Taking Happy Back - Part 1 | Beth Moore

living proof with Beth Moore is sponsored by the friends and partners of living proof ministries I've come prepared for someone I love so much and I'm so thankful to serve that is already going it is not biblical to be happy some of you may not be given to that but honestly many of us were raised in a part of the body of Christ where it listened to be happy would admit you're in some kind of sin and if you're happy and you know it repent there'll be no clapping your hands repent [Music] I wonder where your heart is as we meet in this place I wonder how many of us in this room have the guts to come completely honestly before the Lord Jesus because that's the only way that the word lands is it is the spirit of truth we come to him whatever our circumstances whatever state that we're in but we come to him gut-level honest so he can get down to the real life quick of what we're going through and and I wonder if you would do something for me all over the room I wonder if you have a smartphone would you get it out I want to ask you a couple of questions and you answer as honestly as you know how are you ready number one you would say I consistently have a happy heart could I see your lights in the air so thankful for you so thankful for you and you know what we don't want anybody to be mad at you that came with you is particularly if they're going like I had no idea if they're looking at you with a lot of shock that's another area that we really need to work through but that's a beautiful thing how many of you in this room would say I could stand to have a happier heart okay then now that how we're talking now we're talking now I want somebody to be really gutsy here because let me tell you something I've learned about Jesus weight and somebody's already holding to her something I know where this is going I know where this is going I'm gonna tell you something I know about him when we're desperate for him he's coming for us is it's just his way when we need him that's part of what the Beatitudes are all about blessed it's this one blessed is that one but and we're looking at all these thing in why would bless because blessed are you if you need me because I'm gonna be there for you I'm gonna come through but here's the third one what on the earth is a happy heart anybody uh-huh now we're talking now we're talking now I have an agree or disagree question for you I'm going to make a statement rather and then I want you to just either you agree with it or disagree and I'll ask for all the agrees to hold their lineup and then I'll ask for all the disagrees the body of Christ has a reputation for being a happy people if you agree with that map please see your lives mm-hmm yes if you disagree with that may I please see your lives uh-huh so let me tell you what's gonna be worrisome right now if somebody is already sad because we're going to study happy that's how you know that's how you know you are in exactly the place that you need to be sitting and I'm gonna tell you what started this with me I last week was just you know I've social I love social media I like to watch conversations I like to keep up with what's going on I like to know the climate or the social climate sociology and and people kinds of issues in our part of the world and on the globe but I'm particularly interested in what has impacts over the church that's that's my whole life and many many others in this room would say the same thing that's what that's what we're called to have great interest in this and and I just a sat back and said out loud we are just getting more and more miserable and maybe that doesn't startle you but it startled me because I gotta tell you something I have not been a miserable person just misery is not one of those things but I just can't tell you that I've ever felt at risk of catching a climate of church misery until just here recently and you know how you have a revelation all of a sudden that you think uh-uh I'm not doing that I'm not gonna get miserable with you people anybody can I need to hear somebody anybody and and you know what I want you to be able to say that to meet people I don't even listen miss I'm not gonna get miserable with you but we've had so much divisive this and you know here's the thing I don't think anybody is happy in any way I think the church is in such I say that let me back that up I'm generally speaking here but I'm saying I don't know if any pockets that I would just tell you are thriving in their joy right now I just don't see it I don't see it I just see so much fighting so much division and so so much maintenance I listen I'm not talking about the world I'm talking about us we're getting meaner than snakes uh we're supposed to be sheep among wolves and we've become wolves among sheep and at some point we got to raise up our hand go uh-uh no I you know what I'm not I'm not doing this I'm not doing this I'm not taking part in this you and I are gonna study the theology of happiness taking happy back and I hope that you will see it I'm ready I'm ready in other words I've come prepared for someone I love so much and I'm so thankful to serve that it's already going it is not biblical to be happy I'm alright I'm ready for because some of you may not be given to that but honestly many