How To Be Happy And Content (With Greg Laurie)

all right let's turn in our bibles to matthew chapter five and the title of my message is how to be happy quick paul how many of you are happy people today raise up your hand okay good you're definitely happier than the first service that's probably because you slept an hour more how many of you are unhappy raise your hand up it's okay a couple people well let's talk about happiness the problem with the very word happiness is what is it exactly what does it mean to be happy and having to find that how do we get it there's a lot of definitions of happiness cartoonist charles m schultz had a pretty simple view of it when he said happiness is a warm puppy not a warm cat note it's a warm puppy albert schweitzer said quote happiness is nothing more than good health and a bad memory okay comedian george byrne said happiness is having a large loving caring close-knit family in another city comedian milton burrow said a man doesn't know what true happiness is until he gets married then it's too late oscar wilde said some cause happiness wherever they go others whenever they go clever i think one of the best definitions of it came from theologian jimmy sol who said if you want to be happy for the rest of your life never make a pretty woman your wife for my personal point of view get an ugly girl to marry you remember that song doesn't make any sense at all but that was his particular philosophy so what is happiness exactly and where do you find it first let me tell you where you won't find it you won't find it in this crazy culture we're living in today to put it biblically you will not find it in this world because the happiness of the world the happiness of our culture basically depends on good things happening if things are going reasonably well well then i guess we're happy if things are not going so well when we're no longer happy it's hard to define if you look at it in that way here's what you need to know there are two sources of unhappiness in life one is not getting what you want and the other is getting it maybe you thought if i was a very wealthy person i know i would be happy i'm not suggesting you can't be a happy wealthy person because you can be indeed but sometimes the thing you wish for could actually be more of a curse than a blessing consider the story of juan rodriguez rodriguez who won the lottery he won 149 million dollars an article about him said that he won this lottery and so far it's only brought him a whole lot of trouble in fact relatives say the former parking lot attendant was a happier man when he was bankrupt since winning the mega millions jackpot two days after filing for bankruptcy rodriguez age 49 has lost his wife and has been besieged by a swarm of friends and relatives seeking handouts not to mention reporters seeking interviews days before he won the lotto rodriguez had reconciled with his wife of 17 years iris who had kicked him out of their house after yet another fight about money woes the couple were all smiles at a lottery press conference but the article continues ten days after he won the lottery his wife iris filed for divorce demanding half of the jackpot freezing all of the money now he sits the articles that hold up in a hotel room hiding out kind of a sad scenario there see there are some things money can buy and there are other things it can't buy for instance money can buy you a bed but it can't buy you a good night's sleep it can buy you books but it can't buy you brains it can buy you a house in fact a very nice house but he can't buy you a home he can buy you medicine but it cannot buy you health money can buy you amusement but it cannot buy you happiness and in the words of saint paul saint john and saint george and saint ringo money can't buy you love remember that song so how can we truly be happy people well believe it or not there's been a lot of research done on this subject a lot of polls have been taken and here's what they've come up with surveys by gallup the national opinion research center and the pew organization conclude that spiritually committed people are twice as likely to report being very happy than the least religious committed people so the conclusion is religious slash spiritual people tend to be happier people but let's take that a step further godly people are happy people according to the bible if we seek to know god and discover his plan for our life we as a result will find the happiness that has eluded us for so long not from seeking it but from seeking him and i'm speaking of the lord of course because the bible says happy are the people whose god is the lord you see god built us to turn to him and find our fulfillment and our contentment and our happiness if you will in this relationship with the lord c.s lewis put it this way and i quote god designed the human machine to run on himself he himself is the fuel for our spirits that we are designed to burn or the food our spirits were designed to feed on there is no other that's why it's just no good asking god to make us happy in our own way without bothering about faith god cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from himself because it's not there there is no such thing end quote so the idea is to seek god and happiness will come henry ward beecher said and i quote the strength and happiness of a man consists in finding out the way in which god is going and going in that way too so that's the great thing that we need to