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Alright we're here in Matthew chapter 20 and we're finishing up our series on unwise comparisons and so we talked to the first week about your personal walk with God and you know today we're going to be focusing on is actually your personal life it's the last of this three part series and in Matthew chapter 20 I want you to notice here in verse number one where the Bible reads for the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is a householder which went out early in the morning to hire laborers into his vendor and when he had agreed with the laborers for a penny a day he sent them into his vendor so he's sending them out into the vendor and when it's saying a penny it's not saying literally like one cent like we think of today. A penny was basically a days wage during that time so it's a labor job so it's not a job where you're making tons of money but it's not that it's gonna pay your bills and he agrees with them one penny a day they agreed to it verse number three and he went out about the third hour and saw other standing idol in the marketplace and said unto them go ye also into the vendor and whatsoever is right I will give you and they went their way and it again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour and did life wise and about the 11th hour he went out and found other standing idol and sayeth unto them why stand ye here all the day idle they say unto them because no man hath hired us he saith unto them go ye also into the vendor and whatsoever is right that shall be received. So he brings other people to work and basically says hey I'm gonna pay you a fair wage whatsoever is right is what you're gonna get what ends up happening at the end of the story is the people that were there at the beginning of the day they thought they should get more money because of the fact everybody else got a penny. It's like wait a minute I worked like 12 hours today this guy worked one hour and he got a penny I worked 12 hours and I got a penny and see the first point I want to talk to you about when it comes to our personal life and unwise comparisons is our job and our wealth. Now this might seem like a pretty basic story and you might say well of course you agreed for one penny a day why are you complaining but I had a friend of mine who actually had a similar situation he had worked in an engineering company for about seven years and they brought him somebody new and he was training this person and he made the exact same amount of money. Now that wasn't me but if it was me I'd be kind of upset too. I've worked here for seven years I'm training him because he doesn't know how to do this I know how to do this and we're making the same amount of money. You can understand why they would be upset because they say wait a minute we've worked you know for 12 times as long we worked so much longer why are we making the same amount of money. Now my friend's dad actually told him he's like son doesn't the Bible and he basically quoted this story and then my friend's like you know what you got a good point. You know I agreed to a certain amount and so according to this story basically if you agree to a certain amount you should be willing to accept that. Basically what this teaches us is that God will provide our needs but look just because you think somebody else should be making less money than you or you should you think you should be making more money you shouldn't compare yourself to someone else's job right or someone else's wealth. In verse number eight the Bible reads so when even was come the Lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward call the laborers and give them their hire beginning from the last I'm the first when they came that were hired about the 11th hour they received every man a penny. I'm sure the people at the beginning are like oh that's great they got a penny we're getting the big money now but when the first came they suppose that they should have received more and they likewise received every man a penny and when they received it they murmured against a good man of the house. What you're actually seeing in this story is that this person who's hiring people is actually very generous because the people hired at the beginning of the day are getting a fair wage they agreed to it right if it was a bad wage they would have said no we're not working for a penny a day but they agreed to it because of the fact it was the best job they could find they said you know what this is acceptable we'll take this and honestly he's being generous because he's giving other people that honestly don't deserve a full day's wage he's giving them a full day's wage so what's taking place is he's being fair on everybody but some people's actually being very generous too but they're upset about it because they got a penny we deserve more money as well that's what they're saying that turn to Psalm 75 Psalm 75 you go to the middle of your Bible will get you the book of Psalms Psalm 75 right in the center right 150 chapters halfway through Psalm 75 and so when it comes to our jobs and our wealth one of the first things we think is you know what I wish I was being paid more isn't that true is there anybody in this room who would say brother Scott I wish I made less money probably not right everybody would like to be making more money than they're making nobody wants to make less money okay but you know honestly you should be willing to accept what you have okay because everybody in this room has food and they have clothing and if you have those two things some 75 verses 67 for promotion cometh neither from the east nor from the West nor from the south but God is the judge he put it down one and set it up another you have to understand that no matter what your job is God is your boss yeah and if God is pleased with what you're doing then he can promote you a better position right if he's not pleased with you then he doesn't have to promotion and so honestly when it comes down to it our boss is not the person on earth that we have whether or not they're a jerk or whether or not there are so many Christian it's who do you have up in heaven that is your boss right yeah I'm trying to please your boss here on earth you're trying to please your boss Bob and he's gonna see you know wait a minute are you doing what you're supposed to do okay yes everybody would like to make more money but quite honestly God provides our now turn back to that look I worked you know in the secular field most of my life and obviously I would love to have nice pay raises you get to the end of the year and you get your pay raise and you're trying to figure out what is it going to be because in America it's like every year we're going to get a certain paper and you're waiting you're thinking about it and then sometimes it comes you're like that's not very much I was hoping for a lot more than that after working here for a certain amount of time but at the same time I still join that company agree to a certain amount and so even if I get a pay raise that's less than what I expect you know what honestly I agree to a certain amount and I should be satisfied with that and that is with all of us as