Speaker 1: Now, one of the common mistakes that we all make
Speaker 1: is we fall into the trap of what I call when,
Speaker 1: and then thinking when, and then thinking other words, when
Speaker 1: such and such happens, then I'll be happy. And you
Speaker 1: have done this all your life, and so have I.
Speaker 1: We fall in this when and then thinking when I
Speaker 1: get into college, when I get married, when I have
Speaker 1: a baby, when I get a job, when my kids
Speaker 1: are born, when my kids leave the house, when when,
Speaker 1: and then thinking, then I'll be happy. Last week I
Speaker 1: shared with you five laws of happiness, and one of
Speaker 1: them is that happiness is a choice. You're as happy
Speaker 1: as you choose to be. If you're unhappy, you can't
Speaker 1: blame anybody for your unhappiness because happiness is a choice.
Speaker 1: You don't go looking for happiness, You create it. It
Speaker 1: is something you great. And happiness, by the way, is
Speaker 1: not a goal. It is the byproduct of right thinking
Speaker 1: and right acting. Now, there are four common barriers to happiness.
Speaker 1: If I call these the kill joys of life, because
Speaker 1: when any of these enter into your life, then they're
Speaker 1: gonna rob your happiness unless you're prepared for them. The
Speaker 1: first one, of course, is pain. Pain is a kill joy.
Speaker 1: It's hard to be happy and in pain at the
Speaker 1: same time. But there's another one, and you're you're familiar
Speaker 1: with this with too. I call it picky people. Picky
Speaker 1: people people of all kinds actually can can cause you
Speaker 1: to lose your joy. They can be irritating, they can
Speaker 1: be demanding, they can be on cooperative, they can be arrogant.
Speaker 1: People are common kill joy in life. Number three pressure
Speaker 1: Pressure can cause you to lose your happiness. And you
Speaker 1: can have pressure from within yourself or you can have
Speaker 1: it around you. It can be internal or it can
Speaker 1: be external. And then number four and one you're all
Speaker 1: familiar with. Of course, it's problems problems, and they're all
Speaker 1: kinds of problems. So paying people, pressures, and problems all
Speaker 1: are what I call the kill joys. Now in Philippians,
Speaker 1: chapter one, verses twelve down to about verse thirty or so,
Speaker 1: Paul talks about all four of these kill joys, and
Speaker 1: we have an example of how to be happy no
Speaker 1: matter what's going on in your life. Now, I want
Speaker 1: to remind you that Paul, when he writes this book,
Speaker 1: The Happiest Book, he's in prison. He's in prison in Rome.
Speaker 1: In fact, the last four years of Paul's life had
Speaker 1: gone like this before he wrote this happiest book in
Speaker 1: the Bible. He spent two years in jail in Cesarea
Speaker 1: on false charges, two years in jail for false charts.
Speaker 1: Then he is sent on the way to Rome, and
Speaker 1: he is shipwrecked in the Mediterranean notion on the way
Speaker 1: to Rome, and he ends up on a desert island
Speaker 1: in the Mediterranean, and he's stranded there for a while
Speaker 1: with some people. And while he's there there are some snakes,
Speaker 1: poisonous snakes, and an island actually gets bit by a
Speaker 1: snake while he's there. Then he's imprisoned again for another
Speaker 1: two years in Rome with a guard chained to him
Speaker 1: twenty four hours a day, so he has no privacy
Speaker 1: at all. He's in prison in Rome with a praetorian
Speaker 1: guard because he was such an important prisoner, chained to
Speaker 1: him twenty four hours day. He has no privacy. Now
Speaker 1: Paul has every reason to be bitter, He has every
Speaker 1: reason to be unhappy. He has every reason to be
Speaker 1: dispressed and have a pity party. Instead, he writes this
Speaker 1: book on happiness and on joy. Now let me read
Speaker 1: you today's text. It's Philippians one twelve to thirty. It
Speaker 1: starts like this, I want you to know, dear brothers
Speaker 1: and sisters, Paul's writing that everything that has happened to
Speaker 1: me has helped me to spread the good news. For
Speaker 1: everyone here, including all the soldiers in the palace guard,
Speaker 1: know that I am in chains because of Christ, and
Speaker 1: I have gained confidence. Oh and because of my imprisonment,
Speaker 1: many of the Christians here have gained confidence and become
Speaker 1: more bold in telling others about Christ. Now some are
Speaker 1: sharing Christ out of jealousy and rivalry. Was talking about
Speaker 1: the people who are outside. But others preach Christ with
Speaker 1: pure motives, and they love me, and they know that
Speaker 1: the Lord brought me here to defend the good news.
