Mark and Jacki Tait-
A Satisfied Mind – Darryl DelHousaye 7-28-2013
Posted on August 3, 2013 by markandjacki in Blog, Sermon NotesWe had the pleasure of seeing Darryl DelHousaye, Pastor Emeritus of Scottsdale Bible Church, preach on “A Satisfied Mind,” this past Sunday. The scripture passage Darryl’s sermon was built around was Ecclesiastes 6:1-9.
He made the point that life on Earth is the first of many gifts that the Father blesses us with. And while we’re here, we shouldn’t be walking around merely getting through this life (acting like we’ve been “baptized in pickle juice”), but we should be grateful for what we have and live each day as if it truly IS a gift.
In our bulletin, the notes open up the topic perfectly:
There is wisdom in the Scriptures of interpreting the world in such a way that we can extract enjoyment from this first gift (life). The apostle Paul called it “contentment” (Philippians 4:11-12). The question is: what makes for a satisfied mind?Darryl made the point that many on Earth have been blessed with material wealth, but don’t have the power to enjoy it. God grants us the power to enjoy our blessings. The key to unlocking that power? Gratitude!
Thanking God unlocks the ABILITY to enjoy what God has given us.
The truth is that we need to stay focused on what we have before us. Not what our flesh DESIRES. “What we see is more important that what we desire.”
Darryl used several great analogies to hit his points home. And as always, he delivered in a big way.
Our takeaways:
We are to look at what God has placed before us TODAY…not lean on what we used to have, or what we want to have in the future.
Also, when we live in contentment, we open up the ability to follow divine ambition. That is, to strive to do whatever we can with the talents and gifts that the Lord has given us so that we can build HIS Kingdom…not our own.
Finally, we are always encouraged by the way God confirms messages that He gives us. Mark had been feeling led to study Ecclesiastes. Then we show up, and what book are we learning from? No coincidence there! And Jacki had just written a blog post about gratitude and referenced the impact that following 1 Thessalonians 5:18 had on turning her life around. Then Darryl pointed to that scripture when he spoke of the importance of giving thanks to God in order to unlock the ability to enjoy our blessings.
Listen to Darryl DelHousaye (President of Phoenix Seminary) here: And hey…if you’re reading this post all we can say is “Thanks Shallot” (Yep…you’ll have to listen to the sermon to get the pun!)
A Satisfied Mind from Scottsdale Bible Church on Vimeo.
Ecclesiastes 6:1-9
English Standard Version (ESV)
There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, and it lies heavy on mankind: a man to whomGod gives wealth, possessions, and honor, so that he lacks nothing of all that he desires, yet God does not give him power to enjoy them, but a stranger enjoys them. This is vanity; it is a grievous evil. If a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul is not satisfied with life’s good things, and he also has no burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he. For it comes in vanity and goes in darkness, and in darkness its name is covered. Moreover, it has not seen the sun or known anything, yet it finds rest rather than he. Even though he should live a thousand years twice over, yet enjoy no good—do not all go to the one place? All the toil of man is for his mouth, yet his appetite is not satisfied. For what advantage has the wise man over the fool? And what does the poor man have who knows how to conduct himself before the living? Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the appetite: this also is vanity and a striving after wind.
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