Growing in Contentment
Building Strong Families – Part 10
Life Church – April 17, 2011
Pastor Dan Walker
Covet: The ________________ desire to acquire
Exodus 20:17 (NIV) "You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor."
1. What are the effects of always wanting more?
A. Covetousness leads to ________________
Proverbs 23:4 (NIV) Do not wear yourself out to get rich; have the wisdom to show restraint.
B. Covetousness leads to ________________
Ecclesiastes 5:11 (NLT) The more you have, the more people come to help you spend it. So what good is wealth—except perhaps to watch it slip through your fingers!
C. Covetousness leads to ________________
Ecclesiastes 5:12 (NLT) People who work hard sleep well, whether they eat little or much. But the rich seldom get a good night’s sleep.
D. Covetousness leads to ________________
James 4:1 (NLT) What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? …You want what you don't have, so you scheme to get it.
E. Covetousness leads to ________________
Ecclesiastes 5:10 (NLT) Those who love money will never have enough. How meaningless to think that wealth brings true happiness!
Philippians 4:12 (NIV) I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation.
2. How to grow in contentment
A. ____________ in what I do have
Ecclesiastes 6:9 (NLT) Enjoy what you have rather than desiring what you don’t have. Just dreaming about nice things is meaningless—like chasing the wind.
B. ______________ what I have to help others
1 Timothy 6:17 (NLT) Teach those who are rich in this world not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which is so unreliable. Their trust should be in God, who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment.
1 Timothy 6:18 (NLT) Tell them to use their money to do good. They should be rich in good works and generous to those in need, always being ready to share with others.
1 Timothy 6:19 (NLT) By doing this they will be storing up their treasure as a good foundation for the future so that they may experience true life.
C. _____________ on what’s going to last
2 Corinthians 4:18 (NIV) So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
Luke 12:15 (NLT) Then he said, “Beware! Guard against every kind of greed. Life is not measured by how much you own.”
D. ____________ on God’s strength
Philippians 4:13 (NLT) For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.