Audio Sermons

Life has a way of slipping by almost imperceptibly. The tick of the second hand, the dawn of a new day, or the flip of the calendar page reminds us how quickly life passes. Time presses upon us the urgency to take action, to make life meaningful. This thought is at the heart of Paul's message to the church in Philippi. He provides us a pattern for living a meaningful life.

In the wrappings and trappings of all that Christmas has become in our nation, it's easy to miss the real meaning of Christmas. Fortunately, the Holy Spirit is relentless in His efforts to convey to us the real message. Christmas is about Christ. It's about God's desire to redeem the world and restore people to fellowship with Him.

Have you ever tried to get involved in a movie after missing the first thirty minutes? Have you ever started reading a novel and skipped the first three chapters? I doubt seriously if any of us would consider going to a movie thirty minutes late or reading a novel beginning with chapter four. Either one would be hard to understand without the beginning. The same is true with the message of Christmas. To get a true understanding, we need to start at the beginning. Fortunately, the Gospel of John provides us an in depth look at the story of Jesus so that we can truly appreciate and fully understand all that He came to do.

The story of the wise men illustrates a wonderful lesson that we would all do well to learn. These men teach us what we ought to do when our reality falls far short of our expectation. Instead of finding a king on a throne they found a baby in a barnyard. What should we do when we follow a star and find a stable?

Contentment is a mental or emotional state of satisfaction drawn from being at ease in one's situation, body and mind. A contented person is satisfied with life and has learned to embrace the joy that comes from what they have attained. Colloquially speaking, contentment is a state of having accepted one's situation and is a form of happiness.

Here in Philippians 4, the Apostle Paul teaches us how to experience contentment.