Don't Worry About Anything, Instead Pray About Everything | Jason Martin

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All right, So to today the I will just give

a brief recap of what I shared previously. So previously

I shed on Philippians for verse nine, fix your thoughts

on what is good right, so remember it started with

this word. Don't worry about anything. Instead, pray about everything.

Tell God what you need, thank him for all he

has done, and you will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything.

We can understand his peace. Well, God, your heart and

minds as you live in Christ Jesus. And the previous

one I touched verse nine. Okay, I don't have the

verse nine here on the screen, but the three points

that I mentioned next light The three points that I

mentioned for the previous sermon was focus on the truth right.

Most of the time we are anxious because we don't

focus on the truth. We need to focus on what

is honorable, right and pure. And we need to focus

on what is lovely and admirable right. So honorable, right

and pere is. We need to focus on thoughts of

becoming like God. And we also need to be right

with men, which is lovely and marraable, and by doing that,

the God of Peace will be with us. So I

ended the previous sermon next Light with this quote that

if you know God, you know peace. If you have

no God, then you will have no peace. Okay, So

today's sermon is I think it is just a continuation

of this, but I want to give you the title first.

So next night, the title is how to be Happy

without having Everything? How to be happy without having everything? Okay,

the last week of November. They usually celebrate this day

on the fourth Thursday of the month. Y'all know what

it is? Thanksgiving? Right on the usually they will celebrate Thanksgiving.

So this coming twenty eighth of November is actually Thanksgiving

in America. So you know what they do for Thanksgiving?

They give thanks. They give thanks for previously. It started

by giving thanks for the Harvard for God providing for

all your needs and stuff I have. So it's the

time my family and friends get together they give thanks.

But the ironic thing is on the Thursday, they give thanks.

On the Friday, you know what they do on the Friday,

they have this day called Black Friday, and Black Friday

is the day where, hey, I don't have everything. Thursday,

you say thank God for everything he has blessed me

a bundleley Friday, he says that, hey, I don't have enough.

I need more, right, And that is the ironic thing.

It happens year in year out. So I was like, actually,

it's quite ironic that both days are celebrated big in

America and right now I think the world. But people

don't seem to see the irony that one day you

are contact and the next day you say I'm living

in lack okay. So I wanted to emphasize this point

by showing a video. Yes, so today I found mister

Bean video by popular request. So I managed to find

a mister Bean video. All right, so let's let's see

what it is when when we think we don't have enough.

So you can see right at the start of the show,

mister beanos very happy with his car. Right, A lot

of us are like that we start he we're very happy,

Like for example, when my kids are into baby blades,

so they got their baby blade, they are very happy

until they meet with your friend who has a newer

baby lad or a better babylad. And the same goes

with our cars. It goes with our phones. It goes

with anything. It is very we are very happy with

it until we see something that is better. When we

see something that is better, now what we do, what happens,

we feel like, hey, we are lacking something. We are

lacking something. And when we are lacking something, we feel that, hey,

I need to get it, so to go and get

it right. We do go through all kinds of things.

Suddenly from having the joy of having that your own car,

you have suddenly lost the joy and that joy is

replaced with anxiety. You see that. So in Philippians four,

verse sixty seven, you said, right, don't be anxious. One

of the main causes of anxiousness is actually this contentment.

This contentment actually causes us anxiousness because we are not

content with what we are we have, or we are

not content with what we have or are like for example,

we are not content with our jobs, we're not content

with our financial situation, we're not content with our family

or whatever it is. And that say then we say

that hey, I need it needs to be better. And

when we try and make it better, most of the

times it's not within our control. And that causes anxiety. Right,

that causes anxiety. So there's a quote here I wanted

to read from Benjamin Franklin. It says contentment makes poor

men rich, but this contentment makes rich men poor. So

if contentment, if being rich, was the key to contentment,

the world must be in a much happier place right now,

because the richest of the world right now, right people

are living at much better status levels or comfort levels

compared to previously. But if you compare in terms of

the level of depression, the level of suicides, the level

of drug abuse, it has increased as well. So riches

or having more is not the answer. Right to be

content allows a poor man to be rich and makes

a poor. Discontentment makes a poor man become poor, becomes

a rich man become poor. So there are a few

points that wanted us. There's three points that I wanted

us to talk about today. So next verse, the key

text will be this verse. So the key text again

still in Philippians four, but instead of worse nine, we

stopped at verse nine previously. So right now I will

go into verse The key ones is eleven to thirteen. Okay,

so verse ten, how I praise the Lord that you

are concerned about me again? I know that you have

always been concerned for me, but you don't have a

chance to help me. Not that I was ever in need,

For I have learned how to be content with whatever

I am, whatever I have, Okay, I know how to

live with almost nothing or live with everything. I have

learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it

is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little,

For I can do every thrin to Christ, who gives

me strength. Okay, so this is Paul, just backtrack a

bit right. Verse six to seven was be anxious for nothing.

