Are You Satisfied

[00:00:00] We greet you in the name of Jesus. It is such a blessing to be here. You should all take a turn and sit up here and watch the people as we pray, as we sing. Those of you that share, it is really a blessing for God's children to be together in this way [00:00:31] to love the Lord as individuals and yet each one having and dealing with our own things that we have. This morning I'm going to share what God has been sharing with me about. Now, probably all of you saw in the bulletin, are you satisfied? I'd like a raise of hands. How many of you are satisfied? Okay. [00:01:05] How many of you are not satisfied? Not quite as many, but several. It's a trick question. It depends where you're coming from. It depends, when I ask that question, it depends where your mind went. What are you satisfied or not satisfied with? I had one person this morning say he's satisfied with his wife. Glad for that. Should be. I won't ask the children if you're satisfied with your parents. Sometimes, sometimes not. [00:01:43] Yes, it is a trick question. Are you satisfied? The Apostle Paul, and we'll get to it later, says that we are to be content. And content, I didn't find the word satisfaction in the Bible, but content is in there a couple different times. And I believe very closely associated with that. From the other point of view, are you satisfied where you are at spiritually? And this is, of course, the crux of my message. At least this is where I came from. Are you satisfied where you're at spiritually? [00:02:17] Am I? That's the question that came to me as I was, Tom had asked me to preach this morning. And this has been, you know, why am I so content to be where I am spiritually and yet materially and physically I'm not. I'm always striving. I'm always trying to gain something, trying to improve something. I'd always like to have a little bit more or be able to accomplish a little bit more and yet spiritually I just I kind of sit in my recliner spiritually [00:02:50] and maybe part of my message this morning is a confession to you that I'm just too content sitting in my recliner from a spiritual point of view God has blessed me and I'm happy and I enjoy that blessing and I just sit Rather than to be active or to grow and to share as God has shared with me. I'm going to begin approaching this a little bit from a material point of view. What brings us satisfaction? [00:03:22] Having our needs met, that brings us satisfaction. And immediately I thought of a little baby. You know, they say if you keep the tummy full and the bottom dry, they're happy. And basically that is true. Their needs are met, and that's really about all the needs that a baby has. But as it grows, it has more needs. A good meal satisfies us. Lord willing, we'll experience that in just a little bit here. That satisfies us. We are, as we say, we're full. [00:03:52] We're satisfied. We don't need more. Too often we eat a little bit more than we should. God forgive us. Help us to be mindful of that. But a good meal satisfies as well as a number of other things. Having our wants and wishes granted, closely associated with that. Having our wants and wishes granted. We would like something, you know, and when that comes to pass, either by saving enough money to buy it or having it given to us or a host of other things. [00:04:27] But that brings us satisfaction. A job done well brings us satisfaction. Children, boys, you build a birdhouse. You paint it, looks nice, looks good. You're satisfied. You're happy with that. And that gives you a sense of satisfaction. Not pride. There's a difference, I believe. But it satisfies us that we have done something that has turned out good and we're satisfied with that. For the ladies, a good batch of cookies. [00:04:59] Done just right, not overly done or underdone. That brings you satisfaction to see the children come in and grab them and run and eat them as they go. A finished product of some kind, you factory workers and so on. A finished product that turns out well. That brings us satisfaction. A job well done. Reaching a goal. That could be in school. Your children study. You take a test, you pass the test, at the end of the year you go on to the next grade, next level, some of you homeschoolers and so forth. [00:05:38] That brings you satisfaction because you've done something, you've accomplished something and you've been rewarded for it. I had to think also weight loss, that seems so difficult to do and yet we're satisfied when we lose a pound or two, you know. Because we're gaining, we're going in the right direction. That brings us satisfaction. A number of you, and Faith Ann's not here, but feeling good after having not felt good. I don't remember who it was, but I remember hearing someone say, [00:06:12] when they get up in the morning and there's no aches and pains, they're satisfied. Because they know what it's like to have aches and pains. Being content with what we have I think this is a big one That brings us satisfaction but it's kind of tough to do sometimes Being content with what we have Two verses, Philippians 4 verse 11 Paul says, I have learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content [00:06:45] I don't think he was talking about his spiritual growth I think he was talking about his physical, the outward physical things that came against him sometime. Whether he was in prison, or whether he was free to preach, whether he was poor, or whether his needs were met, whether he was full, or whether he was hungry, I didn't look up that verse, but he does say that, he had learned to be content. I'm going to expound on that just a little bit more. [00:07:15] But Hebrews 13 verse 5, it says to be content