Speaker 1: No one likes to talk about money. Am I saving enough?
Speaker 1: Can I buy a house? Am I paying too much
Speaker 1: in taxes? Will I be able to retire? What if
Speaker 1: you could unlock insights about your finances in less than
Speaker 1: five minutes, with a clear picture of where you stand
Speaker 1: today and where your money can work harder. Now you
Speaker 1: can visit facet dot com to take the free quiz
Speaker 1: and get your financial wellness score today. That's Facet dot com.
Speaker 1: This ad is sponsored by Facet. Fast Wealth in Corporated
Speaker 1: is an sec registered investment advisor. This is not an
Speaker 1: offer to buy your self securities or is it investment,
Speaker 1: legal or tax advice.
Speaker 2: You're ready for a comeback, and with Purdue Global you
Speaker 2: can do more than take classes. You can take charge
Speaker 2: of your story, of your career, of your life, Earn
Speaker 2: a degree you can be proud of, and get an
Speaker 2: education employer's respect. It's time, your time, not just to
Speaker 2: go back to school, but to come back and move
Speaker 2: forward with Purdue Global, Purdue's online university for working adults.
Speaker 2: Start your comeback at Purdueglobal dot edu.
Speaker 3: He'll forget about the video game you gave him on
Speaker 3: his birthday.
Speaker 4: Wow, thanks Grandpa.
Speaker 3: But He'll never forget how you invested in his future
Speaker 3: with the uns stapp. Wow, Thanks Grandpa. The units stap
Speaker 3: makes it easy for grandparents and family friends to give
Speaker 3: funds to a child's investment account for a limited time.
Speaker 3: Download the uns stap and use the code I heeart
Speaker 3: fifty at sign up to receive a fifty dollars bonus
Speaker 3: when you fund your account. That's code iHeart fifty when
Speaker 3: you sign up at unest dot co for a fifty
Speaker 3: dollars bonus. See terms and conditions at UNEs dot co.
Speaker 5: Hi, this is Joel and Victoria. Thanks for downloading our podcast.
Speaker 5: We enjoy spending this time with you. I hope you'll
Speaker 5: leave Inspire. Make sure you subscribe to get new messages
Speaker 5: every week. We appreciate your support. It helps keep the
Speaker 5: ministry going.
Speaker 4: Enjoy the message.
Speaker 5: Well, God bless you. It's always a joy to come
Speaker 5: into your homes. And if you're ever in our area,
Speaker 5: please stop buying. Be a part of one of our services.
Speaker 5: I promise you we'll make you feel right at home.
Speaker 5: But thanks so much for tuning in, and thank you
Speaker 5: again for coming out. I like to start with something
Speaker 5: funny and I heard about this pastor he decided to
Speaker 5: skip church one Sunday morning and go play golf. He
Speaker 5: told his assistant that he wasn't feeling well, and he
Speaker 5: drove to a golf course in another city so nobody
Speaker 5: would know him. He teed off. On the first hole,
Speaker 5: a huge gust of wind caught his ball, carried it
Speaker 5: an extra one hundred yards, and dropped it right in
Speaker 5: the hole for a four hundred and fifty yard hole
Speaker 5: in one. An angel looked at God and said, what'd
Speaker 5: you do that for? God smiled and said, who's he
Speaker 5: going to tell? Hold up your bible, say it like
Speaker 5: you mean it. This is my Bible. I am what
Speaker 5: it says I am. I have what it says I have.
Speaker 5: I can do what it says I could do. Today
Speaker 5: I will be taught the word of God. I boldly confess.
Speaker 5: My mind is alert, my heart is receptive. I will
Speaker 5: never be the same. In Jesus' name, God bless you.
Speaker 5: I want to talk to you today about living content.
Speaker 5: It's good to have dreams and goals. We should be
Speaker 5: stretching our faith, believing for something bigger. But here's the key.
Speaker 5: While we're waiting for things to change, waiting for promises,
Speaker 5: to come to pass. We shouldn't be discontent where we are.
