Contentment: Living Richly | Part 2

Welcome to the Awakening Church podcast.

We pray this message encourages you and provides the hope and light of Jesus Christ.

Thanks for tuning in.

We're in a series called Contentment.

Go ahead and say that to your neighbor.

Just yell it out, Contentment.

Go for it.

There you go.

Contentment! Yeah, someone said it very happily.

Contentment.

Here's what we know.

We know life would be better with it.

We're not really sure how to get it.

And when we do get it from time to time, we're not sure how to keep it.

Contentment, really, how do we live a deeply content life?

This is how the dictionary defines contentment.

We talked about this last week.

If you missed, I'll catch you right on up.

Contentment is a state of satisfaction, ease of mind and peace, a feeling of quiet happiness.

Ah.

So good.

Why?

Why is contentment so incredibly difficult for us?

In fact, I last week we talked about the thing that actually pushes contentment out of our life or drives discontentment in our life, it's this idea called the myth of more that we buy into the myth of more, and the myth of more goes something like this.

When I get more, then I'll be content.

When I get more, then I'll be content.

When I get, you know, a little bit thinner after Thanksgiving, then I'll be content.

When I get a little bit prettier, when I get that car, when I drive this, when I get this job, when I get married, when I get kids, when I get it's when I get, then I'll finally be content, then I'll finally be happy, then I'll finally be satisfied.

And here's the problem with more.

The myth of more says when you'll get it, you'll be content.

But here's what happens is then underneath more is if some's good, then more's better.

I got it, but it was good.

Oh, it was very good.

And I was content for a bit, but now I want just a little bit more money in the bank, just a little bit better job, drive, just a little nicer car.

And underneath is a belief, we wouldn't say it out loud, but it drives our actions, it drives our thoughts, it drives our feelings about what we have and what we need that more is fundamentally the key to life and to happiness and to security.

That's why we feel the inflation rise, we see the stock market drop, and then we hear the looming tell of a recession on the horizon.

So, what do you need to feel secure?

A little bit more.

Because it's the key.

And here's what we said.

We wrestled with these questions last week.

Why do we own more but possess less peace?

Why do we own more, live in one of the wealthiest places on the planet, and yet have less peace?

Why does owning more only create more anxiety than security?

If more really is the key to life and happiness, but why do we get more and then we live in the most anxious age, perhaps, in all of human history, and we live in the age with more?

And why does someone else's more tend to rob us with our happiness of our more?

Why do we look at what they have and how they have it and that they just got a little bit more?

And that's not fair.

And I saw her walk in dressed like that, and ooh, and we judge them.

Like, how could they wear that here?

But inside we wish we had that.

And why does giving our kids more often hurt them more than help them?

And we want to give them more than what we had, and yet studies show that the more we give them, it actually undermines their well-being.

And finally, why do those in parts of the world that have less seem to possess more peace and happiness?

We are wrestling with this question in this little mini-series of ours.

How do you cultivate contentment in a world constantly trying to make you dissatisfied with everything you own?

How do you cultivate it when everything around you is driving you towards discontentment, driving us towards the myth of more?

And here's what we said contentment actually is a decision of the heart, not a destination in life.

That's incredibly good news.

And I nobody applauded for that.

That's weird.

I don't know why you should have stood up.

Amen.

Standing ovation, thank you, Pastor.

You solved it.

Contentment is a decision of the heart, not a destination in life.

More is a destination.

And you wonder why you never arrive because more keeps shifting.

Contentment.

And you can walk out today a little bit more content, and you can practice, you can cultivate contentment by daily decisions that you make.

And we've been actually looking at uh this letter that the Apostle Paul wrote to his young protege, Timothy.

Now, Timothy's pastoring uh this church in Ephesus, and Ephesus is this incredibly important, well-known city in the ancient world.

It's the capital of the Roman Empire in Asia Minor.

It's beautiful, it hosts one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.

It's incredibly affluent.

And Timothy's trying to pastor this young church, and the Apostle Paul gives him such incredible advice in how to lead a church that has more, but not content, to experience peace and satisfaction and happiness.

And today we're actually going to talk about living richly.

Go ahead and say that out loud with me.

Living richly.

Because here's the truth, isn't it true?

Many people spend incredible amounts of energy trying to get rich.

But few people actually really figure out how to live rich lives.

And don't you want to be?