know god wants us to be happy but here's the twist on it god's definition of happiness may be a little bit different than ours yes he wants us to know this state of being but at the same time he might look at it a little differently than you do and he reveals his definition of happiness and the greatest sermon ever preached the sermon on the mount found here in matthew 5 to 7. this is god incarnate jesus christ giving us his worldview if you will he shows us how we are to live in this crazy culture jesus in the beginning of the sermon on the mount tells us what happiness is and how to find it this is a part of a series that we are doing that we're calling world view how to think and live biblically and why are we doing this because we want to have the right worldview in life and listen to this everybody has a worldview or the way that we view life in general it's formed by our culture our upbringing our education uh the books that we read the media that we take in so the question is not do you have a worldview the question is rather what kind of worldview do you have it's an important question the answer because our world view is comprehensive meaning that it affects every area of our life from our personal morality to the way that we look at money to our politics you name it our worldview will effectively uh uh it will affect the way that we think and live and so when we say a christian worldview and a biblical worldview what exactly are we saying i could talk about that for the rest of the message let me give you a real simple definition of a christian worldview a christian worldview is the belief that there is a god who is in control of the universe who's all-knowing all loving righteous and good who has a plan for our lives and he has revealed that plan to us in the pages of scripture a christian worldview accepts the teaching that the bible is a soul truth and authority we build our beliefs on other religious books human philosophies do not even come close the bible is the bedrock we build our faith on and thus our world view on that is why i've called this worldview how to think and live biblically so having said that here we find a worldview laid out for us given to us by jesus himself do you want to know how jesus thinks then study the sermon on the mount do you want to know how his heart really beats then study this sermon do you want to know what he thinks and feels about life then study this sermon it's the official manifesto of the king of kings and the lord of lords it will begin with the words opening his mouth he taught them this phrase opening his mouth is a um an expression in greek that is used to describe something that is solemn grave dignified and weighty that is not to suggest that other things that jesus taught were not equally as important but it is to say that there is weight given to these words that he lays out and the sermon on the mount so we are to pay careful attention to everything that is found here another thing i would add is the sermon on the mount was not given to the multitudes and by that i mean it wasn't given to the world at large the sermon on the mount is not a philosophy by which we govern society why because people don't believe in god for the most part and thus they would never live by the sermon on the mount now the sermon on the mount is effectively for believers only but even people who are non-believers will admire its teachings recently i interviewed a mossab yosef you remember who was raised as a muslim and he was raised in the teachings of islam but yet he was exposed to the teaching of jesus and the sermon on the mount and he was impressed by that and that is what he was looking for in life not what he was finding in the quran and that opened his heart which ultimately resulted in him committing his life to jesus christ but the point was he was attracted by these teachings pulled him in and they're wonderful teachings but only a follower of jesus can live this stuff out and even a follower of jesus will struggle with some of it at times but this is god's world view and the beatitudes are the beginning of the sermon on the mount there's eight of them in total the first four deal that's three the first four deal with your relationship with god the final four deal with your relationship with people why do we call them the beatitudes well because these are attitudes that should be this is the way we ought to be living uh you could even call them the be happy attitudes the word blessed will be used a lot though we'll read in a moment and that word blessed is interchangeable with the word happy thus the message is called how to be happy and we could have just as easily called it how to be blessed so let's read now the beatitudes the beginning of the sermon on the mount from jesus to his disciples matthew 5 verse 2 then he opened his mouth and taught them that was be would be his disciples saying blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be filled blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see god blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the sons of god blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven blessed are you when they revile and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for my sake rejoice and be exceedingly glad for great is your reward in heaven for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you we'll stop there the word blessed is introduced to us that is a wonderful word as christians we