LIVE: Lets Get Crazy Happy (August 8, 2021)

gracious to you the lord turned his face toward you and gave you peace [Music] make his face shine upon you and be gracious [Music] generations and your family and your children and their children and their children may his favor be upon you and a thousand generations and your family and your children and their children and their children generations and your family and your children [Music] and their children and their children these presents go before you and behind you and beside you all around you and within you [Music] and rejoicing [Music] he his is [Music] [Applause] [Music] everybody [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] ah [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] i can feel the winds they try to shake [Music] me [Music] my feet [Music] let the waters my feet [Music] [Music] is as the water's [Music] and clap your hands my feet is changing ways i'll feed her on the rock [Music] so created from dust and you came and you lived and you stepped into time yes you did you laid down your life to save us you took all my shame and the cross it was late and now you're taking us higher and we go from glory to glory to glory we'll never be the same be the same we go from glory to glory to glory we're forever changed forever james and you called me your friend yes you did brought me into your head glory to worry everything oh [Music] [Music] you're taking us higher and higher and higher [Music] good morning good afternoon and good evening church family and welcome back to shepherd's grove presbyterian church streaming to you live out of irvine california my name is preston parker and i along with my friend elizabeth have the honor of being your live stream host for today's service family the bible says oh magnify the lord with me and let us exalt his name together and i am so excited because i along with my friend sinead vernales and the hour of power choir get to lead you in worship today and so we are going to bring to you songs that we hope encourage you that help let you know that god loves you unconditionally and that he is with you right where you are all right family and so my prayer is that you receive that message today and that you receive the worship that we have for you today now also i want you to receive today's sermon we're so excited because pastor daniel fusco is here today to bring the word of god and so his subject title is let's get crazy happy and you know i just feel like that is such a needed uh sermon topic for this week for this month for this season and for this year i know that if i were to ask you all um what's going on in your lives right now you could list off all the crazy all the terrible and all the wild things that are going on in your life you could tell us about who needs prayer who is sick what's going on who's dealing with depression and anxiety and all these different things but family i want to encourage you today and i want to challenge you to think of those things that make you happy think of those things that make you glad think of those things that you are grateful for and to start your mornings out with them so as we talk about this sermon let's get happy i want to try something right now now i want you right now in the comment section wherever you are watching just to type in a couple things that you're happy for a couple things that you're grateful for a couple of things that the lord has done in your life that bring you joy and gladness right now just say i'm thankful for i'm glad for it brings me joy that god has done blank go ahead fill in that blank let us know right there in that comment section we would love to hear how god is living and moving in your life family i'm so happy that you're here remember to share this stream wherever you're watching from whether it be facebook or youtube go ahead and copy that link and send it to a friend go ahead and share it on your facebook pages as well we want everybody to come and join service all right now i won't hold you too much longer i hope you all enjoy service enjoy pastor daniel fusco and the amazing worship that we have for you today now until then my name is preston parker and have an amazing service church family [Music] good morning church family we're so excited that you're here here are a few announcements for you this week we're launching a new internship program here at shepherds grove if you would like to join our amazing team and be a part of this ministry go to our website to find more information [Music] think back to the person who invited you to come to shepherd's grove why did you come how did you feel today i want you to think about those things and think about who you could bless with an invitation to come to church next sunday we would love to see you bring your friends and love on them as well so think about who can you bring with you to church next week rooted is awesome hear from my friend shawn about what it did for her i love rooted because of all the differences it's made in my everyday life and just the the community that i've gained from it the love and the light that i've gotten through it and just my new found love and respect and appreciation for god and my faith you should definitely do rooted if you're looking for more information on faith on religion on christianity and more ways of connecting with god more ways of connecting with your church more ways of connecting with just your faith in general it's a 10-week course but it's just literally means so much and it's so much knowledge um for me i walked in as like i really didn't know much and now i feel like i have the tools that i need to be able to get through tough times in life and i have used them through tough times in life and it's just it's made so much of a difference rooted is coming soon for ways to join this amazing experience visit our website today and as always you can find more information about these things and so much more up on the website make sure to check out the blog there and also our social