well look the truth is that if you could find a job where you're making more money than you would be working at that job now that's a hard truth to take but quite honestly if you complain I wish I was making more money look if you had a certain skill set that people said you have a specific skill I'm willing to hire you because very few people can do this look you've been working at that job to make more if you do not have that skill set then that's just the way it is okay that doesn't necessarily mean it's your fault because we come from different backgrounds but you know whatever our backgrounds is that's just the way it is and we have to live with those backgrounds look if you have a specific skill set like you're a you're a licensed doctor or whatever you're probably gonna make good money but you can't expect to make as much money as them if you don't have that sort of skill set I want to say a lot of jobs we make a lot of money though you spend a lot of time preparing for that field as well they go through a lot of years of schooling it doesn't just happen where you turn 21 and you say man I'm gonna get my first job or whatever and you're gonna be making like you know I don't know a million cases a year or whatever you know it's like you got to work up to to making it into company or having some sort of skill set it doesn't just come automatically most people that have a lot of money in this life they work very hard to get it now I'm not saying you should live your life for money I'm not saying they're happy but I'm saying they work hard to get it for example my boss when I was in Maryland working as a pension analyst my I had one boss who retired who made more than 10 million faces probably 20 million cases a year retired he's very well respected as industry lots of money the guy who took over for him though also retired when he was in his 30s they came out retired because he was bored so he actually handled the pensions for the NFL the National Football League in the US he was the number one guy now he made lots of money and as a bonus at the end of the year he got a brand new car that sounds pretty nice but every single day he works seven days a week 15 hours a day so you say well I wish I made more money well you can make more money but you can also ruin your life by just working and working he was also on his third horse so you got to take your choice in life yeah you can make more money and destroy your life because all you do is work work never do anything that was his life and a lot of people would look at him and say man this guy he's going to the fanciest restaurants he gets to fly all over the country go to all these places look when you're married with family you don't want to be flying around all over the country all these fancy places these fancy restaurants and there's reason why and he was a very nice guy I have nothing against guy he was a great boss I loved him he was such a nice guy but quite honestly he was working so much that he destroyed his life and so yes you can make lots of money and look at these famous people you know honestly most people that have lots of money and are CEOs of company their life is their job not just sacrificing church but sacrificing their family as well you got to ask yourself is it worth it and when you're at a certain office or a company such as that obviously you can work a ton of hours to make your way up there's also kind of this balance is it worth working that way or am I okay with this amount of money and I'd rather be able to balance my life with family and churches and planning to live off of or I want to just make as much money as I can in my life because honestly that does take place now I think the best strategy is the younger you are try to work those hours when you're young because once you have a family and kids you're really not going to work as much right before I was married I worked a lot of hours at my company because to move up in the actuarial field you have these actuarial exams where you spend like a thousand hours studying one exam after you pass these exams you get nice bonuses but a thousand hours is a lot of time to study I mean that's like two and a half three hours a day for a year and so literally I would wake up at like four or five in the morning I'd study math for like three hours then I go to work all day I come home and do some more study now for me it was worth it because I was a single guy trying to make my way up but I also thought as many as I can just get out of the way now when I'm still in my 20s I'm happy with that because some people do those tests when they're in their 40s I don't want to do that when I'm married and have a family but you have to realize people that make a lot of money honestly usually they work for it didn't just drop out of heaven it doesn't necessarily mean it's worth it okay now in Matthew chapter 20 the second thing I want you to see is your schedule of hours you know we can compare our schedule of hours to other people okay notice what says in Matthew 20 verse 12 saying these lasts have rock or one hour now it's made them equal unto us which have borne the burden and the heat of the day he answered one of them and said friend I do me no wrong did style not did is not thou agree with me for a penny take that thine is and go that way I will give unto this last even is on to me and so when we look at our lives oftentimes we look at our schedule of work and we can be envious of other people we can look at the other spectrum and say you know what I work too many hours but the thing is if you want a lot of money you're gonna have to probably work a lot of hours unless you have a very specialized skill that few people have we're less to the sound of a politician you're probably gonna have to work a lot of hours to make a lot of money but you gotta ask yourself is it even worth it now we're here on a Sunday morning and everybody is in this room right now I mean I'm sure all of you are happy that you are not working on church right now and quite honestly we have people who love it honestly sometimes they do have to work during church and obviously they don't like that now I'm not saying that it's their fault or in that situation sometimes you gotta just do what you have to do to make money provide for a family is life is not that easy it's not gonna be difficult but realize that hey I might not make as much money but waiting I'm here for church on Sunday I'm able to go so many maybe spend time with my family and quite honestly you know what that might be a better life than making more money right and so honestly you know there's a lot of jobs where you can make a lot of money because you've got to make a lot of sacrifices as well yeah when I was at my company in Maryland you know especially after I got married if I wanted to I could have worked 70-80 hours a week and you know you get time and a half for overtime and I could have made a lot more money than I was making but I was newly married in the Bible's principle is that for the first year you're basically spending time with your spouse you're not just going off and just being busy all the time and to me I was just like it just isn't worth it I do have money in my bank