0:00 [Music] So praise the Lord brothers and sisters. I want to share with you 0:17 today on one word found in one Timothy and chapter 6. It's a subject that we need to hear constantly and we should never get tired of hearing. It says here about godliness. 0:43 You know we all pursue after godliness. That's one of the great emphases in all CFC churches to pursue after godliness. And here it 0:59 says that godliness uh 1 Timothy 6:6 godliness is actually a means of great gain provided it is accompanied by contentment. So I'm thinking of that 1:19 word contentment. That means basically it means being happy. not only happy but rejoicing believing that God made everything right, made me the right way, made my circumstances the right way 1:37 and uh the right job I have and the right marriage partner I have and the right type of children and a person who is content is a person who has no complaint about anything that God has allowed in his 1:55 life you know all of us face a lot of circumstances which we don't we would not choose ourselves if the choice was left to us all of us have that experience you look back over your life there are many many things we would never have chosen 2:13 but God allowed such things to come into our life and uh it's not only for us but all of God's greatest saints God determines the things that happen in their life. We know when you know the 2:30 well-known verse Romans 8:28, God makes everything work together for good. But also there are many other aspects of this that we can think of. And uh this is something that God has ordained in creation. You have often heard me say 2:50 that the first book in the Bible is Job. because Job lived about 500 years before Moses and Moses wrote Genesis. So I never get tired of saying there are things we can learn from the book of Job. And Job had a lot of complaints about 3:09 why when he was so perfect in his life according to his understanding, God allowed so many trials to come into him. And that being put in the first book of the Bible is to teach us that even if you're a perfect man like Job and you're a very 3:25 godly person, you brought up Job had 10 children and he brought them all up well and yet he faced a lot of difficult circumstances in his life and then he can have questions and the book of Job is full of his questions and arguments 3:40 with his friends and then finally you know in the end God shuts his mouth. None of those three friends of Job could shut his mouth. And you know finally how God shut Job's mouth that he had no more complaints. When you come to the end of 3:59 the book of Job, he says these words. Please turn with me to chapter 42 and chapter 42. He 4:19 says, "I I heard of you by the verse five and six. I heard of you by the hearing of ear. Now my eye sees you. Now I retract everything I have said and I repent in dust and ashes." And earlier on also when God spoke to him in chapter 4:39 40 he says in these wonderful words in verse four as Job 40:4 I am insignificant. I lay my hand on my mouth. I will never again say anything more. I've spoken and I will not say 4:57 anymore. How did God bring Job to that place? Because all the others whenever they said something, Job had something to reply, something to reply, something to reply. But finally, he says, "I lay my hand on my mouth and I've got nothing 5:11 to say." Well, one of the things God told him was this. Turn to Job 38. The Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind. And what he said is this, verse four, "Where were you when I 5:28 laid the foundation of the earth? Do you know anything about that? Or verse 8, who enclosed the sea with doors? That means God is 5:46 saying, why doesn't the sea come rushing over the beach and drown the town or city that is there? God has drawn a line and that line is on the beaches. You see it's ordinary sand with which God has drawn a line there that the world waves 6:03 of the sea cannot go beyond a certain point. Every beach in the world the sea can comes up to a certain point and it's not a big mighty wall that stops the sea. It's just sand. Can you imagine stopping the waves of the sea 6:18 with sand? And it's with sand that God stops the waves of the sea in every beach in the whole world. And then it goes back and comes again. It stops there. So he says, "Who has enclosed the sea with a door and prevented it from 6:34 bursting forth from the womb? And I have placed verse 10. I have placed boundaries and set a bolt and door and said thus far you will come and no further and your proud waves will stop here." 6:52 So that's how God says to Job, you're thinking that all these things that are happening to you are without my permission. I I can put a boundary and stop anything and if I move the boundary a little back so that all these trials 7:09 and sicknesses come to you, remember I am in control. So it's very important for us to understand this that in everything God has put boundaries and he speaks here about creation to Job. So when you think back to creation think of 7:24 all the planets and the stars and the sun and all that God has made for every one of them God has made a boundary. And Jo God told Job to look at creation and see how he's put a boundary on everything. For example, if there were no boundaries 7:44 to the movement of the planets, they'd all be colliding with each other. But for millions of years, every planet, it doesn't have a free will. It's got to had to obey God's command. It just goes in a certain orbit and it 8:03 never moves out of that orbit. And then there are other planets going around another orbit and all these planets in all of creation. There's a boundary God has drawn for each of them and it stays