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Upside-Down Living | Where Happiness Is Found

A New Beginning / Greg Laurie
The Cross Radio
March 4, 2022 3:00 am

Upside-Down Living | Where Happiness Is Found

A New Beginning / Greg Laurie

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March 4, 2022 3:00 am

Celebrity marriages are twice as likely to end in divorce. The reason? Research shows the stars experience more pain and suffering than the rest of us. So you have people who are wealthy, famous, attractive, powerful – everything the world says is supposed to make one happy – and they’re miserable. Today on A NEW BEGINNING, Pastor Greg Laurie points out why. When we look to the world’s prescription for happiness, we get just the opposite. We’ll instead look to God’s Word.

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A New Beginning is the daily half-hour program hosted by Greg Laurie, pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship in Southern California. For over 30 years, Pastor Greg and Harvest Ministries have endeavored to know God and make Him known through media and large-scale evangelism. This podcast is supported by the generosity of our Harvest Partners.

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Today's episode of a new beginning is brought to you by harvest partners, helping people everywhere know God. Learn more@harness.org and while you're there, browse our library of free e-books designed to help you grow in your faith.

If we want to be. We should not be so we need to be so was sawing, no living pastor Gregorius is the Lord wants us to humble sacrificial toward a that's where happiness is found. Think about yourself as the process put others first. You think about twice as likely to end in divorce. Reason research shows the stars experience more pain than the rest of you have people who are wealthy and famous.

Powerful.

Everything the world is supposed to make one today on a new beginning pastor Greg Laurie points out why when we look to the world got together and as I pointed out earlier, the theme of this book is happiness go to the culture and say how can they be happy person.

The answer would in so many words, be be selfish person focus on yourself, love yourself.

Think about yourself esteem yourself it's all about self and the Bible gives a difference.

Answer the Bible in the back, a loosely paraphrased tells us if we want to be happy we should not be self this but brother. It tells us that we want to be happy. We need to be self less, that certainly bubbles up here in Philippians chapter 2 Jesus said it is more blessed or happy to give then it is to oversee what we think know it's more happy to Stop, then it is to give sub know the opposite is the case, according to Jesus, and the rest of the Bible to fulfillment does not come by putting our needs first, but it comes by putting the needs of others first. That way I've called this message upside down living because that flies in the face of conventional wisdom. Today you probably heard of Stephen King very successful author.

I don't know if you're aware this but he had a serious automobile accident.

A number of years ago so he wrote an article about the title of the article was what you can And This Is What He Says in the Article and I'm Quoting a Couple of Years Ago I Found out What You Can't Take It with You, Me, I Found out Why Was Lying in the Ditch at the Side of a Country Road Covered in Mud and Blood with the Tibia of My Right Leg Pointing out the Side of My Jeans like a Branch of a Tree Taken down in the Thunderstorm. I Had a MasterCard in My Wallet but When You're Lying. It Did for Broken Glass in Your Hair, No One Accepts MasterCard King Continues I Got a Painful but Extremely Valuable Look at Life's Backstage Truth We Come in They Could and Broke.

We May Be Trustful We Go out, but Were Just As Bro. Warren Buffett Is Going to Go up Broke Bill Gates Going up Broke Tom Hanks King Continues to Write Going up Broke. Steve King Broke That a Crying Time. All of the Money You Earn All the Stock to Buy All the Mutual Fund You Trade All of This Is Mostly Smoke and Mirrors It Still Good to Be Quarter past Getting Late. Whether You Tell the Time on a Timex or a Rolex. No Matter How Large or Big Account. No Matter How Many Credit Card You Have, Sooner or Later Things Will Begin to Go Wrong with the Only Things You Have That You Can Really Call Your Own. Your Body, Your Spirit in Your Mind, so I Want You to Consider Making Your Life One Long Gift to Others. King Rights and Why Not All You Have Is on Loan.

