Happiness

We are starting a new sermon series, which is appropriate for brand new location, brand new time, and some brand new faces. We're excited to have all of our guests here today. Fortunately, you know, you're not a guest to God. He has you here. He wanted you here. But we're going to be starting a series called Mythbusters. Then you already told you about it. I love that show and discovery channel because it's all these things you always wondered about. They're going to put it to the test. They're going to find it out. If you ever go to their website too, they've got all kinds of fictional facts or fiction kinds of questions and things. One of the ones I was reading about this past week is dihydrogen monoxide is a dangerous substance. How many think that's fact? How many think that's fiction? How many are still asleep? All right. Well, dihydrogen monoxide is a very important substance and not dangerous at all. But in 1997, Nathan Zonner, a student at Eagle Rock Junior High School, and Idaho Falls won first prize for a local science fair with the project entitled, How gullible are we, question mark? He presented a report to his fellow students about the dangers of a substance called dihydrogen monoxide and then asked for their opinions. Out of 50 students, 86% thought it should be banned. Six were undecided and one correctly recognized that dihydrogen monoxide is just another name for water. It's interesting fact and fiction and what is true. And if we don't have the correct understanding, we don't have the right insights. If we don't have the right perspectives, something that is as vital as water, second only to oxygen maybe for us could be something that we could be totally clueless about. And we could totally miss out on and actually the danger would be not in the substance but the lack of it. The very opposite of what could be thought of. We know the average person expects that as I've entitled this message that if I fulfill my personal goals, then the key to that, that will be the key for me to have a satisfied life for me to have a happy life. So the first myth this first week I want to look at and I want to bust, find out what's the fact? What's the fiction in this is happiness? What's the secret to happiness? Now, just a honest question, how many people here want to be happy? Raise your hand. Okay, those aren't raising their hand or zoning out on me and I know who you are now. Because all of us would say yes to that and everybody did raise their hand but we all desire that we all want that. Well, let's look at what is the fact and the fiction behind finding it? Where is it? Why does it elude us to escape our grasp so much of the time? So anyway, I thought it was interesting. Psychology Today magazine recently published just this past year a study on happiness and if there are experts out there I suppose psychology today people are the experts. But they found out that out of the things that make us happy from all these surveys and interviews that only 10 to 15% of them are actually things that are under our control. Things that we have control of in order to help make us happy. That means 85% and 90% of it is totally out of our control. They looked at things like beauty, money, age, intelligence, education, amount of free time, social skills and many things like that and their conclusion of the end of their entire study report was this. The myth is, and they actually use that word, the myth is we think the finer things in life will make us happy. But in reality most of what makes us happy is pretty common or ordinary things. Well, I wanted to look further and find some theological views and I found a few well-known theologians. One is the supermodel of the 70s Bauderick. And Bauderick, many of you might recall or know, said this about happiness. She said, whoever said money can't buy happiness simply didn't know where to go shopping. Now when I first read that I thought that surprised me from Bauderick maybe but then I thought, wait a minute, she's exactly right. Finding out the where of happiness is absolutely essential. So I think she was on to something. Another theologian Henry Ford, the inventor of the automobile, said this. He said, wealth like happiness is never attained when sought after directly. It comes as a byproduct of providing a useful service. Well, the how question is also very important, understanding of it and certainly Henry Ford had some insights into that as well. Knowing where to find happiness is absolutely critical. But happiness is what I'm discovering as I look at God's word is actually related to fulfilling our design as human beings. Henry Ford began to touch on that and understanding that, wait a minute, there's something that we need to do, something that's useful, something that's beyond ourselves. Well, maybe some other couple of theologians that you may have heard of as well to St. Augustine from the 4th century, a church leader said this. He said, indeed, man wishes to be happy even when he so lives as to make happiness impossible. What is it that happiness is something we so want even though our lifestyle can make it impossible to get? Another theologian, more recent, C. S. Lewis, the author of the Narnia series and the recent movie that came out but also Professor at Oxford University back in the 20th century. He said this. He said, God cannot give us happiness in peace apart from himself because it is not there. There is no such thing. See all four of these had the right ideas, different theologians. They understood that the how is important. They understood that the where is important when answering these questions. So I want to look at those three things today. I want to look at the where of