accounts I'm doing okay and quite honestly I don't think it would have been the best for me to just spend all my time working and just have tons of money now I was in a very specialized career that honestly at a lot of companies if you work for 10 or 15 years you will make around 10 million pesos a year I never made that money and I never made it anywhere close to that amount of money now I wish I had back then but quite honestly if I was making that sort of money I'd probably never would have moved to Sacramento to go to Verity Baptist Church because it's really hard to give up a really good bank job the reason why I didn't believe the area I was is because I wanted to be kind of close to my family and I also wanted to be close to a good church and so when I was applying for jobs I said you know there's only certain places I can apply and so I did not want to live in some random city and say hey I'll just go to whatever Baptist Church down the street it'll be okay I'm sure that yes they teach repentance of sins but that's okay I'll be making lots of money no I didn't want to make that sacrifice and so by choosing not to make that sacrifice and living in a small town my salary was very small compared to other companies but quite honestly it was good for me because that's the reason why I ended up going out to Sacramento and I had the money to do that God provided and I was able to come out here if I had been making the big bucks then honestly I probably would have never ended up out here and quite honestly when you see that God's directing you in a certain way you're thankful at the end of it that you didn't make that difference so quite honestly you know it might be better for some people in this room you say brother I wish I was making lots and lots and lots of money yeah but you know if you make lots of money you might be making some pretty poor choices and might not be the best thing for you God knows the end and the steps of a good man are ordered by the way if you're living godly then even if you don't like the steps along the way God someone is directing you and quite honestly it might be better for you than what you had in mind at the time what I had in mind was you know start getting into a good company that pays a lot more money get the huge raises I'll work hard for about you know 10-15 years pass all these exams and then I can kind of take it easy when I'm in my mid-30s and not have to work so crazy hard I'll work 50 hours a week but quite honestly was much better than I just made less money and it helped me make wise choices I wasn't throwing that much away moving to the other side of the country my salary was just you know enough to live off it wasn't anything major. Turn to Ephesians 6. Ephesians 6. You need to realize people that have really nice things they have nice cars they have nice houses oftentimes they're sacrificing certain things to get that and so it might not even be worth it now obviously there's a balance because you know in a family you need to be able to provide your need but you also don't want to just run your life into the ground see a lot of people have this idea that I'm just gonna one day serve God one day I'll be dedicated to church one day I'll start reading the Bible. My life is so busy now that in like 10 years I'm just gonna save up money and just I'll tithe on it I'll be using the money for the Lord and in 10 years I'll serve God. That doesn't end up happening. When you go down that road it's pretty much a permanent road that you're making. My dad when I was a child he could have made a whole lot more money but to do that he would have to be gone during the week and just be able to visit on the weekend visit his family. He was gonna have to live like six hours away where he could become basically the manager of an office you know work for the government and Social Security but he wouldn't be able to be near his family and my dad said no I don't want that money. He decided I'll make a lot less money fifteen thousand less dollars a year in order to be near family. But fifteen thousand is a lot of money especially back then even in the U.S. that's a lot of money fifteen thousand dollars. But you know honestly it's not worth it. I'd rather just spend time with my family and even if we don't get to have the nicest things and even if we don't get to go out to eat that much you know at least we get to spend time as a family. And you know if I can tell you honestly that every single Saturday morning my dad would take me out and play basketball or soccer or whatever sport because that's what I enjoyed growing up or baseball and honestly he had a Monday through Friday schedule and when he worked overtime it was very rarely on Saturdays but he had the option to do that. He just turned it down. So I'm not saying that you should be chasing after money. Look there's a balance in your life but realize you know your job might not be the greatest but maybe your schedule's better than if you were making lots of money. You know most companies they'll pay you a lot of money but you have to be willing to sacrifice everything to get that money. You have to be basically willing to say yeah you know I'll work on Sunday. Whatever day you want. I'll skip church on Sunday. It's no big deal as long as you pay me big bucks. That's the way most companies are because Catholics don't value going to church. All you gotta do is show up at the Feast of the Black Nazarene and you're right with God. That's all they say. You don't have to actually go to church but you know what according to the Bible you gotta be dedicated to church paradigms. Ephesians 6 verses 5 through 8 the Bible reads, Servants be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh with fear and trembling and singleness of your heart as unto Christ. Now when it says masters according to the flesh it's not really saying that. It's not saying you're a slave. It's basically saying you're boss on everyone. It could be you know you're a servant what is the Bible speaks about but yeah this applies to if you basically have a boss at work. And the Bible reads in verse 6, not with eye service as made in Egypt. What does that mean? It basically means that when the eyes are upon you, you work really hard. When the eyes are not upon you, well you're just on a smoke break. You're just goofing off. No big deal because the boss doesn't see what I'm doing. The boss is out of town today. Wow this is going to be an easy day. I'll just kick back, see what's going on in sports. Hey man pack it up on us. Let's watch the match on YouTube. Pull it up on my phone. Basically what the Bible is saying here is you ought to work hard whether or not people see you or not. And honestly when you understand that your boss is the Lord, it doesn't matter if your earthly boss sees what you're doing or not. Because God is the one who will promote you or not promote you. So you need to be working hard whether or not the boss sees you or not. You say, but my co-workers are not working very hard. It doesn't matter. God says we're supposed to be peculiar people, different than the world. And as God's people, as Christians, you've got to be working harder than the world's going to work. And