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Look, we are going to come back to Hebrews 13. I'm not going to take the total or we're going to start there. We're going to end with Hebrews 13. But if you can please take your Bibles and turn to 1 Timothy chapter 6. Turn to 1 Timothy chapter 6, please. 1 Timothy chapter 6 and we're continuing our series on the perfect man. And you may recall last week we covered, you know, about the topic of the meaning of life and how we need to make sure that everything that we do is for Jesus Christ. And as I said, that sermon is going to play into every other sermon that's part of this larger overall series. But if you turn to 1 Timothy chapter 6 and verse number 5, it says, perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth supposing that gain is godliness from such withdrawal thyself. But godliness with contentment is great gain. And that's the title for the sermon this morning. Godliness with contentment is great gain. Godliness with contentment is great gain. And if we keep going, verse number 7, it says, for we brought nothing into this world and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And so what we're seeing here and, you know, the reason I didn't read 1 Timothy 6 is because we're going through 1 Timothy at the moment. So we'll get to that chapter later on, obviously in our Timothy series. But there are two types of people, two types of churches that you can be part of and two, you know, types of philosophies when it comes to contentment and gain and godliness, these kinds of topics. And we want to make sure that we're in the right camp. What did it say in verse number 5? That there are some people that have the perverse disputants of men, corrupt minds, destitute of the truth. So in other words, they're liars, supposing that gain is godliness. There are some people, some churches that teach the more you have, the more, you know, you can profit in life and the more possessions, the more wealth, you know, better your health, that that is godliness and it says from such withdraw thyself. I immediately, when I think of this verse, the thought that comes to me is the prosperity gospel, you know, that is found in pretty much all the Pentecostal, charismatic style churches. And they believe that, you know, that it's for every Christian to be wealthy, to have great health, to have every prayer answered in the affirmative according to their own will and it basically comes down to a measure of faith. The more faith you have toward God, the more you're going to prosper in this life and they believe that is great gain. The more I gain that this is a measure of godliness, okay, yeah? So, you know, you have your preachers in their private jets and their fancy cars and their, you know, expensive suits. This is a very cheap suit, brethren. In fact, actually, this suit was given to me as a gift, okay? But, you know, they think the more you have, the greater, the more godly this man ought to be. He must have great faith. Look how God has blessed him and these people are there, you know, these people exist and I can understand the carnal mind being drawn to these kinds of preachers, these kinds of churches because everyone kind of wants to be comfortable in life. They want to have some level of prosperity. They don't want to have to struggle their entire life and they see these men with great wealth and they think, wow, look how godly this preacher is and that's why people are drawn to that prosperity style of gospel, that prosperity lifestyle. But I want you to remind yourself about these people. These people are what? People that get into perverse disputants. They've got corrupt minds. They're destitute of the truth. You know, they don't have the truth. Destitute is like the word desert. They haven't got the truth, okay? They're full of lies and so, you know, even though the carnal mindset might be drawn to all these people, they're not going to help you in life. They're not going to teach you the truth, you know. They're better off just being, you know, these self-help or self-made people rather than preachers and claiming that what they teach and preach comes from God. No, you know, gain is not godliness but godliness is something that we ought to be striving for. But godliness with contentment is great gain. You know, I want you to gain in life. I also want you to prosper in life as it were, right? But I want you to prosper by being godly and not just being godly but being godly with contentment, okay? And so this basically tells us that we can be godly, we can have godliness in our lives and not be content. This also teaches us that we can be content but not godly, okay? And so we need to ensure that we have this measure in our life because this is great gain and what brings us to remember that verse number seven there, for we brought nothing into this world, okay? And it is certain we can carry nothing out. And so how do we want to end our lives? We know that whatever we gain in this life, we're not going to be, we're not going to be able to carry it with us. But then there are certain things that we can carry with us, can't we? We can carry the souls that we've seen saved in our lifetime souls of my family, the souls of our children, the treasures that we've laid up in heaven by doing works for God on this earth, we can take that to heaven. And so the mindset ought to be, you know, we ought to be prioritizing and being godly and content with the things that have eternal value, that have eternal value. And you know, you might ask the question, what is godliness? That's a good question, what is godliness? And I looked up some definitions, the definition, there are a few different definitions, all quite similar. But the one that I like the most is the quality of conforming to the will of God, the quality of conforming to the will of God. So you're putting aside your own personal will, and you're saying, God, I'm going to seek your will, I'm going to live my life the way you would like me to live, Lord. And that would be the quality of godliness. This is, you know, the same sort of how we would often say, you know, we're striving to be more Christ-like. We want to be more like Jesus Christ. It's the same thing. We're giving up our will, and we're giving our will, we want to live the will that Christ wants us to live by. And Galatians 2-20 says, I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And so if we're living a life that really it is Christ that's living out this life for us, we can say this is a person that is godly, right? His will lines up with God's will. He's been able to conform himself to the way, to the measure, to the commandments that God would have this person to live. So what are some of the advantages of being godly? We should strive to be godly, right? We should strive to be more Christ-like. What are the advantages? And I'll get you to turn to a few passages. Please turn to 2 Corinthians 11. Turn to 2 Corinthians 11, please. Turn to 2 Corinthians 11. I'm going to read to you from the Psalms. Psalms 4, 3. You go to 2 Corinthians 11. But Psalm 4 verse 3 says, but know that the Lord have set apart him that is godly for himself. The Lord will hear when I call unto him. You see, when you achieve godliness, you strive for godliness, God will set you apart. He gives you special attention. He's marked you. He's watching you, right? He's giving you special attention, meaning that one of the advantages of being godly is that your prayers, as I said there, the Lord will hear when I call unto him. That's