How to Have Greener Grass NOW - Part B

Contentment is a learned ability. It's a learned ability.

So before you go, man I wish I was blessed with the gift of contentment. It's not a gift. It's a learned skill. Because look what he says. It's so encouraging to me.

Because I'm still learning. Contentment isn't a feeling or something you find. Contentment is an attitude you choose to live out. Today on Connect with Skip Heitzig, Skip shares how you can experience true contentment through God's provision and confidence in His power. Now we want to tell you about a resource that shines light on the rapidly shifting landscape of the Middle East and why this impacts you. Joel Rosenberg has his finger on the pulse of the world shaking changes happening right now. And he unveils them in his new non-fiction book, Enemies and Allies. Enemies and Allies from multiple New York Times bestselling author Joel Rosenberg takes you on an unforgettable journey inside the turbulent Middle East.

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To give, call 800-922-1888 or visit connectwithskip.com Okay, we're in Philippians chapter 4 as Skip Heitzig starts today's study. Where they can find pasture land for their animals. So I always love to point the Bedouins out to people that go to Israel. You're going to look now to the side of the road and you're going to see people that live like Abraham did. So they kind of see the tents in the distance. Well one time we're traveling around and we go around a corner and we see this tent community and out of a couple of tents we notice a television aerial, antenna going up. I thought, interesting, this has now become a need for the Bedouin people.

A television set. Look at the word content in these verses. I've learned in whatever state I am to be content. Autarkes is the word. Autarkes means contained.

I've learned to be contained. Self-sufficient, it could be translated. Satisfied would be another translation or enough. A person can say I have enough. Interesting word, it was used by the Greek Stoics. If you remember your philosophy class, you know that the Stoics were a subset of Greek philosophers who believed that you can get to a point where you don't need anyone or anything and you will not have any emotional response even to the worst things in life. That was their aim.

Their aim was independence from any need for any help. That's the word Paul uses but that is not what Paul meant by the word that he uses. What he means is that if people help him, great, I'll be connected to those people, I'll see that as fruit, I'll be joyful because of that connection but if they do not, God will provide.

I'm still contained, I'm still content. So what does Psalm 23 say? You know it by heart. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. There's nothing I need because the Lord is my shepherd. Hebrews 13, the writer says, let our conduct be without covetousness and be content with such things as you have. How could he say that? How could he say be content with what you have?

Here's why. He finishes the verse by saying, for he himself has said, I will never leave you, I will never forsake you, so we may boldly say the Lord is my helper, I will not fear. What can man do to me? What all of these verses tell me are the same thing, that contentment does not come from what we have, it comes from whom we have. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. The Lord has said, I will never leave you or forsake you.

If you provide, great. If not, the Lord will provide. So contentment is not related to necessity. There's something else about contentment. Notice in the verse, contentment does not depend on quantity. Notice where Paul is in his description. Look at these words, abased, that's really low, abound, that's really high, full, really high, hungry, really low. So Paul says, sometimes life is like this, up and down, high and low, but it doesn't matter and it's not a matter of having more creature comforts, it's not a matter of having more disposable income, because Paul is saying, I've lived on both sides of that equation. Look at the word full in our verse.

That word was used of the feeding and fattening of animals. Paul said, I've lived a fat life before, I lived a full life, like a fattened animal who ate really well. If you think about the way Paul grew up, he grew up having plenty.

He was educated in private schools, he reached status among his contemporaries as a Pharisee. But then look at the word abased. Can you think of a time when Paul was ever abased? How about right here, when he's writing this from jail, not knowing if he's going to live or die, that's pretty abased. And how did he get there?

On a grain ship in the slave galley that got shipwrecked and had to get on another boat just to make it to Rome. That's pretty abased. In other words, Paul said, I had status, I lost it all. It's interesting that most people who lose everything get very, very depressed. If you think back to the 1929 stock crash, not that you remember that, but you've read about it. I remember reading things that it was so devastating because that brought on the Great Depression. That's one of the factors for that. But when that stock market crashed in 1929, some executives jumped out of their office windows to their deaths at the thought that they lost everything.

They lost it all. And see, that is the illusion. That's the deception. The deception is that more cash will bring more contentment. Man, if I have a lot, life will be easy. I'll be happy with that many zeros at the end of the paycheck.

That'll bring contentment. That's an illusion. That's a deception. Here's a statistic I wanted to share with you. Last year, Americans spent $70 billion on lottery tickets. I'm not going to ask you to buy lottery tickets.

I don't care. But it's interesting that we spend, last year as Americans, $70 billion on lottery tickets. That's more than we spent on sports tickets, on books, video games, movie tickets, and music combined.

$70 billion. Why? Because people believe there's a chance that I could win. And there's a chance that in winning, I'm going to find real happiness. And I'm going to have it so good. Oh, and I'm going to help others. I'm going to get this money and I'm going to help so many people and help myself a little bit as well.

And I'm going to be so happy. Now, I'm sure I don't even have to tell you, you have read or heard of the opposite being true, right? You've heard story after story of people who won lotteries and their life went to the tank. An article in Time magazine I found on how winning the lottery can actually make you miserable. It cited several examples. Here's just one.

