Enjoy The Good Life - August 25,2025

In Ecclesiastes, chapter number five.

And today's message I've titled it Enjoy the Good Life.

Enjoy the Good Life.

You know, I have some uh some siblings sometimes they say, I want that good life, I want that good life, but they don't want to go to church, they don't want to read their Bible, they don't want to do the prayer, they don't want to do a lot of things.

Here's what they're saying when they say, Well, they want the good life.

They want all the temporal success without the spiritual source and power with God.

There is no good life without God.

Because God is good and Satan is a liar.

Amen.

And if you want to have a good life, you've got to get with God.

If you want to have a good life, you've got to get with God.

Now, God has blessed us tremendously.

He has blessed us with so many blessings.

And today I'm going to give you the ten commands of the good life.

I've got five negatives and five positives.

I've got five thou shalt not, and five thou shalt.

And it's really going to help you today.

Ecclesiastes chapter number five.

Look what it says in verse 18.

Behold, that which I have seen, it is good and comely for one to eat and to drink and to enjoy the good of all his labor that he taketh under the Son all the days of his life, which God giveth him, for it is his portion.

Every man also to whom God hath given riches and wealth, and hath given him power to eat thereof, and to take his portion and to rejoice in his labor, this is the gift of God.

You know, it's the gift of God for you to be able to enjoy life, to be able to breathe the oxygen, to be able to see all the nice sights, to eat the good foods.

I mean, that's a gift.

You know, there's a lot of people today, they're very they can be very wealthy, they can have a lot of money, but they're miserable on the inside.

And they think that life is all about stacking money and they forget, no, it's about God.

It's about enjoying what He's designed and walking with Him.

And I want to remind you, it's a blessing to be able to enjoy good food.

It's a blessing to go to work and make money and then to be able to go and buy food that you want to eat and to be able to enjoy some uh uh you know activities that you like.

That's a blessing.

And don't, here's what I'm saying to you don't let your life go by and you haven't been enjoying it.

Are y'all listening?

Like, don't work, work, work, work and think that the purpose of life is to work.

The purpose of life is to love God and to love people and to honor Him.

And so as you look at this, it's a gift to be able to enjoy the fruit of our labor.

You know, in Psalm 118, verse 24, it says, This is the day which the Lord hath made, and we will rejoice and be glad in it.

Psalms 118:24

Hey, how are you guys doing with your rejoicing?

Manny's doing good with his rejoicing.

Hey, listen, sometimes, sometimes we we we can forget.

You're supposed to be a walking, talking, rejoice magnet.

Like you're supposed to be singing and praising and loving God and enjoying life.

And and and Jesus said, Let your light so shine.

You're supposed to be shining.

Amen.

You're supposed to be magnifying the Lord in all that you're doing.

And and and the way we do that is by focusing on today.

Now, if you're gonna do that, look what it says over in 1 Peter chapter number 3.

1 Peter chapter 3, look what it says here in verse number uh 10.

1 Peter 3 · chapter mention

Enjoy the good life.

It says, For he that will love life and see good days.

How many of y'all want to see good days?

Man, I want to see some good days.

He that will love life and see good days.

Well, what do I gotta do?

What do I gotta do, preacher?

Let him refrain his tongue from what's it say?

From evil and his lips that they speak no guile.

Okay, so I need to watch what I do with my mouth.

And then it says in verse 11, let him eskew evil and do good.

Let him seek peace and ensue it.

For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous and his ears are open unto their prayers.

But the face of the Lord is against them that do what?

Evil.

Evil.

Okay, so if we're going to love life and see good days, there's some things we gotta do.

If you wanna see some good days in your life, there's some things that you need to stop doing, and there's some things that you need to start doing or continue doing.

And so if you're taking notes, here's the ten commands of the good life.

Number one, number one, don't worship idols.

Don't worship idols.

Now, an idol is anything that takes God's rightful place in your heart.

So, an idol, yes, it could be a little figurine, a little statue, but it could also be money.

It could also be your job, it could also be a human relationship.

Anything you're putting in front of God and it's taking priority, that's an idol.

And the scripture says this in Exodus 20, verse 3, thou shalt have no other gods before me.