media we hope that you have an absolutely fantastic week and remember as always god loves you and so do we [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] is this is the day that the lord has made let us rejoice and be glad in it good morning church bobby and hannah are still wrapping up their vacation and we send all of our blessings to them and hope that they've just had an incredible time of rejuvenation and bonding as a family and we look forward to them being back with us next week but today we are so fortunate that we have stolen away daniel fusco from his church up in vancouver washington and he will be bringing the message daniel has been an interview guest twice before and so we are so fortunate to have him actually in the house bringing the word with us today it's also with an extremely extremely heavy heart that i let all of you know that our beloved organist jelco has actually passed away um joco was diagnosed with stage four cancer a little over three weeks ago and abruptly stepped away um from the organ and we've had some guest organists over the last few weeks and we learned this week on that on tuesday he passed on joco was an amazing amazing man i know many of you know his gifted musicianship and his ability to just usher us into the presence of the lord but i was so very fortunate to know jelco as the man and to sit in the green room week after week and have conversations with him and he was a very funny man and he was so so proud of his family he would always show me pictures of his kids and grandkids on his ipad or a funny joke and joko is such an important piece to our community he has been for the last number of years and we will always hold him near and dear in our hearts and he will always be a piece of what it means to be shepherd's grove next week when bobby is back and irene is back we'll be doing another tribute to jelco and the choir and orchestra will be doing a special peace and remembrance of him and his family will be here and so we'll continue to honor zelko in these coming weeks but just would you hold him hold his family in your prayers as they as they're i'm sure their heads are spinning and wondering what's next and how did this happen so quickly and swiftly and would you join me in prayer this morning father we come before you with hearts that are saddened hearts that are heavy hearing of our beloved brother who's passed on we know he's in your presence and so we rejoice in that fact but lord we're left here dealing with the loss dealing with the pain of a friend who's no longer here so lord we lift up his family his kids his grandchildren we pray special blessings upon them we pray the peace of god invade their lives and lord we pray that we as a church that we as a ministry can walk alongside them that we can look towards you and that together we can be the body of christ lord joko will never be forgotten and his presence here touched the heart and lives of so many lord we also remember today all those who are hurting in our congregation and dealing with just heavy burdens and so lord we lift them to you and in this next hour we worship you we praise you we fix our eyes upon you because you are worthy of all of our praise in jesus name we pray amen amen before you sit down would you turn around to someone next to you and say god loves you and so do i [Applause] oh foreign [Music] my gracious master and my god me to proclaim to spread through all the earth [Music] jesus [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] under your grace your mercy amazes me under your wings your shadow covers me your promise of love when my heart is safely undone speak to me lord your servant is listening over the noise i'll hear you whispering my hope has come and my heart is [Music] is [Music] speak to me lord your servant is listening over the noise i hear you whispering my hope has come and my heart is safely under [Music] is [Music] forever safe [Music] forever [Music] is [Applause] in you [Music] is [Music] in preparation of the message today hear the words of our lord found in the book of psalms our barns will be filled with every kind of provision our sheep will increase by thousands by tens of thousands in our fields our oxen will draw heavy loads there will be no breaching of walls no going into captivity no cry of distress in our streets blessed is the people of whom this is true blessed is the people whose god is the lord amen this is the word of our lord [Music] i dedicate the song to anyone who may not know or who may have forgotten that god loves you i've been trying to figure out what it means to be human flesh and bone the spirit and the soul if i cannot earn your love by trying to measure up why do i think i'd lose it in the lows then somehow you see through my heart and welcome me with open arms just as i am in the good and the bad god you still understand and you never stop loving me just as i am with the heart of the father and grace like no other no you never stop loving me just as i am you've been patient with my wondering always knowing what i need with a gentle hand you show me where to go [Music] oh and now there hasn't been a moment you weren't calling out to me i [Music] [Applause] and you never stop loving me no just as i am with the heart of the father and grace like no other no you never stop loving me just as i am you've always loved me [Music] jesus loves me this i know for the bible tells me so little ones to him below they are weak but my god is strong we sing yes jesus loves me yes jesus loves [Music] just as i am is the good and the bad god you still understand and you never stop loving me and grace like no other no you never stop loving me just as i am just as i am [Music] well i'm really hoping my son wasn't watching that because i sing him jesus loves me every night and i don't want him to start requesting the preston version because i'm not sure i can do that thank you preston you know before we join together in prayer i i don't know if i've ever done this before but think about the words