How to Exponentially Increase Your Happiness • The Habits of Happiness • Ep. 9

many people think that happiness is simply a matter of luck and they think if you're happy you're just lucky you got lucky you had happy circumstances and so congratulations for you but actually happiness can be learned it is a quality that you can learn there are certain qualities that if you learn them your happiness in life is going to go up exponentially if you don't have these quality in your life your unhappiness will go up exponentially now you probably have never thought about this but if I mention it to you you automatically know what I'm talking about because you could instinctively pick out qualities that cause you to be happy and qualities that cause you to be unhappy for instance if we made two columns the happiness column and the unhappiness column and I said now which which column would um impatience go in unhappiness yeah impatient people tend to be unhappy people people would you agree with that and the more patient you are if you learn patience you're going to be happier in life that obviously makes sense if I said for instance uh cruelty that would go in the unhappiness column kindness would go in the happiness column this is kind of obvious and we could make an entire list if I said uh uh if I'm arrogant I'm going to tend to be unhappy and if I am humble I'm going to tend to be more happy so what we're going to do this weekend as we go through the book of Philippians is look at four very important qualities you need to build it in your life now happiness is a serious business and if you really want to be happy then you need to build these qualities in your life we're starting in Chapter 2 of Philippians verses 19 down to verse 30 let me read it to you and then we'll we'll look at it Paul says this I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon now let let me stop here and remind you the background Paul is in prison in Rome he's writing a letter to a church in Greece in a city called Philippi so we call it the Philippian letter Paul is writing to these church members of a church he started in Greece and they have been sending him care packages they've been they actually sent him an offering while he was in prison wait waiting to appeal his execution before Caesar who was Nero in Rome at the time and uh Paul is writing back to the Philippians and this book is actually a thank you letter it is a thank you letter for a for a financial gift and in the middle of this letter he gives some personal information so let me say it read it again I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon so that I may be cheered when I receive news about you I have no one else like him this is Timothy who takes a genuine interest in your welfare for everybody else looks after his own interest not those of Jesus Christ but you know that Timothy has proved himself because as a son with his father he has served with me in the work of the the gospel the good news I hope therefore to send him Timothy as soon as I can see how things go with me and I'm confident that I might myself will come soon in other words I hope I'm going to get out of jail and come back to to see you in in Philippi but he says I think it is necessary to also send back to you epaphroditus uh that's a long Greek name for a man but that's another guy like Timothy aitis my brother my fellow worker and my fellow soldier who is also your messenger whom you sent to me to take care of my needs when the Philippians sent a Financial gift to help Paul while he's in prison Rome they sent it through a guy named apodus and he says I'm going to send this guy back to you for he Longs for all of you because this was his home church and he's distressed because you heard he was Ill indeed he was ill and he almost died in trying to get to Paul in that trip to Rome but God had mercy on him and not only on him but also on me to spare me sorrow upon sorrow therefore I am all the more eager to send him back to you so that when you see him again you may be glad and I may be have I may have less anxiety so welcome him in the Lord with great joy and honor men like him because he almost died for the work of Christ risking his life to make up for the help you could not give me now when I read that passage at a first glance that doesn't seem to be a very deep passage you're going it sounds like Paul's talking about two guys who are with him in Rome that he's going to send back to Greece and and when you read this letter you might ask why in the world did God include that in the Bible I mean why why is that even there it's just it's just a personal note about two guys the church that the Philippi knows and that Paul knows and they've helped each other and and you might think you know this is a one of those passages in the Bible just kind of read over real quick and and just get to the good parts and you would be wrong you would be wrong because the Bible says everything in the Bible is there to teach us by example and in this In this passage that I just read you are the examples of the four things you must build into your life if you want to really be happy if you want to live consistently happy now uh he has an example of these four choices that leads to happiness and these two guys named Timothy and aphodius now here's here's the background Paul intends to send two guys who are with him in Rome while he's there in prison back to the Philippian church and he says in verse 19 I'm going to send you Timothy and in verse 25 he says I'm going to send back to you apodus who's a a member of your church and then Paul endorses these two guys as role models he