going to be one of the advantages. You're going to find that more of your prayers are going to be answered, okay? You're going to have much more success in your prayer life with the will of God, you know, God changing the natural world for your benefit, for your profit, if you walk in godliness. You're in 2 Corinthians 11 verse 2. This is Paul speaking about the Corinthian church, and we know the Corinthian church was messed up. I mean, if you want to see a messed up church, you read, go back and read 1 and 2 Corinthians. But he says about this Corinthian church, 2 Corinthians 11 2, for I am jealous over you with godly jealousy, for I have espoused you to one husband that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. And you know what? That's what I want for New Life Baptist Church, Brevin. That's what I want for Blessed Up Baptist Church, that we will present ourselves as it were a chaste virgin for the Lord Jesus Christ, that our love would be toward our Lord. And so godliness, once again, he says, is a godly jealousy that he has. Godliness is going to cause you to be jealous or desire to have an undefiled church. You know, yes, I'm the pastor, I should want that. Of course, I'm leading this church, I'm leading Blessed Up Baptist Church in Sydney, but I want that to be the hearts of every person in our church. I want every member of our church to have this godly jealousy for our church, you know, to seek for our church to be pure and without corruption. And, you know, it's not just doctrinal, and that's a great strength that we have, but also it comes with a brotherly love that we share amongst one another. We want that to be perfected. We want that to be clear and obvious. We want the Lord to look down and see a chaste virgin. But we can only have that jealousy, that desire, if we strive for godliness. Please turn to 2 Peter chapter 2. Turn to 2 Peter chapter 2. 2 Peter chapter 2. And I'll read to you from 1 Timothy 1 verse 4. 1 Timothy 1 verse 4 says, neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies which minister questions rather than godly edifying, which is in faith, so do. So what's another advantage of being godly, or seeking that godliness, is that the saints will be edified by your company, with your fellowship. You know, I want you to assess your own personal life and your relationships that you develop, the kind of conversations you have with your saved brethren. You know, when the saved brethren walk away after having spent time with you, are they edified? Are they lifted up? Or are they cast down? You know, are they more negative than they were before, before they spent time with you? And you need to consider, hey, you know what, if I work toward godliness, the guaranteed result is that my brethren are going to enjoy my company, the brethren are going to be edified in my presence, you know, I'm going to be a benefit, I'm going to be a blessing to my brethren, and so that's another great advantage of godliness. You're there in 2 Peter chapter 2 and verse number 9. 2 Peter chapter 2 and verse number 9. This one is a really great advantage of being godly. Okay, 2 Peter chapter 2 verse number 9 says, The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished. Now it says here, the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations. So what you find is the more godly you are, the more you strive for godliness, the greater your ability will be to overcome temptations. Why do you want to overcome temptations? Because if you don't overcome the temptation, you're given to the temptations, you're going to sin. And godliness will automatically come with a life that is more clean, more holy, more separated, less sin, less given into the strengths of temptations. You know, we all struggle with temptations, brethren, we all struggle, we all have sins that we struggle with, maybe even sins that are things that we are challenged with every single day. You know, if you want victory over that, you want God to be able to do a greater work in you and help you and give you the power to overcome that temptation, you need to strive for godliness. You need to give up your will and seek God's will in your life. You need to give up your life and say, God, how do you want me to live? What do you expect from me, Lord? I want to be aligned with your will. I want to do your commandments, Lord. The more you do that, the stronger you will be to overcome temptations and the less you're going to sin in your life. I mean, that's great. You know, the damage that sin had, the guilt and the consequences of sin, don't we want less of that, brethren? I'm sure we want less of that, right? But again, the key to reducing that is to live a godly life, to seek godliness. Please go to chapter three there. Second Peter chapter three. Second Peter chapter three, verse number 11. Second Peter chapter three and verse number 11. What's another advantage of being godly? Second Peter chapter three, verse number 11. It says, seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, that everything that's on this earth will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be, look at this, in all holy conversation and godliness. So conversation is your behavior, right? Holy behavior and godliness. Knowing that it's all going to burn. You know, all the things that this world strives for and hopes to achieve, it's all going to burn one day. So because of that, we ought to be striving for this holy conversation and godliness. And what advantage does that give us, verse number 12? Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved and the elements shall melt with fervent heat. So what's another advantage here of being godly? That you're going to be less attached to this world, okay? You're going to have an excitement for eternity, an excitement for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Less attached to this wicked world. And you know what? I find, you know, I find myself, you know, I've really expressed to many of you that as during the whole COVID experience, I find myself less attached to the world, okay? The more I realize, boy, this is not my home. I've always had that mindset, but you know what? We're still connected, aren't we? We still have some type of emotional attachments to different aspects of this world. But the more you see the wickedness, in fact, the more you live a godly life, the more you're going to want to be detached and look forward to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Don't forget, it's contentment, sorry, it's godliness with contentment. You know, I talk to a lot of Christians in our church and even outside of our church, and I find that there are kind of two types of Christians. When we think about the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, I think most of, I think generally speaking, everyone's excited for that, generally speaking, right? Everyone is looking forward to Christ coming back, being with Him in eternity, but there's two types. There's one type of Christian that says, yes, Lord, I can't wait, and you know, I enjoy my life, and God has blessed me, and you know, I love my family, I love my church, and I love serving my God, and I love my, you know, the scenario, the situation, my job that I have, I love it all, but even though I enjoy life, I'm just more excited to see Jesus Christ face to face. There can be that kind of person, you know, and that's wonderful. There's contentment, there's satisfaction, there's joy in that person's life. There are other Christians that, yeah, are excited, it's