happiness. I want to look at the how of happiness. And I want to look at the when of happiness. And I want to dispel the myth from the truth this morning. And to do that we must go to God and we must go to his word. So there's an outline in your bulletin if you'd like to follow along. I encourage you to do that. There should have been a pin on your seat too. But right now let's start the process by going to God and asking him again to reveal his truth to us. Let's pray. Gotta ask that you would come and that you would reveal truth because myth comes easy. And fiction comes easy. There's not a single one of us that has a problem with making up fiction. Making reality the way we want it. But truth on the other hand can elude us. Truth can be tainted and truth can be mixed with untruth. And we are in desperate need God to have you to reveal what pure truth is. And so we come, we look to you and we ask that you would reveal that in Christ name. Amen. Point number one in your outline, the where of happiness. And there's three where questions that I think that we want to answer here. Where does it come from and letter A under your outline there. The where of happiness it comes from creation. God created, and according to Genesis 1, saw that it was good. God was blessed by it. God was happy. God was pleased with what he created. And you know what, we are too. If you think about things that make you happy in life and we were just to pick some of those things, I bet everything you pick would have something either directly or a very close indirect connection with creation. You might say, well, you know, I enjoy being outdoors. Well, my goodness, who created it? Who created that mountain view? Who created that lake that you love to fish on? Who created that trail that is your favorite hiking trail? Some of you might say, well, you know, really what gets me charged when it really breaks me. It's happening. It's spending time with my closest friends getting together for a weekend away or going to the beach, whatever it might be. Well, who created that friend? Who are they made in the image of? Image of God. Creation made God extremely happy and it continues to, by the way. But creation makes us happy as well, too. It's a good place for us to start. But creation itself only goes but so far in continuing and being the source of happiness for us. Because everybody that's on this planet, all six billion plus, all are around God's creation. All could see the mighty works of his hands. They, if they look up at night, can see the billions, trillions of stars that are in view. They can touch the water that God made. They can smell the flower, perhaps. They are all in touch with that. They have people around them, people that they are in dear to, people that are close. They have spouses or children. They have good friends. But we can still miss out on happiness. There's more to it than that. Not only does the wear of happiness come from creation but let her be. It comes from our design. It comes from our design. God created us to enjoy his creation. But don't you ever notice that creation itself is not enough? Why is it that you can still enjoy being out on the great outdoors and it's satisfying to a degree but not completely? Why is it that you can even have close friends but you have bad days with them. And you get in fights and you get in disagreements or one moves away. It never seems to be fully satisfying in and of itself. What is it about that? Why is it that we continue to crave more than what even creation can offer around us and finding happiness? Well here's something I want you to consider that you'll see this quote on the screen. Something is either wrong in our design that we cannot be satisfied or something is wrong in our ability to fulfill our design. Something is either wrong in our design that we cannot be satisfied. It's just impossible. Or something is wrong in our ability to fulfill our design. So the way of happiness comes from creation but also comes from design. And the problem with the design there, I want to propose to you that it's not that we cannot be satisfied. But the problem is that it's our ability to fulfill it. We are powerless to do that. God tells us in his word, he uses the word sin, not a popular word here today. But he simply means it's lacking perfection. It's lacking the same holiness and the same righteousness that God above has. And not many of us are be bold enough here today to claim that we are God or we are like God because we know the truth. And if we don't aren't willing to admit it, I bet there's some might that knows you pretty well but knows the truth about you. But many of us wouldn't have no problem making that claim but God says being like him is the key to happiness. And that leads us to number three, from the Holy Spirit. Not only from creation, from our design, but it is absolutely essential that the Holy Spirit be the source of that joy. In fact, the Bible says there's no other joy or happiness apart from him. The Bible says that the Holy Spirit is like a tree. That's why Galatians 5.22 and 23, when it talks about the fruit of the Spirit, what the Spirit, when it's growing inside you will produce that will hang off you like a luscious apple, is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, self-control. These type of things, I bet you could think, wow, if I had just one of those, I'd be happy. Give me real love, I'd be happy. Give me real gentleness in my life, I'd be happy. Enjoy is just one of the fruits in there, but it is a fruit of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, if it is a fruit of the Holy Spirit without the Holy Spirit growing and working in your life, you will not have it.

