In this sermon, the preacher focuses on the theme of discontentment and its prevalence in society. He references Philippians 4:9, where the Apostle Paul encourages believers to imitate his example and experience the peace of God. The preacher emphasizes that he has learned to be content in any situation, whether in abundance or in lack. He highlights how marketing often caters to people's discontentment, perpetuating a cycle of dissatisfaction. The sermon concludes with a prayer for those struggling with discontentment and a call to surrender to God and find fulfillment in Him.

This message is one of the Times Square Church Pulpit series. It was recorded in the sanctuary of Times Square Church in Manhattan, New York City. Other tapes are available by writing World Challenge, Post Office Box 260, Lindale, Texas, 75771, or by calling 903-963-8626. None of these messages are copyrighted, and you are welcome to make copies for free distribution to friends. It's between that sweet drawing and wooing of the Holy Spirit that pulls us right into the very heart of Christ, transforms us, and sets us down in a place of contentment and peace and leading, and to know the difference between that and the driving power of discontentment. And that's the name of my message tonight. It's called The Driving Power of Discontentment. I believe with all my heart that there are going to be people in this sanctuary tonight set free, absolutely set free. Discontentment has a driving power to it, and I trust that the Holy Spirit will make it real to you if you're being moved by discontentment. You see, it's so interwoven into our nature that sometimes it can drive you and you don't even know it. I was saved in 1978, and it was not too long after 1978 that God through the Holy Spirit gave me an understanding. He spoke a word to my heart that I would live to see a great revival. It was going to come to North America. And I read somewhere in the scriptures, in Psalm 72 verse 8, where it says, He shall have dominion from sea to sea and from the river unto the ends of the earth. And so I set out to make it happen, like a wind-up toy. That's what God was speaking to my heart as we were worshiping tonight. If you ever had one of those toys that you wind up and you set it on the floor and it takes off, and you can't catch it, it's too fast, so you just have to wait for it to run out of gas. And it hits the wall over there and flips around and goes the other way until it hits over here. And that's what I did for several years. I went from east to west, north to south, and I can see God just sort of standing there waiting for me to run out of gas. Driven continuously. Now, not everything I did was wrong, and some of it brought some good fruit, I hope, to the kingdom of God, but there was an ever-deepening discontent in me that never allowed me to be satisfied with where I was and what I was doing. I always had to be doing something more, something else. It's like God couldn't possibly be fulfilling me in the place I was in. I had to move. I had to continuously be on the move, doing something. It never allowed me to be content where I was, and I always ministered with one foot in the house and the other one out the door. And then all of that running and all of that driving just took me to a place of absolute brokenness, where I cried out to God. And it's in that place that He began to show me some things, and I want to share some things with you. You know, the interesting thing about being discontent, it can masquerade itself with spirituality. Some of the greatest doers that I've met in the body of Christ over those years that I've traveled were driven by discontent and not even knowing it. I met a lot of discontented people along the way, and I'm going to share some examples with you tonight. They don't all apply to my life, but I'm trusting tonight that the Holy Spirit will touch your life, and if you are being moved and motivated by discontent, that God will make it known, and you can lay it down tonight. Save yourself years, years, years of running and running and running and running, and that always churning feeling inside, that feeling that you're displeasing God, and you've got to continuously be on the move to do some new thing or to please Him. All of this running around finally left me in a broken condition, and in that broken condition, there was a song I want to share with you tonight that became very real to my heart. I want to sing it before I preach tonight, because I love this song. There's just something that happens when you finally come to an end of yourself and find out that God was there all along. He had a perfect plan. He doesn't want us to worry about tomorrow. The sufficient is the things that we have to do today. He's not a slave driver. He loves us. I want to share this song with you. I'd rather have Jesus than silver or gold. I'd rather be His than have riches untold. I'd rather have Jesus than houses or lands. I'd rather be led by His nail-pierced hand than to be the king of a vast domain or be held in sin's dread sway. I'd rather have Jesus than man's applause. I'd rather have Jesus than man's praise. I'd rather be faithful to His dear cause. I'd rather have Jesus than worldwide fame. I'd rather be true to His holy name than to be the king of a vast domain or be held in sin's dread sway. I'd rather have Jesus than anything this world affords today. He's fairer than lilies of rarest bloom. He's sweeter than honey from out of the cold. He's all that my hungering spirit needs. I'd rather have Jesus and let Him lead than to be the king of a vast domain or be held in sin's dread sway than anything today. Father, I place myself at Your feet this night, O God. Lord, I thank You for allowing me to put myself in a position of abandonment to You, Lord, abandonment to Your will and to Your purposes. Lord Jesus, I ask, O God, by the power of the Holy Spirit that You would speak through this vessel, O God, truly the weakest of the weak, O God, the most foolish of the foolish, that You have chosen, and by Your grace, O God, You allow me to stand and to speak and preach and teach the unsearchable riches of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, my covenant God. I ask tonight, Lord, by Your power and not by mine, by Your wisdom and not by mine, by Your strength and not by mine, that You would reach out a loving hand and You would unlock prison doors tonight, O God, to those that are driven by