like, yeah, I can't wait for Jesus to come back, but then it's like, I just want God to just burn it all. Why? Because their life is misery. They're not happy with life, they haven't got the contentment, and they just, rather than face tomorrow, rather than deal with the struggles and the problems that life brings, they just want it to all end, and Jesus just come back now, and you know, and look, it's fine, we all have problems, we all have those times where it's like, man, this place is so wicked, I have so many struggles, and we're going through difficult hardships, and yeah, you know what, there's nothing wrong with the thought that, boy, I can't wait for Christ to come back, boy, I can't wait for a righteous government in the millennial reign of Christ, but we don't want our misery to be the driving factor for the excitement of Christ, because God does not want us to live in misery, He wants us to live a godly life, but with contentment. He wants us to be joyful, He wants us to be satisfied, He wants us to be fulfilled, yes, even in this current life that we have. You know, I want your life to be full of joy, brethren, I want you to be happy, fulfilled, satisfied. You look at the lot that you have in life and say, praise God, thank you Lord for what you've done for me, rather than being cast down, miserable, negative, complaining, you know, and that's your life, you're just going to hurt yourself, you're going to hurt the people that you love, you're going to hurt the people that you come across in life, you know, and you say, yeah, I'm excited for the Lord Jesus Christ, but it's for the wrong reasons, you know, God wants you to be focused on this life right now. Be excited, be hopeful for the future, but also be excited for the life that God has given you right now. And so I want to give you, if we can, you're in 2 Peter, go to 2 Peter chapter 1, go to 2 Peter chapter 1, I want to now give you some practical advice to work toward godliness, okay, how is it that you can work toward godliness? Please go to 2 Peter chapter 1, because this actually gives us the perfect way, the perfect instructions, how we can build ourselves to work into that godly lifestyle. In 2 Peter chapter 1 verse number 5, and you know, don't let these passages go over your head, I find these passages that are similar to this to be the most helpful in my life, because I know I've got a step-by-step program of how to achieve what God wants me to achieve. It says in 2 Peter chapter 1 verse number 5, and beside this, given all diligence, what's diligence? Put the effort in, right? It's not going to come naturally, it's not going to happen automatically, you have to want it, you have to put the effort in, you have to go to God and say, God, this is something that I want in my life, besides this giving all diligence, add to your faith, virtue. So we've all been saved by faith, you know, by grace through faith, and you know, we're trying to all live a life that is faith to faith, we're all trusting the Lord, hey yeah, that's beginner step number one, yep. Everyone that is saved, even a babe in Christ, has placed their faith on Jesus, okay, that's beginner step number one. But then, is that all we do? No, the next step is to add virtue. We need to add virtue. What is virtue? Virtue is basically having high moral standards. When people think about virtuous, that's what they think about, high moral standards. And brethren, there's no high moral standard than God's Word and His commandments, okay. So what's the next step? Once you've been saved by grace through faith, you're trusting the Lord in your life, not just for salvation, but for every aspect of your life, next thing you need to do is add virtue. Look at His commandments, live in accordance to God's instructions. You hear something preached behind the pulpit that you know God wants in your life, make that change, okay. That's the next step, that's the very, one of the very beginning steps of the Christian life, is to live out the life that God wants from you. And then it keeps going, and to virtue knowledge, okay, and to virtue knowledge. So what we're seeing here is a progression, like a spiritual checklist of progression as you mature, as you get older, right. First, yes, you're saved by faith, and then you add the virtues, you follow what God says, and then He wants you to add knowledge, okay. God does not want us to be ignorant people. God does not want us to be people that are just being spoon-fed the Bible behind the pulpit from a pastor. He wants you to read God, His Word. God has given us His Holy Spirit to teach all of us His Word. He wants us to study. He wants us to gain knowledge. You know, brethren, there ought to be something that we all know in the Bible that maybe others have not come to realize yet, right. I hope that within all of you there's some knowledge, some groundbreaking truth that you've discovered, you know, nuggets that you've mined for in God's Word that I haven't really come to, right, because we're all learning the Bible. We're all, you know, reading the Scriptures and our different experiences are bringing different thoughts to light for us, and God doesn't want us to be ignorant. He wants us to be knowledgeable. Again, this is why it's so important that as we preach the Bible at church that it's filled with doctrine, that you're actually walking away. You're saying, I can learn something from this rather than being some watered down, you know, pat on the back or some prosperity gospel style sermon. We want to be fed God's Word so we can gain the knowledge. You know, knowledge is to acquire information for the betterment of life decisions. You know, it's not just knowledge for knowledge's sake. We want to gain knowledge so we know we can be better judges. You know, we can make better decisions in life. And when you apply the knowledge, that's where wisdom comes in. You say this person is wise because he's applying the knowledge that he's gained in real life situations. Verse number six, what's the next step? And to knowledge, temperance. Temperance. What's temperance? Temperance is self-restraint, self-controlled, being level-headed. You know, if you find yourself being overly emotional, you know, both overly emotional, too excited, overly emotionally, too depressed, right? I kind of tend to find the same people that get overly excited, the same people that get overly depressed because they haven't got the temperance. They haven't learned to control their emotions. You know, think about a little child. You know, a little child the other day, Adrian, for example, you know, Adrian's three years old. I took him out and I bought him a chocolate milkshake, okay? And, you know, to us, a chocolate milkshake is not a big deal, right? It's a cheap McDonald's one that I got him, right? And you know what? Almost every day now, he brings it up. He goes, Papa, remember that drink you bought me? Remember the drink? Remember the drink? He's so excited, right? That's something so minor. He's so excited, but that's how children are. But at the same time, don't children get really angry very easily, very depressed? Someone takes their toy, you know, that they, you know, whatever, you know, something doesn't go their way and they lose it. And, you know, that's why little children throw tantrums and parents have to teach their children to be temperate, to control their emotions. People that are too excited and also too upset when things don't go their way, they haven't learned temperance. It's that thing that you learn as a child as you