From Eric Lyons, M.Min. ... Wonders of God’s Creation

http://apologeticspress.org/APContent.aspx?category=12&article=2629

Wonders of God’s Creation

by	Eric Lyons, M.Min.

According to the General Theory of Evolution, about 14 billion years ago “all the matter in the universe was concentrated into one very dense, very hot region that may have been much smaller than a period on this page. For some unknown reason, this region exploded” (Hurd, et al., p. 61). As a result of the alleged explosion of a period-sized ball of matter, billions of galaxies formed, and eventually planets such as Earth evolved. Supposedly, the evolution of galaxies, and every planet, moon, and star within these galaxies, all came about by non-purposeful, unintelligent accidents. Likewise, every life form that eventually appeared on Earth purportedly evolved by mindless, random chances over millions of years. Some life forms “just happened” to evolve the ability to reproduce asexually, while others “just happened” to develop the capability to reproduce sexually. Some life forms “just happened” to evolve the ability to walk along vertical ledges (e.g., geckos), while others “just happened” to evolve the “gift” of glowing (e.g., glow worms). Some life forms “just happened” to evolve the ability to make silk (e.g., spiders), which, pound-for-pound, is stronger than steel, while others “just happened” to evolve the ability to “turn 90 degrees in under 50 milliseconds” while flying in a straight line (e.g., the blowfly; Mueller, 2008, 213[4]:82). Allegedly, everything has come into existence by random chances over billions of years. According to the General Theory of Evolution, there was no Mind, no Intelligence, and no Designer that created the Universe and everything in it.
Ironically, though atheistic evolutionary scientists insist that the Earth and all living things on it have no grand, intelligent Designer, these same scientists consistently refer to amazing “design” in nature. Consider an example of such paradoxical language in a recent National Geographic article titled, “Biomimetics: Design by Nature” (Mueller, 2008). The word “design” (or one of its derivatives—designs, designed, etc.) appeared no less than seven times in the article in reference to “nature’s designs.” Evolutionary biologist Andrew Parker spoke of his collection of preserved animals as “a treasure-trove of brilliant design” (quoted in Mueller, 2008, 213[4]:75, emp. added). After interviewing Parker, National Geographic writer Tom Mueller noted how the capillaries between the scales of a thorny devil lizard are “evidently designed to guide water toward the lizard’s mouth” (p. 81, emp. added). He then explained how “[i]nsects offer an embarrassment of design riches” (p. 75, emp. added). Mueller referred to nature’s “sophistication” and “clever devices” (p. 79), and praised nature for being able to turn simple materials “into structures of fantastic complexity, strength, and toughness” (p. 79). After learning of the uncanny, complicated maneuverability of a little blowfly, Mueller even confessed to feeling the need to regard the insect “on bended knee in admiration” (p. 82). Why? Because of its “mysterious” and “complicated” design. Brilliant and well-funded scientists around the world admit that living things perform many feats “too mysterious and complicated to be able to replicate” (p. 82). They are “designed,” allegedly, with no “Designer.”
But how can you get design without purpose, intelligence, and deliberate planning? The first three definitions the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary gives for “design” (noun) are as follows: “1a:a particular purpose held in view by an individual or group...b:deliberate purposive planning... 2:a mental project or scheme in which means to an end are laid down; 3a:a deliberate undercover project or scheme” (“Design,” 2008, emp. added). After defining “design” as a drawing, sketch, or “graphic representation of a detailed plan...,” the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language noted that design may be defined as “[t]he purposeful or inventive arrangement of parts or details” (2000, p. 492, emp. added). A design is preceded by “deliberate purposive planning,” “a detailed plan,” or an “inventive arrangement.” A design is the effect, not of time, chance, and unintelligent, random accidents, but of the purposeful planning and deliberate actions of an inventor or designer. A designer brings about a design. Thus, by definition, design demands a designer, and one with some measure of intelligence.
National Geographic purports that nature “blindly cobbles together myriad random experiments over thousands of generations” in order to produce complex, living organisms that the world’s “top scientists have yet to comprehend” (Mueller, 2008, 213[4]:90). We, on the other hand, choose to believe that, just as a painting demands a painter, and a poem a poet, the world’s amazing designs, which continually stump the most intelligent scientists on Earth, demand an intelligent Designer. Consider three wonders of God’s Creation—from the land, sea, and air—that testify on behalf of a grand Designer and against the random, chance processes of mindless evolution.