with such things as you have. Be satisfied, be content with such things as you have. And there it is mentioned, things. It's not talking about spiritual things, I believe. It's talking about our physical, our material, the things around us. Be content. How do we learn to be content, to be satisfied? The Apostle Paul says he had learned, and I've always said, learning takes effort. [00:07:48] It always takes effort. Yeah, I guess I would say that. Sometimes it's pain. You learn that the stove is hot by through pain. But you learn that through some means. How do we learn to be content, to be satisfied with what we have? The children of Israel, in Psalm 106, verse 15, says that God gave them their request. Did that bring them contentment? Did that satisfy them? [00:08:19] No, but He sent leanness to their soul. How do we learn to be content, to be thankful, to be happy with what we have? The children of Israel, they wanted a king. They said, like the other nations round about them, and God permitted that. God allowed that to take place, but many of their kings led them in the wrong direction. Where the first king took place there, where Samuel anointed Saul as the first king of the children of Israel, [00:08:53] God very plainly told him, told Samuel, what to tell the people. This king is going to rule over you. He's going to take your young men and your young ladies and draft them into his service. He's going to require things of them. And the list is quite lengthy there in the book of 1 Samuel. And they said, nay, but we will have a king over us. Even after all this was presented to them. It was not good for them. It didn't turn out the way that they thought it would be. How do we learn to be content? Satisfying what you have. David stole his neighbor's wife. And that whole situation there caused David and his descendants many problems and heartaches from then on. [00:09:41] Realize that God is the giver and sometimes the taker of everything that we have. Of course, my mind immediately went to Job. All that he had, he was the wealthiest man in that part of the world. And yet God took almost everything from him. And it says that Job blessed God. Can we do that when God takes something away from us? Be content with the things that you have. And also I think that something that brings some satisfaction is to return a portion to God. [00:10:18] My mind went to Hannah. She prayed for a man child. She was barren, didn't have any children. And was ridiculed a lot because of that. and God gave her her request, granted her a young boy by the name of Samuel and Hannah gave that back to God, that was her part of the bargain she said God if you would just give me a little boy I'll give him back to you and that's exactly what took place and Samuel was a great prophet don't read anything negative about Samuel [00:10:49] so she kept her end of the bargain so to speak and gave Samuel back and then she was blessed with seven more children. It doesn't always work that way. Sometimes we give to God and God seemingly, from our point of view, doesn't give us anything back. But He does. We just need to look for it. God blesses us in so many, many different ways. What causes dissatisfaction? Comparing ourselves with others. Children of Israel, they wanted a king. [00:11:23] Like the nations round about them. They looked round about them and they saw that the other nations had kings. We would like to have one too. By looking at others, that's not good. For the most part, they were not satisfied. They had many kings that didn't lead them in the right direction. Greed, closely associated with this as well. Greed, wanting more than what we have. Wanting more than my neighbor has. Wanting more so that I can indulge myself. Greedy individuals. [00:11:59] We sometimes look at people and we say, well, why does he want that? Isn't he satisfied with what he has? Well, sometimes, obviously not. And we say, well, why, you know, we look at somebody and think, well, you know, they're, take this as a myth, they're fat. You know, they have everything that they could ever possibly want, and yet they're wanting more. Why is that? And yet if we would examine ourselves, some of those same things would likely be in our own hearts. [00:12:36] Also something that might cause us to be dissatisfied, and this may have hit some of us during this economic time that we're in, Having to do with less than I am accustomed to. That's pretty difficult to tighten up the belt a little bit more. To having to do with some things that we are accustomed to having or doing. It's hard to do. Dissatisfaction causes frustration. [00:13:07] We don't like our present life. We get frustrated at times. We can't do anything about it and we become frustrated. Sometimes people that are in that situation do things that they would not ordinarily do. They do rash things, so to speak. They make decisions that are not good and not right because they're frustrated and they think, I've got to do something. I've got to get out of this. I've got to do something. Well, that may be the case sometimes, but also through that frustration we do things that we may not ordinarily do. [00:13:43] Can God use a frustrated person? Can God use me when I'm frustrated with my wife, with my neighbor, with whoever or whatever? Generally speaking, no. I don't think God can use us when we're frustrated. God wants us to be, for the most part, calm. Not that we're lazy, but calm. I think that's a Christian's lot in life, one of them anyways, to remain calm even when we do feel like blowing our tops sometimes. [00:14:24] Sometimes God uses frustration to move us in a different direction. When we are dissatisfied, God can use that, but I believe