Seven Happy People

SEVEN HAPPY PEOPLE

John 13:17

http://gbcdecatur.org/sermons/7HappyPeople.html

John 13:17

If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.

Which kind of Christian are you? Humbly grateful or grumbly hateful? Attitude determines altitude!

God isn’t here just to keep you out of trouble...He’s here to get in trouble with you! We can walk with God and have a happier existence.

We’re too blessed to be stressed. It’s not right for the upright to be uptight!

Happiness is different than joy. We can have the joy of the Lord in any circumstances and at all times. It is our strength even when we are weak…it’s the bottom line that gives our lives meaning and makes life worth living, because in the end, we win!

Happiness is more temporary, because it is based on “happenstance” or “happenings”. Certain circumstances make us happy. So, we often lift up “joy” as the thing to truly seek after.

Well, that may be a valid point, but don’t we want to be happy? We may not always be able to be happy, but don’t we want to be happy often? More often than most usually are? More than we have been lately? Well?

If certain circumstances lead us to be happy, it would be nice to know what those circumstances are. Oh, what’s that you say? We CAN know the circumstances that lead to more happiness more often?!

Yes! The Bible tells us how to be happy:

1. Happy Is The Man Whose Sins Are Forgiven.

Romans 4:7

Blessed [happy] are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered.

Satan tries to bind us to the past but Jesus frees us for the future!

Job 5:17

Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth: therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty:

Proverbs 28:14

Happy is the man that feareth alway: but he that hardeneth his heart shall fall into mischief.

2. Happy Is The Man Who Is Delighted More In The Word than in the World.

What Jesus SAYS is much more certain than what we may FEEL.

Psalm 119:16

I will delight myself in thy statutes: I will not forget thy word.

God’s promises are not mottos to hang on the wall, they’re checks to take to the bank!

Proverbs 3:13

Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding.

Psalm 1:1

Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.

3. Happy Is The Man Who Keeps God’s Commandments.

1 John 3:22

And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.

Proverbs 29:18

Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.

John 13:17

If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.

4. Happy Is The Man Who Dwells In The House Of The Lord.

Psalm 84:4

Blessed are they that dwell in thy house: they will be still praising thee. Selah.

Psalm 144:15

Happy is that people, that is in such a case: yea, happy is that people, whose God is the Lord.

You can glance at your problems, but you must GAZE at your Lord!

5. Happy Is The Man Who Waits On The Lord.

Isaiah 40:31

But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength [enthusiasm, drive]; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

When the outlook is glum, the uplook is bright!

God doesn’t just want to give us the wings of a dove to fly away from our problems, but the wings of eagles to soar above them!

6. Happy Is The Man Who Trusts The Lord.

When you cannot trace God’s hand...you can trust His heart!

When you know your future is secure, you can focus on your present.

We can trust he is with us even when it doesn’t feel much like it.

Psalm 84:12

O Lord of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee.

But, the Christian life isn’t just sit back and collect a heavenly welfare…it’s work, it’s war…but it’s a happy life!

Psalm 128:2

For thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands: happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee.

And yet…

Proverbs 14:21

He that hath mercy on the poor, happy is he.

7. Happy Is The Man Who Endures.

James 5:11

Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.

Spurgeon said, "The suffering which you have now is just the black velvet upon which the diamond of God’s glory is going to be revealed."