mature and you grow. You need to learn how to be in control of your emotions. I mean, it's fine to get excited, of course. It's fine to get upset about things, of course, but you don't want to fly off your handle, right? You need to have self-control, self-restraint. If you fly off the handle one way or the other, you're going to do things that you're going to later regret. So once you've added temperance to your life, what's the next thing? And to temperance, patience. Do you notice how high patience is on this list? I find patience to be very hard. Patience is something that I'm still, I've learned a lot of patience. This year has taught me a lot of patience. I'll tell you that, brethren. This year has taught me a lot of patience, but it's hard. It's hard because you want results now, right? We live in a fast food economy. I want it now. You wait too long in the drive-through and you get frustrated. You wait too long at the red lights and you're frustrated, right? We need to learn patience. And it's so important because growing requires patience. Maturing requires patience. My children, as parents, we need patience because our children are learning. They're growing. They're going to make mistakes. You're going to make mistakes. People that you love, people in your church, they're going to make mistakes. We need to learn how to be patient. And then the next one, and to patience, godliness. Now you can add the godliness to the list, okay? Now look, it's not like, you know, you don't aim for godliness because you haven't got the patience. You know, we should be aiming for all of these things, right? But what we see is a natural progression of how someone matures. You know, you'll achieve godliness only if you've achieved all the other things that have come before. You'll achieve patience as long as you've achieved the other things that you've got in place as well, okay? We're all working toward these different characteristics that we need in our life, but we can only achieve that level if we finished the ones that have come before. And this is why it's so important. I think it's so great when God gives us a list like this. Because then if you're strong with godliness, then you can look back, well, how's my patience? Maybe I haven't developed that. And you look back and say, well, how's my temperance? Maybe I'm missing something in this list, and that's going to help me get to the points where I can develop godliness. But look at this, godliness, and of course godliness, you know, it makes completely sense. Because if patience comes before godliness, you know, patience is basically overcoming your self-will, right? And then godliness is basically doing God's will. So it kind of makes perfect sense, where patience, okay, it's not my will, I've got to be patient, therefore the next step I'm going to follow your will. I'm going to follow your commandments, your way of living, Lord. And so it makes perfect sense to me as far as the breakdown that I see here, okay? But you notice that godliness is still not the highest virtue that you can add, or highest quality that you can add in your life. Because verse number seven says, and to godliness, brotherly kindness. And to brotherly kindness, charity. Notice that charity is the highest level of achievement in the Christian life. That's obviously love in action, not just brotherly kindness, but actually loving people, helping people, you know, fulfilling people's needs. And I think we all want to do that in life, and we all do a measure of that. I think when we look at the brethren in the church, we know that we all struggle, we have problems, whatever they are, and we want to be a help. But you've got to understand, before I can actually be a successful help to somebody, have I achieved all these other qualities? Because otherwise your help doesn't become help. In fact, you could be a detriment to your brethren by trying to be charitable, right? Again, I'm not saying avoid charity if you haven't got these other things. I'm not saying don't work toward all these things, you know, at once. But you need to understand that you need to develop all of these things before you can be successful at the highest place, which is charity. And we need to understand that, because you notice that knowledge is important, but it's lower on the list compared to charity. We know that knowledge puff up. And we can be a church that's full of good doctrine, good understanding, good knowledge, and we have that, but we haven't worked toward the other things. You neglect all these other qualities in life, the godliness, the brotherly kindness, the charity, the patience, you neglect those things, you're going to be puffed up and you're not going to be a help to other people. You're not going to be godly, okay? And godliness with contentment. Then eventually you're going to find yourself living a miserable life and you're not going to have the joy of the Lord. You're not going to be satisfied and fulfilled in life. And so all these things must build off each other, but not at the expense, you know, you don't want to just aim for one at the expense of all the others. Can you please go to 2 Timothy chapter 3 and verse number 12. 2 Timothy chapter 3 and verse number 12. 2 Timothy chapter 3 and verse number 12. Now, is there a disadvantage to godliness? Well, kind of, yes, okay? We've seen the advantages of godliness, there is a disadvantage, but this disadvantage comes at a point if you've reached godliness, it doesn't really become a disadvantage. Let me show you here. In 2 Timothy chapter 3 verse number 12, it says, Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. There's a negative for you, right? But here's the thing, if you've attained godliness, you're going to view persecution from the right lens. You're going to be excited that you're actually going to suffer for the cause of Christ. The reason you're suffering persecution isn't because you've just been an idiot and you've just made stupid decisions in life. No, the reason you're suffering persecution is because you're living godly, because you're living for the Lord, because you're doing what the Lord wants from you. And that's exciting, brethren. That's exciting, but it can be tiring at the same time. It can be tiring to the flesh. We all understand the dual nature of every believer, the spirit and the flesh. And when you suffer persecution for godliness, the spirit's going to be excited, but the flesh will become weary. And let me just read a couple of passages to you, Galatians 6-9. It says, and let us not be weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap if we faint not. So we see, yeah, you know, even doing that which is good, well-doing, even seeking after the godliness, you can become very weary at that. It can become tiresome, okay? And 2 Thessalonians 3-13 says, very similar, but ye brethren, be not weary in well-doing. Be not weary in well-doing. Now, if you're doing well, if you're living a godly life and you're seeking godliness, what did we want to add to that as well? Godliness with contentment is great gain. Godliness with contentment. And so, you know, in my life experience and in different churches, I have seen godliness in people, but not contentment. Where people are striving to live for the Lord, they're striving to keep all the commandments of God, and it becomes weary, right? They become a bit of an outcast. They might suffer the persecution, they will suffer the persecution, it's guaranteed, right? And they may not be achieving what they thought they would be