Godliness with Contentment Brings Great Spiritual Profit

Okay, let us pray. Heavenly Father, every good and perfect gift can only come from you. We acknowledge that.

Everything else will be imperfect in some way. So we want everything to come from you in this session, that which is good and perfect. Please help the channel to be clean with no obstruction.

We want to trust you completely. We reach out in faith and take a hold of your grace, which is sufficient for every task, for everything. Thank you, Lord Jesus, that your grace is sufficient for every single need of every single person listening at this time.

We believe that you have a word from heaven for us. Because we don't trust in ourselves, but in you, it is always a good pleasure to bless us. There is an abundance with you and it can never run short.

We trust you that rivers of living water will flow from your throne to all of us. Thank you, Lord. Be present in our midst, though we are separated by distance.

You are in our midst. We believe that. In Jesus' name, amen.

Okay, I was thinking today of 1 Timothy 6. If you can turn with me to 1 Timothy 6 and verse 6. See, in the church we emphasize godliness, the secret of godliness, that Christ came in the flesh and was tempted like us and overcame. This has been the truth on which we have proclaimed constantly, that along with the baptism in the Holy Spirit, these are the two great truths on which CFC was founded, to be filled with the Spirit and to take up the cross and follow in Jesus' footsteps, who was tempted like us but never sinned. That's our calling.

And all those who are gripped by that calling will become part of the body that Christ is building in many CFC churches around the world. We can't say for definite that everybody sitting in a CFC church is necessarily gripped by the truth of the necessity of being filled with the Holy Spirit every single day and the necessity of taking up the cross daily and following in Jesus' footsteps to overcome sin. We can't say that everyone who listens to the messages even online like this is gripped by it, but I trust that many of you are gripped and I trust that many of you will be gripped pretty soon if you are not already gripped.

That is the only worthwhile life living on this earth and we will discover that when Christ comes again if you don't discover it now and then it'll be too late. We must realize now that the only worthwhile life that we can live on this earth is a life of godliness following in Jesus' footsteps. But here in 1 Timothy 6 verse 6 we are told godliness is actually a means of great gain only when it is accompanied with contentment.

Godliness by itself without contentment is not real godliness. If you're always wishing for something more then you're not content. When we think of wishing for something more I'm not only talking about money.

You can wish for some gift that God hasn't given you which is given to somebody else and you keep wishing that you had that perhaps to get some honor for yourself. Why do you wish to have the gift that you admire in another brother? Ask yourself honestly. Isn't it for honor? I mean you can't imagine that you're thinking of blessing the body of Christ because to bless the body of Christ you can only do it with the gift God has given you not with the gift God's given to somebody else.

If the hand is always wishing that it were the tongue because the tongue is speaking it'll make a will never fulfill its job as a hand because first of all it cannot speak but it can do amazing things with these five fingers and I believe God can do amazing things with you if you are content with whatever gift God has given you instead of wishing that you had somebody else's gift. I've seen this in many many people young people I can understand because they are foolish and ignorant but even after they are believers for many years they don't seem to give up this habit of wanting what God has not given them and I'm not thinking only of money. I'm thinking of many other things.

If God hasn't given you resources and physical resources and comfortable living compared to others be content with what you have because godliness without contentment is not real godliness. It's a counterfeit. It's very clear here godliness is a means of great gain that means great gain means what you won't tell a businessman you can make a great gain.

What does he think of something that will make him supremely happy which is making a lot of money his business prospering in every way. Now apply that to our life spiritually great gain tremendous gain and profit if your godliness is accompanied with contentment that you can say you're content when you say Lord I don't have a single complaint against any of my circumstances. I don't have a complaint about the state of my health.

I don't have a complaint about how much money you give me to live on every month. I don't have a complaint about the fellowship you have given me in the church. I'm not wishing for a better church.

I mean if I can I will join the best church of all but if God has not permitted you in your circumstances to find such a place be content with where you are because there God can bless you abundantly even if you're all alone in some place and you don't have any fellowship at all. There are many brothers like that in different parts of the world who are all alone maybe some of you you don't have a fellowship that satisfies you like another and you wish that you could be part of RLCF or something if you live there but God has not arranged that for you if you can move there it's excellent but if God has not made it possible for you to move out of your locality then be content because in the place where God has put you he can bless you beyond anything you can imagine and don't think that if you move to another place you're going to be happy. Happiness comes through being content at each time with whatever circumstances God has given us.