Now, can there be cheap substitutes, can there be things that are like the shooting stars that flash and are bright and brilliant and then gone the next second? Sure. But lasting inward happiness that goes beyond your outer circumstances, that can never be stripped away from you, that's what we were designed for. That's what we long for. And the Bible says it only comes to the Holy Spirit. And how is the Holy Spirit given, according to Scripture, it is given to those whose faith has made Jesus Christ their treasure. And I use that word because it maybe is the best word for us today, living in the Western United States of America, of what really it means to have Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. He is what you treasure. Not your bank account, not your car, not your fancy stuff, not your cool friends, not your ladder of success and whatever rung you're on in climbing it. But it comes from treasure in Jesus Christ and Him above all else. Well, that's the wear of happiness. That's where it's found. But let me talk to you now for a little bit about the how of happiness, the how of it. How does it actually come? How does it work itself out? And I want to look at Matthew, chapter 5. So if you had your bottles with you, certainly turn there, but it's also going to be printed on the screen, I think, behind me. Matthew 5, verses 1 through 12. And I need to tell you, ahead of time, Jesus here is talking. This is a sermon on the Mount. It's often called, and it's Jesus speaking, and it is the most famous sermon ever because it's coming from Jesus' lips. Here, but when he says, blessed are something, blessed are this. That same word could be translated happy. Happy are the people that do this. So every time you hear me say, blessed, you think, oh, happy. He means happy. Matthew 5, this is God's word, verses 1 through 12. Now, when he saw the crowds as is Jesus, he went up on the mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him and he began to teach them, saying, blessed are the poor and spirit. For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure and heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness. For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad because great is your reward in heaven. For in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Well, that is God's word. And there, if you think about it, Jesus has a lot to say about happiness. And a lot about where the source comes and how you get it. If you look at this next chart here, on the next page here, screen there, I've taken each one of those. And I've laid it out there to see Jesus says those who do this, or like this, and he has his promise. Happy are the people who are a porn spirit for theirs, the kingdom of heaven. So I want to go through this chart very quickly, and I want to give you some insights here into what Jesus is saying. Because if you're like me, you would think here, wait a minute. That's stuff on the left. We're looking for happiness, okay? You tell me, poor, morning, meek, hunger, thirst, merciful, pure, peace, oh, hold on. Okay, I mean, does anybody have a little conflict here in their conflict thinking, I mean raise your hand if you do. That this looks a little inconsistent with the kind of happiness that you're looking for. It does with me on first glance, unless we understand that there is a, as Bauderix had, we got a shop of the right place, that we've been shopping at the wrong place all along. And God wants to tell you where the right place is. Maybe there's some insights that we can learn from this. I think there is one, porn spirit. Blessed are the porn spirit for they will be given the kingdom of heaven. You know, when we think of poor, we think of, first off, physically and financially, we think of somebody who's bankrupt. We think of somebody maybe who can't even have enough money to buy food or drink or whatever they might need to survive. We think of somebody who've been down in Lake Yola who sleeps on the park bench, covered by maybe yesterday's edition of the newspaper. We get glimpses and images of that. None of us would want to be poor or have poverty in any kind of way. But when the Bible talks about porn spirit, although it could include the former, he's really talking about something much deeper. He's saying those who are bankrupt spiritually, those who understand that what they need to have a right relationship with God, the perfection that God requires, that they fall so short. And there is not enough in their account to grant them access in the God's presence. You know, as I was thinking about examples, Helen Keller came to my mind of people that understood a type of physical poverty that few of us ever will. Helen Keller, born, blind, completely, born, completely deaf. And if you've seen any of the movies or read the books, you understand that it was for years as she was growing up. She had seemingly no clue about reality, no clue of even the depth of it. I mean, if you couldn't hear, you couldn't see, and who was going to be instructing you in teaching you, they didn't even have the technology they do today? How are you