 All right, it's great to be here at Verity Baptist Church Fresno, and I got in yesterday. I was kind of walking around town last night, and this morning I kind of walked around. I got here at 8 a.m. just kind of checking out the area. People seem very friendly here. You guys have a great building, and I definitely think this church is going to be growing over these next several years. And I want to thank Brother Jared's family for being hospitable, and I got to spend time with him last night. And about a year ago is the first time I heard about how he might be interested in moving down here, and I was definitely praying about that, and I was excited about that. He's a great man leading this church, and I know he cares about you, and he wants to do a great work here, and I know that's going to happen. And so I want to preach a sermon here this morning that's going to be helpful in edifying here, and I want you to look at Philippians chapter 4, starting at verse 11, where the Bible reads, Not that I speak in respect of want, for I've learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and 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 strengtheneth me. Now Philippians 4-13 is a very famous verse, and it's kind of athlete's favorite verse, you know, especially fighters who always have like Philippians 4-13 tattooed on their chest that they can, you know, beat somebody up, you know, through God's power, I guess is what they're trying to say. But that's not really the context of what's taking place in Philippians 4-13, and the context is really about the ability to be happy or content, no matter what state you are in life. And see the Bible says I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. And the name of this sermon is searching after happiness, searching after happiness. And a lot of people in their entire lives, they're always searching after trying to be happy. And the sad reality is that the people that search after happiness, they're never actually going to find it, okay? We need to learn to be content no matter what stage in life that we are. And I want you to notice first here in Philippians 4-11 where it says, Not that I speak in respect of want, for I've learned in whatsoever state I am there with to be content. Now when it says whatsoever state, it's not saying California or Arizona or whatever state. I mean, I know being from West Virginia and Brother Jared being from North Dakota, I mean, you kind of think of California as being really scary and everything, it has this bad reputation. But you know, what it's really talking about whatever stage in life you're at, you can learn to be content. And the first thing we have is this, that all of life stages have problems. All of life stages have problems. We're not a Pentecostal church. We're not a health and wealth prosperity church. Every stage in life, no matter where you are, there are problems with it. You know, you look at a young child, I look at my son who's a year and a half old, and he just wants to be a little bit taller. You know, we got this plastic basketball hoop in our house, and he's like this far away from being able to dunk it without me picking him up and helping him out. And he wants to be just a tad bit taller. And as he's a young child, he's going to want to be a little bit older. But then you become a child and you say, man, I wish I could drive. I wish I could go places. I wish I made some money. And then you say, man, I want to have a job. I can make money. And then you say, man, I want to get a good job. And then I'll be happy. Then once I get that good job, if I just got married, I'm going to be happy. Then you say, man, if I just had kids, I'll be happy. And then you're always searching after happiness. And you're miserable in the stage you are in life. Look, you're never going to find it if that's your attitude. Whatever stage you're at, you have to learn to be happy. And what you must realize is every stage has problems. No matter where you live, no matter how old you are, every stage has good things and it has bad things. We must learn to be content with where we are. Now, turn to Job chapter 2, Job 2. And as you're turning to Job 2, let me just read you in Psalms 127 and verse 5 where the Bible reads, Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of him. They shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate. And the Bible speaks about being happy when you have many children. And so I'm not telling you that getting married and having kids is not going to help you become happy. But what I'm saying is that you don't rely on that for your contentment. So you can be happy as you go through new stages. Obviously, I love being married. I love having a son. I love having another child on the way. But at the same time, you know what? I was happy before I had kids. I was happy before I was married. Now, obviously, I wanted to get married. But at the same time, every stage has its benefits. As happy as I am to be married and have kids, there are things I miss about my old life. There are things I really enjoyed about that life. But if you dwell on the things that you don't have, if you dwell on what you could have, you're never going to be happy with what you do have. Notice what it says here in Job chapter 2. And the first thing I want you to realize is that financial problems can come in our lives. No matter what stage you're at, no matter where you live, no matter what job you have, it says in Job 2, verses 9 and 10, then said his wife unto him, dost thou still retain thy integrity? Curse God and die. But he said unto her, thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh, what shall we receive good at the hand of God and shall we not receive evil? And all this did not jend Job's sin with his lips. Now, obviously, this is a grieving wife. She's lost her kids. This doesn't make her a wicked woman. She was probably a very godly woman who's going through real trials in her life. And obviously, she's struggling. And, you know, her husband, I'm sure he's not really all that happy either. In fact, when you read the story, it's not that Job is happy. He's just doing a good job dealing with a problem. And he's playing the man, as the Bible says. You know, obviously his wife's going to be a little bit more emotional. But what you have to realize is this is a godly person and he has financial problems that are hitting him. See, the main reason why I'm preaching this sermon is because honestly, this church is a great blessing to all of you. It's a great blessing to this area. But I want you to realize this church is not going to fix all your problems. You might go through financial problems six months from now. You might lose your job a few months from now. And what you should not do is blame the church if you have problems. You might go through marriage problems one day. You might go through health problems one day. It's not the church's fault if that takes place. Job is a godly person and he's going through financial problems. Turn to 2 Kings 13, 2 Kings 13. Obviously, we could just stay in the book of Job to see that you can go through a lot of big problems in your life no matter how godly you are. But I want to show you that this is not just isolated to one man in the Bible. It's actually something that appears throughout the Bible. And we're going to see Elisha going through health problems in 2 Kings chapter 13. It says 2 Kings 13 verse 14. Now Elisha was fallen sick of his sickness wherever he died and Joash the king of Israel came down onto him and wept over his face and said, oh my father, my father, the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof. So the Bible says Elisha falls sick of his sickness wherever he died. So how did Elisha die? He got sick, he came across the sickness. You say, but he had an all organic diet back then. Look, you can eat all organic and get sick. Now I'm not saying there's not any truth to that but what I'm telling you is, you know, honestly, you should worry more about being a godly person. Worry more about serving God because here we see a person who is godly but quite honestly, even though he has the proper diet, he has this all organic diet, I'm sure he ate very healthy. Look, he still gets sick and dies and what God's trying to show you is this, that you know what, no matter how godly you are, no matter if you dot all the I's and cross all the T's in your life with your health and you work out every day, you can still have health problems in your life, no matter how godly you are. Look, Paul the apostle, he had a thorn in the flesh. I believe that was probably referring to his eyesight but you know, he had a thorn in the flesh that bothered him, that affected his health. That does not mean you're not right with God. That just means you're going through trials in your life. Look, people that are very godly go through health problems. They go through financial problems. In fact, everybody goes through problems. No matter how rich they are, no matter what they do in their life, all of state life stages have problems. Okay, turn to Matthew seven, Matthew seven. You know, one of the things I think about is a guy by the name of Andrew Carnegie who's pretty famous, you know, where I'm from, back on the East and he was a very, very rich man and at the same time, you know, he was in a wheelchair and so he didn't have his personal health and sometimes we can envy people for how much money they have but I don't care what sort of CEO they are. They have problems in their lives as well. In fact, many times they have a lot of marriage problems and they get married and divorced and married and divorced because their whole life is about living for money and just work, work, work. Look, no matter how much money you have, no matter who you are, no matter how famous that politician is, look, they've got problems in their lives and sometimes we envy the wicked people out there and we think that if I were just to calm down a little bit and just to kind of, you know, maybe go soul-winning a little bit less, maybe skip the mid-week service and stuff like that, all my problems are gonna be gone. No, you're still gonna have problems in life and the world would like to lie to you and tell you that this church is the problem. It's not the problem if you have problems in your