Happy - Part A

People are chasing happiness and yet so many are never finding and here's why happiness is never found by direct pursuit of happiness is a byproduct of another pursuit.

When you pursue him.

You pursue holiness, happiness tags along Jesus said seek first the kingdom of God and all these other things will be added too often we try to look for happiness in material things. Even another people.

All those things eventually come up short today on connect.

Skip right, Skip begins a series of the Psalms called playlist revealing how you can experience true happiness today.

Before we begin, here's a resource that will equip you to live in God's truth. FAQs used to be restricted to tabloids at the grocery store checkout used to be so out chimpanzee had put on human body, but now their entire websites dedicated to helping us figure out a story, speech or statistic is true or not there Skip Heitzig with important question is there such a thing as absolute truth. I want you to think about that question we would help you get started in answering a question with two brand-new book with my pastor Skip why truth matters.suicide survival makes truth claim and some of those claims are pretty absolute, but how can you know it's really true.

These resources will help you better understand the nature of truth. You can pursue God's truth in your life and there are way to thank you for your gift of $35 or more today to help expand this Bible teaching outreach. Your copies when you get online securely connectwithskip.com/offer or call 892 1880 okay let's dive into today's teaching will be the first song Skip begins the study.

One of the most successful songs is the song that you have the introduction to this message. Song called happy by Farah Williams unless you been in Tacoma for a year song is been everywhere, not only in this country. Number one in this country. Number one in the United Kingdom number one in Ireland number one in Australia number one in New Zealand, and number one in 19 other countries on YouTube.

The music video has garnered 325 million views very popular. It's a very simple song that invites people to be happy in the midst of bad news or whatever their life's doing be lifted higher and I reckon not a great word. I reckon that it's a popular song because it reflects what everybody wants.

At the core of their hearts. If you ask anybody what you really want out of life. They would say I want to be happy. And yet, according to USA Today, that cited the Gallup all 70% of Americans are unhappy with their jobs and another New York research team said most Americans are unhappy with their lives. Everybody is a picture of what would bring them happiness.

Some idea, so the person says all I want is to be happy. Follow-up question is what you have to do to get there so people have a picture of what would bring them happiness for some it's owning something and if I had like that car be happy if I can make that much money that income stream. I'd be a happy person or if I could marry that person. I would be happy or if I wouldn't of married that person.

I could be happy. There were three guys standing around talking about this one was from England. One was French and the other was Russian and the Englishman said happiness is when you come home after a long day and your slippers are warmed by the fire and the Frenchman said all you English have no romance. Happiness is a fine meal at a finalized with your wife and the Russian said you're both wrong. Happiness is when you are at home in bed you could knock on the door its secret police and they say Ivan Ivanovich you're under arrest. You say all Ivan Ivanovich. He lives next door. It's all a matter of perspective is not what God is a lot to say about happiness and it's all the things the world will not tell you.

And so we come to the book of Psalms the very first Psalm on God's playlist. The song the happy Psalm and I take the title happy. From the first word I want you to notice and stored blessed, blessed is the man that is like this Psalm sells the word blessed Australian Hebrew means literally happy. Oh how happy and it's written in the plural in this Psalm so it could better be translated although the joys or the happiness says. Or, oh how very happy is this person, this is God's way of being happy.

We have been in our Declaration of Independence and the second paragraph was famous words we hold these truths. It says to be self-evident, that all men are created equal and they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of what happiness our Constitution guarantees you can pursue happiness never promises you find what you can chase it and people are chasing happiness and yet so many are never finding and here's why happiness is never found by direct pursuit. Happiness is a byproduct of another pursuit. When you pursue him. When you pursue holiness, happiness tags along Jesus said seek first the kingdom of God and all these other things will be added to so you get into this Psalm only six verses and working to take it a phrase by phrase in verse by verse. Simply, it is a description of the happy man happy woman a happy person and a happy person is described first by what he declines, or says no to look at the opening phrase of the song. Oh how happy, blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor see it sits in the seat of the scornful. So far everything is negative right it's all no. It's as if he is saying happy is the person who is marked by what he does not do the people he does not hang out with the places he does not go before you think boy the Bible is surely negative.

Understand that the positive comes after the negative and there's a lot of power in negative thinking. Happy is the person who understands that no was the first step many times to yes disaster and athlete who has to say no to doing certain things in certain lifestyle and restrict his or her intake so that he or she can become a great athlete, so 10 o'clock at night rolls around in that quart of ice cream in the freezer. No, you know, that sounds really good. No, what is he to say no to first of all bad advice.

He does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly, be careful who you listen to. Be careful what you listen to two quick ways to disaster. Take no one's advice, take everyone's advice. There are some people you know them who are isolated, they they take no one's advice. Do you don't don't don't tell me what to do know I won't ask your advice know I'll figure this out on my own. Not a healthy place to be. But the second is also disastrous when you take everyone's advice or some people the process every single choice to everyone else's opinion. And you know what everyone has an opinion on how you should live and it's not always the best opinion.