whether or not they see you or whether or not they don't, you need to work hard. Now turn to 1 Timothy 6. But I will tell you what, when you look at this story of these men that go out to the field, now yes the ones that work for 12 hours, that's a hard day. You know you start at let's say 6 in the morning, you're out there and you eat. At 6 p.m. you're exhausted. You eat dinner, read a little bit of Bible and then your head hits the pillow and you're out like that. If you work that hard for the day. But quite honestly, they probably had it better than the people that only worked for one hour. You say why? Because if you work hard for 12 hours, you're proving yourself to that boss and you're more likely to get hired the next day. But when you work a lot of hours, you actually develop skills of what you're doing. It's not really a bad thing to have to work more hours. Because it's not like they're sacrificing their entire lives. They start in the morning, they end at night, they're fine. Just go home. They're not working through the middle of the night or anything. So quite honestly, it's not even worse to be starting early. But training is one of the most important things that you can have if you're trying to make it in a career. When you're young especially, some jobs might not pay you as much. But you might get valuable experience that's going to be better off for you in the long run. There are some jobs you can have from day one that are going to pay more money. But is that going to give you the experience that's going to help you get a better job later on? In America, an example is this. That if you work for a gas company and you don't have experience in petroleum engineering, you get paid really good money to basically just drive from place to place where they're drilling for oil and just to live or something. You get paid really good money, but you also get calls at 3 in the morning like, hey, we need this now. You all start in church. Now I didn't have this job, but I know someone did and it would be in the middle of church. And then he's out the door. It's like, is that what you want? Do you want to have your phone on you every second and have to leave whenever? Now that's certainly something you don't want to do if you have a family. That would be terrible to just be gone in the middle of the night. You're there at 3 in the morning, boom, you're gone. But quite honestly, that job paid really good money. And as a young person, it's tempting. You're like, man, it pays really good money. But honestly, once you go down in a world like that, you're probably never going to turn from that. Now in 1 Timothy 6, the Bible reads in verse 6, But godliness with contentment is great gain, for he 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 says if you have food and you have clothing, raiment is clothing, you should be content or happy. You should be satisfied with having food and clothing. Now look, all of us from time to time will be able to accomplish this. Let's be honest. All of us would like to have more money. I can't say that I'm just like, man, I'm just so content. There are definitely times I'm like, I wish I had a little bit more money. I wish I could spend money on this, but I just can't afford it. All of us would like to have a little bit more money. But whether or not you have more or less, you should be content with what you have. In verse number 8, it doesn't even mention having a house. You should be content with food and clothes. Now look, I presume that everybody in this room has a house that they live in. See, my house doesn't have that nice. God didn't even say that you needed a house to be content. He said food and clothing you should be content. Now look, I didn't write the Bible. That's what God said. I'm sure a lot of us, depending on where we live, some people have better places than other places. Honestly, God didn't even promise you a roof over your head. He didn't promise you a place to stay. He just promised you food and clothing. So if you have food and clothing, you know what, honestly, you should be content with that. That is what the Bible teaches. Verse number 9, but they that will be rich follow the temptation and the snare and the many foolish and hurtful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. When it says they that will be rich, that means people that are seeking after money. They want money. Basically, my life is just money, money, money. I'll work more hours as long as I get more money. I'll do whatever I need to do. They that will be rich follow the temptation and a snare. Basically, a trap. You think of trapping a mouse or a rat. That's what it's basically saying. Basically, you're being fooled by that cheese and that little metal thing trapping the mouse. We look at the rat or the mouse and we say, man, how vocal are they? They're going after that peanut butter. It gets them every single time. They go after that peanut butter and then bam, the little trap gets them. See, that's what the Bible is saying about the person that would chase after money. They see that peanut butter and I love peanut butter. It tastes very good. They see that peanut butter, they go after it and then bam, they're caught. Then you can't get out of it. That's what's being taught here when it says the snare. It says many foolish and hurtful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. What does it mean by foolish and hurtful lusts and being drowned in destruction and perdition and sorrows and vixens in the next verse? Look, there's so many people that work so hard and never spend time with their kids. When they grow up, their kids just don't want to spend any time with them. That's going to be pretty hurtful when you're older and your kids don't care about you. That happens all the time. It honestly usually happens with most households where basically when the kids grow up, they just don't have time for their parents. I know I live in a different country than my parents, but I can honestly say that my parents, they spend a lot of time with them. My mom homeschooled me when I was growing up when homeschooling was not common in West Virginia. They made sacrifices on money. Look, the result of that is I really appreciate that. Quite honestly, you see a lot of kids that grow up and their parents didn't have time for them when they were kids. When they grow up, they're not going to have time for their parents. Everybody thinks that I worked so hard and then when I was 60 years old or retirement or whatever, just our whole family is going to spend all of our time together, but that's probably not the way it's going to work. The question is how much time did you spend before that? Verse 10, for the love of money is the root of all evil, which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. The Bible says sorrow, sadness, regret. When you go down this road, it's not going to result in happiness. It's going to result in sorrow. Turn to Exodus 20. When it comes to jobs, honestly, it's everybody's decision what they do. I'm not here to tell you, hey, this is a good job or this is a bad job. Obviously, if people asked for my advice, I would give it, but I don't go outside the vault and tell people