use the word bless and blessing a lot most of the time we mean it sometimes we use it as an expression to terminate a conversation that's going too long you're talking with someone well that's great wow amen praise the lord and god bless you which means can we stop talking now or more can you go away god bless you bye bye you know but that's of course not the proper way to use it it's a christian word it's a spiritual word it's a biblical word it's been hijacked by our culture and you'll hear people talk about blessings in their lives but the non-believer has no idea what a real blessing is because only the child of god truly knows what it is to be blessed and it's worth noting that jesus both began and concluded his earthly ministry blessing people you remember those two discouraged disciples on the emmaus road and jesus joined them and we read that he blessed them when the little children came to christ he took him up into his arms and the bible says he blessed them and then when his ministry was completed on the earth after his death and resurrection we read that as he was ascending he blessed them jesus loved to bless people but what does it mean to be blessed well the word blessed that is used here is from the greek word macarios it is a word that means to be happy or blissful so we could just as easily say blessed are the poor in spirit or happy are the meek or blissful are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness happy blessed blissful the greeks called the island of cyprus the happy isle and they believed because of its geographical location and perfect climate and fertile soil that anyone who lived on the island of cyprus had it made in the shade so they had this expression macario's self-contained happiness everything you need to be happy is right here in this island so now we apply this to our life what does it mean because we can't all move to that island can't we no the idea is that our happiness is independent of our circumstances it's self-contained meaning that regardless of what is happening to you externally internally you can be a truly happy person you can be a genuinely blessed person let me say this if things are going well for you and the bills are paid and the health is reasonably good and there's no conflicts at home things are going well with your career you might say well i'm a blessed man i'm a blessed woman yes you are but let's say things aren't going that well the health is not that good like this man that just sneezed um god bless you you came to be blessed god bless you or there are problems in other areas of your life listen you're still blessed why because of your relationship with god the apostle paul said i have found in whatever state i am in there to be content see here's the thing the biblical definition of blessedness slash happiness slash blissfulness is different than that of the culture if we were if we were to rewrite the beatitudes for the 21st century they would be way different than what we just read modern beatitudes would sound something like this blessed are the beautiful but they shall be admired blessed are the wealthy for they have it all blessed are the popular for they shall be loved blessed are the famous for they will be follow because they tweet about it all the time you know but no jesus starts the real beatitudes with a bombshell blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven now let's understand what this means and what it doesn't mean some have falsely interpreted this verse to say blessed are the poor that's not what jesus said that's not to say you can't be poor and be blessed for you can be but that's not what he is saying here uh in fact the bible does not commend poverty nor does it condemn wealth it has nothing to do with your bank account no blessed are the poor in spirit so what does it mean as you put it all together the word poor is from a verb meaning to shrink cower or cringe as beggars often did in that day this is speaking of a person who is destitute and completely dependent on others for help not financially but what this is saying is here is a man or a woman who has seen themselves as they really are before god they are lost they are hopeless they are helpless because apart from jesus christ everyone is spiritually destitute or poor in spirit regardless of their education wealth accomplishments or even religious knowledge to be poor in spirit means to acknowledge your spiritual bankruptcy that you are in need of god but some people don't like to do this they like to think that hey you know i have a lot to offer god i bring a lot to the table no you don't you bring nothing to the table you're depraved you're a sinner you're in need of a savior it's his grace and his mercy that is being offered to you you have to see that that's hard for some people to accept sometimes it's harder for men than women because men can be proud girls can't be too of course but sometimes we we're held back well wait a second i have my intelligence and i have my accomplishments and i have my whatever you know you are poor in spirit a great example of this is a story of general naaman general name in a syrian war hero highly decorated a leader among men powerful influential admire oh one other thing he was a leper and when you were a leper back in those days that was a death sentence there was no course of treatment there was no medication you could take you were basically going to die and naaman knew this about himself i don't know