Just one. One man went broke four years after winning $315 million. How do you lose $315 million in four years? He did it. And he lost a daughter and a granddaughter to drug overdoses, he said, directly related to his winnings. He was robbed of over a half a million dollars while sitting in his car. And he said, I don't like what I have become.

I wish I would have just torn up that ticket instead. Well, that sounds a lot like what Jesus said in the Gospel of Luke, when he said, a man's life does not consist in the abundance of the things that he possesses. So, contentment is not related to necessity. Contentment does not depend on quantity.

But here's something else I want you to look at in the text and notice. Contentment is a learned ability. It's a learned ability. So, before you go, man, I wish I was blessed with the gift of contentment.

It's not a gift. It's a learned skill. Because look what he says, for I have learned, verse 11, in whatever state I am to be content.

Verse 12, I know how to be abased, know how to abound everywhere and in all things, I have learned both to be full and to be hungry. That is so encouraging to me. Because I'm still learning. I'm still in the process.

I haven't graduated yet. It's something we learn. There was a monastery in Spain, and if you wanted to join the monastery to be an initiate as a young monk, you had to take a vow of silence. That is, this is a monastery where you don't say a word. You just contemplate.

That would be very difficult for some of us to be able to do. Can you imagine me not talking for two years? So, the idea is that every two years, you get to say two words. So, this young guy joined the monastery. He was there for six years total. So, two years went by. He didn't say a word. After two years, he went before the head priest and he got to say his two words. And his two words were, food, terrible. He couldn't say two more words for another two years. Two years more passed by. He goes again to the head priest. This time, his two words were, bed, lumpy.

So, he's had a rough four years. But he hangs that out for another two years and he comes back to the head priest and his two words are now, I quit. And that head priest said, you know, I'm not surprised because all you've done since you've arrived is complain, complain, complain. Hey, have you noticed how easy it is to complain in life? That complaining is like second nature grumbling, pointing out the faults of people or things. It just comes so second nature.

It's so easy to do. Just stand around the coffee maker at work and listen to the conversations as people will trash and talk down the company. They complain. Students complain about teachers. Athletes complain about coaches. Shoppers complain about parking.

Everybody complains about traffic. So, contentment isn't related to necessity. It doesn't depend on quantity. It's a learned ability, a learned ability. Now, I want to give you a few tips on how to learn it better, how to get ahead of the learning curve. First of all, avoid comparisons.

That'll get you every time. Once you start looking at what others have or are doing compared to you, you start comparing yourself. It's downhill because comparison robs you of contentment and promotes covetousness. 2 Corinthians 10 verse 12, we do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves.

When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise. Cute little story about a pocket watch in London, England who looked up and saw Big Ben overlooking the Thames River by the Parliament Building in London. And he looked up and said, oh, I wish I could be up that high.

I wish that I could be over all these people and I could serve more people. So, somebody gave the little pocket watch its wish and with the string it hoisted it up all the way, all the way, all the way up. But by the time it got all the way up to where that Big Ben clock was, nobody could see it.

It was so small. And the moral of the story is its elevation became its annihilation. So avoid comparison. A second tip on contentment, lower expectation. Some people expect too much. They feel entitled. When you live an entitled life, always expecting more, you never stop to appreciate what you have. You get robbed of thankfulness. 1 Timothy chapter 6, godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world and we can take nothing out of it.

If we have food and clothing with these, we will be content. Most of us are not part of the jet set. Most of us are part of the debt set.

And the more you try to get into the jet set, the more you're going to become part of the debt set. So lower your expectation. Avoid comparisons, lower expectations.

Here's a third tip. Adjust to alterations. Adjust to alterations. Article after article I read on happiness said people who are the happiest in life learn to take the bumps, the highs and the lows together. They adjust with it. They learn how to make adjustments in their life.

So Paul describes several different experiences in verse 12. Ups and downs. Abounding, great. But when you're abounding, know that you could also be abased. Learn to adjust. Avoid comparisons, lower expectations, adjust to alterations. Here's a fourth tip.

Should have been number one. Develop convictions. What truths do you stand on when you are faced with emptiness or a lot? What truths do you hold to that would keep you from complaining? Because I believe, and I believe it sincerely, that contentment is related to what you believe about God's sovereignty.

It's directly proportional to do you believe God is in control or not? You want to hear a great statement on sovereignty? It comes from the book of Job, the mouth of Job, who lost his children, who lost his health, who lost everything.

And listen to what he said. Naked I came into this world, naked I will leave. The Lord gave and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. How's that for a statement of sovereignty?

God's in charge. You enter into life empty handed. You're going to leave empty handed. You've heard the old joke.

You've never seen a hearse pulling a U-Haul because you can't take anything with you. So avoid comparisons. Lower expectations. Adjust to alterations. Develop convictions. Those are all good tips that will help you and I learn to be content. So be connected to God's people. Be content with God's provision. A third and final principle to go into this next year with is be confident in God's power. Verse 13. Before you even read it, I'll just say you know it by heart.

If I were to take a poll of the percentage of people in this room right now who could spout this off at a moment's notice, it'd be pretty high. I can do, verse 13, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Did you know this is Paul's philosophy of life?