things other than a genuine love for You and the leading of Your Holy Spirit. I ask that You would touch and heal, O God, those who have felt that they have to somehow perform to be accepted with You. I ask, Lord, for a special, sovereign touch of Your Holy Spirit on every life and every heart. Lord, it is so evident that You're leading us into greater depths of Christ as a church body. Father, Father, Father, touch our lives and our hearts tonight. God, draw us so deep into the inner recesses of Your heart that everything else would fall to the ground and all other loves would pale in comparison. Lord, that there'd be nothing left but You, nothing we desire but You, there'd be nothing that we want but You, and out of that relationship would come rivers of living water out of our inward parts. Lord, You're drawing us, You're drawing us, O God, help us not to be resistant to Your Holy Spirit. Help us to acknowledge You as Lord of our lives, and whatever You want to speak to, Lord, we invite You tonight to speak to those areas of our heart and speak to those areas of our lives, be it a soft-spoken word, Lord, or be it something that cuts deeper than a knife, O God. Lord, may our hearts be open tonight. May You have absolute sway in this house. I ask for transformed lives tonight, transformed. I ask for an understanding of You to come into the heart of those who are moving in a direction that's not of You. And Father, I thank You for this, O God, that through these words, as feeble as they may be, O God, You will be glorified, and Your kingdom will be extended, and Your church will be strengthened. Lord Jesus, we abandon ourselves tonight into Your hands. We entrust ourselves into Your keeping, O God. Speak to us. Ask in Jesus' name. Amen. Philippians chapter 4, please. The driving power of discontentment. Philippians chapter 4, the words of the Apostle Paul, beginning at verse 9. Hallelujah. Philippians 4, 9. Those things which you have both learned and received and heard and seen in me do, and the God of peace shall be with you. But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at the last your care of me has flourished again, wherein you were also careful, but you lacked opportunity. Not that I speak in respect of want, for I have learned in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. Would you say that verse with me? Verse 11. Not that I speak in respect of want, for I have learned in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be everywhere and in all things. I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me. Hallelujah. I'm thinking as I was preparing this message of Adam and Eve in the beginning, created by God, formed out of the dust, living in the garden of Eden, having the very presence of God come into their midst on a daily basis, living in his presence. Can you imagine what it must have been like in that place? A type and shadow, I suppose, of what God has repurchased for us through the shed blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And they had everything. They had the presence of God coming in the cool of the day. They had all kinds of fruit. They could touch anything they wanted to. They had no knowledge of evil. It was an incredible place to be. Actually, Adam and Eve had it all. But Satan, the tempter, came to them and he tempted them by stirring up discontent within their lives. In Genesis 3-5 he said, For God does know that in the day you eat thereof that your eyes shall be open and you shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. In other words, he said, You don't have yet the fullness here. There's more. God's trying to somehow withhold something from you. And I've got something to put before you, even though God said don't touch it. If you will listen to me and if you will touch this thing and if you will do this thing, there's going to be more come into your life. He stirred up in them a discontentment. Can you imagine the absurdity of living in the garden of Eden, having the very presence of Almighty God in your midst every day, and the devil comes and somehow convinces you that it's not sufficient, that you need something more. That's exactly what he did with Adam and Eve. They said, We can touch every fruit that's in the garden, but of this particular fruit, Eve said, We're not to touch it, lest our eyes be opened. The devil said, Oh no, I can just hear the insidiousness of his plot against them. Oh, God's trying to withhold something from you. You're not fully fulfilled, even though you're in this place of blessing, even though God's in your midst every day. You're not fully fulfilled. What you need is this thing here that I have to offer you. And if you will touch this, then your eyes are going to be opened and you're going to be fulfilled and you'll become as gods knowing good and evil. And so we see Adam and Eve succumbing to the temptation of the devil, disobeying God. The worst of it all is coming to the, is a feeling that began to stir in their hearts, that even though they had God in their midst, that was not sufficient. They needed something else. And woe be to us in this generation, if we have Jesus Christ as our Savior, if we have the Holy Spirit of God dwelling within these earthen vessels, and somehow the tempter can come and convince us that that's not enough, that we're not fulfilled in Christ. There's got to be Christ plus something else in our lives to make us fulfilled. And so they fall and they fall from grace and they fall from God's favor and discontentment now begins to reign in the entire human race from Adam right through to you and I today. Discontentment is sewn right in the very fabric of who and what we are. We see evidences of this discontentment all around us, don't we? We see evidences in the workplace, those of you who have secular occupations. What do the people talk about the most that you work with? They talk about getting ahead in the workplace, they talk about how to backstab the boss or somebody that's over them so that they can jump over them and get a better place. Listen, I've been there, I know what it's like. Before I got saved I was, I very well took part in all of it, as guilty as anybody else. You know what it's like. Secretaries sitting at their desk and talking about how much they, how discontent they are with their home and how discontent with their husbands and how discontent with their children. Men talking about how my wife doesn't understand me and discontent