how many people realize the great general was a leper but he sure knew he heard there was a prophet in israel that prayed for people to be healed named elisha so general naaman made the journey to visit the prophet he probably had a really cool chariot that was all camouflaged like a hummer chariot you know and he had his military guards guys marching beside him and he showed up with his his unit and his entourage and i sure i'm sure he wore gleaming armor and all the decorations and things he had won in the fields of battle and so forth and there he was general naaman at the door of elisha and you wonder what kind of house elisha lived in you know i don't think it was anything fancy and and so he's there and the dust is being kicked up by his beautiful stallions and a knock on the door general neiman is here elisha knew why he was there elisha didn't even answer the door himself he sent a servant out he opens up the door oh elisha says go immerse yourself in the jordan river seven times and you'll be healed thanks shuts the door naman's like what what is this do you know who i am this is outrageous that's offensive and so i said i'm going home we had better rivers back in syria why should i go immerse myself on the jordan river of all places and then as he was turning back one of his friends said to him well general you know what you haven't got anything to lose why don't you give it a go but he didn't want to give it a go you know why he didn't want to reveal his genuine state because beneath that gleaming armor was his real condition that of a leper but he decided to go ahead and try it so he descended from his chariot and he peeled off that breastplate and he took off that helmet and he began to reveal to his men what he knew about himself i'm a leper in need of help it's probably a shock and as he immersed himself the first time he came up he was just wet second time same thing third fourth fifth sixth time the same seventh time healed of leprosy the bible says his skin was that like that of a little baby if you ever look carefully at a baby's skin i'd make glasses on other the other day and i was holding my granddaughter lucy and i was looking at her skin i was amazed at how smooth it was then somehow i caught my reflection in a mirror wearing those same glasses i almost had a heart attack you see he saw himself as he really was if you want to be a happy person you have to see yourself for what you are a sinner in need of a savior if a spurgeon who said the way to rise in the kingdom is to sink in yourselves again to quote c.s lewis whenever we find that our spiritual life is making us feel that we are good above all better than someone else i think we may be sure that we're being acted on not by god but by the devil the real test of being in the presence of god is you either forget about yourself altogether or you see yourself as a small dirty object what we don't hear that thundering from our pulpits today we hear how we can all be champions and we can all be successful don't talk to me about being a small dirty object don't tell me that i'm spiritually destitute don't tell me that i'm to be poor in spirit well that's what god is saying if you want to be happy you have to see yourself as you are and you have to be sorry for it and you have to want change in your life a classic example of this is a story jesus told of the sinner and the publican that went into the temple to pray the pharisee the religious man actually prayed this to god father i thank you that i am not like other men and you know you're really messed up when you pray something like that what i thank you i'm not like other men and the sinner he wouldn't even lift his eyes up he just beat in his chest and he said god of mercy on me a sinner or more literally the sinner god be merciful he said to me the sinner apparently he did not think of himself as one sinner among many he acted as though he was the only one he was so overwhelmed with his sense of his sin and his moral bankruptcy and his spiritual destitution and as far as he was concerned everyone else's sin paled into significance by comparison now we did the very opposite of that we justify our sin because we can always find others who are far worse rather than seeing how much better so many are doing than us and jesus said that man not the pharisee but the sinner went away justified why because he saw himself as he really was blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven when the bible speaks of the kingdom of heaven it is not only speaking of our future destination when we leave this world and go into god's presence it's also speaking of the present experience of the believer who's living under the rule and reign of jesus christ for the bible says the kingdom of god is righteousness peace and joy and the holy spirit blessed is the man or woman who sees himself as they really are they'll have heaven in the future and the rule of reign and the ruling reign of christ in the present bringing us to beatitude number two happy people are unhappy people now you heard me right happy people are unhappy people verse 4 blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted another way to translate this is happy are the unhappy now by the way the word that is used here for mourn is the most severe of all nine greek words used for grief in scripture it's reserved for mourning the dead and this verse certainly applies in principle to all that mourn are you mourning today well i am