says in in um in verse 20 of Timothy I got nobody else like him now let me just stop right there for a minute if Paul the Apostle who wrote most of the New Testament says I don't know anybody like him in the whole world you better pay attention to this guy when Paul says I don't have anybody in my life like Timothy then you better pay attention to in fact two of the books of the Bible are called first and second Timothy written to this guy so he's a very important important character he says I don't any I like him and then he says about the other guy apodus he says I want you to welcome him when I I send him and honor him because he nearly died he nearly died for my sake now Paul says and here's the reason why we're looking at it in this series on the habits of Happiness Paul says I'm going to send these guys to you for three reasons and he says this he said in verse 19 so that I may be cheered so I'm I can be happy and then in verse 28 he says so that you may be happy so you may be glad you may be happy and then he says in verse 28 so that I may have less anxiety so whatever these guys are doing the however they are living it's a way that's going to make you glad it's going to make me glad and it's going to make us all have less anxiety now as your pastor I want you to be happy I want me to be happy and I want us all to have less anxiety so we're going to look at this passage does that make sense and we're going to saywhat is it about these two guys that are so worthy they're in the Bible in a little footnote that looks like kind of like just a personal hey I'm sinning these guys he says in in the living Bible these guys will make me happy and lighten my cares now what this passage teaches us is that there are four qualities you need to have in your life in order for your happiness to go up and for the happiness of people around you to go up too and the first thing that you have to learn is this you're going to have to learn write this down to shift the focus away from myself that is the starting point for all happiness I must shift the focus away from myself I have to care about more than just me I've got to care about the needs of those around me if all I think about is me me me me me me me me myself and I I'm going to be a pretty miserable person if I truly want to be happy in life I've got to move the focus off myself now Paul gives Timothy as an example of this and in verse 20 21 he says this I have nobody else like him who takes a genuine interest in your welfare for everybody else looks out for his own interest would you say that's true today of most people everybody looks out for their own interest not that many people are looking after your interest could you name the people who are looking after your interest not many most people are looking after their own interest not yours and as a as naturally I tend to look at my own interest I don't tend to look at your interest I don't get up in the morning think H I wonder if you're having a hard time today no I'm always thinking about me you tend to think about you Paul says I've got nobody like this guy because he actually takes a genine interest in you not simply and himself everybody else looks out for his own interest now notice in that phrase there he says no one else no one else is like him in other words unselfish people are very very rare nobody else is like him he says who takes a genuine interest there are many people who fake interest in you it's so funny sometimes I go to these parties and or these important diplomatic events and people are standing there talking to you and they've got one of these little you know toast DEET things and drinking their hand and they're they're not they're talking to you but the whole time they're looking over your shoulder like is there anybody else more important I should be talking to they're pretending to take an interest in me but they're not really interested in me they're looking over who else could I talk to instead of this guy because they don't they're pretending that he says that he takes a genuine interest good news translation says he genuinely cares about you others care only about themselves and then I want you to circle the phrase it says looks out everyone else looks out for his own interest Circle that phrase looks out what we're talking about here is a matter of focus the first key to happiness is you got to change your focus you have to shift your focus away from yourself onto other people you got to look out for others now do you normally do that not normally that's something you have to learn to do when you walk into a room you're not normally thinking who in this room needs my help you walk into the room look and and think how do I look that's what you do you walk in the room go how do I look you know am I am I put together just right and and you have to intentionally train yourself to do the opposite to shift the focus away from myself the Philips translation of this verse says um they're not people aren't interested in you they're all wrapped up in their own Affairs Circle that phrase wrapped up for those of you who are single adults let me just give you a little fatherly advice it's better to sit at home without a date than go date somebody who's all wrapped up in themselves single woman a man wrapped up in himself is no gift guys a woman wrapped up in herself is no gift he says we we they're wrapped up in their own Affairs so they're not caring they're not looking out for the needs of others now I think confession is good for the soul I have to admit to you that it saddens me how many times I have missed the needs around me of people that I love I just totally