Exodus 20:3

An idol is whatever you love more, fear more, or serve more than God.

Listen, all of us ought to be like, man, I want God to be first in my life.

I want to read my Bible, I want to go to church, I want to do the things of God, I want to show God I love Him.

Scripture says, if any man loves God, the same is known to him.

And so if you're gonna have a good life, you need to get away from idols.

Make sure nothing has a hold of your heart.

Amen.

And if it does, you want to say, God, break this out of my heart.

It could be sports, it could be money, it could be sex, it could be any of these things.

It could be something good, but it's put in the wrong spot.

And it's taking priority and preeminence over God.

So get rid of the idols out of your life.

Don't worship idols.

Number two, you want to live the good life, don't gossip.

Don't gossip.

You say, What's gossip, preacher?

Gossip is spreading personal, private, or private information about others unnecessarily.

A gossip, also known as a tailbearer, reveals secrets.

See, you don't want to be going around talking about other people behind their back.

If mark this down, if you're talking to somebody and they're talking smack and all kinds of junk, and they're gossiping, sharing other people's business to you, what do you think they're doing about you to others?

You know, it's been said great minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, small minds talk about people.

Be very careful if you're next to a gossip.

You say, what do I do if I get next to a gossip?

Zip it.

Don't give them any information.

And you'll know because they'll be prying, prying, prying.

And you'll know they're a gossip because they're talking all kinds of junk about other people.

And by the way, if you're a gossip in here, stop it.

Shut your mouth and stop hurting people.

Woo! I didn't know you get like that, preacher.

Yeah, I get like that.

I get a whole lot more, too.

I get a whole lot more.

Why?

Because it's hurting people.

When you're gossiping and sharing everybody else's information, that's not yours to share.

Shut your mouth, do your job, and let them do their job.

Amen.

Don't gossip.

Number three, if you're taking notes, you want to live the good life?

Number one is don't have idols, don't worship idols.

Number two is don't gossip.

Number three, don't slander.

Don't slander.

Now, slander is speaking lies or damaging words against someone's reputation.

Scripture says in Psalm 101, verse 5, Whoso privileges slandereth his neighbor, him will I cut off.

Psalms 101:5

Him that hath a high look and a proud heart will not I suffer.

God hates slander.

When you're speaking lies about people, oh, did you hear about this person?

They did this, this, and this, and then you add stuff to it.

Did you hear about this?

And you're maligning people.

You know who's a slanderer?

The devil.

In Revelation 12, the Bible says that the devil, day and night, he's accusing the brethren.

He's constantly putting thoughts.

How many of you guys ever been driving down the road or you're at home at night or wherever you're at, and evil thoughts come into your head about other people?

It happens, right?

Let me tell you, not all those thoughts are coming from you.

The prince of the power of the air, Satan, is shooting fiery darts into our thinking.

And if you grab a hold of it and you don't bring that thought into captivity, before you know it, you'll be doing the devil's job.

Listen, we don't need people at church or at home walking around slandering one another.

Sometimes the worst slanderers are those that we're the closest to.

And we start slandering our husbands, our wives, our children.

We start gossiping, we start getting uh talking all kinds of bad things about the people that we live with.

Let me say this: don't do that.

Why would you defecate in your own living room?

Why would you, why would you cause a stink right in in your relationships?

No, listen, you gotta don't let the devil in.

Kick the devil out of your life.

Amen.

Now listen, I get it.

You can't control everybody else.

You can't control somebody who's worshiping idols.

You can't control gossips if they're gonna gossip.

You can't control slanderers, but what you can say is listen, I don't want to hear that here.

I don't want to hear, I don't want to have you slandering that person around me.

Uh-uh.

I love that person.

Stop it.

Come on.

Slander and gossip destroys companies, destroys teams, and destroys churches.

If you want to see good days in your life, the scripture says, let him uh refrain his tongue from evil, meaning, don't let evil come out of your mouth.

It says, his lips that they speak no guile.

Don't go around talking all kinds of bad things about people.

Why?

Because you're gonna reap what you sow, and you're gonna reap more than you sow, and you're gonna reap after you sow.

So you might as well realize this right now.

Death and life are in the power of the tongue.

If you want to have a healthy marriage, a healthy family, a healthy church, don't gossip, don't slander.

