Found: Week 06
Looking for Happiness

Have you ever noticed that nearly all sermons about happiness turn into sermons about something else—joy? It’s as if believers should be discouraged from seeking happiness. We’re told that happiness is based on circumstances; God wants you to have something deeper and better—joy.

Today we will dare to challenge this by discovering that God not only wants you to have joy, but God wants you to be happy too!

God wants you to be happy!

Three lies that disappoint those pursuing happiness:

1.  If I had… then I’d be happy.

Lasting happiness comes when you do what God wants with what God has given you.

(Matthew 25:23) “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’

2. If I did… then I’d be happy.

Happiness that results from accomplishing some goal or doing something you dreamed of doing is often short-lived. In fact, many people experience a sense of emptiness and loss of purpose after accomplishing life long desires.

(Genesis 30:12–13) Leah’s servant Zilpah bore Jacob a second son. Then Leah said, “How happy I am! The women will call me happy.” So she named him Asher.

3. If I work hard enough… then I (and my family) will be happy.

It his very common for a person to devote themselves to decades of hard work, only to find that the life they can now afford does not bring happiness to their marriage or family.

(Luke 15:29) but he replied, ‘All these years I’ve slaved for you and never once refused to do a single thing you told me to. And in all that time you never gave me even one young goat for a feast with my friends.

Happiness That Lasts

(Psalm 126) 1 When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream. 2 Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy; then they said among the nations, “The Lord has done great things for them.” 3 The Lord has done great things for us; we are glad. 4 Restore our fortunes, O Lord, like streams in the Negeb! 5 Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy! 6 He who goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him.

The seeds of genuine and lasting, even supernatural happiness are planted every time we “sow in tears,”  when in the dry, desert, difficult seasons of our lives we continue to believe and obey God in spite of our circumstances.

(Matthew 25:23) Come and share your master’s happiness!