Speaker 5: Maybe you're believing to have a baby, believing for a
Speaker 5: new house, believing to get married. That's great, but don't
Speaker 5: go the next five years discontent being single, discontent with
Speaker 5: the house you have, discontent not having a child. Learn
Speaker 5: to enjoy the season that you're in. Being unhappy, frustrated,
Speaker 5: wondering if it's ever going to change is not going
Speaker 5: to make it happen any sooner. When we're discontent, we're
Speaker 5: dishonoring God. We're so focused on what we want, we're
Speaker 5: taking for granted what we have. The right attitude is,
Speaker 5: I'm believing for a new house, but in the meantime,
Speaker 5: I'm happy with the house I have. I'm believing to
Speaker 5: get married, but in the meantime, I'm content being single.
Speaker 5: Believing for a better job, but I'm happy with the
Speaker 5: job I have right now. The apostle Paul said, I
Speaker 5: have learned how to be content, whether I'm abased or
Speaker 5: a bounding, whether I have plenty or whether I'm in need. Notice,
Speaker 5: he had to learn to be content doesn't happen automatically.
Speaker 5: It's a choice we have to make being content, Does
Speaker 5: it mean that we don't want change, we give up
Speaker 5: on our dreams, we settle where we are. Oh, it
Speaker 5: means we're not fighting everything, We're not frustrated. We're trusting
Speaker 5: God's timing. We know he's working behind the scenes and
Speaker 5: at the right time, he'll get us to where we're
Speaker 5: supposed to be. Now, I found some situations will not
Speaker 5: change until we change as long as we're frustrated, stressed out,
Speaker 5: thinking why is it taking so long? Why am I
Speaker 5: still dealing with this problem? Why is my husband still
Speaker 5: aggravating me? No, if God has us there, we must
Speaker 5: need it. He's going to use it to do a
Speaker 5: work in us. When we're content, we're growing, we're developing character,
Speaker 5: our faith is being strengthened. You don't grow in the
Speaker 5: good times when everything's going your way. You grow when
Speaker 5: there's pressure. You feel like being sour, but you choose
Speaker 5: to be happy. You could easily complain, but you say, Lord,
Speaker 5: thank you for another great day. All your dreams haven't
Speaker 5: come to pass, but you choose to enjoy the season
Speaker 5: that you're in. That's passing the test. That's what allows
Speaker 5: God to go to work. Instead of trying to change
Speaker 5: the situation, Let it change you. There's something wrong if
Speaker 5: we're always discontented. I don't like my job, tired of
Speaker 5: this small apartment. These kids get on my nerves. When
Speaker 5: is my business ever gonna grow? That's going to keep
Speaker 5: you where you are. God's plan for our life is
Speaker 5: not to just make us comfortable, but to grow us up,
Speaker 5: to mature us so he can release more of his favor.
Speaker 5: You may not like where you are, but you wouldn't
Speaker 5: be there unless God had a purpose for it. Make
Speaker 5: sure you pass the test. This is what David did.
Speaker 5: He spent years in the lonely shepherd's fields, taking care
Speaker 5: of his father's sheep. And what's interesting is he had
Speaker 5: already been chosen to be the next king of Israel.
Speaker 5: The prophet Samuel had already anointed him. David could have thought, God,
Speaker 5: this isn't right. I've got big dreams. You promised me
Speaker 5: great things. What am I doing stuck out here with
Speaker 5: a bunch of shep No. David understood this principle. He
Speaker 5: didn't live stressed, frustrated, He bloomed where he was planted.
Speaker 5: He knew God was in control, so he just kept
Speaker 5: being his best, going to work with a good attitude,
Speaker 5: grateful for where he was because he was content in
Speaker 5: the shepherd's fields. He made it to the throne, to
Speaker 5: the palace. He passed that test. But if you're not
Speaker 5: content in the season you're in, while you're waiting for
Speaker 5: things to change, then even if you do somehow make
Speaker 5: it to your throne, so to speak, your dreams do
Speaker 5: come to pass, you're still not going to be satisfied.
