Happiness

We did well commute today to our service. I know that, because it's a holiday. That's the time that families could be together, right? It's a wonderful blessing that we have that opportunity to spend time together with the people that we love and and want fellowship with. When I first started in Ministry in 1974, I had books that I have bought from for college, you know, those ones that you love so much to have and the time came where I started to be interested in painting my own books and so is that the Christian bookstore and I can remember buying the very first book that I was going to put into my library. And it was a book entitled. Where do I go to buy happiness? It was written by Elisabeth skoglund of gargling turned out to be quite an author. You may be familiar with their work, she's written more than 30 books. She's a believing therapist and she does really good writing. I can endorse all of her books because I haven't read all 30 of them. But the ones I have read, our roads are really quite good and quite useful. I look for my copy of. Where do I go to buy happiness? And I figure, I just loaned it to somebody so if I did bring it back, it's quite valuable. There are very few copies of it back, but I try to get another one. It was like no I can't afford to do that. I'm back now I just can't It's an interesting concept, though, where would you, why would you try to buy happiness? Doesn't make any sense. And yet in our culture, and in the way we approach things, and in the way, we obtain things that we want. It makes all the sense in the world that people would ask that question. And if we ever never ever ask it, literally, he probably thought about it from time to time. Happiness is something that we're all looking for. We like to have feels good to be happy and one of the things that, you know, what a weekend like this weekend if it's family comes together and you have this opportunity to interact and have fun and talk and do all kinds of things and you your go away, experiencing the kind of happiness that God really had in mind for his people. There is a true Joy. It experiencing happiness. Sometimes we get the kind of Crossway some things that we we categorize spiritual worship religious things as as the serious thing and there are other things in life that are the pleasurable. And the enjoyable things, I'd like to use a text this morning from Nehemiah. It's just chapter eight that we're going to look at will start. Invertase can go down through about verse 12 but Ezra and Nehemiah have called the the refugees who returned to the land of Palestine and are trying to rebuild it and he called them to listen to The Book of the law, to listen to the message, to listen, to the teaching of Moses. And I think we can see how they're a little bit confused about what the purpose might be starting University. They read for the book of The Law of God making it clear and giving the meaning. So that the people understood what was being read? Then, Nehemiah the governor as were the priests of the teacher of the law in the Levites who were instructed. The people said all of them, this day is Holy to the Lord, your God. Do not mourn or weep for all. The people have been weeping as they listen to the words of Galore, words of the law. I don't know if their weeping because they realize that they weren't fully measuring up to what they were hearing. I don't know if their weeping because it was expensive felt like that was expected of them has a spiritual experience but I think it's really interesting that these leaders say, wait a minute, you have the wrong, take on the day. First, 10 Nehemiah said, go and enjoy Choice, food, and sweet, drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is Holy to. Our Lord. Do not grieve for the joy of the Lord is your strength. Believe it's calmed all the people saying be still for. This is a holy day, do not grieve. Then all the people went away to eat and drink this in portions of food and to celebrate with great joy. Because they now understood the words that have been made known to them, this is the cause of Celebration. I've been in Ministry for for almost 50 years and I very much can document the changing attitudes about Memorial services and funerals. I can remember. The first funeral I went to where somebody said something funny and people kind of looked at each other like Appropriate. You know this is a serious kind of vacation and then over the period of time to the next 20 or 30 years, I became very commonplace and it's a good thing. I m so much that you castrate. A person is so much that you share and it makes it so much more real to celebrate a life in those kind of terms, as well as the serious kind of terms. Be happy. When you hear God's voice be happy, it's a good thing. It's a positive thing and he's trying to spin around just a little bit. We want to get happiness. We want to incorporate God's happiness into our lives. Now, The broad topic and it's hard to really get the specificity that we need. But one of the things I'd like to say in the beginning is me to think about what we're not talking about some Thai food, people think about happiness, especially in the context of spirituality is something that you pretend to do. You know that fake it to you, feel it, put a smile on your face, you're going to church. Make it make everybody be glad to be there in like that. If you feel like tamales Mi, if you feel like, crying cry because that's what we're all here for. But we can do both of those things. And both of those things are opportunity for us. Another thing that I think it's so, so important and I come across this all the time is it's not somebody else's job to happy you up. You know, sometimes in marriages, that's a problem. Your life. I want them to make me happy and I'm not happy. So it's somebody else's responsibility. It doesn't work that what we have responsibility for our own happiness. We have responsibility to find the things that Inspire us and motivate us. There also is a complication in the political Arena, and if you go to the Declaration of Independence, we hold these truths to be self-evident. That all men are created equal and they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights. That among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, that is a human riding. And obviously, there's a perspective there this morning to honor God and while that's beautiful. And, and inspirational know, if you go into your Bible and begin to look at life and Liberty in the and happiness, those are things that God doesn't necessarily promise us because they're certainly moments in our lives when those things are are not there. I mention it because I think it's sometimes, we've because of what we find a written here. We believe that. It's all right to be happy. It's our right to pursue happiness. And there's nothing wrong with that, right? As long as we understand that, it's our challenge is our sons building is our opportunity. It's not something that has just been poured down on us and we look at other people's. They will these other people to getting all of these positive things were mine. And God provides Us in the gifts that he gives us the opportunity to have the pursuit of happiness. We can do that. It's doable. We understand where we're going and why we're going there. I think another thing we miss understand sometimes Happiness is about these moments of joy. Yellow and life is hard. Life is difficult. And then every now and then and I have a positive experience, I have a good day, I have a good night or I have a good opportunity to be with people or like I'm talking about this weekend, you the spend time with the people that you love inside, okay. I captured one of those moments of happiness. And so that's what's being talked about in scripture. That's not what I was talking about, is talking about a spirit of Happiness. It's talkin about a pervasive opportunity, a pervasive living in a place where we are fundamentally happy. Does that mean we're laughing out loud every moment? No, it doesn't know better than that. We know those are challenges. We know there are challenges in our lives, but when we approach those challenges, With the gifts that God gives us. And one of those is a gift of a core happiness, that we can handle it better. Now. The flip side of that, is it Satan really plays on this momentary, happiness stuff. He knows we want to be happy and he says to us here. Drink this, it will make you happy. Or swallow this and you're going to feel better indulge that fantasy and have a wonderful. Being fulfilled sexually or whatever. He says he was out of your pocket and live like you're rich for 24 hours and constantly costly, he's inviting us to the moments of happiness and in our experience and then our lives and in our own personal wisdom, in our own personal knowledge. We know that these are all just baked He's hiding the hook. He's trying to get us to indulge in it and a momentary experience so that he can keep us that he could trap us know, set of Moses that he refused.