life. See, it's important for you to realize that yes, this church is a blessing, yes, it can benefit your life, yes, it can make you happy but at the same time, it is not going to fix all your problems. You say, well, Brother Stuckey, you're supposed to preach an encouraging sermon. You know, we're a new church and pound the pulpit. I'm preaching a sermon that's actually gonna help you because quite honestly, the newness will fade away in a few months for everybody in this room. Look, we've been at Verdi Baptist Manila for about 10 to 11 months and you know, the excitement's there for like three months and then once the excitement's gone, you know, some people can kind of fade a little bit. You say, why? Because it's easy to do it when it's exciting but then are you gonna serve God when it's not always exciting? Now look, living the Christian life is exciting, it's great, it's joyous but it's not joyous every single day. Look, I go soul winning sometimes and I don't feel like going soul winning. You say, Brother Stuckey, you know, I'm not gonna go soul winning, you know, today because I just don't feel like it. Last week I felt like it. This week I don't. No, you go soul winning whether you feel like it or not. Whether or not you have the excitement or not, you go. Look, happiness comes and goes. Our emotions come and go. We're happy, things are great and then we go through trials in our lives. Look, some of you in this room, you're gonna lose your job probably in the next couple of years. That's not the end of the world though and it doesn't mean it's God's fault. It doesn't mean it's the church's fault. No, honestly, all of life's stages have problems and I promise you, Brother Jared's preparing you for the rough stages in life because we all know they're gonna come. We're not Pentecostals, we're not Charismatics. You know, the health and wealth gospel is a lie. Serving God does not guarantee your life's gonna be perfect. No, you still go through problems in life. You have ups and you have downs. Matthew chapter seven, and this is the famous Sermon on the Mount, the conclusion, I want you to look at verse number 24 where the Bible reads, therefore whosoever hath these sayings of mine and doeth them, I will liken him onto a wise man which buildeth his house upon a rock. And the rain descended and the floods came and the winds blew and beat upon that house and it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock. And everyone that hath these sayings of mine and doeth them not shall be likened unto a foolish man which buildeth his house upon the sand. And the rain descended and the floods came and the winds blew and beat upon that house and it fell and great was the fall of it. What I want you to notice in these verses is that verse 25 and verse 27 are basically identical. Just with a small change at the end, basically whether or not you apply God's word, the rain is still gonna descend in your life, the floods are still gonna come, the wind is still gonna beat upon that house. Whether or not you're godly or not, the rain still come, the floods still come. Look, you go through the storms of life, whether or not you're in church or not in church, whether or not you're godly or not godly, whether or not you're serving God or not, the storms are still coming in life no matter what. So leaving this church when you get back-slidden or you get depressed or whatever, that's not gonna fix your problems. It's gonna multiply your problems. But look, just because you're going through problems, that is not this church's fault because all of life's stages have problems no matter what age you are, no matter how much money you are, no matter what, you're still gonna go through problems in life, it's not a possibility, it's a guarantee. Everyone goes through problems. Life is not easy. Life is difficult. Life can be stressful. It can be tiring. But look, avoiding church doesn't fix that. It's still gonna be stressful. It's still gonna be tiring. And living a life of sin is certainly not gonna fix that. It's just gonna make your life worse and worse and worse. Now, turn in your Bible back to Philippians 4. Back to Philippians 4. Now, I would assume that everybody would agree with what I've said, that yeah, of course, life doesn't guarantee that you're gonna fix your problems. But at the same time, I think a lot of people in the back of their head, once they start to lose the excitement and once they have problems, they're gonna start thinking, I just thought that when this church started, my life would be better and now it seems worse. I guarantee you, that's gonna come to a couple of you or at least some of you here in a few months. Even though you don't believe that it's gonna fix your problems, in the back of your head, when you go through problems in a few months, you're just gonna think, I just thought my life would be better and now it's like, my job's messed up, this is messed up. Look, God does not give a guarantee that if you have a good church, that all your problems are gonna disappear. They could get worse. I know people in my church that they're really serving God now and honestly, they're going through health problems with them and their kids over this last year that they didn't go through before. But look, whether or not they were at this church, it still would have happened. So yeah, they got a great church, but guess what? Health problems happen whether or not you're in church or not. And so once you go through trials in your life, don't think it's a church's fault. Don't leave the church. You think back to the story of Jeremiah and they said, hey, back when we offered to the queen of heaven, everything was so great. Well, hey, go back to Mother Mary if you want then. But it's not gonna fix your life. Go offer to the queen of heaven. It's not gonna fix your life. Just because when you're in the Catholic church, it seemed like things were going well, just because when you're in that lame Baptist church down the street, things were going well and you had a great job. Look, that doesn't mean that that's because of the church. And it doesn't mean it's this church's fault. It's just that all stages of life you have ups and you have downs. People that are in the secular world, they get pay raises and they get fired sometimes. People in church, they get pay raises, they get fired sometimes. People in church, sometimes they get the flu. Sometimes they don't get the flu. Same with people in the world. Look, everybody goes through those things. That's part of life. It has nothing to do with what church you're going to. Now, obviously if you're living an ungodly life, you can multiply your problems and that's why you should be sticking in church because living an ungodly life is only going to increase the chances that you're going to have health problems and things such as that. But what I want you to realize is that being at a church like this, this is not the church's fault when you go through problems in life. So the first point is quite simply that all of life's stages have problems. The second point I want you to see is this, that happiness can be achieved in any stage that you're at. It states in Philippians 4 verse 11, not that I speak in respect of want for I have learned in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. Notice how it says whatever state, whatever stage, whatever area of life you are, you can learn to be content, okay? Now turn your Bible to James 5, James 5. Now don't misunderstand me. I'm not saying that, you know, Job was just like everything in his life. He was just so happy when he lost all of his money, but he was willing and able to deal with this. And see what the Bible speaks about we're gonna see in James 5 is actually being able to endure when you go through trials. I'm not saying that when you're going through a trial that you're gonna be just as happy as if you're not going through a trial. But what the Bible talks about is enduring through that trial, okay? Now realize that when it comes to people that they seem blessed in this world, that doesn't guarantee them happiness. Alexander the Great conquered the world and he was miserable. That's why he basically drank himself to death when he's, you know, younger than I am now. You know, he was miserable. He conquered the world, conquered Persia. He was miserable. Think of Haman in the Bible. Haman was basically the second most powerful man in the world and he was miserable because Mordecai wouldn't bow down and worship him. You think of King Solomon, not just unbelievers, King Solomon. Didn't he have everything life had to offer? He had everything and guess what? Wasn't happy. Just because things are going well that doesn't guarantee you happiness. The world likes to tell you that if you have to make lots of money it's gonna make you happy. But you know, quite honestly I've had times in my life where I was doing well financially and times I wasn't doing well didn't really seem to affect my happiness that much. Look, just because you have money that is not gonna necessarily make you happy. And honestly, many people that are living their lives for money, they're miserable. They pierce themselves through with many sorrows, the Bible says. It says in James chapter five, starting at verse 10, take my brethren, the prophets who have spoken in the name of the Lord for an example of suffering, affliction, and of patience. Behold, we count them happy, which endure. You have heard of the patience of Job and have seen the end of the Lord that the Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy. And so the Bible speaks about being happy when you endure. Look, obviously when Job was going through the trial he wasn't at his happiest point in his life. I'm not saying that when you're going through trials in your life, if you lose your job tomorrow I'm not saying you should be happier than before you lost your job. Of course you're gonna be upset about it. But the Bible speaks about being happy when you endure through that trial. And then it lists Job because Job was going through the worst thing you could possibly have in life. He lost his money, he lost his kids, he lost his health. He lost everything. But he endured through that. And on the other side he was happy. And so if you go through trials in your life while you're at this