i've been mourning a long time when you lose someone that's close to you you mourn you don't get over it like people want you to especially if it was a loved one especially i might add if it was a child you never plan for such a thing so i mourn every single day but yet i would also say that jesus says blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted there's a blessedness or happiness in mourning you see how so well some good things come one of them is you gain a new perspective you see things differently some of the things that were important to you before are not nearly as important to you now and some of the things that were not as important to you before become very important to you now for starters you start okay someone over there really like that and the rest of you are like well if they like that i'm good too you know i kind of analyzed your applause there for a moment for starters you get a different view of life and you find yourself longing for heaven more you see before my son went to be with the lord i thought about heaven but to me it was a lot more intangible than it is today i think more specifically about heaven now because someone so close to me is there so you think more about heaven you long more for heaven you begin to understand what really matters in life and what doesn't you also begin to see this world for what it is and what it isn't and you recognize that this world is not the end all but something you will leave perhaps sooner than you think and you find yourself drawing close to god because quite frankly there's nowhere else to go no person has the answers you're looking for no thing brings the charge that you're looking for there's nothing or no one that can help you but the lord is there blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted so you see there is something that we could call good grief you know how charlie brown always said good grief there's good grief or good morning m-o-u-r-n-i-n-g blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted you know what crying can be good and it has its place it doesn't have to be suppressed we all have things that we cry about even if only in private i think that girls are more prone to express their emotion i don't know that girls cry more i think maybe girls are just more willing to express their emotion as it is where men will suppress it a lot of times women may think that men don't have emotion but we're holding it in you see because in our minds we sometimes think it's not manly to pray we fight it don't don't you know well the girl will do and you have to know girls i shouldn't tell you this i shouldn't tell you this but your secret weapon is crying i mean you want to just stop a guy in his tracks just start crying you know we'll say i say no and if you come back will i say all right if you no never mind no guy likes to make a girl cry but you might be in a movie and a scene comes on the screen and it's sad and and a girl may just you cry a little guy holds it in man my allergies are really kicking up right now [Applause] let me say this to you guys if you feel it's not manly to pray i have a two-word response to you jesus wept he was a man jesus was the man's man and he wept he wept at the tomb of lazarus sharing in the sorrow of those who had lost a loved one because death was never supposed to be he wept over jerusalem knowing what her future would be and it was not pretty oh yes jesus wept and you may be weeping and crying over something right now maybe you weep over your loneliness or you weep and cry over being discouraged or you feel rejected i would just say go ahead and cry and know this god cares if it concerns you it concerns him and you know what he keeps track of all those tears the bible tells us in psalm 56 8 he keeps track of all of your sorrows he collects all of your tears in his bottle each one is recorded in his book yes blessed are they that mourn but they will be comforted now the question arises can you find comfort in mourning yes you can jesus will be there to bring his supernatural comfort to you in your lowest times blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted so what are we mourning over looking at this contextually we're mourning over our state spiritually see the problem is there are people today that are laughing that ought to be crying the bible says let your laughter be turned to sorrow and the problem is they're laughing when they should be saying oh i can't believe this date i'm in you know it's interesting solomon who went on a binge of sin and experimented with pretty much everything this world has to offer on an epic scale came to this conclusion in ecclesiastes 2 1. i said to myself let's give pleasure a try let's look for all the good things in life but i found this too was meaningless solomon says you know it's silly to be laughing all the time i said what good does it do to seek only pleasure you ever watch a bunch of people drinking you know maybe you're in a restaurant and the table next to you they order drinks and they have the first string at first they're not even talking that much and they have their first drink and a little laughter and the second drink a little more laughter third drink they're laughing like a bunch of hyenas and they don't even know what they're laughing at you know you wake him up the next morning what were you laughing about last night i don't know about my hair church you know you see they laugh that's what people want to do