i just read and this and the words that preston just sang just as i am and jesus the lord says this to us our barns will be filled with every kind of provision our sheep will increase by thousands by tens of thousands in our fields our oxen will draw heavy loads there will be no breaching of walls no going into captivity no cry of distress in our streets blessed is the people of whom this is true blessed is the people whose god is the lord friends that is the god we serve that is the promise of scripture when we have heavy times when we when we feel the weight of the world we remind ourselves of what is true we remind ourselves of what the lord is telling us and i am so excited to hear what daniel is going to open up for us today but would you join me in prayer declaring this goodness father we are so fortunate that just as we are we come to you and you love us and call us your beloved that we are your beloved and that you have grace like no other and as we look to you you tell us that you give us more than we need that our feel fields will be full that our barns will have enough that there will be no breaching of walls and so lord we praise you in that lord we confess that sometimes that doesn't feel true sometimes we don't know where to look we don't know what's going on we feel as though the world is caving in and so lord it is in those moments that we look to the promises of scripture and we declare them we speak them out and we say today i choose to worship the lord today i choose to worship in truth lord we pray for our church we pray that we be a beacon of light to this world that from this place your truth is spread in mighty ways over the airwaves over the internet but through everyday conversations through chance encounters in the grocery store through conversations at kids and grandkids sports games lord that from this place we all go out into the world as disciples as missionaries making a difference in this world lord we pray for open doors and conversations full of you full of truth though remember all of our missionaries serving all around the world and all sorts of different circumstances some who are battling health issues even today or we pray for your healing touch to be upon them and lord we pray for daniel and the message that you have placed on his heart may we have ears to hear it and hearts that are open to the transforming word of god and may we leave this place forever changed because we encountered you in jesus name we pray [Music] amen [Music] [Applause] my [Music] i will awaken [Music] is [Music] [Music] he is [Music] is [Music] mercy [Music] [Music] is [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] me oh [Music] oh you know church you all are an amazing bunch over this last period of time through the uncertainty of what's next what's going to happen you all have continued to support this ministry in powerful ways stepping up and serving stepping up and showing up stepping up and giving financially and you have kept this ministry going through these times i'm hearing all the time of churches that just never were able to reopen their doors we're never able to keep going and it's because of you that we are still doing ministry from this place and doing some incredible work i'm so excited for some of the stuff that's coming up this fall that we're going to launch some new ministries and some really awesome things that god is doing in our midst and so today as we give know that you giving back to what god is doing here and what god is going to continue to do here that we have an opportunity to touch the lives of so many and all of you are a part of that if you brought a physical offering with you there will be baskets at the back door on your way out that you can drop that in or you can give in all the ways that you you've been able to give online via text or by mailing a check to the church god bless you all as you give [Music] i was buried beneath my shame who could carry that kind of weight it was my turn till i met you [Music] oh i was breathing but not alive yes i was all my failures i tried to hide oh it was mine too till i met you oh you called my name and i ran out of that grave [Music] yes is [Music] [Applause] yes [Applause] is [Music] [Music] everybody put your hands together [Applause] i [Music] [Applause] is oh [Applause] well you know bobby each and every week gets up here and he talks a little bit about the heart of this church and who we are and why we do what we do you know we constantly are talking around the office and with the staff and as often as we can about this idea of radical hospitality that all of you model so well this this embrace of people this embrace of of the newcomer amongst us and if you're new here i hope you experience that today if you're tuning in online or on television i hope you're experiencing that as well that this is a place that loves you that we love jesus and we love you and as we gather as the church we declare our differences are beautiful but you are loved here and you are welcome here you know we're a church that does things a little different we believe in a broad range of music and we have all sorts of awesome things that go on here and we believe that god uses various mediums to reach people just this last week i was talking to a gentleman who said that there was a time where he attended the crystal cathedral back in the day and he heard the message that day and he thought to himself oh that yeah that was a good message and it was a few weeks later he flipped on the television and heard the exact same message that he had heard in person but that time he got down on his knees and he gave his life to christ that we believe that different mediums touch people in different ways and so that is the kind of church that you are a part of and that is the kind of church we are building that we want to love people where they're at and we want to spread the gospel of jesus with them would you stand with me as we say this declaration that we say each and every week together as we hold our