Yeah we can always aim for something better but what I mean is if God doesn't grant that then be content with what you are because then you will have great gain. Godliness will not bring great gain if underneath it you're always a bit discontent with something in your life. There are people who've been married for years who are a little discontented with their partner.

Are you? Can you honestly say those of you who are married that you're perfectly content? I'm not saying your partner is perfect. Let me just inform you that there's nobody in the world that's perfect. You're not perfect yourself.

You've got to be very conceited to think that an imperfect person like you should get a perfect partner. Isn't that how a lot of people are looking for the perfect partner? An imperfect person looking for a perfect partner that's absolute conceit. Humble yourself brother, sister and say I'm imperfect so God in his great wisdom and to make sure that somebody doesn't get cheated by marrying me gave me an imperfect partner.

Say that. So don't ever complain against your partner in marriage because God saw your condition and gave you something, someone exactly suited for you. So don't think you can ever be godly.

Ever. However many meetings like this you attend, you will never be godly if you don't learn contentment and perhaps the first area we need to learn contentment is with our circumstances. If you're married with your wife, with your husband, to be perfectly content that means you can praise the Lord for your marriage.

Not because your partner is perfect. Let me tell you in case you did not know it. There's nobody on earth who's perfect.

1 John chapter 2 verse 3 and 4 says we will be perfect only, 1 John chapter 3 verse 3 and 4 says we'll be perfect only when Christ comes again. We'll be like him. Then we'll be perfect.

But see, it should be so obvious to everyone that you're not perfect and therefore you cannot expect a perfect partner. God gives us something exactly equal to us. See it's like these two hands for example.

God has made these two hands in the body so perfectly equal then when you put them together they fit. The middle finger is the same size and the third fingers are the same size and the little fingers are the same size. The thumb is the same size.

Wouldn't it be ugly one was so much bigger than the other? Think of husband and wife like this. Whatever you are like, God has given your wife exactly suited to you. Be content.

Let's start with that. Be content with the circumstances God has placed you in. For those of you who are not married, by all means there's nothing wrong in seeking to get married if you're young.

But until God does that, seek earnestly. I'm not saying you shouldn't. I encourage all young people to seek earnestly, prayerfully for a partner.

But until God gives you, be content with what you have while you're pressing on for something else. The same way with employment. There's nothing wrong in seeking a better job.

There's nothing wrong in seeking a higher salary. Cost of living is going up all the time. There's absolutely nothing wrong in seeking a better job and finding a better salary or going to another location to find a job and a higher salary.

But in all these things, Jesus said, seek the kingdom of God first. Don't sacrifice the values of the kingdom in order to get something because that way you will not get. I can tell you from 65 years of being a born again believer throughout my life, whatever circumstance God put me in, I thank the Lord and praise the Lord.

Sometimes it is very, very difficult, but I praise the Lord because that's what He had determined for me. And if that's what He's determined for me, then it must be the very best. You know, the Bible speaks about being at rest.

I don't know whether you know that verse. Please turn with me to Hebrews and chapter four. It speaks about a rest being available for the people of God.

What is that rest? Therefore, Hebrews 4.1, let us fear while a promise remains of entering His rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. So here it says that there's a possibility that a person can be a born again believer and not come into the rest. The rest means the perfect peace of mind, perfect rest in the heart that God wants to give us.

Don't come short of it. He says, let us fear, let's be afraid. Is it something so serious that we should be afraid of missing it? Yes.

It says we should be afraid lest God wants us to live a life of rest on earth and we miss it. Because the reason is, you know, God's got a perfect plan for our lives. That's one of the things that gripped me long, long ago, that from the time I was born again, God had a plan for my life.

He ignores the days of disobedience and ignorance that all of us lived in before we were born again. It says in Acts 17, 30, God ignores, overlooks those times of ignorance. But from the time we are born again, that verse says He commands everyone to repent, to repent of the choices we made in our life and the way we lived.

Repent means to turn away from that and to seek godliness. So, and from that time onwards, if you seek God's kingdom first and His righteousness, you know that very well-known verse that all of us must know in case you don't know the reference. It's Matthew 6, 33.

Seek the kingdom of God first and His righteousness. All the other things will be added to you. The kingdom of God is the area where God is king.

See, in those days, today we don't have so many kings, very few kings. Mostly our country is governed by presidents and prime ministers and all that. But in those days when Jesus lived on earth and the centuries before that, countries were ruled by kings.