Speaker 1: But there are those who do not have pure motives
Speaker 1: as they preach about Christ, and they preach with selfish ambition,
Speaker 1: and they're not sincere, intending to make my time in
Speaker 1: prison more painful to me. But whether or not their
Speaker 1: motives are pure, the fact remains that the message about
Speaker 1: Christ is being preached. So I rejoice, and I will
Speaker 1: continue to rejoice no matter what. Or I know that
Speaker 1: as you pray for me. He's writing the people in
Speaker 1: the Philippi, the church in a city in Greece called Philippi.
Speaker 1: It's called Philippians. If you's writing us, it'd be first Californians.
Speaker 1: For I know. He says that you are pray for me,
Speaker 1: and as the spirit of Jesus helps me, this will
Speaker 1: all turn out for my deliverance. And I live in
Speaker 1: eager expectation and hope. And then he says, I want
Speaker 1: my life to always honor Christ, whether I live or
Speaker 1: I die. For to me, living is for Christ, and
Speaker 1: dying is even better. If I live, it just means
Speaker 1: more fruitful service, years of service for Christ. But I'm
Speaker 1: often torn between two desires. Sometimes I want to live,
Speaker 1: and sometimes I long to go on and be with
Speaker 1: Christ in heaven. That would be far better form mes me.
Speaker 1: But it's better for you if I live, so that
Speaker 1: you can grow and that you can experience the joy
Speaker 1: of your faith. But whatever happens, you must live in
Speaker 1: a manner worthy of the good news about Christ. Don't
Speaker 1: be intimidated by your enemies. It will be a signed
Speaker 1: to them of their downfall that God's with you and
Speaker 1: that he will save you. For you have been given
Speaker 1: not only the privilege of trusting in Christ, but also
Speaker 1: the privilege of suffering for him, and we are in
Speaker 1: this fight together. You've seen me suffer for Christ in
Speaker 1: the past, and you know that I am still in
Speaker 1: the middle of a great struggle. Now, that's a very
Speaker 1: warm personal note that Paul's writing. It is a very
Speaker 1: personal book. This letter he's writing to his friends in
Speaker 1: the Church of Philippi that he started, and he talks
Speaker 1: about how he's maintained his happiness in spite of everything
Speaker 1: going in ways he hadn't planned. Now, the key verse
Speaker 1: in this whole passage I just read is verse twenty seven,
Speaker 1: and it says this, whatever happens, whatever happens, conduct yourself
Speaker 1: in a manner worthy of the good news of Christ.
Speaker 1: So in this passage we learn how to be happy
Speaker 1: no matter what, even if you're in prison in Rome
Speaker 1: and Paul models four habits. Let's get right into it.
Speaker 1: Number One, I can be happy no matter what happens
Speaker 1: in my life if number one, I look at every
Speaker 1: problem from God's viewpoint. If I look at every problem
Speaker 1: from God's viewpoint, you see, happy people have a larger perspective,
Speaker 1: They have a bigger worldview. They see the big picture.
