Is God really that happy?
Happiness • Sermon • Submitted
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· 2 viewsGod is the happiest and he offers us His happiness
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1- Is God Happy?
1- Is God Happy?
The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.
which he will display at the proper time—he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords,
Where others see the dawn coming over the hill, I see the soul of God shouting for joy! -William Blake
God made me fast and when I run I feel His pleasure. - Eric Liddell
God’s mind and heart are delightfully engaged in all he has created.
No aspect of life is more desired, more elusive, and more perplexing than happiness. People wish and strive for what they believe will make them happy- good health, attractive looks, an ideal marriage, children, a comfortable home, success, fame, financial independence - the list is endless.
Many people who believe in God do not believe that God Himself is happy!
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
If we think following Jesus means turning away from happiness we will fail! We are wired to want and be happy!
In Bible College and Seminary God’s happiness is not mentioned. Happiness is central to who God is! He defines and is truly Happy!
His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’
Matt 25
What comes to your mind when you think about God is the most important thing about us. -AW Tozer
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.
God is not a stranger to joy and delight…His joy is permanent, clouded by no involuntary pain. -JI Packer
In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them; in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.
I rejoice to worship the living God, who, because He is living, does grieve and rejoice! -CH Spurgeon
The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.
Though we go through suffering and dark valleys God is near and for us. He is shaping us for eternal happiness with Him! He joyfully prepares a place for us!
Of course, no honest person claims that happiness is now a normal condition among adult human beings. -George Orwell
God permitted the fall of man, to raise him to a more excellent state of happiness…. The pardon of sin is the foundation of eternal happiness and paradise attained. -William Bates
“For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind.
But be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem to be a joy, and her people to be a gladness.
I will rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in my people; no more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping and the cry of distress.
I was ready to be sought by those who did not ask for me; I was ready to be found by those who did not seek me. I said, “Here I am, here I am,” to a nation that was not called by my name.
I spread out my hands all the day to a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good, following their own devices;
a people who provoke me to my face continually, sacrificing in gardens and making offerings on bricks;
who sit in tombs, and spend the night in secret places; who eat pig’s flesh, and broth of tainted meat is in their vessels;
who say, “Keep to yourself, do not come near me, for I am too holy for you.” These are a smoke in my nostrils, a fire that burns all the day.
Behold, it is written before me: “I will not keep silent, but I will repay; I will indeed repay into their lap
both your iniquities and your fathers’ iniquities together, says the Lord; because they made offerings on the mountains and insulted me on the hills, I will measure into their lap payment for their former deeds.”
Thus says the Lord: “As the new wine is found in the cluster, and they say, ‘Do not destroy it, for there is a blessing in it,’ so I will do for my servants’ sake, and not destroy them all.
I will bring forth offspring from Jacob, and from Judah possessors of my mountains; my chosen shall possess it, and my servants shall dwell there.
Sharon shall become a pasture for flocks, and the Valley of Achor a place for herds to lie down, for my people who have sought me.
But you who forsake the Lord, who forget my holy mountain, who set a table for Fortune and fill cups of mixed wine for Destiny,
I will destine you to the sword, and all of you shall bow down to the slaughter, because, when I called, you did not answer; when I spoke, you did not listen, but you did what was evil in my eyes and chose what I did not delight in.”
Therefore thus says the Lord God: “Behold, my servants shall eat, but you shall be hungry; behold, my servants shall drink, but you shall be thirsty; behold, my servants shall rejoice, but you shall be put to shame;
behold, my servants shall sing for gladness of heart, but you shall cry out for pain of heart and shall wail for breaking of spirit.
You shall leave your name to my chosen for a curse, and the Lord God will put you to death, but his servants he will call by another name,
so that he who blesses himself in the land shall bless himself by the God of truth, and he who takes an oath in the land shall swear by the God of truth; because the former troubles are forgotten and are hidden from my eyes.
“For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind.
But be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem to be a joy, and her people to be a gladness.
I will rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in my people; no more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping and the cry of distress.
No more shall there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not fill out his days, for the young man shall die a hundred years old, and the sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed.
They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be, and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
They shall not labor in vain or bear children for calamity, for they shall be the offspring of the blessed of the Lord, and their descendants with them.
Before they call I will answer; while they are yet speaking I will hear.
The wolf and the lamb shall graze together; the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and dust shall be the serpent’s food. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain,” says the Lord.
Isaiah 67:17-19
Christians don’t believe God is happy. If we did believe, would we be happier?
2- Are you happy?
2- Are you happy?
The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.
Blessed- In Hebrew this word means more than just happiness. It means multidimensional flourishing. -Tim Keller
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
To be blessed is to know partial healing of each of these areas as God’s salvation repairs our hearts and behavior. -Tim Keller
And let them offer sacrifices of thanksgiving, and tell of his deeds in songs of joy!
Psalm
When someone continually talks about how happy they are, I tend to doubt them; but when they talk about how grateful they are, I know they have found happiness. -Rob Hawkins
With gratitude there’s happiness; without it, there’s unhappiness. Every time.
For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.
Because God’s grace is constant, new, and fresh, so our gratitude should be constant, new, and fresh!
I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought; and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder. -GK Chesterton
The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me; to one who orders his way rightly I will show the salvation of God!”
Psalm 50
give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
I Thess
Charis - grace, That which is given freely and generously- a gift.
God’s grace is His giving to us, at great cost, what we don’t deserve.
For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.
Are you experiencing the Good News of salvation in Christ? Gratitude and happiness should multiply in your life!
We think being unhappy leads to complaining, but complaining leads one to become unhappy. Become grateful and you will become a much happier person.
Complaining = telling God, “You don’t know what you are doing; I know better!
Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.
Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.
Although the world is filled with suffering, it is full also of overcoming of it. -Helen Keller
Believe, when you are most unhappy, that there is something for you to do in the world. So long as you can sweeten another’s pain, life is not in vain. -Helen Keller
Gratitude leaves no room for sin, because it comes out of humility, the opposite of sin. And for sin to flourish it must be dripping with pride. -John Piper
Undeniable guilt =
Undeniable guilt
I am impressed with the joy that is ours in Christ, so that heaven above and earth below become fairer and brighter. -Jim Elliot
We may ignore, but we can nowhere evade the presence of God. The World is crowded with Him. He walks everywhere incognito. -CS Lewis
Gratitude exclaims, very properly, “How good of God to give me this.” Adoration says, “What must be the quality of that Being...” One’s mind runs back up the sunbeam to the sun. -CS Lewis
God open our eyes to the wonders of your grace!
rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.
Salvation is not just forgiveness and admission to Heaven. It means life is healed, slowly but surely, in all its dimensions -Tim Keller
Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!