hands out as a sign of receiving i'm not what i do i'm not what i have i am not what people say about me i am the beloved of god it's who i am no one can take it from me i don't have to worry i don't have to hurry i can trust my friend jesus and share his love with the world amen you may be seated was my honor to introduce our guest speaker today daniel fusco grew up on the east coast in the new jersey area came to a personal faith with the lord in college planted some churches out there the lord brought him over to san francisco area where he planted a few more churches and then the god finally landed him in the pacific northwest where he's the senior pastor of crossroads community church i was joking with him in the green room that man you've got a hankering for difficult places to do ministry don't you uh and so daniel has been you know a guest here twice as you heard me said one of our very first guests here in this building when we moved here a few years ago i am thrilled to have him in the house with us for shepherd's grove and for hour of power would you join me in welcoming pastor daniel fusco [Applause] well good morning everybody i am humbled and honored to be here with our power shepherd's grove church so i know you know this and i'm not just saying this but your pastor pastor bobby his bride hannah and their kids they're treasures you know this right so you're blessed to have now if you're visiting the church right now i don't want you to judge this church because i'm here because pastor bob will be back next week you know but i'll tell you a little a little fun story that us our us pastors know is that when you are away and you bring in a guest speaker it's a win-win situation because if you really like the guest preacher you're like my pastor's got some great friends and i consider pastor bobby a a friend of mine somebody who i just love and i just cherish but if you really don't like the guest pastor you think to yourself i'm so happy pastor bobby is my pastor instead of that person and so either way this week pastor bobby wins either way but i'm just really excited to be here as pastor chad mentioned i i get the pleasure of pastoring an amazing church called crossroads community church which is in vancouver washington people all the time say i love vancouver bc and i'm like yeah i don't live there because actually vancouver washington is just north of the city of portland oregon so it's in southwest washington state in the pacific northwest and all the time i like to say that i live in the lesser vancouver i don't tell people where we live that i say that but i live in the lesser vancouver and it's an amazing community that i get to be a part of and my bride lynn our three kids obadiah maranath and annabelle then we have great kids names they all wanted me to make sure that i sent our love to all of you here at shepherd's grove everybody who's watching as part of the hour of power and i'm excited to talk with you today because one of the things that i know that is true about everybody is that everybody at some point asks a simple question doesn't god want me to be happy and and that question comes in a variety of forms because for all of us things happen that are not what we would have hoped for right like where all of a sudden you go visit the doctor just a regular checkup but then all of a sudden you get a diagnosis and you're like right maybe there's problems with your family obviously all that we've gone through and are going through as a culture as a world it feels like almost every day there are these successive waves of trauma constantly something else happening and we hit a point and i think that even right now in this cultural moment we're at a place where people are struggling and you ask yourself is this what god has for us is this what life is supposed to look like and then you have the question doesn't god want me to be happy just recently i was talking to somebody and their marriage was really in a tough situation it was a tough spot there were things going on in their marriage with their kids the finances were challenging and almost as an escape the question becomes doesn't god want me to be happy and it's almost like an entry point into taking a step away from god's best and for so many people if you meet as you move through your community and your world as i move through my community in my world that i get to live in i meet people all the time and they're like because i want to be happy this is what i'm going to do i like to joke with people that happiness is so important to people that there's a reason that mcdonald's didn't make billions selling a sad meal [Laughter] right can you imagine going into mcdonald's and saying hey i'll take the sad meal it comes out it's like a little burger sad burger some tissues you know maybe they'll give you they'll give you a cookie maybe to kind of spruce it up a little bit but mcdonald's made billions selling a happy meal for a reason and all of us find ourselves asking that question doesn't god want me to be happy so i want to i want to lay it to rest for you really simply yes god wants you to be happy the answer to that is absolutely god wants you to be happy and the bible backs it up i mean think about psalm 144 verse 15. it's a just such a beautiful end of this psalm where it says verse 50 says happy are the people whose god who are in such a state happy are the people whose god is the lord i mean how simple is that does god want me to be happy yes happy are the people whose god is on now i want to i want you to notice this because it doesn't say happy are the people who get the things that they want or happy are the people who land exactly where their three-year plan their five-year plan their 60-day plan wants them to land but happy are the people whose god is the lord and i think this is one of the important things that we all can learn about god's plan for our happiness because what it teaches us is that god in who he is in christ is what makes us truly happy our culture says that happiness