you're making the wrong decision. I don't do that. I let people make their own choices, whether I agree or don't agree. I believe that's what the Bible teaches. And I understand it's difficult. It's not like you have 100 jobs waiting for you, where basically all the jobs are coming after you and you just kind of sit here and say, wait, which one do I want? I understand it's not very easy. I've heard that before, when I was younger and my parents were adults, that they would actually go to college in the US and companies would come to college right when you graduate and try to hire you. Now, it doesn't work that way in the US anymore. The US is slowly losing their money. You know, when I graduated, you had to really search for the jobs. But apparently, a long time ago, the jobs came after you. And they basically said, hey, come work as an engineer. Come work as an accountant. They were trying to make me work for them because we're such a demand for employees. Now, it doesn't work that way in the US now. It certainly doesn't work that way in the Philippines either. You have to go and find it. I'm not saying that there's 100 jobs and it's so easy to make the right choice. No, I mean, you've got tough choices to make. They're difficult choices. But I want you to understand that whatever job that God chooses to bless you with, you should be satisfied with that job, especially if you're able to serve God. Exodus 20, verse 17, the Bible reads, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his axe, nor anything that is thy neighbor's. And the Bible speaks here about coveting your neighbor's house, which basically is saying, your neighbor's got a better house than me. He's got more money and you want that house. When you're coveting the ox, you're not coveting the ox because it's such a beautiful-looking title. You're coveting it because it's worth money. So basically, this person has more money than me. And so honestly, the Bible speaks against coveting. This is in the Ten Commandments. Now, I understand that actually with the Catholic Church, they take the commandment of coveting and put it into commandments. The Bible is clear there's Ten Commandments, and they get out the part about idolatry. They say, well, you know, that's making any greater difference. That's not one of the commandments. It's like, well, that's right there at the beginning. They try to avoid it because of the fact the Catholic Church is filled with idolatry. So they exchange the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments is thou shalt not covet. But this goes on to the second point because not only should you be not envious of someone's job and their wealth, but also with their family. Whatever your wife or your husband is, your kids are. Notice what it says in verse 17, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife. Amen. You say, why does God have to mention it? Because it's obviously something people struggle with. Obviously, people do covet their neighbor's wife or their neighbor's husband. Now, this could be for a few reasons. One reason might be because you find them very attractive and you're coveting after them. Adultry is a common sin that people make. It's throughout the Bible as well. And in America, it's said that around 75% of marriages, adultery is committed. The majority of marriages, adultery is committed in the United States. Now, that's something. When I first visited the Philippines in 2014, I stayed at a hotel in Hanhui City in Hong Kong. And I remember I was getting, I was really tired because the flight is like 20-some hours. So I'm exhausted and I'm staying there. And a person who worked at the hotel was just so excited to talk to an American. And I'm just like, man, I'm so tired. He just wanted to talk and talk and talk. And he admitted a couple things to me, which he was not embarrassed about. One was that he took steroids. Because he was a pretty strong guy. And I said, hey, you look like you're pretty strong. You like to work. And he was like, yeah, I take steroids. Okay, that's not something you're usually proud about, but okay. But then he also told me that he had a girlfriend and he was married. And he was cheating on his wife and saying, why are you admitting that to me? I mean, I was angry. I wanted to know who his wife was so I could tell her honestly. I'm like, are you kidding me? You think that's normal? Just admit, hey, I'm committing. That's what I'd expect in the U.S. I didn't really expect it in the Philippines. But we live in a very, very sinful world. But adultery is a very common sin that people commit. And so covening could be because you find them attractive. Or covening could be because you look at them and say, they seem nicer than my wife. They seem more friendly. I don't think I'd fight with them like I do with my wife. Turn to Proverbs 18. Proverbs 18. Now look, if you're married, your decision was already made in the past. You can't change that decision. And so whoever you're married to, you must be happy with that decision. And you must find a way to make it work. Because the Bible says God hated putting away. The Lord hated putting away for a hated divorce. You say, brother, what's your opinion as divorce is going to become legal in our country? Well, according to the Bible, God hates putting away. God hates divorce. You say, well, you know, we need divorce. You know, there's going to be all these problems. No, according to the Bible, the Lord hated putting away. And whether it's legal or not, when you get married, you may bow to God for better or worse, till death do us part. Did you just lie to God when you made that vow? Whoever you marry, you stay married to them. But honestly, it's a foolish thing to compare. Because quite honestly, you know, everybody seems nice when you talk to them in person. Okay? Every husband and wife argues sometimes. There's a lot of people in our church that are going to be getting married here probably in the next year. And look, the truth is, you will have argued that you're the person you married. Right. Everybody in this room who's married is thinking on the inside, amen. All the husbands are afraid to say it. They're afraid to write on the inside. They say, amen, brother. That's right. From time to time, we do fight. That's the truth. Right. Look, we're sinners. When you're around somebody 24-7, when you're around them all day long, of course, sometimes you come home and you're tired, you're exhausted, and you're a little bit frustrated, and you get in fights from time to time. And so when you look at somebody else and say, oh, they seem so nice. Look, the grass is always green on the other side. Right. And if you were married to them, you'd have the same fights over the same things. Right. Look, almost every marriage, it's literally the same fights that take place. Right. And honestly, most of the time, the fights are pretty stupid. It's just we're sinners, and we choose to let small things irritate us. Right. Honestly, we just need to work on our personalities more, both husbands and wives. That's the truth. But honestly, when you look at someone and say, man, I would be so happy with that person, you don't know what it's like to be married to