going to discover the world around you? How are you going to know that you're anything more than an animal? Well, Helen Keller writes this, and she was one, by the way, that did come to embrace Jesus Christ. She said, you know, once I knew only darkness and stillness, my life was without past. My life was without future, but a little word from the fingers of another fell into my hand that clutched at emptiness and my heart leaped to the rapture of the living. Helen Keller in her physical bodily depravity came to a place where she was made alive. She describes it as a rapture to the living. Where she understood, and she knew the word water, as it was spelled in her hand, and then she felt it. There was a connection there. She understood her needs. She understood her inadequacy. Let me ask you this morning, God says, you want to be happy? You need to understand that you are spiritually bankrupt, and that you are in poverty spiritually. As much as Helen Keller was more so we are. Secondly, there are letter B. Blessed are happier those who mourn. You know, mourning is a natural response of someone who knows their spiritual bankruptcy. I mean, if you think about it, how else would you respond? If you realize the need for your spirituality to be alive and you realize your bankrupt, that you are empty, if you understand that, understanding importance, mourning would be a natural thing to happen. A natural thing to follow. Now as I was thinking about examples of this in my mind, I thought of the prophet Isaiah from thousands of years ago writing. He in chapter 6 has this great revelation where God, he has this vision revelation of the kingdom of heaven, and he sees God himself sitting on his throne. And that's where he writes, and he hears angels singing holy, holy, holy. Is the Lord God Almighty, the whole earth is full of his glory. He sees that. What is his response when he says and understands his condition? It's one of mourning. Isaiah 6, 5 says this,

The very thing I would take hope and pride in it is nothing before God. And God meets with him there. And he says those who mourn will be given comfort. What was the comfort? The prophet Isaiah got, one of the angels took a fiery coal from the throne of God, the altar of God, and he comes and he places on his lips. That's a pretty vivid picture, and it's not a real pretty picture, a hot coal touching your lips, no sensitive part of your body maybe. But cleaning instantly, quarterizing, killing off the deadness. It was a purification picture, a picture of cleansing. He was given comfort in that. And in Jesus says that's part of your journey of happiness. It's not only understanding your spiritual bankruptcy, but grieving over it, understanding your need for a provision that comes from other than yourself. Well, he goes on to say blessed are not only the poor in spirit, blessed are not only those who mourn, but number three are letters seed, those who are meek. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. And think about this for a second, in that little bit weird. I mean, if you think about Smite, I was going to inherit, or you think of people in the past that said, I'm going to rule the world. Would you think that them as being meek, when you think of Napoleon, or when you think of Adolf Hitler, or you think of people who have made these claims and have set out to conquer the world? Does meekness come as part of the description as you think these people are like? God flips it, and it helps you understand the people that are really going to inherit the earth, the people who are meek. And so I was thinking about meekness, the first one I came to my mind was Mother Teresa, if I think of people, and here's how I think meekness is defined. Those who find their strength and gentleness and humility and courage are the ones who are meek. Few people have had the global world impact that a Mother Teresa has had who understood the happiness and the joy of the Father. Listen to what she says. She says the miracle is not that we do His work, or this work, but the miracle is that we are happy to do it. Mother Teresa spent her life giving, caring, taking care of people, living herself in hardship, touching the broken, touching the diseased, ministering the name of Jesus Christ, and nobody would debate her power, her strength. But wasn't she one of the meekest people you've ever even heard of? But she was also one of the happiest. I want you to know that as well too. Well, Jesus says poor and spirit, that those who mourn, the meek, but He also goes on, He says those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be filled. I don't know about you, but being filled is a happy experience. Whether it's Thanksgiving day in the extreme case where you've been smelling the meal, cooking all day long, or on whatever day you do a big meal, and then finally sitting down and being filled and tasting that feeling when you're done and full. Whether it's looking forward to opening kickoff in the football season, which some of us might be looking forward to, and it actually happens in your team wins, and the feeling of being filled, or full, or