comes from happenings you get that promotion you walk down the aisle you have those kids you get those kids out of the house right you make it to that vacation and our lives become these cycles of seeking after happiness and and if you're like me you've tried all this stuff right like you you get happiness from this thing and then that's over and then what's the next thing what's the next thing and it's almost like we live on this hamster wheel of happiness seeking and even when a person comes to know jesus and if you're watching this you're joining us right now and you have not put your faith and trust in jesus i want to encourage you to do that jesus is absolutely essential to your life you were created to be in christ when god sees us he sees us perfected in christ not apart from jesus but here's the thing even when a person puts their faith and trust in jesus sometimes we still keep jumping on that hamster wheel of happiness don't we we know that happy are the people whose god is the lord but what we end up finding is that we're we believe in jesus but our happiness is in does my team win the the big game at the end of the season did i get that promotion did my preferred politician win or my least favorite politician lose maybe we could say right like did this thing happen but what's amazing is if you look at what the bible teaches because god wants you to be happy the bible actually explains to us the problem that we have with happiness seeking remember i said yes god wants you to be happy but i always like to follow that up when people ask me that with a simple idea is that happiness is not found where you're normally going to look for it left up to our own devices happiness is not found where you and i normally look for and there's a scripture that i have spent my whole life thinking about pondering trying to understand and that's jeremiah chapter 2 verse 13. very very important now this is god speaking to jeremiah about the children of israel before the children of israel ended up leaving the promised land and going into exile in babylon remember god brought the children of israel into the promised land he's got a plan for them he wants to bless them he wants them to live abundant lives extraordinary lives right but when they get into the promised land instead of trying to remember that happy are the people whose god is the lord they got caught up in all the stuff that all of us get caught up into we we believe in god but we don't trust god we know god's word but we choose not to follow god's word and there's all these issues start to unfold and then god in speaking to the prophet jeremiah he says in jeremiah 2 13 something very important it says he says my people have committed two evils they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters and they've hewn for themselves cisterns broken cisterns that hold no water now it's interesting that first that god calls on my people he's like so my people have made two tremendous mistakes i mean it's so important to god it's called evils the first is that they've in him who is the fountain of all that is life-giving so remember i said happy are the people whose god is the lord in happiness seeking the children of israel a lot like you and i today we have a tendency to try and find our happiness outside of god now when we read things like i am the fountain of living waters you got to remember the children of israel lived in the desert now you might be like hey listen someone say we live in california man it's it's dry here but we still have tap water bottled water reverse osmosis water i don't know if that's really a thing or not i just made it up you know electrolyte infused water say we we live in a in a world where we have lots of water and even if we're in drought conditions there's still you turn on your faucet and water comes out for the children of israel it wasn't like that they didn't have cases of bottled water that they could pick up at their big box store water was essential they lived in in the desert with very little irrigation and and god is calling himself hey i am the fountain i am the source of all that is life-giving and they've forsaken me and what they've done is they've turned from me and they've instead wanted to make themselves cisterns which was a water container but he says they're broken cisterns that can hold no water and in a lot of ways in our seeking after happiness what we do is the same thing is we say instead of embracing god who is the source of all that is life-giving i'm gonna go try and find happiness over here and we make ourselves this little sister and they can be all different things it could be a career career's not a bad thing it's a great thing except when you're trying to find your fulfillment there right oh it's going to be in this thing in this thing and this thing i was talking to my father i love my dad so much my dad's watching this i love you dad my dad spent a season where he tried to make find his happiness in his golf game all the golfers are like oh no oh no and i just remember we were talking about he's like man all i wanted to do was you know just kind of get my handicap down he had he had his handicap number that he wanted and sure enough he's like i got there and i still wasn't happy and he said he's like what i learned in the process i'll never forget this he said what i learned in the process daniel is that golf is a fun game but not when you try and find your happiness in it and i'm like jeremiah 2 13. so you have to ask yourself right now what cistern are you trying to find fulfillment from now what's amazing is the cistern it says it's broken there's cracks in it it doesn't mean that it won't be pleasurable for a little while it just means it really can't hold what you need and all of us do this i have seen this in my own life i saw this before i came to know jesus when i pursued every pleasure i could find when i came to know jesus i pursued it for a season in being a judgmental pharisee right where it's like i am really serious about jesus