Why Doesn’t God Give Me What I Want -- Craig Groeschel
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00:00I'm gonna start today by giving you a little pop quiz.
00:04Little pop quiz.
00:05The good news is that this does not count
00:07on your final grade.
00:10So this is just for fun.
00:11We're gonna play true or false,
00:12and just to make sure at all of our churches
00:14you're working with me,
00:15can everybody shout true?
00:17True.
00:18Can everybody shout false?
00:20False.
00:20Just wanna make sure you know how to say it.
00:22So I'm gonna say some things,
00:23and then when I pause, you just shout out.
00:27True.
00:28Or.
00:29False.
00:29Very good, so you ready?
00:30Let's go.
00:32Let's start easy.
00:34Hey, God loves you.
00:36Amen.
00:38God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.
00:40Amen.
00:41And because God loves you, you are worthy of happiness.
00:45Amen.
00:45Your life is meant to be enjoyed.
00:50You deserve a life that you enjoy.
00:53Therefore, it doesn't matter what you do
00:54as long as you're happy.
00:56And this is why you shouldn't settle
00:58for anything less than whatever makes you happy.
01:03False.
01:04True or false?
01:04It started off easy,
01:05then it gets a little bit confusing as we go on.
01:08And the reason it gets confusing
01:11is because everything that I said
01:13kinda sounds true,
01:17and some of it is true,
01:20and a lot of it's almost true,
01:23but not all of it is true.
01:27It's not completely true.
01:29And the part that's not true
01:33is causing more people to walk away from God
01:37than almost any other lie in culture today.
01:41And this is my term.
01:43I'm gonna call it the happiness gospel.
01:47What is the happiness gospel?
01:49Essentially, this is a popular cultural belief,
01:53and that is above all else,
01:57God wants me happy.
01:59After all, I deserve happiness.
02:03Sounds good, feels true,
02:05it's almost true,
02:07but it is not completely true.
02:09And the challenge is that whenever we believe
02:13that our happiness is God's highest purpose for us,
02:18it actually changes our relationship with God.
02:22Instead of us living what's true and what is true,
02:25the truth is that we exist to worship,
02:29to serve, and to glorify God.
02:33But if we believe that our happiness
02:36is God's highest priority,
02:38instead of us serving God,
02:41we start to believe that God exists to serve us.
02:45And essentially, it reduces God
02:48to what I'd call a cosmic Coke machine.
02:51That looks like a cosmic Coke machine, right?
02:54And we kind of believe this,
02:55like if we come to God,
02:58and we do the church thing,
02:59and we pray the prayer,
03:01and maybe we give some money,
03:03and we're kind of nice,
03:04and we're Christians,
03:06and we push the button,
03:08then God's gotta give us whatever we want.
03:11But if we don't get what we want,
03:13all of a sudden, God let us down.
03:16We deserve to be happy.
03:18It's God's highest priority for us to be happy.
03:21Sounds true, but it's not completely true.
03:24And the challenge is,
03:25if you believe this dangerous and prolific cultural lie,
03:30there is a very good chance
03:31that one day you'll walk away from God.
03:34And this is what some of your friends have done,
03:37maybe some of your kids have done,
03:39maybe some of your friends have done.
03:40And it kind of goes like this.
03:41They'll think one time,
03:42well, I tried the God thing.
03:45I went to church, I gave an offering,
03:47I prayed some prayers, I sang some songs,
03:50but I'm still broke.
03:52Or I'm still single.
03:54Or I'm still in a sucky marriage.
03:58Or I'm still in a dead-end job that I don't like.
04:01I did the God thing, and I'm still not happy.
04:04And then what happens is, you tend to conclude,
04:06if God wants me happy, and I'm not,
04:10then either God doesn't care,
04:13or God isn't good,
04:16or God isn't real,
04:18and if either one of those, any of those are true,
04:20then I'm just going to walk away from God.
04:25And that's what we see, tragically,
04:27so many people doing today.
