Well, how many is happy tonight? Happy, happy, happy? You know, that's a great teaching. I'm thinking what else can I add to that?
What else can I say? But I must have something to say because I've got a microphone on and I've got a book in my hand. I Appreciated the way that Randy Alcorn brought balance to this thought of God being happy and I must say a little bit more about that in a minute, but you know anything that is not in balance Usually isn't healthy. Let's take our body for instance if our body is out of whack and there's not a balance to our health Then we got some problems.
We've got some physical issues that we need to address and need to do with it Try to get our body back into balance, you know We've all heard the thing about eating a balanced diet Why is that so that our body can develop as we grow as children throughout life and have a healthy Physical body and so I was thinking also while he was talking about the balance between God's happiness And the fact that also God is sorrowful and God gets angry and these kinds of things I was also thinking about how that happy people Smile and he's not talking about pasted not pasted smile, but a genuine smile happy people will smile Unhappy people usually frown a whole lot and they've told me that it takes a whole lot more muscles To frown than it does smile now. I have to be honest with you yesterday was not too good of a day for me And I'm thinking okay. I'm studying for this message tonight on the happiness of God and Jim You're not too happy right now To top the day off I put a big long scratch down the side of my nice truck At Walmart pulled up into a parking spot went into the store my wife and I come back out We had run into some people that we used to pastor. They've gotten out of church sad story their life We had a good talk with them and there were some calorie people that came through so we've seen all kinds of people We knew and so we're talking to this we're talking to that when my wife's talking a long time to this lady while I'm talking to a Man that had come to our church a few times and and now is working for construction company in town We were talking and he left then and I was back with my wife and her conversation But then as we left we'd invite we'd invite them to church the new that we had made the transition to Calvary and She kind of said yeah, yeah, yeah And so my wife started tearing up and all the way out into the parking lot to the truck My wife is crying and you know when you get a lot of tears and you're as you can't see too well.
It's blurry Well, she goes around the side of the truck. I get in the driver's side She didn't see that electric cart parked up here in the corner by my truck now I'm gonna just drive straight out because there's nobody parked in front of me And if I'd just drove straight out things would have been a okay But on my way out I angled to go out and all of a sudden I hear this noise and I stop put it in part Get out and go around to what I could not see in the truck and there's that basket electric car sitting there And now there's a gray scratch down my truck So I wasn't happy about that but not only do happy people smile whether happy But happy people also joyous people and happiness and joy go together even though there is a little bit of a difference to happiness and joy I like to put it this way that happiness is due to what happens to us and Joy is a deep thing that God does within us when we get saved as we grow in him. He gives us J OI which I have rendered Jesus over you if I'm preaching to people I won't say Jesus over me because it doesn't feel joy that way So it's Jesus over you and you're you've got joy and so that joy is just as real At the fireside of a camp out bonfire cookout as it is I should say this way It's just as real at the grave side of a loved one as it is at that bonfire where you're having a good time And cooking hot dogs and laughing have it a good time that joy Lord is just as strong as just as real both places But when my parents died, I wasn't happy But I was joyous because I knew where they went and not only that But you know happiness will enjoy will cause people to laugh and sometimes we may just laugh at ourselves You get up in the morning I've done this and went to the mirror to get ready for the day and I've looked at the hair on my head while I've got You gotta do something like that And so I'd say there for just a few minutes didn't take long to do and it takes less time for pastor Paul But you know it takes me just a little while to get it fixed a little spray on it out the door I go that didn't used to be that way I used to have all kinds of hair You know when I was younger but the Bible says that laughter do it like a medicine Amen, and I'm sure there's several of us in here including myself that could be healed of something I have a chronic pain problem. I've had for about three years now and it's not getting any better And I prayed and prayed about it and I've had people pray over me for it and it's still there You know sometimes you wonder God why hello I'm so longer But God is still good in the midst of it all and I'm just trying to figure out what he's teaching me through this chronic pain thing But I know there's probably some of you out there that you've been doing with chronic pain maybe longer than I have But God is still good in the midst of all of this But I like to laugh and sometimes I've laughed at myself sometimes I've laughed not just with others Come on.