Anyway, All That Lasts Is What You Pass on. Then He Concludes, so I Ask You to Begin Giving and Continue As You Began. I Think You'll Find in the Yen You Got for More Than You Ever Had and Did More Good Than You Ever Dreamed." While It's Amazing. Conclusions like I Don't Know That Stephen King Believes in Jesus Christ but I'll Say This. He Is Certainly Landed on Some Important Biblical Principles That Tell Us That It's Not about Us. The World Does Not Revolve around Us and We Try to Make It Revolve around Us.

We Will Be Very Unhappy People.

So Here Is What the Apostle Paul Is Saying Here in Philippians.

He's Saying You Need a New Paradigm. You Need a New Way of Thinking and Here It Is.

Let's Read about It. Philippians Chapter 2 Starting in Verse One Paul Writes Therefore There Is Any Consolation in Christ, If Any Comfort of Love, If Any Fellowship of the Spirit, If Any Affection and Mercy Fulfill My Joy That You Be Like-Minded, Having the Same Love, Being of One Accord, of One Mind. Let Nothing Be Done through Selfish Ambition or Conceit, but in the Lowliness of Mind Let Each Esteem Others Better Than Themselves. Let Each of You Look out Not Only for His Own Interests, but for the Interests of Others. There Right so Let's Identify Some Key Points Here from Philippians Chapter 2 If You're Taking Notes.

Write This down. Never Let Selfishness or Conceit Your Motive Again. Never Let Selfishness or Conceit Be Your Motive Again.

Verse Three Let Nothing Be Done through Selfish Ambition or Conceit Is a New Living Translation Puts It, Don't Be Selfish. Don't Live to Make a Good Impression on Others. So First I Start Was Supplemented Justly before Anything Also Said Paul Sorted Drills down on This Because the Love of Self Is Probably at the Root of Maybe All of My Problems, but If Not All Certainly Most of Them Because We Want Our Own Way. I Mean Think of All the Problems We Have in Our Culture Today Think of Immorality As an Example Why Do People Have Sex before Marriage, Selfishness. Why Do They Commit Adultery against Selfishness. Why Do Most Marriages Fall Apart If I Did Pick One Word to Sum It up, so Persist.

Oh Yeah, We Could Talk about Communication Breakdown, We Could Talk about Financial Disagreements but Really If You Get to the Bottom like It Selfish. This I Want That Person to Do What I Want Them to Do.

We Want with That Person. First We Want to Put Ourselves First. Point Number Two Always Regard Others As More Important Than Yourself Again. Look at Verse Three in the Lowliness of Mind Let Each Esteem Others Better Than Themselves Always Regard Others As More Important Than Yourself, Not by the Way This Is Important Because It Speaks of Thinking.

Thinking about Others Is Better Than Yourself in the Were the Paul Uses Here for Thinking Is from a Verb That Means More Than Just Having an Opinion and Refers to a Carefully Thought out Conclusion Based on the True so Here's What It Say Don't Just Pretend Others Are More Important Than You Actually Believe There Are More Important Than You Because They Are More Important Than You. I'm a Word We Get off Thinking Were Better Than Somebody Else Think about the Bumps That Go through Our Minds.

The Evil Thoughts the Horrible Things You Know If You Want to Know How to Best Consider Someone above Yourself. Just Take a Hard Look at Yourself. Consider Your Own Sin. I Mean Really Knowing This about Ourselves.

How Can We Be so Hard on Others Jeremiah 17 Nine Makes a Statement the Human Heart Is so Desperate and It's so Deceitful and Wicked Who Really Knows How Bad It Is the Great Evangelist Neil Moody Once Said, Quote I Have More Trouble with DL Moody Than Any Other Man I Know." That's True More Trouble with Greg Laurie Than Any Man I Know You Probably Have More Trouble with Yourself As Well. I like the Statement of Andrew Murray, a Great Writer Who Said and I Quote the Humble Person Is Not One Who Thinks Meanly of Himself. He Simply Does Not Think of Himself at All." That's Really Humility You Just Honestly Are Thinking about Others. All of the Time. But Here's the Super Cool Thing about That the Fringe Benefit Is Happiness.