So we talked about different, different kingdoms. Today, today there are a few kingdoms, but they'll have a king on top. So kingdom of God is a kingdom where God is king.

So when it says seek the kingdom of God first, it means seek to bring your whole life, your family life under the control of God as the absolute ruler. In countries that had a king, the king's word is law. There's no question of any court deciding whether what the king says is right or not.

The king's word is law and no justice, there's no supreme court that could question it. That's how kings were. So suddenly when God is a king, we can be absolutely sure that everything He arranges and everything He plans and everything He asks us to do is absolutely perfect.

We're living in a perfect kingdom when we are living in the kingdom of God. And if all of my heart is set on obeying the laws of this kingdom of righteousness, of humility, of brokenness, of taking up the cross every day and dying to myself and seeking God's will in everything, of giving thanks at all times in all situations, because, not because it's comfortable for me, but because like it says in Romans 8, 28, God is making everything work together. It's like a jigsaw puzzle.

You know, the circumstances of our life are like a big jigsaw puzzle with about 500 pieces. Some people I've seen who get these jigsaw puzzles of 500 pieces and put it all together. And sometimes the puzzle is the face of Jesus, as men understand it.

Nobody's actually seen his face, but a picture of Jesus. Imagine you have 500 pieces of a jigsaw puzzle forming the face of Jesus and it's all mixed up. You can't see the face of Jesus till it's all put in its proper place and say, Lord, I want to put it all in their proper place.

In righteousness in every area, in the way I speak to people, in the way I deal with my money, in the way I deal with my neighbors, the way I deal with my enemies, the faithfulness with which I work in the office. If I put everything in its proper place, I will see the face of Jesus there. I'll see the glory of God there.

And everything will work together for good to make me, it says in Romans 8 29, to make me like Christ. That is why I'm content. Now, if your main goal in life, which it should be, is to become totally like Christ, I can honestly say that without a shadow of doubt, every fiber of my being wants to become like Christ in every area, in the way I think, in the way I speak, in the way I serve the Lord, in the way I preach, in my motives, in the attitudes I have towards people.

I want to be completely like Jesus Christ. I hope that's your desire too. You cannot have a higher desire than that.

I want to have the exact amount of money that Jesus decides is good for me. Less than that may be difficult. More than that will ruin me.

So God decides that. God decides the amount of help I should have to serve him. You think it's so difficult for God to make us healthy? He can do miracles.

He raised the dead. What greater miracle is there than that? And if God has given you, my brother, sister, a certain limited amount of help, by all means, go to doctors, see in whatever way you can improve it, but don't ever have a spirit of complaining. Don't compare yourself with others.

No complaining and no comparison. Don't compare your job with somebody else's job. Don't compare your intelligence with somebody else's intelligence because you will be covetous.

You'll wish you could be like him. I'll tell you, the only person you should wish you should be like is Jesus Christ. That's all.

And that not in cleverness and miracle working, but in character. The greatest thing about Jesus is not that he raised the dead. The greatest thing about Jesus is that he was humble and gentle of heart.

So I must have a longing for that. Turn with me to Matthew 11, verse 29, one of my favorite verses, because it's the one place where Jesus tells us where we are to be like him. Matthew 11 and verse 29, where he says, learn from me.

You know, we go to school and we tell our children, listen to the teacher properly. When the teacher's teaching you mathematics or science, listen carefully because it's a very important subject. You cannot graduate from school if you take your math and science classes cheaply.

Take it seriously. And here's what Jesus says, what we are to learn from him. What is the education that Jesus wants to give us? He says, I am gentle and humble in heart.

What are the two subjects in the school of Christ? Gentleness and humility. Everything else fits in along with that. Gentleness and humility.

Then God will fill us with the Holy Spirit and the fruit of the spirit of love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, humility, and self-control will come through it. But let's learn from Jesus how to be gentle and humble in heart. There's a lot of harshness in us.

In the way we speak to people, in the way we deal with people, especially when we are irritated. And there's a great necessity to look at Jesus and say, Lord, I'm a harsh person. I'm a hard person.

Make me gentle. We all know the meaning of the word gentle. You know what it is.

In our speech, especially. Covet, covet, great. Like businessmen covet to make money.

I say, Lord, let me covet to become a gentle person in my speech. To be gentle in the way I deal with people when they do something wrong. It's, you know, when you have to deal with people, maybe somebody who works for you in your office or in your home or the children are doing something terribly wrong.