GIRAFFES

The height of an 18-foot giraffe, the tallest of all land animals, is quite daunting. The clumsy-looking giraffe’s ability to run 34 miles per hour is very impressive. Its minimal sleep requirements—only about 30 minutes a day, often broken up into several short naps—and its ability to go weeks without drinking is remarkable (“Giraffe,” 1999). Its 18-inch, prehensile tongue, eight-foot-long tail, and six-foot-tall newborns are all very striking. Most remarkable, however, is the design of the giraffe’s circulatory system.
Consider that a giraffe’s brain is about eight feet higher than its heart. In order to get blood from its heart up to its brain, a giraffe must have an enormous heart that can pump blood extremely hard against gravity. What’s more, it must maintain such blood pressure as long as the giraffe’s neck is vertically in the air. It should come as no surprise that this long-necked mammal is equipped with a two-foot-long, 20-plus-pound, thick-walled heart that is large enough and strong enough to pump blood eight feet high—creating blood pressure that is about twice that of any other large mammal, and as much as three times that of the average person (Foster, 1977, 152[3]:409).
But what about when a giraffe suddenly lowers its head several feet below its heart to get a drink of water? What happens to all of the blood that the heart normally pumps so powerfully against gravity to the brain? If the design of the giraffe were merely left up to time and chance, one would expect that the first time a giraffe tried to lower its neck to get a drink of water, the heart would pump so much blood to the brain that blood vessels in the brain would explode, or the brain would fill up with blood so quickly that the giraffe would pass out.
How does the giraffe keep from having brain bleeds, or from feeling woozy and passing out every time it bends down and raises back up? A National Geographic article on giraffes explains:

To withstand the surge of blood to and from the brain as its neck sweeps up and down, the giraffe has developed control valves in the jugular veins and a special network of blood vessels in its head. Known as the rete mirabile caroticum—wonder net of the carotids—this circulatory buffer keeps blood pressure constant in the brain” (Foster, p. 409).

A giraffe, then, has intricate valves in its jugular veins that help control how much blood gets to the brain during those times when a giraffe has its head lowered. Working together with these valves is a network of blood vessels that “controls the flow of blood into the head” (p. 411). Then, “[w]hen the head is raised, the same net counters the danger of blackouts from reduced blood pressure” (p. 411).

One might wonder how giraffes, which stand on their feet most of the day and have such high blood pressure, keep their lower extremities from pooling with blood. The fact is, even though “the blood vessels in the lower legs are under great pressure (because of the weight of fluid pressing down on them),” giraffes “have a very tight sheath of thick skin over their lower limbs that maintains high extravascular pressure” (“Giraffe,” 2008, parenthetical comment in orig.). Similar to a fighter pilot’s G-suit that “exerts pressure on the body and legs of the wearer under high acceleration and prevents blackout....[l]eakage from the capillaries in the giraffe’s legs, due to high blood pressure, is also probably prevented by a similar pressure of the tissue fluid outside the cells. In addition, the walls of the giraffe’s arteries are thicker than those in any other mammal” (Kofahl, 1992, 14[2]:23).

So, the giraffe has:

• “a complex pressure-regulation system” (“Giraffe,” 2008).
• “unique valves” that prevent overpressure when it lowers its head (Foster, 1977, p. 409).
• a network of blood vessels that helps stabilize blood pressure as the giraffe moves its neck up and down.
• a heart powerful enough to send an adequate amount of blood eight feet upwards against gravity.
• arteries in the lower part of its body thick enough to withstand the high blood pressure.
• skin tight enough to force blood back upward and keep capillaries in its lower extremities from bursting.
• oversized lungs (large enough to hold 12 gallons of air) that “compensate for the volume of dead air” in its 10-foot long trachea (Foster, p. 409; “Mammals: Giraffe,” 2008). [“Without this extra air-pumping capacity a giraffe would breathe the same used air over and over” (Foster, p. 409).]