Speaker 5: You may be happy for a little while, but here's
Speaker 5: the problem. Discontentment will follow you everywhere you go. A
Speaker 5: few years ago, I came home one evening and I
Speaker 5: heard this high pitched sound in the house, like a
Speaker 5: tone you hear from a television broadcast. I could just
Speaker 5: faintly hear it, and I thought maybe a smoke hector
Speaker 5: battery was low where alarm was going off upstairs. So
Speaker 5: I started going around everywhere trying to figure out where
Speaker 5: it was. But it seemed like everywhere I went it
Speaker 5: sounded exactly the same. I couldn't get any closer to it.
Speaker 5: It was very puzzling. I went upstairs and checked rooms
Speaker 5: and drawers, checked the pantry. Finally I went up in
Speaker 5: the attic. I thought maybe a hot water heater or
Speaker 5: an air conditioner had a part that was going bad.
Speaker 5: I got way up in the attic and it still
Speaker 5: sounded exactly the same. After about twenty minutes, I went
Speaker 5: down to my room to change clothes. I took off
Speaker 5: my cell phone from my belt where it was clip,
Speaker 5: and I put it on my counter. When I did,
Speaker 5: I could tell the tone was coming from my cell phone.
Speaker 5: That's why it sounded the same everywhere I went. It
Speaker 5: was clip to me. I couldn't get away from it.
Speaker 5: That's the way it is with discontentment. It follows us around.
Speaker 5: God blesses us with promotion. We're happy for a little while.
Speaker 5: Then the discontentment comes. We don't want to work so hard,
Speaker 5: we don't want the responsibility. It's not our circumstances. It's
Speaker 5: the spirit of discontentment, seeing the wrong, complaining about what
Speaker 5: we don't like, never having enough. That's why Paul said,
Speaker 5: I've learned how to be content. You've got to train
Speaker 5: your mind to see the good, to be grateful for
Speaker 5: what you have. Life will go so much better if
Speaker 5: you will be content in each season. Content when you
Speaker 5: have a lot, and content when you don't have a lot.
Speaker 5: Content whether your children are in diapers, or whether they're
Speaker 5: in college, whether you're in maintenance or management. You have
Speaker 5: the grace you need to enjoy each season. If your
Speaker 5: dreams are not coming to pass, that's a test. Will
Speaker 5: you do like David and Bloom where you're planted, will
Speaker 5: you choose to enjoy that season and not just endure? Thinking, God,
Speaker 5: when is this ever going to change? I've been praying
Speaker 5: for two years. No, maybe it's going to change. When
Speaker 5: you change, You've got to be satisfied with where God
Speaker 5: has you right now. Again. It doesn't mean you settle there,
Speaker 5: never expect anything good. It means you don't live frustrated,
Speaker 5: always wanting something more. God, I need more money, then
Speaker 5: I'll be happy. I need a better job, need a
Speaker 5: bigger house, need to lose twenty pounds, I need my
Speaker 5: kids to make better grades. Then I enjoy life. Or
Speaker 5: if you get all that corrected, if you accomplish your
Speaker 5: wish list, something else will come up to make you discontented.
Speaker 5: You got to put your foot down and say that's it.
Speaker 5: Everything may not be perfect in my life, all my
Speaker 5: dreams may not have come to pass yet, but I'm
Speaker 5: not living frustrated, stressed out. I'm gonna bloom right where
Speaker 5: I'm planning. In other words, I'm content whether I'm having
Speaker 5: a twenty year old Volkswagen or a brand new Mercedes Benz.
Speaker 5: I'm content whether I'm living in a small apartment or
Speaker 5: a beautiful dream house. I'm content whether my business is
Speaker 5: booming or whether it's a little slow. You cannot let
Speaker 5: your contentment be based on what you have or don't have,
Speaker 5: on who likes you or who doesn't like you. Learn
Speaker 5: to be content in every season. Content when God blesses
Speaker 5: you with a lot, and content when you have a little,
Speaker 5: content when the dreams are coming to pass, and content
Speaker 5: while you're waiting. Content in the shepherd's fields, and content
Speaker 5: in the palace. The Scripture says godliness with contentment is
Speaker 5: great gain. Life is very free when you can say
Speaker 5: I'm content with who God made me to be. I'm
Speaker 5: content with my personality, content with my looks, content with
Speaker 5: my gifts. I'm content with where I am in life,
Speaker 5: my position, my career, my relationships, my house. This is
Speaker 5: the reason many people are unhappy. They're always wishing for
Speaker 5: something different. Some single people are not going to be
Speaker 5: content until they get married. No, you need to enjoy
Speaker 5: being single, because when you get married, you'll enjoy it more.