your best friend who comes in from out of town that you hook up, you haven't seen and year is needed together. There's a feeling of fullness that we can feel and full is good. The problem with our search for happiness is that the fullness doesn't last long, but God talks about a fullness that does. Those, though, there are hunger and thirsting for righteousness will be filled. Somebody who does that is somebody that knows of their great need for righteousness, both personally, but also one who understands the need for righteousness even culturally. As I thought about this, I thought of Martin Luther King Jr., Martin Luther King had a very strong sincere faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and he understood and had a hunger and thirst for righteousness, not just in his own life, but did he not hunger and thirst for it in his culture? He says this. He says darkness cannot drive out darkness. Only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can do that. He understood the need for transformation that had to happen in the heart, but he knew that it also, if it did happen in the heart, it would penetrate the culture. He had a hunger and a thirst for righteousness, and God tells us that if we do that, there will be blessed, that we will be happy, that we hunger and thirst for righteousness, his righteousness, the kingdom of heaven. So blessed are the poor and spirit, blessed are those who mourn, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness because they will be filled, but also blessed are happy are the merciful. Those who have received mercy must give it away, and they will be shown mercy. Those who are merciful have people who have already experienced the mercy of God, and they are the ones, and the only ones that have the power to truly give it away. When I was thinking about this, I was thinking about Corey Tenpoon, which you may or may not have heard of. Her family helped hide Jewish people during the Holocaust. In fact, her family was taking captive, and most of them were killed for their actions there, and she survived the concentration camps as well herself. But she writes in one of her writings about coming and being in a meeting, speaking years later, where actually one of the prison camp Nazi leaders was present when she was speaking. And as she was talking about a love of God and forgiveness came up expressing in almost a confident way, not a broken way, his excitement to hear her preach about forgiveness. And so can you imagine that kind of a person who had been part of killing your family and almost you and six million other Jewish people come up and be confronted that after you speak a message about the love and forgiveness of God. Listen to what she says. Even as the angry, vengeful thoughts boiled through me, I saw the sin of them. Jesus Christ had died for this man. Was I going to ask for more? Lord Jesus, I pray, forgive me and help me to forgive him. I tried to smile. I struggled to raise my hand. I could not. I felt nothing, not the slightest spark of warmth or charity. And so again, I breathe the silent prayer. Jesus, I cannot forgive him. Give him your forgiveness. As I took his hand, the most incredible thing happened. From my shoulder along my arm and through my hand, a current seemed to pass from me to him, while into my heart sprang a love for the stranger that almost overwhelmed me. And so I discovered that it is not on our forgiveness anymore than on our goodness that the world's the world's healing hinges, but on his. When he tells us to love our enemies, he gives along with the command, the love itself. Quentin Boone was a merciful person and experienced joy in the most unexpected place because she had been one who had received mercy. When not only the poor and spirit, those who mourn, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful who are happy, but Jesus says the pure in heart. The pure in heart, they will see God. You see, sin is not just, the pure in heart are not just people who expel sin from their outward actions. The pure in heart are those that seek to see sin, expelled or evil expel from their inward thoughts, their inward motives. I mean, I think all of us who seek to be good people are seeking to be pure in actions. We want to be good on the outside. This is the least I general sense, most. But God is saying the source of happiness and the key to it is, is desiring the, desiring this pureness of heart from the inside, from the heart out. This is why Jesus, in fact, in this very same sermon, will go on to say, hey, you think you've kept all the ten commandments, you say, I haven't killed anybody, but if you've murdered or hated in your heart, you already have committed murder. Jesus would go on to say, Hey, you think you haven't committed adultery? Let me ask you this. Have you lessened in your heart towards somebody else who wasn't your spouse you've already committed adultery Jesus is going to go on to give him a vivid picture of what pure and heart could look like and how far away from it We all are but he says it's a requirement for that to be truly pure not just not word actions But