To be gentle in correcting them. That doesn't come naturally to us. Naturally, we are harsh and say, why in the world do you do that? That's human.

But we're not human. We're supposed to be divine. We're children of God, not children of Adam.

So we need to learn gentleness. We need to learn from humility. It doesn't come automatically.

Jesus said, learn from me. Like if your child doesn't learn math properly in school, it's because he's not paying attention. When the teacher is saying something, he's not paying attention.

His mind is wandering somewhere else. Well, then he won't know how to solve those math problems. It's the same way.

Do you know that God is speaking every day? I believe that with all my heart. In fact, the very first page of my Bible says that every day God spoke. First day he spoke, second day he spoke.

Turn to Genesis chapter one whenever you get time and see for yourself. Every day he spoke and every day something happened. He spoke the first day and there was light.

He spoke the second day, something else happened. Heavens are separate. He spoke the third day, fourth day, fifth day, sixth day, and the seventh day, Adam and Eve were listening to him the whole day.

He was speaking all the time. We are living in the seventh day now where God is speaking all the time. If I have years to hear, I will hear him.

Listening to him will make us content. Learn from him humility and gentleness and that will bring a rest into our life. How do I know that I'm content? There's no unrest in my heart.

If there's unrest in your heart, my brother, sister, I don't want to condemn you. I don't want to criticize you or find fault with you. You're all human.

We want to bear with one another, but I want to say it very gently. If you find unrest in your heart when something happens or somebody tells you something or something you expected did not materialize the way you expected it, when there's unrest, deal with that. That is like a thorn that got into your body.

What do you do if that thorn got into your body? So accidentally a thorn got into your chest. Boy, that can be pretty painful. Unrest is like that.

How long will you leave that thorn lying there? Pull it out. Pull it out. Say if you can't pull it out, ask somebody's help.

Ask the Lord to help you. Lord, there's a lot of unrest in my heart right now about something that happened or I expected somebody to do something for me and didn't do it, or he messed up the whole thing when I asked him to do it. We're living in a world which is imperfect, and we are surrounded by imperfect people on all sides.

In the midst of this imperfect world, surrounded by imperfect people on all sides, God is going to make me perfect. I believe that. I rejoice in that.

Lord, I thank you in an imperfect world, surrounded by imperfect people, surrounded by imperfect Christians, surrounded by so-called spiritual people who are imperfect, I am going to become more and more like Christ. Can you say that in faith? In fact, God will use these surroundings to make me perfect. So godliness with contentment.

Be content with your circumstances. Don't always wish you had somebody else's personality or somebody else's good looks. No.

God had a perfect plan in everything. Everything. Everything he allows in your life, small things and big things.

I say, Lord, that you made me. Are you worried about your looks? You know, I started losing my hair when I was 23 years old, and little by little I lost my hair. I said, praise the Lord.

Well, now nobody will marry me for my hair. They'll only marry me for some spiritual values. Praise the Lord.

In everything, there's something good that God has planned. God doesn't make a mistake. The Apostle Paul was not only bald, he was less than five feet tall.

Can you imagine a short man, less than five feet, bald, and he had a hooked nose. History tells us that Paul had a hooked nose. He was bald and short.

That was not at all an impressive personality. He was not like these famous evangelists who have fantastic personalities. That man turned the world upside down in his day.

It had nothing to do with his personality. It had to do with the power of the Holy Spirit. That's a tremendous encouragement to me.

Be content with whatever your physical appearance is. Be content with whatever circumstances you are in. Godliness with contentment brings great profit.

Every businessman would be delighted to hear great profit. But it says godliness with contentment will bring you great profit in your life. In eternity, you will discover that the people who accomplished the most on earth, believers who accomplished the most, were people who decided and determined that they will always live with contentment.

Content with their marriage partners. No complaint that she should be a little better or a little cleverer or he should be a little smarter. Nothing.

God gave you the right person. Be content. And God gave you the right type of facilities.

You know, when I see people in this country, the United States, complaining, I'm reminded of the poor villages in India where I spent nearly 50 years of my life in ministry, in those poor villages, Annie and I would go there. And I could see those people with such limited resources when they accepted Christ and were born again and were filled with the spirit, were perfectly content with what they had. And many of them lived in one room.

That room was bedroom, sitting room, bedroom, and everything. They just had a toilet outside, but the rest of it was one room. And they were happy.