Speaker 1: When I don't have the big picture I don't see
Speaker 1: things from God's point of view. I get discouraged, I
Speaker 1: get frustrated, I get unhappy. The reason we get unhappy
Speaker 1: is because we don't see what God does. And the
Speaker 1: truth is, no matter what's going on in your life,
Speaker 1: the good, bad, and the ugly, God is working out
Speaker 1: a plan. And he even takes all of our mistakes
Speaker 1: and even puts those into the plan. He says, I
Speaker 1: can use that too, my sins, yes, my faults, yes,
Speaker 1: what other people do, yes, God says I can. I
Speaker 1: can fit it all into the plan. And Paul knew this,
Speaker 1: and so he starts out the first verses, verse twelve,
Speaker 1: and he says this, now, I want you to know,
Speaker 1: dear brothers and sisters, that everything that has happened to
Speaker 1: me has helped spread the good news. And let me
Speaker 1: explain it. What's going on here. Ever since Paul had
Speaker 1: become a Christian on the road to Damascus, he had
Speaker 1: dreamed one great dream, and that was this I want
Speaker 1: to preach in Rome. Rome is the center of the universe.
Speaker 1: Rome is the capital of the Empire. Rome is the
Speaker 1: most prestigious, powerful, strategic city in the world. There was
Speaker 1: no nation more important than the Roman Empire, and there
Speaker 1: was no city more important than Rome. So Paul's dream
Speaker 1: is sharing Christ at the center of the universe. And
Speaker 1: what he wants to do is this. He wants to
Speaker 1: go to Rome. He wants to rent the coliseum, and
Speaker 1: he wants to do a harvest crusade for six months.
Speaker 1: That's what Paul's thinking. I'm going to Rome to preach.
Speaker 1: God had another idea, Paul. You're gonna go as a prisoner,
Speaker 1: and I'm gonna make you a royal prisoner of Caesar. Now,
Speaker 1: does anybody know who was Caesar at this point? Nero?
Speaker 1: You ever heard of that guy? Yeah? Nero about as
Speaker 1: wicked and as bad as you can get. So Paul,
Speaker 1: Paul is a prisoner of Nero, and as a royal
Speaker 1: prisoner with a royal guard chained to him twenty four
Speaker 1: hours a day, he gets to talk to all kinds
Speaker 1: of key people he would never otherwise talk to because
Speaker 1: he's an important prisoner. He's chained twenty four hours a
Speaker 1: day to a palace guard for two years. They changed
Speaker 1: that guard every four hours, so I added it up.
Speaker 1: Over two years, he witnessed to four three hundred and
Speaker 1: eighty guards. Now my question is who's the real prisoner here,
Speaker 1: who has the captive audience. Paul is talking to the
Speaker 1: entire court of Caesar's palace, and God says, this is
Speaker 1: my plan. You want to go do the big city lights,
Speaker 1: national crusade, but I'm going to put you in prison.
Speaker 1: And there were two results of it we know for
Speaker 1: sure chapter four. When we get you later on, we'll
Speaker 1: tell us that within two years, some of Nero's own
Speaker 1: family had become believers because Paul was a prisoner in Rome.
Speaker 1: Some of the royal family had become Christians because Paul
Speaker 1: was in prison. And second Paul, it's kind of like
Speaker 1: Rick Warren. It's hard to get him to sit down,
Speaker 1: sit still, not stop moving. He's forced to sit still,
Speaker 1: and he, as a result, writes the New Testament. Hmmm,
Speaker 1: I wonder which had a bigger impact. Go do harvest
Speaker 1: crusade in the coliseum, or be forced to sit still
Speaker 1: hour after hour and write Romans, first second, Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians,
Speaker 1: and on and on. First second Timothy and first second
Speaker 1: Thessalonians and all most of the New Testament. This is
Speaker 1: why Paul says, I want you to know, dear brothers
Speaker 1: and sisters, that everything that has happened to me being
Speaker 1: in prison has helped spread the good news. So he says,
Speaker 1: I've got I've got my plan, but God has a
Speaker 1: bigger plan. And he says, I can be happy because
Speaker 1: I can see what God is doing through my problem. Now,
Speaker 1: any time you have a problem and it's starting to
Speaker 1: get you down, you're starting to be unhappy. You need
Speaker 1: to do what Paul does. Learn to see it from
Speaker 1: God's point of view. What is God doing here, what's
Speaker 1: the bigger picture, what's the bigger perspective? And then you'll
Speaker 1: be able to face the problem in faith. And when
Speaker 1: you face the problem in faith, two things will happen. First,
Speaker 1: it's a witness to unbelievers. When Christians handle big problems
Speaker 1: in faith, it is a witness to unbelievers. That's why
Speaker 1: in verse thirteen he says, for everyone here talking about
Speaker 1: the Palace Guard and in his the Royal prison, everyone here,
Speaker 1: including all the soldiers in the Palace Guard, knows that
Speaker 1: I'm in Chaine because of Christ. Well, I guess so
Speaker 1: he'd witnessed over four thousand times. The guy's chained to him.