And if you're taking notes, number four, don't complain.

Don't complain.

You know, you think about this.

The scripture says in Philippians chapter 2, verse 14, do all things without murmuring and disputing.

Philippians 2:14

You know, in the Old Testament, when the children of Israel were journeying, all of a sudden a complaining spirit would come in, and I believe it was Miriam.

Started complaining, got leprosy.

When you start complaining, here's what complaining does: complaining is this it's expressing dissatisfaction or resentment instead of gratitude.

Come on, you guys know how blessed we are, right?

Come on, we're so blessed.

Even on your worst day, you're that's that's the best day for somebody who lives in some other part of the world.

And when we complain, and we don't mean to, we'll complain, oh, my wife is she's doing this, or my husband's doing this.

And then we'll complain about our bodies, we'll complain about our back, we'll complain about our finances, we'll complain about our church, we'll complain about politics.

Let me tell you something.

Nobody wants to be around a complainer.

Nobody wants to be around a complainer.

When you complain, complaining not only ruins your day, it ruins your life.

Because here's what it does: you're planting poison and toxin inside of your key relationships when you're complaining.

If you're complaining about your husband, well, you never do enough.

Complaining about your, you're never doing this.

You always do this.

Watch out when you're using the words never and always.

Seems like the devil's getting in there, and now you're missing some pieces of the game because you're you're painting with a broad brush.

Well, when you're when you're complaining about people and two people, you're you're putting all kinds of toxic communications in that relationship.

You're poisoning yourself, you're poisoning your relationship.

And here's what happens too: you poison your children.

If you walk around complaining and you're gossiping and slandering and you're worshiping idols, what do you think is gonna happen to your children?

What do you think is gonna happen to your company?

If they hear you walking around backbiting and talking and giving tailbearing, and well, the pastor, do you hear about the pastor, and you hear about the deacon, and you hear about this company?

Oh, I don't like this, and I don't like that.

You're doing the devil's work.

And you don't even know it.

When you're around somebody who's complaining, you say, what do I do if if somebody's coming to me and they're complaining about their husband?

Just tell them, hey, you know you're complaining a lot.

Like, this is bad.

This is not this is not what Christians do.

You don't sit around and complain about your husband and then expect a good husband.

You don't sit around and complain about your wife and then expect a good wife.

You don't sit around and complain about your children and expect godly children to raise up.

But you say, preacher, you don't understand.

Listen, I don't have to understand.

I know what the Bible says.

See, you can sit here and let the devil control your life because there's always reasons for you to gossip and slander and complain.

And the devil will give them to you.

He'll just feed it to you.

Oh, yeah, and by the way, he did this, and she never does that, and he never, and she always, and before you know it, your mind is so full of cancer and the stinking thinking, and now you can't even look at that person with a sweet heart and a tender heart.

When you come home from work or when you go to the church, it's like, ugh.

And it's because now you're unable to see the good in their life because the devil's filled your mind with all the bad stuff.

And now you can't see the good.

How many times do people they're they're having a great relationship, they're having a great marriage, they're having a great business, they're having a great thing going on, and then one slander, one gossip, one complainer comes in, and they just start undermining and dividing and and and positioning and trying to get people to pit against each other.

And before you know it, everything falls apart.

The family falls apart, the company falls apart, the church falls apart, things fall apart.

And it's because it's an evil spirit.

Don't let evil spirits into your home.

Don't let evil spirits into your mouth.

Don't let evil spirits into your ministry.

You say, Well, what do I do?

The scripture says this: resist the enemy.

So if you hear a complaining spirit from your wife, from your son, from your daughter, from people in the church, I'm not saying be a jerk or be mean, but I am saying, hey, call them out.

Say, listen, you're not you're not helping here.

You're you're you're writing down the very man who you say you love.

You're writing down the woman that you made a commitment to.

Or, hey, guess what?

You know that person you're talking all kinds of smack about?

Isn't that the person that led you to Christ and took you to doctor's appointments and took you to out to eat?

Isn't that the pastor that fed you week after week after week and prayed for you?

Isn't that the same person that did all those good things and now that a complaining spirit enters inside of you?

You can't even see that.