achieving in life as they sought godliness. And they fail, you know, they become weary, they become depressed, they become negative. And then again, when you become that kind of personality, you're going to have a negative influence on those that you care about. And again, I've seen this over and over and over and over again in church. It's great that they're living godly. It's great that they're trying to live for the Lord, but they're so depressed. They're so cast down, okay? Maybe they haven't thought about all the persecution that might come their way or all the difficulties. Maybe they thought that if they aim for godliness, all their problems will go away. That's not the case, yes. If we aim for godliness, God will see us through temptations. We ought to have a greater spiritual strength when we reach that. And so it's not just godliness for godliness sake, but God wants us to be godly with contentment. He wants us to be satisfied. He wants us to be fulfilled. You know, I've said it before in other sermons, I'd rather live, I'm 40 now, I'd rather live till I'm 50, 10 more years, but have a happy life. Be content, be fulfilled, then live 100 years and live a life of misery, depressed, you know, looking, being pessimistic about every little thing in life. I'd rather just live 50 years of joy than 100 years of sadness. But even better than that, 100 years of joy, amen? 100 years of godliness with contentment. That would be even better, okay? And I want you to be happy. You know, as you guys know, people have said to me when I preach, I've got a smile on my face. Yeah, I'm happy. I'm happy to serve the Lord. I'm happy to teach the Bible. I'm happy to feed God's people. Because I consider all of you the most important people on this planet. Not only are you my brothers and sisters in the Lord, but I'm your servants. I'm not just a pastor as far as authority, and that's one part of it, but I'm also your servants. And it's my job to feed you God's word. I look at you guys, you're kings and priests. You're all going to rule and reign with Christ for 1000 years. You're important to God. You're so important to God that I have to, from God's perspective, look at each one of you and say, you have, you know, Lord, help me to see that importance that you see in these people's lives. Your sons and daughters of God, your children of God, you're so important. I want my kids to be happy. Don't you want parents? Don't you want your kids to be happy? Don't you want your kids to be content in life fulfilled? Well, doesn't God want that from us? And so it's my job to help strive and teach you God's word so you can have the joy and the fulfillment. You won't find it in the ungodly. You won't find it in the unbelievers. You won't find it in the world. Yeah, you might find a temporary measure of joy, but it's not godly. We want godliness with contentment. As I said, you can seek after contentment on this earth. You can avoid godliness. Yeah, you'll find a little joy, but at the end of it all, it's all going to be vanity, as we saw earlier, right, as we saw in the previous sermon. It's all going to be empty, all for nothing, no benefit to you for eternity. We want to have the godliness with contentment. Can you please turn to Philippians chapter 4? Philippians chapter 4 and verse number 11. Philippians chapter 4, verse number 11. Contentment. You know, I'm very content. You know, and when I say I'm very content, oh, Pastor Kevin, you know, there you go again, boasting, oh, you know, I have problems. I have issues. There are struggles. You know, it pains me that I can't get to Queensland, right? You know, my kids are still sleeping on mattresses. You think I want that for a long time. I want to get up there, brethren. I want to serve the church, you know, and there are other things. There are other things on my plate as well, and but, you know, sometimes people think it must be stressful. Well, I mean, everything in life is some level of stress. Like, everything in life requires some effort, but I'm content though. I'm happy. I'm fulfilled. I'm happy with my wife. I'm happy with my children. I'm happy with my church. I'm happy with my Lord, you know, and that, boy, it doesn't, you know, all those different kind of struggles you might go through in life, it just, it becomes kind of insignificant when you actually are happy and fulfilled, and I actually enjoy the struggles sometimes because you learn things. You learn things about yourself. You see the Lord's hand when he delivers you out of that difficulty. You see God's love and God's comfort and God's direction. It's like, well, praise God. God looks out at me. He cares about me, right? And that brings a lot of contentment. Look at Philippians chapter 4, verse number 11. Philippians 4, 11. Not that I speak in respect of want, for I have learned in what sort of a state I am, therewith to be content. That's the goal brethren. In whatever state I am, therewith to be content. I want you to think about all the problems you have in life right now, okay? You say, I've got no problems. You do have problems. You just don't want to accept it. You're ignorant of the issues and problems you currently have in life. We all have it. And by the way, that's going to be one of my sermons later, one of my sermons in the series. We all have problems. And sometimes we forget that. We become so focused on our own issues. We all have problems. Everyone. Everyone has problems. Think about whatever state you're in right now. Hey, you might be living a very abundant life right now. You might be struggling with a lot of trials right now. But you know what? What do you learn here? What sort of state I am? Therewith to be content. You know what that means? That means when you're struggling, when you're having major problems and maybe even worries about your own personal life and your personal health, you can still be content. Yes, this is God's promise. You can still be content. You know what that also tells me? Even if you have all together, you have all the riches and you have all the possessions, you know, the prosperity gospel as it were. You can have all of it, but you're not content. Look at your Hollywood actors, how they take up the alcohol and the drugs and they live short lives and they commit suicide. They have it all. They've got the whole world to their disposal and they still kill themselves. They're still living miserable lives. They're not content because they haven't got the godliness. They've got the temporary contentment that comes in the world and they realize it's all for nothing. It's all vanity. Brethren, whatever state we're in, abounding or struggling life, we ought to be seeking, hey, I am here to be content. God wants me to be happy, fulfilled in my life. Verse number 12, I know both how to be abased. I know how to abound. Everywhere in all things I'm instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. Boy, that's the answer. I can do all things through Christ though, not through the flesh, not through worldly techniques and methods. No, it's by Christ. Putting Christ as our priority in our life. He's going to be the one that strengthens us to go through whatever life situation, whether you're living an abundant life or whether you're struggling and he's going to give you the contentment in life. I want you to be happy, brethren. I want you to be joyful. I'm not saying that your joy will come by removing your problems. No, you need to find joy and contentment, satisfaction in your problems and it's hard. It's hard because right now someone's