Don't we want to be someone who has at the end of their lives said that was a rich life?

And isn't it true?

Those who have riches and live rich lives, those don't always go together.

And so, how do we how do we get more out of life that matters?

How do we get them like like exactly like um how do you end up with more of what really matters in life?

How do you take hold?

As this is an incredible line, that the apostle Paul is gonna say, he's gonna close out our teaching, he's gonna tell us, he's gonna teach us how to do this.

How do you take hold of life that's truly life?

Because isn't that what we're running after and pursuing and hoping for, anyways?

Life that's truly life.

Not life that's caught up in the rat race, not life that's just trying to eat by, not life that's just numbing so you can get through another day, life that's truly life.

If you got your Bibles, would you open up to 1 Timothy chapter 6, 1 Timothy 6, 17?

1 Timothy 6 · chapter mention

We pick it up here.

He says, Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant, nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides them with everything for our enjoyment.

Command them, okay, whoa, we got a couple commands here.

Them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous, willing to share.

Notice this.

In this way, they will lay up treasures for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of life that is truly, help me out.

Life.

That's what we want to do today.

How do you take hold of life that is truly life?

And again, I want to give you a perspective shift and then a practice, a perspective shift and a practice.

Here's the perspective shift.

Contentment is found in God.

That's a very pastor thing to say of you, Ryan.

Thank you very much.

Like, that's pretty obvious.

It is indeed, he's the author of life, and yet we don't practice it.

We think contentment is found in more.

That's what we've been talking about.

Contentment is found in, you know, achieving or arriving.

No, no, no.

Contentment is found fundamentally in the author of life, God, who has given me all that I have, what?

To enjoy.

Did you notice that line?

He actually gave you what you had, what you have to enjoy.

In fact, I think there's many of us that are gonna get to heaven and God's gonna go, why didn't you enjoy more?

Not only to enjoy and to leverage for good.

Notice what the apostle Paul said.

He said, Command those who are rich in this present world.

And now immediately you're going, Okay, thank God I'm off the hook.

I saw that one person and what they drove in the parking lot, Ryan's speaking to them.

See, here's the problem with rich is none of us think we're rich.

We can always point to someone who's rich, and often it's somebody who has not only more than us, it's doubly more than us.

If you make 50 grand, someone who makes a hundred grand, wow, they're rich.

If you make a hundred, it's two hundred grand.

If you make a million, it's two million.

Rich is always out there and it's never right here.

You know the definition for rich, at least biblically?

Rich is having more than you need, having extra.

That's all it is.

Rich is saying, I actually have extra.

I have leftover.

Anybody have leftovers in their fridge right now?

Hello?

Your food, rich.

Anybody throw away any food that went unused in your fridge?

Yeah, no, me too.

You know what gets thrown away a lot is those like um packs of um, oh, the mixed greens.

You ever, you know, you get those things and then they see they in the drawer and then you pull them out, and it's like this goopy mess.

Buy food, put it in a refrigerator, store it for a couple weeks, pull it out, it's gone bad, I throw it out.

Because I have extra.

I have more than I need.

We don't think of ourselves as rich, but in the global economy, we are rich.

In fact, one person did the math, and if you earn$37,000 annually, you're in the top 4% globally of the world.

Hello, top 4%.

And and by the way, um, many of us, if we earn$37,000, um, it would be a significant pick up, right?

You're like, no, no, thank you.

See, having more than you need, in fact, in in the ancient day, if you had two of something, you were considered wealthy.

If you had more than just your daily bread, you were considered wealthy.

And and we have closets full.

I don't know if you notice this.

Oh, I won't pick on you right now, I'll pick on me.

Um, I have more than two of many things.

In fact, right now I'm wearing my jean jacket.

I wore a different jean jacket last week.

I have two, I am rich jean jacket-wise.

Um, and then here's I buy just the same thing.

I I have this black shirt, I have multiple of the same black shirt, and then I these black jeans, I have multiple black jeans of the same ones.

I just bought a new pair.

Why?

Because these are faded out, they're not black enough for my dress-up black jean days.

You know what I mean?

And you gotta have like fully jet black jeans to be dressed up, and then shoes.

I have running shoes, I have basketball shoes, they're from indoor.

My old basketball shoes, yes, I have a second pair of basketball shoes, they're for outdoor playing.

Then I have some dress-up shoes, and then I have these shoes.