there. And that's why creation is so 8:18 beautiful. And from that we are supposed to learn a lesson that the same God who put a boundary for all this all of creation that's made it so beautiful without any collision. The same God has made boundaries for us. Why do we find so many 8:37 collisions between husband and wife and between believers? Even people who claim to be God's people. There are collisions. Collisions. But you never see a collision among the planets is one reason. They are content with the 8:53 boundary God has placed with them. Godliness with contentment is what brings again. That means to be content with the circumstances that God has placed you in, the limitations God has placed in your life. You know, where you if you're 9:10 content with that and you never wish, well, I wish I were like that person. You know, that can happen even with children when they go to school and I wish I had the intelligence of that person or I wish you could run like that 9:20 person or swim like that person and get prizes. When God has put a limitation on all of us and however much we may live a holy life, if you don't have contentment, if you're not perfectly content with the physical and intellectual limitations God has given 9:40 to you, you can never be a godly person. Godliness with contentment brings tremendous profit. And that applies in many other areas also. For example, God has told women in that there are certain ministries they cannot 9:58 have. Uh God has made man the head of the woman and that is a boundary God has placed around a woman. You can't go outside there. Man is the head. And the Lord in the 1 Timothy 2, we 10:16 read God says, "I want men to pray everywhere." Verse 8, "And I want women, verse 9, to clothe themselves modestly." And verse 11, a woman must 1 Timothy 10:34 2:11 must quietly receive instruction with entire submissiveness. And remember this is the Holy Spirit speaking. I do not allow a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man but to remain quiet. That is in the church. Now 10:50 there are many women who don't accept that. There are many women who want to boss their husbands and uh humiliate their husbands and show that they are smarter and cleverer. Such a woman is going outside her boundary and she's not a godly woman 11:09 however much she may think she is. And I met lot of sisters like that in many churches who they can speak a lot and uh maybe what they say is right but there's a spirit in them which shows they are not content that God has made them 11:26 women. They wish they could be men. So if any of you sisters think that God made a mistake in making you a woman, that you wish you were a had, you wish you were a man so you could do the things that brothers do in the church, 11:41 something is wrong with you. You will never be a godly woman. Impossible. Because godliness with contentment in the circumstances you've been put into is what brings profit. Learn from the stars, the orbit in which they move. 11:59 They're content with it. The orbit in which the Earth goes around the Sun is a very small orbit compared to the orbit of some of the other planets like Uranus and Jupiter and all. But the Earth doesn't say, "Oh, I wish I had a bigger 12:12 orbit. It's perfectly content." And that's why we have the perfect movement of some I mean the arrival of summer and winter all according to time because of the earth moves in a certain orbit in perfection. So if there is to be content, if there 12:28 is to be perfect order in a church, sisters must know what their place is. And even among brothers, it's very important for brothers to be content with the gift and ministry God has given them. For example, we read in one 12:43 Corinthians when he talks about the body. In the body, it says God has composed the body. 1 Corinthians 12 that he has made some members weaker and some members stronger in the body. For example, he compares one please turn to 1 13:03 Corinthians 12:20. In one body there are many members and each needs the other. The eye cannot say I don't need you to the hand nor the head to the feet. Even the members of the body verse 22 13:20 which are weaker are necessary. So what we learn from there is there are weaker members in the body and stronger members in the body. Some are delicate and some can um handle more roughness but each has a particular place. And verse 24, the last part, God 13:40 has so composed the body, sometimes giving more abundant honor to the member which lacks gift. And the purpose is verse 25 that if each member of the body recognizes his function and is happy with his function and not competing with somebody else in 13:59 the church wishing to show that I'm better than that person. I can preach better than that person or pray better than that person or sing better than that person. quite content with whatever gift God has given you natural gift and 14:11 spiritual gift then there will be unity and then he gives a list of gifts for example in 2028 1 Corinthians 12:28 God has appointed in the church apostles prophets third first second third apostles prophets teachers now lots of 14:31 people would like to be first second and third I'd like to be an apostle or a prophet or a teacher but supposing God has placed you, it says in the middle of the end of that verse 28, there's a gift called helps. Among all these fantastic 14:47 uh gifts like miracles and healings and various kinds of tongues, right in the middle, you find a word called helps. At the end of verse 28, do you ever find a believer seeking for that gift? Lord, give me the gift of being a help in the church. I don't want 15:03 to be apostle or prophet or such things. You're not gifted me for