Speaker 5: I'm smarter than I look. There are married people that
Speaker 5: wish they weren't married, wish they were married to somebody else.
Speaker 5: White people sit in tanning booths trying to get darker.
Speaker 5: Dark people put cream on their skin trying to get lighter.
Speaker 5: Ladies with curly hair go to the salon to get
Speaker 5: it straightened. People with straight hair go to the salon
Speaker 5: to get it purmed. People with no hair go to
Speaker 5: the salon to buy some hair. But really, there's nothing
Speaker 5: wrong with improving, being your best, showing your style. But
Speaker 5: you shouldn't always be wishing you were something different, can
Speaker 5: with who God made you to be. It's a tragedy
Speaker 5: to go through life always dissatisfied, wishing you had more,
Speaker 5: wanting to look like somebody else, waiting to be happy.
Speaker 5: I'm asking you to be content right where you are.
Speaker 5: Think about Mary, the Mother of Christ, when she was
Speaker 5: pregnant with Jesus, she had to ride a donkey to Bethlehem. Now,
Speaker 5: I've lived with a pregnant woman twice, the same one.
Speaker 5: If I would have suggested Victoria getting on a donkey
Speaker 5: at nine months pregnant, I probably wouldn't be here today.
Speaker 5: Mary could have complained, Joseph, why don't you get me
Speaker 5: something smoother? This is hard? When she got to Bethlahem, Joseph,
Speaker 5: why didn't you make us a hotel reservation? Why didn't
Speaker 5: you get me a hospital room? You knew I was
Speaker 5: gonna have this baby. Been all over the news when
Speaker 5: the baby was born, Joseph, why didn't you buy the
Speaker 5: baby a new outfit? I've got to wrap my beautiful
Speaker 5: baby in swaddling clothes that was strips of cloth. Mary
Speaker 5: didn't have designer jeans, fancy purse, a latte from Starbucks.
Speaker 5: But she never complained. She never found fault with Joseph.
Speaker 5: She didn't say, God, if I'm going to have this
Speaker 5: baby for you, at least you could make it more
Speaker 5: comfortable on me.
Speaker 4: No.
Speaker 5: She was content in the season. She was in content
Speaker 5: when the angel said you've been highly favored, and content
Speaker 5: writing a donkey, pregnant, content giving birth in a barn
Speaker 5: with a bunch of animals, and content when the wise
Speaker 5: men said, your son is the Messiah. It takes a
Speaker 5: mature person to be content on the mountaintop and content
Speaker 5: in the valley. A couple of years after Victoria and
Speaker 5: I were married, we found this piece of property that
Speaker 5: we really liked. Was close into the city in a
Speaker 5: nice neighborhoo hood, but it had a very old rundown
Speaker 5: house on it that had made your foundation problems. Most
Speaker 5: people would have torn it down, but we decided to
Speaker 5: fix it up and live in it. The floors in
Speaker 5: the den were so slanted that I had to put
Speaker 5: little blocks of wood under the front legs of the
Speaker 5: couch so it would match up with the back legs.
Speaker 5: Most of the interior doors would not close properly. It
Speaker 5: didn't bother us. We were happy. My mother would come over, Joel,
Speaker 5: how do you live in this house with these crooked floors?
Speaker 5: God gives you the grace for each season. Today we
Speaker 5: have a nice house with even floors. But I don't
Speaker 5: believe we would be where we are if we had
Speaker 5: not been content in that older home. It would have
Speaker 5: been easy to complain. This is a piece of jump God.
Speaker 5: We wanted something new. When is it ever going to change?