National Geographic would have us believe that “nature” provided giraffes with all of this “special equipment” (Foster, p. 411). Supposedly, giraffes’ specialized, necessary, “unique” control valves are “remarkable adaptations” that “developed” (p. 409, emp. added). In other words, multiplied millions of years of “evolution” have “modified the giraffe’s anatomy to allow this stretched-version mammal to function” (p. 409).
How do the mindless, purposeless, random processes of time and chance adequately explain “unique valves,” “a complex pressure-regulation system,” a “wonder net” that “keeps blood pressure constant in the brain” (whether the giraffe’s neck is raised or lowered), a heart, lungs, and arteries all just the right size, etc.? Even more difficult (impossible) for evolution to explain is how all of these sophisticated body parts came about simultaneously? After all, what good is a big heart without a network of blood vessels that stabilizes blood pressure? And what is the point of the rete mirabile caroticum, if the giraffe did not have a heart powerful enough to pump blood eight feet into the air? Evolutionist Robert Wesson openly addressed this issue in his book, Beyond Natural Selection. He wrote:

All these things had to be accomplished in step, and they must have been done rapidly.... That it could all have come about by synchronized random mutations strains the definition of random. The most critical question, however, is how the original impetus to giraffeness—and a million other adaptations—got started and acquired sufficient utility to have selective value.... The observer must be often tempted to suppose that organisms have responded to their conditions and needs more purposefully than strict Darwinian theory can allow (1991, p. 226, emp. added).

Truly, the amazingly intricate design of the giraffe’s circulatory system, as well as the rest of its anatomy and physiology, demand a better explanation than the random, chance processes of evolution. The fact is, the giraffe is brilliantly designed—a wonder of God’s creation.

CUTTLEFISH

Two colorful, eight-legged cephalopods, known as cuttlefish, recently graced the cover of the journal New Scientist (2008, 198[2653]). With bluish-green blood, iridescent skin, feeding tentacles that shoot from their mouths like birthday party blowers, and eyes like something from a Batman movie, it is no surprise that the editors of New Scientist used the term “alien” in their description of the cuttlefish; the animals do look bizarre—plain and simple. Make no mistake, however, these creatures are anything but simple. In fact, just above the cuttlefish was the cover title, “Alien Intelligence: Secret Code of an Eight-Legged Genius” (Brooks, 2008, emp. added). Michael Brooks, author of the feature article, declared that the cuttlefish is “the world’s most inventive mollusk” (2008, p. 31, emp. added) with a “sophisticated system for talking to one another” (p. 28, emp. added). Scientists have documented “around 40 different cuttlefish body patterns, many of which are used to communicate with other cuttlefish” (p. 29). At other times, cuttlefish send “tailor-made” signals to predators (p. 29, emp. added).
Even more incredible than their communication skills, is the cuttlefishes’ ability to blend in to their surroundings. Brooks described them as having “the world’s best camouflage skills” (p. 29). Similar to how these mollusks (cuttlefish have an internal shell called a cuttlebone, thus, scientists classify them as mollusks) communicate with other animals via a variety of body patterns, they also move their bodies into a variety of positions in hopes of staying hidden. For example, while swimming next to large seaweed, a cuttlefish can mimic the motion of the grass by positioning and waving its eight arms similar to how seaweed sways in water. This makes it very difficult for both attackers and possible prey to locate the cuttlefish. In a recent study, scientists placed either horizontal or vertical stripes on the walls of cuttlefish tanks. How did the cuttlefish react? According to Dr. Roger Hanlon, “If the stripes were vertical they would raise an arm. If the stripes were horizontal they would stretch their bodies out horizontally” (as quoted in Brooks, p. 31). Amazing! Cuttlefish can even change the texture of their skin to mimic the shape of certain barnacle-encrusted rocks or corals.
But what must give other sea life more problems than anything is the cuttlefish’s ability to change color—and to do it so quickly. A cuttlefish can change the color of its entire body in the blink of an eye. If this mollusk wants to change to red, it sends signals from its brain to its “pigment” sacs (called chromatophores) to change to red. Cuttlefish can hide from other sea life by changing to the color of sand or seaweed. They can also appear as a strobe light, blinking “on and off” very quickly. So extraordinary are these “masters of camouflage” (p. 28) that government researchers are even “looking into the possibility of copying cuttlefish camouflage for use in the military” (p. 31). Researchers are enamored with “how cuttlefish achieve their quick and convincing camouflage” (p. 30). Nevertheless, “[i]t’s highly unlikely that anyone could achieve that same level of camouflage” (p. 30). Scientists admittedly find it difficult “mimicking the colour-matching abilities of the cuttlefish...and its texture-matching ability, which utilizes the muscles beneath it” (p. 30). In fact, “[n]o one knows exactly” how cuttlefish match their backgrounds so effectively, especially since “[e]xperiments have shown that cuttlefish don’t look at their skin to check how well it matches the background” (p. 31, emp. added). What’s more, if, as scientists believe, this animal is colorblind, only seeing in shades of green (p. 31), how does it always choose the color most helpful (like changing to the color of sand when on the ocean floor)?