that. But it says here that among all the gifts, there's a gift called helps. Right in the middle of healings and tongues and all helps. That is a person who probably is 15:18 unseen and behind the scenes does a lot of things to make life easier for people in the church is what a fantastic gift that is. It's a great gift to seek. And if a person starts there, you may find that God sees his faithfulness and leads him on to 15:38 something higher. When I started serving the Lord in the church in after I left my job, I was in aending a particular group of churches and there they didn't allow me to speak. All I did was during lunchtime go around 15:56 serving the rice and curry. at lunchtime and dinner time. That was my job and I did it faithfully. I was quite happy and um years later uh I spoke in public but my point I'm trying to say is you must be content to 16:15 look for a small ministry in whatever church you're in. Don't look for something big. Start in the kindergarten like we teach our children. Don't try to jump to the 10th grade or something. You'll make a mess there. That's what a lot of 16:32 people do when they try to go into a ministry. God has never called them to. But if you're faithful in the little things, God will gradually lead you to something higher. Definitely in the you remember Jesus told a story 16:48 of people who were given different gifts. Uh turn with me to Matthew chapter 25. It says here in Matthew 25:16 that uh sorry 15 a man was going on a long journey. This is a picture of Christ having gone away to heaven and before he 17:07 went to heaven verse 15 Matthew 25:15 to one of his servants he gave five talents to another two talents to another one talent. Now doesn't look very doesn't it look very unfair? I mean we like to give all our children equally. Like when you serve 17:25 food, you give equal food to all the children and you want all your children to get the same education and you buy clothes for all the children and you want all your children to have equal opportunities. And yet God when he gives 17:39 gifts to his children and his servants and to his own children, every one of us has some gift. He doesn't give equally. He gives one five, another two, another one. According to what he sees, they can handle. God has equipped us with a 17:56 certain ability. Like I said, he's given men a certain gift and women a certain gift. And even among men, some have got five, some have got two, and some have got one. And we read here, if you read that story, the chap who had five got a 100% 18:12 profit and produced another five. Verse 16, the jab had two also made 100% profit. Verse 17. And when the master came back, the person who got five talents said, verse 20, understand this. Master, 18:31 I gained five more talents. And the master said, well done, good and faithful servant. Now, what about the guy who had only two talents? He did not produce five like this other guy. He produced only two but he got the same 18:47 reward and commendation in verse 23. You compare verse 23 with verse 21 and you find this this chap who produced two got the same commenation and approval from the master as the chap who produced five. The chap who had five had to 19:04 produce five more. The chap who had two had to produce only two more. So if God has given you limited amount of gifts and abilities, he does not expect you to produce as much as that other brother to whom he's given five. So you must not be 19:19 in competition with anyone. There's far too much competition I find in different churches where people get up and try to preach to show that they can preach better than somebody else. Those of you who preach, I want to ask you, do you 19:31 ever have a desire to show that you can preach better than somebody else or that people will appreciate you more? My dear brother, let me tell you, you're a hindrance to the body of Christ. If you're like that, you must not be in 19:46 competition with anybody else when you share God's word in the meeting. You must say, "Lord, you've given me a certain gift and I don't have five talents like that guy or 10 like the other person. You've given me one. I 20:00 want to use that one to serve you and I will not be as impressive as the other guy who can produce five and 10." You rejoice in the fact that that person's got five and the other person's got 10 perhaps. And you say, "Lord, you've 20:11 given me one. I'm going to be faithful with this one." See, that's the mistake this person with one made. What did that man do? Verse 18, the man who had one talent, he could have used it and produced another one and he would have 20:25 got the same commenation that the other two people got. But what did he do? He looked at his one and he looked the other guy with two and the other guy with five and his I have so little. And so he didn't do anything with it. He just dug a hole and 20:39 kept his master's money there. Just think if in this story if he had gone and produced one more and when the master came back he would have got exactly the same reward and commendation as the other fellow produced five or 20:56 two. That's something to bear in mind when we look at the church and we find you look at every church in the world. Some are more gifted and some are little less gift and some have got very little gift. But that person who's got a very 21:09 little gift must learn a lesson from this person who's got one talent. There are people who sit in the church and do absolutely nothing. Zero. They don't even I'm not talking about preaching. They don't even seek to find in what way can I bless this 21:29 church? Maybe in some practical way. Maybe sweep the floor or something. I you say, "I have