This is for when it gets colder, and you're like, poor Ryan, he doesn't have socks, he couldn't afford socks.

No, I just have good-looking ankles.

No, I just wanted to show them off.

See, one of the powerful tools for us to understand in perspective shifts of contentment is when instead of trying to somehow get rich, you embrace you already are rich.

You are rich.

We have more than we need, we have extra, and it changes the way you think about your stuff.

And so then what the apostle Paul says next is for us, not for somebody else.

He says we need to be aware of two common traps.

There's two things.

He says, not to be arrogant or to put your hope in your stuff, not to be arrogant.

What is what is one of the common traps when you get more?

Is you believe that more makes you a somebody.

You walk around.

We all did this in high school.

Don't even play.

I remember when I got a new watch in high school, just a watch, not a new fit, a watch.

I walked on like I was so cool.

And we don't grow out of it because it's what you drive, it's what you wear, it's how big your house is.

And there's this subtlety about you know arrogance that that it actually you think the more you have, you you all of a sudden begin to believe I'm smarter than everybody else.

I'm better than everybody else.

Of course I am.

Look at all that I've been able to acquire.

First trap, beware, it doesn't make you a somebody.

The second one is more provide security.

It says, Don't put your hope in riches, which is so uncertain.

And this is what we do because we shift our hope onto our stuff, and we think if we only get more, then we will be safe.

In fact, the Proverbs says it this way in 23:4, don't wear yourself out to get rich.

Don't trust in your own cleverness.

Cast but a glance at riches and they're gone.

For they'll surely sprout wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle.

It's and we get it.

We've all watched it.

We the last three years we've seen the stock market do this and this and this and then this again.

And we're all hoping it'll do this again.

And we put our hope thinking that somehow the more we get, the more secure we'll be.

He says, No, no, no.

But put your hope in God.

Remember, contentment is found in God, who richly provides us with everything for our own enjoyment.

I love that.

He doesn't say command those who are rich to feel really bad about what they have.

Shame on you.

How could you have nice things?

Command those who have nice things to always apologize about the things they have and tell how they got it on sale or got a deal or knew somebody.

That's what we do in church world, by the way.

If you're new to church, you drive something nice.

Oh, I got a really good deal.

Oh, no, no, no.

This is a gift, it was a birthday present.

It was.

Uh both both jean jackets were.

No, no, no.

Command them not to be arrogant or to put your hope in your stuff.

Put your hope in God who richly provides it for your own enjoyment.

Hey, I want you to enjoy the good things that I've provided for you.

That's that's the heart of the Father.

I like the way Andy Stanley, a pastor in Atlanta, says it.

He says, My hope is not in riches, but in him who richly provides.

If we're gonna develop and cultivate contentment, if we're actually gonna be those who take hold of life that's truly life, end up at the end of life of more that matters, a perspective shift.

Contentment is found in God, who has given me all that I have to enjoy, and say and with me.

And because we don't and it, we period it sometimes.

Contentment is found in God who has given me all that I have to enjoy.

It's a fun ending.

But it's not a rich living.

It's a fun ending.

It sounds nice, but it's actually fundamentally without the and it's hollow living, it's empty living, it's shallow living, and leverage for good.

Leverage for good.

We ended last week talking about generosity, and actually the apostle Paul finishes with generosity, leverage for good, command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.

Why did he have to command them to do good?

Because the natural human instinct is not to be generous, but to get mind.

Yeah, it is.

Look at any toddler.

You ever hung out with toddlers?

You ever taken a toy from a toddler?

Mine! Many toddlers, their first word is mine.

Command them to do good.

And here's why, as we buy into another myth of more.

Isn't that amazing?

With the myth of more, there's always more.

And here's the myth with the other myth of more.

It's almost a word.

Uh tongue teaser.

When I get more, then I'll give more.

When I get more, then I'll get more.

See, we believe that one day, someday, we can actually leverage what we have for good, and it is a myth because if we don't put it into practice here, if we don't leverage presently what we have for good, we won't do it later when we get more.

In fact, contentment says this contentment leverages more for good.

Contentment says, because I am already rich and I am enjoying what God has given me, the more that I have, the extra that I have is not mine.

I'm actually a steward of, and I'm gonna leverage for good.

And here's what's amazing about leveraging what we have or practicing generosity.

This is generosity's great mystery.

