here's what he says commandos who are rich in this present world not to be and we think he's gonna say not to be so rich that's not what he says he says commandos who have extra not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in their wealth you know what this phrase means it means don't place it out front don't allow it to be the chief pursuit don't allow it to be number one and how do you keep something from being number one you choose to place something in front of it is number one who put their hope and wealth which is so uncertain but it continues but here's this not just a not goal it's a it's something you can do but to put their hope in God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment that you didn't even know that was in the New Testament yeah he says God has provided this stuff for your enjoyment I just want you to have stuff I just don't want your stuff to have you I want you to enjoy what God has given you I don't want you to be so dissatisfied but what you don't have that you can't enjoy what you do have I don't want you to be so driven by what's next you can't pause and enjoy what God is placed and your hands okay but Paul you got to be more specific this is still kind of churchy for us and to tell us what to do so he says all right let me get real specific rich people he says Timothy command the rich people the rich people need some practical application command them to do good this is so unusual why would you have to tell rich people to do good because rich people are so busy doing whatever they want to do you can spend a month of your life two months of your life a season of your life and never do good for anybody else because you have so many opportunities to do things for yourself for myself plus wealthy people we're busy aren't we we got stuff to do I mean we got its we're busy and if we're not careful we'll be busy busy busy busy and to be all about us and when we're gone all we'll leave his stuff he said tell them to do good tell him if you're gonna be rich in other words if they're gonna overdo it if people are gonna be like wow look at all that he says tend to be rich in good deeds in other words when somebody says wow she sure has a lot the next sentence sentences yeah and she does a lot for people wow he certainly has a lot yet he does a lot wow they certainly have amassed a lot yeah but they do a lot he says if you're gonna have a lot you need to do a lot you need to do more than the average person because you have more opportunity and if you don't it's not like God's gonna send you to hell it's just that at the end you're gonna be like poor people who have the same misguided ambition you're just gonna leave things you're just gonna leave more things but you're just gonna leave things he's getting to the good part and to be generous and to be willing to share in other words tell the rich people to develop a lifestyle of generosity of doing of giving and sharing otherwise they're just gonna consume and hoard their way and have through life and have nothing to show and then he gets to my favorite part in this way he says in this way in what way Paul in this way what is this way this way is by refocusing on doing good for others by refocusing on godliness I'm gonna put other people first and other people's needs and other people's priorities ahead of mine he says in this way by being content deciding you know what I could upgrade I can even afford to upgrade but I'm gonna choose not to in fact I think I'm gonna take the $800 that would cost to upgrade I think I'm just gonna give it away there take that discontentment that'll teach you to try to control me he says and way in this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age so that and then this is like that this is the music changes it gets big it gets bold it gets loud this is so intense he says so that ready so that they talking about you and me so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life he says if you will wrestle discontentment to the ground if you will refocus your awareness if you will allow yourself to be bothered by things that really need your undivided attention not just where you live what you drive what you wear and all these things he says if you'll do this Paul who've been there done that says I'm telling you at the end you will take hold of life that is truly life you will take hold of life giving life you will take hold of a life that is worth living you will take hold of a life that leaves life in its wake and not just stuff it's an invitation life becomes truly life when it's given away this is how you leave something that's not just a bunch of some things that is great gain and this is why I remind you every chance I get you think and you just run out of things to talk about I haven't this is this is why I remind you every chance I get look at look up here look the value of a life the value of a life the value of life is always measured it's always determined by how much of it was given away every funeral you attend remind you of this the value of your life the value of your life the value of your life the value of my life will ultimately be determined and measured by how much of my life how much of your life was given away the value of a life you know this is never determined by what was accumulated and consumed or hoarded so Paul is right godliness with contentment the great game so come on let's do this right let's get listen let's say this would be different let's reprioritize I mean let's enjoy what we have but let's not be deceived let's not step off into that ravine let's not be plunged into some horrible thing relationally or financially because we never got a grip on this we've been warned awareness of what there is that we don't have fuels discontentment but discontentment according to the Apostle Paul and you're smart enough to know this discontentment is bridled by redirecting our awareness so would you just ask you to do this all the time some of you've already done it some of you did it long before you ever heard of me or met me so this isn't original with me but I just want to ask you one more time would you please please please please no matter what you have no matter what you believe would you please put someone or something ahead of yourself financially would you please put someone or something ahead of yourself financially I don't mean you give them more than you keep I just mean sequentially there first its first what would you find an organization or would you find a movement or would you find some people who are doing something that stirs your heart and would you get involved with them financially and with your time would you give first and systematically not guilt oh it's that time of year would you give first and systematically to something that stirs your heart or that breaks your heart or that you feel like is making a difference in the community or a difference in the world and if you do you'll enjoy what you have but what you have will never have you and if you do what you don't have won't bother you as much and you will lay hold this is incredible terminology and you will lay hold of life that is truly life don't you want that don't you want to be missed when they go through you do your will and you got you to leaving all this stuff don't you want there to be a group of people that may have never met you are better they are better off because you were here you're gonna leave everything behind I hope you leave more than every thing you're gonna leave everything behind I hope you leave behind more than things I hope between now and then you discover life that is truly life and who knows you may become one of those strange people who keeps things until they break

Channel: North Point Community Church

Views: 130,322

Keywords: North Point Community Church, North Point, NorthPoint, North Point Atlanta, Andy Stanley, AndyStanley, Andy Stanley church, Andy Stanley message, Andy Stanley sermons, North Point church, NPCC, North Point youtube, Andy Stanley YouTube, thanksgiving, andy stanley, north point church, being content, contentment

Id: 71IvuLx0YMw

Length: 39min 8sec (2348 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 28 2017