them. Right. Of course, you know, they're acting very nice in person, they're very friendly, but you don't know what it's like when you go through problems in life, how they react and how you react and things such as that. Look, every marriage has problems, and when you get married, you made a permanent vow to God. That's right. Amen. But getting love, loving somebody and getting married is not just a feeling. It's also a decision you are making. Amen. You're making a decision to love someone. It's not merely a feeling. See, love implies action throughout the life. And so when you marry someone, you're making a decision that I am going to love this person. That's good. This means to lay down your life for that person. Amen. So whether or not it's going good or whether or not it's going bad, you choose to lay down your life for that person if you care about them. Proverbs 18, verse 22, the Bible reads, Whoso findeth the wife, findeth the good thing, and obtaineth favor of the Lord. The Bible says if you find a wife, then you found a good thing. Amen. And so you should be happy with that. Now look, usually the people that complain because they're not married, they complain once they are married. Because there's always something to complain about. Right? Say, man, I wish I was married. Look, there's benefits of every stage in life. Yep. Obviously I'm happy to be married and happy to have a son, but there's some things where it's like, man, I'm a lot busier than I used to be. And sometimes I'm like, man, I wish I could still work out like I used to and do this and that. Look, there's advantages and disadvantages to every stage in your life, but you know what? When God blesses you with a wife, you should be happy with who you have. Amen. The truth is if you marry a person that was a poor choice, you made that choice. Right. And instead of complaining your whole life, you need to make it work the best you can. Right. And look, especially if you're married to someone who's saved, because honestly there's people that are married to unsafe people. Mm-hmm. Now that doesn't mean that they can't get saved, but honestly that's a difficult situation. Right. But we ought to be happy with who we got married to, even if from time to time we knew the advice. Look, everybody has good things and bad things about them. Maybe your wife, maybe she does have more of a temper than somebody else. Maybe she's much better at cooking than other people. Maybe she's much better at raising kids than other people. Look, everyone has things that they're good at. Right. And things that they're bad at. Oh, yeah. And so instead of dwelling on the things that maybe your spouse is not good at, why don't you just look at the things that they aren't good at? Mm-hmm. Right. Turn to your Bible, Psalm and Chapter 1. Psalm and Chapter 1. And it's like most people want to live their lives depressed all the time. They just want to think about everything that's wrong with their life. It's like you've got a lot of things that are right with you. I mean, if you're in this room and you're saved, that's far better than 99% of the world. Right. Already. It's like, man, what are we even complaining about here? It's like I'm saved and on my way to heaven. Even if you were sleeping in Resolve Park every day of your life and you didn't even have a home, it's like at least you're saved and on your way to heaven. Amen. That's better than 99% of the world, no matter how much they have in this life and often, okay? And so honestly, our lives, they're really not that bad. And even when you look at saved people, I mean, I hope doctrine cares to you. I hope you care about doctrine. I hope you care about what you believe. Amen. Look, there's a lot of saved people out there and you just shake your head of what they believe. Right. There are just rules when it comes to what the Bible says because the Bible is so clear on what the Bible says and yet there are saved people that just believe all kinds of word problems. Look, I want to know what the Bible says and believe the truth and honestly, when I look at my life, it's like we're in a very small percentage of people in this world that are not only saved but also loved and worn and they're solely in the hands of God. Psalm of Psalm chapter 1, verse 9. I have compared thee, O my love, to a company of horses and pharaohs' chariots. Thy cheeks are comely with roses and jewels, thy neck with chains of gold. We will make thee borders of gold with studs of silver. Now, in verse 9, it says, I have compared thee to a company of horses and pharaohs' chariots. Now, look, when you just sort of take that phrase by itself, you're like, what in the world? He's comparing his wife to an animal but I want you to understand that he's specific about Pharaoh's horses. Pharaoh's horses would obviously be the best horses, the most expensive, the most prestigious. He doesn't say, I've compared you to some runaway horse that everybody's protecting. No, he's like, I'm comparing you to the best horses there are. He's basically using symbolism to talk about how brave his wife is. Basically, she's the best that there is. And that's what he's saying here. This is the theme that you see throughout the Bible or throughout the Song of Solomon with Husband and Wife. Turn to the Song of Solomon, chapter 5. Now, is his wife perfect? Well, of course not. But he chooses not to dwell on the negative things but on the positive things. It's the same way with her. She thinks about her husband. In verse 9, it says, What is thy beloved more than another beloved, O thou fairest among women? What is thy beloved more than another beloved, thou wast so chartless? So here, these women are asking her, basically, what is so special about your husband? What's so great about him? Why is he better than other guys out there? And she says, My beloved is white and ruddy, that she is among ten thousand. His head is as the most fine gold, his locks are bushy and black as a raven. His eyes are as the eyes of doves by the rivers of waters, washed with milk and fit, they say. She goes on and on and on. Now, she never says anything negative about her. Now, are there things that are negative about her? I'm sure there are. Say they never fought. Of course they fought. I'm sure they were the same problems that, you know, you have with your wife, you have with your husband. But she chooses not to dwell on those things. She just dwells on the positive things. And when it comes to who you're married to, honestly, you should be just thankful for who God gave you. But if you honestly believe that God gave you that person to marry, then you can't really be complaining that's the person God gave you. Okay? Now, turn to Philippians 4, Philippians 4. And so the last thing I want to look at when it comes to our personal life is comparing your happiness to the happiness of other people. That is an unwise or foolish comparison. Philippians 4, verse 11, the Bible reads, And so what Paul the Apostle says is, whatever state or position or stage in life I am, I will learn to be content. He says, I will be happy. Notice how he says in verse... Well, he says, I have learned in verse number 11. When he says, I have learned, what he's saying