This is the secret to living richly.

Jesus said it this way it is more blessed to give than receive.

What if he was right?

You ever think about that?

You ever just stop and like read the gospels and go, what if he was right about life?

What if he actually knew what he was saying?

It is more blessed, it is happier, it is better, it is a flourishing life to give than to receive.

Like you get more out of it.

It is a rich way of living.

In fact, the Proverbs would say it this way: one person gives freely yet gains even more, another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty.

A generous person will prosper.

Whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.

What if the perspective shifts?

I am already rich, I am enjoying what I have, and the extra that I have, I'm gonna leverage for good.

And by the way, when I leverage for good, I experience great joy and contentment and flourishing out of that.

In fact, um Christian Smith and Hillary Dixon, their uh professors at Notre Dame, they wrote a book called The Um Paradox of Generosity.

And in the paradox of generosity, they simply said uh it was a scientific research book, not Christian by any means.

This was their conclusion.

If Americans want to become happier, healthier people, who live with greater purpose, suffer less depression, and enjoy more personal growth, one way they might better accomplish that is to learn to be more generous.

The scientific evidence shows clearly that more generous people are doing significantly better in their lives in many important ways.

Generosity is the pathway to truly enjoying what God has provided.

It's almost as if Jesus 2,000 years ago already knew it.

And it's the reason the apostle Paul said, those of us who have more, I need to command you to be rich in good deeds.

To be generous and willing to share.

Because it's not your natural response of the soul, it's to get mine, and we subtly buy into the myth of more.

And I just need a little bit more to be secure.

I just need a little bit more.

No, no, when I get more, then I'll give more.

And no, no, you have to practice it.

You have to put it into practice.

You have to make it a part of your life.

And so, how do we practice this generosity?

The Apostle Paul, writing to another wealthy uh city, the Church of Corinth, writes this to them.

He says, Each of you should give what you've decided in your heart to give.

So he's gonna tell us like, how do we put this into practice?

Well, give what you've decided in your heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion.

Why?

God loves a cheerful or hilarious giver.

Like, I can't believe I get to be a part of this.

And God is able to bless you abundantly so that in all things, at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.

Okay, so how do we actually put this into practice?

Three words that I brought up last week.

I want to circle back and just dive a little bit deeper.

How do we put this into practice first consistently?

If you're gonna practice generosity, you have to do it consistently.

It's gotta become a habit, a part of your life, a practice, not occasionally, not just spontaneously, which is wonderful, or sporadically here and there.

No, no, we got to do it consistently.

If we're gonna begin to cultivate a heart of contentment where we really understand contentment is found in God, not in my stuff.

Contentment is found in him, not in having more.

Contentment is found in God who gave this to me to enjoy and to leverage for good.

I then have to consistently practice it, make it a habit.

And here's what we do, and here's the reason many of us miss out on it.

We do it one time, we do it spontaneously, we have one moment, oh, that really felt good.

I helped that one person, but it doesn't make any lasting impact or effect on our life.

It's the same reason you go to the gym and work out once.

And then you get onto that skill and you're disappointed.

Or you look in the mirror.

Oh, wait, none of you have ever done that.

Why?

Because that's stupid.

I have, though.

I literally, I have.

I we all want instant results.

But we know we have to cultivate and put it into practice.

First, make it a habit of your life, a routine.

We have to do it consistently.

Secondly, we have to do it systematically.

Systematically.

You gotta have a plan, not just emotionally.

And we give emotionally to things, don't we?

And we hear, you know, some need going on or some crisis in the world.

Those are wonderful things.

And that we, you know, see something on TV, and so we give to it.

That's great, but we also have to give systematically.

You have to have a plan.

In fact, the Bible would talk about giving and talks about it as your first fruits.

It was a plan that you would give first.

Here's the way we tend to give is we tend to give last.

We give, you know, and figure out we live on what we have, and then we kind of look at it, and you're like, you know what?

Hey, I got I actually have cash in my wallet.

I got I got a dollar here.

Awesome.

Oh, I got a dollar left over.

Oh, give.

That's not a plan.

Is giving that good?

Yeah, but you gotta have a plan.

Here's the way we do it in my house.

I'm like, just the whenever Jenny gets a paycheck from real estate, we write a check.

Anytime I get paid, I have it automatically given out.

So I just have a plan that a give first, save second, live on the rest.