only one talent. I don't have the gift to sit in the pulpit or stand in the pullpit and preach, but I can do this little thing." And if you 21:44 use that one talent, whatever God's given you, and you're content, godliness with contentment, it says, brings great gain, there'll be great spiritual profit and gain in your life if you are content with the gift God has given you. Think 22:01 of the orbits God has made. The earth does not complain that I don't have a w as wide an orbit as Uranus or Jupiter or something like that and Mercury is much smaller. Don't say, "Oh boy, you made made me have such a small circle around 22:16 the sun." God has ordained these things in perfection. And if you can believe this with all your heart that God has made no mistake in the limitations you find in your life. For example, God has made people in this world of different 22:33 races and certain races have certain characteristics and certain other races have certain other characteristics and some may feel I'm limited. There are people with all types of color skin in the church. There are 22:50 brown and black and yellow and white and red. All these colors in the church. Why didn't God make every human being the same? All human beings came from Adam and Eve. And later on, all human beings came 23:08 from Noah and his family. And yet when you look at the world today, there are so many different colors and so many different some are tall and short and God has made such a variety in the world. It is to teach us to be 23:26 content. All these people can be godly. All these people of different colors and different heights and different abilities, different intelligence can all be godly. God could have easily given every human being the same amount of 23:41 intelligence. But he's not. There are some people who are not intelligent at all. Some people are brilliant. But if they are content with Lord, you have given me one talent. I'm going to use that. He will sometimes he'll multiply it as he 23:59 sees your faithful what you have. Because you read in another story that the Lord said take what this person has and give it to the other person who give it to the other person. So sometimes God gives more to somebody. It all depends on 24:16 faithfulness. So when you look at the origin of sin in the world also it's like this when the angel you you know the story how the highest angel became the devil. He was created with tremendous gifts. with all the gifts. We can say 24:35 that whatever his name is, we don't know what his name is. People call him Lucifer, but that's not his real name. Nobody knows his name. But when you read in Ezekiel 28 about the gifts he had, he's like a person who had 100 talents, 24:51 not 10 or five or two. 100 talents. Look at this in Ezekiel chapter 28. And he's referring to this highest angel. Just listen to the qualities he had. He had the seal of perfection. 25:09 Verse 12. He's talking about the king of the king means the ruler behind which is the highest angel. You had the seal of perfection full of wisdom perfect in beauty. What more do you 25:25 need? Perfect. perfect, full of wisdom, perfect in beauty. And he uses all these precious stones to indicate all symbolic language. Every precious stone, verse 13 was your covering, ruby, topaz, diamond, burnt bell. He's trying to show what an 25:43 exceptionally gifted person he was by using examples of all these expensive stones. And he says on you were on the day you were sorry verse 14 you were the anointed cherub and the anointing of God was also upon 26:03 him and you were verse 15 blameless verse 15 on the day you were created but your heart was lifted up verse 17 and we know from Isaiah 14 that he wanted to go beyond he wanted to have more. He was like a man with a thousand 26:23 talents. Not two talents or one talent, a thousand talents. And he still wanted more. Even though as he looked around at all the other angels, they all had much less than him. Much less than him. Nobody was his equal. But he was not 26:40 content. That's how sin came. He was not content with what God had given him. And he wanted more. He said in Isaiah 14, you know that passage in case some of you do not know it. In Isaiah 14, this man with all these gifts, he said, I will ascend. Isaiah 27:04 14:13, I I'm not happy with where I am. I want to go even above God. The stupidity of this person. So what I learned from this, he says here, I will ascend to heaven. I'll raise my throne. Verse 13, Isaiah 14:13, above the stars of 27:21 God. How can a person be so stupid to think that he can be above the God who created him? None of us would be so stupid. We don't have the cleverness that Satan had when he was created. Yet we with our 27:39 limited knowledge say, "I cannot go above God." How did he get that idea? We learned one lesson from that. When you're not content with what you have, it'll make you stupid. It'll make you so stupid to think that you can go above God. That is 27:59 the danger of being discontent. You'll do all types of stupid things. And there are a lot of people who are discontent in the church who do lots of stupid things. That's why contentment is a very important quality that we must all seek 28:16 for in everything in our life. God does not make a mistake to learn from the orbits of all the planets and learn from this different ways in which he has made human beings all different from each 28:35 other. God doesn't make a mistake at all. This also applies to you know when our children are small and they are in our home we there'll be differences among the children and we have to teach them from the beginning itself that it is God 28:53 who has made you the way you are and so you must be