It's not always godly counsel.

It might be well-intentioned counsel might even be from your own family, but not is not necessarily godly counsel.

There's an old Danish proverb that says he who builds, according to every man's advice will have a crooked house and a crooked life to go with the second thing that happy person says no to his bad association. The next phrase phrase says nor does he stand in the path of sinners. First, your walking and now here standing word standing still linger to stay a while to loiter me put it to you this way if you walk in the footsteps of batted vice.

You will soon stand among those who give it your slowing down your be careful who you hang with Paul said in first Corinthians 15 bad company corrupts good character.

Now I want to say a word that looks at this from the other side is not bad to make friends with unbelievers and that's Psalm that we just read is not saying this, even Jesus Christ himself was called the friend of publicans. The friend of sinners. He hung out with the unrighteous but he didn't hang out with them in order to become like them. He hung out with them in hopes that he could raise them up by his life by his example that they would want to become like him.

And Christians who move the world are those people who don't let the world move them. That's why we need to be careful and what we listen to and whose advice and who we hang with the third thing we say no to his bad actions.

Look at yourself. Blessed is the man. Oh, how happy is the one who does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor heard is sits in the seat of the scornful or the mockers is a very popular seat to take these days.

If you sit in the seat of the scorn of the marker, especially marking all things God. You will be very popular. It's popular to say all those on intelligent people who actually believe in the Bible. Did you see your latest PBS documentary.

We know the things in the Bible can't be true. And so we find ourselves in a unique position. Today we are the enemy.

We are the ones at least many of them say who say yeah those religious crazy right wing nuts. They're the ones that are preventing real progress to happen in this country.

So once again, just notice the slowing walking at first slow down to a standstill and eventually you take a seat and this is a position of influence you have something to say you have something to say that's not good. Your market you submit to you that Peter took this route, Peter was once walking following pursuing Christ Jesus got arrested Peter that night found himself in a courtyard standing among people who were not sympathetic toward the cause of Christ. Eventually he himself sat down and denied that he even knew Jesus walking, standing and sitting so the happy person is described by what he'd declines. Second, the happy person is described in what he delights. Verse two but his delight is in the law of the Lord and in his law he meditates day and night. So now the psalmist moves from all the domes to all the dues people brag about what they don't do. It's a negative righteousness.

I don't listen to music. I don't watch movies. I don't smoke and I don't chew and I don't go with girls or do will you be for you. What do you do, not just what you don't do, but what you do. A lot of people have enough of God to make them decent, but not enough to make them dynamic so the psalmist moves from what he doesn't do what he does notice what his attitude is toward the Bible is delight is in the law of the Lord does not say his duty is to read your Bible every day is drudgery is picking up the book and opening it up. His delight is in the law. The law one translation says he finds his greatest pleasure in the law of the Lord.

He looks forward to it. Why because this book is the means toward an and in the end is an encounter with the living God. So I want to know the word of God so that I can get to know the God of the word I want an encounter with him in this book does that for me to give an example of a young woman has a boyfriend she can always be with them but she can carry and she does in her purse, a photograph of him photograph is a reminder that speaks to her of him. So when she's away from him which when nobody is looking, so pull it out and she'll look at it longingly and maybe even give a surreptitious kiss toward it. Now the picture is in him. It's a substitute of him. Not even a great substitute but it reminds her of him and speaks to her of him and so does the Bible to us reminds us of him. It speaks to us of him. It gets us in touch with them and we encounter him.

Here's what's even more amazing. I want you to consider this when David wrote Psalm one and he talked about the happy person delighting in the law of God, the only Bible he had were the first five books of Moses.

He was talking literally about Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. His delight is in that we people do you know today that would say my delight is that one group I know that you mean it was a nice come you got hot Diggity dog were in Leviticus numbers. We however have 66 books we have the whole Bible we have a treasure trove of truth and concerning the laws of God. It was David who wrote we will see it in Psalm 19 more to be desired are they than gold EA than much fine gold sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb to my story few months ago I was on an airplane Southwest flight to be exact, and I was next to a man who had a bookie was devoted to his book was a book of crossword puzzles.

His head was in it.

His head was down he's writing and he's thinking he didn't come up for Eric's except maybe like when we were about to land. I took a breath and had a swig of water so was like was my opening so you like crossword puzzles do you because I love crossword puzzles. He was like I have a knack for them as I can see patterns in a maze of letters and I don't know if this is faster. Nobody said a my record is 33 words in nine minutes. Having I don't know anything about that's good I I'm I'm hoping it's good because I really don't know that I'm just going along the conversation and then he said this is what I want to share with you.