04:30So what I wanna do is,
04:33from a perspective of God's Word,
04:36I wanna remind you that our King is on the throne,
04:42that our God is real,
04:44that He is good,
04:46and our God does care about you.
04:51And God delights in your happiness.
04:54He is a loving Father that loves
04:57to give good gifts to His children.
04:59He delights in your happiness, like I do in my kids.
05:02I'm a dad with six grown kids and seven grandkids,
05:07and I love when my children are happy,
05:10and I love when my grandchildren are happy.
05:12I've never one time been like, oh, they're miserable.
05:15Oh, yeah, that makes me so happy.
05:17I delight in their happiness,
05:19but their happiness is not my highest priority.
05:25Parents, for example, let's say my kids are growing up,
05:29and they come in, all six of them.
05:31Dad, donuts make us happy.
05:34So every day for breakfast, we want donuts.
05:37Every single day, donuts make us happy.
05:42I love my kids.
05:43I'll give them donuts every now and then,
05:44but not every single day.
05:47Now, my grandkids come over, and they say,
05:50pops, donuts make us happy.
05:56Chocolate, strawberry glaze, whatever you want.
05:59Jack them up on sugar, send them home, kids.
06:01You deal with that.
06:03Payday is coming, right?
06:06Because they're my grandkids,
06:08and I really want them to be happy.
06:10But if they come in and say, pops,
06:14we want donuts and beer.
06:16Donuts and beer make us happy.
06:18Hey, you can have the donuts,
06:19but you can't have beer when you're seven years old, right?
06:22I want them to be happy,
06:24but their happiness is not my highest priority.
06:27And in a similar way, God delights in your happiness.
06:32He is a loving Father who gives good gifts to His children,
06:36but your happiness isn't God's highest priority
06:39for your life.
06:40So you might say, okay, Craig,
06:42I'm kind of tracking with you.
06:44I mean, I thought happiness was the end goal.
06:46I get why God's there to make me happy and all that stuff,
06:48but okay, I kind of get it.
06:50But what role does God play in our happiness?
06:55And I want to say this very, very clearly.
06:58God wants you to experience happiness,
07:01but not at the expense of holiness.
07:05Let me say it again.
07:06He loves you.
07:08He is a good Father who gives good gifts,
07:11and He delights in your happiness,
07:14but not at the expense of holiness.
07:17In fact, God's Word says in 1 Peter 1,
07:21don't slip back into your old ways of living to do what?
07:27We could say to do what makes you happy,
07:29to satisfy your own desires.
07:32Peter said, you didn't know any better
07:34back before you were a follower of Christ.
07:36You didn't know any better back then.
07:38But now he says, notice what he doesn't say.
07:41He doesn't say you must be happy in everything that you do.
07:46He says, but now you must be holy in everything you do,
07:51just as God who chose you is holy.
07:55For the Scriptures say, say it with me,
07:56all of our churches, you must be holy because I am holy.
08:03You must be holy.
08:05You didn't know any better back then.
08:06Don't slip back into doing whatever
08:10your desires call you to do.
08:13There's actually a higher calling as a follower of Jesus,
08:16not just whatever your flesh wants,
08:18but instead what pleases God.
08:21He didn't say be happy in all you do,
08:23but be holy in all that you do.
08:25Now, what does it mean to be holy?
08:27The word in the Greek that's translated as holy
08:29is word hagios, and it means to be set apart.
08:33It means to be different.
08:35It means to be wholly dedicated to God's purpose.
08:40So if we are disciples of Jesus,
08:44we will not look like the world.
08:47We won't be friends with the world.
08:50We live in the world, but we're different from the world.
08:53We're set apart.
08:54We're not better.
08:55We're just set apart.
08:56We're different.
08:57We are wholly dedicated to God's purpose.
09:01And the challenge with the happiness gospel,
09:03and this is popular in spiritual circles,
09:07is it teaches us to believe a couple of things.