The pleasures of Egypt, recognizing that this was a temporary opportunity. The pleasures of sin are temporary and he understood that and a lot of times when life is just really beating us up when there's nothing good. It feels like it's going on in our life and I would like I would like to be away from the difficulties were just a minute. I'd like to have something to help me. Rise above that. I'd like to feel better again and Satan Whispers in her ear, you feel better. And frequently for a short. Of time we do. But we often can pay a tremendously high price. That process. Happiness is a long. Game. It doesn't happen. You can't go in like the teenager in the book and say, Here's a hundred dollars. I want a month of Happiness. We can't buy it. We develop it, we grow it, we shave it, we prune it, we harvest the fruit of it and we enjoy it and we experience that but it takes time. There's a book. I know many of you from everything even called The Giving Tree, the story of a tree and a boy, the Boy, as to his Boyhood has wonderful experiences with this tree likes to climb the tree, he likes to eat the apples. You like to do all these kind of things. I'm going to court. She grows up and he goes another Direction. He comes back to the tree and as a young man and he's not happy, and the tree says, what do you need? He's going to need some monies. Will take my apples and sell them. And I like in the book it says full and the Trees Happy. The Boy comes back and says I'm still not happy. What do you need?

And the tree is happy. He comes back as a very, very, very old man. Do you want some boat? The Priestess cut down my trunk and make a boat. And again, Trees. Happy 5 years. Old man. Wanders off nothing left of the tree and he says he sits down on the stone. Videos with that statement and the tree was happy. The tree was doing the giving the tree was doing the loving. The tree was the mature. Entity. In the story and that's where we're headed. That's what we're going. That's what we're trying to achieve. One of the things that we really have a struggle with as Christians of today is we have a spiritual core. And it's hard to Define. It's even harder impossible to physically lay hands on, but it talks about hiding things in our heart. So talking about our biological hard, it's not talking about our mind, even got talking about the fact that we have a spiritual core and our spiritual core is where that happiness comes from when we have peace and joy and confidence. Because we're following God, and we're being obedient, we're living the plan that he's laid out for us even on the days when difficulties stream difficulty hits. We still having our core this fundamental happiness. This fundamental Victory, this fundamental knowledge and it's all going to be okay? Because of our God. And that give us the strength and the happiness and move forward.