Let's be honest sometimes we've laughed at others Okay, and I want to before I get into a few scriptures and we wrap this up I want to give you something that might help you to laugh a little bit and let some of that healing take place in your Your body tonight these are favorite hymns are funny a twist to them here, but favorite hymns of the church But this is the dentist, you know the guy that works on your teeth the dentist him which is crowned him with many crowns The weatherman's him is there shall be showers of blessing the contractors him the church is one foundation The tailor is him holy holy holy the golfers him. There's a green heel far away Oh here's good for the season we're in politicians him standing on the promises Who the optometrist him open my eyes that I may see the IRS agents him I surrender all the gossip's him pass me not The electrician's him send the light We just sang that or traditional church show Sunday or two ago later It's in the light shoppers him Jesus paid it all and last but not least for those who like to speed on the highway at 45 miles per hour God will take care of you 55 miles per hour guiding me old out great Jehovah 65 near my god to the 75 nearest you'll near 85 this world's not my home 95 Lord I'm coming home over 100 precious memory So that's it I felt good to laugh didn't it maybe that's the first maybe that's the first genuine laugh that you've had all day I don't know how your days gone, but it does feel good to laugh and They say it releases those what is it endorphins? I used to teach my grandchildren stuff and say it releases dolphins Something was wrong with bubble, but anyhow in Zephaniah Chapter 3 verses 14 through 17 from the new living translation the Bible there says sing Oh daughter of Zion Shattle out of Israel be glad to rejoice with all your heart. Oh daughter of Jerusalem for the Lord will remove his hand of judgment And will disperse the armies of your enemy and the Lord himself the king of Israel will live among you at last your troubles Will be over and you will never again fear disaster on that day the announcement to Jerusalem will be cheer up Zion Don't be afraid for the Lord your God is living among you.
He is a mighty Savior He will take care or take delight in you with gladness with his love He will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs now That sounds like God's happy in portion of that scripture there and what's happening according to Zephaniah I know the passage of scripture sounds like one of God's many attributes is indeed happiness in the video segment We heard Randy Alcorn give various scriptures which relate to the happiness of God He mentioned the Greek word for happiness from karyos interpreted in our English language as the word blessed and even when we read the Beatitudes blessed is he you know this one this one this one means happy is that one who goes through this and faces this and does this and so on We've heard it said many times that God is holy, but how often do we as believers say God is happy? Many people see God as a condemning God not a happy God many see God as angry and not happy at all God has many many many wonderful powerful attributes and yes angry is another one of God's attributes There are plenty of Old Testament and New Testament accounts of God's anger But there are also many accounts of God's pleasure delight and happiness You know when he created everything as he was bringing about creation He would look at it He'd say that that's good and then when he got down to the end of it and he created mankind He said it is very good because he created us and his image and his likeness though the mountains were majestic And though the rivers were beautiful and the streams and the valleys and the hills all of this was beautiful None of it compared to his highest of creation which wasn't the animal kingdom, but it was humankind when he created Adam and Eve in his own image and his own likeness and The ones that have an eternal living soul mankind So we look at God's anger just a moment God was angry with the nation of Israel and with Israel's kings every time they turned away from obeying him the wicked practices of the nation Surrounding Israel such as those that were committing child sacrifice and living in sexual perversion Or else God's anger to the point that he commanded Israel to completely completely destroy them every man woman child and animal to remove wickedness from the land Now, you know they always say history repeats itself and what God did back then he's going to do again at the consummation of all things God is going to destroy the face of this earth with fervent heat with fire the Bible says and he's going to set up a new heaven and a new earth Sin will never be again and we will rule and reign with him forever and forever Now that'll make us happy makes we look around today. No, there's not a whole lot that can make us happy I mean if you listen to Fox News or you listen to any news reports There's so much despair and so much unhappiness and and a lack of hope here and lack of hope there and and we realize that we're living in the End Times the last days and our only hope is in Jesus Christ It even lets us know in the Bible that we're looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ How He's looking for him to come he's coming back after those are looking for him to come so you better look for him If you're not already and he's not only coming back