And they slept there and they had children and took care of them. Main thing was Jesus was there. Do you think the home in which Jesus lived in Nazareth was a very big one? Not at all.

Joseph was a poor carpenter and he had to struggle to earn his living and he had at least six children. We know definitely that Jesus had four brothers. You read that in Mark 6 and it says sisters, I don't know how many, whether two or three or four, minimum two.

So there was seven children there that Joseph had. And Joseph had died maybe when Jesus was around 18 or so. And Mary was there and Jesus had to take the burden from that age, the age of 18, for the next 12 years to provide for the family.

He had to work hard. Now God could have preserved Joseph to live right up to a longer life. Why didn't he do that? Jesus had no complaint.

He didn't say, Lord, why in the world have you made me work at the age of 18? No, he accepted his circumstances. And that is the example for us. Jesus was not born in some big palace.

We had so many servants to care for him and with all types of facilities. Anytime you feel like complaining about your circumstances, dear brother, sister, think of Jesus' circumstances in Nazareth. You're a million times better than your physical conditions than his.

I would decide that I'll never complain about anything in my life. My circumstances are far better than Christ's. And he was perfectly happy throughout his life.

He accepted God's will for him in every little thing. Imagine, you know, he was born in the cow shed. I come from, India is a very, very poor country, but I've never seen even a beggar woman giving birth in a cow shed or hearing of giving birth in a cow shed.

I don't think that I've never heard of any human being born in a cow shed. I think probably we'll discover in eternity that among all the millions of people who lived on the earth, Jesus was the only one who was born in a cow shed. Why did God do that? You know, I often think that when it was God who arranged Augustus Caesar to pass a law, a pretty silly law if you ask me, that when you take a census, he ordered a census to be taken in all the countries in the Roman empire.

And Israel was one of those countries. And he said, no, a census can be taken anywhere. If you take a census in this country, they come to your house and get the details.

But Augustus made this silly rule that everybody must go to their hometown. Then the census must be taken. Imagine if that law was passed in the US, that everybody must go to where they were born and then the census would be taken.

You think what a silly, stupid rule that is. What a lot of inconvenience it'll cause to people to make everybody travel all over the country to their hometown, just because he wants to count the number of people. Can't he do that where everybody is right now? I'll tell you why.

Because there was a prophecy in the book of Micah years before Christ was born that Jesus Christ must be born in Bethlehem. And Joseph and Mary were living in Nazareth. How in the world would Jesus be born in Bethlehem? God makes Augustus Caesar to pass a law that everybody must go to their hometown and Joseph being a descendant of David had to go to Bethlehem along with his wife.

Mary was also a descendant of David. So they go along on a donkey. Can you imagine that long journey of, it takes three days to walk.

And I don't know how long it took with the donkey and with a pregnant woman, maybe four days, I don't know, five days, but they go slowly, slowly on that donkey. And listen to this. God was making sure that by the time Joseph and Mary reached Bethlehem, you see people were coming from all over to their hometown to be part of the census.

And therefore many people had to stay in hotels. They didn't have any homes in their hometown. So you come to a new place, you've got a book in a hotel or what they call an inn, I-N-N.

There'll be inns all over the place, small hotels. And all the hotels will naturally be booked because all these people are coming in from all over Israel to get numbered. And almighty God who was planning the birth of Jesus from 4,000 years before or millions of years before could have easily, easily, easily arranged for one room to be vacant somewhere in Bethlehem.

That's not difficult for God. But God, as long as one room was empty, God would make the donkey go a little slower, maybe stumble a little, because that room has also got to be occupied before Jesus reaches there. I can see this, that God is ensuring that every room in Bethlehem is occupied so that by the time Jesus reaches there, not one room is available.

That was God's plan so that he should be born in the cow shed. And that is a lesson for us. And God plans right down to a little detail.

Don't have a complaint because God planned it perfectly. That's how I see it. I've thought of this many times, that if there was a chance that the speed at which the donkey was going was such that they would reach Bethlehem with one room still open, God made the donkey go slower.

So that by the time it reached, even that room would be booked, there'd be nothing left. And so finally, when Jesus and Joseph and Mary came there, every room was occupied in God's perfect plan. And they look around, look around.

The only place, imagine, the only place is a cow shed. And doctors say that's a place full of tetanus and all types of infections and dung and sheep and cows and all types of things. And they make a put some hay somewhere together and Mary has to deliver over there.