saying, Pastor Kevin, you don't know what I'm going through and probably I don't, okay, but God knows what you're going through. God knows what you're going through and Paul said, we know what Paul went through. He struggled. He suffered. He suffered a lot, okay, and he was able to find contentment in whatever state he was in. So now I want to give you some tips as to being content. What have I got here? I think I've got five, just five practical things that you can do and I tell you, you apply these five things, you're going to be a lot more happy. You're going to be a lot more fulfilled, a lot more satisfied in life, okay. I hope you've got the godliness together, okay. Let's work on that godliness, but now we've got the godliness, let's add contentment. Godliness with contentment, all right. Number one, and this is basically what I spoke about last week. Number one, I won't spend too much time on this. Number one, do it for Jesus. Whatever you do in life, do it for Jesus, okay. First Corinthians 10 31 says, whether therefore ye eat or drink or whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God. Brethren, even if you drink, I don't have my cup here today, if you drink, you do it for God. You do it for Jesus. You go and eat, you do it for Jesus. Do you notice how God cares about even the smallest details of your life? Whatever you do, do it for Jesus, okay. And of course by doing it for Jesus, you're doing it for yourself, you're doing it for those that are around you as well, but that's going to give you contentment because it gives you meaning, it gives you purpose. I'm not going to re-preach last week's sermon, okay, but you put that in place. Do it all for Jesus. I promise you, you're just automatically going to be a lot happier because you're doing it for God. It matters, okay. It matters, okay. The next thing that I have for you, next thing, be productive. Do something, be productive, right. Do something. Men, go to work, be productive, okay. Ladies, raise your families, have your children, be productive. Children, be productive. Don't just sit there playing video games, don't just sit there, you know, wasting away your life. Go and learn something, go and do something, okay. Go and build something, all right. Do something of your life. So how does that give me contentment? Well, God created us to be productive, that's why. God created human beings to achieve, to produce. You know, the very first commandment that God gave Adam and Eve was, be fruitful and multiply. Be fruitful and multiply. We know that's about having children, of course, growing a family, having more human beings on this earth. But that's the whole purpose of human beings, right. God created Adam to go and work in the garden, to toil on the ground. We're called to be productive, okay. And if you're not achieving what God made you for, you're going to be depressed, you're going to be miserable, okay. Sometimes people think, well I will be productive, but at first I just want to work on my joy. First I work in positivity. I'll become positive, I'll become joyful and then I'll go be productive. No, you've got the cart before the horse, okay. You go and be productive and in your productiveness you'll find joy, you'll find contentment, you'll be positive minded, right. You'll overcome the negative kind of feelings because you're actually achieving something. And if you're doing it for Jesus, even better, all right. So number one was do it for Jesus. Number two is be productive. You know, another advantage of being productive and working and I'm just saying like even even even mothers, right, is when you put your head on the pillow at night and you've done a lot, you're going to have sweet, a sweet sleep. You're going to have the best sleep that you can possibly have. I find, because I talk to a lot of people, I counsel a lot of people, that generally speaking those that struggle with sleep have not been productive. They've done nothing, they've achieved nothing, right. They've gone through the day and they've really done nothing and then they struggle to sleep. They stay up late and they just, you know, it's kind of like they stay up late. It's almost like their body's telling them, hey, do something, achieve something, right. And it's quite interesting because even, I looked, I was reading some research, even science basically has come to the realization that in order to be happy and content in life you have to have a good amount of sleep. You have to have sleep. You can't cut the sleep out of your life if you want to be happy, okay. And this is quite interesting because in Psalm 120, maybe you want to turn there, go to Psalm 127 verse number 2. Psalm 127 and verse number 2. You know science is always just catching up with the Bible, isn't it? But Psalm 127 and verse number 2, it says, It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows, for so he giveth his beloved sleep. What is it saying? That if you don't get enough sleep, you rise up too early, you go to bed too late, okay. What is that going to develop in your life? You're going to eat the bread of sorrows, okay. Meaning that if God gives his beloved sleep, you're going to be much more happy. You're not going to be eating the bread of sorrows. You're going to be content in life, okay. You're going to be content and fulfilled and satisfied. I had to learn this the hard way. There was a time when I was working crazy hours on the job, crazy hours for months, I think six months just working, working hard. But naturally that should give me good sleep. But because I was overwhelmed with work, I would stay up late and I would wake up early, go to work early and I wasn't getting my sleep and I found myself becoming more and more depressed, more and more saddened. And I couldn't work out what that was because I'm achieving, I'm very productive, but I wasn't getting my sleep. And so even though I was achieving, I was not getting the contentment that comes from the natural body, the makeup, you know, the hormones and the chemical things that develop in your life and in your brain, they just weren't working because I wasn't getting sleep. When you sleep, your body rests, it recovers, it heals, right. And we all need that. We all need that. But again, how can you get good sleep? You be productive, you go and get yourself tired, you achieve something and you'll get asleep, you have good nights rest, your body will rest, your body will heal and you'll be a lot more content in life. The next thing that I have for you, please go to Philippians chapter two, verse number three, Philippians chapter two and verse number three, Philippians chapter two, verse number three. The third point that I have for you on being content is be an encouragement to others, be an encouragement to others. As I said to you, we all have problems. And we can forget that we can think about our own problems, problems in our family, problems, struggles that we're going through. And we lose sight that others are going through things as well. And we can become frustrated at other people. Because like, man, I've got my problems. Why can't they understand? Yeah, because they've got their problems. Why can't you understand? And that's how you got to take the view, right? Not everyone's going to understand. But one thing you can do one thing that is in your control is that you can try to understand others where they're coming from. Philippians chapter two, verse number three says, Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory, but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man