in the home. We see in the home now just the seeds of discontent causing breakup of almost an entire society now. Discontent has so set in and the devil is so catered to that discontent that's in the hearts of people. We look in the streets of New York City and we see people driven, driven, driven, driven, driven. There's a drivenness in people in this city. Not only this city but other cities throughout North America and much of the world. We see people running. The one thing that astounds me about New York is that people don't walk normally here, everybody runs in the streets. And they're all bowed down and they're all running, running, running, running. And I can just see like in the days of Egypt, the wicked taskmasters there just beating them and beating them and driving them with discontent. You're not rich enough, you're not smart enough, you're not fulfilled enough. More, more, more. Driving them deeper and deeper and deeper. Even most of societal marketing today is built upon and reinforces the perpetual discontent that's in the nature of fallen man. That's a fact, that's how marketing works. It caters to the discontent nature that's in you and I. Did you know that? Did you know that? When's the last time you opened a magazine and saw a picture and it said, well, so what you're 40 and you're going a little bit bald and you're overweight. If God's in your life, everything's okay. When's the last time you saw that? Or you open a magazine and saw a picture of an old rattle trap of a car and said, sir, that car is still serving you well, you don't need another one. And I could go on and on, but marketing caters to the very discontent nature. Telling you that you're not young enough, you're not attractive enough, you're not smart enough, you're not fulfilled enough. Your clothes aren't new enough, your house isn't big enough, your job's not important enough, you're not self-fulfilled enough. All of marketing caters to the discontent nature in fallen men. Did you know that? Were you aware of that today? That when you leave this building and you go back out, you're going to be bombarded with perpetual feeding, continual feeding of the discontent nature that's in every fallen human being. Society is now in an ever deepening spiral as mankind seeks to find fulfillment through any other means than in the person of Jesus Christ. You see, folks, we were created by God, we were created in the image of God, we were created for fellowship with God. We were created, as Pastor Dave shared this morning, to be embraced by the heart of God. We were created as the bride for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We were created to live with Him and rule and reign with Him for eternity. There is absolutely no fulfillment in anything but absolute and unconditional abandonment to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. There's no other fulfillment. It's sad to say that discontentment has a wide range of clientele, even in the church of Jesus Christ. I've seen it over the years, so many people, just like Adam and Eve, saved. We know our names written in the Lamb's book of life, filled with the Holy Ghost, sitting in a service like we're sitting in tonight, virtually a taste of heaven. Wouldn't you agree with me? When we worship like this, it's as close as we're going to get on this side of eternity to what it's going to be like in heaven. God continuously reinforcing the fact that He loves us, continuously pouring down His Spirit, giving us, as the scripture says, that earnest of our redemption, that taste of what it's going to be like in heaven, wooing and encouraging us to keep pressing on, encouraging us that we've found our fulfillment in Jesus Christ, and it's going to culminate soon in the marriage supper of the Lamb with His bride. But yet, in the midst of it all, you'd be surprised if the x-ray eyes of God were to come into this sanctuary tonight, and all of a sudden a gigantic x-ray machine were to be turned on, and every heart were to be revealed. You would be shocked at the number of people in this sanctuary tonight that are driven by discontentment. They're not motivated by the Holy Spirit in all that we do, but there's a deep, deep inner discontentment that drives and moves so many of God's people. The Holy Spirit gave me three examples that I've seen over the years in ministry and in the house of God, and number one, discontentment is shown in the desire for upward mobility in the house of God. It's a discontentment with where God has placed you in the body of Jesus Christ. It opens the door to envy, which the scripture says is rottenness in the bones. It leaves you out of touch with God, no longer ministering to and from the heart of Jesus, but now ministering for the approval of the crowd. And folks, I have seen it all throughout my travels in the last decade, all over a good part of North America, ministers driven by discontent. Not just ministers, but people in ministries in the church. Just the same as those in the secular professions wanting upward mobility, not content to be pushing a broom in the house of God. Not possessing the same spirit that was upon the Psalmist David that said, I'd rather be a door keeper in the house of my God than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. There's a sense of abandonment in David. That's what made him a man after God's own heart. It's better to be God, I'd rather push a broom in your house. I'll do anything you give me to do and I'll do it with joy because I'm content tonight that my name is written down in the Lamb's book of life. I'm content to know that my sins are forgiven. Your Holy Spirit is upon my life. That's what was in David when he was crying out these things. But in the house of the Lord, there's a discontentment that grabs a hold of many of God's people and pushes them with a desire for upward mobility. You see it probably most prominently in the ministry. At least I have because that's the circle that I've been over the last decade or so. We see ministers trying to imitate other ministers. Backbiting and backstabbing and even trying to slander one another's character in order to jump over another one and get a more influence in the body. And when this gets into the heart, you can't minister now to the heart of Jesus. God has resisted. He gives grace to the humble, but he resists the proud. And so these men stand up. I remember being in a country not too long ago and a man got up to speak in