church, what you need to do is endure through that and there's happiness on the other side. But if you choose not to endure it and just leave the church and just go back to a worldly lifestyle you're not gonna have that happiness. You have to endure through that trial and on the other side there is happiness. Turn to Acts 5. And that's pretty much what the devil said to the Lord, to God, he said, well, you know, the only reason why Job is happy in serving you is because, well, I mean, you're giving him everything. He's got all this money. He's got all this health. And well, he's got everything life has to offer. I mean, why don't you hurt his health, destroy his kids and he won't be happy anymore. He won't serve you anymore. You know, the sad reality is that with a lot of Christians that if the devil were to take away their job, they wouldn't be happy. They would quit church. If the devil were to take away their health, they would quit church. If the devil were to send some trials in their life, they would just quit and just give up on the Christian life. See, the Bible says resist the devil and he will flee from you. If you resist the devil, he's going to eventually flee. He's not gonna keep wasting his time with you. But the implication is that sometimes the devil is gonna send you trials your way. And quite honestly, God allows us to go through trials. You must realize that they're going to come. And quite honestly, when you decide to serve God, it's very possible they could intensify. You guys at this church, you need to be ready for this. Because you're serving God now, realize, you know what? You could go through real trials these next few months. And honestly, serving God, and we'll prove this in the sermon, that can definitely make you happy. But you know, you have to be willing to endure through those trials. And if you choose not to endure through those trials, you know what? You're not gonna get that happiness that you have of serving God. And you can try the world's methods and we'll see that later on. That's not gonna bring you happiness, okay? And so I want you to see here in Acts chapter five, let's see an example of having happiness during hard times. It says in Acts five, verse 40, and to him they agreed, and when they had called the apostles and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus and let them go. And so here they're being beaten for serving God and for going soul winning. Now look, has anybody been beaten for soul winning in their lives? No, I haven't been beaten. We don't get beaten in the Philippines for going soul winning. There is no persecution in today's world. It's really laughable when people are, oh, I lost my job. That's not really persecution. There's no persecution in today's world. If you look throughout history, Christians have always been killed, except really until this time period. Honestly, in today's world, there's no persecution serving God. Oh man, your family member doesn't want to talk to you anymore because you're at this church. I mean, that's not persecution. That is a very light affliction, as the Bible says. You know, actually, just this morning, a close relative of my wife basically said that about us because what we believe, you know, they don't want to talk to us. We're hateful, we're mean. It's like, that's not persecution. It is what it is. And you know, what I'm saying is not unique to me because every one of you, if you've served God, you've had the same thing happen in your life. And I have many times as well. We're basically some family member just says you're a hateful person. It's really funny because the same people that say that have never read the Bible cover to cover, they often don't go to church. They've never gone soul-winning. They're listening to worldly music and then we're hateful. It's like, well then why do we spend hours of our life going out and knocking doors and telling people how to get to heaven if we're so hateful? Why do we spend so much time and energy and effort to try to win people to the Lord? You know, it's kind of funny that they would say that, especially when you make sacrifices. Look, Brother Jared and his family, just the times I've known them, they've taken leaps of faith in their life. Look, moving from North Dakota to California, look, that's a leap of faith that things are gonna work out. And then all of a sudden life's comfortable but then all of a sudden you get that kind of nudging where God's basically telling you, hey, I want you to take another leap of faith. I want you to step out there on the water just a little bit and do something big for me. And look, that's not easy to do when you have a nice job, you have a nice life. You have a great church, a great church to raise your kids. Look, and I felt the same way before, you know, going out to the Philippines, but you know what, you need to just decide to do what God wants you to do and take a leap of faith in your life. And you know what, it's funny because once you take those leaps of faith, then all of a sudden people attack you. And it's like, you know, good night, what are you doing for God? It's like, I'm really trying to serve God, but you know, honestly, it's family that are gonna criticize you the most. That's the way it works, but that's not persecution. That's a very light affliction, very, very light. That's very little on the scale. Look, none of you have to worry about having your arm chopped off when you go soul-winning today. But throughout history, that's what took place. None of you have to worry about having your eye taken out when you go soul-winning today. Throughout history, that's what took place. Throughout history, all of the false religions have persecuted the true ones. In the world today, it takes place just not here in America, not in the Philippines, not in America. Go to India. Go to India and go soul-winning, where Hindus kill Christians. You say, I didn't hear about that on the news. Yeah, the only thing they mention is the Muslims killing Christians, which is definitely true, but all false religions persecute the true religion. In our country here in the US, there is no persecution. And quite honestly, it's not even really unreceptive when you compare it to countries in Europe and other places in the world. It's not really that unreceptive. There is no real persecution in serving God, but yet when you read in the Bible, you're seeing that they're going through real persecution to serve God. That's what you're seeing in Acts chapter 5, verse 40. Verse 41, and they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. This is the narrator speaking. They're not saying, hey, I'm happy. No, they're actually rejoicing. They actually are happy. Why? Because they got their happiness, not based on their circumstances in life, but because of the fact they're serving God and doing what's right. And in Acts 5, verse 41, they are happy that they are being persecuted because they know that what they're doing is right. Verse 42, and daily in the temple and in every house, they cease not to teach and preach Jesus Christ. Look, they get beaten, they don't throw in the towel. They just keep going and serving God. Now, when you're reading through them in the book of Acts, they are not intentionally agitating and trying to get arrested or anything like that. They're just getting arrested for just going soul winning and not causing any problems. Look, I don't try to cause problems when I go out soul winning. I just go soul winning and if somebody yells at me at the door, you know, I just say, okay, have a nice day and I just move on to the next door. You know, I'm not trying to start a World War III argument because I don't see that in the Bible and they're not doing that in the Bible, but just by going soul winning, they're getting beaten, they're getting arrested and it's for the name of Christ. But you know what? They cease not to teach and preach Jesus Christ. They said, you know what? No matter what happens, if I lose my head, if I get killed, so be it. I'm gonna serve God. And that is what took place to many of them down the road in history. Now turn to 1st Timothy 6, 1st Timothy 6. I mean, when you think of the Hall of Faith in Hebrews 11, you're just seeing how the Bible speaks about them being sawn asunder and all these things taking place, being tortured to death for what they believe. There's no real persecution in today's world. And so for Christians to just kind of give up the fight because of a little persecution, a light affliction, they lose their job and then they decide they don't wanna work at another job. Oh, I get paid less money. Look, that's not real persecution compared to what people have gone through in history. That is just what you do for the cause of Christ. And look, what you saw in Acts 5 is that they learned to be happy even though they were going through trials. And we as Christians, hey, you go through a trial in your life, you go through health problems, wealth problems, family problems, whatever, you need to learn to be happy. And if it's a real trial, endure through that, God can help you out. A good church can help you out as well. You've got fellow friends that will mourn with you and care about you. You go soul winning, it will help you get your mind off it and realize what's really important in life. You can get through that. Look, I've been soul winning for 14 plus years. I've gone through trials in my 14 years because everybody has ups and downs in their life. And sometimes I didn't feel like going soul winning. Sometimes my life wasn't great. Sometimes my job situations weren't great but you must learn to endure through that and keep serving God. And there is happiness attached to that if you endure through it, as the Bible says. First Timothy chapter six verse six, the Bible reads, but godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world and it is certain we can carry nothing out and having food and raiment, let us be there with content. The Bible speaks about being content here in first Timothy six and it talks about godliness and it says, you know what, you need to be godly and you need to be happy and that is great gain. But then a lot of people, they search after money. What the Bible says here is having food and raiment, let us be there with content. Now raiment is referring to