is this is something that I had to figure out how to do. It wasn't just easy. Now, I understand that if you have a situation in your life where you lose all of your money and your kids, like Job or something, you might not be content from day one. It might be difficult. But honestly, the Bible says you can learn to be content. Right. That's what it says in verse 11. And so in verse number 12, the Bible reads, What Paul is saying is, whether or not I have lots of food and everything in life you have to offer, or whether or not I have nothing, I'm going to be okay. Why? Well, he didn't starve to death. Now, obviously, if you have more money, you can have better food. But you can live on very cheap food if you need to. Right. You can live on just merely rice, and you'll be fine. Yeah. You'll be able to live off that. You'll be able to live off the foods that aren't that expensive. You know, lots of bread products are very cheap. It's not as nice as getting to eat chicken and steak and other things such as that. But honestly, you can live off very little if you need to. And so Paul is saying whether or not I'm able to have a nice steak dinner, or whether or not I'm just eating, you know, beans and rice every single night, I'm going to be okay. No matter what it is, we can learn to be content. Verse 13, I can do all things through Christ with strength in me. Now, I know this is like the most famous tattoo that athletes like to put on their checks. Maybe it's 413. It's always like professional fighters. Professional fighters always have Olympians 413. Then they knock the guy out and say, I can do all things through Christ. He teaches my hands through war and my fingers to fight. It's like, I don't really think that's the application you're supposed to make from those verses, especially when God says not to have tattoos. Right. But the context of being able to do all things is basically whether or not your life is really good or really miserable, you can learn to be content. Right. That's what he's saying. Amen. And look, when you look at the happiness in your life, our lives have a lot of different areas. And in one area, you might not be that happy. But quite honestly, you might be doing really well in one area, and somebody else isn't. We tend to dwell in the areas where life isn't going that well. But we still have a lot of things we can think of. We'll turn to Ecclesiastes 2. Ecclesiastes 2. You go to the middle of the Bible, you get to the Psalms, then you go to Proverbs, then to Ecclesiastes, Psalms, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes. You have to understand that there's a very dangerous thing of trying to seek after happiness in your life. When you seek after happiness in your life, you will end up being filled with sorrow and misery. Right. Ecclesiastes 2.10. And whatsoever mine 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. And so Solomon is saying, whatever I looked at and I wanted, I just went after it. No matter what. Right. This is the same guy that we read from in the Song of Solomon that had the perfect marriage. It's the example of the perfect marriage, but he chooses to search after happiness and seek after happiness. He has too much money, and he has anything he wants. And anything that looks enjoyable to him he just goes after it. Now what ends up happening? What ends up destroying his life? Verse 11. Then I looked at all the works that my hands had brought and all the labor that I had labored to do. And behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit and there was no profit under the sun. But if you can spend your whole life just trying to seek after happiness and have everything you want in this life, there's no profit in it. And at the end of the day, it has no eternal value whatsoever. Right. You could choose to be a soul winner. You have lots of people saved. And guess what? You got rewards up in heaven. And not only that, there are people that are not going to burn in hell now. Amen. There's so much love in your heart that you actually care about that. Or you can just search after what you want. Oh, I got to watch this movie. I got to play this video game. I got to do this. I got to do that. Oh, it's just so exciting to me. Look, you're going to end up destroying your life just searching after happiness and you will not find that happiness. You will not find it if you search after it. Turn to Ecclesiastes 9. Ecclesiastes 9. Now don't misunderstand me because the Bible is very clear that sin is pleasurable. Right. For a season. Right. Yeah, you know what? Sins are very pleasurable for a short amount of time. Yeah, for like 20 minutes, man. Oh, it's really fun. Well, yeah, you just destroyed your life. Yeah. Was it worth it in the end? I mean, you can choose to be happy for a very small percentage of the day. Just be miserable. The rest of it will destroy your life. Right. Or you can choose to just not go after what your eyes are lusting after, what your heart's lusting after. Just choose to go after what the Bible says you should do. If you seek after happiness, you're not going to find it. You're going to be miserable. I mean, what does the Bible say makes a Christian, a saved person, happy if they actually do what God says? After ye, if ye do that. In reference to the commandments, if you know what's right to do and you do it, it will make you happy. That is what the Bible says. But as a saved person, if you live a sinful life, you will not be happy. The truth is that as a saved person, you're probably going to feel a lot more guilty about committing sin than an unsaved person will. Right. Right. The unsaved person gets drunk, hey, no big deal. Now, if you were to get drunk, when you know what the Bible says about it, you're going to feel pretty guilty about it. Right. But, you know, Christians do that, though. There are drunks and drug addicts we will see in heaven one day. Why? Because sin is very pleasurable and people go after it sometimes. But they're going to end up destroying their lives. Now, we're looking here at Solomon. We're in Ecclesiastes chapter 9, but it lets you realize that when you really look at the world we live in today, we live in the richest world that has ever existed. Say, how do you know that? Because in the Bible, Solomon is searching after specific birds. He wants to see peacocks and all these things. It's like, man, we've got zoos in YouTube now. I mean, you can see anything that you want. See, in the past, they just heard about things like the northern bites, you know, things that are really exciting. You can go to YouTube and see all of that. But he searches and spends all of his money after these things. Like, now, it's like, I mean, YouTube honestly has anything that your eyes would possibly want to see, which is not really a good thing. But quite honestly, if you look at your life and say, man, I'm really poor, you're not poor compared to the people who live back then. I mean, you have indoor plumbing. That's a great invention, okay? I don't think I'd want to sacrifice that. He might have everything that the world had to offer during this time period. Quite honestly, we have more than he has to offer. We can go to a grocery store and get