The Key To Happiness

Title: The Key To Happiness

Text: Psalm 102:25-28

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Introduction:

- God never changes! He remains the same. And with that knowledge there should come to the believer a sense of joy and contentment.

- It should bring a sense of security and peace to the believers heart.

- It also should bring a sense of joy and trust in God that the world doesn’t have.

- The fact that God doesn’t change should make us happy, why?

- Because of the security, that He brings to His people.

- I can trust in God that He will never fail me, and will always come through.

- But when we look in the world today and our nation this 4th of July holiday, there are a lot of things that people are placing there happiness and security in that change.

- What are they?

- Even Christians can get caught up trusting in these things to make them happy other then God.

- The moment we start trusting in things other then God, is the moment we become fearful and insecure.

- So what are these things?

1. People - Family, Friends, Doctors, Governments and just people in general change.

- It is so easy to focus on people to make us happy.

- The reality is people change, and putting our hopes and joys into people will only prove to be our disappointment.

- Our children come and go, doctors don’t have all the answers, Governments change, and the human spirit in our society is growing colder to the things of God day by day.

- It’s dangerous to trust in people because of the changes that can suddenly come to us.

On June 4, 1783 at the market square of a French village of Annonay, not far from Paris, a smoky bonfire on a raised platform was fed by wet straw and old wool rages. Tethered above, straining its lines, was a huge taffeta bag 33 feet in diameter. In the presence of "a respectable assembly and a great many other people," and accompanied by great cheering, the balloon was cut from its moorings and set free to rise majestically into the noon sky. Six thousand feet into the air it went -- the first public ascent of a balloon, the first step in the history of human flight. It came to earth several miles away in a field, where it was promptly attacked by pitchfork-waving peasants and torn to pieces as an instrument of evil!

- Now there is nothing wrong with being a family man, or seeing man advance, but when it takes first place in our lives, the Bible says it’s a problem

- God must be first in your personal life.

2. Society - Cars, Jets, Trains, Computers all change at an alarming rate.

When the railroads were first introduced to the U.S., some folks feared that they’d be the downfall of the nation! Here’s an excerpt from a letter to then President Jackson dated January 31, 1829:

As you may know, Mr. President, ’railroad’ carriages are pulled at the enormous speed of 15 miles per hour by ’engines’ which, in addition to endangering life and limb of passengers, roar and snort their way through the countryside, setting fire to crops, scaring the livestock and frightening women and children. The Almighty certainly never intended that people should travel at such breakneck speed. Martin Van Buren Governor of New York

- Here’s the point, society is changing all the time, and putting our faith in society only will lead to our misery.

- Society is too inconsistent. People today are consumed with buying things to make themselves happy at the expense of there health, family and friends.

- And for what?

- Because we have placed our joy and security in money, pleasure and materialism.

- Now there is nothing wrong with having things, but when it takes over first place in your life, the Bible says it’s a problem.

- God must always be first in everything.

3. Nature - Fall, Spiring, Summer, Winter

In Canada, there are only 2 seasons - six months of winter and 6 months of poor snowmobiling

- Some people are only happy when the sun is shining. And other people when the sun is not shining.

- In some cases people depend on good weather to get them through the day.

- If we are dependent on good whether to make us happy, well the bad news is we won’t be happy. Especially in Canada where the seasons are changing all the time.

Transition:

- These are just some of the things that people today put there faith into.

- This is what makes society happy, this is what makes society feel a sense of security.