09:10Whenever we believe the happiness gospel,
09:12number one, we believe whatever makes me happy
09:16must be right.
09:17If it feels good, if I like it,
09:19it must be the way that I am.
09:21It must be right.
09:22And the second problem is whatever makes me unhappy
09:26must be wrong.
09:28And you have to ask yourself,
09:29well, what is it that makes us happy?
09:32Well, comfort makes me happy.
09:35And convenience makes me happy.
09:38And pleasure makes me happy.
09:40And what makes us unhappy?
09:41Well, discomfort and inconvenience and pain.
09:46So if our goal is happiness instead of holiness,
09:52then we're gonna pursue pleasure
09:53and avoid pain at all costs.
09:56The problem is what brings us pleasure
09:59isn't always good for us.
10:02And what's difficult isn't always bad for us.
10:06In fact, God often uses the hard things to do a work in us.
10:11That's why James said, consider it pure joy,
10:13my brothers and sisters,
10:14whenever you face trials of many kinds,
10:16because you know the testing of your faith,
10:17it develops perseverance.
10:18God uses that which is difficult
10:20to conform us to the image of his son, Jesus.
10:24And the problem starts to get worse.
10:27If I haven't pushed you yet, or offended you yet,
10:32hang on, because we're all gonna get stepped on, okay?
10:36The problem gets worse whenever we prioritize our happiness
10:41over living for God in holiness.
10:43Because whenever we say happiness matters most,
10:46happiness matters most,
10:48the moment we believe that almost every single time,
10:51somewhere along the way, we will start to rationalize sin.
10:56We'll start to justify sin.
11:00You may say, well, okay, what does it mean
11:01to rationalize sin?
11:03I would define it this way.
11:05We rationalize sin when our mind makes an excuse
11:09for what our spirit knows is wrong.
11:13Hey, I know I shouldn't do this,
11:16and I know God's Word says it,
11:18but if I do it, it makes me happy,
11:20and I feel this way, and I wanna do it,
11:25and so it must be okay.
11:27And we do this in all sorts of areas of our lives.
11:29It might be in your dating life.
11:31You know, like, you might read the Bible,
11:33like it says that sex is for the coveted marriage
11:37between a man and a woman, but I'm in love.
11:40I'm so in love.
11:42All the love songs on the radio make sense.
11:47And marriage is just a piece of paper anyway.
11:50And God created sex, and he gave me these desires,
11:53so I know what God's Word says,
11:55but sex makes me happy.
11:57God will understand.
12:00Or in marriage, and again, I don't mean to,
12:04I don't want anybody to feel shame
12:05because of what I'm gonna say,
12:06but this is, it needs to be said in our culture today.
12:10There are biblical reasons for divorce.
12:14Let that be clear.
12:15That's for a whole nother message,
12:16but there are biblical reasons.
12:18But what happens today so often is one person will say,
12:22well, I'm just not happy.
12:24I'm not happy.
12:25I'm not happy in my marriage,
12:27and so because I'm not happy, I'm just leaving my marriage.
12:32Well, if you got married, you said,
12:33for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer,
12:35in sickness and in health, forsaking all others,
12:37I'll be faithful to this one
12:38until as long as we both shall live.
12:40If you made a holy covenant with God
12:42and you go through some hard times,
12:44going through some hard times may not necessarily
12:48be a biblical reason to get a divorce.
12:50Don't wanna make anybody feel unnecessarily guilty,
12:54but it needs to be said.
12:56All right, sex.
12:59My spouse maybe isn't meeting my needs,
13:03or I'm single and I'm not getting no mingle,
13:09not getting any action.
13:11So we justify what we look at
13:14because we're not hurting anybody
13:17and it's not that big a deal in somebody's business anyway.
13:20Or gossip, you get something juicy.
13:23We know we're not supposed to gossip.
13:25Gossip is a sin.
13:26But we're Christians, so we don't share gossip,
13:30we share prayer requests.