a language that I don't understand. The moment he opened his mouth, I was so irritated in my spirit. Something was wrong with this man. It irritated. It was just like fingers down a blackboard every time he opened his mouth. And I didn't know what he was saying, but I found out later on that he was a man who would do anything in his power to gain power and position in the church body. He would climb over people. He would assassinate other people's characters. He would do anything he had to do to get to the place he was going. And so now he could no longer touch the heart of Jesus, and he couldn't minister from the heart of Jesus. So now he had to minister for the approval of the crowd. We see this in the ministry all throughout North America today, that instead of becoming imitators of Christ, they become imitators of other ministers. What a sad situation. You see them all over. I got so disillusioned over the years that I remember coming home one day from traveling and I said to Teresa, I said, I'm either going to be a difference for the kingdom of God or I'm getting out of this thing and going back into secular work. For I can't see myself in another one of these conventions 10 years from now. I see minister after minister getting up with their phony ministerial voices, phony voices. You wonder why did they have to talk like that? Why can't they speak normally? You know what I'm talking about? Phony voices. They meet you after the service or before the service. They can't even interact normally. I've shared recently with some ministers. I believe it's a spirit. I believe that with all of my heart, it's a spirit that gets ahold of these men. They don't know how to interact normally with people anymore. They don't know how to talk normally. Get into a pulpit and they just, this voice from I don't know where comes out of them. And then the spasmodic body movements that are supposed to get you and I to believe that they're under the anointing of the Holy ghost. Now I realize there may be some out there that are legitimately jerky when they preach, but folks, I've seen so much of it over the years and it's all just a big stir and it's just a big noise and a whole lot of shouting and a whole lot of just a whole lot of phoniness and all it gives you is a headache when it's all over. You go to a three, four day convention, you come out feeling like you've been run over by a Mack truck, not blessed by the Holy ghost. I remember looking at it and saying, what's wrong with these men driven by discontentment. You begin to speak with them behind the scenes and all of a sudden what's really in the heart comes to the surface. There's no abandonment to Jesus. There's no deep abiding love for Jesus. I've ministered with ministers that have a great excitement in the pulpit and they've got all the moves they've got. And the sad thing to say is the body of Christ swallows it up hook, line and sinker. I don't know whether you've ever been told this, I believe you have in this church, but there is a sound in the voice of somebody who's ministering from the heart of Jesus and I've seen them all feign their excitement and feign the Holy ghost and feign this and you get them outside the pulpit behind the scenes. You can't even get them to open this book and look in it. Ministering to the crowd and ministering for the crowds and no longer ministering for the heart of Jesus. I remember when I was a little boy, my mom and dad would take me shopping to the shopping center sometimes and the greatest fear in my heart was that in the crowd I would lose my mom and dad. That ever happened to anybody here? You ever gone through a shopping center and all of a sudden you hear this cry of some little child? Ma! And you know exactly what has happened? But I tell you if you're ministering in the name of Jesus, one of the greatest fears that should be in our heart, your heart and in my heart, no matter what your position is, whether you're up on the top or down the bottom or somewhere in the middle, is that in the crowd you'd lose hold of Jesus. Somehow in all the ministering and everything you're doing you've been driven by another power than the compassion in the heart of Christ and in the midst of the crowd you begin to lose hold of him. I fear that more than anything in this world. The loose hold of Jesus. Lose hold of his mind. Lose hold of his heart. Lose hold of him. My word of encouragement to those who are in ministry in any position is like with the woman with the issue of blood. We've got to find time to press through the crowd. Push all of the people aside and push all of the needs aside and lay hold of the hem of his garment for yourself. Lay hold of him and say, Jesus I'm not going to let you go until it's your heart that's in me and your heart that motivates me. Until it's your leading in my life. If you say sit, I'll sit. If you say stand, I'll stand. If you say speak, I'll speak. If you say be quiet, I'll be quiet. If you say don't go, I won't go. If you say go, I'll go. Jesus I want to lay hold of your heart. Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. Are you content to be where you are? Are you content to be whom God has made you? Are you content to be where he has placed you in his body? That's a question that only you can answer tonight. Are you content? Are you content to be who you are? Listen carefully in the Holy Ghost. Are you content to be who he has made you? Are you content to be where he has placed you in the body? Hallelujah. There is such a liberty when we begin to understand that Jesus Christ is everything that we've ever longed for. This is the end of side one. You may now turn the tape over to side two. Our midst every day and God forbid that in that place that we should let the tempter come to us and say we are unfulfilled in Jesus Christ and somehow we need upward mobility in the body of Christ. Hallelujah. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of God, a doorkeeper in the house of God. Hallelujah. God took me from pastoring a little church of 70 people, not 70, 170 or so English speaking people in Riceville and took me to a place where I was absolutely content in that town to live there until I die. He took me out of that place of being driven and driven and driven to somehow do something for God and brought me to a place where I was absolutely content to live there the rest of my life and give my life for those people. The Lord said to me, Carter, he said, I'm not interested in you winning the whole world. He said, first, I want to win all of you. I want all of your heart. I want every part of your heart. And he said, secondly, I've given you these 170 or more people to get into the kingdom of heaven. And he says, you're going to answer for them. You get them all into heaven. That's your time. That's what I've given you to do. And I want to tell you something. When I became abandoned to the purposes of God for my life, a joy came into my life that I've never known before. Hallelujah. I started refusing speaking engagements. I'm not going anywhere. I'm not doing anything unless I absolutely know it's God. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. It was in that place of contentment that the phone rang one day and it was Brother Wilkerson asking me to come and speak here in New York City. And I've come here to New York City and I'm here for as long as the Lord would have me to be in this place. Could be for a year. It could be for five, could be for 10. It could be till I die. I have no plans. It makes no difference to me whatsoever. It's whatever the Lord wants. And if God should take me out of this place and send me back into the country to look after a flock of 50 people, I will do it joyfully. I just want to be in the will of God and nowhere else. In the will of God. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Are you content to be where God has put you? Are you content to do what God has given you to do? Isn't it sufficient just to know him? Isn't it sufficient to have his fullness upon you? Isn't it sufficient to know that your name's written in the Lamb's book of life? I am absolutely. I don't lack anything. I don't need anything more. If there's anything that has to be put into my life, I trust God to put it there. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Another place where you see discontent in the body of Christ is in the desire for a horizontal change. We talked first about vertical mobility. Now I'm going to look this way and talk about a horizontal change. I've heard a saying, and I even believed it when I was a young minister, those that are supposed to be wise in the faith told me that some of you have heard about the four-year pastoral rule, that a pastor shouldn't be in a church any more than about four years, for they estimated that in about four years that pastor will have taken that body as far as he can take them. You've heard that. I've heard that. I said, oh, and I thought, well, that's got to be true. I was young. These men are older than the Lord. Well, what an absolute lie that is. Do you know what that means? If in four years a pastor comes in, he can't take the body any farther. That means he's not growing in God. That means whatever he's learned in four years, he can pass it on to you. And then he's got to shift away to some other body. And then he's got to pass on his knowledge of four-year knowledge to that body. And so you have all these ministers driven by discontent, out of touch with God, a whole pile of four-year-olds teaching the church. That's what it is. Four-year-olds. You meet ministers that all their life have ministered to now in their senior years, and they've never been more than four years or three years or five in any one place. They just move and move and move and move. They've never advanced. They're four years old, and they've been teaching the church. I tell you, if you're growing in God, I should be able to go into a church, into a small flock, and live and die in that place, if my life is truly developing in Christ. If God's got a hold in my heart, there's no limit to what Christ can do through my life or through your life. I can do all things, Paul says, through Christ who's strengthened with me. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. We see desires for a horizontal change in the Christian home. We see now marriages breaking up in the Christian church on an unprecedented scale. We see husbands now wanting to leave their wife, somehow convinced that, driven by discontent, somehow convinced that their wife is not meeting their needs anymore. We see wives wanting to leave their husbands, convinced that their husband's not meeting their needs anymore. They've been reading some magazine that convinced them that, unless they have some sweet-faced airhead under their arm, that they're not fulfilled in Christ. Now, I know that sounds strong, but that's just the way it is. When's the last time, men, that you picked up a magazine that said, be not treacherous against the wife of your youth? She may be getting some gray hair, and she may not be as slim as she used to be, but she's the wife of your youth. Hallelujah. And you're not to deal treacherously against her. When's the last time that you read an article in a secular publication that told you to be content with the spouse that God has given you? Rather than learning from the heart of Christ, from Ephesians 5? Rather than learning to love your wives, as Christ loved the church? Rather than getting deeper in God? Rather than being moved and drawn by the Holy Spirit? You see men and women, even in Christian homes now, that are driven by an ever deepening discontentment. And I want to ask you, husbands that are here tonight, and wives that are here tonight, are you drawing to the heart of Christ? Are you motivated and moving forward in your marriage relationship by the very heart of Jesus? Wives, are you striving and seeking to learn what it means to reverence your husband, even if he's not saved? Are you striving to understand God didn't say reverence him if he's saved. He said, reverence your husband. Are you beginning to learn? Are you beginning to strive to understand the heart of God that says that a meek and quiet spirit is of great price in the sight of God? That if a man is not saved, that the woman by her chaste conversation and character and meekness of spirit can win her unsafe husband to God? Are you striving to draw close to God, or are you being driven by discontentment? Life only comes when we're moved by the Spirit of God. When the human spirit takes over, that's when the process of death comes into a home. That's when death comes into a marriage. That's when death comes into our sons and daughters, and death comes into the house of God. This is a spiritual house, and it can only be built by the Holy Spirit of Almighty God, drawing us to the heart of Jesus Christ. Are you being motivated by the