It Seems I Don't Think about Yourself. Make the World Revolve around Yourself. All Only Indulge Yourself That Leads to Unhappiness and Misery and Depression, but When You Put Others First You Think about Them As above You, Because You Realize They Are above You. Suddenly You Find Yourself a Happy Person. As a Result Is Not Interesting It Upside down, Living the Way to Happiness Is Sadness. The Way Is down. We All Learn by Following Someone Else's Example. So Pastor Greg Gives Us an Example of Self-Sacrifice in Just a Moment. Stay with Us in Such a Blessing to Hear the Pastor Greg's Messages Are Touching Lives. Pastor Greg Agrippa Going to Church. When I Turned 18 Meanly Rebelling against My Mom Always Forced Me to Go 50s. He Now and I'm Not Going to Church after All These Years I Attended My Very Religious Girlfriend Done so for the past Year. I've Also Been Doing A Lot Of Reading and Talking to People and Eliciting Different Things. One of Them Was a Radio Program, a New Beginning.

As You Are Talking. Pastor Greg Gave a Prayer and Asked If Anyone Would like to Follow Christ Have Their Sins Forgiven Well Felt like the Right Thing to Do and I Pray the Prayer to Follow Christ. Thank You Pastor Greg. If You Have a Story to Share. Why Not Call Us and Give Us All the Details. Here's the Number 1-866-871-1144 Special Number for This Purpose, 866-871-1144 Pastor Greg Is Giving Us Some Practical Pointers on How to Live a Life of Happiness by Following the Biblical Prescription Prescription.

That's the Opposite of What the Culture Tells Us That's Why Today's Message Is Called Upside down, Living Point Number Three. Don't Limit Your Attention to Your Own Personal Interests.

Again, Don't Limit Your Attention to Your Own Personal Interests. Look at Verse Four It Says Look out Not Only for Your Own Interest, but for the Interests of Others Says Look out Not Only for Your Own Interest You Know You Do Need to Look up for Some of Your Own Interests.

Hey We Want You to Look out for Your Own Interest. We Want You to Take a Shower We We Want You to Pay Your Bills.

We Want You to Be a Respectable Member of Society. But for Some People That so Hard Because There Are so Self Absorbed.

All They Want to Do Is Think about Them Something to Talk about Themselves As Benjamin Disraeli Once Said, Quote Talk to a Man about Himself and He'll Listen for Hours." So This Is a Tall Order. Admittedly, and That's Not Easy for Me and It's Not Easy for Anyone. So How Do We Do This. What We Need an Example How We Need More Than an Example, We Need Help. Who Is the Greatest Example of Selflessness and Sacrifice Lion and Non-You Know That's Not True. Alright so Who Is the Greatest Example Will I Think We Know It's Jesus Christ Let's Read about That Now Go to Philippians 2. Look at Verse Five Let This Mind Be in You Which Was Also in Christ Jesus, Who, Being in the Form of God Did Not Consider It Robbery to Be Equal with God, but Made Himself of No Reputation Underline That Phrase If You Would Taking the Form of a Bondservant, and Coming in the Likeness of Men. And Being Found in Appearance As a Man, He Humbled Himself and Became Obedient to the Point of Death, Even the Death of the Cross Verse Nine Therefore God Has Highly Exalted Him and Given Him the Name That Is above Every Name, That at the Name of Jesus Every Knee Will Bow, of Those in Heaven and Those on Earth, Those under the Earth, and Every Tongue Will Confess That Jesus Christ Is Lord, to the Glory of God the Father.

So Here's the Example Now How My the Live a Selfless Life. Let This Mind Be in You Which Was Also in Christ Jesus.

By the Way, This Is like Theology 101 Paulas Describing the Mystery of the Incarnation. When Examining the Incarnation Is the Biblical Truth That God Was Supernaturally Conceived in the Womb of Mary, Who Was a Virgin.

This Baby, This Young Man Was God. He Was Fully God 100% God, yet at the Same Time He Was Fully Man. He Was Not Man, Becoming a God That's Impossible.

He Was God Becoming a Man for Success. He Was Equal with God.