you know and you could find it in ministry and in family in achievement none of those things are bad but none of those things are ultimately fulfilling in the way god created unless god is the center the fountain of living water so we all have to ask ourselves what am i chasing after right now and is it really going to fulfill me long term because happy are the people whose god is the lord now what i love so much about god's word is that god's word explains to us god's plan for our happiness everybody wants to be happy but nobody else god's word already explains it to us now i like to tell people it this way that jesus defines happiness with one word and that's the word being blessed jesus defines happiness as being blessed the word blessed in the bible whether it's macarios in the new testament in the greek or it's it's it's hebrew derivatives and all these different words they're translated as either blessed or fortunate or what happy and what's amazing is is jesus is the greatest teacher who ever lived now i believe jesus is way more than the greatest teacher who ever lived do you believe that too yeah that'd be but no matter where you're coming from and i realize everyone's on a different step of their faith journey you have to put jesus in the category of the greatest teachers who ever lived people are still talking about his teachings 2 000 years later in every culture there are derivatives of jesus's teaching so jesus is at the very least one of the greatest teachers who ever lived right i believe he's the son of god i believe he died on the cross for the sins of the world i believe that god's plan for us is to receive the grace that comes through the finished work of jesus through his death on the cross and his resurrection so he's so much more than a teacher he's more than a healer he's more than a prophet but in jesus's most famous teaching what we commonly call the sermon on the mount right matthew chapters five to seven maybe jesus most well-known teaching people forget that the beginning of the sermon on the mount jesus actually gives a treatise on happiness that we commonly call the beatitudes i'm going to read it to you it's so beautiful this is matthew chapter 5. i'm going to read verses 3 to 12. in jesus speaking about happiness he said blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven blessed are those who 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 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've all heard some of these phrases before right but have you ever thought that jesus is actually explaining to us what the truly happy person is now i wrote a book called crazy happy nine surprising ways to live the truly beautiful life i call it crazy happy because when people talk about happiness they never talk about these unique things that jesus says are involved in happiness like think about where jesus started the beatitudes you want to be happy oh how happy crazy happy are the porn spirit crazy happy are the humble the very first step in happiness is humility now you can read a thousand self-help books and nobody starts there but jesus does the one person who always did those things that his father think about the second beatitude crazy happy are those who mourn for they shall be comforted now think about that most of us would say happiness happens when i'm not sad but jesus says no no happiness happens when we grieve because in our grieving god will bring comfort to us see i believe that when we read the scriptures and we learn what the bible teaches about happiness god wants to redefine our views of happiness i'm here to tell you it is impossible to be happy without times of mourning and grieving why we grieve because we love the shortest verse in your bible is that jesus wept right because he loved this man named lazarus and lazarus had died and he jesus knew he was going to pass away but jesus also knew he was going to go raise him from the dead and he saw all the mourning of all the people who loved lazarus and he said that jesus wept but the thing is is that we we grieve because we love and i'm here to tell you you can't have a happy life without a life of love so i don't want you to think for one second that when you're grieving that that's not happiness because jesus said crazy happy are those who mourn are there things breaking your heart right now that doesn't mean that you're not happy in the way god created you to be it actually means you're doing exactly what god would have you to do because jesus himself did and if you read through and i would love to encourage you to study the beatitudes i would love to encourage you to do it because in my book crazy happy i i start unpacking like what do these things actually mean like jesus said that we should rejoice and be exceedingly glad when we're persecuted i mean think about what he's saying would anybody think that that sounds like fun like it's one thing for people not to like us there's one thing for people not to maybe uh they don't like your comments on social media there's all these things that people don't like you about but jesus like oh be happy when people are actually coming at you because of your faith in me because of righteousness and what it teaches us is something very important is that when you are happy in the lord it doesn't mean everything's going to go easy in a lot of ways isn't that how we think about happiness we think if i do everything right everyone's going to be happy with me and jesus is like actually if you do everything right that isn't exactly what's going to happen there will be people who don't like you because of and jesus is the ultimate example when you think about the crucifixion of jesus the one person who never did anything wrong was jesus and he was hung in open shame for the sins of the world if there was one person who could say i never did anything that was offensive i always please god it was jesus but although he did it all right he still lost his life and that's true for us as well and it changes the way we see things