Spirit, or are you being driven by discontentment? And thirdly, and this is one of the more insidious ones, is discontentment will show itself with the desire to take a lower position. It masquerades as a false humility. It's words like, it's time to let someone else lead for a change. I'll take a lower position. And very often this false humility masks a heart that's running from full abandonment to the purposes of God. It's unwilling to surrender and to seek and to find its strength in Christ alone. The mounting discontentment pushes it to seek refuge in a place of its own choosing. And if I could write an epitaph over this kind of a life, it would be these words, not thy will, but mine. Beware of false humility coming into your life, which is really discontentment in another form. I've led long enough. I've done my day. It's time to let some of the younger ones take over. I've heard that so many times. It's time to let so-and-so do this. I'm going to step out of the way. And really what you're stepping out of the way of is a full surrender, an absolute unconditional surrender to the will of God for your life. Folks, there is no peace until you surrender. Did you know that? There's no peace until you surrender. Hallelujah. Now, in contrast to this, we see the Apostle Paul, Philippians 4.11, he says, I have learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content. Could you say that tonight? Could you honestly say tonight, I have learned, like Paul learned, to be content. I have learned to be content in my home. I have learned to be content in my workplace. I have learned in the midst of this wicked and crooked society to be content with who I am and who Christ has made me and where he has placed me and what he's got me to do. I have learned to be content with taking the lowest position in the house and not seeking for some position of grandeur to be noticed by men. I have learned what it is to be a servant. Can you say that tonight? Can you honestly say that tonight? Or if the Holy Spirit were to look deep within your heart, would you have to confess and acknowledge, I've never learned. I'm still driven by discontent. The Apostle Paul, we see him in prison with Silas, fulfilling the scripture where he said, I can do all things through Christ who strengtheneth me. In prison with Silas, you know the story, Brother Michael was talking about it this afternoon, where they're in prison and they're down the lowest depths, the lowest dungeon, and it's midnight and Paul and Silas decide to have a worship session. They decide to praise the Lord in the midst of their circumstances. Oh folks, that speaks to me that they were not driven by discontent, but they were moved by the power of the Holy Ghost. Hallelujah. They were not affected by their circumstances. They were not affected by their surroundings. There was something deeper going on in their lives than where they were and what they were commissioned to do by God. So Paul had the right and the authority to write in 1 Thessalonians 5 18, he said, In everything give thanks and praise for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. It wasn't some phony theology he was writing down. It was a reality in his life because Paul had come to a place of abandonment to the will and purposes of God. Romans 8 28 Paul says, We know that all things work together for good to those who love God and are the called according to his purpose. You may be in a place tonight that you don't want to be in. You may be going through a struggle you don't want to go through. You may be in a trial you don't want to be in. But the scripture says we know, do you know that tonight, that all things work together for good, all things, everything to those who love God and are the called according to his purpose. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Out of a heart fully captivated by God came living water for you and I. Out of a heart fully captivated by God. That's the cry of my heart. That was the cry of David's heart. That's the cry of Pastor Dave's heart and the others in the ministry team. The cry of our heart says, Oh God, that my heart would be fully captivated by you. That living water could come out because it's no longer I who lives, it's Christ, it's you Jesus that lives within me. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. There is absolutely no freedom until there's abandonment. There's no, there's no understanding of the things of God until we're abandoned to his will. Until we've died to our own desires. Until we've died to the lustful cravings of the natural nature that wants to be seen and wants to be known and wants to be gratified and wants to live a life of ease until we're willing to die for the sake of God if necessary. There is no fulfillment. We can't fully understand or comprehend him. Parents, are your hearts captivated by God? It's a question you need to ask yourself tonight. Does living water come from you in your homes? Is living water coming from your inward parts? Or by your words, do you teach your children that Jesus Christ is not sufficient to meet your every need? You can come to church, moms and dads, and you can, you can sing your heart out and you can shake your tambourines and you can say Jesus Christ is Lord and you can go home and murder your children because you're, you tell them by your very lifestyle and by your conversation that Jesus Christ is not sufficient. You're sowing them a discontent with the things of God. And so our sons and daughters come to the house of the Lord and they, they want to be saved and they want to live for God, but they know because you've taught them that Jesus is not sufficient for them. They need Jesus plus something else. They need Jesus plus that fruit that God said you shouldn't touch. The fruit of worry and the fruit of self-promotion. The fruit of anxiety about tomorrow. These things that Jesus said, leave alone, seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. And all these things will be added unto you that you need. We need depth in Jesus in this last hour of time. We need to teach our children in this last hour of time that Jesus Christ is healing, he's deliverance, he's everything we've ever needed. A day is quickly coming upon all of society that if you don't have him in the fullness of what he desires to have in intimate relationship with you and I as a church, that so many people are going to be running around foolish looking for oil in the last