He said the first thing I do when I pack my suitcase is get a book of crossword puzzles. He said it takes my mind off flying. The reason that made an impact on me as I thought. Is this the first thing I think to pack. When I pack my suitcase might delighting in the law of the Lord as much as Mr. crossword puzzle is delighting in that book of his army. You could say his delight is in the crossword puzzle and in the crossword puzzle doth he meditate day and night. It was all about that. Look at the word meditate in that verse by the way he meditates day and night. What is meditation meanwhile is not talking about transcendental meditation where one disengages the mind and kind of goes nowhere. Biblical meditation is exactly the opposite means you consciously engage the mind and you focus it upon revealed truths in this case the word of God.

The Scripture, but the word. The Hebrew word meditate is the word Hagar, which means to coo to mutter to moan to read in an undertone or to talk to oneself about the root meaning of this word is the low moaning of an animal, especially when he choose its cut in the picture you you and I do that sometimes we need good or you're talking to yourself about your reacting to what you're eating. The picture that of meditation is that you just don't read the Scripture but you feed on the Scripture you slow down long enough to hear each word to emphasize a different word to say it out loud to yourself to get an impression slow down. I have a problem when it when I eat and that is I eat fast. I always have my wife is told me over the years to slow down echoes of my mom used to tell me growing up slowdown. Let me explain to you is to get to my side a little bit why I why I eat so fast I grew up with three older brothers I'm I'm the I'm the youngest and the baby of four.

So when it was mealtime. They were serious was a little bit of banter back and for the site, however, gets a food first wins and I was sometimes less than the smallest so I learned to eat very fast will that's dangerous.

If you go to an expensive restaurant is like five bucks a bite sex load.

So can I suggest that when you read the Scripture. When you have your devotional time that you will slow down and consider it carefully and more slowly. Meditation is the link between theory and action. You ask yourself is this a command is this a promise to my to do something in following this. Why did he say that word. What if I emphasize that word in meditation is that link between theory and action. It forms your worldview and will determine your behavior. So here's a happy person. So far, described by what he declines. By what he delights in third is described by what he depicts look at verse three he shall be like a tree shall be like a tree doesn't say he shall be like us stomp of a tree, or he shall be like a twig lying on the ground like a 2 x 4, but something alive and something growing, something flourishing in a growth this a normal part of life you expect growth to happen if there is a living thing. If you have a CD planted in the ground and you water you expect to see results you expect growth.

When a baby is born you expect the baby to grow up. That's the normal natural expectation of parents the child 35 returns to be 35 years old and still in diapers you know you got a big problem. No growth when you see a believe you're a believer. A Christian's always been born-again or spiritual life. There is always at the same level you think sums wrong.

There ought to be growth and is much as I love evangelism and love to call people to follow Jesus. Christianity is more than obstetrics includes pediatrics include some emergency room visits and should go all the way to the geriatric old age.

Stage so the tree depicts progress.

It also depicts permanence for you'll notice it says he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water. Can you picture a tree with its roots, going deep down that the soil deriving the nutrients anchoring itself in becoming a permanent fixture of the landscape.

I have a tree in my backyard. I want to tell you about unusual tree. It's only seven years old. It is no joke. At least 50 or 60 feet high.

It has had enormous growth.

All my neighbors have said so what's up with that tree by Jack and the beast factory because all the other trees in the neighborhood are not like that for even the ones that have been around a while, so here's the deal. I found out I wanted to find out my tree is planted next to a pond I have to fill the pond by hand with a hose and I'll fill it one day it will be down the next, and this is a little pond that has a a pump with a hole in a rock in the bubbles in the mix and I sound but I do fill it all the time especially in the summer and so so we came.

My when day goes up. You got a tear in the liner of your pond you never bet on fixed. Is there something wrong with her liner so pulled up all the rocks liner was perfect. Not a tear not a cut. Not a whole, intact.we discovered the tree is a very smart tree roots not only go down with some of the rates have gone up just above the liner and back down into the pond and it's like getting mainline water you turn on the hose is going and that trees roots extend into the yard and it has become this massive permanent fixture. The idea here is permanence planted not plotted planted by rivers of water say more. Jesus use or thought of the same idea when he said I'll buy it in me that word good New Testament work by in me means remaining in me that Skip message from the series platelets to tell you about how you can keep encouraging messages like this coming your way to help connect others to the our desire is to see listeners like you connect to God's word on a deeper level and be transformed by its truths but there are expenses associated with running a radio ministry like this one. Any gift you give whether a one timer monthly means that you continue to receive these Bible-based teachings and were so grateful for that. Keep listening to learn how you can give today you can give online@connectwithskip.com/donate. That's connectwithskip.com/donate or call 892 to 1888, 800-922-1888. Thank you tomorrow Skip Heitzig shares why there's only one place you can find true happiness never met a person is sort of in and out back and forth with the Lord to make a commitment to backslide to make every commitment they did go to the thing make another recommitment site 40 times. Yes, God is a God of mercy, but may Skip presentation of connection communication through ever-changing time