Most unhygienic conditions. Be godliness with contentment is great gain. And that's the time when the angels from heaven sang glory to God in the highest.

Glory to God in the highest. The Son of God is being born in a cow shed right now. Never forget that, my brothers and sisters.

See which Jesus you are following. Don't follow a Jesus of your imagination. There's a lot, there's a false Jesus being proclaimed by a lot of Pentecostal preachers today, which talk about prosperity, that if you really follow the Lord, you'll be prosperous.

Really? Who, who, who walked on earth and was, followed the Lord, followed the God's will? Most exactly, Jesus. Was he a millionaire? There was a time when people asked him, should we give tax to Caesar? He said, show me a coin. He didn't have a coin in his pocket.

So he has to ask somebody, can you give me a coin? Let me see whose face is it. Another time, Peter came and said that people have come to collect taxes. Do we pay taxes? He says, okay, Peter, go to the, go to the seaside and put your hook in and catch a fish.

You'll get some money inside that fish's mouth. This is how Jesus lived. He was perfectly content with the circumstances, but he never lacked, he could pay his tax.

God provided in some way, supernatural way. And I'll tell you, he'll provide your need in a supernatural way as well. If you're content with your circumstances, I've seen that many times in my life where I don't complain, but I say, Lord, I accept your will for my life, whatever it is.

And I'll never, never complain about any of my circumstances. When I have little, I will give thanks. When I have more, I will give thanks.

And I found in 65 years that every single need of mine is met. Every single need of my family is met. If my children have to pay fees for the school or the college, God provides it.

And if in some situation, God does not want a child to go to college, but be a farmer or something, God will provide for that. God is so exact in the way he cares for his children. I've seen it like this, that God cares for me as if I'm the only human being in the whole world.

Can you imagine? That's the way to think of it. If I was the only human being in the whole world, how would God care for me? Very exactly. That's exactly how he cares for me right now.

Because he's God, he can do that for every single one of his children. And that's why we can be content with whatever. And there's a reason given also.

I want to read that in 1 Timothy chapter 6. Godliness is great gain when it is accompanied with contentment. And another translation of it in the Norwegian Bible is godliness with frugality is great gain. I love that translation.

Frugality means learning to live very simply. That even when you have much, you live simply. Even when you have a large income, don't spend it all, live simply.

God, that's one of the things, first educations God gave me before I came into full-time Christian work in 1966. I was born again in 59. For those seven years, I was in the Navy and I had a very high income.

You know, naval officers are paid very, very well. And I had a very high income compared to other people in India. I could have lived on 25% of my income easily.

And I lived on 25% of my income. I didn't spend all because I had so much money. No.

I learned to be content to live simply so that I could use the rest of the money, all my savings I gave away for God's work in any case when I left. And while I had it, I could buy Bibles for poor brothers and believers and help so many people in so many ways. So I was not only content with what God gave me, but I was also learned to live simply with what I have because godliness with frugality.

Frugality means learning to live simply. Many Christians live with a lavish lifestyle. Maybe they can afford it.

I've got no objection. They're not borrowing. They're not begging.

They're not getting into debt. They're living in a lavish lifestyle. God bless them.

But if there's no self-denial in your life, I tell you right now, you'll never become a spiritual person. However much you may earn, brother, sister, practice some self-denial. I'm not saying you must downsize your house, take a smaller one.

No. Live comfortably. But don't be covetous and don't spend every single cent you have on yourself that you want to live in a grand style.

You will not become a spiritual person. Frugality, learning to live with disciplining yourself is a very, very good way. It says it will produce great gain in your life.

The gain will not be financial. The gain will be spiritual. And I'll tell you, God gave me amazing revelations when I lived in those at that time.

I was only 23 years old and God gave me revelations in his word and I was preaching God's word to hundreds of literally thousands of people actually. I said, Lord, I really want to try and live like Jesus lived when he was in Nazareth, how he lived with his limited income, even though I'm getting a huge income. I want to live like Jesus lived with limited income.

I'm not telling you how you should live. Please don't misunderstand me. I'm only telling you godliness with frugality and contentment brings tremendous profit.

And the reason given here is in 1 Timothy 6 verse 7, please remember that you brought nothing into this world. When you came into this world, you did not even have a stitch of clothing on you. That's how we all came.