The cuttlefish is a remarkable creature. Evolutionists have called this animal a “genius.” Scientists admit that cuttlefish are “sophisticated,” “intelligent,” “tailor-made” creatures with a “secret code.” Yet “evolution” was the very first word Michael Brooks used in his New Scientist article to explain the existence of cuttlefish (p. 29). But how can intelligence arise from non-intelligence? How can something “tailor-made” have no tailor? No one would suggest that Morse code is the product of time and chance, yet Brooks and other evolutionists would have us believe that the cuttlefish’s “secret code” is the product of millions of years of mindless evolution (p. 31)? Preposterous! Nature cannot explain the cuttlefish. The real Code-Giver, the intelligent Designer Who “tailor-made” the cuttlefish, is God. He “created great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters abounded, according to their kind” (Genesis 1:21).

GODWITS

As of the summer of 2008, Usain Bolt was the fastest man alive. During the 2008 Olympics, Bolt set Olympic and World records by running 100 meters in 9.69 seconds. A human running at a speed of 28 miles per hour is quite impressive, but neither Usain Bolt nor any other human can maintain such a speed for more than a few seconds. Marathon runners may be able to run 26.2 miles without stopping, but no one averages more than 13 miles per hour while running great distances. Although the human body is a meticulously designed “machine” (see Jackson, 2000), which functions perfectly for its intended purpose on Earth, there are limits to what a person can do. When these limits are compared to the speed and distance a particular bird flew some time ago, one gains a greater appreciation for God’s wondrous creation.

In February 2007, scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey fitted 16 shorebirds, known as bar-tailed godwits, with satellite transmitters. One of the godwits, dubbed E7, made its way from New Zealand to Alaska over the next three months, flying 9,340 miles with one five-week-long layover near the North Korea-China border (Hansford, 2007). After nearly four months, the godwit began its uninterrupted flight back to New Zealand. Amazingly, this little bird, which normally weighs less than one pound, flew 7,145 miles in nine days without stopping, averaging 34.8 mph. Without taking a break to eat, drink, or rest, the godwit flew “the equivalent of making a roundtrip flight between New York and San Francisco, and then flying back again to San Francisco without ever touching down” (“Bird Completes...,” 2007). Equally impressive, the godwit’s approximately 16,500-mile, roundtrip journey ended where it began. Without a map, a compass, or even a parent, godwits can fly tens of thousands of miles without getting lost.
Scientists have studied the migration of birds for decades and still cannot adequately explain this “age-old riddle” (Peterson, 1968, p. 108). Their stamina and sense of direction is mind-boggling. In his book Unsolved Mysteries of Science, evolutionist John Malone reported how much progress man has made over the last few centuries in understanding how birds are able to journey thousands of miles with pinpoint accuracy (2001, pp. 114-122). Yet, he concluded his chapter on bird migration with these words:

Partial explanations abound, but every book or scientific article on bird migration is full of conditional words and phrases: “It may be...but it also might not be.” We know more about how birds might achieve their epic flights around the world, but there are still far more mysteries than there are explanations. The tiny songbird that reappeared to build its nest in the apple tree outside your window—and we know from banding that it can indeed be exactly the same bird—has been to South America and back since you saw it last. How can that be? This is one case where it may be nicer not to know—simply allow yourself to be swept up by awe and wonder (p. 122, emp. added).