missed them because I wasn't paying attention I just wasn't wasn't paying attention I wasn't looking out I hadn't shifted the focus from me to the others in the room and when I when I wasn't looking out for their needs I missed their needs and that Grieves me a lot Philippians 2: we looked at this verse last week but I love in the message paraphrase it says here don't be so obsessed with getting your own Advantage forget yourself long enough to lend a helping hand if you did that you think you'd be happier yes you would yes you would you see this isn't easy to do because everything in our culture and everything in our nature teaches us to be self-centered uh uh and America is becoming more and more self-centered I read a report this week in a psychology a scientific journal uh that said they studied 1 million books in print over the last 200 years in in American history and they and they compared the words that were used then and the words that used now and the words that are have increased in number today are I me my choice unique special these words are being overused today words you don't hear much today are responsibility and prayer okay those are words that were used a lot in the past we're we're increasingly Bec becoming more um self-centered most people look for happiness in all the wrong places you won't find it through money fame or power you'll only find real lasting Happiness by following God's commands that's why pastor R created the habits of Happiness Bible study you'll discover how happiness runs deeper than any circumstance feeling or relationship it's a comprehensive study tool that will help you experience the biblical habits that lead to true and Lasting happiness because of God's unconditional love for you this Bible study is available only on daily hope and quantities are limited when you give a gift to help hope daily hope share the gospel with people around the world we'll send you the habits of Happiness Bible study to say [Music] thanks the bottom line is everything in culture teaches you to think about you you you you you me me me me me I I I I I and so I have to intentionally shift the focus away if I want to be happy number two the second thing you're going to need to learn to be happy is this if you want to be happy you're going to have to become become someone that people trust you're going to have to become someone that people trust Proverbs 13:15 says those who can't be trusted are on the road to ruin now it's really obvious that the more people trust you the happier you're going to be and if people don't trust you you're not gonna be happy if PE if nobody trusts you you're living a pretty miserable life so here's another quality you can learn if you learn to be trustworthy you learn to be reliable you learn to be consistent you learn to be dependable and you develop that quality in your life you're going to be a whole lot happier than people who aren't worthy of trust if you want to be happy you've got to um become somebody that people trust now again Paul uses Timothy an an example of this verse 22 he says Timothy has proven himself because as a son with his father he served with me in the work of the Gospel now again he's given this guy as an example he says I've watched this guy in action I've seen this Timothy I've seen him in all kinds of circumstances and he says this guy Timothy he's the real deal he's the reala cord he's authentic he's genuine he's trustworthy he's dependent he's reliable you can count on this guy God's word translation says you know what kind of person Timothy proved to be do people know what kind of person you really are and are you trustworthy if you're not then you're not very happy because the more people trust you the more your happiness goes up now he says about this guy Timothy he's proven trustworthy he has been proven he has been proved over time tested verified checked out he is credible he is creditable you know anytime you go to a bank for a loan before they loan you any money they're going to do a thing on you called a credit check a credit check and they're gonna say uh are you worthy of being trusted with credit are you creditable do you pay your bills back are you paying them back on time do you have a track record of keeping your word do you have a track record of doing what you say can you be dependent on that if we loan you this money you're not going to flake out on us and we're going to lose it they do a credit check on you to see if you are credible or credit worthy now I want to tell you a little secret everybody around you is doing a credit check on your life every moment of your life not just the banks but everybody around you is constantly doing a credit check on you are you what you say you are are you the real deal or are you just some phony baloney you wear a mask here and wear a mask over here you know that's what they used to do in the in the Greek uh theater one actor would play many parts and he'd come out and he'd wear a mask and he'd play a part and then he'd go back behind the stage this is in the days of Plato he'd get another mask he'd come out and he'd wear that mask and he'd play a part and he'd go back and so he's wearing he's being different roles to different groups of people playing different parts same guy but wearing different masks and the word for that guy in Greek is called a hippoc critos that's where we get the word hypocrite hypocrite means somebody who he acts this way on the golf course and this way with his kids and this way at church and that way with his wife and you know you don't really know is what you see what you get he's saying you know the kind of person Timothy