for those who look he's coming back after those who are loving his appearing They are just desiring for him to return now Yes, we desire for every man woman boy girl friend relative to get saved We don't know exactly when the raptors gonna take place, but I do know this doesn't matter if it's tonight next week next month or next year Whenever Jesus splits the Eastern skies, there's still gonna be a lot of people even in my family probably unless divine intervention takes place miracles can happen But there can be a lot of people still left behind not everybody's going not everybody's going So God told him to destroy everything and just as a parent becomes angry at anything that would hurt his children So God's anger is directed at that which would harm his people and the relationship with him A times in the King James version the scriptures talk about being slow to anger in that course that we sang tonight It was in there about how God's slow to anger love that and then six of those times or those eight times pertain to how God is slow to anger The other two times are about man and his anger in Nehemiah 9 16 through 17 from the ESV version But they and our fathers acted presumptuously and stiffened their neck and did not obey your commandments They refused obey We're not mindful of the wonders that you performed among them But they stiffened their neck and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt But you are a God ready to forgive Gracious and merciful slow to anger and abounding instead fast love and he and Nehemiah saying and you did not forsake them Well doesn't that go along with the scripture that says he will never leave us nor forsake us Even when God has maybe been a little angry with you or me because we did not always obey his commands Aren't you glad that he did not leave us nor forsake us Aren't you glad that we're the clay and he's the potter and that when he sees a mar in the vessel of our life in this clay vessel That he doesn't throw us down into a million pieces But he puts us back up on the wheel again He moistens that clay that we are by his Holy Spirit and he begins to do a work on our life and he makes us a usable vessel I'm so glad he just doesn't put us up on a shelf So I'm done with you or cast us down and break us into a million pieces.
He's such a wonderful God He gets angry but he doesn't stay angry You know and there's a reason for God's anger as we've said because of sin It's just like we we should be angry with the sin in people's lives, but love the sinner We should love what God loves hate what God hates what God loves people so we should love people And yet if those people that we love are in sin we can hate their sin and we can talk to them about their sin in the right way In the right tone we love of Christ and let the spirit of God lead and guide and direct us and then we can pray for them He's equal 33 11 as surely as I live declares the sovereign Lord I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked but rather that they turn from their wicked ways and live in the New Testament Jesus got angry with the religious teachers and leaders of the day for using religion for their own game and keeping people in bondage You can read about it in John 2 13 through 16 mark 3 4 through 5 Romans 1 18 says for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all In godliness and unrighteousness of men who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth the truth Well if we've ever lived in a day where we need people to speak the truth It's today So God gets angry at the wickedness and people and he opposes that wickedness in an effort to turn them from evil that they may find true life And freedom in him how he's got that life and freedom in him tonight Even in his anger God's motivation is love for people to restore the relationship that sin destroyed to then bring his happiness Into their lives because God wants us to be happy Yes, he wants us to be holy But he wants us to be happy he wants us to be holy happy people Psalm 30 and verse 5 for his anger But for a moment and his favor is for a lifetime weeping may teary for the night, but joy comes in the morning Amen last of all I want to say as Randy mentioned and talked about it, but I'll just say a few things Maybe that he didn't say Where does happiness originate? Well James 117 says every good gift and every perfect gift is from above coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no Variation or shadow due to change the King James says no variable for shadow of turning So I think we can all understand that good comes from God above and bad comes from the devil God builds up the devil tears down God gives blesses satisfies and takes delight in doing so for his children But on the other hand Jesus said the thief likes to do this he comes to steal kill and destroy and Jesus the blind come That they might have a life and they might have it more abundantly Life to the fool There's probably no other church at least in Springfield Maybe Illinois that has heard that scripture more than Calvary Church because that is the scripture that you live by and that pastor Mark brings out many times and and he signs with the end of his emails everything's life to the full How many wants life to the fool living life more abundantly from the gutter most to the other most we can be Abundantly happy in other words most of the time happy happy happy most of the time now if God isn't happy