because i think many of us we carry around lots of guilt and shame and issues because we're trying to do it right and then people are still upset with us and that's why the bible really teaches that really when we take our eyes off of the lord and we put it on the things of this world and then we live seeking after temporary happiness we end up on that hamster but we're like oh no happy are the people who's god is the lord happy are the people who have their eyes on who the lord is and what he's done and we let god define what happiness is and then we live it out and we're like okay we're going to do the best that we can but we realize that god's ways of bringing happiness come in strange places a parent who grieves a wayward child is happy because a parent loves a child god doesn't say you're that's not happiness some people think that i shouldn't grieve because it would dishonor the lord no we just don't grieve as people who have no hope we grieve in a hope-laden way in a jesus-centered kind of a way now i want to take one more step because i think this is really really important because i truly want each one of you to be happy i want you to know jesus and know god's plan for your life the blessed person bears fruit that's what our bibles teach that the happy person is somebody whose life becomes fruitful and we often don't think about that happiness is the context in which fruit bearing happens but it absolutely does jesus of course said in john chapter 15 verse 8 by this my father is glorified that you bear much fruit and so you will be my disciples so god is glorified when we bear not just a fruit or two but we bear much fruits so it's kind of like when you go into your favorite you know store you go into the organic fruit section you go into your favorite orchard and all of a sudden you see all this fruit right you go you go and you see you go up to the napa valley and you go see those wineries and there's just grapes everywhere that's what god wants your life to be that's what he wants my life to be god is praised and declared to be who he is by us bearing much fruit and what i think is so beautiful is that when you and i find our happiness in the lord then jesus shares his life with each one of us right at street level where we are and when jesus is sharing his life with us right at street level where we live in the circumstances we find ourselves now jesus is leveraging the circumstances of our lives to to bear fruit that glorifies his father so let me give you an example some of you behind a wheel of a car lack a little patience all the wives are looking at their husbands right now like he got the email right now here's the deal when you're sitting in traffic if you're abiding in jesus you realize no amount of frustration this might be a news flash no amount of frustration on your part will actually make the traffic go faster and let me tell you something else this is going to be amazing all the lane changing doesn't get you there any faster either i have verified this many times i'm from new jersey right so like i know traffic and i know like i'm going to get into the lane that lane's going to go faster they never go faster if you don't believe me just pick a car and say that's going to be my marking car and if you go back and forth that car stays in one lane it always gets there before you right but when you're in traffic and you're abiding in jesus and jesus says listen it's okay you're going to get there when you get there either way and i'm going to be with you and that moment you start functioning with a thing called patience and guess what my friends patience is a fruit of the spirit when you talk about that the happy person bears fruit you guys know galatians chapter 5 verses 22 and 23 the fruit of the spirit which is love and joy and peace longsuffering kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness and self-control you see that word long-suffering that's the perfect definition of faithful of patience isn't it you gotta suffer for a long time but that's exactly what god wants because you have to remember that god is the most patient person you will ever meet i think about how patient god has been with me and i'm only as i share this with you i'm only 46 years old those of you who have been on this earth a few more times around the sun you have way more data at how patient god has been with you isn't it the truth all the ways that we missed the point didn't get it right when we when we didn't understand what god was doing where we doubted but never does god say i'm done with you never does god say i'm gonna i can't do this anymore with you god's like no no i'm gonna still do the work i'm gonna still work a christ-like character into your life now what i love about this is that when you realize that every time you read the word blessed in the bible that's happy and when you spend time meditating upon the beatitudes this is what the abundant life in jesus looks like in happiness and then when you realize that the person who's truly happy is bearing fruit then that changes the way we look at every single circumstance we find ourselves in doesn't it well i want to share with you a prayer that i pray all day every day it goes something like this god you know i do not like what is happening right now i would change it if you would change it but while it's here will you let it bear the fruit that you wanted to bear in my life to make me more like jesus and the reason i pray this prayer all day every day is because when you find yourself in traffic or you find yourself in a work situation and you find yourself in this thing that's going on and you realize oh lord oh lord change this fix this i don't like what's happening here then all of a sudden god starts bearing this fruit in your life and then what you realize is god doesn't need to change your circumstances to make you happy god wants to change you to make you happy in your circumstances now let's say that again god does not need to change your circumstances to make you happy god's plan is to