Try as they might, evolutionists attempting to explain the complexities of bird migration can only offer woeful (and often contradictory) theories, at best (Peterson, p. 108). How can a person reasonably conclude that non-intelligence, plus time, plus chance, equals a one-pound, bar-tailed godwit flying 7,145 miles in nine days without stopping for food, water, or rest? The “awe and wonder” to which John Malone alluded should be directed toward neither mindless evolution nor the birds themselves, but to the “great and awesome God” (Daniel 9:4) Who has done “wondrous works” and “awesome things” (Psalm 106:22), including endowing birds with the amazing trait we call “instinct.” Truly, it is not by evolution or man’s wisdom that a bird “soars, stretching his wings toward the south” (Job 39:26). Rather, “the stork in the sky knows her seasons; and the turtledove and the swift and the thrush observe the time of their migration” (Jeremiah 8:7, NASB), because all-knowing, all-powerful Jehovah is the Creator of them all.

CONCLUSION

Whereas National Geographic highlights “nature” and encourages readers to “learn from what evolution has wrought” (Mueller, 2008, 213[4]:75, emp. added), mankind would do better to heed the example of a noble inventor/designer from the mid-1800s. Samuel Morse, who invented the telegraph system and Morse Code, sent the very first telegraph from Washington, D.C. to Baltimore, Maryland on May 24, 1844 (“Today...,” 2007). His message consisted of a brief quotation from Numbers 23:23: “What hath God wrought!” (emp. added). Samuel Morse unashamedly testified to what everyone should understand: design demands a designer. Morse’s code and the telegraph system were the immediate effects of a designer: Samuel Morse. But, the Grand Designer, Who created Morse and every material thing that Morse used to invent his telegraph system, is God. Morse recognized this marvelous, self-evident truth. Should we not recognize it as well, especially in view of the abilities of giraffes, cuttlefish, and godwits—wonders of God’s creation?

For every house is built by someone, but He who built all things is God (Hebrews 3:4).
The heavens are Yours, the earth also is Yours; the world and all its fullness, You have founded them. The north and the south, You have created them (Psalm 89:11-12).
This great and wide sea, in which are innumerable teeming things, living things both small and great. O Lord, how manifold are Your works! In wisdom You have made them all (Psalm 104:25,24, emp. added).

REFERENCES

“Bird Completes Epic Flight Across the Pacific” (2007), ScienceDaily, September 17, [On-line], http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/09/070915131 205.htm.
Brooks, Michael (2008), “Do You Speak Cuttlefish?” New Scientist, 198[2653]: 28-31, April 26.
American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), (Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin), fourth edition.
“Design” (2008), Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, [On-line], URL: http://www.merriam-webster.com/diction ary.
Foster, Bristol (1977), “Africa’s Gentle Giants,” National Geographic, 152[3]:402-417, September.
“Giraffe” (1999), Smithsonian National Zoological Park, [On-line], URL: http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/AfricanSavanna/fact-giraffe.cfm.
“Giraffe” (2008), New World Encyclopedia, [On-line], URL: http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Giraffe.
Hansford, Dave (2007), “Alaska Bird Makes Longest Nonstop Flight Ever Measured,” National Geographic News, September 14, [On-line], URL: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/09/070913-longest-flight.html.
Hurd, Dean, George Mathias, and Susan Johnson, eds. (1992), General Science: A Voyage of Discovery (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall).
Jackson, Wayne (2000), The Human Body—Accident or Design? (Stockton, CA: Courier Publications).
Kofahl, Robert (1992), “Do Drinking Giraffes Have Headaches?” Creation, 14[2]:22-23, March, [On-line], URL: http://www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v14/i2/giraffes.asp.
Malone, John (2001), Unsolved Mysteries of Science (New York: John Wiley & Sons).
“Mammals: Giraffe” (2008), San Diego Zoo, [On-line], URL: http://www.sandiegozoo.org/animalbytes/t- giraffe.html.
Mueller, Tom (2008), “Biomimetics: Design by Nature,” National Geographic, 213[4]:68-91, April.
Peterson, Roger (1968), The Birds (New York: Time-Life).
“Today in History: May 24” (2007), The Library of Congress, [On-line], URL: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/may24.html.
Wesson, Robert (1991), Beyond Natural Selection (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press).