Here's what I'm saying.

If you're not careful, a little leaven will leaven the whole lump.

If you're not careful, the devil will come in and he'll take up more ground inside your thinking, inside your heart, and you won't even know that you're hurting the people that God called you to love.

And I gotta tell you, you'll think by correcting them.

I'm correcting them, I'm gonna fix them because they have the complaining spirit.

They're the lazy loser.

It's them.

Careful.

Be very careful.

Scripture says, go not in certain places because you can become like them.

That same spirit that's upon others can leap upon you.

Well, you say, What do I do?

Well, I'll tell you what you do is you you first you gotta know it.

My people perish for lack of knowledge, is what the Bible says.

You gotta realize and call it what it is.

Oh, that's a complaining spirit.

She has a complaining spirit inside of her.

He has a complaining spirit inside of him.

That is not from God, that is from the devil.

The slanderer is coming in, he's trying to ruin this home, ruin this company.

I see it.

You say, Preacher, I want to have good days.

You want to have good days?

You want to see good days?

You gotta watch your mouth.

You gotta watch your mouth, watch what you say.

Number five, write this down.

You want to see good days?

Don't hold grudges.

You wanna enjoy the good life?

Preacher, I want to have the good life.

I want to go on vacations, I want to be able to enjoy my marriage, enjoy my home.

I want to be able to high-five my teammates.

I want to have that good life, that good life.

Okay, well then don't screw it up.

Number five, don't hold grudges.

Don't hold grudges.

You know, the scripture tells us in Leviticus, thou shalt not avenge nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.

I am the Lord.

You say, What's a grudge, preacher?

What's a grudge?

Here's what a grudge is holding on to anger, an offense, or bitterness.

Now, question.

Is there a lot of opportunity for you to hold on to a grudge?

Yeah.

Think about this.

Every single person you're around is human, and every single person that you're next to is constantly failing.

It's constantly making mistakes.

It's constantly saying the wrong thing or doing the wrong thing.

We don't want to, but it happens because we're flesh.

We're in a straight betwixt two, Paul said.

Listen, we have this flesh nature and the spirit nature, and we've got to crucify the flesh nature so that we can live in the spirit and walk in the spirit and be filled with the spirit.

But all around us, including ourselves, it's easy for us to hold a grudge.

Well, he didn't show up to my event.

Well, she didn't, he didn't she didn't do this for me.

She always used to greet me.

She always used to write me a note.

She also always used to do this.

Well, he didn't, he didn't even say hi to me.

He didn't even shake my hand.

You know what?

He was good for a while when he was nice to me, and then all of a sudden, this happened.

And now I'm mad.

Now I'm angry.

Okay, so now we're just gonna forget about all the goodness in the relationship because now there was a fracture and a fault and things aren't going your way?

So let me get this straight.

Everything else is out the window.

You forgot all the other good stuff because now you're offended?

Let me say this to you.

You have you have every right to choose not to be offended.

Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee.

If you keep your mind on God and not feeding your little grudge, you'll walk in peace all the days of your life.

But I'm convinced, ooh, man, I feel the Lord.

Man, I feel the Lord.

I'm convinced that some of you, you are so miserable and you're so upset, and you think it's somebody else.

You think it's him, you think it's you, it's you, it's in your heart.

Listen, happiness is an inside job.

If you're gonna be wise, you're gonna be wise for yourself.

But if you're gonna be a scorner, you alone are gonna bear it.

Nobody else is responsible for your joy and for your happiness but you.

And you cannot be joyful and happy and rejoicing if you're holding on to a grudge.

Oh, yeah, I could be upset at my mom, I could be upset at my dad, I could be upset at uh at all these things, but why?

Why would I want to let it let another day go by and ruin my life?

You say, you're saying if I want to see good days, I gotta let go of my grudge?

Yes.

You say, well, my husband, my wife, my son, my daughter, stop it.

They're human.

The pastor, the deacon, the lady, they don't, but the kids' ministry.

How long are you gonna hold on to a grudge?

Doesn't the Bible say in Ephesians that that God uh tells us to be tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven us?

And so if you're gonna listen, look, look up here real quick.

If you're gonna grow in your Christian life, you need to let go of grudges.