of us were raised in a part of the body of Christ where it listened to be happy would admit you're in some kind of sin and if you're happy and you know it repent there'll be no clapping your hands repent so is that sound theology or not we're gonna study that through and here's where we're gonna launch I want you to get to different portions of the scripture in your hand right now go to Isaiah 52 and then I want you to loop to and so I want to look at I'm back and forth we're gonna look at Isaiah 52 then loop two then back to Isaiah 52 to make the point so I want you to look at these two places Isaiah 52 verse 7 says this how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news who publishes peace who brings good news of happiness who publishes salvation who says to Zion your God reigns I want you to turn with me now to Luke don't let go of Isaiah 52 because I'm coming right back to it Luke chapter 2 8 through 11 and in the same region there were Shepherds out in the field keeping watch over their flock by night and an angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them and they were filled with great fear verse 10 and the angel said to them fear not for behold I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people would you go back with me one more time to Isaiah 52 7 let's let it land says this how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news who publishes peace who brings good news of happiness let's just put it really bluntly happy it's not bad in the Bible I gotta tell you something one of our expectations in a burst like that when I threw out that wording in the ASV Isaiah 52 7 good news of happiness you and I would not have looked up so quickly had it said good news of holiness we'd have been ready for that and it seems to us that's that's what it ought to say because that we're comfortable with good news of happiness what does that mean because we so seldom will throw that word into a sound presentation of the scriptures unless somehow we're going to try to refute it as even being on the list of things we want to think about pursuing in Christ I want to challenge that based on his word but what we're gonna find out as we study together because holiness is huge we have been set apart in him you be holy the Word of God says in 1st Peter 1 because he is holy there is a happiness to holiness and there's a holiness to happiness when it is in Christ hi friends I'm Selena and this is Natalie we work with living through ministries and we're so glad that you're joining us today to dive into that's teaching friends I know what it's like to have to fight for a happy heart in Christ at the start of every year I feel like the Lord places a word on my heart something to have as a banner over my life to motivate me and this year my word is enduring because we know it takes endurance to fight for our happiness what about you Selena my word for this year is believing because I really need to not just believe in God but I need to press into believing his promises and what his word has to say about the fullness of my happiness and Christ and we know that happiness is not always going to be easy to come by there will be hardship in our lives we have hope in Christ to start a new chapter let's see what Beth has to say on this and her teaching the master storyteller I was either gonna be full-on in it with him or I was going to circle back into defeat over and over again literally the word note was not in my vocabulary it was not in my vocabulary but this I know Jesus did not leave me there he did not leave me there and this I know I am not the same woman I used to be anybody can I hear that from anybody about the same moment I used to do God has such a plan for your life he has a story to tell through you and it's going to require you to be fierce enduring and believing no matter what you are facing and as our thank you for your donation we want to bless you with the full teaching of the master storyteller and as a bonus you will receive a t-shirt to remind you of those three powerful words as well as the story book Beth reads during the series if you feel like the Lord has given you a word for this upcoming year share it with us tag us on social media we would love to hear from you and we will see you next week [Music] [Applause] it doesn't matter where you are from if you will give the time and space to this event this weekend if you will blend your heart to it and you'll really pay attention then it's gonna come right back around because some of the things we're talking about this weekend simply could not be more practical we're gonna be talking about divine power the god exerts on the behalf of people just like you in name and we're gonna see God do something that we could not afford to cast him the Lord we want all that you asked for us to sweep every little thing come join us in a city near you [Applause] let me tell you if if we equate licentiousness with happiness we have got a skewed view of holiness honestly if we don't think in our minds that we could be set apart and holy at the same time that we could have a happy heart we want to have a stronghold of legalism broken off of us because that is not sound theology and I hope to prove it to you do you realize that we have set parts of our entire systematic