13:32Let me tell you about her so you can pray for her.
13:37Oh, Jesus, she needs prayer.
13:39Oh, Jesus, Jesus.
13:41Holy Spirit, work on him.
13:42Wait till you hear what he's doing.
13:43Holy Spirit, work on him, right?
13:47Right?
13:48Go and laugh because you've never done that,
13:50neither have I.
13:52Or if I haven't gotten you yet,
13:55Hulu, Netflix, HBO, whatever.
14:01Graphic sex, constantly taking God's name in vain,
14:07crude, disgusting humor.
14:10It's funny, admittedly, it's funny.
14:14But funny doesn't make wrong right.
14:16And we'll watch stuff that will be dishonoring to God
14:20all in the name of entertainment.
14:21Why, I know I probably shouldn't put that in my mind,
14:25but I enjoy it.
14:26So, you know, I love Jesus and all,
14:32but I'm gonna do whatever makes me happy.
14:35It's rationalizing sin.
14:36It's when our mind makes an excuse
14:39for what our spirit knows is wrong.
14:42And if right now I'm kind of hitting a nerve
14:44and you're like going, you're ticking me off, Craig,
14:47it could be because the Holy Spirit
14:50wants to say something to you
14:52about something that you've been rationalizing.
14:55And to quote one of my favorite preachers
14:57and authors of all time, Tim Keller said this,
14:59he said, the sin that is most destructive
15:01in your life right now
15:03is the one you're most defensive about.
15:06If I'm touching on something
15:08or the Holy Spirit's showing you something
15:10and you're going, no, not me, and you don't understand,
15:12you're really ticking me off right now,
15:14that may be the point at which God
15:16wants to do the deepest work.
15:19Because God is a very, very loving God.
15:22He's a loving Father who delights
15:24in giving you good gifts.
15:25He delights in your happiness,
15:27but not at the expense of holiness.
15:31And here's where the sermon, if it's kind of hard,
15:33it starts to get special about right now.
15:35Because at some point, the more you get to know God,
15:39the more that you realize how good he is,
15:41how faithful he is, how loving he is,
15:44how in his sovereignty he's working in all things
15:47and his standards are not meant to harm us,
15:49but to protect us.
15:51And the more you get to know God,
15:52the more you realize that holiness and happiness
15:56are not opposing values.
15:59I used to think they were.
16:00Like before I was a Christian, I thought,
16:02if I serve God fully,
16:04he's gonna keep me from all the fun.
16:06Anybody ever think that?
16:07Raise your hand.
16:08Online, you type that.
16:09I thought that if I give my life to God,
16:11then he's gonna send me to some other country
16:13as a missionary.
16:14Or he's gonna tell me not to do the thing,
16:17my pastor used to say,
16:17God's gonna tell you, don't drink, don't smoke,
16:19don't chew and don't run with girls who do.
16:23He's gonna take away all your fun.
16:25And I didn't realize that happiness and holiness,
16:28they're not competing values.
16:30And then you look at everything that culture tells us today,
16:33every commercial, every advertisement,
16:36everything that comes across your social media feed
16:38is gonna send the message
16:39that happiness is found outside of God.
16:43Like to really be happy,
16:45you need to get something else,
16:47that someone, that attention, that thing,
16:50that money, the bling, the vacation,
16:52the notoriety, the popularity, the power, whatever it is.
16:55You gotta get what you want.
16:57And if you get what you want, then you'll be happy.
16:59But you don't have what you want,
17:01that's why you're not happy.
17:03The problem is if happiness is found in a what,
17:07at some point you got an old what that you wanted,
17:09didn't you?
17:10You wanted that what and you got that what
17:13and maybe you were happy for a moment,
17:16but the happiness faded.
17:18You got the new shoes and you were happy
17:21till your best friend got the newer ones
17:23and then you were sad.
17:25It happens to all of us.
17:26For me, I learned the lesson in the fifth grade.