was he proved he was checked out he got a credit reference done now if you're going to be happy you got to learn to be consistent you got to learn to be Dependable trustworthy reliable how do you develop a reputation for reliability two things write them down the Bible tells us number one live with integrity live with integrity and what I mean by that is make sure that my actions match my words I don't talk a good game and then live another different way no he says I I I what you see is what you get Integrity doesn't mean you're perfect if if Perfection was required for integrity none of us have integrity because nobody's perfect we're all flawed but integrity means what you see is what you get it's the real deal make sure my action match my words Proverbs 2513 says this reliable friends who do what they say are like a cool drink are like cool drinks in sweltering heat refreshing not a great verse so that's a you know can people count on you do you flip-flop are you two-faced you're wishy-washy look at the opposite Proverbs 25:19 says this putting confidence in an unreliable person is like chewing with a toothache or walking on a broken foot I like that what is he saying the greatest ability is dependability it's more important than any other ability in life the greatest ability is dependability are you Dependable are you creditworthy are you worthy of trust if you are then you're going to be a happy person because the more people who trust in you the more happy you're going to be the greatest ability is dependability Proverbs 28:20 says honest people will lead a full happy life you want to be happy honest people lead full happy life number two not only do I live with Integrity I keep my promises this is the other way you learn this second quality keep my promises Psalm 15:4 talks about there're always people these people always do what they promise no matter how much it may cost them I actually like this verse better in the King James English where it says uh God blesses the person who sweareth to his own hurt swear it to own what does that mean he means you keep a promise and then you find out it's going to cost me more than I thought it was going to cost me but I still keep my promise I said I'd do it for that price and I'm going to take a bath on it but I'm going to do it because I keep my word and I'm going to keep my promise no matter how much it cost so if I want to be happy then I've got to first shift the focus away from myself it's not about me and second I've got to become somebody that people trust and we see those from Timothy now Paul is a superstar I mean this is the guy who wrote most of the New Testament part of the Bible Paul is a superstar yet Paul knows that we get more done by working together so here's the third skill that you got to learn in order to be happy in life and that is this number three learn how to work well with others and you know what they don't teach you that anymore and if parents don't teach their kids this they may not learn it in school you must learn how to work well by the way parents these are four things you need to teach your kids if you want your kids to be happy they've got to learn to switch the focus away from themselves they've got to learn to become someone that is trustworthy and they've got to learn how to work well with others what am I talking about here I'm talking about the skill of being a team member the skill of collaboration the skill of working together if you don't know how to work with other people you're going to be unhappy uh much in your life what do I need to learn in order to work with other people you need to learn two things the Bible says write these down first learn to cooperate I need to learn how to cooperate and that's not something you automatically do that's one of the goals of parenting is teaching your children how to share their toys teaching your children how to put away the toys together teaching your children how to cooperate often with people who are very different in personality learn to cooperate and Paul gives the second guy apatis as an example of this quality in verse 25 he says this I send back to you apodius my brother my fellow worker and my fellow soldier who is also your messenger whom you sent to take care of my needs this is a guy who knows how to work with other people the better you learn this skill the happier you're going to be in life because let me tell you something most of the world is different from you and if you don't know how to work with people who are different from you then you don't you just shut yourself off to most of the world most people look for happiness in all the wrong places you won't find it through money fame or power you'll only find real lasting Happiness by following God's commands that's why Pastor Rick created the habits of Happiness Bible study you'll discover how happiness runs deeper than any circumstance feeling or relationship it's a comprehensive study tool that will help you experience the biblical habits that lead to true and Lasting happiness because of God's unconditional love for you this Bible study is available only on daily hope and quantities are Li lied when you give a gift to help daily hope share the gospel with people around the world we'll send you the habits of Happiness Bible study to say [Music] [Music] [Music] thanks [Music]

Channel: Pastor Rick

Views: 6,221

Keywords: Pastor Rick Warren, Pastor Rick's Daily Hope, Pastor Rick, Rick Warren sermon, Rick Warren, Saddleback Church, Saddleback, christianity, church, church sermon

Id: TF4i4Qk0zDE

Length: 27min 18sec (1638 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 01 2023