Speaker 1: It's a witness to unbelievers. Number two, an encouragement to believers.
Speaker 1: Verse fourteen. He says this, and because of my imprisonment,
Speaker 1: many of the Christians here have gained confidence those in Rome,
Speaker 1: and they've become more bold in telling others about Christ.
Speaker 1: It's a witness to unbelievers. It's an encouragement to believers.
Speaker 1: Have you ever thought that God might want to use
Speaker 1: the problem you're going through right now for the very
Speaker 1: same reason? If you will look at it from that way,
Speaker 1: it's going to change your perspective in a major way.
Speaker 1: All right. Number two second habit, I can be happy
Speaker 1: no matter what happens in my life if I never
Speaker 1: let others control my attitude. I don't let them decide
Speaker 1: whether I'm going to be happy or not. Now, Paul,
Speaker 1: in this next section, he talks about four kinds of people,
Speaker 1: and while he's in prison, he says, now, there are
Speaker 1: some people who are attacking my ministry. They slandered Paul,
Speaker 1: they judged Paul, they criticized Paul. They were gossip mongers.
Speaker 1: There were some people who supported this ministry that were friends.
Speaker 1: There were some who competed with this ministry. They're trying
Speaker 1: to kick him. While he's down, and there were some
Speaker 1: who were, you know, undermining his ministry. They're even trying
Speaker 1: to destroy him. They're trying to rub it in. He's
Speaker 1: in prison. They're trying to make it more painful. And
Speaker 1: in Philippians, Chapter one, verses fifteen to seventeen, Paul describes
Speaker 1: four kinds of people, and he says, there are four
Speaker 1: kinds of people in my life. They are critics, you know,
Speaker 1: who are slandering me and who are creating all kinds
Speaker 1: of controversy. They're comrades, that's my friends. There are competitors
Speaker 1: who are preaching Christ out of rivalry, and he said,
Speaker 1: they're conspirators who just want to make my problem worse.
Speaker 1: They want to rub it in. They want to kick
Speaker 1: me while I'm down, while I'm in prison. They're my enemies.
Speaker 1: First verses, verse fifteen, Talking about critics, he says, it
Speaker 1: is true that some preach Christ because they are jealous
Speaker 1: and Quarrelsome that word in Greek is the word eris
Speaker 1: e r s, and it means they love to argue.
Speaker 1: Have you ever met anybody like that? They love to argue,
Speaker 1: they love conflict, They enjoy creating controversy. They enjoy getting
Speaker 1: into a cap fight. These people are contentious, they are divisive,
Speaker 1: they are critical. Now notice to hear he says they're
Speaker 1: jealous and they're quarrelsome notice that the critic's motive is
Speaker 1: usually jealousy. When people criticize something, they usually are jealous
Speaker 1: of it. But what he's saying here is he says,
Speaker 1: you don't have to deal with these people. And would
Speaker 1: you agree that few things could rob your happiness faster
Speaker 1: than being criticized. When you're criticized at work, or you're
Speaker 1: criticized by friends, or you're criticized by neighbors, your stomach
Speaker 1: starts churning. Why. Because we all want to be loved,
Speaker 1: We all want to be approved. We want everybody to
Speaker 1: like us. Let me give you a little happiness hint,
Speaker 1: one of those little hhs. I don't need others people's
Speaker 1: approval to be happy. I don't need other people's approval.
