John K. Jenkins Sr - Moving Forward Requires Proper Money Management - Part 2

Today, I want to talk about moving forward with proper money management, part two, and I want to deal with contentment. Yeah, I knew y'all would be excited about that! There's going to be excitement all over the place-it's contentment! Philippians chapter 4, verses 10 through 13. Are you there ? Philippians 4:10-13: "But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at last your care for me has flourished again, though you surely did care, but you lacked opportunity. Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am to be content. I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." Amen! Give me an amen! Let 's give the Lord an amen right there-amen!

The Apostle Paul writes this epistle , this letter, to the church in Philippi while he is incarcerated in prison. He's in a prison cell, and he's writing to the Church of Philippi, which is a church that he founded; he's the founding pastor of this church. He 's writing them this book , this letter of Philippians, in response to their love offering that they sent to him to care for his temporal needs . He's extremely grateful for them, so he's sending this letter to thank them. In the course of thanking them, he unveils what I consider to be a significant truth that we need to learn in today's culture and in today's society.

He says in verse 10 , because he's bringing his letter to a close, " I rejoice in the Lord greatly that now at last your care for me has flourished again." He said, "I'm grateful that you're thinking about me and caring about me so much that you're sending an offering to help with my temporal needs." He adds, "Though you surely did care, you lacked opportunity ." He is not making the accusation that they didn't care about him, but he realizes that they didn't have the opportunity to send it. But now that they have the opportunity, he 's grateful. Then he says in verse 11 , "Not that I speak in regard to need." This is an important point! He is saying to them, "I'm grateful for what you've sent, but I want you to know that I'm not just writing because I had a need," because he says, "Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned that in whatever state I am, to be content." Paul is saying he has recognized that he has learned to be content with his present circumstances. Now, that's an important point he's making , and that's what I'm going to spend time talking to you about today.

Here are a few points. He says in verse 11, "I have learned in whatever state I am to be content ." Write this down : you've got to learn to be content. That 's point number one-learn to be content. Somebody say, "Learn to be content." You've got to learn to be content. It has to be learned; it doesn't come by osmosis. You don't grow into contentment; it has to be learned. Now, there are some things you don't have to learn- you can get stinginess or ungratefulness naturally-but you've got to learn to be content. You've got to learn to overcome selfishness.

For my birthday last October , my beautiful, lovely, precious, anointed wife took a little corner of the basement and fixed up a man cave. I call it "the Daddy Cave" because y'all do know I'm Big Daddy! Come on, talk to me-Big Daddy, Big Daddy! I mean, it's got a nice high-def big-screen TV, a recliner, and a sound system-she hooked a brother up! Come on, Tony! Now, never mind you , I have not had many opportunities to enjoy it. As a matter of fact, my kids spend more time down there than I do. My youngest son spends most of his time down there playing video games ; he thinks it's his man cave!

This weekend, my youngest daughter had a guest over spending the night. She went downstairs to my man cave, where my youngest son was playing video games, and sought to negotiate the use of the television-which my son resisted. He could not see giving up the room that wasn't his for two hours and letting somebody else use it for two hours-selfishness at its epitome! I had to have a long dialogue with him and tell him , "In the first place, the room isn 't yours!" Learning to be appreciative of what somebody loans you has to be learned . Contentment has to be learned.

It's the same way with God. God has blessed you with resources, and you don't realize that God has loaned some stuff to you. He has given you the privilege to have them; yet some of us have not been grateful or expressed appreciation to God for the things that He has deposited in our care. Look at your neighbor's house-I think He's talking about you! Let me, and tell him , go ahead , put that special role in your head and point your finger! Let 's talk about contentment. What does it mean to be content? Contentment means I realize that God has given me everything I need for my present situation. Let me give it to you again-let me define it .