on the things of others. And so this helps with contentment because sometimes we can become so self-centered, so self-focused, right? And we can't always change the struggles and the problems that we're going through. But what we can do is reach out to someone else and be a brother, be a blessing, let them know that you're praying for them, let them know that you care for them, let them know that if there's anything that you can do for them to reach out to you, and when you see that they smile and they're happy with your company and they know that they're loved, it's going to make you happier. It's going to make you more content. You know, it seems almost, you know, it almost seems like the opposite. It's almost like you have to deal with your issues and your issues alone because, you know, no one's going to help you. So you just got to focus on yourself. But it's strange because God's word is so true. You focus on other people, you care about other people, and all your problems will seem kind of almost becoming secondary. And the joy that you can give other people, the blessing you can be other people actually makes you happy, right? It's better to give than to receive, the Bible says. And I think one of the advantages that I have as a pastor is I get to see, I get to hear about all the struggles that people have, you know, and, you know, and I know that I'm not even hearing all of them. I mean, I know I'm only hearing the tip of the iceberg, as it were, right? And when I hear the struggles that people go through, you know, and it does two things for me. It does two things for me. Number one, it helps me not to be so focused on the struggles I'm going through because usually other people just seem to be going through a lot more than me. Okay. But also secondly, it helps me appreciate, you know, that God has given me these people for my church, you know, that God saw fit to fill my church with people with problems and struggles and hurts and sicknesses and illnesses and contentions and problems. Oh God, there must be something good that I could do then. If you've led these people to my church, please use me to be a blessing to God's people. And so the more we focus on other people, it does bring a lot of joy. The Bible also says, sorry, I've lost my spot there. Oh yeah, I was just going to read to you from 3 John, verse 10, which says, Wherefore if I come, I will remember his deeds, which he doeth, prattin' against us with malicious words, look at this, and not content therewith. Neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and forbideth them that would, and casteth them out of the church. What is it saying? That this person, this individual here, is not content. And because he's not content, what's he doing? He prats against other people with malicious words. He's going around causing problems, conflicts, gossiping. Neither doth he receive the brethren. He's not there to be a blessing to the brethren, right? He casteth them out of the church. He seeks to get people out of the church. You know, that person's not content. This is going to be the outcome of someone that's not content. Yeah, you've got the godliness, good on you, but you need the contentment. Otherwise, again, as I said, you're going to cause problems with the people that you care about, that you ought to love, that God has put in your company, so you can be a blessing to them. Please go to Philippians, chapter 4. Philippians, chapter 4. Philippians, chapter 4. The fourth point that I have for you, brethren, is look on the bright side. Look on the bright side. What's another way of saying that? Be positive, okay? Look on the bright side. And I'm going to read to you just very famous verses. You all know them. We all know them, but it's hard to apply. Isn't that the truth? There's a lot of wonderful verses and passages in the Bible, but we kind of forget about them, even though we know them so well. The Bible says in Romans 8 28, and we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them that accord according to his purpose. All right? So do we believe that? Do we believe that all things work together for good? If we believe that, this is the truth of God's Word. I'm not here to preach lies to you, brethren. I'm here to preach you God's truth. That means whatever you're going through, whatever struggle you go through, there's good that will come out of it. There's good right now. Look on the bright side. There's something positive about it, okay? And again, you may not see it necessarily right now, but if you just believe there's something positive here, God is working in me, God's trying to show me something, God's trying to teach me something here, you're going to be a lot more content, whatever it is that you go through. You're in Philippians 4 verse number 6. Philippians 4 verse number 6. Be careful for nothing. Don't be full of care, okay? Don't be so worried about everything, brethren. But in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. Let me just give you a spoiler with thanksgiving. The fifth point that I have for you is be thankful, but we'll get to that in a moment, okay? With thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. So you have your problems, you have your issues, right? Instead of being full of worry and full of care, because that's just going to cast you down, this is going to make you miserable and worried and upset, you give it to God. Say, God, I'm coming in prayer to you, I'm giving all my problems to you, Lord, all right? Verse number 7, and the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. That's where a lot of our turmoil comes from, right? The worries, the stress, the heartbreak, the sadness in the hearts. God can keep those things. It's hard to control these two elements, the mind and the hearts, but if we share all the things to God, we leave it in God's hands, and we don't pick it up after we're done praying and put it back on our shoulders, we leave it in God's hands. God says, I'll keep your hearts and your minds. I'll strengthen you in those places that hurts, okay? And then it says in verse number 8, finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true. Whatsoever things are honest. Hey, these are all positive things. Whatsoever things are just. Whatsoever things are pure. Whatsoever things are lovely. Whatsoever things are of good report. If there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Think on the positives, brethren. Think on the positives. That's going to make you a much more happier person. You know, when some issue comes up, some problem, some disaster, okay, you can either start being negative, being downcast. No, okay, you get to that point. All right, happens. We're all human beings, right? It happens. What do you do? Say, boy, I don't want to be negative. I don't want to be miserable. God wants me to be godly with contentment, okay? God is with contentment. So I know, okay, I'm going to pick this up, and I'm going to look at this situation, say, God, I can't manage this. I can't control this. It's over to you, Lord. Can you keep my heart and my mind? And Lord, this situation that I'm in right now, I want the positives. What's the good that's going to come out of this? There surely must be good that's going to come out of this. And I promise you, you're going to find the good. You're going to find the positives, whatever they are. You're going to find them. And you think on these things, and you're going to be a lot more content with your life, okay? So point number four, brethren, was