17:29There was a girl named Tiffany
17:32and Tiffany thought Mopeds were cool.
17:35And somehow, I don't know how,
17:37I could ask my mom, I don't know how we afforded a moped,
17:39but we got a moped, it was sort of a moped,
17:41it was a bicycle with a motor and pedals
17:42and it was close enough to a moped.
17:44And Tiffany said, you are now cool, you got a moped.
17:47I'm happy.
17:48Then Brian Marquardt got a motorcycle
17:51and she dumped me, she dumped me
17:54because she said, all you have is a moped,
17:56he has a motorcycle.
17:58Then, most of you won't get this,
17:59if you're my age, you'll get it.
18:00She said, the problem is you're Richie Cunningham
18:03and I want the Fonz.
18:05Oh.
18:08I'm still working through that one.
18:09I'm still working through that one.
18:12I got the what, but the what didn't satisfy it.
18:15And you did too, at some point, right?
18:18You got the phone, the watch, the outfit,
18:20the purse, the car, the TV, the promotion,
18:22whatever it was, and you were happy for a moment,
18:25but the happiness didn't last.
18:27Why?
18:29Because a what always leads to a what else.
18:35A what else?
18:37The things of this world do not ever satisfy.
18:41And then when you start to see, okay, wait a minute,
18:43God is a good God, he's a loving God,
18:45he's a father who loves to give good gifts to his children
18:49and his standards and his truth and his teaching,
18:52they're not constrictive or restricted,
18:54they're actually freeing and leads me to his goodness
18:58and his blessings, that happiness and holiness
19:00are not competing values.
19:02They actually complement each other.
19:05And then one day you recognize that true holiness
19:10leads to lasting happiness.
19:14It's not a temporary thing, it goes deeper than that.
19:17It's a joy.
19:19And true joy, true meaning, is not found in a what,
19:24but it's found in God alone.
19:27And there's a very powerful example of this in Scripture
19:29in the Old Testament.
19:31King David, he had it all.
19:33He had every what that people today would want.
19:37He had women, he had popularity, he had power, he had wealth.
19:41He would have been verified on Instagram,
19:44the real kind, not the one you pay for, right?
19:47And so the Bible tells it this way.
19:49The Bible says that in springtime, when kings go off to war,
19:53he stayed back at the palace
19:54and he saw this beautiful woman bathing.
19:56If we'd modernized it, we'd say it this way.
19:59He said, hey, in springtime, he read an Instagram post
20:03that said you can't pour out an empty cup.
20:06So I need to stay back and fill myself up.
20:08And then he watched a YouTube video that said,
20:10your happiness is your top priority.
20:12You owe it to yourself to be happy.
20:13The purpose of your life is your happiness,
20:15so do whatever makes you happy.
20:16And he thought, I like sex.
20:19He thought sex makes me happy.
20:21And so he rationalized the sin.
20:23When he saw a beautiful woman, he called her over,
20:25he used his power to abuse her.
20:28He took advantage of her, and then he covered his track,
20:31had her husband murdered.
20:32And then one day he woke up and goes, what have I done?
20:37How did I get here?
20:39He was far from God.
20:41And he remembered that God had called him to be holy.
20:46God had called him to be set apart.
20:49And in his pursuit of what he thought he wanted,
20:51he rationalized sin in his own life.
20:54And what did he do?
20:55He did the very same thing that some of you will do today.
20:58You're gonna stop and say, I have done that.
21:02I have compromised, I've justified sin,
21:05I'm doing this, explaining away,
21:08I'm doing something I know is wrong in my head
21:10and justifying in my heart.
21:11And then what he did is he repented.
21:13Re means to turn, pent is that which is highest.
21:17He turned from the lower things of sin
21:20to the higher things of God.
21:22And he cried out this beautiful prayer of repentance
21:25in Psalm 51, he said this.
21:26He said, have mercy, oh God.
21:31Not according to your impossible standards,
21:35but according to your unfailing love.