How can he make us happy if we are not happy? How can we expect people to want to be around us? You know he talked a little bit about that in the video happiness needs to become like a disease Contagious just like other things are contagious, you know bad attitude can rebel onto somebody you know We're also can a good attitude and happiness can touch somebody's heart and life and when the conversation is over and they see now happy You are like you know what I'd like to be more like that person And I'm gonna strive to be what they tell me how they got happy like that and it's a relationship with Jesus Christ And I haven't tried him I haven't given him an opportunity in my life But boy, I should like to be happy like that not everything's perfect in their life They told me that but they're sure happy anyhow, you know, they've got pain in their body or they they got bills to To paint they don't know how they're gonna pay him, but they're still happy and they got the joy of the Lord Which is our strength amen and so we need to have happiness to be like a disease wise choices produce ongoing happiness Well, if that's the case then unwise choices can produce ongoing sadness Comparing yourself with others is unproductive and destructive to your happiness You know it's just not gonna work to compare yourself with others that was one of my problems In ministry in my early days as a younger man I always looked at all these guys in the church of God or pastor in big churches, you know And looking at some of these stay-over seers and general overseers and they had it all together man They were the nicest suits and they could speak so eloquently and with so much power and passion and I just leave some confidence thinking What's the use, you know, why did I think I was comparing myself and my ministry to them?
Well, they've been in the mission a whole lot longer than me So I had to get to the place where I had to be okay Jim You've just got to be yourself You've just got to be who God's called you to be Pastor Mark has got to be who God's called him to be Pastor Paul has got to be who God's called him to be Pastor Dan's got to be who God has called him to be and you've got to be who God has called you to be and if you'll do that every day Set your mind to that then you're going to be a whole lot happier and better off than trying to compare yourself to somebody else And try to walk in their shoes when God didn't call you to walk in their shoes He called you to walk in your shoes. Can I get a man? and last of all Keep on going for God because one day we will fully enter into his happiness Would you stand one day when all of this life is over and our work on earth is done? We're gonna seek him face to face and all you talk about the joy and happiness You know, there's loved ones of mine that have gone on just like you have loved ones have gone on But the one that I want to see first and foremost is Jesus Because if it wasn't for him, we'd have no hope of heaven and eternity with him and our parents and grandparents Different loved ones they wouldn't be there if it wasn't for him Jesus will be what makes it heaven for me and he's what's gonna be what makes it heaven for you We bow our heads tonight.
I want you to as I lead you in prayer I want you to pray though too in concert and I want you to ask the Lord to just help you as you're learning from this series To help you to become a happier Christian a happier believer than ever before Again balance is key. You will experience times of grief sorrow anger all of those different emotions or attributes that come from our life as well But come through it don't get stuck there and when you come through it come out on the other side still the happy person You were before the attack came. Amen. Let's pray to that in father tonight in Jesus name I pray for the people of God here in this service this great group of people this great group that is gathered tonight on this Wednesday night And I pray Lord God that you would touch us all I need your touch they need your touch We all need your touch we're living in such uncertain times like never before and God There are many things that can weigh us down and bring us down and and cause us to become sorrowful or sad or or feel like What was me or you know gloom despair and agony all around but God lift us up and show us that you are there in the midst of it All that you're gonna stand and we're gonna stand and not fall and we're gonna bless your holy name God show us the way to happiness that's not through the things that we can accumulate in this world But it's through that relationship that we have with you as our personal Lord and Savior you bring that happiness Because happiness came from you every good and perfect gift and happiness as one of those gift comes from you And we thank you for that tonight in Jesus name If there's one here tonight that you need special prayer for anything whatsoever Pastor Paul is gonna be here.
I'll be here if there are some other prayer team members that want to come up We'll pray with you I'm gonna walk over that way and come down here and wait just a minute But if you want special prayer if you want one of these prayer team members to pray with you We'd be delighted to do that before we leave or before you go And if not if you don't need prayer then you're welcome to go ahead be dismissed and remember all the announcements and most of all every day of your life put God first