Verse nine it goes to focus your thoughts on what

is true, what is righteous, honorable, just, And then verse

eleven he tells you I have the secret to contentment.

All this are tied together. All these are tied together.

And most of the time we don't put it together

because we think it is separate. We take verses out

of the Bible and don't put it together in context.

But you know who wrote these verses. Who wrote these verses, Paul?

You know where he wrote these verses. He wrote it

to the UH, to the Philippian Church. He wrote it

to the That's why it's called the Letters to the Philippians.

But he wrote it while he was held captive in

a dungeon. So he was a prisoner in the dungeon,

all right. And the prisoner is not like the prison

that you see in prison break for very clean eyes

all that. The Roman dungeons is where it is dark,

it smells, it is horrible. But from the Roman dungeon,

Paul can say that he has found the secret to

living in every situation, he has found the secret to contentment.

And if somebody says that they have found the secret

to contentment even though they are in a dungeon, wouldn't

you want to find out that as well? Because it's

easy to be content when you're the richest man in

the world. But again, there will always be someone who

is richer. But when you have nothing at all, everything

is stripped away from you and you can still say

I am content. Wow, that is something that I desire. Right,

So this is why. Again, it was a journey that

was going through so next life. So kids, I haven't

reached point one, not yet, right, But you can take

the you can take the definition, you can take the title.

So what is contentment? What is contentment a state of

inner peace? And satisfaction that comes from trusting in God

rather than relying on external circumstances or material possessions. So

you have inner peace. You have inner peace that comes

from God. Have you met someone who is in a

much much worse situation than you, probably health wise, financially, family,

But when you talk to them, right, they are in

so much peace, They have so much peace, they are happy.

Have you met people like that there? You'll be like,

how in the world can you still be happy? They

have something, the peace that they have, the external circumstances

and situations when not able to rob them from it. Okay,

So this is the contact. This is what contentment is.

Soa go to the first point. The first point next

light is this how do we what is the secret

to contentment? First point is survey what you have? Survey

what you have? I put it all in esses three essays.

So the first one is survey what you have? So

what do you have currently? The fact that you are

sitting here? You know just now when Exportswana they had

a video they were saying that praise God, we finally

installed acons. I was like, wow, you are in Africa

and you don't have acons and they are going to church,

survey what we have. We are saying, wait, bro Acon

to colda today, I don't bring my jacket. I tell

you honestly, it's very cold now today. But we take

for granted what we have, and we always think we

are starting at zero. We always think we're starting at zero.

We're like, oh, I always need more, but we forget

where we came from. Where we came from. You think

about it, right, for those of y'all who are working

or first graduated, think about it. What was your first salary?

Have it in mind? You fast forward to where you

are right now. If it's by God's grace that He

has sustained us and he has brought us and provided

for us. It seemed impossible at that time, but God

has provided you. Look at your health condition where you

were compared to where you are now. Again, we have

heard like Kelly's testimony, right, it is a testimon it's

an ongoing testimony. It is an ongoing reminder of God's goodness.

So when we survey what we have, and we say

that for example, like for the kids, right, you have

a baby Blaid. Last time you didn't even have a

bay blade. So it's not about having more. But it's about, Hey,

this is what I have, this is what God has

blessed me with, and this is and because of that, right,

God is good. So just a few points here. That's

why when we go in we backtracked a bit. Right

next night Philippians four, verse six to seven. Again, just

now that one was verse eleven and twelve, right six

to seven. Don't worry about anything. Instead, pray about everything.

Tell God what you need, and thank him for all

he has done. The first key to contentment is to

thank God for everything he has done. When we do that,

we recognize that God has provided for all our needs.

Because we are putting, we are giving him a glory.

And if he has done it before, he can do

it again. Right, So let me just and he says,

you're right. What is gratitude. Gratitude is to recognize God's

goodness in our life. So, y'all, the kids are doing

the harvest soup right, and the harvesting is no matter

how when for the kids? Right, when you plan the

potato or you plant the carrots, do you know that

that's the only thing you can do. You cannot cause

the potatoes to grow, You cannot cause the carrots to grow.