let's go have some laughs laugh it off come on let's just laugh about it there's a place for laughter and there's a place for sorrow blessed are they that mourn happy are the sad who see themselves as they are and then they take action you see your true sorrow will lead to joy but without that sorrow there will be no joy because you see your state and you decide to do something about it and you repent the bible says godly sorrow produces repentance sometimes we're sorry for the repercussions of what we've done you know you're out driving and you break the speed limit and the chp comes up behind you with lights flashing you're sorry why are you sorry because you broke the speed limit no because you didn't check more carefully for the chp and you're sorry because your insurance rates are going up and this is another point and you don't want to go to traffic school and all the rest of it now here's the question next time are you gonna slow down are you gonna still do what you were doing and so sometimes we're sorry for the repercussions we're not sorry for the act we're not sorry enough to stop doing it the bible says godly sorrow will produce repentance meaning you're sorry enough to stop blessed are the unhappy for they shall be happy not the stupid happiness of happenings but the joy that comes from jesus because romans 4 7 says happy are they whose sins are forgiven thus our sorrow leads to joy and without that sorrow there is no joy happy are the poor in spirit the person who sees himself as they really are happy are they that mourn they want to do something about that condition they sorrow over it they repent of it leaning us to beatitude number three blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth verse 5. see now that i've seen myself for who i really am and i realize i'm not all that but i'm actually spiritually bankrupt destitute repentant calling on god and forgiven i'm not proud about that because i've seen myself as i am thus i am me what is meekness well it's not weakness sometimes they think well that person they're so meek which means they're weak no difference between a meek person and a weak person is this a a weak person can't do anything a meek person can but chooses not to you know if the weak guy is on the beach and some bully comes up kicks out in his face and he doesn't fight back it's not because he's meek it's because he's weak and he doesn't want to be pulverized but a meek person is a guy who's trained in mixed martial arts someone kicks sand in his face and he chooses to not beat the guy to a pulp for doing that i'm going to restrain myself i'm going to control myself the word meek was used to describe reigning a stallion in so you've got the bit in the mouth and you're holding on to the reins you're controlling that power and the horse chooses to submit to your authority that's meekness it's power under constraint jesus says happy are the meek but we don't celebrate meekness in our culture we celebrate asserting yourself we celebrate getting things from other people sometimes even taking advantage of other people how different this is from what the bible teaches the biblical worldview says last is first giving is receiving dying is living losing his finding least is greatest weakness excuse me meekness is strength and so the idea is that we're living by god's truth not by what this world says should make us happy a great illustration of meekness power to constrain his joseph he had the ability to kill all of his brothers for what they had done to him selling him into slavery but he forgave them that was meekness power under constraint and when's the last time you saw a movie that celebrated the virtue of meekness you know where the big buildup of the movie was even though the good guy was wrong he meekly restrained himself no we i wouldn't go to a movie like that i want to go see a payback movie i want to see a movie for the first half of it we see the bad things that come to the hero and the last part of it the bad things that come to the people that did these things to the hero that's what entertains me that's what culture celebrates but the bible celebrates meekness and the greatest example of meekness of all time is jesus himself here was god in flesh walking among us and yet look at the abuse he took they hit him in the face have you ever been hit in the face i mean really hit with a fist in the face it's not like it is in the movies you know like in the westerns and a brawl breaks out on the bar right and the first blow boom and the camera goes other clothes and the guy kind of smiles and a couple of teeth gets spit out like oh having some fun now it's no fun to be hit in the face it hurts it's traumatizing it's shocking imagine your beard being ripped from your face and then being spit on you know sometimes being spit on is more offensive than being hit because it's so offensive and this is what they did to jesus they hit him multiple times in the face ripped his beard out spit in his face and then of course scourged him 39 times it's amazing he survived the whipping then to carry the 400 pound cross to the streets of jerusalem like i said he was a man's man but it was meekness blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth god's going to give these things to the man of the woman who is meek and walking before him as they ought to which brings us to our final beatitude we'll look at this time a happy person passionately desires a righteous life again a happy