that God wants us for the most part to be content, to be satisfied with what we have, what I have, where I am from a material point of view. Now I'd like to turn a corner and look at this from a spiritual point of view. And this is, for the most part, kind of opposite. That's why I ask if you're satisfied because, for the most part, it's opposite from what it is from a material standpoint. [00:14:59] What causes us to be dissatisfied spiritually? Finally, when God doesn't answer, does that cause you some frustration, some dissatisfaction, discontentment? When God doesn't answer, when God seemingly is silent, what do we do? Also had to think of King Saul. When God removed his spirit from him, he wasn't a happy individual. [00:15:30] What did King Saul do? He went to see a witch. Samuel had left, Samuel wouldn't fellowship with him anymore and God had removed his spirit and so Samuel went to see a witch God was silent, he was frustrated and so he did things, he did something that he would not ordinarily have done in fact the Bible tells us that he had removed all the witches and wizards from the land I don't know if he sent them away or if he killed them [00:16:01] it doesn't really specify that But he had taken them away, and yet here he goes to visit one. What do we do when we are dissatisfied? Seek God's face earnestly. I believe that's one of the greatest keys. When we're dissatisfied, when I'm dissatisfied with where I am spiritually, seek God's face earnestly. Read, read the Bible, pray. I think that is so important. Associate with godly people. [00:16:31] People, we don't want to get advice from the world, from a worldly point of view. They would tell us to do things just the opposite. Don't make rash or hasty decisions. I remember this in making choices and decisions. I remember when I was working at the oil company. I had been there ten years, I think, just right at ten years. My boss was looking to retire soon, within a couple of years, and he had told me, he said, Marcus, I'll do everything I can to get you my job. [00:17:06] And that kind of scared me, because sometimes I didn't know if I wanted his job or not. But you always like to improve yourself if you can. And so I was looking at that, and then the call came to teach school. And I debated about that for a long, long time. And I knew what his reaction would be pretty well. And so one day I told him, I said, I've decided to quit and go teach school. And he just couldn't believe that. [00:17:38] He said, are you sure that's what you want to do? He said, have you thought this through? And I said, yeah, for the last several months I've thought this through. I said, probably there was not a day that passed that I didn't think of some of the changes and consequences that that might bring. And I said, yes, I'm going to go. And he just, he could not understand that. He was a professing Christian man, but from a material point of view, he just could not understand that. Seek godly people and godly counsel during those times. [00:18:09] Another thing that causes us to be dissatisfied is when things don't go to our liking. We pray, and that was brought out in our Sunday school class. We pray, and we pray, and we pray, and nothing seems to happen. It doesn't go to our liking. But remember, God knows what He's doing. Again, and I refer to Samuel here quite often. Most of you know I taught at Samuel at Pilgrim Bible School this week to the adults there. [00:18:44] I had an enjoyable time. Thank you for your prayers for those of you who remembered me. But when things don't go to our liking, Samuel, he witnessed some things that were not good, were not to his liking, was not to God's liking. And Samuel was a man of prayer. He prayed a lot, numerous times. When things came up, it says that he communed with God. He went with God and talked with Him. And yet things went the way they did. Causes us some dissatisfaction and some frustration. [00:19:20] But God does know what He's doing. I had to think also of the account where He went to anoint David as king. God had rejected Saul. And He told Samuel, I have somebody else. You go, you go see Jesse and his sons. And he saw Eliab there, I think it was, the oldest of Jesse's sons. And he said, surely this is, this is the one. He was a good looking man, a handsome man of good size and so forth. And God said, no, don't look on the outward appearance. He says, look at the heart. He said, I've chosen somebody else. And all the sons passed for him. And God didn't give Samuel any direction. [00:20:00] And Samuel said, do you have another son? Well, yeah, I do have one. He's out with the sheep. And here was little David. And God said, this is the man that I want. And so sometimes we, God just doesn't answer to our liking. We think, we wonder if God knows what he's doing. But yes, always remember that God does know what he's doing when he works out the things in our life. Another thing that may cause me dissatisfaction is when God hurts me. [00:20:35] Remember the statement made, I don't know who made this, that says, God cannot use anyone greatly until he has hurt him deeply. I'm not sure if that is true 100% of the time, but God often does that. He touches us where it hurts sometimes. And he says, this is what I want. I want this part of your life. I say, no God, that's mine. I like that. And God says, I want that. And that's difficult. God hurts us in order to use us. [00:21:07] And it's kind of hard to understand, but I think God does that many, many times. Another thing that may cause me to be dissatisfied from a spiritual point of view is when I am asked to suffer alone. No one understands. No one knows what I'm going through. You don't know what it's