your clothing. Now from the looks of this auditorium, everybody's got raiment. From the looks of this auditorium, the fact that you're alive, everybody has food. Now you say, well, I don't get to eat at nice meals all the time. Well, God didn't promise you that you get to eat nice food all the time. He promised you food, He promised you raiment and quite honestly, He doesn't even promise you shelter in this verse. But I'm assuming everybody in this room has a place to live. You say, well, it's not a nice place to live. I want a nicer place. Well, He didn't even promise you a place. Look, when Jesus was preaching, He spoke about how He had nowhere to lay His head. Sometimes He was just going out there and He was just, He didn't have a place. Look, if you have food and raiment, that alone should make you content. The problem is we like to compare our lives to other people and we look at other people and say, well, they get to do this. Man, I want to go on that vacation. If you don't have the money, you just can't go on the vacation. Throughout history, people weren't able to always go on vacation all the time. And you have to realize that in America, you live a very rich lifestyle. The first thing I really thought of when I came here to California, because I lived here for three years, but when I came back, coming in from the Philippines, I was like, man, it looks so clean here. That's what I thought in Sacramento. When I lived in Sacramento, I thought, man, it's really dirty. I mean, they got like a lot of homeless people around and stuff like that. But my first thing was like, man, it looks clean. I was like, I can tell I've been in the Philippines for about a year. Because in the Philippines, you do watch where you step, every step of the way. Now, where we do the soul-winning marathon, the missions trip in Resol Park, that's like the San Francisco, the Philippines. It's the tourist area and it's very receptive, but it is like the outcast of the Philippines. It's not the nicest area. Metro Manila's not the nicest area. But quite honestly, it's just, even in your average area here, it's just a lot nicer than in the Philippines. Now, I'm not upset about that though, because at the same time, the Philippines is more receptive. See, every area has benefits and drawbacks. Everything in life, you have good things and you have bad things. Every stage in life, there's benefits to being, you know, a teenager and having more free time, more free time to serve God. There's benefits, you know, when I was in college, you know, I enjoyed being in college. I hung out with my friends. I worked out all the time and had fun. There's benefits, but at the same time, I'm content with my life now. I don't just sit around and dwell about, man, I wish I could go back to that stage. No, I mean, whatever stage you're in, you need to learn to be content. And it is possible because the Bible says that you can achieve happiness if you just have food and raiment. And so if you spend your life comparing yourself to other people, maybe you won't be happy, but quite honestly, you know, you need to just learn to be content with what you have. And even with whatever you have in this room, I promise you, you live a much richer lifestyle than most people in the world. And quite honestly, I think of this sometimes with King Solomon. When you look at King Solomon, who was basically as rich as you possibly could be, he's searching far and wide to get all these exotic things, these exotic birds and salt. In today's world, you just go to the zoo. In today's world, you got a container of salt for like, you know, 99 cents at the grocery store. It's nothing. See the things that were a rich lifestyle back then, look, we have indoor plumbing in today's world. I mean, honestly, we live a very rich world compared to the rest of human history where they didn't get to have all these things. You can go to YouTube and see anything in the world that you want to see, basically. Everything that nobody ever got to see. In today's world, we live a very rich lifestyle. Whether you live in the Philippines or California, it's a rich lifestyle compared to what it's been in human history. But you have to realize that, you know, even if you lost everything, you need to learn to be content with that. God does not promise you a rich lifestyle. He promises you food and raiment. And everybody has that. Now, I want you to notice, well, actually, keep your place in 1 Timothy 6. We'll go back there in a minute, but go back to Philippians 4 real quickly. And what I want to spin the majority of this sermon on as we're looking at it first, because our first point is all of life's stages have problems. The second thing I mentioned was that happiness can be achieved in any stage. But the third thing I want to really highlight is that happiness can be learned. Because what it says in Philippians 4.11 is, not that I speak in respect of what, for I have learned. What Paul the apostle is saying is that this is something I had to learn. It didn't come naturally. Because naturally, you're not going to be happy if you have nothing in life. I mean, let's be honest. All of us like to be able to go out to nice restaurants, have a nice place to stay. None of us want to see a bunch of cockroaches running around and stuff like that. But what the Bible says is you can learn to be content. And he says, I have learned. So Paul the apostle, perhaps the greatest soul winner outside of the Lord Jesus Christ, what he said is this is something I learned. Being content was not something that just automatically happened. It wasn't just, well, I'm saved, so now I'm always happy. You know, he says, I learned. And look, Paul the apostle was traveling all over the place. I'm sure as he was traveling to new places, he wasn't just staying at the fanciest hotel. I'm sure he didn't have everything as he went to new places. He was working while he was also running churches. I mean, he was probably living a very simple life and he probably had to learn that, hey, even though I'm in this really dirty area, I gotta learn to be happy. Even though I don't really have the food I'm used to, I gotta learn to be happy. Paul the apostle said, I have learned. And so what I want you to realize is that anybody in this room, you can learn to be content. Look, there's many families in this room and the reality is that sometimes when you go to a church like this, sometimes the husband's really on board with a church like this and sometimes the wife isn't so much. You say, I kinda like the old church, it's more relaxing, I had more friends. Well, you can learn to be content though. You can learn to be happy at this church. Say, I'm only gonna be happy if I go back to my old church. No, you can learn to be content at this church. Now this is the church that's knocking the doors in this area, going soul winning, preaching heart against sin. If I lived here, this is where I would go. You can learn to be content at this church. You say, well, I'm only going here because my husband or my wife. No, learn to be content. Learn to be happy. Learn to be happy with what you have in life. You say, well, I wish things were different here. Learn to be happy with what you have. Nothing is perfect in life. No church is perfect, no man's perfect. This is a great church though and you need to learn to be content even if not everything is perfectly just like you want. Look, this is a new church and for a new church starting, this is great. This is a great building. Lots of people already hear from day one that are serving God. And eventually this will become like Verity Baptist Church. It will grow, it will flourish. Things take time though. And you would honestly, you need to learn to be content with what you have. Don't just dwell in the past and say, well, I wish I was here or this. Look, before I moved to Verity Baptist Church, I went to a church in West Virginia and it was an independent, fundamental Baptist Church. You know, I preached at Junior Church. I helped out on the bus route. And look, there were lots of doctrines I didn't agree with, right? You know, obviously, you know, if you're in this room and you're familiar with this type of church, there's a lot of doctrines that we preach that, you know, most churches don't really believe and most don't teach. But I'll be honest, I liked that church. I enjoyed that church. I still pray for that pastor and I was content at that church. I did think when I got married, one thought I had was moving close to that church because it was an hour and 40 minutes away from me. I came for Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night, but it was over an hour and a half away. But I thought about moving close to that church, but I just made the decision to move to Sacramento, you know, being married, starting a family. But look, I was still happy at that church. When I was at Verity Baptist Church, I was happy. A great church, you know, Pastor Minnes, you know, had me working on staff, you know, it was great, you know, great families. I love the Lord. My wife had great friends at the church, you know, great people to fellowship with. Look, I love that church, but then I believe that God wanted me to go and start a church. And so, you know, Pastor Minnes said, he thought I was ready and I went to the Philippines. But I was happy before I was at the Philippines. So I was excited to go to a new stage in my life, but no matter what stage you're at, be happy with what you have now. You got something great here now. You can serve God, you know, right here at this church and be happy with it. Don't always wait for something new. And look, you can learn to be content. I've had a desire to be a pastor since I was 19 years old. I'm 34 years old now. I was born in 1984. I first had a desire to be a pastor when I was 19 and I'm not a pastor right now, you know. We have our second child on the way and it's gonna be at least a few years before I'm ordained as a pastor. But you know, you see a lot of people, you know, if you pay attention to the internet world where they just gotta be a pastor now and they gotta get ordained now. It's like, look, you know, I've been serving God going so many for 14 years. And you know what? I'm fine with just, you know, waiting until I get ordained as a pastor. I'm happy with