You say, How do I do it?

Give it to Jesus.

That's it.

You say, just let it go.

Well, I can't trust them.

I'm not talking about trusting that person.

I'm saying you need to do right by God and say, here you go, Jesus.

I can't carry this grudge and walk with you.

And I can't have good days, I can't have joy, I'm not gonna have any good relationships in my life unless I let go of grudges.

Here's what happens.

Here's what happens if you hold on to a grudge.

Here's I'll I'll walk you through it.

You get upset, maybe somebody slandered you, maybe somebody gossiped about you, maybe somebody complained, and now all of a sudden that complaining spirit leaps on you, and now you're holding a grudge, maybe somebody failed you, somebody said they would do something, now they're not doing it, and now all of a sudden you're holding on to a grudge.

And so What you had before was a nice marriage, or you had a nice relationship with your son or daughter, or you had a nice relationship in church, or maybe you had a nice ministry, you had a nice workplace, and now all of a sudden, because of an offense and you not knowing how to be spiritual and do what God says, you hold on to that grudge, and no matter what you do, that grudge has you.

And so what you here's what people try to do.

They they they instead of dealing with the offense and the problem, they hold it and they take it with them everywhere they go.

I'm gonna go to this church, I'm gonna go to this kid's ministry, I'm gonna go over here to this new marriage, I'm gonna go over here to this situation.

Here's the problem.

Everywhere you go, there you are.

And if you have not changed the inside of you, you're bringing all the baggage and all the problems and all the complaints and all the failures and all the mess ups right there with you.

All the while you think, oh, if I just get a new spouse, if I just get a better husband, I get a better wife, I just get a better church.

No, that's not the answer.

The answer is you gotta get better.

You gotta get more spiritual.

You gotta learn what not to say.

You gotta learn to say, I'm gonna let this go.

You gotta learn to be able to say, you know what, God, it's me, it's me, God.

Get this grudge out of my heart.

I don't want Satan inside have any ground inside of me any longer, God.

I don't want to speak evil with my lips.

Oh God, cleanse me, please, God.

I don't want this on me.

I resist the enemy off me.

Take it from me, God, fill me with the Holy Ghost.

See, you gotta get serious when it comes to these things.

If you don't get serious and wake up on some of this stuff, you're not gonna see good days.

And by the way, even if you did see temporal, good physical days, let's say you had a vacation plan, let's say you had a nice outing planned, you won't be able to enjoy it with those five things in your life.

That's why the good life is not first a temporal life.

The good life is a walk with God.

A good life is a clean heart with God, a good life is forgiving others.

A good life is saying I'm not gonna gossip, I'm not gonna be a tail bearer, I'm not gonna be a complainer.

The good life is I'm gonna do the things that God wants me to do.

And I can't control everybody else, but I'm gonna not speak evil with my lips.

You say those are the five negatives.

I want to give you the negatives first, okay?

I want to get your attention.

How many of y'all got your attention now?

Yeah.

Yeah, I kind of hit you with the with the stun gun up front, just to kind of make sure, you know, that you that you got it, right?

But let me give you these these next five.

These are the positive ones.

Okay?

You want to have the good life?

Appreciate, number six, appreciate your life.

Appreciate your life.

It's a gift.

This is the day which the Lord hath made.

We'll rejoice and be glad in it.

The word appreciate means to recognize and value the worth of something.

You know that your life is a gift.

You say, I know, but I want to be younger, I want to be older.

No, right here, right now.

But I want to be married, I want to be single, I want kids, I don't want kids.

No, no, right now.

Stop trying to want another season or somebody else's life.

Appreciate the life that you have right here, right now.

No other strings attached.

Enjoy the little things.

For one day, you may look back and realize they were the big things.

Enjoy your life.

It is truly a gift.

Number seven, you're gonna like this one.

Enjoy your work.

Enjoy your work.

You know, the Bible tells us in Ecclesiastes verse 13, and also that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labor.

It is the gift of God.

You know, you need to love what you do and do what you love.

You know, I think about Joseph.

Any of us can complain here, I don't like my job, I don't like my boss, I don't like this situation.

Anybody anybody complain, and it's so easy to, and most fools do.

But here's what you gotta learn to do.