That's Very Important. You See, There Was Not a Moment When Jesus Became God Know Was a Moment When Jesus Sees to Be God's Deity Was Prehuman Pre-Earthly Pre-Bethlehem Pre-Marrying Anything to Give a Glimpse of His Deity on the Mount of Transfiguration. Remember That He Stood up There with Moses on One Side and Elijah on the Other, and Member Peter Was Sleeping and He Woke up and Jesus Was Shining As Brightly As the Sun. Have You Ever Tried to Look Straight up the Sun Don't Do That Okay but If You Ever Have Its Blinding Right so There Was Jesus. It's Almost As Though He Was a This Is Who I Am. Here's a Quick Glimpse but Most of the Time He Walked among Us. He Did Not Shine like the Sun. Otherwise, When Judas Came to Betray Him in the Garden of Gethsemane Do This Today Just Settled for the Guy That Glows in the Dark. He's Not Hard to Spot. No, Jesus Started Glory. He Failed the Glory He Was God. But As the Old Hymn Says Veiled in Flash the Godhead See Hail Incarnate Deity.

Make No Mistake about It, Jesus Claim to Be God, the Story That Crippled Man Was Lowered to the Roof before Christ, and He Said Your Sins Are Forgiven You, and Then the Pharisees Said Who Can Forgive Sins but God Alone. And Jesus Went on to Say Jesse You Know That the Son Of Man Is Power. Not Only to Heal but Also to Forgive Sins I Say to This Man Get up, Take Your Bed and Walk and He Did. You See He Was God. He Claimed to Be God. In Fact, John 517 Says the Pharisees Sought to Kill Them Because He Said God Was His Father Continually Making Himself Equal with God Is Able Why You Bring This up Because Some People Would Say Jesus Never Claimed to Be God but He Did Not Have an Established Effect That He Was God. He Also Was a Man Verse Seven He Made Himself of No Reputation Taken Himself on Himself the Form of a Bondservant, This Word No Reputation Is from the Term Can Know Says It Means an Emptying of Himself. He Did Not Empty Himself of His Divine Attributes, but He Emptied Himself of Privilege, Meaning He Walked among Us As a Man. When Jesus Walked This Earth. It Was Started like Any Man Member When He Fell Asleep. The Lower Part of the Boat. He Was Hungry. Like Any Man like in the Temptation of the Wilderness, or Read That after Fasting for 40 Days and 40 Nights. Afterwards He Hungered He Was Thirsty. Like Any Man Member. He Was There with the Woman at the Well, and He Said Can You Give Me a Drink, Listen, He Felt Sorrow like Any Man at the Tomb of Lazarus, We Read That Jesus What He Also Wept over the City of Jerusalem and I Bring This up Because Sometimes We Might Say Well, God Doesn't Know What It's like to Live in the Server Is up There in Heaven Surrounded by Angels. He Doesn't Know What It's like to Be Tempted in Go through Hardship and Trials That They Could Be Further from the Truth. He Knows Exactly What It's like and Then Some Hebrews 217 Says It Was Necessary for Jesus to Be in Every Respect.

Like Us, His Brothers and Sisters so He Could Be Our Merciful and Faithful High Priest before God Could Offer a Sacrifice That Would Take Away the Sins of the People, since He Himself Is Gone through Suffering and Temptation Is Able to Help Us When Were Tempted Are You Being Tempted Right Now Are You Going through Hardship Right Now. Maybe You Been Abandoned by Friends or Even Family and You Say God Doesn't Know What It's like He Knows Exactly What It's like. Jesus Was the Loneliest Man Whoever Lived Because When He Hung There on the Cross and the Sin of the World Was Placed upon Him Would Never Send in Any Way Shape or Form and and Jesus Cried out My God My God Why Have You Forsaken Me. There's Never Been a Lonelier Man When Even the Father Momentarily Turned His Face Away from the Sun so You Have a Friend in High Places.