Okay, now back up. Paul is not writing this verse from the Ritz-Carlton in Rome. Paul is writing this in jail.

This man has been beaten up. This man has been talked against by unbelievers and by believers. He does not know if he'll live or die. He doesn't know if he'll face a court case tomorrow or be executed tomorrow or be set free. And yet he says, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

You want to know what the principle is? Spiritual success comes in cans. You've heard the other message too long. I can't do that. Your fears have told you you can't. Others have told you you can't. Past failures come back to haunt you and say you can't.

I want you to get a new motto this year. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. And before you say, well, that's Paul the apostle. He can't, but I can't.

Here's what you need to know. Paul doesn't just say, I can do all things. He says, I can do all things through Christ. The same Christ Paul had is the same Christ you have. So if Paul the apostle in prison can say, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, you can say exactly the same thing because it's through Christ. Galatians 2.20, I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live. Yet it is not me who lives, but Christ who lives in me.

Same principle. The J.B. Phillips translation puts this verse this way. I am ready for anything through the strength of the one who lives in me. The Amplified Bible adds, that is, I am self-sufficient in Christ's efficiency. Now what Paul says is exactly what Jesus said, but in reverse.

Remember what Jesus said in John 15? He said, without me, you can do nothing. That's what you can do without Christ. Nothing. All the I can'ts, I can't, I can't. That's apart from Christ.

Nothing. Paul takes that same truth, turns it around to the positive and says, but I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. See, it all depends on where your resources lie.

Do your resources lie in yourself or do your resources lie in your Savior? Paul in prison, doesn't know if he's going to be supported or not, doesn't know if he's going to live or die, I can do all things. Corrie Ten Boom, have you heard of her? Have you ever read her story?

She survived Nazi concentration camps. She said this, you'll never know Jesus is all you need until Jesus is all you have. It's all Paul had. And Paul said, that's enough. I'm content.

I'm good to go. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. So I'm hoping that you enter into this new year, not being like those people who go, well, you know, Jesus is like an important part of my life. But rather Jesus is my life. He is the core and substance of who I am. I am living through Christ and Christ is living his life through me. So as we stand on the verge of a new year, get connected, get contented, get confident.

That's a great message to have at the end of a year into a new one. We talked about a little girl who was staying at a friend's house for dinner and to sleep over. And the mother in that home wanted to make sure that she could eat everything she was cooking. She was cooking up buttered broccoli, steamed butter broccoli as one of the vegetables for the meal. And so she said, sweetheart, do you like broccoli? The little girl, the visiting girl said, oh, ma'am.

Yes, ma'am. I love broccoli. She looked it up and as they were passing things around, the broccoli was passed to that little girl, that visiting friend. And she looked at it and passed it on. Didn't take one little ear of it. The mother said, sweetheart, I thought you told me you love broccoli.

She said, oh, yes, ma'am. I do love broccoli. I just don't love it enough to eat it.

Yeah, you know, theoretically, we're good at theory, self-included. But when it comes to the broccoli coming to my plate, now, I do love broccoli, I'll say that, but whatever it might be that you and I don't like to eat, when it comes our way, you know, I just want to say, you might find broccoli on your plate this year. You might find a spoonful of sickness, like Job. You may get a big dish of loneliness added to your plate. You might find that your plate is piled high with all sorts of unpleasant entrees. Yeah, I don't want this.

I don't love it enough to eat it. But it's what God sets in front of you. And because of that, you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you, even eat that broccoli or whatever unpalatable experience it is. So I've always loved the saying that says, your doctor may add years to your life, but Jesus can add life to your years.

He can give you abundant life. That wraps up Skip Heitzig's message from the series Technicolor Joy. Right now, reading the stories of the Bible is a very good thing. Walking where these stories took place is at a whole other level. Skip Heitzig is planning his next tour, and you can be on it.

Here's the invitation from Skip. You're in for an incredible time as we travel throughout Israel and experience the culture that's so unique to that country. Now, I've been to Israel a number of times over the years, and I can honestly say that visiting the places where the events of the scriptures unfolded, where Jesus lived, taught and healed, it just never gets old. We'll start on the Mediterranean Sea and head north, seeing places like Caesarea and Nazareth, the Sea of Galilee and the Jordan River. We'll spend several days in and around Jerusalem and see the Temple Mount, Calvary, the Garden of Gethsemane, and the Mount of Olives, and much more. This remarkable itinerary is made richer with times of worship, Bible study, and lots of fellowship.

The Bible will come alive to you in a way it never has before. I hope you'll join Lenny and me on what is always an unforgettable trip. I can't wait to see you in Israel. This dream can come true for you. Start planning and saving now to tour Israel with Skip Heitzig. Information at inspirationcruises.com slash C-A-B-Q.

That's inspirationcruises.com slash C-A-B-Q. Tune in again tomorrow as Skip Heitzig shares how you can use the resources God's given you to bring Him glory and impact lives for His Kingdom. You don't want to miss that. Make a connection. Make a connection at the foot of the crossing. Cast all burdens on His Word. Make a connection. Connection. Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times.