where I am now. You know, that's perfectly fine with me. In the Philippines, most pastors, you know, don't have any kids and a lot of them aren't even married. But they'll call you a pastor when you're like 19 years old if you graduate with their Bible college degree. And it's like, they just kinda cheat the system. It's like, well, why not just do things the way God says and be content with just serving God and being a member, going so many, bringing people to church. And so whatever stage in life, you know, we need to learn to be happy. Now, go back to 1st Timothy 6 and I wanna show you what the world's methods are to trying to be happy. We'll look at several methods that the world has to offer and we'll see what the end result of them is. I would say undoubtedly one of the big methods that the world has to being happy is to basically making lots of money and having lots of possessions, basically achieving lots of wealth. That is a method the world has tried for thousands of years to make them happy. Notice what it says in 1st Timothy 6, verse nine. But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare and into many foolish and hurtful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. When it says they that will be rich, it's saying somebody who's searching after money and trying to become rich. You know, there's nothing wrong if you have a good job and make money, but there is something wrong if that's your goal in life is to make money and just make lots of money. You're a very covetous person. You're gonna pierce yourself through. It says many foolish and hurtful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. When people search after money in their lives, it ends in misery. It ends in being upset and miserable and ruining your life. It does not make you happy. If you search after money, look, you are not going to be happy. And what we need to understand is that everybody in this world, 99%, they always put a smile on their face. Isn't that true? You walk up to someone at church and say, hey, how are you doing today? You're like, oh, I'm doing good. Even if they lost their job last night and they feel miserable. Isn't that true? Don't we all put a smile on our face and try to act like we're happy? Look, if you go outside in the world, the people that are getting drunk down at the bar, they're gonna act like they're happy. They're gonna even talk as if they're happy. They're gonna post on Facebook about how great it is getting drunk every night. They're not happy though. That is what the Bible teaches. Just because somebody says they are that does not mean they're happy and according to the Bible, which is what we put our trust in, it says that if you search after money, you have many foolish and hurtful us, which drown men in destruction and perdition. Look, searching after money makes you miserable. When I worked in Maryland, I just give you two quick examples just from my life of people I know. My first main boss that I had, he made a lot of money. He made over a quarter million dollars a year. I don't know his exact salary, but I know he made really, really good money. And I was with him on a trip to Kansas one time we were doing a presentation. I worked as a pension analyst in the actual real field. I worked on Microsoft Excel all day. And so basically I did all these mathematical charts and these graphs and everything. And he was basically presenting the graph to try to get a bid for a new business. And so we went there and he went through it and everybody knew my boss as being like a really happy and fun person. Like he seemed like he was always in a really good mood. And that's the way I kinda looked at him. But I remember at the end there, he told the person in Kansas he said, there's nothing lonelier in the world than sitting in an empty hotel room night without your family. And it had nothing to do with what we were talking about. It's just kind of out of the abundance of the heart what you're actually feeling just will come out from time to time. And here's this person who had all of the money you could ask for. Look, you know, California's an expensive area. You know, Cumberland, Maryland is not an expensive area. You make a quarter million dollars a year. You know, you are making real money. You're making a lot of money. He was one of the richest people in the area. And you would think he was happy with that. But out of his mouth it showed, you know what? I'm not happy. And it had nothing to do with what we were talking about. And the person felt kinda awkward and changed the subject. But basically he was saying, you know what? I'm miserable. Basically, I hate my life. Here's a guy who makes more money than I'll ever make. He's rich and he says, my life is miserable. Why? Cause I'm always gone for my family. That's basically what he's saying. He's lived his whole life on the road going on these things. Everywhere he goes, fancy restaurants. They book him a fancy hotel. Everyone says, you know, oh, it's great to meet you. You know, because he's really respected in the field. But in reality, he's miserable. The boss that took over for him ended up working for us. He started when he was 39. He actually retired in his late 30s from work. Because he worked, he was the head person in the NFL, the National Football League, working with their pensions. And so he basically was very, very high up in the world. He retired, but he basically got bored with life, so he got back into it. And he had a bonus one time. He told me when he worked for the NFL where he got like a brand new car for like $100,000. That was like a bonus. I mean, he made really, really, really good money. And basically, you know, to make this money, what he did was he worked 14 hour days, seven days a week. He worked 100 hours a week, basically. He just worked and worked and worked. He had all the money you could possibly ask for. I'm sure he went to travel to all these places, but you know, he had also been divorced several times. You say, how did that happen? Well, I mean, it doesn't matter how much money you have. If you're not there around your wife, if you're not there for your kids, do you wanna trade your life for that life? Do you wanna sacrifice your marriage and your kids and everything to make money? Look, searching after money, you will find a way to make money in this life if you really want that. If that is what your goal is, I don't care what your background is or your skills, if you're willing to work enough hours, you can make big money. But you know what? You're gonna sacrifice a lot of things. You're gonna sacrifice serving God. You're gonna sacrifice your family. You're gonna sacrifice your marriage. You're gonna sacrifice your kids. And is it really gonna be worth it when your kids are 20 years old and they have no interest in never seeing you? Is that gonna be worth it to you? But see, many Christians, not just unbelievers, Christians go down this road where they think money is gonna buy them happiness or resulted happiness because they're trusting in what the world has to offer. The world is lying to you. Turn your Bible to Ecclesiastes chapter two. As you're turning to Ecclesiastes two, I'll just read the end of that verse where it says, for the love of money is the root of all evil, which while some coveted after, they have aired from the faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. And so if we trust in the Bible, the Bible says that if you search after money, the end result is sorrow in your life. What's very common in the Philippines is that people work as OFWs. And OFW is an overseas Filipino worker. And there's more, the people from the Philippines are more spread out than any country in the world. There's over a million Filipinos that live in Saudi Arabia. There's like 250,000 that live in Qatar. There's like 100 plus thousand that live in Italy. And basically they work overseas because they make more money there. And so there's like a quarter million that live in Japan. Like they're all over the world, more than any other country. It's right, the four countries with the most overseas workers are Russia, India, Mexico and the Philippines. But like everyone from Mexico pretty much lives in the US and the other countries also, they're more localized. But in the Philippines, they go everywhere. Wherever they can make money. And so basically a lot of people, what they do is they have kids and they're trying to make more money. And they'll go overseas and they make more money. But unfortunately, many times what happens is as they get older, because they're gone from their family all the time. Unfortunately what happens is they pierce themselves through with many sorrows. That's the unfortunate end result of it. And unfortunately, and look, I understand, you know, it's a tough situation and people make choices. And honestly, it's a much harder life in the Philippines. But you know, here in this country, look, you can make decent money and just work hard and still serve God and be there for your family. Now you might not make as much as you can in some other field, but it's not like other countries, you can work hard and still be there for your family. Now you might have to work 50 hours a week, you might have to work 60 hours a week, but you can still come home at night and be there for your family. That is a luxury here of living in the US. See, in the Philippines, some people, they honestly can't really find a way around it. But here there really is no excuse in this country because you can make plenty of money even if you don't have as much as somebody else and still be there for your family and still serve God. You can find a job where you're still here for church every Sunday. You can find a job where you're here in the midweek service and you come here to go so many. You can find a job where you don't have to make a huge sacrifices in your life, searching after money. Don't make that mistake, many Christians do that. Ecclesiastes chapter two knows what it says in verse eight. Here we're speaking about Solomon and this is someone who is a believer. And it says in verse eight, I gathered me also silver and gold in the peculiar treasure of kings and of the princes, of the provinces. I got me men singers and women singers in the lights of the sons of men as musical instruments in that