So don't be so taken up with fancy clothes. We brought nothing into the world. And the other thing is when you leave, even though people may dress up your dead body, you're not going to take it out of the world.

That dead body will be in your coffin in the grave, that body and the clothes they put on it, the grand clothes they put on your dead body will be in that coffin. You will go without anything. Just the way you came.

And that is another reason it says, why should our godliness be accompanied with frugality and contentment? Because the reason given is we didn't bring anything into this world. And when we leave, we cannot take anything out of it either. So why we are here for a short period, whether that short period is 20 years or Jesus case 33 years.

In my case, it's already nearly 85 years. And I don't know how much more the Lord has for me. I shall be content was ate with food and clothing and housing.

That is shelter. Food and shelter means food, clothing and housing, whatever God provides. I shall be content.

I want to ask you to ask yourself, I'm not here to judge you. God saved me from the old habit I had of judging people. Now I judge nobody except myself.

And my life is very peaceful because I judge only myself and I don't judge other people. I don't judge other people, whether they obey what I teach or don't obey. That's their business between them and God.

You know that Jesus once said, I judge nobody. That's a great verse to remember. I judge no one.

In John's Gospel, Chapter 8. It's a verse that you must remember. If you want to follow Jesus footsteps, please remember this one verse. John 8, 15.

Can you remember that? You all, he told the people of those Pharisees, verse 13, he was talking to the Pharisees in verse John 8, 15. He said, you judge according to the flesh. According to the flesh means according to your own carnal, carnal thought processes.

You have a carnal worldly thought process going in your mind and you judge this person and this person and this person and that person. Now, just stop for a moment and think if it is not true. The opinions you have, even if you don't express them, sometimes you express them.

But even if you don't express your opinions, you've got an opinion about this person and that person and the other person from your carnal, worldly thought processes in your mind. And we judge in a, we don't give allowance for anything. We judge them in the most harsh possible way.

We're not merciful in our mind, even if you don't express it. But Jesus said, John 8, 15, I am not going to judge anyone. I do not judge anyone.

Do you really want to follow Jesus? You all say we want to follow the Lord. Lord, I want to follow, follow anywhere. I'll follow.

Here's a good place to start. I am not judging anyone. And he said, even if I do judge, my judgment will be perfect because my father is with me.

If there was one person on earth who could have judged perfectly, it was Jesus, because his father was with him. None of us are perfect. But he said, no, I won't judge anyone because I want to be here that like other people are, other human beings.

I want to limit myself and I will not judge anyone. Yeah, that's another aspect of being content. I'm not here to judge anybody.

God has not made me a judge of anyone. Be content with what you have. We've brought nothing into the world.

We take nothing out and we're not going to judge anyone, but we shall judge ourselves. You know, the first book of the Bible is not the book of Genesis. Genesis is put in the beginning of the Bible because it describes the creation of the re, the creation and the remaking of that polluted world, which is polluted by the fall of the devil between verses one and two.

But the first book written was the book of Job, which is written about, you see, Moses wrote Genesis and Job lived three, four hundred years before Moses. And there are many evidences in the book of Job that show that he lived three, four hundred years before Moses. So Moses wrote Genesis and Job wrote the book of Job.

In fact, the details in that book of Job are so exact conversations that the only person who could have written it was Job himself. Otherwise, how could he detail all that conversation that he had with all those people? He was only, he was the only one listening to all those things and he was the only one speaking all those things. And in that book, there's some wonderful thing we learned.

What do we learn primarily in the book of Job? A God fearing man, you know, whom God could point him out to the devil. Hey, Satan, have you seen a man like Job? That's my servant. I'm proud of him.

I remember when I was a young man, newly converted, and I read the book of Job and I said, Oh, Lord, can you say that about me? Can you point me out to Satan and see that young man, Zadkonim, see how he lives? I said, Lord, that will make me supremely happy if you can point me out to the devil like that. I will not ask for anything on this earth. I really meant that.

And I say that even today. Can you point me out to the devil, Lord, who can see? People can't see me fully. They only see me, most of us know only about 10% of each other's life.

Let's face it. You don't know how I live at home. You don't know my thought life.

You don't know my attitude to money. You don't know anything. You know less than 10% of my life.

The devil sees at least 70, 80% of my life. He doesn't know my thoughts, but he knows so many other things about me, which you don't know. And imagine God can point me out to Satan and say, look at his life.