You gotta learn to connect what God is doing in your life in your current job.

Why does God have me working on this?

What is the blessing in it?

And what you'll find is this there's a blessing in enjoying your work.

I think about Joseph.

Remember when he was thrown in the pit and then in the in the prison?

He could have been like, oh man, God, God, what's up with this?

You said I was gonna rule one day.

Now I'm down here with these jokers, these slackers, these haters.

God put him down there.

You know what he did?

He got a good attitude.

I bet you he was singing, I bet you was sensitive, I bet you he was sweet, and he was a servant.

See, some of us we're we want a better job.

How many of y'all want a better job?

You want a better job?

It's okay.

Yeah, better job.

Now look up here.

The way to get a better job is to do the very best job with the job that you have right now.

Hey, you want to know how to get a how many of y'all want a better marriage?

Anybody want a better marriage?

No, don't put, I do want the better marriage.

Yeah, yeah.

The way to a better marriage is for you to do the very best with your biblical responsibility in marriage right now.

If you're a husband, you love your wife like Jesus loved the church.

He gave himself for it, amen.

You nurture her, you bless her, you take care of her, you protect her, you do all those things, amen.

And just like you take care of yourself, you make sure you take care of her.

You want to have a better husband?

You want to how about this?

You respect your husband like he's Christ.

There's no way you're gonna be bat talking all kinds of smack about Christ all day long and then expecting him to bless you.

You wanna have a good husband?

You want to have a great marriage with your husband?

Lift him up.

Oh, you look so good today.

I respect you, I adore you, I magnify you.

Oh, look at the he's home.

He's home, right?

Roll out the red carpet, you know.

I bet you all of a sudden, you'll have a different king when you become a different queen.

Amen.

That'll preach right there.

Yeah.

That'll preach.

You'll have a whole different king when you become a different queen.

Everything changes when you change.

But if you don't change, nothing changes.

See, you know, I wouldn't be the man I am today without my wife.

Listen, I there's so many dumb things I do, but she stays sweet and kind and sensitive and knows when to shut her mouth and knows when I'm praying for you, sweetheart.

Hey, and I'm just telling you, you gotta know when to when to shut it, and you gotta know when to speak it.

And and a godly woman, I'm telling you what, every wise woman builds her home.

There's no way I'd be the man I am today without that godly woman right there praying for me.

There's so many times she could just be like meddling and nitpicking and saying all kinds of things.

I'm not saying she does a time or two.

Because she does, and there's sometimes I'd be like, zip it.

I don't want to hear that right now, you know?

And sometimes she'll overmute, but most of the time, here's what she do she knows her place.

And it's a biblical place.

It's a biblical place.

You know why the culture of our world is so messed up?

Nobody knows their place.

Husbands don't know how to be husbands, wives don't know how to be wives, children don't know how to be children.

The wife's trying to do the husband's job, the husband's A-wall, not even doing what he's supposed to be doing, the kids are all over the place.

And then in our culture, we think, oh man, this is crazy talk.

This is just straight biblical Christianity.

What I'm talking to you about right now, this is about being a real Christian, being a godly man and a godly woman and knowing your role.

You're different.

Men and women are different, and you're supposed to be different.

And when you start enjoying your work and you start realizing this is a gift, I'm gonna enjoy my work.

I'm gonna do the very best I can, all of a sudden, you're gonna be seeking peace in that workplace.

You're gonna be blessing the home, you're gonna be blessing the church, you're gonna be a blessing everywhere you go.

Let me ask you a question.

If you're a blessing to your wife or to your to your son or your daughter or your or your pastor or your church family, do you think you're gonna see better days?

Yeah.

Yeah, because they're gonna feel it.

They're gonna sense it.

Oh, there's a sweetness coming out of you today.

This is nice, right?

And they'll want to get closer to you.

You want to see good days?

Write this down.

Number eight, love your portion.

Love your portion.

You know, scripture tells us every man also to whom God hath given riches and wealth and hath given him power to eat thereof and to take his portion and to rejoice in his labor, this is the gift of God.

You know it's a gift for you to enjoy your portion.

Your portion is your God-given share in life.

Who you are, what you have, and where you live.