21:37According to your great compassion,
21:40blot out my transgressions.
21:43Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.
21:49He cries out, God, create in me a pure heart, oh God,
21:53and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
21:58Restore to me the joy, not of the things of this world,
22:02not of material possessions, not of power and wealth.
22:05Restore to me, God, the joy of your salvation
22:10and grant me a willing spirit to sustain me.
22:16Why did David cry out to God?
22:20He remembered very, very clearly
22:24that lasting happiness is found in a who, not in a what.
22:30It's found in a who, it's found in the presence
22:33of a very, very good God.
22:35Who is the who?
22:36David cried out to the who over and over and over again.
22:39In Psalm 16, he said, I say to the Lord,
22:42you are my Lord.
22:44Apart from you, I have no good thing.
22:47You're everything I want, you're everything I need.
22:49He said, Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup.
22:52God, you make my lot secure.
22:55You make known to me the path of life.
22:57God, you will fill me with joy in your presence,
23:01with eternal pleasures at your right hand.
23:04David swore that with God.
23:05You alone, God, you are my portion.
23:07God, you are my joy.
23:08You are what I need.
23:10You are what I seek.
23:11You are what I desire.
23:13You are living water.
23:14You restore the joy of my salvation.
23:18Why?
23:19Because lasting happiness and true joy
23:22is found in a who, not in a what.
23:26And so what I wanna do is,
23:28like to our church family, I wanna plead with you.
23:34Do not fall victim to the happiness gospel.
23:38It's everywhere right now.
23:40It's everywhere.
23:41Live your best life.
23:43Do what makes you happy.
23:45Live your truth, chase your dreams,
23:47follow your heart.
23:49Your happiness is all that matters.
23:51Most of us, we've done that.
23:55We pursued what we wanted.
23:57We've justified our sin.
24:00We stepped away from the standards of God
24:02in the name of pursuing our own happiness.
24:05And how's it going for people today in culture?
24:09People are pursuing happiness
24:12and there are more mental health problems
24:14than any time I've ever known in history.
24:17More depression, more anxiety, more loneliness,
24:20more self-harm, more hopelessness.
24:24Why?
24:27Because you can't self-help your way to happiness.
24:32Lasting happiness is not found in a what, but in a who.
24:36You alone, God, are my source.
24:40You alone are what I need.
24:43You cannot self-help your way to happiness.
24:48So, everybody breathe in.
24:50One, two, three, breathe out.
24:52We all okay?
24:54Some of you look really upset.
24:55Just hang with me.
24:59Let's bring the application.
25:01When we get together in our life groups,
25:03because we are people in community,
25:04if you're not in a life group, we need each other.
25:09We need the body of Christ.
25:10We need to spur one another on
25:14to encourage one another daily,
25:15to sharpen each other like iron sharpens iron.
25:17Whenever two or three gather together in his name,
25:20he is there in the midst of them.
25:21When you get together with your life group,
25:23we're gonna talk about this question.
25:25Over at your next meal with your family and your loved ones,
25:27talk about this question.
25:28Ask yourself this.
25:29Where are you pursuing happiness over holiness?
25:34In your own life, think about it.
25:36Be open.
25:37Ask God to reveal something that you may be blind to.
25:42If you find yourself really sensitive
25:44to something that I'm saying today,
25:45like, oh, yeah, he's, if you find yourself there
25:49where you push back the hardest
25:51may be where God wants to do the most.
25:53Ask yourself,
25:55where are you pursuing happiness over holiness?
25:58And then the follow-up question is,
26:00what is God calling you to do about it?
26:03What is he calling you to do about it?
26:06And then listen and let him speak to you
26:09and let him move in a very special way.
26:13So you may say, okay, Craig, are you happy?
26:18And the answer is yes and no.
26:23Like all the time.
26:25Like all the time, I am full of a joy,
26:28like a real heavenly joy
26:31and have moments of like ridiculous happiness.