look on the bright side. And I already told you that the last one, number five, is be thankful. Be thankful. Count your blessings, okay? You know, as I shared with you, I get a lot of people telling me the struggles they go through, the problems. And it's fine. I'm there to be a listening ear. As long as it's not gossiping about other people and tearing down people's reputations, I'm fine with that, right? But quite often, I look at that person's life, and I think, man, you've got a lot of good going for you, though. Like you've got some good things that I wish I had myself in my life, right? You've got a good wife, or you've got faithful children, and you've got a good job, and you live on the Sunshine Coast. I mean, it's like the best place in Australia. Praise God. There should be so many men over there, right? I mean, we've got a lot of things going for us. And it's just a matter of turning that negative and saying, well, hold on. Yes, I've got to carry some of this negativity. But you know what? I'm just going to give that to God. I'm just going to focus on what is positive. It changes your life, brethren, you know? And you just be thankful. Say, God, I'm thankful for the things you've given me. I thank you for the blessings. You know, maybe you had a fight with your spouse this week, you know? And instead of being negative, say, God, thank you for giving me a spouse. You know, there are single men that want to get married and they can't find a wife. You've got a wife. You've got someone that's going to be there with you, that's going to help you, right? Even if you had an argument. I bet you, you know, if your wife sees you suffering and sick, she's going to be there to encourage you and be a help to you. You know, your wife loves you, even if you had a fight. Your husband loves you, even if you had an argument. Praise God for what you have. As I said, others wish that they're living a lonely life and they wish to have that partner to have for the rest of their lives. There's always a positive. And again, I already covered that, but be thankful is my point, right? Remember, God, what do you have? You bless me today, right? I've got all my needs, right? I've got it together. There are people suffering. I look at the world, people suffer in such massive scales, you know? Again, when you think about everything else, and then you look at how much you've been blessed, and then you just say, God, thank you. Thank you for everything you've given me. It'll make you a lot more content. You know, in Luke 3.14, we have John the Baptist dealing with the Roman soldiers, and in Luke 3.14, it says, and the soldiers likewise demanded of him saying, and what shall we do? And he said unto them, do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely, and be content with your wages. Be thankful, be happy, be fulfilled. You've got your wages. Instead of complaining and saying, boy, you know, the Centurion earns more. You know, this other guy, he earns more. I need to be on a higher wage. You've got to be content. You've got the wages. Be happy with what you have. Because there are others that don't have the wages. There are others that don't have a stable job, right? And there are others that are struggling to pay their bills. Be thankful for what you have. You know, this issue of contentment is found throughout the whole Bible. Luke 17.15, we know this great story of the lepers that came to Christ. I'll just quickly read to you from Luke 17.15. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks. And he was a Samaritan, giving him thanks. The Samaritan, okay, the other lepers, they did not remember to go back to Jesus and give God thanks. No, the Samaritan did. The Samaritan said, you know, all right, I was a leper, but now I'm healed. Thank you, Lord. You know, could he have focused on the negatives? Yeah, he could have. He could have said, man, all these years wasted as a leper. I've not been able to have a family. I've not been able to be around other people. The pain, the suffering I went through. God, I'm thankful that I'm healed. I'm thankful that I'm healed. Instead of focusing on the negatives, he's focusing on the positive, and he gives thanks to God. How many times has God come through and answered our prayers? How much has God blessed you this week, and you forgot to say thanks? Have you thanked God every time you've had a meal? I hope so. You know, it's one of the easiest things to do. Before we eat a meal, thank you, Lord, for what you've given me. If you forget, you were hungry, just went into the meal. Well, just after you've had two bites, oh, sorry, God, thank you for the meal that you've given me, right? Be thankful for every little thing that God has given you, and I promise you, you're going to be a lot more content, okay? Because what are you doing? You're bringing to remembrance the things that are good, the things that are lovely, the things that have good reports, and then you're referring back to the Lord. You're thankful to God. What does that do? It makes you remember how God is looking down upon you and giving you, helping you, he's got his eye upon you. You're special to him. You're a child of God. So, brethren, can you please go to Hebrews 13 now, Hebrews 13 and verse number five. I'm almost done now. Hebrews 13, verse number five. So we had the reading from Hebrews 13, verse number five, and I just wanted to end on this verse, okay? But just very quickly, in conclusion, in conclusion, how can we be more content in life? Number one, do it for Jesus. Number two, be productive, do something, right? Number three, be an encouragement to others. Number four, look on the bright side, and number five, be thankful, all right? By Hebrews 13, verse number five, Hebrews 13, verse number five, it reads, let your conversation, that's your behavior, that's your lifestyle, let your conversation be without covetousness and be content with such things as ye have, for he have said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. Think about that promise. Think about who God is again. God says about you, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. God is always there, okay? God is always there. We're the ones that walk in darkness. We're the ones that walk away from God's presence and God's fellowship and we seek after our own will. No, God wants us to seek his will. God wants us to be godly. He's always there. He's always there for us. He'll never leave us. What an amazing promise. We can be so far removed from God and maybe you are today. Maybe you're in the most worst spiritual state you've ever been in life right now. Maybe you've not gone to God in prayer for a long time. Maybe you've not been picking up your Bible. Maybe going to New Life Baptist Church now is a hassle and a, you know, a struggle for you and you're just at a bad place spiritually right now. You're far from God and you know you're far from God. But you know what? God has not left you. He's not forsaken you. He's right there. You just turn around and say, God, I'm sorry. God, help me be godly. Help me have godliness with contentment. Please forgive me for not walking with you. And that ought to give us a lot of contentment in life, knowing that our Lord will never forsake us. You know, people on this earth forsake one another. Friends forsake one another, right? Families forsake one another. God says He'll never forsake us. Never leave us. And if there's anything that's going to give you great contentment, let it be that thought that God is always there, okay? Okay, let's pray.