like to be where I am. Well, that most of the time is not true. Because probably we have not suffered anything that someone else has not suffered as well. [00:21:39] But we think so because of where we are at the present time. No, we are never really alone as a child of God. And especially as a part of a Christian fellowship. Because we have those that come alongside of us and say, you know, I care about you. I'm praying for you this week. I had a brother do that last week. He said, I'll be praying for you this week. And I appreciated that. And that helps us to go through those times when we think that we are all alone. [00:22:11] It seems no one really understands. And sometimes some of those feelings, I believe, come from the evil one, from Satan himself, to try to discourage us. And he tells us, boy, you're just to be pitied. And we sit down and we have a big old pity party. God's not happy with that. But that does cause us some dissatisfaction sometimes. Why am I satisfied with so little? And I say that from a spiritual point of view. [00:22:43] Why am I satisfied with so little? And as I said earlier, that I, in a spiritual sense, just sit in my recliner and I'm happy with what I have. I'm happy with where God has placed me and I'm happy with my, shall I say, my spiritual knowledge at this point in life and we're just happy there and we don't grow. That's not God's design for us at all. Often I am not satisfied when it comes to material things [00:23:13] but when it comes to spiritual things, I am. Why is that? That's a question that I ask myself as this came to me, as God brought this to my attention. I don't like God telling me what to do. I don't like God telling me, you know, get up, get out of that easy chair, go, I have something for you to learn. And I said, learning is always difficult, learning always takes effort. And God says, get up, and I said, I'm comfortable here. God says, get up, I want you to go. [00:23:46] Do something. Talk to someone. Go pray. Go read your Bible. Go do something instead of just sit there in your easy chair. And I don't like that for my flesh. I don't like that. God telling me what to do. I don't like to be pushed out of my comfort zone. And that's where we are when we are sitting in the easy chair. That's our comfort zone. In my flesh, I am a rebellious, greedy, selfish person. And yes, I think from a scriptural point of view, I could say you are too. [00:24:21] We are all that. We are, as people relating to God, we're rebellious. We're selfish and we're greedy. In Galatians, we read much about the struggle between the flesh and the spirit. It says, these two cannot, in my plain language, it says, these two cannot get along. They never have and they never will because of the evil forces and the good forces that struggle within us. [00:24:52] Every day those take place. The struggle is always there and will always be there, sometimes more and sometimes less. It is the work of the evil one to cause me to be satisfied where I am spiritually. If he can just get me to sit in my easy chair and stay there, he has accomplished much. It takes effort to grow. Spiritually, I am a lazy person. And I say that honestly. I am spiritually a lazy person. [00:25:24] I've often said I'm not an avid reader. Bible reading comes hard for me. I enjoy it, yes, but to get the Bible out and sit down and read, Really, for no reason, you know, when I'm not studying for a lesson or a message or anything like that, that's hard for me to do. Spiritually, I'm a lazy person. It takes effort on my part. What can I do to work on this lazy, satisfied with little condition? [00:25:57] I just want to share some things that God has shared with me. There is no cure in this life. We can work on it, but there really is no cure. There will never come a time that we can say that we have accomplished this. Turn your Bible, if you will, to Ephesians chapter 3. I'd like to read a couple of verses there. I lost my place. Excuse me. Not Ephesians. Philippians. We're going to look at Ephesians in a little bit. Just a few pages over. [00:26:44] Philippians, chapter 3, verses 13 and 14. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before. I press towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. We press on. We continue even though we want to sit and even though we are satisfied and we shouldn't be. [00:27:14] We press on as I said earlier. We get up out of the chair and we go do something. We continue. We reach forth. We need to grow or else we become stale and stagnant in our spiritual life. I need to do that. I need to grow. I need to learn. Every day, learn something. At least go there and see what God would have for me to do. Now going to Ephesians, also chapter 3, verses 16 through 19. [00:27:48] These verses are rich. that He would grant you according to the riches of His glory to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man. We're talking about things that I can do to get up out of this lazy condition. Verse 17, that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith. I think when He's in our hearts, it stirs us, it causes us to do something. that ye being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height [00:28:27] and to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God. God wants to fill us. God wants to fill me every day, every morning. He wants to fill me so that He can use me. It's so easy. Well, I say it's easy. It's really not. But it is. I mean, we just have to turn our cups up and God will do the rest. God will fill that and give us something that we can go out and do something and not just sit. [00:28:59] To be available for God to use me and you. God can do that. He wants to do that if