theologies on vert on 5 or less verses built whole entire doctrines around a couple of verses I'm not even challenging that I'm just saying by the time you have a concept that is mentioned 1,700 times in the scripture we might want to look up and give it some thought because I'm telling you what I'm throwing out is that right now we could use a message on the happy heart anybody because what I'm here to tell you is that I think from where I'm sitting in from where a whole lot of other people are sitting it looks like the church is getting nothing but unhappier day by day week by week and fight by fight I'm gonna tell you this life gives us ample grounds every single one of us to be unhappy every one of us so we've earned the right if we want to be unhappy people we've earned the right so we can go right ahead since if we want to give way to that or not and that's the way we want to live because naturally speaking we've all had things that have happened but what we'd be shocked to know if we don't already know it is that people who are happy and have a happy heart have not had all happy circumstances it will be very rare that you find something that you can just say you know what you just you really honestly you seem to be a happy person that they're going to return back to you in artist if you time for a real conversation you know what I just I've never had anything bad happen we just it just doesn't happen that's not the way it goes are there seasons and times that are extremely sad and tragic when grief is not only appropriate but needful that we wouldn't have a healthy heart if we didn't work through it but you have the biblical right and responsibility to fight for a happy heart in Christ I'm serious about being happy in Jesus anybody else I mean I'm serious that I'm not letting anyone take that from me I'm not that is something I have had a gift in my heart for most of my life and I am not letting it go now listen carefully because I want to throw something at you that I think can be an issue in our churches when we want to have you know when we want to be conservative about the Scriptures and I do I do what can happen to us sometimes is that in our appropriate resistance listen carefully appropriate resistance to what 2nd Timothy 4 verse 3 says there will come a time when people will not tolerate sound teaching instead following their own desires they will accumulate teachers for themselves because they have an insatiable curiosity to hear new things and they will turn away from hearing the truth but instead they will turn to myths and so we're so so vigilant to make sure that's not happening that sometimes we'll shut down a word before we even know it sound because here's what we think this is what we are risking when we want to be really really really taught and we do in the way we're interpreting the Scriptures because what can happen is that we can get in the mindset we can twist that until what it means is that if it sounds like good news it could not possibly be scriptural and do you realize how absurd that sounds because the gospel the word gospel means good news and so in our hyper vigilance to guard carefully our sound doctrine and I want that I want you to hold me to that I want to hold you to that I want my pastor to be held to that I want our leaders to be held to that I want that but let's be careful that we don't immediately assume that it's got to be our itching ears that want to hear something that happens to be good that if everything we thought we were getting until we get to heaven is just find a way to suffer well if that's it and we we have to find a way to suffer well but I mean is that it is that all there is to it because we can get where we think you know because I liked it it cannot be sound it cannot be sound I object and I'm closing down but what if we went to the Scriptures checked it out to see is it so or not we've got a gospel responsibility to rebel against our misery good news falls on deaf ears coming from miserable people we I've said it so many times it is just like there's nothing new but it's just it means nothing to share the good news in a bad mood it doesn't work it doesn't work nobody wants it nobody wants it here lately I've just had to look in the mirror at home and go just does someone want what you have because that's imperative because we'll just be meaner than snakes and we're just joyless and then we're gonna share the gospel with someone let me tell you the secret that I found to my happy life and they're going witness it mistake and I want to push a step further than that I know I've read this and reread this in my notes and I think this is sound for us to teach the world and the church to associate Christianity with misery is its own brand of heresy I believe it now when we teach the world and we teach one another through the church to associate Christianity with misery it's its own brand of heresy I truly believe that it is I believe it counts would you go with me to Romans 12:1 and 2 and let me show you something I appeal to you therefore brothers by the mercies of God to present your bodies as a living sacrifice holy and acceptable to God which is your spiritual worship verse 2 do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind that by testing you may discern what is the