We've said it so many times over the years here.

You develop a plan systematically.

Give first, save second, and then just live on the rest.

Enjoy what God has given you consistently, systematically, and then finally, significantly.

Significantly.

Where we actually give a amount that we go, oh, amount that actually challenge us to realize, is it mine or is it God's?

The way to best do this, I think, is um with a percentage.

So we give significantly and not reluctantly.

And the passage it said, not reluctantly.

And choose a percentage.

Our family, we choose 10%.

The Bible talks about a tithe.

I believe that tithing trains our heart to trust God that I take that 10% no matter what we make, and we just say the first of it goes to you, and I'm giving it to you, and then we give over and above that.

I've known people who've chosen significantly who said, I want to one day be able to reverse tithe so I can give 90% away and live on 10.

And by the way, they're able to do it.

But where you begin to give significantly and you choose a percentage.

Part of that, it just positions you for this rich living.

Here's what's amazing.

When we started Awakening Church, we chose not only as a leadership, do we give 10%, but we we as a church said we're gonna give at least 10% of what comes in outside the doors of our wall.

This last year we were able to give just over 20% away.

Unbelievable.

Now, here's something that is, yeah, thank you, mom.

I think it was mom clapping there.

I don't know.

Um, but here, can I just tell you like the story that I want my life to be a part of, the story you want your life to be a part of, is found in living richly.

We said from day one that uh we believe the church should unleash extravagant, lead the way in unleashing extravagant generosity to a hurting and broken world because we have an extravagantly generous God.

God actually made the first move of generosity.

God so loved the world that he gave.

Jesus became poor for our sake that we might become rich.

And so we said Del Mar, where we meet, is more than a place to meet, but a people to love.

Now think about this.

Think about a decade of this and what it has done to enhance the name of Jesus to people who don't know him.

Every single Friday, we bring coffee and donuts for the teachers here at Del Mar.

We've been doing this for a decade.

At the beginning of each school year, we do something special for the staff, and then we give them some sort of gifts or gift cards just to say, welcome back and we love you.

At the end of each semester, we throw a taco truck party.

Why?

Because tacos will be in heaven.

Um, we've been doing this for 10 years.

Last month, we were able to help students who couldn't afford to even pay for the tuition fees to apply for college and paid their tuition fees.

Many of them come from homes where nobody's ever been to college before.

Not$10,000 worth of students being able to afford to apply to college.

Multiple times over the last several months, we get emails or a phone call or a text from either the principal saying there's a family here that's about to get evicted or in crisis.

Could you help?

We've been able to keep people in their homes, take care of them, provide for food.

Next week, we're actually gonna kick off our giving tree, which we do every year.

The very first year we did this, because we just want to be able to provide Christmas for kids and families who wouldn't otherwise be able to experience Christmas in Jesus' name.

The very first year we did this, we uh we got to know um and hear of a story of a girl who had um her braces on about a year after uh she was supposed to have them off.

And the reason she couldn't get them off is the Orthodonists wouldn't take them off because their family couldn't pay the rest of the bill.

Her mouth was an incredible pain.

We were able to pay for that and get her braces off.

There's a family that for six months didn't have electricity because they couldn't afford the PGE bill.

We were able to cover not only six months, but we wanted to cover even more, so we paid six months into the future of what we thought it would be, so that they got the lights and heat on by Christmas Day.

I remember walking in and we'd sit down and we'd get a kind of hand out these gifts to the students, and I remember being embarrassed of one particular gift.

And it's this bag, but on top of it, gift bag, on top of it had a big thing of toilet paper.

And I'm like, whoever gets that, oh man, and there's lots of good stuff underneath it.

Um the senior, cool guy, walks in.

I was like, oh no, we gave him toilet paper.

He saw the toilet paper and he started to cry.

He's like, I haven't had we haven't had toilet paper in over a month.

I've been taking napkins from fast food restaurants.

Like, I had no idea a simple toilet paper to this kid was gonna be incredible.

Talk about living richly.

See, here's what's fascinating.

The only thing that lasts are the people you come across, not the possessions you acquire.

And when we steward and when we leverage what we have for good in this way, he says, you'll lay up a treasure as a firm foundation in the coming age so that you'll take hold of life that is truly life.

Getting more only sucks the life.

Giving more.

So let me ask you.