Speaker 1: I don't need other people's permission to be happy. You're
Speaker 1: as happy as you choose to be. If they're unhappy,
Speaker 1: that's their choice. But you don't have to depend on
Speaker 1: other people's approval in order to be happy. And if
Speaker 1: you haven't got it now, you're probably not gonna get it,
Speaker 1: and you're going to be miserable if you try to
Speaker 1: live for the approval of everybody else. Paulus modeling here.
Speaker 1: Never let others control your attitude. And some of these
Speaker 1: people they're just jealous, and they're quarrelsome, and they're cranky,
Speaker 1: and they criticize everything I do in my ministry. And
Speaker 1: then in the next verse, verse sixteen, he talks about
Speaker 1: the good guys. These are his friends, these are his comrades.
Speaker 1: He says, others preach Christ from genuine goodwill, and they
Speaker 1: do so out of love. That's the real reason we
Speaker 1: share the good News, out of love. And they know
Speaker 1: that God has given me the work of defending the Gospel.
Speaker 1: So he says, you know, those people bring me joy, obviously,
Speaker 1: And then in verse seventeen, he says, others preach Christ
Speaker 1: insincerely from a spirit of selfish ambition. And how do
Speaker 1: you know when somebody's ego driven, they put other people
Speaker 1: down all the time to build themselves up. That's when
Speaker 1: you know somebody's ministering and selfish ambition. They feel compelled
Speaker 1: to put other people down in order to build themselves up.
Speaker 1: Competitors will rob your happiness, and you'll look at well,
Speaker 1: look at what they're doing. You can have competition over
Speaker 1: the color of your lawn, neighbor's yards greener, We better
Speaker 1: get ours going. You can have competition over the car
Speaker 1: you drive. You can have competition over your kids. My
Speaker 1: kid was student of the month. You know that's competition
Speaker 1: my kid, my kid, and I'm so proud. You can
Speaker 1: compete over hairstyles, you can compete over shoes. Don't look
Speaker 1: at people right now, but you know that's true. You
Speaker 1: know that's true. And if you don't deal with this,
Speaker 1: you're going to be unhappy a lot of your life
Speaker 1: because critics will rob your happiness and competitors will rob
Speaker 1: your happiness. And Paul says, you know what, even in
Speaker 1: the ministry, they are competitors, and they're selfishly, ambitiously and
Speaker 1: insincerely preaching the good news. And then in the second
Speaker 1: part of verse seventeen, he talks about conspirators or enemies.
Speaker 1: These are people who just want to mess him up.
Speaker 1: He says, other people just want to stir up more
Speaker 1: trouble for me, and they want to add to my
Speaker 1: pain while I'm in prison. Now, you're going to have
Speaker 1: all four of these in your life, critics, comrades, competitors,
Speaker 1: and conspiracors I certainly have. Don't let them rob you now.
Speaker 1: I want you to see Paul's attitude towards He says,
Speaker 1: I'm in prison, I'm already down, and these guys are
Speaker 1: kicking me while I'm down. Critics, conspirators, and and you know, competitors.
Speaker 1: He says, you know they're trying to get at me.
Speaker 1: Look at verse eighteen. Here's Paul's attitude. What others do,
Speaker 1: He says, what they do, what these people do, it
Speaker 1: doesn't really matter. It doesn't really matter. The important thing
Speaker 1: is that in every way, whether for right or wrong reasons,
Speaker 1: the message of Christ is being shared. So he says,
Speaker 1: I am happy and I will continue to be happy.
Speaker 1: I love that. I'm not going to let other people
Speaker 1: control my attitude. There may be people criticizing me for
Speaker 1: what I'm doing. There may be people competing for with
Speaker 1: what I'm doing. There may be people who are con
Speaker 1: firing to make sure I fail in what I'm doing.