person passionately desires a righteous life verse six blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be filled you see i've seen myself as i really am i've mourned over my condition i've repented of it the result is now i walk in meekness before god and guess what now i have a new hunger now i have a new thirst and it's a thirst for god himself have you ever really been hungry i probably over overly dramatized my hunger because at my clock my stomach is like a clock i mean it just it just really honestly around 10 o'clock i'm hungry for lunch and i'm just waiting 10 05 10 10 10 20 10 30. now it's 11. okay we're closing in now 11 20. we could be eating anytime now on 11 30 definitely eating 11 45 hopefully eating 12 o'clock definitely 1201. i'm starving to death i'll say to my wife just say greg you're not starving to death i am so say you have plenty of reserve there and i don't well i'm not starving to death at all but i am hungry good example of this is thanksgiving day i love the thanksgiving meal don't you so good all that stuff i love all the trimmings i love the turkey of course the gravy lots of gravy mashed potatoes i'm getting hungry thinking about it sweet uh you know sweet potatoes with melted marshmallows that's what we do maybe biscuits or some kind of fresh bread and and then maybe some string beans and you have to have great stuffy i like cornbread stuffing and then for dessert it's a law you have pumpkin pie don't don't be bringing something out here it's pumpkin pie i say we make this a lot now uh and it seems when you have the thanksgiving meal you know you're waiting forever because you know usually my wife will start preparing it sometimes even the night before chopping things up getting things ready and i love to go in and steal little bits of it there's something about stolen food that is very gratifying don't eat that all right now wait until she looks away you know they have the appetizers out greg don't eat it it's for the guests and she turns away and i'm eating the seven layer dip and then i'll take another chip and sort of clean up my spot so you won't know i was there i use a clean chip don't be alarmed but finally the great moment comes the guests are there why is it people are always late for thanksgiving don't be late for thanksgiving show up on time two things you'll take away we need to make pumpkin pie a lot and don't be late for thanksgiving yeah you know what you're invited to eat with someone don't be late because we're waiting and we're all there and it's on the table and the time has come so we ask uncle harry to pray and he has to do that hour-long prayer you know he's praying so long the the gravy is filming over no let's just eat we'll pray after okay you're hungry are you hungry for god are you thirsty for spiritual things we sang that song a little bit earlier this is the air i breathe your holy presence living in me lord i'm desperate for you lord i'm lost without you that's what is being described here a man or a woman that is hungry and thirsty for god that's what the psalmist was describing when he said in psalm 42 1 as a dear thirst for the water brook so thirst my soul for thee o god the living god are you hungry for god i guess this could be determined by the way you see spiritual things you know we all have our bibles with us here you have your bible can i see your bible please just say you got everyone is a bible very good you don't have a bible where's your bible oh you're using his bible okay good then hold up his bible he won't give it to you see he loves his bible see this is the example of what to do and what not to do okay ushers take this man out of here now this is the danger of sitting in the front row but here's the thing you know we have our bibles here but then let's talk about tomorrow morning and when you're getting ready for work or school or whatever it is you're going to do in the day are you going to make time for the word of god and if you do are you going to be kind of um or are you going to hunger for what god has to say to you to start that day how about a prayer is that something you need oh do we have don't don't do you know come on now wait a second a happy person is one that hungers and thirsts for righteousness they want to be right with god they want to walk with god they long for these things that's where happiness is going to come from not from the things of this world you know when the prodigal son was hungry he went to feed upon the food that the pigs ate but when he was starving he turned to his father do you starve for a holy life do you hunger for god's best for you if you do you'll be taking practical steps to get it so let's put this all together in close you want to be a happy person right well number one you need to be poor in spirit which means you need to see yourself as you really are see this world for what it really is it will never satisfy you the answer is not within as some would suggest no the problem is within and the problem is you and me we're sinners in need of a savior causing us to mourn for our sin we're sorry for our condition sorry enough to stop and turn to jesus christ for forgiveness and relief and as you believe in jesus it changes you it changes your outlook and your attitude toward life and you become a person of meekness not an arrogant person but one that realizes that you're a forgiven person you're not better than others better off yes but not better and finally you have a new hunger