Speaker 5: No pass the test, whether you're abased or abounding, whether
Speaker 5: you're in your dream house or a crooked floorhouse, make
Speaker 5: the decision. I'm going to be content. I'm going to
Speaker 5: enjoy my life. I'm going to be grateful for what
Speaker 5: God's given me. I'm going to be the best I
Speaker 5: can be right where I am. The Apostle Paul, who
Speaker 5: said I've learned how to be content wrote much of
Speaker 5: the New Testament from a prison cell. When you've made
Speaker 5: up your mind to be content, prisons can't stop you,
Speaker 5: Crooked floors can't stop you. Donkeys can't stop you. Lonely
Speaker 5: shepherds fiels can't stop you. God forgets you to where
Speaker 5: you're supposed to be. A gentleman recently was telling me
Speaker 5: about all of his problems and everything that was wrong
Speaker 5: in his life, and went on and on as long story.
Speaker 5: He ended by saying, Joel, I just don't like my life.
Speaker 5: Here's the problem. It's the only life you have. You
Speaker 5: can't trade it in. You can't become someone else. You
Speaker 5: may have a thousand reasons to live unhappy, but you've
Speaker 5: got to make this choice that you're going to be content.
Speaker 5: If you're sour, when is it ever going to change?
Speaker 5: You'll get stuck. God does not promote discontentment. Shake it
Speaker 5: off and focus on what's right in your life. Focus
Speaker 5: on what you do have. Most of us. When we
Speaker 5: woke up this morning, we could see the sunlight, our
Speaker 5: eyes worked, most of you could hear the bird singing.
Speaker 5: You had a roof over your head. You have opportunity
Speaker 5: people to love in your life. There's a lot right
Speaker 5: in your life. Don't take it for granted. Don't get
Speaker 5: so focused on the crooked floors, the donkeys, the struggles
Speaker 5: that you miss the gift of this day. See, every
Speaker 5: season is not springtime with the flowers, beautiful blooming, nice sunshine,
Speaker 5: cool weather. That's a great season. But you're not going
Speaker 5: to grow if you stay in harvest. There's got to
Speaker 5: be planting seasons, watering seasons, maintain seasons where you're pulling
Speaker 5: the weeds, tilling the soil. Those are important seasons. Without
Speaker 5: going through that process, then you're not going to come
Speaker 5: into a new season of harvest. Instead of being frustrated
Speaker 5: by the difficulties, have a new perspective. That season is
Speaker 5: getting you prepared for promotion. It may look like you're stuck,
Speaker 5: you don't see anything happening, but God is at work
Speaker 5: and at the right time, the season will change. Winter
Speaker 5: always gives way to spring. It takes a mature person
Speaker 5: to be content not only in the harvest season, but
Speaker 5: content in planning season, content in the watering season, content
Speaker 5: in the pulling up the weed season. You may be
Speaker 5: in one of those difficult seasons right now, raising a
Speaker 5: small child, or taking care of an elderly loved one,
Speaker 5: perhaps dealing with an illness. You feel like you're riding
Speaker 5: that donkey. It's easy to think, as as soon as
Speaker 5: I get through this tough time, then I'll get my
Speaker 5: joy back. Soon as my kids get out of diapers,
Speaker 5: soon as I make it through the busy season at work,
Speaker 5: as soon as I lose this twenty pounds. No, this
Speaker 5: is the day the Lord has made. You got to
Speaker 5: choose to rejoice today. God has given you the grace
Speaker 5: you need not to endure the season that doesn't take
Speaker 5: any faith, but to enjoy the season. When you'll content,
Speaker 5: You see each day as a gift. You appreciate the
Speaker 5: people in your life. You're grateful for what God has
Speaker 5: given you. That not only is making you stronger, developing
Speaker 5: your character, but you're passing the test. You will come
Speaker 5: out of fall, out of winter, and you will come
Speaker 5: into your springtime. Things will begin to bloom and blossom
Speaker 5: once again. When I was growing up, there were five
Speaker 5: of us kids in the house. Of course, my parents
Speaker 5: were pastors and we didn't have necessarily a lot of money,
Speaker 5: but as a little boy always felt like we were