From Jim McGuiggan... OVERDRAWN & UNFORGIVEN?

OVERDRAWN & UNFORGIVEN?

Some time ago we had arranged an overdrawn agreement with the bank and finally were able to end it. What a relief. People become overdrawn at the bank when they ask for more than they have deposited. The cure, the only cure, is to deposit more and make no demands until you’re back in the black. [You may remember Micawber’s astute philosophy on finance.]

People discover that there’s more than one way to be “overdrawn”. They sometimes make too many emotional demands at the wife’s/husband’s emotional bank without making deposits and then wonder why they find themselves overdrawn. She keeps on coming and saying, “Trust me!” and then she abuses that trust—over and over and over again. She writes emotional cheques without making emotional deposits and the bank finally calls a halt to it and she feels mistreated.

He comes tirelessly to make withdrawals at the bank—“forgive me”—but he makes no deposits, gives her no reason to believe he wants to settle the account in an honourable way and when she says she can’t give any more without some deposit of sorts he thinks she’s hard-hearted.

This kind of things not only happens betweens spouses—we see it happen between friends, parents and children, bosses and employees, governments and the governed and even between entire nations. Transgressors bend people until they break and then complain if the broken one can’t act as if unbroken.

Sometimes Christians talk a lot of drivel about “unconditional” love. Those of us who aren’t faced with a steady stream of abuse in some form or other are usually the ones who go on and on about “love must be unconditional”. If you have good reason to be content with your life you tend to love everybody and if your experience with people is characteristically good you’re tempted to feel as Will and Ariel Durant felt. They had met up with so many fine people that, they tell us, they had quite given up on the notion that there were any really wicked people in the world. How can we not be pleased for people whose lives are nicely balanced? We’re not jealous of them—we’re just cautious before accepting their conclusions.

We need to remember, too, that there are bank managers and bank managers. There are those that are hard as flint and quote “the laws of good finance” to justify their refusing to be flexible (not to say “merciful”). There are others with hearts as well as heads and are willing to take the risk of extending help to the overdrawn.

Hmmm.

©2004 Jim McGuiggan. All materials are free to be copied and used as long as money is not being made.

Many thanks to brother Ed Healy, for allowing me to post from his website, theabidingword.com.

From Mark Copeland... A Call To Be Content (Hebrews 13:5-6)

                      "THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS"

                     A Call To Be Content (13:5-6)

INTRODUCTION

1. In this final chapter of "The Epistle To The Hebrews", we have 
   noticed exhortations...
   a. To let brotherly love continue - He 13:1
   b. To show love toward strangers - He 13:2
   c. To remember those in prison and others who are mistreated 
      - He 13:3
   d. To hold marriage in honor, abstaining from fornication and 
      adultery - He 13:4

2. We now find a warning against covetousness - He 13:5a
   a. The previous verse was a warning against "the lust of the flesh"
      (immorality)
   b. Here we have a warning against "the lust of the eyes"
      (materialism)
   -- Both of which are contrary to the love of the Father - 1Jn 2:
      15-17

3. Covetousness, a strong desire for material things, is strongly 
   condemned in the Bible...
   a. Jesus said it defiles a man, and that we should beware of it 
      - Mk 7:21-23; Lk 12:15
   b. Paul taught that covetousness...
      1) Will keep one out of the kingdom of God - 1Co 6:9-10
      2) Like fornication, should not even be named among us - Ep 5:3
      3) Is nothing less than idolatry - Ep 5:5; Col 3:5
 
4. The antidote to covetousness is contentment - He 13:5b-6
   a. If we are content, then we won't be covetous
   b. Contentment is therefore an important virtue for Christians to
      develop...
      1) But what is "contentment"?
      2) What is the key to being content?
   