change you in your circumstances so that his happiness now will bear fruit in your life that everybody around us gets to partake of and i want to close with this one thought you will never see a fruit tree enjoying its own fruit you'll never see an apple tree taking a bite out of an apple being like this is the best apple i've ever eaten that would be weird wouldn't it especially if the tree talked to you if you're a little kid you know what this is about because you see them on the cartoons it happens all the time but for the rest of us fruit is born and then other people are blessed by it and that's when you and i learn god's crazy happy plan for our lives and god begins to bear fruit your neighbors and your coworkers and your family members and the world around us begins to see the people of god as salt and light and when that happens the father is glorified and the message of jesus runs forth and if there was ever a time that we wanted to see that it's right now amen so can i pray for all of us that's our heads in our hearts as we pray father i want to thank you that you want us to be happy and lord forgive us for making cisterns those broken water pots that can't hold any water father we ask that you would change our vision of your plan for happiness and god bear much fruit in our lives in the situations that are challenging that are hard we ask that you would change the circumstances but while they're here will you leverage the circumstances to change us so that our lives may be fruitful for your glory and the blessings of everybody around us and we ask it in jesus name and we all agreed and said together amen and amen thanks so much [Music] in christ [Music] [Applause] [Music] the [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] is [Music] hey man a minute man can we thank daniel fusco one more time what a word what a word and now for the benediction may the lord bless you and keep you may the lord cause his face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you may the lord turn his countenance upon you and grant you peace and may we live lives full of crazy happiness in the name of the father son and holy spirit amen [Music] well church friends and family thank you so much for tuning in for today's service and for those of you who missed last week's live stream my name is elizabeth and i am one of your new livestream hosts and again i'm just so excited to be here with you all and to be worshiping with you all so thank you again for having me with that said friends and family i really enjoyed today's message did you enjoy today's message you know something that really stuck out to me that daniel talked about was that jesus defines happiness as being blessed and i i just i really i'm really encouraged by that that i can wake up in the morning no matter what i am blessed and so friends i just want to encourage you with that today that um yeah you that you are blessed and because you're blessed you can bear fruit and that happiness happiness is not based on circumstance that no matter what because we have the joy of jesus and he extends that grace to us we can be happy we can have joy so friends i just want to encourage you with that today and with that said also friends we were as we were monitoring the chat we've noticed that a lot of you um a lot of you are crying out for prayer and monica we just want to say that your message did not go unnoticed that we are praying for roger's soul and body and mind and as well as just the safety and comfort of you and of the victim of that situation so we just want to extend our love today to you and know that you are seen that we see you um as well as we just want to be praying for joshua and your marriage uh for scarlow and bert for healing and wendy who was diagnosed with cirrhosis for healing for that as well and so many more again we see you all and we just extend um love to you all right now and and with that said yeah i just want to say a prayer over all of you today so yeah let me just say a prayer for everyone um heavenly father lord um we just come to you today lord and again i just thank you for the words that were spoken through daniel today of just uh joy and happiness lord in that god you are the source of that lord so i just pray joy over every single person every single person who's even hurting today lord i just pray that your joy would meet them knowing that uh god that you don't change our circumstances lord that you you change us to fit that circumstance lord and that joy is not based off of circumstance so lord would you just meet everyone who needs healing lord would you prefer monica for joshua scarlow bert wendy and so many more who just are crying out for your healing crying out for um you're a joy lord would you would you just give them that joy today and remind them of the blood that is covered that your son's blood is covering each of them and that they can have that joy lord so that um yeah god so again i just pray for grace and for your love over them today lord and for everyone else who's watching lord i just pray for grace and for your love to be covered upon them today lord and in in respond and return lord we just um receive your joy so again lord i just thank you for again for this day for this message and we just pray this all in your son's name amen so once again church family thank you so much for tuning in today's live stream and also if you haven't yet follow us on social media if you'd like to be more connected also if you know of anyone who'd be interested in ministry media production tell them to join our new internship program more information on that can be found on the website which is sgp.church and also turn in next week's live stream will be at 9 a.m so be sure to tune into that but until next time my name is elizabeth and god loves you and so do i

Channel: Hour of Power with Bobby Schuller

Views: 2,465

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Id: bsl5932641o

Length: 84min 0sec (5040 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 08 2021