Hey, listen, instead of wishing, I don't like this apartment, I don't like this condo, I don't like this house, I don't like this.

Why don't you just get take it, take a step back and say, you know what, God?

You said with food, raiment, with clothing and shelter, I'm gonna be content.

Thank you, God, for this house.

Thank you, God.

I don't like this body.

I just want to be taller, I just want to be shorter, I want to be skinnier, I want to be fatter.

Just enjoy your portion.

Like, seriously.

Just be like, okay, I'm five foot nothing.

I'm gonna do the best I can with this five foot nothing.

Right?

Because as long as you're upset at yourself and working against yourself, you're not gonna be embracing what God has given to you.

And then you're gonna be stuck longer, right?

So here's what you do you say, you know what, Lord?

Thank you for my portion.

Thank you where you made me.

Thank you where you were my the family I lived in.

Thank you so much, God, for the hard times.

Thank you so much for these kids, thank you so much for this trial, thank you so much, God, for this.

I'm gonna love this portion that you've given to me.

And I'm not gonna try to force myself out of this.

I'm gonna be content.

Now, question Do you think you're gonna have a better quality of life in your relationships and what what's happening if you're if you're being content?

Oh, yeah, for sure.

Contentment is not the fulfillment of what you want, but the realization of how much you already have.

Y'all know you're you're already hooked up.

You're already so blessed.

How many of you guys sometimes you get so focused on the destination of what you want in the future that you can't enjoy what you have right now?

Or how many times you set new goals?

I want to save this amount of money, I want to get to this body style, I want to get over here to this job.

And now, as a result of that, you can't enjoy what you have in this portion.

And so you it's hard for you to call a timeout and say, you know what?

It's a Sabbath rest day.

This is the day which God's made.

Let's enjoy.

Let's let's let's let's love our portion.

You do that, God's gonna start blessing.

Number nine, write this down.

You wanna see good days?

You wanna enjoy the good life?

Partake in the good things.

Partake in the good things.

Stop saying no to everything.

Now, yeah, say no to sin, say no to all the wicked things.

But do you understand there's all kinds of blessings all around you?

Like a ton.

That if you started saying yes to relationships and to fun, you'd be a brighter person.

You'd be a happier person.

You're not gonna get happier sitting in your dungeon, you know, working all day long, typing things out, and then going home and complaining about the kids and the family and like, why is my life so terrible?

It's terrible because of you.

But you'll be a brighter portion, you'll be you'll be a bright, a brighter person if you start partaking in the good things.

And so, you know what, I'm gonna go to that fellowship.

I'm gonna get that good little workout in.

Hey, you know what?

I'm gonna I'm gonna go ahead and try that tubing.

You know, I'm gonna go ahead and try that that skiing, I'm gonna try that surfing.

You know, I'm gonna try that uh go to the movies with friends.

I'm gonna try that going to that pot.

I'm gonna go try that going walking on the beach.

I'm gonna try that that thing over there.

And stop saying, well, I used to do this, I used to do this.

Stop, stop with the attitude I used to.

And let's get the fun back into our lives.

Amen.

Our kids, they need to see us having the time of our life.

Listen, the people around you need to see you enjoying life.

The Bible uh tells us that charge them that are rich in this world that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches.

But in the living God who giveth us richly all things to enjoy.

You know, you don't have to own everything to enjoy some good temporal things.

I was able to go on a boat the other day.

I didn't own the boat, but sure enough, I was having a great time on that boat, right?

The other day I was at preaching somewhere, I didn't have a bike.

There was a bike there.

I said, Hey, can I ride that bike?

Oh man, I was having a great time with that bike, jumping and doing all kinds of things with it.

You don't have to have all the wealth in the world and all the money in the world and own everything for you to enjoy what's there.

There's a ton all around you.

You know, you think about going to the desert.

I don't own any desert stuff.

But listen, not too long ago, I was out on one of them doom buggies going, ah, going up this hill.

There's people all around you that want to love you and bless you and include you.

But you gotta be friendly.

You gotta be kind.

You gotta be able to say, hey, listen, I'm gonna partake in these relationships.

I'm gonna get out of my comfort zone, I'm gonna go to the small groups, I'm gonna say yes to classes, I'm gonna start partaking in some things.