26:34And life is always hard.
26:36Always at the same time.
26:38There's never a moment
26:40where there's some sense of joy and purpose
26:42and there is never a moment
26:43where there's not something bringing along great pain.
26:47Every moment I've got an unbelievable joy
26:50that I'm married to Amy
26:51and the blessings that we have together in ministry
26:55and trust, 33 years of marriage.
26:57And I've got daughters with severe ongoing health issues
27:00all at the same time.
27:02And I am blessed beyond measure
27:04to be able to serve as a pastor to you,
27:07as a shepherd guiding the sheep
27:10and James, my son-in-law just lost his dad way too early.
27:15And I'm overwhelmed that last weekend
27:17there were hundreds of you that turned away
27:19from the brokenness of this world
27:21and called on the healing power of Jesus.
27:23And I've got a very, very dear friend
27:26who's a prisoner in his own body, weighs 110 pounds,
27:29doesn't know who he is or where he is
27:30and it's just a heartbreaking thing.
27:33And the spirit of God
27:36is gonna bring some of you to faith today.
27:40And we just buried a 35-year-old mom
27:43with a seven-year-old son who lost a battle to cancer.
27:46And her whole family filled these two rows
27:49with shirts on it that said, God is good, all the time.
27:56And all the time, God is good.
28:00Because the joy that I have
28:03isn't just based on circumstances,
28:07but it's something that only comes from heaven.
28:12If we live for happiness first and then we're not happy,
28:18we don't like where we are,
28:19then we conclude God's not good.
28:22He doesn't care or he's not real.
28:25But I'll remind you, our King is on the throne.
28:28Our God is real.
28:30Our God does care and our God is good.
28:37But our happiness isn't his highest priority.
28:41He tells us to be holy in all that we do.
28:44And anytime there is something that doesn't make us happy,
28:48and there will be almost every single day,
28:51that thing that hurts, that thing that brings pain,
28:55draws you closer to him and teaches you to depend on him.
29:00And you get to know him in a way that you wouldn't otherwise.
29:02And you recognize God will use,
29:04if you're not happy right now,
29:05whatever you're going through,
29:07to teach you to depend on him.
29:10And then as we pursue him, as we delight in him,
29:14as we seek him, as we call on him,
29:18as we get to know him, as we trust in him,
29:22as we lose our life in him,
29:25we discover God is not our ticket to happiness.
29:31He is our happiness.
29:34He is our joy.
29:35He is our purpose.
29:36He is our life because he is real.
29:43He does care and he is always good.
29:47So Father, we call on you today.
29:50Reveal to us, God, any area of our life
29:53where we're putting our happiness over your holiness
29:56and do a work in us, do a work in our church today.
29:59As you're praying at all of our different churches
30:01and those of you online,
30:03I wonder how many of you would say,
30:04yeah, I wanna be open to what God would show me,
30:07any area I'm putting my happiness over holiness.
30:10And I really want not just the happiness of this world,
30:14but I want lasting joy found in God alone.
30:18If that's you today,
30:19you want lasting joy found in God alone,
30:22would you lift your hands?
30:24Lift them and leave them up, if you will.
30:25Online, just type in the comment section,
30:27I want lasting joy in God alone.
30:31I want lasting joy.
30:32As your hands are lifted up in a moment of worship,
30:34we just declare, God, we love you, we praise you,
30:37we need you, we thank you.
30:39And God, I ask that your Holy Spirit would do
30:41what I don't have the power to do.
30:43Draw us to your presence, God.
30:46Give us a love for you
30:47that's greater than anything of this world.
30:49God, any area of our lives where we're compromising
30:52and rationalizing and justifying sin,
30:55God, reveal that to us.
30:56And like David, we just turn away,
30:57we repent and turn back to you and cry out,
30:59God, have mercy on us.
31:00Blot out our transgressions.
31:02Create a clean heart in us, oh God.
31:05Renew the joy of our salvation.
