Laughter

Laughter

“Then was our mouth filled with laughter.” Psalm 126:2

“He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh.” —Psalm 2:4

Intro: A elderly couple were home

The wife softly said to her husband

Do you remember when we used to just sit and you would hold my hand

The man reached over and held her hand.

The wife sweetly smiled and said do you remember when you used to kiss me on the cheek

The man leaned over and kissed her on the cheek

The wife winked and said do you remember when you used gently nibble on my ear

The husband stood up and started to walk away.

The wife asked Where you going…

The husband said, To get my teeth.

Today we are going to talk about “Laughter.”

If we define laughter, we might say it is the quick breath resulting in a series of short vowel-like sounds usually "ha-ha," "ho-ho" or "hee-hee" which we call laughter.

Laughter consists of two parts – sound and action.

When we laugh, changes begin to take place though out many parts of the brain, the body, organs

even the arm, leg and muscles.

Laughter can be very healthy.

Sometimes laughter is born out of sunshine.

Sometimes laugher can be born out of darkness.

So, whether laughter pleases the Lord or displeases him, depends upon when we laugh and at what we laugh.

We are going to look at several different places and types of Laughter in the bible.

1. Sarah’s laugh, or that of skepticism.

Picture in your mind as you look out across the dessert

An oriental tent;

the occupants are old Abraham and Sarah, wrinkled and weathered by the hot and dry heat and time.

There are three guests with them…, three angels…, and one is depicted as the Lord Almighty.

In return for the hospitality shown by the old people

God promises Sarah…, that she shall become the ancestress of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Sarah laughs in the face of God;

she does not believe it.

When she realizes who her guests are and what she has done she becomes frighted.

She denies it.

Genesis 18:15 Sarah says: “I didn’t laugh.”

Then God says, oh, yes you did laugh

And when God speaks up and catches anyone in a lie there…,

There was a long silence, followed by “But thou didst laugh.”

My friends, the laugh of skepticism in all the ages is only the echo of Sarah’s laughter.

Yet, how many times in your own life did you know that God has said something

God has promised something

Yet you have been skeptical

God says he will accomplish something in your life,

and yet how many times have we said, it cannot be done.

A great multitude laughs at the miracles.

They say they are contrary to the laws of nature.

What is a law of nature?

God is the one who wrote the laws of nature.

If God wants to change the laws of nature, there is nothing to stop Him.

You ordinarily get up in the morning and get a cup of coffee.

Tomorrow, you get up and get a glass of orange juice instead.

You change what usually happens.

You made the rule; you have the right to change it.

You ordinarily come into church at the front door

[pointing to a side entrance of the church.]

Suppose next Sunday you decide to come into church from the back door?

It is a habit to come in the front door.

But you have the right to change your habit?

A law of nature is God’s habit—His way of doing things.

If he makes the law, he has the right to change it any way he wants to change it.

So, when God says: “I will do something,”

Why would anyone laugh and say, “You can’t do it.”

God says that the Bible is true—it is all true.

Harvard School of Science can laugh…, when they say there is no creator only a big bang

John Hopkins School of medicine can laugh…, when they say there is no divine healing

Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, all the famous Philosophers can laugh…, when they say Jesus is just a good prophet.

People can sit on the fence between Christianity and Worldliness and laugh softly.

They can even say: “We did not laugh.”

That was Sarah’s trick.

Yet, God thunders from the heavens: “Ah, But thou didst laugh!”

We are told that the Garden of Eden was only a fable.

We are told that Noah never built any kind of ark,

or, if Noah did build an ark, it was too small to hold two of every kind.

We are told the ten plagues of Egypt never happened

The death angel smiting the first-born in Egypt was only some type of disease epidemic.