all the things that he has to go to another country needs. So honestly, if you want to really look at how much money you have, look, we live a really rich life compared to people in the past. They didn't have all of these. I mean, you see little kids, five years old, they have a cell phone. They have a smartphone. I mean, you have people that are just really poor and yet they have anything they want on their phone. Now, that's the world we live in today, and that's not really a good thing. But before you look at your life and say how poor is it, well, yeah, if you compare yourself to people who live today, compare yourself to King Solomon, who's basically the richest person there was, and you've got more than he had. You have anything that you want. You don't have to buy salt from some foreign country and sell animals to get salt where it's really expensive. I mean, it costs, like, what, 20 pesos at Robinson's? Like a big container of salt? It costs nothing. We have anything that we want in today's life. But do you think people are happier today than they were in the past? I don't think so. People are miserable because they have everything they want. And they're not seeking after God. Theseus is 9, verse 1. For all this I considered in my heart, even to declare all this, the righteous and the wise and the works are in the hand of God. No man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is reported. All things come alike to all. There is one event to the righteous and to the wicked, to the good and to the clean and to the unclean, to him that sacrifices and to him that sacrifices not. As is the good, so is the sinner, and he that swears must see the Spirit of the Lord. Look, every single one of us, we have good things that happen to us, we have bad things that happen to us. Every single one of us. You can look at somebody who is an extremely rich person, but if they have really bad health, then you know, is it really worth it? In America, Andrew Carnegie was one of the richest people and he was in a wheelchair. Well, it's like, yeah, he has like 50 times as much money as I do, but he lives in his wheelchair as well. And so honestly, depending on what you have in mind, in some areas you probably have things pretty good, and in other areas, probably not so good. But if you compare yourself to other people, it is only going to make you miserable. Don't look at what other people have, we thank you for what you have been given. Verse number three, this is an evil among all things that are done under the sun, that there is one event unto all, yet also the heart of the sons of men is full of evil and madness is in their heart while they live and after that they go to the dead. But the truth is, all of us is one event that happens to us. So you live and you die. Every one of us, while we're living, we eat food, we go to sleep at night, we do all of the same things. Our lives really aren't that much different from one another. The problem is that the world wants you to just search after money and they brainwash you into thinking, I need lots of money to be happy. The truth is, our lives, we're going to have ups and we're going to have downs. Now the downs are not the worst thing in the world though. You say, why? It helps you appreciate it when your life's going good. Now I want you to realize that in the Bible, the person who goes through more turmoil than anyone I would say is Job. Now there are other people that go through really bad lives at times. Job has it worse than anyone. You say, why did God choose Job? Because God knew that Job was tough enough to take. And so sometimes God allows people that are good Christians to go through real problems. Because what ends up happening is an example on everybody else. And you can comfort people in a way that other people can't comfort. Look, if you've gone through a struggle in life that other people have, you can comfort them. The Bible speaks about that. The comfort we're with, you're comforted by God. But if you didn't go through that struggle, you wouldn't be able to comfort them in the same way. And so honestly when God allows us to go through trials, you realize He allows all of the great people to go through trials in my life. And it doesn't necessarily mean it's because He decides to. It honestly might be because He's trying to provide you a lesson in the long run. You can comfort others, but also when you go through a low, it helps you really appreciate the high. Isn't that true? When you go through struggles, you really appreciate it when you're on the other side. Look, when I tore my ACL and my meniscus and my knee, and I had surgery, I wasn't able to walk for a couple of months, even with the press wasn't really able to move around, it was miserable. You think I was having fun just sitting there on the floor all day and just doing exercises to strengthen my knee? No, it wasn't fun at all. It was miserable. But I can tell you that honestly six months after the surgery, when I was able to start running again and lifting, I had more joy working out than I've ever had in my entire life. You say, why? Because six months before, I couldn't even walk. It caused you to really be thankful when you're able to do what you used to do. Now, I used to just work out. I was like, yeah, no big deal. I go running. It's just what I do. But when I had gone through a period where I couldn't even walk, I'll tell you the joy of so many. Boy, did they come back in a big way. For eight weeks, I was not able to go sober. And I remember I joined my friends, and I was on crutches, hopping upstairs to go door to door. Man, I was so thankful to be able to preach the gospel. Because when you go two months in your life, and you're not able to preach the gospel, man, it makes you miserable. Honestly, my joy of sobering was so much greater after that time period. You say, was it worth it? Well, maybe God determined it was worth it. Maybe allowing to hit some lows, it makes you really appreciate the highs. Look, if your whole life, everything is great, you're going to be miserable. If you have kids that grow up, and they're the richest kids, and they have everything they want, every time they scream for ice cream, the mom says, here's the ice cream. They never get in trouble for anything. They get everything they want. Usually those kids end up growing up and not that thankful for things. But if you're allowed to go through trials, it makes you more thankful. So whatever your stage is in life, realize that honestly everybody has ups and downs. In this room, everybody has this room. Right now it's going through some ups and some downs. Now your ups and downs might be bigger than other people, but honestly, all of us go through good times and bad times. And instead of comparing yourself with people whose life might be going better or worse than you, just be thankful for the things that God has given you in life. Let's go to more prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today, and especially to help us apply this to our lives, myself included. And help us not to just covet after what other people have done. Help us just to be thankful for the things that you have given us in life, and you blessed us.