happy with the way God has made you. The same thing that happened to Lucifer is what happened in the garden of Eden also. In the garden of Eden also God had drawn a boundary around Adam and Eve. It was a 29:11 huge boundary. This is like drawing a big circle in Eden that included every fruit tree and every beautiful thing in garden in Eden, every river, everything inside Eden. The only thing outside that boundary was one 29:31 tree, the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Now imagine it's like a man who's got a 100,000 talents, not just two or five, and he's not happy with it. He wants to go outside. God said, "You can have the whole of 29:48 Eden." And he then wanted that one thing that God had forbidden outside. That's how sin came. Just the way sin came into the heart of Lucifer is exactly the same way sin came into the heart of Adam and 30:07 Eve. Such a huge area God had given them and they wanted the one thing God had forbidden. So we can say that sin came into the universe with the angels when one person was not 30:25 content with what God had provided. This boundary God had drawn around. Sin came to the human race when man was not content with the boundary God had drawn around him. They wanted to go outside. Lucifer wanted to go outside even though it was a huge 30:43 boundary. Adam wanted to go outside. Even though it was a huge boundary, what is the lesson we learned from all this? That if you're not content, you can be in the most beautiful place, Garden of Eden was the most beautiful, perfect 31:01 place and you'll ruin yourself. What was it that ruined Adam and Eve? Discontent with what had g God had given them even though they had so much. So this is a great warning for all of us. God has made God did not sisters God 31:20 did not did not did not make a mistake you sisters when God made you a woman in your mother's womb. He made you a woman a girl without any mistake. Recognize that. Don't be like Lucifer in Adam and Eve trying to walk 31:38 outside your boundary. You can do a tremendous lot. See what it says in one Timothy and chapter 2. I was reading that passage. There's a little more it says there in 1 Timothy chapter 2. Yeah. He 31:56 says, "I do not allow a woman to teach." Verse 12. That's that's like something outside your boundary. Like the tree of knowledge of good and evil, Adam, that's outside your boundary. Don't go for that. And so like that he says to a woman, 32:10 there's something outside your boundary. Teaching in the church, that's outside your boundary. Having authority over a man as an elder, there are women pastors these days completely disobeying God's word. God says that's outside your 32:21 boundary and they don't want or sometimes a woman wanting to be the head in the home. The Bible says the man is the head of the woman. And there are many women sisters even in the Christian born again sisters who are not content 32:36 to let their husband be the head of the home. They want to take over there. And here it says to a woman you I do not allow a woman to exercise verse 12 authority over a man. But does that mean a woman can do nothing? No. It says in verse 15 a woman 32:56 can do something. Listen to this. A woman can do something amazing that no man can do. She can produce children. Which man can produce children? Isn't that a fantastic gift to 33:13 produce another human being within your body? What a great gift that is to produce another human being inside your body. Man is incapable of doing that. So don't think that a woman's ministry is 33:31 unimportant. It's a different sphere. Just like Earth rotates in one sphere and Mercury rotates in another sphere and Jupiter rotates another sphere. Woman rotates in one sphere where she can produce a human being inside her 33:47 body. And a man cannot do that. He's in in another sphere where he's got other ministries. And that's what he says. Therefore, verse 15, a woman will be preserved through the bearing of children if they continue in faith. Faith means to be content with 34:05 what God has made you to be. And they can be preserved. They can be saved. It says through the bearing of children. So with Eve also you see there like I said once the first sin 34:23 that was committed in the garden of Eden was not the eating of the forbidden fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. No. Picture this in your mind. Let let me read a verse to you 34:42 first of all. Then you'll know it. Genesis chapter 3. There's a little phrase here which tells us where Adam was when Eve was having this discussion with the serpent, the devil. In Genesis 3:6, the last part, it 34:59 says that she took the fruit and ate it and gave it to her husband. And where was he? He was with her. The last part of verse six, he was right there next to her all the time. And picture this in your mind. 35:18 Adam and Eve both standing next to each other 3 in from each other. And the devil is talking to Eve. What is Adam supposed to do? God told him, "He's the head of the Eve is your helper. You're the head of the home." 35:37 He sat there like a dumb person. That was his failure. That was a sin that he did not exercise his authority as the head of the home and say, "Eve, darling, please 35:55 don't talk to this servant. I am the head. Stop it. Let's go away from here. We should not have come near this tree at all." First of all, he didn't stop her when they walked towards the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Adam should have stopped her 36:09 before they ever got near that tree. The snake was curled around in that tree. They would never have seen it. If Adam had said, "Hey, we are not supposed to go that side. Let's turn over