Let me ask us Am I leveraging what I'm presently having for good?

Not what you hope to have, not what you want to have, not not not what you go like, man, I wish I had.

And when I get that, then I will.

Am I leveraging what I presently have for good?

My time, my talent, my treasure.

See, that's rich living.

You know what's interesting is you don't ever really miss the money that you gave generously to help someone.

You do miss the money that you misspent or misinvested, don't you?

But you never really go, oh man, I wish I got that back.

Uh this last week, Robbie and I were hanging out, and he's reminded me of a time, uh, because he was asking me, like, hey, you lived in Georgia for three years and then we moved back to the bay.

How'd you get back here?

And I was just sharing the story.

And it and it reminded me of one story that, like, when we had nothing.

And how we could actually, we didn't know, we didn't know as rich living back then.

We just thought it it was just obedience to what God had called us to.

But we'd never regret it.

When we were moving from Georgia back to the Bay Area, um, the place where I work actually shortchanged us two months of salary.

So now I have a mortgage, I have two kids, um, the money in the bank is dwindling quickly.

I have to start my new job at Westgate earlier and sooner, and we're not really sure how we're going to be able to afford to pay to move back to the Bay Area.

Well, I had a Honda uh passport, 1999 Honda passport, and I was gonna sell it for$5,000.

That was our ticket to being able to, you know, be able to cover our mortgage.

Uh yeah, I know, and move back.

It's a different time and different place, a lot cheaper there.

And I was away on a mission to Mexico trip with a with a with our youth group, and I had asked a guy in our church, he was his kids were a part of our youth ministry.

In fact, he had four teenagers.

Unbelievable.

Uh like they're in the most incredible family.

And I said, Would you, you know, help me sell this car um while I'm gone?

He said, Absolutely.

And so he was showing it, he was taking it at night after work to other people who are looking at it.

And I remember while I was in Mexico getting this like distinct sense, I'm like, we're supposed to give this family our car.

And I was like, you know, I had this tug of word, but how are we gonna afford and pay to move back?

And we don't have an income right now.

And I called Jenny, who's much more spiritual than I, and I just said, Hey, I'm getting this sense.

She's like, absolutely, I think we should do it.

They have four kids, they're gonna need another car.

We should totally give it to them.

And so I remember saying, Hey Dell, um I just felt like God called us to give you this car.

No, I couldn't take it.

It's not you taking it, it's God giving it.

I'm being obedient to God.

You deal with him, not me.

Give the car away.

A couple days later, I get a knock on our door.

And there's a courier, and I'd never had a courier show up to my house before, hands me an envelope, I signed for it, and was like, Oh, that's cool.

What is this about?

I opened this envelope, and a guy I'd only met once wrote a note.

Hey, heard you were moving out of the area.

Really sad to see you go.

Thought you could use some moving around money for a check.

Five thousand dollars.

I don't know if you caught that.

Uh, where the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians said, and God is able to bless you abundantly so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, not all that you want or desire, but all that you need, you will abound in every good work.

I'm gonna give that, I'm gonna bless it so that you can abound in every good work.

And that's living richly.

And we wouldn't get that story of seeing God supply without first obeying.

A couple years later, Dale got sick, and he unfortunately passed away.

And I had the honor and privilege to go back and be with the family and at the funeral.

And they're like showing off this car to me.

Oh, I would never ever want to take that back.

That that gotta be a sense of hope and a way that God provided for them, and he would take the little that I have when we just had nickels rubbing together, and he would allow us to get to be a part of this story to bring hope in the midst of this, and they still had that car well often, and they're like, This is amazing.

I'm like, oh my goodness, that is so well spent.

It's better spent.

It's better invested.

Am I spending what I presently have?

Am I leveraging it?

Don't you stand in the closer?

Heavenly Father, I pray for my friends.

As we live in such a crazy space, this space of Silicon Valley, and get caught up in the rat race of more and bigger and better.

Would you help us to embrace we are rich?

And God, I ask for those that walked in discontent that you would settle in their soul.

That you're the source, that you're the provider, that they can enjoy it and leverage it.

Make us that kind of people, a content people that lives richly.

For your name's sake.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

We hope you are blessed by this message.

Please subscribe to our podcast for access to every episode as they're uploaded.

And hey, we'd love to connect with you.

Take a next step by filling out our virtual connection card at awakeningchurch.com slash card.