hour of time. He's everything. He's everything. He's everything. He's everything. We see Paul, the apostle Paul, imprisoned in Rome between the years of AD 60 and 64. And I'm so thankful that Paul was abandoned to the purposes of God, aren't you? Because Paul made the most of his time. You see, because the Holy Spirit had hold of his life and he was abandoned to the will of God. He was abandoned to the purposes of God. Do you remember in the book of Acts, he said to that woman, what do you mean to make me to weep? I'm bound in spirit, I purpose to glorify God whether by living or dying. I'm prepared to go anywhere, do anything that God wants me to do. Paul was abandoned to the will of God. He wasn't trying to promote himself. He wasn't trying to portray himself as greater than Peter or some great one. Paul was, he found it sufficient just to know Christ and be found in him. And he's not writing. Aren't you thankful now today that Paul didn't sit down and write letters to try to get people to pull strings and get them out of prison? Can you imagine if we turned to the book of Ephesians tonight and said, I, Paul, a servant, a bond slave of the Lord Jesus Christ, writing unto you grace and peace from God our Father. Would you see who's in the church that is of any position and influence? I hate this place that I'm in. I can't stand it. It's cold, it stinks, it's dark. I can't go out and go shopping. I'm stuck with these Roman soldiers with their vulgar, foolish conversation, playing games and gambling in front of me all the time. Can you pull some strings and get me out of this place? Sincerely, Paul. You see, that's the kind of a letter that would have come out of the heart of a man who was not surrendered to God. And that's unfortunately what comes out of the mouths of so many of God's people in this generation. Instead of teaching our children the blessedness of obedience and the blessedness of abandonment to God. Instead of saying, Lord, if you bless me, I'll praise you and I'll trust you. If I have just enough to feed my body for this day, I'll praise you and I'll trust you. If I'm free, I'll praise you and I'll trust you. If I'm in prison, I'll praise you and I'll trust you. If I'm well, I'll praise you and I'll trust you. If I'm sick, I'll praise you and I'll trust you, oh God. Hallelujah. For my name is written in the Lamb's book of life and that's sufficient for me. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. It's in this place of trust and abandonment to the Holy Spirit, to the will of God, that the Holy Spirit was able to inspire Paul. And living water, the living word of God came forth for you and I. Hallelujah. Thank God. Turn to the book of Ephesians, please, chapter three. Just go back to Ephesians. I want to read some of the words of Paul when he was in prison in Rome. Hallelujah. I have learned, he said, I have learned, I have learned, I have learned. And I pray to God with all my heart that that would be our testimony in this generation. I have learned that when you're in your workplace, that you and when everybody else is complaining and backstabbing and wanting to promote themselves, that you could sit there and say, I have learned to be content in whatever state I'm in. I've learned to be content with my wages. Ephesians chapter three, verse eight. Listen to what Paul says. Unto me who am the less than the least of all saints is this grace given that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ and to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery which from the beginning of the world has been hidden God who created all things by Jesus Christ to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord in whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him wherefore he says listen to verse 13 I desire that you faint not at my tribulations for you which is your glory in other words that Paul says don't worry about me I'm in the will of God Paul saying I'm quite content to be where I am God's blessing me and and these letters that he was writing is absolute absolute evidence that God was blessing him because these letters are a blessing to us almost 2,000 years later he says for this cause I bow my knees unto the father of our Lord Jesus Christ I bow my knees even in this place of captivity of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named and now listen to his prayer in verse 16 for us that he would grant you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with might by his spirit in the inner man what Paul's saying that you'd come to know what I know even though I'm in this place of captivity that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith 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 and to know the love of Christ hallelujah which passes knowledge that you might be filled with all the fullness of God listen to the words of Paul listen to the cry in the heart of Paul that you might be able verse 18 to comprehend with all the saints that you might know he says what's the breadth the length the depth the height and to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge that you might be filled with all the fullness of God hallelujah hallelujah now go ahead to the book of Philippians please Philippians chapter 2 we see now and that this was written in Paul's first Roman imprisonment between the years a.d 60 and 62 chapter 2 verse 14 listen to what Paul says now here's Paul in jail he says do all things without murmuring and disputings that you may be blameless and harmless the sons of God without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation among whom you shine as lights in the world holding forth the word of life that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain and neither labored in vain yea and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith I joy and rejoice with you all for the same cause also do you joy and rejoice with me verse 19 but I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy as shortly unto you that I also may be of good comfort when I know your state verse 20 here's a sad indictment even on the early church 20 and 21 for I have no man like-minded who will naturally care for your state for all seek their own and not the things which are Jesus Christ's Paul was saying like I'm saying today there's some that are going up there's some that are going down there's some that are going horizontally and all are seeking their own they're driven by some kind of