here." When a husband does not fulfill his function in the home as the 36:24 head of the home, so much confusion comes into a home. That's that's we see is the first sin in the garden of Eden that Adam and they were both walking towards who suggested going towards the tree of knowledge good and evil. I'm almost certain it was Eve. 36:42 Adam should have said nothing. He did not take his position as a head. And I want to ask all of you brothers, do you take your position as a head in your home that when you see your wife going in a slightly wrong direction, you stop 36:55 it? That's your responsibility. Otherwise, you're following in the footsteps of Adam who failed as a husband. And then Eve, when the serpent spoke to her, the first thing she should have said, "Adam, darling, tell me what 37:10 should I do?" Adam said, "Let's get out of here. Don't continue this discussion." The whole story would have been different. So, what was the first sin in in Eden? Long before they ate it of the tree, Adam did not take his place as the 37:26 head of the home. And she Eve did not take her place in submission to Eve. Maybe Eve like many women today says, "Yeah, I can I can decide myself. Why do I have to consult my husband on this?" Do you know the number of women 37:42 who say that in different situations? Why do I have to consult my husband? I can decide that on my own. That's how sin came into the universe, into the world. And that's how sin can come into your home too. Be content with the boundary God has drawn 37:58 around you is my advice to every brother, sister. Godliness with contentment brings tremendous profit. It says tremendous protection from much evil. If I'm content with what God has 38:18 gifted me with and made me with. Let me show you some other passages in 2 Corinthians in chapter 12. This is very practical lessons we read here. 2 Corinthians in chapter 12. This is the Apostle Paul giving us his testimony. He's speaking about 38:40 contentment in verse 10. Now, this is the great mighty Apostle Paul, mightily used by God to plant churches, to raise the dead, to write scripture. Look at what he says. Look at the contentment in his life, with his circumstances. 38:59 2 Corinthians 12:10. I am perfectly content with my weakness, with the way I'm insulted by others, with the distresses that I go through in my life, with the persecutions I get from people for Christ's sake, with all the 39:16 difficulties I have in my life, for Christ's sake. Because when I am weak, I am strong. because then I have to lean upon God. I don't think many have understood how God seeks to make us weak so that we 39:34 can have his power. We are all basically born into the world as we grow up. We're very intelligent and capable and uh maybe we accomplish things in sports or in education and then our head becomes a little big. 39:52 uh and then we begin to think we are somebody and that is the beginning of haruin because God uses only weak people strengthened by him. Not that they're actually weak but they recognize their 40:09 limitation. Lord without you I can do nothing. What does Paul mean when he says I'm weak? Jesus said in John 15 using the example of the branch in the tree that branch can produce zero fruit if it doesn't stay in the tree and he 40:26 said without me you can do zero. So one who recognizes that will accept his limitations. In fact, Paul because he had a tremendous ministry and great gift, he was in 40:43 danger of going beyond his boundary and and getting puffed up with pride. So God had to humble him by giving him a physical sickness. And what from what we read in Galatians 4, it was probably some problem with his eyes. And he calls it 41:02 here in 2 Corinthians 12. I was given a thorn in the flesh to he called it a messenger of Satan. Something that afflicted him that troubled him so much it bothered him so much that he prayed to the Lord verse 8 41:20 times Lord take it away take it away and God didn't answer [Music] him. Imagine the great Apostle Paul after all his faithful service for God. There was one request he made to God. Please take away this affliction from my 41:34 body. And God said no. Some of you may have some affliction in your body. And you may think you have been so faithful to the Lord. And why should I have this affliction? Let me tell you, the Apostle Paul was probably a hundred 41:49 times more faithful than you and me. And he had an affliction. And God didn't take it away. God said you need it, Paul, because that'll keep you humble and but I'm not going to leave you alone. Verse 9, because of your 42:07 weakness, I'm going to give you grace because listen to this amazing statement in verse 9. It's particularly for those of you particularly for sisters who are called the weaker member in the uh in the home. for those who are weak in other ways who 42:26 who got the one talent. My grace verse 9 the Lord says is perfect in weak people or as one I think Living Bible says my power shows itself best in weak 42:44 people. So if you're not weak God has to make you weak so that God's power can show itself best when you recognize your weakness. This is an amazing truth and that is why there's a great value in being content. So in Philippians 4, Paul says 43:01 further about his testimony. Philippians 4 and verse 11. I know and I not now that I speak from any need in the middle of that verse. I have learned 43:19 to be content in whatever circumstances I am. the last part of verse 11. I believe that's a great statement that every one of us should be able to say every single day of our life, every moment of our life, I'm perfectly 43:36 content with the way God has made me. Uh history tells us that God that the Apostle