we allow Him to. I'd like to, in closing here, go to Psalm 1, a very familiar passage. This was brought to me, I think last week I shared a little something about meeting Christians out in the workplace or in places that maybe you're not really looking, but there you meet up with a Christian and God brings you together. [00:29:33] He shared this passage to me. He said Psalm 1 is one of my favorite passages. We were talking and so I went home and re-read it. And sure enough, God used that man to bring me back to Psalm 1 and to show me a little something for this message. God is a wonderful God and He can do such wonderful things through people that we may not be looking at at the time. Blessed is the man. We want to focus on the blessed man here. [00:30:04] It talks about the ungodly man as well. But look at the blessed man. First, it's kind of negative. He does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly. Does not stand with or by the sinners. Jesus does not sit in the seat of the scornful, but verses 2 and 3 especially turn to the positive. His delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day and night. Don't wallow in the mud with the ungodly people, with those that curse, swear, use God's name in vain. [00:30:42] Those that always come at you from a material point of view. I have a friend, and if I would spend a lot of time with this, I'd call him a friend, because he is. He's not a Christian. But he is so negative. I get tired. I call him occasionally, or he calls me. We used to work some together, but he has sold his truck. But he's so negative when it comes to the economy. Always. Boy, he says, it doesn't look good. [00:31:14] And I don't see it getting any better. That, there's no light at the tunnel, it's gone out. He said, it's so negative. Don't, don't wallow with those people. I mean, as I do like him, I do like the individual, but he's so negative. And if you hang around people like that, it rubs off on you. Well, it does. Maybe we should turn that around. Maybe I should try to motivate him and get him to look at some of the positive things in life. [00:31:47] Don't wallow in the mud with the ungodly. Delight thyself. And this really challenged me. Delight in God's, here it says, law. But in His Word, do I do that? When I read the Bible, do I delight myself in reading the Bible? In God's word, how he speaks to me, that just really challenged me. And I challenge you to say, delight yourself in God's word. Don't look at it as something that, well, I have to do this. [00:32:19] I better read my passage for today. Look at it as, God, you've got something here for me. What is it? Show me what you would have for me here today. Delight yourself. Be happy that you have a Bible. Be happy that you can read it and so forth. Delight yourself in God's word. I think that is, for me, anyway, that's really important. Something that I need to learn. Allow the joy of the Lord to be your strength. Allow God to be my strength. Allow God to minister to my need. [00:32:56] I need to not just think, well, another day, you know, whatever this day might hold for me. We'll just go through it and God, you bless my day. But see what God might have for you in that day. And be joyful that God gives you the strength, not only physically, but also spiritually. And to meditate on His Word. That is so important. I should read the rest of this. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day and night. [00:33:33] And he shall be like a tree planted by rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season. His leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. Phil talked about the wonder of watching something, a plant, to grow and blossom. That is a wonderful thing. It really is. Are we like that? Does God's joy in watching us blossom? Or do we just stay in the ground? We don't sprout. That's not natural. We need to blossom. We need to produce some fruit. We need to do what God has designed us to do. [00:34:18] Maybe that fruit is just to, as the Bible says, that we would do our good works so that those around us can see and glorify God. Maybe it's just that. I shouldn't say just. Maybe that's what God wants you to do. And maybe God wants you to, in essence, get down and get your hands dirty. Do something for Him. And whatsoever He doeth shall prosper. That's not a ticket to material prosperity. [00:34:53] Therefore, the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish. Whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. That sounds good enough for me. How about you? I'd like you to stand for prayer. I'm going to close my eyes as well, but if you would like to, raise your hands with me and say, [00:35:28] God, I'm not satisfied where I am. Move me and use me to your honor and glory. Help me to bring glory to you. If you would like to do that, feel free to do so. God, I thank you for this day. Thank you for ministering to my needs this morning. Thank you that you do not leave us idle. You have something for all of us to do. Thank you that sometimes through dissatisfaction you push us out of our comfort zone. You nudge us in some other direction than maybe what we have been. [00:36:04] Thank you that you are concerned enough for us, Lord, that you want us to be fruitful and to give honor and glory to you. Bless each one, Lord, that has raised their hand. Help us, Lord, that we could get rid of the easy chair, so to speak, and to get up and do something, to be active, to be a useful tool in your kingdom. And we will bless you together. Bless our meal as we share together and as we fellowship. [00:36:36] May this day bring honor and glory to you. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you for watching!