[In this lesson, "A Call To Be Content", we shall seek to answer these
questions, using the text of our lesson (He 13:5-6) and other 
scriptures that deal with the subject of contentment...]

I. THE VIRTUE OF "CONTENTMENT"

   A. CONTENTMENT DEFINED...
      1. The English word "content" means "desiring no more than what 
         one has"
      2. The Greek word is arkeo {ar-keh'-o}, which means "to be 
         satisfied"
      -- When one is content, they are satisfied with what they have; 
         with no desire for more, covetousness no longer becomes a 
         problem!

   B. THE VALUE OF "CONTENTMENT"...
      1. From the pen of uninspired men...
         a. "He is richest who is content with the least." (Socrates)
         b. "He is well paid that is well satisfied." (William 
            Shakespeare)
         c. "He who is content can never be ruined." (Chinese Proverb)
         d. "He who wants little always have enough." (Johann Georg 
            Zimmerman)
         e. "If you are not satisfied with a little, you will not be 
            satisfied with much." (Unknown)
         f. "The contented man is never poor, the discontented never 
            rich." (George Eliot)
      2. Paul wrote that "...godliness with contentment is great gain."
         - 1Ti 6:6
         a. Godliness, which is godly living expressed in devotion to 
            God, is of great value only when accompanied with 
            contentment
         b. For as we have seen, covetousness (a lack of contentment)
            would render any service to God of no value

   C. CONTENTMENT EXEMPLIFIED...
      1. In Fanny Crosby (1820-1925), a blind songwriter who wrote:
            O What a happy soul am I!
            Although I cannot see,
            I am resolved that in this world
            Contented I will be;
            How many blessings I enjoy
            That other people don't!
            To weep and sigh because I'm blind,
            I cannot, and I won't.
      2. In Helen Keller (1880-1968); blind, deaf, and mute, yet she 
         wrote:
            They took away what should have been my eyes,
            (But I remembered Milton's Paradise)
            They took away what should have been my ears,
            (Beethoven came and wiped away my tears)
            They took away what should have been my tongue,
            (But I talked with God when I was young)
            He would not let them take away my soul,
            Possessing that, I still possess the whole.
      3. In the aged prisoner, Paul the apostle...
         a. Who saw how his imprisonment accomplished much good - Php 1:
            12-14
         b. Who had learned contentment - Php 4:10-12

[The virtue of contentment richly blessed the lives of these and 
countless others.  But as Paul indicated, contentment is something 
"learned".  How then does one develop contentment?]

II. THE KEY TO CONTENTMENT

   A. TRUSTING IN GOD'S PROVIDENTIAL CARE...
      1. This is the reason given in our text for us to be content 
         - He 13:5-6
         a. God has promised never to leave nor forsake us
         b. With the Lord as our helper, what can man do? - 1Jn 4:4
      2. This is the reason Jesus gave for us not to worry - Mt 6:25-32
         a. We are of greater value to God than the birds or flowers
         b. He providentially cares for them, will He not do the same
            for us?
         -- The key to receiving this care is to put God's will first 
            in our lives - Mt 6:33
      3. Contentment comes, then, when we trust God will provide what
         we need!

   B. KNOWING WHAT YOU CAN'T TAKE WITH YOU...
      1. As Paul discussed contentment, he pointed out certain truths 
         - 1Ti 6:7
         a. We brought nothing into this world
         b. It is certain we can carry nothing out! (have you ever seen
            a hearse pulling a U-Haul trailer?)
      2. Why then become anxious or worked up over things...
         a. That at best are only temporary
         b. That will wear out, be stolen, or left behind (or burned up
            at the coming of the Lord - 2Pe 3:10)
      3. Contentment comes, then, from knowing that material things are
         only temporary

   C. REALIZING WHAT IS TRULY "ESSENTIAL" FOR LIFE...
      1. Paul also revealed what are the only true "essentials" to 
         sustain life - 1Ti 6:8
         a. They are "food and clothing"
         b. Anything beyond this is a "luxury", for which we ought to 
            be thankful
            1) That includes "shelter", which many believe is a 
               necessity
            2) But millions live without shelter, and such is possible
               with the proper clothing
      2. Since God has promised to provide food and clothing (Mt 6:25-
         33), we can rest knowing that our "essentials" will be 
         provided
      3. Contentment comes, then, by realizing what is truly
         "essential" for life, for then we will realize how richly 
         blessed we really are!