of all sorts. This is kind of what I'm talking about when I say he's searching after all these musical instruments. Like I said, you just go to YouTube and there's those instruments. We live in a rich day today because all these peculiar treasures are like right around us. Look, they didn't have like big grocery stores like Walmart back in their day. And look, where I'm in the Philippines, we don't have Walmart, but we have grocery stores that pretty much any food that you want. It's like we have everything in today's world, okay? We don't have to search after peculiar treasures like Solomon is, but this is what he chooses to do. He's searching after these peculiar instruments in Ecclesiastes verse nine. So I was great and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me and whatsoever my eyes desired I kept not from them. I withheld not my heart from any joy for my heart rejoiced in all my labor and this was my portion of all my labor. Here's a man who has everything in life and he searches after anything that he wants, anything that his eyes like, he just goes after them. Anything that he enjoys, anything that his flesh wants, he gratifies his flesh. Notice what it says in verse 11. Then I looked in all the works that my hands had wrought and on all the labor that I had labor to do and behold all was vanity and vexation of spirit and there was no profit under the sun. See Ecclesiastes is a really important book cause we really see the end of a man who had everything. I mean and you read the song of Solomon it seems like he has the perfect marriage. I mean it seems like he literally has a perfect marriage and he is increased but he always wanted just a little bit more. You say what is he doing? He's basically someone who wants to be rich. They that will be rich. He just wanted a little bit more. Look the richest people in the world they want a little bit more money too. You say I wish I had a little bit more money. I could fix this area of my house. Look the CEO who makes $300,000 or $400,000 he wants just to make $450,000. Why? Cause that will help him achieve one other thing and once he makes that he's gonna want a little bit more. Then he's gonna want a little bit more and a little bit more and a little bit more. That's how people are that are rich because they're searching after money. They never find it. They think they're gonna reach a level they're happy. Look they never end up being happy. And if you've ever had an area of your life where you really were trying to search after something I used to work out a lot in college and I'd have a goal of reaching a certain level of lifting a certain amount. And then you reach that level and you say I just want a little bit more. Just like 25 more pounds if I can reach that and it never ends. That's the way it is. You search after these things and you're not satisfied once you reach there. You think you're gonna be satisfied but you're not and what you need to do is be satisfied with what you already have. Be content with what you have now and don't worry about just if I reach this level you will never find it if you're searching after happiness. You must learn to be content with what you have at this point in your life. Turn to Psalms 144, Psalms 144. One of the famous stories in the Bible is with Abraham in Genesis 12 and 13 and basically you know there's a famine in the land and so Abraham does what a lot of us probably would and he basically gets scared and just kind of leaves. You know if you lose your job here in Fresno you might panic and say oh man I gotta just leave and just go to some town where there is no good church because you're worried about money. That's what Abraham does and if Abraham was willing to do that I'm sure many of us could end up doing that as well. I know that nothing has ever made me more panicked in life than finances. I know for most men that's probably the truth that you know money can really panic them and make them make foolish decisions in their life and prevent them from doing big things for God. But you know what you saw with Abraham in Genesis 12 is he searches after money. What's interesting about that story and I don't have time to really develop this is that he searches after money and immediately he has to lie about his wife and say you know oh she's my sister. Because he's worried that you know they might end up you know lying with her. You know forcing or raping or whatever. It's like well you know you've made a mistake if you're immediately telling lies. That's a good sign you're doing something wrong when you immediately have to cover something up and immediately he's having to cover it up in Genesis chapter 12. But if you read that story very closely he goes there and he's given all these great possessions and guess what when he goes back he still keeps those possessions. He actually got worried due to money and he flees down to Egypt and he gets filthy stinking rich in Egypt. But you know when he brings back that money why is it that Lot separated from Abraham? Because they had too many possessions. That's the reason why. They had too many flocks. You see extra money actually destroyed his life. Not to mention that Hagar came from Egypt. See if you achieve more money in life it actually could result in more problems. Abraham got what he wanted, he got rich and guess why Lot went to Sodom and Gomorrah? Well because they had too much money. They had too many flocks. Now from an outsider's standpoint hey just forsake the flocks. It's just an animal. Just kill the animal, forget about it but they had too many animals. They didn't want to get rid of them and so they had to depart from one another. They had too much. They had to strife amongst their men because they just had too much. And so making money is not necessarily a good thing. You say if I take this job and I skip church on Sundays I can make a lot of money. I can still come on Thursday nights. I can still do some soul winning. I'll make more money. I'll tithe more. Having extra money could actually destroy your life. Quite honestly with most people having money is not necessarily a good thing. God doesn't really want most of us to be rich because honestly most of us just don't know how to handle it. I worked in a very prestigious career before I went to Sacramento but I did not make a lot of money. I made plenty of money to survive but I made like half as much money as other people in my field because of the area I was and the company I was with. Quite honestly I used to be kind of frustrated because I worked a lot of hours in past these crazy math exams to get there and I didn't really get the money but when I look back on the other side I think if I made more money I would have never moved to Sacramento. I guarantee that. You say why? It's really easy to throw away a career when it's just kind of barely paying your bills. It's kind of hard to throw away that same career when you're making good money which I wasn't doing. I was making money to survive, I'm not complaining. I'm just saying I wasn't making the sort of money that other actuaries make and so it's pretty easy to give it up. See when you're making a lot it's not that difficult but when you're really being blessed financially or at least that's the way it appears you're making good money it's really hard to make the right decision sometimes because you're throwing away a lot. See if you don't have that much to throw away you have really nothing to lose. And oftentimes that's why God really uses people and doesn't necessarily allow them to make lots of money. See what I want you to understand is that making lots of money it's not necessarily a good thing. Now yes as a man you gotta provide your bills and pay for the bills and pay for your family and work hard and you know what? God will provide what you need but he might not provide what you want and searching after money even if you find it it might not make you happy it might actually make you miserable and honestly when you look at what the Bible says you pierce yourself through with many sorrows usually it's probably gonna result misery and not in happiness. Now in Psalms 144 we're gonna see another method for dealing with strife and problems and persecution and trials in your life another method people have is to complain. They feel like by complaining it will make them happy. See this is what takes place when people are miserable they complain about it and it makes them feel good for like 30 minutes and then the next week they complain about it and they feel good for 30 minutes and the next week they do the same thing they're gossiping and complaining about the things they don't like and it makes them feel good while they're complaining and yet six months from now they're still complaining about the same thing. See complaining will temporarily fix what you don't like but it will permanently keep you in that same state that you're at because you're always thinking about it and always upset about it. Notice what it says in Psalms 144 verses 14 and 15 that our oxen may be strong to labor that there be no breaking in nor going out there be no complaining in our streets. Happy is that people that is in such a case yay happy is that people whose God is the Lord. See in verse 14 it talks about complaining and being a bad thing and the ones that don't complain they're happy. What is that showing you when you complain you're not happy? Obviously if you're complaining you're not happy but if you're constantly in a state where you're complaining look it's gonna leave you miserable. Now it will make you temporarily happy to think about the problems that you're going through but quite honestly who you need to take that to is take that to the Lord. Number one. Now obviously if you're married to some degree you know obviously you can talk to your spouse and talk about those things but if you have a habit of just complaining to other church members like you're upset about this and this and this what will take place is you'll always be upset about it because it's fresh in your mind. If there's something that bothers you and you always talk about it you'll never be able to forget about it. See if you could forget about it you would be happy right? If you're not thinking about it you're gonna be happy. Look if you're constantly complaining about it you're