Speaker 1: But it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. What I'm gonna
Speaker 1: do is I'm going to focus on Christ, and I
Speaker 1: am choosing to be happy and I will continue to
Speaker 1: be happy. He says, I'm not gonna let anybody steal
Speaker 1: my joy. Number three, here's the third habit. It's the
Speaker 1: next three or four verses, Verses nineteen to twenty. I
Speaker 1: can always be happy no matter what happens if I
Speaker 1: always trust God to work things out. I can always
Speaker 1: be happy no matter what happens if I always trust
Speaker 1: God to work thing outh. I don't try to work
Speaker 1: it out myself. But things are falling apart, I don't
Speaker 1: try to put them back together. I just let God
Speaker 1: put them back together. This is the faith factor. You've
Speaker 1: heard me say this before that when you're going through
Speaker 1: a problem, you've got two options. You can worship or
Speaker 1: you can worry. That's it, worship or worry. Worship or worry.
Speaker 1: Worship or worry, And if you worshiped more, you'd have
Speaker 1: a whole lot less to worry about. You can pray
Speaker 1: or you can panic, and those are the options you've got.
Speaker 1: This is the faith factor. Paul says this in Philippians
Speaker 1: one nineteen. I will continue to rejoice will. That's an
Speaker 1: act of the will. It is your choice to rejoice.
Speaker 1: I don't care how bad things are in your life.
Speaker 1: Right now. It's your choice to rejoice. It's an act
Speaker 1: of the will. He says, I will continue to rejoice
Speaker 1: in spite of all the things that's going on that
Speaker 1: are bad, for I know that as you pray for me,
Speaker 1: and as the Spirit of Jesus Christ helps me, all
Speaker 1: that's happened will all turn out for my deliverance. Now,
Speaker 1: this is a very powerful verse here, and in that
Speaker 1: one verse, Paul gives four sources of strength in tough times.
Speaker 1: And this is how you stay positive. This is how
Speaker 1: you stay happy no matter what happens in your life.
Speaker 1: He says, First, my first door strength is I have
Speaker 1: God's perspective on my problems. That's when he says, for
Speaker 1: I know, it's what you know that keeps you going.
Speaker 1: He says, I know God is working in this. I
Speaker 1: have God's perspective on my problems for I know. And
Speaker 1: then he says number two, I have people praying for me,
Speaker 1: and he said that keeps me going. And then he says,
Speaker 1: I have the Holy Spirit helping me, and that keeps
Speaker 1: me going. And then he says, you know, I expect
Speaker 1: that I'm going to be delivered. So he says, I
Speaker 1: have faith that God will work it for good. And
Speaker 1: so I've got perspective, I've got prayer, I got the
Speaker 1: Holy Spirit, and I've got faith. And then he says,
Speaker 1: therefore I choose to be happy. I will continue to rejoice.
Speaker 1: That's your choice to rejoice. Finally, number four, I can
Speaker 1: be happy no matter what happens in my life if
Speaker 1: I look at every problem God's viewpoint, if I never
Speaker 1: let other people control my attitude, if I always trust
Speaker 1: God to work things out. And number four, if I
Speaker 1: stay focused on my purpose, not my problems, God's purpose
Speaker 1: for my life. If I stay focused on my purpose,
Speaker 1: not my problem, I can be happy even when life
Speaker 1: seems to be falling apart. I stay focused on my purpose,
Speaker 1: Paul says, not my problem now. Picture of this, Paul
Speaker 1: is old. He's an old man. Now he's in prison.
Speaker 1: He's a long way from home. He's in Rome. He
Speaker 1: is awaiting death by execution. These are not exactly normally
Speaker 1: happy times. And they have taken away everything from Paul.
Speaker 1: They've taken away his friends, They've taken away his freedom,
Speaker 1: they have taken away his ministry to travel around. They
Speaker 1: have even taken away his privacy. He's got a guard
Speaker 1: chained to him twenty four hours a day. But there's
Speaker 1: one thing they cannot take away from Paul, his purpose.
Speaker 1: It cannot be taken away from him and his ability
Speaker 1: to make choices. And Paul says, I'm going to stay
Speaker 1: focused on my purpose. Even though they've taken away everything
Speaker 1: from they could not take away his purpose and what
Speaker 1: was his purpose? Serving God by serving others. Look at
Speaker 1: this Philippians Chapter one, verses twenty two to twenty five.