The fact that you have carrots and potatoes and whatever

else you put in your soup is because God brought

forth the growth. When God brought forth the growth, you

can harvest it. All you have to do is put

in the seed, wait for God to grow it, and

pick it up. Pick it up, and you can have

the soup that you want. And all the kids say

that their soup was the best. And the kids, I mean,

in that sense, you're acknowledging that God, you are good God,

and you have caused this thing to grow, and that's

why I can have this soup. Okay. So another verse

was give thanks to the Lord for he is good,

His love and yours forever. We know all these verses,

you know. And then yeah, so we have to take

stock think about how many of y'all. Y'all have a

journal of the testimonies that y'all have. Do you have it? Okay? Okay?

Maybe yeah. I already saw Ellie put out her hand.

So I'm not very good at journaling, or so I'm

not very good at journaling, but I have decided, right

anytime I have a testimony, I will just open up

my notepad on my phone and just put out a

few words. I'll just put a date and just put

a few words, this has happened. So I've been doing

that for quite some time, a few years already. And

once you put it down, you can forget about it.

It's okay, because when I feel down going through this situation,

I pull out my notepad, I scroll back. I'm like, wow,

this has happened. But if you do not take stock

on what God has done in our lives, how do

we be content? So always remember the testimony is that

God has provided. Okay, So I challenge today, the next

time you have a testimony, just key down a few

words in your notepad, Just put down the date and

say God did this for me on this day. That's

about it. The rest of the things, right, most likely

you can bring into remembrance. You just need something to

kick the ball, get the ball started. Okay. So that's

the first as survey what you have? Next one, so

the next one is spot the sauce of your ones?

Spot the sauce of your ones. So just now in

mister bean, what was the source of his ones? Okay,

he wanted a car, but why did he want a car? Yeah?

So the thing is he wanted a car only because

somebody else had something better than him. So why are

we discontent? We have to identify the source of it.

Why are we discontent? Why do we want a bigger house?

Why do we need more money? Why do we need

the latest shoes or latest phones? Is it because we

want to impress people? Because you know, right, there's a saying,

there's a saying here. We buy things we don't need

with money. We don't have to impress people we don't like.

Mister Bean didn't like that guy. He didn't like that

guy who had a newer car, but he still wanted

to impress him. So why would you want to spend

money that you don't have to buy things that you

don't need to impress people that you don't like. That's

how sales work. This is the latest iPhone. It is

better by this, this, this, this is so your old phone

is useless. I mean they won't say it in that way,

but that's how marketing is. They will emphasize everything that

is good of the new to throw shade against what

is old. Right, So what does the wisest man on

earth have to say about this? What does the wisest

man have to say about this. Okay, so next verse

next slight. Yeah, those who love money, so this is

from Ecclesiastes five. Those who love money will never have enough.

And this is true because right there's this guy, a Rockefeller.

He was one of the richest mens in America at

that time. When they asked him, how much more money

do you need to be happy? You know what does

his answer? Just a little bit more, Just a little

bit more. And it is true, it happens. I mean,

the wisest man that ever lived already said this early on.

Those who love money will never have enough. How meaningless

to think that wealth brings true happiness? How meaningless to

think that wealth brings true happiness? Why do we want more?

Why do we want more? We want more because we

have an illusion that oneting more brings us more happiness. Right,

but what does the Bible say? How meaningless to think

that wealth brings true happiness. So we want true happiness,

but we are going about it the wrong way, because

the more we have, the more discontented we become, and

this contentment is further and further away from happiness. Have

you seen someone who is this content but happy or

discontent but peaceful. No, that's why, like what I mentioned, right,

all the movie stars or the singers, they have so much,

but do they really have happiness? Why is divorce so prevalent?

Why are broken family so prevalent, especially to the rich.

Because it is meaningless to think that wealth brings through happiness, right,

So that is actually the second point. Don't compare we

think that it makes we they also say, right, a

lot of people they sacrifice their health to make wealth

in their early years, and the later years they spend

their wealth to get back health. Right right now, it's

like last time in school, right they asked you to

go for PE class PJ classes. How many of y'all

loved Moronta's dacer, you know as Marna's Marna's des is

cross country? Right on, Nadia Jane put up her head.

She's a rare breed. Everybody everybody didn't like Marna's daser, right,

you like try to cross country? Okay, and everybody tried

to avoid it. But the funny thing is, uh, right

now I am paying to run.

You know.