You Have Someone That Understands What You're Going through Right Now but yet Jesus Was a Servant in John Chapter 13 There's a Remarkable Story about the 700 Jesus, the Disciples Come Together with Him and He Gets down and Washes Their Feet down in Our Culture Today. We Don't Really Do This Anymore, but Back in Those Days. This Was Done, You Know, with All That Dust and Dirt out on the Streets of Jerusalem in Galilee and Elsewhere.

They Their Feet Would Be Dirty so the Role of His Servants Was to Wash the Feet of People When They Came in. Again, the Role of a Servant, Not the Role of the Host They Hired the Servant to Do That, but the Disciples Walk-In and Jesus Gets down in His Hands and His Knees and He Washes Their Feet. By the Way, This Included Judas Iscariot, and Jesus Knew Judas Would Betray Him If I Knew Judas Was Going to Betray Me. I Would Not Wash His Feet. I Would Break His Speech.

But Jesus Washed Showing Us What a Servant Looks like. Let This Mind Be in You Which Was Also in Christ Jesus. Look, As I Said Earlier, This Is a Tall Order. We Can Do This on Our Own. We Need God's Help We Don't Need Imitation.

We Need Impartation.

By That I Mean We Don't Need It If They Will All Try to Do like Jesus Did It. I Just Hope I Can Do It Not up Lord You Need to Impart to Me the Power to Love the Unlovable People You Need to Help Me to Put the Needs of Others above Myself. I Need Your Help so to Pray a Prayer along the Lines of Lord I'm Not Happy with My Selfish Me First Attitude I Want to Live Your Way, Not the World's Way. I Want to Esteem Others Better Than Myself. I Want This Mind Be in Me, Which Was Also in You Impart to Me Your Power That I Might Live the Way That You Want Me to Live When We Just Pray about That Right Now.

Let's All Pray Father We Can Do This on Our Own. We Need Divine Help.

So Even at This Moment We Would Pray You Would Give Us a Love for the on Lovable That You Would Help Us to Not Be so Self Absorbed at the Put the Needs of Others above Our Needs and See Them As You See Them.

We Want This Mind Be in Us, Which Was Also in Christ Jesus. We Ask This in Jesus Name, Amen. Greg Lord Prayer to Live the Kind of Life God Meant for Us to Live a Life of Generosity and Self-Sacrifice As Relearning That's the Road to Happiness and Then Just a Word of Thanks to You. If You Partnered with Us for These Daily Studies Can Continue It's Only Because of Listener Support That These Programs Reach out like They Do, You're Making a Difference in People's Lives through Your Generosity and Passionate. We Really Appreciate That Partnership Away. Yeah, That's Right. I Know That Some of You Can't Get That Much. So Whatever You Can Do. It's Appreciated. I Know Some of You Can Give a Little More and Some Could Possibly Give A Lot More.

Whatever Gift You Send Will Be Used To Continue to Bring This Radio Broadcast around the United States and around the World. You Know Our Mission Statement Here in Our Businesses Knowing God, Making Him Known Help Us Fulfill That Mission Statement and Let's Work Together and in Advance. I Want to Say Thanks for Whatever You Can Do yet That's Right.

And We Want to Thank You Tangibly Was an Important New Resource Go to Harvest.org to Get the Details or Call Us Anytime around the Clock at 1-800-821-3300. That's 1-800-821-3300 Everybody Greg Laurie Here Encouraging You to Join Us As We Give Her What We Call Harvest at Home Is Worse in the Message of the Word of God. You Can Watch It with Your Family and Your Front Room Where You Can Watch It on the Go on Your Tablet on Your Phone or Your Computer. Take It with You Think the Word of God with You. Join Us for Harvest at Home Harvest. The Bible Tells Us to Work out Our Own Salvation with Fear and Trembling, Ever Found That Verse a Bit Puzzling. Pastor Greg Has Some Clear Insight for You Next Time As She Continues This Happiness Series Join Us Here on a New Beginning. Pastor and Bible Teacher Greg Lord Everybody Thinks or Listening to Beginning This Is a Podcast Made Possible by Harvest Partners.

So for More Content Can Help You Know God and Equip You to Make Him Known to Others or to Learn More about How You Can Become a Harvest Partner. Just Go to Harvest.org