Speaker 1: He's talking about the conundrum of sometimes I want to
Speaker 1: go to heaven, and sometimes I want to stay here
Speaker 1: and serve the Lord to help other people. And he
Speaker 1: says this verse twenty two, if I continue to live,
Speaker 1: I can do more worthwhile work for Christ. So I'm
Speaker 1: not sure what I should choose. I'm pulled in two directions.
Speaker 1: I want very much to leave this life and be
Speaker 1: with Christ, which is a far better thing. But for
Speaker 1: your sake, for your sake, it's much more important that
Speaker 1: I remain alive. Notice Paul saying, I stay alive not
Speaker 1: for my sake, but for your sake. I am sure
Speaker 1: of this. I'm sure this that for your sake it's
Speaker 1: more important that I remain alive. So I know that
Speaker 1: I will stay on with you all so that I
Speaker 1: can add to your progress and your joy. In the Faith,
Speaker 1: we talk about purpose and life. Life, you have purpose
Speaker 1: in death, Paul says, I've got it doesn't matter whether
Speaker 1: I live or whether I die. I've got a purpose.
Speaker 1: I've got a purpose either way. On earth, my purpose
Speaker 1: is to serve God by serving other people. How do
Speaker 1: you serve God on earth? You can't serve God directly
Speaker 1: because you can't even see him. The only way you
Speaker 1: can serve God on earth is by serving other people
Speaker 1: in Jesus' name. And he says, so when I'm alive,
Speaker 1: my whole purpose is simply to serve Christ by serving people.
Speaker 1: He said, when I die, my purpose is to be
Speaker 1: with Christ. So either way, I win. Either way, he
Speaker 1: I stay alive just for the sake of others. And
Speaker 1: he said, actually, selfishly, it would be better for me
Speaker 1: if I go ahead and die, because when I die,
Speaker 1: I'm going to place where there are no problems, no pressures,
Speaker 1: no picky people, and no pain. Otherwise there are no
Speaker 1: kill joys in heaven. So he said selfishly, I'm ready
Speaker 1: to die. I'm ready to go to heaven. But he says,
Speaker 1: I stay alive for the sake of others. Now, I
Speaker 1: don't want you to miss this secret, because most people
Speaker 1: on this planet do. They miss the secret I'm about tight.
Speaker 1: The reason why most people are miserable is because they
Speaker 1: think that happiness comes from self gratification. If I just
Speaker 1: get more possessions, if I get more pleasures, if I
Speaker 1: get more position, if I get sex, salary status, if
Speaker 1: I get more things, if I live for myself, if
Speaker 1: I get better stuff for me, I'll be happier. That
Speaker 1: doesn't work. Actually, self gratification is not the way to happiness.
Speaker 1: The way to happiness is self sacrifice, not self gratification.
Speaker 1: Paul says. The reason I'm happy is because as long
Speaker 1: as I'm alive, I'm giving my life a way to
Speaker 1: help others. Are you doing that or are you living
Speaker 1: for yourself? If you're living for yourself, I can tell
Speaker 1: you right now you're not very happy. You aren't because
Speaker 1: happiness does not come from status and happiness this got
Speaker 1: from from salary, and happiness does not come from sex.
Speaker 1: Happiness comes from service and giving your life away. And
Speaker 1: until you understand that you're not gonna be happy, must
Speaker 1: of your life happiness does not come from self gratification.
Speaker 1: It comes from self sacrifice. Paul sums up his purpose
Speaker 1: in verse twenty one. For me to live is Christ.
Speaker 1: That's pretty simple purpose. And to die is game. Now
Speaker 1: let me ask you this. For me to live is Christ.
Speaker 1: If somebody came up to you today and asked you
Speaker 1: to fill in the blank, what word would you use.
Speaker 1: For me to live is entertainment. For me to live
Speaker 1: is sports, golf, baseball, football. For me to live is clothes.
Speaker 1: For me to live is make money. For me to
Speaker 1: live is my family. For me to live is friends.
Speaker 1: You see, there can be a lot of good things,
Speaker 1: but nothing deserves the place for me to live except
Speaker 1: the one who created you and gave you your life, Jesus Christ.