Speaker 5: well off. We had fun. We played hide and go
Speaker 5: seek in the house. We'd go out in the front
Speaker 5: yard and have big races. Life was good. But my
Speaker 5: parents couldn't afford to take us on a big family
Speaker 5: vacation every year, so every couple of months, my father
Speaker 5: would load us kids up in the car and take
Speaker 5: us up to the airport to ride the tram from
Speaker 5: Terminal A to Terminal B. There were just two terminals
Speaker 5: back then, and the tram was free. We thought that
Speaker 5: was so great. We would ride it over and over
Speaker 5: and over. People would look at us like we were
Speaker 5: so confused. We weren't lost. We were having fun. My
Speaker 5: father learned to be content in each season. Instead of
Speaker 5: complaining that he didn't have enough, he chose to bloom
Speaker 5: where he was planning. It's funny when some of my
Speaker 5: friends as a little boy would tell me they were
Speaker 5: going to Disneyland. I always thought that meant they were
Speaker 5: going up to the airport to ride the trams. I say, yeah,
Speaker 5: we've been there before. When I got old enough to
Speaker 5: realize what Disneyland really was, I needed counseling. But don't
Speaker 5: miss a great season in your life wishing you had more,
Speaker 5: complaining about what you don't have. Listen, the real joy
Speaker 5: in life is in the simple things. Making memories with
Speaker 5: your family, riding the trains together at the airport, playing
Speaker 5: hide and go seeking the house, watching the sunset with
Speaker 5: your spouse, looking at the stars at night. Simple things.
Speaker 5: When our children were younger, Jonathan about five and Alexander
Speaker 5: would have been two, we planned a big vacation to Disneyland.
Speaker 5: They were going to get to eat breakfast with Mickey
Speaker 5: Mouse and take pictures with the other characters. It's a
Speaker 5: big deal, you know, getting two small children out to California,
Speaker 5: Booking the hotel, getting the rental car, the flights. Spend
Speaker 5: half of my retirement to get there. When we arrived,
Speaker 5: we checked into the hotel and we went straight to
Speaker 5: the park. I was so excited for my children. We
Speaker 5: weren't there fifteen minutes. Jonathan said, Dad, I want to
Speaker 5: go back to the hotel and go swimming. I didn't
Speaker 5: think I heard him ride. I said, you want to
Speaker 5: do what. He said, I want to go back and
Speaker 5: go swimming. I said, no, no, no, Jonathan, We're at
Speaker 5: disney Land. We came a long way. Look at all
Speaker 5: these rides. This is going to be fun. He said, no, Daddy,
Speaker 5: I want to go back and go swimming. I said, Jonathan,
Speaker 5: we can swim any time at home at the neighborhood pool.
Speaker 5: We're at Disneyland. He sat down on the pavement, crossed
Speaker 5: his arms and said, I don't want to be at Disneyland.
Speaker 5: I want to go swimming. I said, Jonathan. I spent
Speaker 5: fifty bucks on your ticket. You're gonna have fun whether
Speaker 5: you like it or not. I thought later I should
Speaker 5: have done like my dad and taken them to the
Speaker 5: airport to ride the trams. Could have saved me a
Speaker 5: lot of money. So you don't have to have a
Speaker 5: big vacation to have fun. Learn to enjoy the simple
Speaker 5: things in life. A mistake we make too often is
Speaker 5: we think, when we reach a certain goal, then we'll
Speaker 5: be happy. As soon as I finish college, Joel, as
Speaker 5: soon as I get the promotion, soon as I move
Speaker 5: into the new house, as soon as I have this baby,
Speaker 5: then I'll enjoy my life. Yes, you'll be happy when
Speaker 5: you accomplish your goals, but there are challenges that come
Speaker 5: along with it. I've heard it said with every blessing
Speaker 5: comes a burden. You'll never come to a place where
Speaker 5: you're problem free, no conflict, no bills to pay, everybody
Speaker 5: celebrating you. That's not reality. If you don't learn to
Speaker 5: be content where you are, you won't be content when
Speaker 5: dreams come to pass. When God blesses you with that
Speaker 5: new house, what comes with it is a bigger yard
Speaker 5: tom more rooms to clean, more to maintain. When you're
Speaker 5: blessed with that promotion, what comes with it is more responsibility.
