God Bless Us With Happiness

God Bless Us With Happiness

Luke 12:15-20

15And He said to them, “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.” 16Then He spoke a parable to them, saying: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. 17And he thought within himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?’ 18So he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. 19And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.”’ 20But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’

INTRO.- Where is happiness to be found? I can tell you where it is not to be found. In material things.

ILL.- Steve Shepherd writes, The last time I bought a new car was 1988. It was a Buick Skylark. Admittedly, a Buick Skylark is not the most popular or luxurious car in the world, but I liked it. It was on sale. The sticker price was $14,000 and the sale bill on the windshield read: St. Patrick’s Day special: $12,000.

I got a good trade and drove the car home. It was a two-door, sporty-looking Skylark. Burgundy color, auto, AC, power windows, power brakes and it had that new, powerful quad-four engine and was quite peppy.

I was in hog heaven driving that car. That is, until it broke down the first time with a blown head gasket. I thought that was something of a fluke until it happened a 2nd time on the way to St. Louis and had to have it towed in to a nearby garage. Fortunately, it was still under warranty, but they had it two weeks before I got it back. WHAT A HEADACHE!

A. I have discovered that the joy of material things don’t last.

Haven’t you? And it really doesn’t matter what it is: car,

house, TV, clothes, boat, dresses, etc.

There will always come a time when these things WILL NOT SATISFY.

Luke 12:15 Jesus said, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”

I. WE MUST FOCUS ON ETERNITY, NOT EARTH

ILL.- Two Christians lived very good, and also very healthy lives. They eventually died and went to heaven. As they are walking along, marveling at the paradise around them, one turned to the other and said, "Wow. I never knew heaven was going to be as good as this!"

"Yeah", said the other. "And just think, if we hadn’t eaten all that oat bran we could have been here ten years sooner."

A. None of us know how great and glorious heaven will be! If we did, our focus would be different

and our lives would be different! We might not stop eating oat bran but we would change some

things that we do.

I Cor. 2:9 “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for

those who love him.”

B. Paul is talking about the glory of heaven. And we do believe that it will be greater or grander

than anything we have ever known, seen or felt in this life

Rev. 21:1-4 “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."

The best descriptions of heaven is this:

1. No tears

2. no crying

3. no pain

4. Nothing hurtful from this life.

5. Nothing negative or nasty from this life.

6. No SORROW

7. No Funerals

8. No caskets

9. he presence of God our Father, soothing us, loving us.

Col. 3:1-3 “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.”