Being Contented

We are not to make the ideas of contentment and aspiration quarrel, for God made them fast friends. A man may aspire, and yet be quite content until it is time to raise; and both flying and resting are but parts of one contentment. The very fruit of the gospel is aspiration. It is to the heart what spring is to the earth, making every root, and bud, and bough desire to be more.
Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887, American preacher, orator, writer)

Philippians 4:11-13 (HCSB)
I don’t say this out of need, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know both how to have a little, and I know how to have a lot. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being content whether well-fed or hungry, whether in abundance or in need. I am able to do all things through Him who strengthens me.

On our journey on this temporal terrestrial bubble, some find a spot on this tiny ball that floats in the majestic and unfathomable reaches of space, and are content to know no more, or see no more. They can surround themselves with walls and things that they are pleased with, and not question what lies beyond. It is a mystery to me, for on a starry night while gazing in the heavens, so many questions come to an open mind.

God really wants us to be content and secure, and for me, He is the only one that answers my questions, He makes me comfortable with the local things, and what lies over the horizon. If you and I stop on this journey and settle down, we will settle for less, and we will miss the majestic. We cannot live on this earth without ever looking up that is one border that we cannot secure, His Majesty will be seen.

Paul is really giving us the secret to life, it is His unquestionable faith in God. He can be secure on places he knows, but he can also launch out into the unknown. He can feel safe and be contented that, as he says in verse 19 of this same Chapter, “ God will supply all His needs, according to His riches in Glory,” and we can too…God Bless.

Pastor William

The Second Act

We live between two worlds; we soar in the atmosphere; we creep upon the soil; we have the aspirations of creators and the propensities of quadrupeds. There can be but one explanation of this fact. We are passing from the animal into a higher form, and the drama of this planet is in its second act.
Winwood W. Reade (1838-1875, American writer)

2 Cor 4:16-18
Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. NASU

Winwood Reade, was an atheist and so called philosopher, who tried to understand the world in his own way. He came close, but he missed the boat, there will be no second act for him. If he had but tried Christ all of those feelings could have come together for him.

After listening to a lecture on evolution by a science professor, a student wrote a poem and titled it "The Amazing Professor." The poem read: Once I was a tadpole when I began to begin. Then I was a frog with my tail tucked in. Next I was a monkey on a coconut tree. Now I am a doctor with a Ph.D.

The philosophy of C. S. Lewis was that the reason that we don’t quite fit into this world is that we were designed for another. I tend to agree. I think when I want to understand who I am now, as a saved and loved Child of God, I will look above me and not around me, how about you…God Bless.
Pastor William

The Gift of Following

No organization is stronger than the quality of its leadership, or ever extends its constituency far beyond the degree to which its leadership is representative.
Edgar D. Powell

1 Sam 8:7-9
The LORD said to Samuel, "Listen to the voice of the people in regard to all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me from being king over them. "Like all the deeds which they have done since the day that I brought them up from Egypt even to this day -- in that they have forsaken Me and served other gods -- so they are doing to you also. "Now then, listen to their voice; however, you shall solemnly warn them and tell them of the procedure of the king who will reign over them." NASU

We can only go as far as we let the Lord take us. Leadership is important, but it is not the leadership that we see in front of our eyes. It is in fact, the invisible hand of God working within the Church, to bring it to its ordained destiny. The problem lies in the ability to follow.

Good leaders first become good followers, and Christ never allows leadership in His church that has not first learned the gift of following. I say gift because many gifts are received after we learn this wonderful talent. Sheep learn to follow the shepherd and receive the safety of safe pastures and dwell securely. But, the ones with the wild ideas close their ears and chase things that lead them from the flock.

There is no use to tie them, they will only wander away when the time is right, but the shepherd must be faithful to solemnly warn them of their error. They will be led by err or by right, but they are still being led. It is error to think that we have our own way within us? Listen to Paul in 2 Corinthians 1:9 “indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead;”…God Bless.

Pastor William