Paul was 4' 11 in [Music] tall. 4' 11 in is a very short height for a man. There are very few people I met in my 43:56 life, men who are only 4' 11 in tall. History tells us that Paul was completely bald. He had a hooked 44:12 nose and he had an eye infection. Think of this. a man who's 4 feet 11 inches tall, completely bald, unattractive, with a hooked nose, and an eye infection. And God says, "I want to use you, Paul, to plant churches all over 44:30 the Europe. And I want to use you, Paul, to write scripture, to write more books of the New Testament than anybody else. And that's why I made you weak." Paul learned his lesson and leaned upon God. He says, "I will glory 44:48 in my weakness." He says in 2 Corinthians 12, "I'm quite happy." And here he says in Philip, Philippians 4 and verse 11, I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. Lord, you made no mistake. You made me short. I'm 45:06 perfectly happy. You made me not good-look. I'm perfectly happy. Do some of you feel you're not you don't have good features. You're not good good-looking. you're too dark. Perhaps do you have some complaint like that? Or can you look at your features 45:22 in the mirror and say, "Lord, I'm perfectly happy with my features. I'm perfectly happy with the color of skin you gave me. I'm perfectly happy with the height you've made me. I'm perfectly happy with whatever gifts you've given 45:34 me." I tell you, your ministry will increase tremendously if you can say that honestly to God. I don't have the abilities that somebody else has. It's okay, Lord. Your power is made perfect in weakness. I need to be weak and dependent upon 45:51 you. It's a tremendous lesson. There's so many people. We know all about the doctrines of forgiveness and sanctification and the coming of the Lord and so many doctrines in scripture. We need to learn the doctrine of being 46:04 content with what God has given you, the way God has made you and the gift God has given you. Let me show you another verse in Hebrews in chapter 13. Hebrews 13 and verse 5. Make sure your character is 46:23 free from the love of money. Be content with what you have. That doesn't mean that you should not try to earn a little more as the cost of living goes up. If you can get a better job, by all means get a better job. But if God doesn't give you a 46:37 better job, the word of God is be content with what you have. Middle of verse five. By all means, the cost of living going up, it's good to get a better job and earn a higher salary. It's good to look for a promotion in 46:52 your job as well or look for another job where you can earn a little more. But if you don't get that, be content with what you have. There must never be a time in my life, not a single day in my life when I'm not content with what I have and the way God 47:10 has made me and my circumstances, the size of home God has given me. Think of the type of wife God has given you or the type of husband God has given you. Can you say I'm perfectly content? Not I reluctantly 47:28 accept her. That's not a Christian testimony. What about some of you who are who never got married? It's good to try and get married, but if it didn't work out to be perfectly content and say, 47:47 "Lord, you allowed me to be single. Okay, I accept it." Or some infirmity in your body. some job you looked for that you didn't get or a student, some college you applied for, you didn't get it, you by all means try your best in 48:06 every area. You're single, seek to get married, but if it doesn't work out, be content with what you have. I'm not saying just be laidback and don't make any effort. All I'm saying is after you made all the effort possible and you don't get what you 48:23 want, be content with what you have. And then God will use you mightily. I'll tell you whether you're single or Paul Paul was never married. Jesus was never married. So many godly men and women. Some of the greatest missionary ladies who came to India were 48:40 single. God used them mightily. But I don't think God would have used them if they were constantly complaining that they were single. So there are different circumstances in which God has placed us. And you'll find that your your 48:52 spiritual growth is tremendously limited because you have always had wish that you were somewhere else than where you are. So from today I want to encourage you dear brother sister whatever your circumstances whatever your gift and 49:07 whatever limitations you think you have Lord I want to seek for something better but if it doesn't work out I'm perfectly content with what I have and God can do an amazing work through you from where you are and one 49:24 day when Christ comes back you will see that some people who had only one talent accomplish so much because they use that and they get the same commenation as the Apostle Paul cuz 49:42 maybe the Apostle Paul had 100 talents he's got to produce another 100. This fellow had only one and he produced another one and he gets the same commendation as the Apostle Paul. That means God says well done you good and 49:59 faithful servant. Some of you I want to say particularly to those of you who feel that you're not able to serve the church in any way and you don't preach or you don't do anything fantastic like that. Do you believe that in the day 50:11 Christ comes you can get the same commenation as a great apostle? Yes, you can. But if you're faithful with the one talent you have. I I never read in any of the parables that that the Lord gave somebody five, somebody two, somebody one, and somebody 50:30 zero. Have you ever found that in a parable that somebody was given zero? No. Everybody had at least one. And the point is that