How do you think you're gonna feel when you're enjoying some of those good things?

Man, when I got done off that tube the other day, you know, we're going through it with Brother David and I, uh, brother, brother, uh, what's his last name?

Um, we were on that thing and we're just moving around.

Man, I had such an adrenaline rush.

I had such a smile on my face.

I felt so good.

I felt so much brighter.

It was a blessing.

Before that, I was I was preaching for a friend, and we went to a uh uh, he took me to a uh a car derby, you know where the where the cars run around and they bash each other to pieces.

Oh man, I was yelling the whole time.

Yes, let them free, right?

And then the figure eights when they're going to the BAM! It was fantastic.

Or at the Padre game, beat LA, beat LA, right?

Now I don't know what it is for you, but here's what I'm saying.

You don't have to express emotion and joy like I do, but you do need to live life.

You gotta do some things for you that that release you and encourage you.

If you wait until you're 60, 70, 80 years old, listen, your whole life's gonna pass by you.

Come on, where are my seniors at?

Can I get an amen?

Doesn't it go by fast?

Yes, it just goes by fast, right?

And if you can tell your past self some things, wouldn't this be one of them?

Come on, enjoy some things, enjoy some life, go on for it.

You can enjoy life as a Christian and not get into sin.

Come on.

You don't have to be drinking and doing drugs all day long to be able to enjoy your life.

Listen, all that stuff does is numb you down.

You can be letting your light so shine before men and having a glorious hallelujah time.

Without the drugs and without the alcohol, and without the wickedness, without the pain and brokenness afterwards.

You say, What do I gotta do?

Partake in the good things, the fellowships, the camaraderies, the developments, all that type stuff.

And then number 10, and I'm finished, just a short message today.

Hopefully, it's an encouragement to you.

Number 10, magnify God with joy.

I mean, lift him up, guys.

He's so good.

Sometimes I'll look around at church and I'll see they're not singing.

And sometimes I just want to go, whack.

What's wrong with you?

God's letting you breathe his air.

God gave you food today, God gave you a house, God gave you that pretty lady next to you, God gave you that handsome looking guy next to you.

What's wrong with you?

Why are you not praising him?

He's so good to you, and all you're doing is focus on the wrong stuff.

Come on, wake up, he's so good.

If you're gonna see good days in your life, start magnifying the Lord.

Everywhere you go.

You know, scripture says this in Psalm 34, 3.

Oh, magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt his name together.

The word magnify means to make God bigger in your heart and life and to lift him higher.

Everywhere you go, you just want to be like, look at God.

Look at that birdie over there.

My God made that birdie.

Look at Jupiter and Pluto.

Don't go, don't just magnify everything you see.

Look at those stars over there.

Look at those little ants.

Give me that magnifying.

No, don't do the magnifying that, right?

Let's watch these little suckers scurry around, right?

Or the spider that's up in the house.

Look at that spider, man.

The Bible says he's determined.

And just start looking around and just start realizing, man, God has created all these creatures.

He's so good.

Go out to the beach and walk on the beach and see those sea, uh, those seals and those dolphins.

Get out there with the great white, right?

The great white shark and be like, you don't want me, I'm riding this wave, leave me alone, right?

And here's what I'm saying: magnify the Lord everywhere you go.

And sing praises to him.

When you're out soul winning, knock on them doors, count your blessings, open the door, right?

I mean, just everywhere you go, if you're doing the dishes, if you're working out at the house, everywhere.

Hey, listen, you got a problem going on?

Sing praises to God.

And just be like, you know what, God, thank you for this problem.

Thank you for this situation.

I'm gonna count it all joy, and I'm gonna give you the glory.

Here's what happens: when you start magnifying God, you'll start minimizing your problems.

How many of y'all you need to shrink your problems?

The best way to shrink your problems is to magnify God.

And when you get God in His rightful place, all of your little problems become so small.

So tiny.

Amen.

And so, how many of y'all want to live the good life?

I want to live the good life.

This is the way to do it.

I've given you five thou shalt not, and five thou shalt.

Put these things together, and I'm telling you what, you're gonna be enjoying life, and people are gonna love being right next to you, too.

Amen?

Amen.

That's the message.

Let's pray.