from the very heart that only God can give and he says the promise is they will see God When I thought of this I thought immediately of Stephen from the New Testament One of the first martyrs who gave his life after Jesus himself had had come and died and Resurrected and returned to heaven Acts 7 55 through 60 gives us a little bit of part of that account with Stephen It says but Stephen this this is when he was being accused by other religious leaders Full of the Holy Spirit Looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God Look he said I see heaven open and the son of man standing at the right hand of God at This they're they covered their ears yelling at the top of their voices They all rushed him dragged him out of the city and began to stone him Meanwhile the witnesses laid their clothes at their feet of a young man named Saul who who was Paul while they were Stony him Stephen prayed Lord Jesus received my spirit then he fell on his knees and cried out Lord Do not hold this sin against them when he had said this he fell asleep You see you get it you get a glimpse you see Jesus you see Stephen saw Jesus standing at the right hand of the Father But why look where his heart was his very last breath Do not hold this sin against them There was a purity of heart that was there that gave a peace and a confidence Even in some eyes last dying breath and did he see God yes, he did Was he filled with the happiness and the joy that could come from seeing God yes? He did was it the strength that he needed and then his last moments and breaths on earth yes it was Well Again Poor and spirit those who mourn the meek those are hunger and thirst for righteousness the merciful the pure and hard But also the peacemakers are happy They will be called the sons of God Those who make it their aim to see peace between God and his people and between one another established here on earth These are the peacemakers again seeking peace with God, but also seeking peace with fellow They're fellow human beings when I think of this I think of an incredible person that that knew that knows Jesus Christ Still alive that knows of his peace knows of his joy. It's a guy named Steve Steve St I think I have a picture of him this picture really says it all Because Steve St is a son of a missionary who was an Ecuador many many years ago middle of the 20th century who was killed Killed by the man he's standing next to Who would go back and Take go back to to minister and to share the gospel with the same people that had killed his father among with others Desiring the peace then to know the peace of God and there would come face-to-face to find his father's murderer To see him come to place his faith in trust in Jesus Christ to forgive him and to be best of friends today Steve saints a peacemaker and you tell me if you think Steve looks peaceful and happy He travels around With his father's murderer speaking telling of the good news of Jesus Christ They are like family There is a power that we don't even have any begun to touch into There's a depth of happiness and joy that we're just beginning to see Well, we've listed seven already. There's an eighth one that are that's given here It's a key to blessedness or happiness those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness They will be given the kingdom of heaven and a great reward it tells us here These are those who join in Jesus Christ and standing so strongly that the evil in the world can no longer stand by and ignore them Listen to that okay, sometimes sometimes we as Christians get persecuted and you know what we absolutely deserve it Because we're hypocritical because we don't love people because we don't smell like Jesus

Sometimes just the opposite we are persecuted and we deserve to be persecuted and it's not for the sake of righteousness But this kind of happiness this kind of joy comes from being persecuted for the sake of righteousness for somebody that is so So much like Jesus Christ who is standing so strongly with Jesus Christ that the evil world can no longer stand by it and ignore them But has to take them on aggressively That's what Jesus was like I think of Rachel Scott who many of you are familiar with from the Columbine killings She was one of several along with Cassie that were that were Christians are actually confronted with their faith and actually Their lives were given or were taken I should say by their murderers because of their faith one who is persecuted for the sake of righteousness Let's read about her. I don't know if you can read that I think you can this is this is her note written Not long before she died dear Heavenly Father. You are too good God. Thank you for the people at break through they They truly helped me keep my focus on you. Please keep watch over Jeff and Luke I'm so happy now that I've been I'm so happy now that I have been to walk my talk Remember when I asked her heads to turn on the law and the halls when I passed by I think a few people took a second look Thanks for the light you have put in me that light as had a conviction on my friends. I don't I don't have to say anything. They just