Destination Disease
Text: Philippians 4:12-13
(Powerpoint Slides Available- email me tommyjackson@mac.com)
I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me the strength.
Over the past several weeks I have noticed a lot of sickness going around the church. We have seen quite a rash of the flu, stomach virus and even sinus infections. But one of the most dangerous sicknesses that people really need to watch out for is the sickness called…
DESTINATION DISEASE
Destination Disease can destroy even a great church like Calvary Christian Center. If it starts spreading, it can cause pandemonium to break out.
What is Destination Disease?
Trust me
…it’s worse than a cold
…Far worse than the flu, AND IT
…Makes a stomach virus seem like a walk in the park!
Destination Disease is a disease that says, “I can’t be happy right now. My current situation does not allow me to be happy”.
Destination Disease says, I will only be happy when…
q I get a new job
q I get a new boss
q I get a new car
q I get rid of my old car
q I get a new husband
q I get rid of my old husband
q I make 10k more per year
q I move out on my own
q I get married
q I get divorced
q I move to a different city
q I get a better church
q I get a better pastor
q I get to go on vacation
q I win the lottery
q I pay off all my bills
q My business takes off
q My business slows down
q I lose weight
q I gain weight
q I finally finish school
q My wife quits buggin’me
q My husband starts paying attention to me
q My mom quits griping
q My dad quits yelling
In short, Destination Disease says, “I cannot be happy right now, something has to change or be different in order for me to be happy”.
This Destination Disease is a serious matter, because in the same way you don’t feel like yourself when you are sick, you don’t act like yourself when you have “Destination Disease”.
As we begin to look at this today, let me make three observations:
Observation # 1 – Our Outlook on Life Goes Up and Down with Our Emotional State.
For most of us, it’s not the reality of bad things happening in our lives (cancer, etc.) it’s the perception of bad things (stress, worry, etc) that affects our emotional state.
Even something as simple as the weather can affect how we feel from day-to-day. Even Pastors are prone to this. They wake up on Sunday morning and look out of the window, and if it’s raining they go, “Oh no, now people are going to stay home from church today”. And they allow their emotions to go up or down with the weather.
Observation # 2- We Oftentimes Forget that this Life is Temporary and Heaven is Eternal!
I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.
Romans 8:18
Observation # 3- Uncertainty Increases Our Insecurity.
When we don’t know what’s going to happen next, we have a tendency to WORRY. When we worry, we have a tendency to get uptight. When we get uptight, we have a tendency to become unhappy.
So the key in this situation is to understand that God is in control…NOT US!
It puts us back in the situation where we have to trust God and have faith for the future!
Three “Cures” for Destination Disease…
Principle # 1 – UNDERSTAND THAT HAPPINESS IS A CHOICE!
Many people just cringed when I said that. We have been so conditioned to believe that happiness is a state of being (in other words out of control) instead of being taught that happiness is a choice! We have been conditioned to believe that happiness is what happens to us based upon outside factors. The truth is happiness is what happens INSIDE that, in turn, affects the outside things (like attitude, emotions, being in a rage or being calm).
We (all of us) myself included, need to understand that happiness is a decision, not an emotion!
Now someone might say, but Tommy, that sounds like a bunch of self-help, Tony Robbins, Zig Ziglar, Norman Vincent Peale hocus-pocus. Actually, it’s a very biblical principle.
Notice what Paul said in Philippians 4 verse 8…
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things.
It sounds like Paul was saying that happiness was a choice, not an emotion.
Don’t you know Paul, of all people, could have said, “I’ve had way too many problems to be happy”
Listen to what Paul lists as his daily battles:
q I’ve had to work hard
q I’ve been in prison often
q On five different occasions I received 39 lashes
q There were three times I was beaten with rods
q Once I was stoned
q 3 times I was shipwrecked
q I’ve had rivers and robbers and relatives who tried to hurt me
q I’ve gone without sleep so many times I’ve lost count
q There have been times that I shivered all night because I had no clothes and no food.
Yet Paul seems to say, “Happiness is a choice; not an emotion or a destination”.
Paul said I have learned to be content (happy) no matter what my situation.
Principle # 2- UNDERSTAND THAT BEING UNHAPPY WON’T CHANGE ANYTHING!
When things get difficult or stressful in our lives, it can lead to us becoming unhappy. Yet becoming unhappy doesn’t help, in fact it hurts.
Let’s say I’m unhappy with my job, or maybe even my marriage. Because of my choosing to be unhappy, I let it start getting the best of me. I’m no longer thinking on the good, I start to dwell on the negative. So now what happens? My job performance doesn’t go up, it goes down. My desire to show up for work goes down, I become critical of my boss, critical of my fellow employees and even critical towards our customers. Now, instead of choosing to be happy, I have chosen to be unhappy. Now, instead of my situation improving, it gets worse. Now take that example and apply it to any situation; a marriage… a school… a financial shortfall, and you see why it is important to choose to be happy!
Paul said something about this that, at times, really makes my flesh mad. He said a “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! (Phil 4:4) (Oh I hate it when I preach to myself)
When we are tempted to become unhappy, let’s tell ourselves to rejoice. Rejoice not in what we are going through, but in the Lord, because that’s really the only thing that will last forever is our relationship with him!
STORY: I’m reading a book right now called “Your Best Life Now”. In that book Joel Osteen tells the story about the day his wife Victoria took his Lexus to get it washed….(From the chapter “Happiness is a Choice)
Principle # 3 – Learn to Live One Day at a Time
(Go ahead, sing the song and get it out of your mind) PLAY CLIP FROM SONG
The Psalmist said, “This is the day the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it”
Notice he didn’t say, “tomorrow I will be happy” He didn’t say, “next week when I don’t have so many problems, I’m going to rejoice” No, he said, THIS is the day. Today is the day God wants you to be happy! If we are always waiting for an even to make us happy, we are going to spend our whole lifetime waiting. Something will always be “not quite right” in your life. You will always find some reason not to be happy.
You might not be where you want in life today. You may not have the perfect marriage. You may not have the perfect job, or the perfect life or the perfect look. Life may not have turned out exactly like you’d hoped, but every day you must make a decision that you’re going to make the most of the situation.
If you will keep a good attitude and rejoice in every day God gives you here on this Earth, if you’ll make the decision to stay faithful and be content in every circumstance, at the right time and at the right moment, God will change those circumstances.
If we don’t appreciate each and every day and learn to rejoice in it, we will never learn to be happy. We will always be sick with the Destination Disease. But God wants us to know that we can rejoice each and every day because there are three things that no person and no problem can ever take away from us.
# 1 – the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives
# 2 – Our close relationship with Jesus, and
# 3 – The hope of our eternity spent with Him!
Close: So how do we get over this Destination Disease? By listening to the Word of God. As we listen to this scripture we begin to understand that nothing in life (no matter what happens) can take away the single most important thing in our lives; our relationship with the Lord, Jesus!
I’m absolutely convinced that nothing--nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable--absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us. Romans 8:38-40 (The Message)