never gonna be happy. You're always gonna be miserable about it and see the world will teach you just to complain about it it doesn't actually make you happy. In fact there's a whole music industry that is built on this concept. Country music. The whole thing of country music and look me when I was in college you know before I saved I listened to rock music and after I got saved you know you feel really guilty with some of those songs. You know Aerosmith if you know some of these bands the Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll and the music is just filthy what they talk about. But then before you really hear somebody preach about it you start thinking well I mean maybe country is the godly music. So basically I kind of switched and I was in West Virginia so a lot of people listened to country music and I thought yeah they talk about God and stuff like that and now look I don't listen to country music now and obviously I realize there's problems with it now but what I'm saying is that's really what the whole music industry is built on. The country music. Why? Because what are they saying about? Oh man I'm so miserable because I you know I lost my girlfriend you know and they're always drinking away their sorrows. It's always just talking about how miserable their life is and people feel good when they listen to that for a little while because they basically get to complain through the music it leaves them miserable though. Look if you look at the charts of what's considered perhaps the greatest country song of all time the song He Stop Loving Her Today is up there towards the top. Has anyone heard that song? He Stop Loving Her Today. This song by George Jones it's considered by many the greatest song of all time in country music and basically what the song is about is that he has a relationship that doesn't work out and he keeps his her pictures by his bedside every day and he looks at them and he's always sad and everybody knew him as being always miserable and upset he's never happy and when it says he stopped loving her today when you pay attention to what it's saying is once he died he had a smile on his face because some people when they die you know they'll die with a smile on their face and they said it's the first time he's smiled in years and it's just like the whole song is basically about how your life is miserable because you lost this one girlfriend or whatever and he's miserable and upset and then he's finally happy once he's dead. Look if you listen to songs like that and you just went through a breakup you're gonna be miserable for your whole life. That music doesn't help you. See the Bible talks about singing songs hymns and spiritual songs and that makes you happy but listening to music about complaining and bitterness how is that gonna make you happy? And listening to that music or complaining to fellow people it's only gonna make you bitter forever. Look every single one of us when you're at this church you're gonna have people that do you wrong at this church. Someone's gonna say something that makes you mad. Somebody's gonna do something that makes you mad. Somebody's gonna offend you and look it happens to all of us and yes you know we all have a flesh and we get upset it's not always easy to shake things off but what I want you to understand is that if you don't learn to just shake that off and you just choose to dwell on it it's just gonna make you miserable forever. Look the truth is that all of us at times say stupid things all of us do stupid things. All of us say things and we're like man I wish that didn't come out of my mouth and we can offend people. It is what it is we should try our best not to but look you know what if you want people to forgive you when you mess up you need to learn to forgive other people when they mess up and the world's method of complaining yeah that works for like 15 minutes and you're still miserable that night. The world tries that method but look it doesn't work. Searching after money that's not gonna make you happy. Complaining about it that doesn't make you happy turn to Genesis 29 and trying to escape a stage that doesn't make you happy either. See another thing people think is they think well you know if I were to just be able to get through this tough stage in my life then I will be satisfied and yet throughout the Bible you see people that try this method and it doesn't work and Genesis 29 verse number 31. Genesis chapter 29 verse 31 and when the Lord saw that Leah was hated he opened her womb but Rachel was barren and Leah conceived and bear a son and she called his name Reuben for she said surely the Lord hath looked upon my affliction now therefore my husband will love me. This is a sad story where basically you know Jacob is married, Jacob doesn't really love Leah. He loves Rachel, didn't want to marry Leah you know most of you are probably familiar with this story but quite honestly even in this world today people are married and some people don't want to be married to who they're married to and it is what it is but basically Jacob is not really want to be with Leah he wants to be with Rachel and Leah is saying you know man I gave him a husband Rachel didn't give him a husband now my husband will love me. That's pretty sad isn't it? That she's like I you know my husband doesn't love me he doesn't care about me but now that I've given him a husband he'll finally love me but notice what it says in verse 33 and she conceived again and bear a son and said because the Lord hath heard that I was hated he hath therefore given me this son also and she called his name Simeon. It says in verse 33 that she's hated does her husband really love her at this point at least in her eyes? No she still feels the same way her husband loves Rachel doesn't really love her the first child didn't fix that problem did it now it takes time to have a child it doesn't just come like this I know these are back to back verses but what the Bible is trying to bring home this point is the fact that she thinks that she's finally going to be loved by her husband and she's searching for that and waiting for that and then she'll be happy it doesn't take place when she has Reuben and then Simeon comes verse number 35 and she conceived again and bear a son and she said now will I praise the Lord therefore she called his name Judah and left bearing she says now will I praise the Lord what she's saying is I haven't been praising the Lord for these several years because I'm miserable that my husband doesn't love me now I'm going to praise the Lord she's searching for this new stage is finally going to make her happy but it doesn't come and yet Rachel her husband loves her but she's not able to have a child and she will be happy if she just has a child do you notice how basically you know this is something that we do as people they try to escape this stage and they say I'll be happy once I turn 18 and I basically can live on my own once I'm able to drive then I'll be happy once you know I get a good job then I'll be happy once I have that first child then I'll be happy look when you search after happiness like that it doesn't result in happiness because the reality is there's no just you know I don't know just rainbow and at the very end of it there's happiness on the other side no look you're not going to find that on the other side you have to learn to be happy now and the same people that are miserable now are going to be miserable six months from now when they get that pay raise the same people that are miserable now are going to be miserable once they do have that child the same people that cannot learn to be content now are the same people that are going to be miserable even when life is going well for them because there is always something to complain about and some people just find something in their life that they don't like instead of focusing on what they do have now go to John 13 John 13 see what you need to realize is there's some good things about going through trials and having a rough life sometimes because it makes you appreciate what you do have I remember I worked as a teacher one year and before I worked as a teacher I was basically told I'd start work I was basically hired and I quit my old job and then they said oh actually you got to wait eight weeks because you have to pass this fingerprint cleaners card and I'm like you know I thought I was going to be starting so I left my old job and so what I did for eight weeks is well I don't want to sit around and do nothing so I worked at a car wash for eight weeks I was like I got to pick up a job temporarily that was the worst job I've ever had I mean it was miserable it was over a hundred degrees outside and I was like up on a tall ladder painting outside I've got sweat pouring down every time like a drop of paint fell and hit the ground he's my boss is like yelling at me and I'm like good night man I'm sweating I'm soaked and everything he's always yelling at me every single day I got to yell that over and over again but you know that job made me really appreciate other jobs I mean I hated it at the time it was terrible but you know what it happened it made me really thankful for what I had after that job was over look you say brother Stucky I don't like my job well you know what it's going to make you really happy once you have a different job it's going to make you appreciate your job in the future that you would not have appreciated unless you went through trials now see there's a reason why God allows us to go through trials because sometimes we're just not willing to be happy and so sometimes God has to say well I'll let you go through trials and then you'll learn to be happy but if you're not going to learn to be happy you're going to just keep going through trials we must be willing to endure through those trials and realize that the other side there is happiness associated look we don't always understand why our lives aren't going better but you know God has a reason sometimes now I want you to see God's methods of being happy because we look to the world's methods let's look at God's methods of being happy says in John 13 verse 12 so after he had washed their feet and had taken his garments and was set down again he said unto them know you what I have done to you ye call me master and lord