see you in me Rachel understood Where real happiness comes from Rachel Rachel gave her a life along with Cassie and perhaps others in that group Because of their their faith in God and her joy is evident and those that knew her Would say that was evidence well to and she suffered that way Well, you do understand the where comes from ultimately the Holy Spirit and and the how it's coming from understanding and Being and understanding your place before God and understanding who God is and Understanding your need to walk according to him and in for it to be a happiness and a joy that comes from above if you think you're gonna Find it here on earth. You're gonna find only cheap substitutes But let me just talk for a minute or two about the when of happiness We've talked about the where we've talked about the how Let's talk about the wind when we make Jesus Christ what we treasure most in life We will begin to experience the kind of joy and happiness that God promises in fact That's what scriptures tell us is when the Holy Spirit who's been promised becomes a part of our life Jesus said it's good for me to go because I'll back to heaven because I will send you the helper and he will be with you And the Holy Spirit was poured out On all the believers The Holy Spirit's power comes upon us after we make Jesus that what we treasure most in life Acts 1 8 says this, but you will receive power When the Holy Spirit comes on you and you'll be my witnesses in Jerusalem and all your deans to Mary and to the ends of the earth This is one of Jesus's last comments to his disciples. He said look you're gonna receive power He tells him to go to Jerusalem and wait for it and what is it that comes? It is the Holy Spirit as You read in the first couple chapters of Acts that is poured out and Is it indeed power? Well, let's think about it The apostles were cowardly running away Peter was denying Jesus Judas actually betrayed Jesus the others were in hiding they were still in hiding for the most part up until the Holy Spirit was poured out the Listen to what chapter 5 of Acts tells us since they called the apostles in and had them flogged This is a group of people that were administering to have them actually flogged like Jesus was flogged with the scourge and the and the cords then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus and then they let them go And it says the apostles left the Sanhedrin. What are they doing? rejoicing Because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for his name They left rejoicing there's only a few chapters later after the Holy Spirit comes They were running from their accusers running in fear now with Jesus Resurrection and the power of the Holy Spirit poured out they're rejoicing and finding joy not in saving their lives But in giving their lives They are set free. They're transformed by it But it comes from the Holy Spirit When we see happiness as only being found in God Then we will be starting to understand Where the true source of happiness comes from we talked about Helen Keller already Let me tell you something else. She said she said this She said many persons have a wrong idea of what constitutes true happiness It is not true self gratification But through fidelity to a worthy purpose I mean you thought about people with physical hardship. Don't you think Helen Keller deserves the break? She deserves the right to be you know unhappy and Don't tell her to be happy I mean who are you to tell a girl like that or a woman that she should be happy? We know what she was As she came to know Jesus Christ as she came to walk with him And you can read her writings. She'll quote from the scriptures that she was clinging to and hinging on a worthy purpose And it transforms somebody that's in a as worse the physical condition as anybody can think of Transform their life The myth of happiness has been dispelled by the truth of Jesus Christ And if you hadn't heard it before you've heard it today the source of where happiness happens The when of happiness could begin as soon as today for you if you're not already experienced it and for some of you that Have experienced that some of the past but you've lost it some now Those who have embraced Jesus Christ and treasureed him maybe he's not so much your treasure anymore today And as the absence of his treasure I think being a treasure of your life as you moved him to the side I'm willing to bet you've not been as happy genuinely inwardly lastingly That carries you through difficult circumstances with unexpected joy But if you bring him back to the center of the treasure piece of your of your life his promise of happiness will return the work of his Holy Spirit will be Empowered in your life But maybe you're here tonight and this is all foreign to you and you're thinking man You're talking about a happiness that I've only thought might exist That I want to encourage you tonight that your win can be today That you can invite the Lord Jesus Christ you can make him your treasure here today And I want to pray with you now and I want to encourage you give you an opportunity to do that you'd like to so let's pray