We we have given up right now, we are give

up well to get more help. So it's a vicious

cycle when we always try and get more. There is

something that we have to sacrifice. You have seen huge houses,

but they are not homes because they had to sacrifice

something and what did they sacrifice? Family? So in terms

of that, that's why the pursuit of material things or

the pursuit of whatever right external will not give us happiness.

And so how do we go about it? The lasts

or the third point is this surrender to Jesus. He

is sufficient. So why do I choose this picture? Because right,

right now we are surrounded and we are also people

who are probably discontent. It is actually very rare to

find someone who is content. And Christians, I'm talking to

us as well, are we content? Are we content? Because

again Paul said he had the secret to contentment and

he spoke that from a dungeon, But how is it

that for us? And first of all, I'm talking to Christians,

right are we living a contented life? And for Paul,

his contentment came from Jesus. That's sorry. Right, although he

was bitten by a snake, he was shipwrecked, he was

thrown into prison, he was still content and he wrote

most of the New Testament because he's surrendered to Jesus.

And Christ is enough for him. We always sing so

many songs. Christ is enough. You are more than enough.

You know all the worship songs. Right, all is along

these lines, But do we believe it? So next slide.

So this is the verse rite, not that I have

ever in need, or I have learned how to be

content with whatever I have. I know how to live

and on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned

the secret of living in every situation, whether it is

with a full stomach or an empty plenty or little.

And then this is verse thirteen, for I can do

all things through Christ, who gives me strength. You see, right,

this verse is one of the most misinterpreted verses, for

I can do all things to Christ, who gives me strength.

We think that this verse right, is a verse that

we use to take over the world. You know, when

you're you and your when you want to like, for example,

a conquer Mount Kinabaloo. Say you're going hiking and you

conquer Mount Kinavaloo and there you are stuck halfway. Then

you're like, I can do all things Christ to give

me strength, and then you expect to suddenly have power

to proceed forward. You know, But you see this verse

came after contentment, It did not come after ability. So

it is a verse that is most of the time

misinterpreted because let me give it here. Yeah, so it

is God gives us everything that we need to do

the things that He wants us to do. So how

was Paul content in prison? Because he knew what God

needed him to do and God placed God was with

him there. And because God was with him, no matter

where he is, he is contented. And that is how

we should be. So for example, right now, in our jobs,

are we content? This is a question I have to

ask myself in my job? Am I content? In my family?

Am I content? In whatever it is? Am I content? Again?

Contentment is not apathy, meaning that okay, hey, Sarah, Sarah,

whatever will be will be. Contentment is not apathy. Contentment

is being secure in Christ, knowing that He is in control.

That's why the verse be anxious in nothing and to

fix our thoughts on what is true, right and pure,

and then the God of Peace will be with us.

A person who is content is a person who has

the God of Peace with them. And so even as

I draw towards a close right, contentment is not found

next light. Yeah, so back when okay, I wanted. This

is another verse that we are very always quote, but

it is also in Philippians. For you scroll down a

few verses. It is also in Philippians four. My God

shall supply all your needs according to his riches of

his glory. So Paul is saying, God will supply all

your needs according to his will. To do his will,

and he will provide it to you, and with that

we will be content and the last life so contentment.

It's not the absence of needs, but the nearness of

God that brings contentment. So we have been sold a

lie that we need more to be content, But what

we need to be content is to ensure that we

are close to God, you know. Like like one of

the famous persons was Mother Teresa. I felt that she

was a person who lived in so much contentment. She

knew God's purpose for her. Although people say she was

living in lack, but she was living in so much

contentment that when they gave her a Nobel prize and

gave her the money, she didn't know what to do

with it. She didn't know what to do with it

because all she needed to do is what God told

her to do, and she lived a contented and full life.

So at the end of our lives, do we want

to live alive where we have done everything that God

wants us to do instead of amassing a fortune and

leaving it to the next generations. But we might have

lost them because we did not invest in them. So

Church this morning, even as I get the band up

the verst year again, we go back to slides. Yeah.

So whenever we are feeling anxious, whenever we are feeling down,

whenever we are feeling lack, whenever we are feeling jealousy,

you know, the jealousy and we all this leads to discompaniment.

All this lead to anxiety. Why does this person have

a testimony and I don't have. Why did this person

get this job and I didn't. Why did this person

get his breakthrough and I didn't. Why did this person

get healed and I didn't. That it's not the question

that we should be asking. The question that we should

be asking is God. I need you draw near to me.

I need your presence. I need you to reveal yourself

to me so that I can do all things through

Christ who gives me strength.

Man, we hope you've been blessed by this message. For

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