Psalms 128 verses 1 and 2. I'm using the common English Bible because I like the way it did to, it puts it, everyone who honors. The Lord, Who Walks In God's way is truly happy. Who's Happy the person who lives life, the way God has laid it down. You will definitely enjoy what you worked hard for. You'll be happy and things will go well for you. Jesus says of his disciples at the very end of his life from John 13, 17. And again, this is CB translation since, you know these things, you will be happy. If you do them. A lot of things, we know that's a lot of things. We understand. There's a lot of things, we mastered intellectually that we haven't confidently, put into our lives and Jesus is selling them. You think, you know? So little with the truth is, you know, it all Now it's time to go do it. I want to be happy. I've laid it out for you. God says, don't do it. And then one more. This is an old passenger. You'll certainly recognize this. It's a different version. Be happy in your hoe. Stand your ground when you're in trouble. And devote yourselves to prayer Romans 12:12. Happy in your hope, stand your ground when you're in trouble and I love that rendering. And devote yourself. The prayer. There's a plan. So where do you go to my happiness? We can't buy it. Looking through some photographs not too long ago, we had some company here and looking for some through photographs of when we first moved into our house and I can't believe how big her and it was in those trees that you buy and you put in the front yard and and then now there's such a problem getting in all the other doing all kinds of things, you wish they were doing but they're still out there. And you can't help but see the fact that that's the same thing that God's talking about plan C cultivate. Let It Grow. Someday, it's going to be big and strong and it's going to support you more and more and more. Each year. We know it, our happiness is found in our relationships, Philip relationships. We have with our God, with our family, with our chosen family and when your relationships are right, The external don't have the power. But they seem to or feel like they do at other points in time, they still hurt. But they don't block the Sun. Son, son. after the story with you before, but One year, we were, we were in Cozumel ever get a chance to be in, Cozumel, be there on Sunday, because it's the best experience of the whole week. The reserve that quite simply locals, take the day off. And there are no cruise ships there on Sunday, he's a very, very, very different atmosphere, and Sunday evening, is it start to get dark. People began to gather in the town square. There's dancing in this music and there's games and various kinds of things. None of it by the local Chamber of Commerce business. People who come and enjoy their time together. We were there, one, Sunday, evening Kim, and go. See her about 4 and 5 and they're doing what, for a 4 and 5 year old with you. They're chasing pigeons that goes, you just keep getting closer and closer and closer, she knows he's just going to get one. You know, there's an older boys about 10. and, He goes at the little store there by self of bread and he comes back out. And he sits down opens up red and starts to pull pieces out and the pictures just flock to him sitting woman, only shoulder that is Elmo sitting in his lap and he's feeding those pieces of bread and Kipling cuz you're like the bread. So that I can capture a bird. And I don't tell Kelsey, I don't know offhand, but I didn't buy the bread that night I should wait for you to do with the bird. Just take it home. God why I thought you were thinking, or where you were going to go there,

we worked out very well. The next about summer, Kelsey and I are in the backyard. and we happen to be a, where there's a, we're in a migratory pattern of of butterflies and the butterflies recommends for you and she's doing exactly the same thing with the butterflies that she did with the bird, you know, she's just trying to tell you what Do you want those butterflies? You want to touch and hold the butterfly and she said, yeah, you and I'll sit real still. And see if the butterflies will come to us. It was so hard for her to be quiet. It was so hard for her to be still and yet it happened, you know, there was one on her knee and there was one on her arm and she resisted the impulse to grab her to hold And it was just this really cool experience and to this day she and I talked about that because it was just so special and the point that I draw from that is the same thing with happiness, you can chase it, you could try to buy it, you can drive all these kind of schemes and goddesses listen. Just do what I ask you to do. Just do what I ask you to do and go sit quietly and be still. And see if I don't bring happiness to you. Is there? It's our option and our God wants us to experience that. Would you play with me?

Dear God. You love us and he blessed us and you give us so much other. We need so much. We need the confidence that whatever happens. You're there with us to guide us and help us. Father, we can rejoice in that. And we can praise your name and Lord we can be happy in our core because of what you've done. We thank you. We thank you though. Our sins are washed away with the things that would hold us back from being with you eternally have been pushed far far away. Give us the strength to do. Father, what we know to do. We pray this for your precious son.

This morning, if you need to respond to your God, we invite you to do that. We sent sing this song together.