31:07For those of you that are followers of Christ
31:09and you've lost that joy, find the joy in salvation
31:12and the purposes and the goodness of God.
31:14Bless, God, your children
31:17with more than the happiness of this world,
31:19but bless them with joy in you and you alone.
31:23As you put your hands down today,
31:25nobody looking around, still in an attitude of prayer.
31:28Some of you right now,
31:31you've tried your best to find it in this world.
31:34You're not walking with God, you're not intimate with God,
31:36and you realize, I have tried to find happiness.
31:39I've tried to find it in the job and money
31:41and people and party life, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
31:45And what do we have?
31:46Anxious, depressed, miserable people.
31:51Why?
31:52Because we cannot find those things in the world.
31:55What's our foundational problem?
31:58Our foundational problem is that we are all sinful.
32:03But by nature, we're sinful,
32:04and our sin separates us from a holy God,
32:06but God, he is so good and he is so loving.
32:10God so loved the world that he sent his only son, Jesus.
32:15Jesus came, he was without sin.
32:17He came for those who are broken, he came for the sinners,
32:20and he died on a cross so our sins could be forgiven
32:23so that anyone who calls on the name of the Lord
32:26would be saved, your sins would be forgiven.
32:28There are those of you today, you look for happiness,
32:30you look for joy in this world, you haven't found it
32:32because it's not in this world.
32:34There's a joy that goes beyond this world,
32:36it's found in God and God alone.
32:38You can't work your way there,
32:39you can't be good enough to get there.
32:41We simply turn away from our sin and we turn toward him.
32:44We run toward him, he gives us the free gift of salvation.
32:46It's a gift, it's a gift, it's a gift.
32:48And so when he gives it to us,
32:49all we can do is give him our whole life.
32:52Today, some of you have been searching,
32:54you've been searching for a what?
32:56And I came to tell you, you're actually searching for a who?
32:59His name is Jesus and he loves you
33:01and he's ready for you today.
33:02Wherever you're watching from, those who say,
33:04that's me, it's me, I've searched, I'm broken,
33:06I know I'm sinful, I'm gonna turn from my sin.
33:09When you turn from your sin, when you call on Jesus,
33:11he hears your prayers, he forgives your sins,
33:13you're about to be brand new.
33:15When you become new, we're gonna rejoice,
33:17we're gonna celebrate like crazy.
33:18All of our churches online, those who say,
33:20I need his grace, today by faith,
33:22I'm turning from my old life, I'm turning from my sin,
33:24I give my life to Jesus, take my life, I give it to you,
33:27that's your prayer, lift your hands high right now,
33:29all over the place and say yes.
33:30Right here, praise God for you.
33:32Right back up here, others today say yes, Jesus.
33:34Right back over here, I surrender to you.
33:36Over here, praise God for you, yes.
33:38I surrender, God, take my life.
33:40Come on, church, let's tell God,
33:42thank you, others of you today,
33:43I need his grace, lift up your hands and say,
33:45I surrender to him.
33:47Online, just type in the comment section,
33:50I am surrendering my life to Jesus.
33:53And as you do, all of our churches,
33:55would you pray, Heavenly Father,
33:57forgive all of my sins.
34:00Jesus, save me.
34:03Be first in my life.
34:05My Savior and my Lord,
34:08fill me with your Spirit
34:11so I can walk by the Spirit,
34:13so I can choose holiness
34:16and live in a way that reflects your kingdom.
34:21Thank you for new life.
34:23I give you all of mine.
34:26In Jesus' name, I pray.
34:28Can somebody worship big, somebody celebrate,
34:30welcome those born into God's family today.
34:32Come on, church, let's go, church, come on, church.
34:34Wasn't that an amazing message?
34:36You know this, our lives can feel so rushed
34:39that it seems like we're just going through the motions
34:42and running on empty,
34:43but Jesus calls us to live differently.
34:46Tap here to keep learning more from our series,
34:48A Better Way.