a mysterious inward discontentment and Paul's thinking in his spirit I wonder why these people can't find what I have found it's because they had never come to a place of absolute abandonment to the will of God that's why they were driven by an inner desire for something other than Jesus Christ hallelujah but Paul is saying to us but I seek him and I seek him alone look at chapter 3 verse 7 but what things were gained to me those I counted lost for Christ yea doubtless and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and I count them but done that I may win Christ hallelujah those sound like the words of a man in prison no not at all he was absolutely free even though he was in a place of physical imprisonment his spirit was free because he was he was right next to the very bosom the heart of Jesus Christ and verse 90 says in being found in him not having my own righteousness which is of the law but that which is through the faith of Christ the righteousness which is of God by faith that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead chapter 4 please go there quickly listen to the words of Paul again therefore verse 1 my brethren dearly beloved and longed for my joy and crown so stand fast in the Lord my dearly beloved verse 6 be careful for nothing in other words don't worry about tomorrow don't don't worry about where you are or what's going to happen God knows he's leading your life even if you make mistakes as brother Michael Brown said today he's leading your life you're on if your heart is towards him he's got a path and a plan for your life don't worry about these things all these things that the heathens seek after don't worry about it but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God hallelujah you see you can't be thankful until you're abandoned to God in other words he said pray unto God but pray with a thankful spirit because he's already met your need before you even ask and the peace of God which passes all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus hallelujah the peace of God are you driven by discontentment tonight or do you know the peace of God in your life do you know the peace of God in your marriage do you know the peace of God in your home do you know the peace of God in your workplace or are you driven by discontentment has it has it got its insidious roots in your life have you been somehow erroneously convinced that apart from Jesus Christ there's something that you need other than Jesus to fulfill your life verse 11 not that i speak in respect of want for i have learned in whatsoever state i am therewith to be content i know how to be abased i know how to abound everywhere and in all things i'm instructed both to be full and to be hungry both to abound and to suffer need i can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me hallelujah hallelujah my question to you tonight is have you learned have you learned like Paul are you moving forward as Paul or by an ever-deepening yearning for Jesus or are you driven by discontentment is it possible that some here having been reconciled to God by Jesus Christ that you're today in the exact same place that Adam and Eve were in are you falling into the devil's trap that there's something outside of Jesus that you need to satisfy your life the only way to be sure is to allow the Holy Spirit to do a deep heart search it's the only way you can be sure to say God what i do where i go am i moved by you am i motivated by you or is there something else that's driving me what made David a man after God's heart is these words search me oh God and know my heart today try me see if there we be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way of life everlasting search me oh God search me every man's way is right in his own sight if you would have come to me and pointed your finger at me or just opened your Bible tenderly to me 10 years ago i wouldn't have been able to hear you albeit nobody tried it could have saved me thousands and thousands of miles of traveling throughout the country to have come to a place of understanding that everything i've ever longed for is in him everything i've ever wanted is in him i don't need any other there's no other need there's no other motivation that's necessary would you stand please hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah a beautiful culmination to a wonderful day in the house of God but if you leave this house tonight listen to me carefully if you leave this house tonight still driven by discontentment you'll just go out and join that ever deepening spiral of people to go down down down into ever deepening despair because you'll never find what you're looking for outside of Jesus Christ i challenge you tonight to let the Holy Ghost search your heart and if you are driven by anything but that wooing power of the Holy Spirit drawing you to the very heart of Christ to a place of complete abandonment may i encourage you to come to this altar tonight and let's settle it once and for all Jesus you're everything that i need you're everything i've ever wanted you're everything that will Lord i just want to be abandoned to your purposes i want to learn to be content like Paul i want to learn to be content i'm a discontented person even though i'm saved even though i'm sanctified even though the Holy Spirit's in my life i attend a Holy Ghost filled church i listen to good preaching but i'm discontent there's a perpetual discontent upon my life that's a sign my brothers and sisters that there's not a full abandonment in your heart to Jesus Christ and God through his Holy Spirit is wooing you tonight he's wooing you to himself come unto me Jesus said all ye who labor it are heavy laden and i will give you rest learn of me i'm meek and lowly in heart and you shall find rest for your souls come unto me father i ask tonight by the power of the Holy Spirit Lord that you would loose those that are in the grip of discontentment in this house Jesus there's nothing more that we need than you to live for you to walk with you oh God you have a plan for our lives and you have fulfilled us oh God we are completed you we have everything we need i ask oh God for those who are driven by discontent oh God that you give them the courage to lay these things down the courage oh God to abandon themselves to you once and for all and to settle the issue forever father release this altar tonight i ask in Jesus name amen friends this is the conclusion of the tape