and ye say well for so I am if I then your lord master of wash your feet ye also ought to wash one another's feet for I've given you an example that ye should do as I have done to you and so notice how Jesus is washing their feet okay now look there's not really anything more lowly and meekly than washing somebody's feet washing somebody's dirty feet that's not exactly the first job we sign up for is it now this is just an example obviously there are actually some churches that this is part of their ministry like they do foot washing every week it's like okay that's kind of weird okay that's not what we're gonna do around here but you know basically Jesus is washing their feet as an example as I have done you should do as well what is he showing them he's basically saying you serve other people and don't serve yourself that's what Jesus is doing he's laying down his life for the sake of other people nobody wants to wash other people's feet but he's giving them an example that your life is to be one of serving see when you actually serve that is what makes you happy I say prove it to me well verse 16 verily verily I say in you the servant is not greater than his Lord neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him if you know these things happy are ye if you do them see when you're at a church like this you know what's right and what's wrong nobody could walk out of this church a year from now and say I had no idea I was supposed to read the Bible every day I had no idea that I wasn't supposed to live in fornication I had no idea I wasn't supposed to go out and drink look you know what's right and what's wrong you're gonna hear that preach at this church you're gonna hear that at Verity Baptist at this church Verity Baptist Manila at our type of church you're gonna hear this preach you're gonna know what is right to do and quite honestly if you don't choose to do it you're gonna be a miserable person see what he's saying here is if you choose to serve and obey what I say that is actually what makes you happy now you must remember this cause the world's gonna lie to you they're gonna tell you over and over again in your head that you know if you made more money it's gonna make you happy it will not make you happy it results in misery that is what the Bible teaches and if you put your trust in the Bible for salvation you need to put your trust in the Bible for everything and what the Bible teaches is that serving God is the secret to achieving happiness now that doesn't mean every day is gonna be happy though that doesn't mean that on Sunday morning and you're tired you woke up you know you went to bed late last night you're like man it's early I just wanna relax and sleep in once that doesn't mean that while you're doing it every day it's always making you happy but at the end of the day when you go to bed at night and you realize that you have a completely clear conscience and you're serving God there's no greater feeling than that that's the reality look serving God is gonna result in happiness for us here in this room that are saved that is what the Bible teaches searching after money complaining about it all the methods the world has to offer are just waiting to one day be happy that is not going to make you happy one thing that I've never really understood is that people that will listen to a lot of sermons online and then once the church has started like in their home area they just don't go to the church they say they want a church like this you know in Manila there was a lot of people I was expecting to be part of the church that some of them came one time they were never there after that I mean they wanted a church like this it's like well we moved to the other side of the world and started a church like 15 minutes from where you live and you can't make it because oh I'm on work schedule I gotta work on Sundays it's like well you know we made sacrifices why don't you make a sacrifice you say you want a church and then they don't even come to church this happens in every location every location every time a church has started there's people right there from day one man we want a church like this it comes and they just can't find a way to make it church it's just the way it is because they don't really want to serve God that's the reality but you know quite honestly I do not understand listening to all these sermons and not going to church because God's going to hold you accountable if you know what is right to do and you don't do it and quite honestly it's going to make you miserable look learning the truth really makes you happy if you do them if you actually apply it it doesn't make you happy if you don't apply it though it's just going to make you miserable honestly people that decide not to serve God it's like just quit listening to sermons you're going to be held less accountable your life's going to be better if you quit listening to sermons if you don't apply it because if you actually listen to the sermons if you're actually part of a church and you hear this preaching you're expected to do these things and if you choose not to do them and always just take in knowledge but never actually do something with it quite honestly you're going to live a miserable life because you're just devoting your life to self and quite honestly when you devote your life just to yourself it makes you miserable it doesn't make you happy you know you look at parents that basically are you know work with their kids and do a good job raising them they're very thankful because they see the product of that I look at my son and see changes in his life it really makes me happy to see that because quite honestly it takes effort to spank your child it's not always the easiest thing to teach them and train them and correct them but you see the end result it makes you happy but if you just live your life self-absorbed and think about yourself it's going to make you miserable look many religions in the world are built on this principle as well you know Buddhism is really a religion that is 100% focused on self now they won't claim that but isn't the whole point of the religion to reach Nirvana in your life in this enlightenment and then basically you get to depart from the world you know you get to end the cycle of reincarnation and they're basically just I need to reach a point where I'm happy look if you look at the original Buddha he was a guy who was married and he was going to have a child and right before his wife gives birth he leaves the home and he's gone from his child and just flees and goes and just searches after something for years and years does that sound like a good father? does that sound like a good husband? what a miserable wicked person that is he just leaves the family and he's just searching after happiness and look you know what? that's not going to get you happiness when you only care about yourself and what makes you happy that will make you miserable that does not make you happy look a life of happiness it's not an easy thing to do but it's not going to be achieved by the world's methods if you want to find happiness it's found in being part of a good church and serving that church being a blessing to that church and basically just serving God and doing what he tells you to do look go into a church like this get involved as much as you can volunteer as much as you can you say, brother, it's stuck in my life, it's so busy but do you want to be happy? because if you want to be happy you know what, honestly you'll go a little bit above what you're going and try to help and volunteer in some way that is going to make you happy we saw that in the Bible the world's methods fail but God's method is you're serving him and obeying him and doing what he says happy are ye if you do them if you do them what is that saying if you don't do what God says it's going to make you miserable you know, honestly I've really felt like although I've gone through trials in my life ever since I've been saved I really felt like I was pretty happy and I didn't go out and drink I didn't go out and party but you know, whatever church I was at even if it wasn't perfect I just got involved and just volunteered the first church I went to and this is a church I wouldn't recommend anymore you know, obviously I've grown I've learned more things but you know, I was there at you know, 7.30 on Sunday mornings just helping them set up because they met in a location they just rented out and I just got there a few hours early and just helped set stuff up just because I wanted to be a blessing I wanted to help out and quite honestly when you do that that is what results in happiness you say why is this an important sermon it's an important sermon because honestly you have a great blessing here you have a great church you have a church where you can grow you can raise your kids they're going to have like-minded people that they can meet at this church and grow and serve God but quite honestly you will go through trials in your life and for some of you in a couple months you're going to go through trials for some of you you're going to have a health problem in a few months for some of you you're going to have financial problems in a few months look, but the worst thing you can do is leave the church the worst thing you can do is backslide and get out of the things of God I'm not saying you have to be really really happy while you're going through it I'm not saying you can't shed a tear I'm not saying that you can't mourn about it a little bit but what I'm saying is don't leave the church don't backslide on the things of God because if you endure through it as Job happier if you reach the other side let's close in a word of prayer Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here in your house here this morning ask you to help us all apply this sermon to our lives including myself God is something we all can work on from time to time you know sometimes we go through trials or things that we don't like in life but honestly our lives all of us in this room you know is pretty good you've blessed us in so many ways not only are we saving on our way to heaven but we've seen great things and benefits you've given us in life God help us to learn to be content no matter what problems we have in our lives God we pray this in Jesus' name Amen