The series by Pastor Dave on “Developing Contentment” has told us, obviously, that it is an inside job and that contentment is not automatic. Being an inside job seems to put the emphasis on us, and that is where we might want to stop. If it depends on me it just will not happen. It is hard to be content. But there is a lot of incentive to develop contentment, and we have help. Paul says ‘It is God who works in us both to will and to do for His good pleasure’, in Philippians 2:13. So let us pay attention.

How do we live our best life? We do this by first recognizing who holds all things and is the source of everything we need. When we put our trust in Him, seeing Him as our source, our best friend, and our ultimate destination, there is a peace and joy that comes that goes beyond our circumstances.

But just because you were named and labeled as something undesirable, does not mean that it’s the end of the story, and you are doomed to live out that label. In the Bible, we are introduced to a man whose name warranted a name change. But instead of living up that label, he chose God’s label instead and became a success in his life.

When the “teachers of the law” pressed Jesus to make his top picks among the commandments, he replied that the greatest act is to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength, followed secondly by loving your neighbor as yourself. (Mark 12:30-31) This suggest that our priority is to love God first and then loving others and loving ourselves become by-products of our first choice to develop a relationship with God the Father.

Achieving peak performance in our lives is not enough to make us content. No matter how gifted we might be, true contentment cannot be found in our performance. The world grades us and gives us value according to our performance. In contrast, the Bible says we are created by God in His image and He shows His unmerited love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Often change is uncomfortable and even painful. Most of us probably won’t experience the same tragedy that Daniel went through, however, the principles that held him together still hold true for us today. God’s word is true, and in the midst of changes circumstances God remains the same (Hebrews 13:8).

God has no favourites! He is ready to reveal the fullness of Him to anyone who draws near to Him (James 4:8); He sure will draw near to any heart who is sincere.

It is an amazing thing to witness the miracles of God. In the book of Isaiah , God speaks a prophetic word foretelling Jesus coming and setting people free. We see the fulfillment of this in the New Testament when the works of Jesus were recorded. This has not stopped, as some might think, but God continues to heal and continues to touch blind eyes, both physically and figuratively.

Every father knows that he is not a father only on one day, but a father on every day. The greatest Being in the universe, the One Who created it, He never changes, He is everlasting. When He gave us a title about Himself it was relational. It was not about a job or a career, or His creative power – it was Father.

In the book of 2 Kings there is an interesting story that teaches us a lesson in leadership and trusting the power of God to help us in times of trouble.

Obviously people in our nation are looking to be loved. And we’re asking how to love. In actuality, God has created us to love and love is constantly looking for an avenue to be released because we were created in our Father’s image.

A Special Gift. Have you ever received a gift but did not open until much later? Perhaps you placed it away intending to open it, only to forget about it. One of my colleagues was excited to recently find some gift cards tucked away in an old forgotten Christmas card.

“If it’s from God, it will only get stronger.” And with those words we ended our conversation in a coffee shop in the late Fall of 2007. Within a few weeks, I tendered my resignation from an engineering profession that I have enjoyed and excelled in for the past eight years to commit myself fully into ministerial vocation.

So, Praise the Lord, my soul! All my being, praise his holy name! Praise the Lord, my soul, and do not forget how kind he is. He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases.He keeps me from the grave and blesses me with love and mercy. He fills my life with good things, so that I stay young and strong like an eagle.

So, what if God has shown you a dream, a calling, or destiny for your life, but years have passed, and nothing has come to fruition?

For every destiny, there’s season of testing and waiting. At that point we often feel as if the dream that God has put in our hearts is far from sight.

As we show compassion, we will be pointing others to the One who poured out His heart of grace and compassion on us.

Our Sunday message came from Mark’s Gospel Ch. 8 was named ‘A new type of King.’ In vv27-30, we have Peter confessing Jesus as the Christ. Now Jesus and His disciples went out to the towns of Caesarea Philippi, and on the way He asked them “Who do men say that I am?