Speaker 5: When you have that beautiful baby, nothing like it in
Speaker 5: all the world, But at three o'clock in the morning,
Speaker 5: that baby wants to eat. They don't do things on
Speaker 5: our timetable. Now, don't pray for a bigger blessing if
Speaker 5: you're going to complain about a bigger burden. We love
Speaker 5: our new facility. This is a dream come true. God
Speaker 5: did more than we can ask or think. But with
Speaker 5: this amazing blessing came an amazing utility bill. First time
Speaker 5: I saw it, I thought, God, I sure liked our
Speaker 5: old facility. The good news is. God wouldn't give you
Speaker 5: the blessing if you couldn't handle the burden. You have
Speaker 5: the grace you need for each season. Now do your
Speaker 5: part and choose to be content. You could be in
Speaker 5: one of the best seasons of your life right now,
Speaker 5: but you're not enjoying it because you're focused on the burden,
Speaker 5: on what you don't have, on how difficult it is,
Speaker 5: because you're waiting for things to change. You're missing the
Speaker 5: beauty of this moment, the joy of today. Through life,
Speaker 5: always wanting something else. See the gift in what you
Speaker 5: have right now. Can I tell you we are living
Speaker 5: in the good old days. Twenty years from now, you'll
Speaker 5: look back and say, Wow, twenty fourteen was one of
Speaker 5: the best times of my life. Don't miss it living discontent, gentlemen,
Speaker 5: I know by the name of Mitch Album wrote a
Speaker 5: great book called The Five People You Meet in Heaven.
Speaker 5: They turned it into a movie now. Although it's not scriptural,
Speaker 5: it makes a very good point. It's about a man
Speaker 5: in his sixties that had worked at an amusement park
Speaker 5: his whole life. His parents owned it and that's all
Speaker 5: he knew. He never really wanted to be there. He
Speaker 5: had dreams to do something bigger with his life, but
Speaker 5: unfortunate things kept happening. He found himself back at the
Speaker 5: amusement park. He was discontented, unfulfilled, never felt like that's
Speaker 5: where he was supposed to be, dreaded going to work
Speaker 5: each day. On the outside, he was good to people, kind, generous,
Speaker 5: he'd go out of his way to help others. But
Speaker 5: on the inside he was unhappy, felt like a failure
Speaker 5: in life. At one point, this little girl was in
Speaker 5: danger on a ride, about to be harmed, and he
Speaker 5: rushed over to helper. He saved the little girl's life,
Speaker 5: but in the process he lost his own life. He
Speaker 5: was killed. He went to heaven and was told that
Speaker 5: he would meet five people. These people would be instrumental
Speaker 5: in helping him to choose what kind of heaven he
Speaker 5: would have. Again, it's not doctrinely correct, but in this book,
Speaker 5: you could choose what your heaven would be. If you
Speaker 5: wanted to live on a beach, in a palace in
Speaker 5: the mountains, it was your choice. The first man he
Speaker 5: met he had helped during the war. The man told
Speaker 5: him how much he meant to him. He then met
Speaker 5: three other people that he had been good to. They
Speaker 5: expressed their heartfelt love and appreciation for what he had done.
Speaker 5: The last one he met was the little girl whose
Speaker 5: life he had saved. He began to realize all of
Speaker 5: his time on earth that he felt like he was
Speaker 5: at the wrong place, the wrong job. He didn't like
Speaker 5: his life, But actually he was at the right place.