will of God what is good and acceptable and perfect do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind look at the state of our world can you imagine how much light we could carry as this part of the world gets more and more miserable for us not to be conformed to them and that's what's happening we're catching it from them instead of them catching our joy we're catching their misery and it literally is invading through the body of Christ and through the doors of the church and we want to hold our hands up and say I'm not gonna be any part of that there is nothing about our calling that remotely suggests in this part of the free world that we're to blend in even in parts of the world where we can't own up openly and in the marketplace to our faith something about us is meant to so shine has such a brilliance to it that it draws the attention of those around us to wonder what is the hope that is in us our lens is the gospel we look at the world through the lens of the gospel not if the gospel through the lens of the world happiness is not cluelessness I'm going to tell you this I wanted just to be straight out with this I am NOT one whit encouraged by aphorisms that come from people who have their heads in the sand that means nothing to me nothing so when when I hear people when they're all posting are great sayings but it's people that don't even know what's going on and it doesn't mean anything to me maybe it should I'm just saying it doesn't what means something to me is is when somebody that is awake and aware of the turmoil then our world is in this is when I start listening when somebody then starts speaking faith and hope and love and light and forgiveness and turning the other cheek when we start talking this in our day-to-day relationships when I start seeing this of somebody who's aware then all of a sudden this changes everything and I'm listening because this is not somebody just doing the life head-in-the-sand thing somebody that's watching and still says despite what is going on around us this is the good news of our Lord Jesus Christ good news of happiness did you know that right here enrollments you're right by it turn to Romans 10 I mean you're right next to it just flip back a page Romans 10 I don't want to read you verses 14 through 17 remember back in Isaiah 52 7 when it said that we that beautiful are the feet of those that bring good news of what some might tell me tell me again good news of happiness listen what happens right here Romans 10:14 through 17 how then will they call on him in whom they have not believed and how are they to believe in him of whom they've never heard and how are they to hear without someone preaching and how are they to preach unless they are sent as it is written here he's gonna quote it out of Isaiah 52 this portion of it how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news but they have not all obeyed the gospel but Isaiah says Lord who has believed what he has heard from us so faith comes from hearing and hearing through the word of Christ so beautiful and powerful the point is that in Romans the Apostle Paul under the inspiration of the holy spirit now says remember that verse back in Isaiah 52 7 of course ultimately it is Jesus Christ the complete consummation of that coming of the good news in the flesh to give his life and to be resurrected from the dead and that every bit of that every bit of that is applied to every believer who receives it but right here in Romans chapter 10 the Apostle Paul is saying it's now our job and we're the bearers of the good news we're the bearers of it we remember from Isaiah 52 7 it's good news of happiness here's the thing it is undeniably innate in the human being to yearn to be happy is it everything to us no no but I am saying that when we figure out that our heart is getting more and more miserable there comes a time to go you know what I've the biblical right and responsibility to fight for a happy heart I really really do I really really do because it's it's fruitless that somehow we're gonna get through to the world that there is absolutely no merit whatsoever in wondering what is it that would bring my heart some joy I've got to tell you something um Jesus has made me happy because just like makes me happy and that gets to showing us that gets to show because we really do have something that people are yearning for we really do [Music] there is something we have access to that this world cannot touch but if we don't access ourselves to it then we are drawn to carnal pleasures do you even know Duke do I know how long did it take for me to figure out that Jesus Christ is meant to be the greatest pleasure of our lives of our lives living proof would like to send you a thank-you gift for your donation visit Beth morgue today

Channel: Living Proof Ministries with Beth Moore

Views: 77,456

Rating: 4.7286892 out of 5

Keywords: Beth Moore, Beth Moore Bible Studies, Bible Study, Women's Bible study, God's Word, Bible, Scripture, Living Proof Ministries, Bible teacher, Woman Bible Teacher, Beth Moore teaching, Master Story Teller, Once Upon A Story, Storybook, Beth Moore t-shirt, Taking Happy Back, Happy, Taking Happy, Being Happy

Id: 4ssIGhDFePw

Length: 27min 35sec (1655 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 02 2020