the lesson from that is there's no human being with zero. 50:48 There's something that God has given to every single brother and sister in the church. It may be much less than somebody else, but you're not a zero. You have a value before God, which is very, very important. And when the 51:04 Bible says that the church is like a body, we are all different members of the body, we know very well that some members of the body are extremely important. The eyes, the ears, the hands, the legs. These are very very important or internal organs, 51:23 the heart and the liver. There are certain internal organs which you can cut out and remove and the person can still live. Yeah, there are certain organs inside the body which sometimes the doctors cut and remove and the 51:35 person still lives healthy. But you cut out a person's heart or liver or kidneys, he's dead. which shows there are certain organs which are extremely important in the body of Christ and certain others which are not doing such 51:49 a fantastic function but they are all needed. So if we can recognize that and say Lord I want to be perfectly content with the way you have made me. I don't have any complaint. Okay, let me turn back to 2 52:09 Corinthians and we'll close 2 Corinthians and I'm talking about comparing ourselves with others. 2 Corinthians 10:12, it's a great verse. 2 Corinthians 52:28 10:12 and 13. Paul says we will not be so bold to compare ourselves with others who measure themselves by themselves, compare themselves with themselves. They are without understanding they are stupid and 52:46 foolish. That means you become spiritually stupid and foolish. It says here when you compare yourself with others. So I want to encourage all of you dear brothers and sisters please take a decision today that from today 53:01 you will never never compare yourself with another person another human being or another person in the body of Christ or compare if you're a woman compare yourself with a man's ministry. So Lord I'm content to be a woman. I'm content to be what God 53:19 you made me. And he says we those those who do that it says in verse 12 they are without understanding 2 Corinthians 10:12 they are stupid they are foolish those who compare themselves with themselves and there's a lot of 53:37 comparison of one another in the church you find even among children we have to encourage our children all of you who are parents please encourage your children never never never to compare themselves with others others in the 53:51 church or others in their school. If you can teach them right from the young age, God has made you in a certain way. Be thankful for what God's given you. But don't compare yourselves with others that may lead you to boasting I'm 54:06 better than that person. Or it may lead you to such a feeling of inferiority and defeist attitude saying, "Oh, I can never do anything for the Lord." Both are totally wrong. And he says we will not verse 13 we will not boast beyond our measure but within 54:23 the measure of sphere which god is a portion to us as a measure. That means God has appointed a certain circle. That's what I mean just like the orbits of the planets and be perfectly content. And God did not make a mistake when he 54:37 made the earth go in a certain orbit and he made Jupiter go in some other orbit and Uranus go in some other orbit and Mercury go in some other orbit. He did not make a mistake when he gave somebody five talents and somebody two talents, 54:49 somebody one talent. He has made you exactly the way he wants you to be in the body of Jesus Christ. And if you accept it joyfully and say, "Lord, I'm going to exercise a function. It may not be may not have much um display 55:07 publicly. It may be in secret like you know the blood vessels in our body and not seen by anybody, but they fulfill a fantastic function. I'm going to be content with what what you have made me. I believe in the day Jesus comes 55:21 again, he will say to you, listen to me, he will say to you, well done, good and faithful servant. Perhaps you had only half a talent, not even one talent, but you were perfectly content with it, and you accomplished just as much as the Apostle 55:40 Paul. Can you believe that? You will get the same commendation as the apostles if you fulfill the function God gifted you with. Lord, I'm thankful. So the spirit of thankfulness is the way we discover 56:00 whether you are content with the way God has made you. Never lose the spirit of thankfulness. Dear brothers and sisters, the Bible says always giving thanks. May that be true in all of our life. Let's bow in prayer. Lord our heavenly 56:26 father, for each of us in the body of Christ, you have given a particular task to fulfill just like you gave Jesus when he sent him to the earth. Help us to be gripped with that and not with somebody else's 56:44 ministry. To fulfill that which you have called each one of us to do to recognize it. Not never never to compare ourselves with anybody else in the world. But only to look at Jesus and to follow in his footsteps and to be 57:01 thankful, thankful, thankful for every part of our life and every gift you've given us. and to be thankful for the gifts you did not give us which you gave to somebody else to rejoice when you see another person having a gift that we 57:16 don't have. Lord give us that joy to rejoice in the gifts that others have and help us Lord to fulfill our function to say with the apostle Paul I'm perfectly content with the way God has made me and 57:34 what he's given me. I want to live a holy life and contentment is going to be an important part of that life from today onwards. Thank you father in Jesus name. Amen. [Music]