   D. UNDERSTANDING THAT MATERIAL THINGS DO NOT SATISFY...
      1. Solomon observed this inadequacy of material things - Ec 5:10
         a. Those who love silver (money) will never be satisfied
         b. The same is true with those who love abundance (what money
            can buy)
      2. Material things do not meet the true needs of the soul - Ecc 6:7; cf. Isa 55:1-3
         a. C. S. Lewis suggested that God placed a longing in man, 
            that man might seek for God - cf. Ac 17:26-27
         b. Sadly, many people try to fulfill that longing with 
            material things
         c. They never succeed, for only one thing can fulfill it:  God
            Himself!
      3. Contentment comes, then, from understanding that material 
         things will never provide lasting satisfaction

   E. FINALLY, TRUE CONTENTMENT IS A GIFT FROM GOD...
      1. Here is another observation Solomon made in his search for 
         life's meaning:
         a. The ability to enjoy the fruits of one's labor is a gift 
            from God - Ec 2:24-26; 3:12-13; 5:18-20
         b. On the other hand, many are allowed to "gather" and 
            "collect", but will not enjoy the fruits of their labor 
            - cf. Ec 2:26b; 6:1-2
      2. God has the ability to provide lasting satisfaction - Psa 107:8-9
         a. He promises to give that which truly satisfies (makes one 
            content) - Isa 55:1-3
         b. And in Christ, He enables one to be content - Php 4:11-13
      -- Contentment comes, then, when God sees fit to bless us with 
         that which truly satisfies: "the sure mercies of David" (i.e.,
         the blessings promised through the coming Messiah)

CONCLUSION

1. The virtue of contentment is a wonderful blessing, one that comes 
   from God Himself...
   a. Whose Word reveals to us:
      1) The temporary nature of material things
      2) The inadequacy of material things to satisfy man
      3) The things that are truly essential in life
   b. Who has promised to us:
      1) To never leave us nor forsake us
      2) To provide the true essentials in life
      3) To fill our soul with that which truly satisfies
      4) To enable us to enjoy the material blessings we do acquire in
         life

2. But what God has promised is contingent upon what Jesus said...

   "But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all
   these things will be added to you" - Mt 6:33

If you desire to be truly content, you must set as your priority the
Will of God.  Have you made His Will the primary focus of your life?

Executable Outlines, Copyright © Mark A. Copeland, 2011

From Gary... Joy!!!

The joy of hearing

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=763859733658385&set=vb.166337376743960&type=2&theater

Modern technology can be a truly wonderful thing!!!  When I think of all the medical progress that has occurred in my short lifetime, it is truly amazing. Think of it, artificial hearts, all sorts of organ transplants, non-invasive scans of all kinds and so many other things that I just can't think of at the moment. And then there is Jesus; 2000 years ago- healing all sorts of problems...

 

Luke, Chapter 7

19 John, calling to himself two of his disciples, sent them to Jesus, saying, “Are you the one who is coming, or should we look for another?”  20 When the men had come to him, they said, “John the Baptizer has sent us to you, saying, ‘Are you he who comes, or should we look for another?’” 

  21  In that hour he cured many of diseases and plagues and evil spirits; and to many who were blind he gave sight.  22 Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John the things which you have seen and heard: that the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them.   23  Blessed is he who finds no occasion for stumbling in me.”

 Jesus performed miracles, genuine miracles!!!  The like of which even two millennia later- we still can not do. Scoff at this statement? Ask yourself, when was the last time you saw someone raised from the dead?  Yet, there are numerous instances in the Bible (John 11, Luke 7, Matthew 9 and 28, Mark 5).  And yet some people will not believe, no matter how many witnesses there are.  One thing is obvious; the lady in the video is overjoyed at being able to hear again. I am very happy for her and hope she completely recovers!!!  Imagine for a moment, the joy of every Christian, when they experience resurrection and the fellowship of heaven???  True joy- defined; beyond comprehension!!!!