and thirst for that which will satisfy you in life you now hunger for god and you know what if that's the way you live you're going to be happy again happy are the people whose god is the lord are you a happy person and the biblical definition of that word if not you can be but first there must be the forgiveness of your sin again the bible says happy is the man whose sin is forgiven blessed is the man whose sin is forgiven blissful is the woman whose sins are forgiven this comes from the removal of our sin and us getting right with god yes jesus went to that cross 2000 years ago he suffered and died for each one of us he took upon himself every sin we've ever committed and paid the price for them and then rose again from the dead three days later and jesus christ who delivered the sermon on the mount the greatest sermon ever given now is alive with us in this room standing at the door of our life and knocking and he is saying if we'll hear his voice and open the door he'll come in maybe you've joined us here today and you've never asked jesus christ to come into your life you don't know it's absolute certainty that your sin is forgiven we talked about how the scripture says that ours is the kingdom of heaven you don't have this hope of the kingdom of heaven in the future you don't have the assurance that you go to heaven when you die but you can have it if you put your faith in jesus and turn from your sin in a moment we're going to pray and i'm going to give you an opportunity to get right with god and if you've never asked jesus christ to come into your life i really think you should do it now so respond to this invitation as we close now in prayer father thank you for your word to us thank you for your promise of genuine happiness not the fleeting emotion of happiness this world offers thank you lord it's in a relationship with you and i pray for any that have joined us here that do not yet know you help them to see their need for you and help them to come to you now we pray now while our heads are bowed and our eyes are closed and we're praying how many of you would say today greg pray for me i want to be a happy person i want my sin removed i want to go to heaven when i die i want jesus christ to come into my life and i want him to forgive me of my sin i'm ready to say yes to jesus right now pray for me if you want jesus christ to come into your life and you want him to forgive you of your sin if you want to go to heaven when you die would you lift your hand up right now wherever you're sitting now i'm going to pray for you just lift your hand up if you want christ to come into your life today god bless you over there anybody else here in the middle god bless you over there on the side god bless you as well how about up in the balcony god bless you in the back of the balcony here in the middle god bless you over there on the other side god bless you also anybody else you want christ to come into your life today you want his forgiveness you want to be certain your life is right with god lift your hand up now i'll pray for you god bless you god bless each one of you maybe there's some of you that have drifted you've fallen away from the lord you've allowed other things to crowd them out but you want to return to christ today you're like the prodigal that's been chasing after the things of this world to satisfy but now you're starving and you're ready to come back to your father if you want to make a recommitment of christ lift your hand up and i'll pray for you today god bless you god bless each one of you now all of you that have lifted your hand saying you want to make this commitment to christ i want you to stand to your feet and i'm going to lead you in a prayer just stand to your feet if you lifted your hand yes just stand up that's right if you lifted your hand just stand up and i'm going to lead you in a prayer don't be embarrassed you're among friends and family here just stand up outside in the courtyard if you need to make this commitment you stand to your feet up in our court building you stand as well wherever you are if you want to make this commitment a re-commitment to christ stand to your feet and i'm going to lead you in a prayer stand up anybody else stand now god bless you over there up in the balcony god bless you god bless you this final moment you want to make this commitment to christ stand up now i'll lead you in a prayer god bless you anybody else stand now anybody else god bless you right you that are standing i want you to pray this prayer out loud after me and this is where you're asking jesus christ to come into your life so again as i pray pray this out loud after me now pray this if you will lord jesus i know i'm a sinner but you died on the cross and shed your blood for every sin i've ever committed i turn from my sin now i ask you to come into my life be my savior be my lord be my god make me a happy person as i walk with you thank you lord in jesus name i pray amen god bless in front of you right amen

Channel: Pastor Greg Laurie

Views: 87,392

Rating: 4.8563828 out of 5

Keywords: harvest, greg, laurie, Harvest Christian Fellowship, Greg Laurie Sermons, bible study for me, bible study, youtube sermons, greg laurie live, bible study lessons, how to be happy and content, how to be happy and content with your life, how to be happy, what the bible says about how to be happy

Id: QaA-swKkxU4

Length: 52min 1sec (3121 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 03 2020