Speaker 5: God had been directing his steps. He made a difference
Speaker 5: with his life when he stepped back and saw it
Speaker 5: from a new perspective. He chose his heaven to be
Speaker 5: the amusement park, the place that he had dreaded all
Speaker 5: those years. Could it be that you're at the right
Speaker 5: place for the season that you're in, but you're not
Speaker 5: enjoying it. Maybe, like him, if you would step back
Speaker 5: and see it from a new perspective, you would realize
Speaker 5: God has you in the palm of his hand. He's
Speaker 5: directing your steps. He knows where you are, what you like,
Speaker 5: what you don't like. And instead of living discontented, frustrated,
Speaker 5: always wishing you were somewhere else, embrace the place where
Speaker 5: you are. See the good, Be grateful for what you have.
Speaker 5: Remember there's a blessing and a burden for every season.
Speaker 5: Don't focus on the burden, you have the grace to
Speaker 5: enjoy the blessing. If you will make this choice that
Speaker 5: you're going to live content through every season, blooming where
Speaker 5: you're planning, not always wishing for something else, then I
Speaker 5: believe and declare you're going to enjoy your life more.
Speaker 5: You will rise higher, overcome every obstacle, and you will
Speaker 5: become everything God's created you to be. In Jesus' name. Well,
Speaker 5: we never like to close our broadcast without giving you
Speaker 5: an opportunity to make Jesus the lord of your life.
Speaker 5: Would you pray with me? Just say, Lord, Jesus, I
Speaker 5: repent of my sins, Come into my heart, wash me clean.
Speaker 5: I make you my Lord and savior. Friends, if you
Speaker 5: pray that simple prayer, we believe you got born again.
Speaker 5: Get in a good Bible based church. Keep God first place.
Speaker 5: He's going to take your places that you've never dreamed of.
Speaker 6: Thank you for listening to the Joel Loustine podcast. Help
Speaker 6: us continue to share the message of hope with those
Speaker 6: all over the world. Visit Joeloustein dot com slash give
Speaker 6: Hope to give a gift today.
Speaker 5: Thanks so much for listening to today's message. I hope
Speaker 5: you'll subscribe so you can receive the latest podcast to
Speaker 5: keep you inspired.
Speaker 4: All through the week.
Speaker 5: We're praying for you. I know God's best is still ahead.
Speaker 5: We'll see you next time.
Speaker 7: More than ever before, people are turning to the church
Speaker 7: for their mental health struggles. Unfortunately, the church has largely
Speaker 7: been ill equipped to help. That is until now. Join
Speaker 7: yourly fifty thousand people just like you who've enrolled in
Speaker 7: the Mental Health Coach training program and become equipped to
Speaker 7: health for a limited time. Apply for a full tuition
Speaker 7: scholarship and you only pay a one time tech fee
Speaker 7: of fifty four dollars if accepted. Apply now at mentalhealth
Speaker 7: coach dot org. Again, that's Mentalhealthcoach dot org.
Speaker 8: Be a barbecue hero with delicious ultralow netcar hero Bread
Speaker 8: buns and tortillas, soft and fluffy, high in fiber, and
Speaker 8: with zero grams of sugar and up to ten grams
Speaker 8: of protein, coming in at under one hundred calories per servey.
Speaker 8: Oh and did I mention they taste like their mouthwatering
Speaker 8: traditional versions. It's enough to have the neighbors asking for seconds.
Speaker 8: Use code ih to M ten for ten percent off
Speaker 8: your first hero.
Speaker 9: Bread purchase at hero dot Co. That's I eight M
Speaker 9: ten for ten percent off at hero dot co. Summer
Speaker 9: is here and our sleep is just as important as
Speaker 9: our weekend plans.
Speaker 8: So get the sleep you deserve with Lisa.
Speaker 9: For a limited time, save up to seven hundred dollars
Speaker 9: off select mattresses plus two free pillows during our summer sale.
Speaker 9: Check out our hybrid mattress designed to keep you cool
Speaker 9: during those hot summer nights. Lisa also off free shipping
Speaker 9: and a Rispbrey one hundred night trial.
Speaker 8: Get the sleep you deserve.
Speaker 9: Shop our summer sale now and save up to seven
Speaker 9: hundred dollars off select mattresses plus two free pillows At
Speaker 9: Lisa dot com.
Speaker 8: That's l e e s a dot com exclusion supply.
Speaker 6: Visit Lisa dot com for details