That is my greatest desire, that like God could point out Job to Satan, that he can point you and me to Satan. What a testimony that will be, brothers, the testimony before Satan. And one reason is you can see when Job lost everything, he said, Job 121, I came from a mother's house without anything.

You remember what he read in 1 Timothy 6? Why should we be content? Why should our godliness be with contentment? Reason? Reason, you remember what I just said? 1 Timothy 6, because we brought nothing into the world when we came, and we will take nothing out of the world when we go. That's exactly what we see in the book of Job. When he lost his property, and he lost his children, and he lost all his money, look what he says.

Same thing which we read in 1 Timothy 6. I brought nothing into the world when I came, I'll take nothing with me when I go. It's almost as though Paul is remembering Job's word when he writes that. We be content because we brought nothing into the world when we came, and take nothing when we go.

And then it says in Job 1, that is in Job 121, and Job 122, it says in this he did not sin or blame God. It's amazing. And next, he lost his health as well, and even then he did not complain.

But he did not have the Holy Spirit within him, and that is why you find that he did not have the strength to continue in that spirit from chapter 3 onwards, till he reaches chapter 42. In chapter 42, he comes back to Genesis 1, to Job 1. Chapter 42, he says, I repent of my wrong attitudes in all these chapters, whatever I've spoken, and I'm perfectly content with what God has done for me. God had to take him through many, many trials to bring us, bring him back to that place of contentment.

But today, God has given us the Holy Spirit, and who makes us godly, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, we can be perfectly content. It's an amazing thing, content with whatever God allows in his life, allows in our life. Even in Jesus, do you have a, are you content with that? Some of you got a ministry of speaking God's word.

Are you content with what God has given you, or do you covet somebody else's ministry? You ever say, I wish I could speak like that person, or I wish I could have a ministry like that person. That is also discontent. It will hinder you.

I'll tell you, godliness with contentment is great game. If you want maximum spiritual profit in your life, decide that you will be godly, and one major part of that godliness is you'll be perfectly content with your circumstances, perfectly content with your gifts. Of course, you will press on to become more like Christ, of course.

You're not perfectly content with your spiritual growth. You're always pressing on to perfection, but we are content with our material circumstances. That's the meaning.

We are content with whatever surroundings God has put us in. We are content with the place God has allowed us to be born. We are content with the parents God has given us.

We are content with the partner God has given us. We are content with the children God has given us. We, of course, we seek to improve them.

We want our children to become godly, sure, but we're not going to complain. Why did you give me a child like this who's a bit dumb, not so intelligent as that other guy there? All these things that parents covet for their children. Dear brother, sister, I want to tell you the secret of a godly life is to be one secret, big secret, is to be content with what you have.

I want to turn to 2 Corinthians now. I'll show you one verse before we close. 2 Corinthians and chapter 10.

2 Corinthians chapter 10. Let me read to you from verse 12. 2 Corinthians and chapter 10.

Please turn in your Bibles to 2 Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 12 onwards. And I want to read this in the living Bible. There are some men who tell you how good they are.

I'm reading from the living Bible. 2 Corinthians 10 and 12. Some people are always saying how good they are.

The trouble is they are only comparing themselves with each other and measuring themselves against their own little ideas. What stupidity. But we, Paul says, will not boast of the authority we have over people as spiritual leaders.

No. Our goal in life is to measure up to God's plan for us and we are not going too far when we claim authority over you Christians because God brought us there first to bring the good news of Christ to you and we don't claim credit for the work somebody else has done. If somebody else has done some work among you, we will not take credit for that.

Our only hope is that you will grow spiritually and we still work within the limits God has set for us and we pray that our work will be enlarged therein. To be perfectly content, those who compare themselves with themselves, verse 12, are foolish. My translation is, the last part of verse 12, those who compare themselves with others and boast about it inwardly are idiots spiritually.

But Paul says we will not boast like that. Do you compare yourself with others? I hope it will stop from today. Otherwise you'll be a spiritual idiot.

So my brothers, when we have emphasized godliness in the church for all these years, I thought I should bring up this verse that godliness must be accompanied with contentment. Contentment and the example of Job is a great example for us. God bless you all.

Thank you. Let's bow our heads for a moment of prayer. Please just for a moment think about whatever particular thing God spoke to you and just concentrate on that one or two or three things God spoke to you and say, Lord, please don't let me forget what you spoke to my heart this evening.

I wanted to go deep into me and produce some fruit in my life. Thank you, Lord, in Jesus' name. Amen.