How to Be Happy, Part 1 (#2 of 3)

Greg Laurie: Happy is the person who sees themselves as they really are: lost, hopeless, destitute, and desperately in need of God.
Guest (Male): So many try to adorn their lives with the things of this world but are so empty on the inside. Pastor Greg Laurie says happiness lies in the opposite direction.
Greg Laurie: The Bible is counter to all the things that culture tells us. Jesus says humble yourself, lose yourself, and you'll find yourself.
Guest (Male): The things we're eager to buy, we're eager to buy them because they'll make us happy, right? Like a new car. Oh, yeah. If that really satisfied us, everyone would still be driving the first new car they ever bought. But people only keep their new cars about eight years on average. Okay, so let's decode this mystery. How can we find real happiness? Well, today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie brings us a message on happiness. Jesus addressed that subject in his Sermon on the Mount.
Greg Laurie: God wants you to be happy. I don't think that's the view many people have of God. They think that he is just the ultimate party crasher. He's out to rain on your parade. He's out to make your life miserable. Nothing could be further from the truth. The fact is, God wants you to be happy. But we have to come to this: God's definition is probably different than our definition of happiness, and it's laid out before us here in the greatest sermon ever preached, the Sermon on the Mount. Now, the Sermon on the Mount begins with what we often call the Beatitudes. They've been described as the "beautiful attitudes" or "attitudes that should be." Another way you could sum them up is the "be happy attitudes." Each Beatitude begins with the word "blessed." The word "blessed" is interchangeable with the word "happy." So, basically, Jesus is saying if you want to be happy, be these things and do these things. All right, so let's read them together. We're going to read Matthew chapter 5, verse 2 down to verse 9. "Then he opened his mouth and taught them," that would be the disciples, "saying, 'Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God.'" Point number one: God wants you to be blessed and happy. God wants you to be blessed and happy. There was the blessing that the priests were to pronounce over the people of Israel. And they would say, "The Lord bless you, the Lord keep you, and make his face shine upon you and be gracious unto you. The Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace." God wants to bless you. Let me take it a step further: God loves to bless you. Sometimes we think God is stingy. He's holding back his blessings. Do you know a stingy person? No, you can't have that. Do you know a generous person? Yes, you can have that and even more. God is generous, not stingy. God loves to bless you. But how different his definition of happiness is from our culture. If we were to rewrite the Beatitudes for the modern culture, they might sound something like this: Blessed are the beautiful, for they shall be admired. Blessed are the wealthy, for they shall be envied. Blessed are the popular, for they shall be loved. Blessed are the famous, for they shall be followed. But that's not what Jesus said. He drops this bombshell, and I think people misunderstand the first Beatitude. And because it's the lynchpin of all the others, it's really important for us to understand what this means. "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Bringing me to point number two: Happy people are humble people. Happy people are humble people. Now, this has been wrongly understood to be saying, "Blessed are the poor." This is not what Jesus said. He said, "Blessed are the poor in spirit." There is no blessedness in being rich or poor in and of itself. The Bible does not commend poverty, nor does it condemn wealth. It does say the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. People sometimes say, "The Bible says money is the root of all evil." I don't know what Bible you're reading, but my Bible doesn't say that. My Bible says the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil, which while some have coveted after, they've erred from the faith. Money's neutral. Money can be good. Money can help. Money can do things for the kingdom of God. Money can be problematic. It can even be evil. It can destroy a person's life. It all depends on your attitude toward it. What Jesus says is, "Blessed are the poor in spirit." What does this mean? Blessed is the man, blessed is the woman, happy is the person who sees themselves as they really are: lost, hopeless, and destitute, and desperately in need of God. That's what it means to be poor in spirit. So you have to see yourself for who you are. You have to see yourself as a sinner who really needs a Savior. And this is hard for some people, to call themselves what they are, to see themselves as they are. I mean, this is counter to culture today. We're told things like, "You're more than enough." "Self-love is the greatest love." "You're a winner." At our games for our children, we don't keep score because everyone's a winner. Everyone is not a winner. There are losers in life. We're not all that in a bag of chips as some think. Self-love is not the greatest love. You are not more than enough. You need help. You're a sinner as I am, as we all are. General Naaman is the perfect example of this. Now, General Naaman from Syria was a leper. And he had a maid who was a Jewish woman that worked for him. And she told him about a wonder-working prophet in Israel that could pray for him. So he went to Israel to meet this prophet, Elisha. And he pulled up at the home of Elisha, probably in a beautiful chariot surrounded by bodyguards covered in gleaming armor. He was quite a spectacle, General Naaman. And he demanded to see Elisha. Elisha doesn't even answer the door. He sends a servant out, a guy named Gehazi. "Hey, how's it going, Naaman? The prophet says go immerse yourself in the Jordan River seven times and you'll be healed. Nice to see you. Bye." Shuts the door. Naaman is like, "Wait, hello? Do you know who I am? I'm not going to go to the Jordan River. That's a dirty river. We have better rivers back in Syria. I'll just go home." One of his associates said, "Hey, you know, it's worth a try. I mean, you've got nothing to lose." Well, General Naaman didn't want to immerse himself in any river because that meant he had to take his armor off and reveal his true condition. I don't think most of his soldiers knew he was a leper. Leprosy was a horrible, disfiguring disease. So as he took off his helmet, maybe for the first time for many of them to see, and took off his breastplate, they could see the disfiguring effects of leprosy. He had to humble himself and go down into that dirty little Jordan River. And he immersed himself the first time, came up still a leper. Immersed himself again, still a leper. Three, four, five, six times, still a leper. He goes down the seventh time, comes up, completely healed of his leprosy. The Bible says the skin was like that of a little baby. Have you ever looked at a baby's skin? So amazing, so perfect. Have you ever looked at your skin through a magnifying mirror? It's horrifying. Horrifying. I'll shave and I'll think I did a good job. Then I'll look in the magnifying mirror. I missed spots. That's such an old man thing. But then you see all the flaws and the blemishes and the effects of age, etcetera. But you see, he had to humble himself and peel off his armor and admit his real condition. Blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are those that see themselves as they really are. We can spend a life chasing after happiness and never finding it. We say, "I need to find myself. I'm leaving this marriage. I'm not happy anymore. I need to find myself." Oh, shut up. You want to find yourself? Jesus says lose yourself. Deny yourself. The Bible is counter to what the culture tells us. Jesus says humble yourself, lose yourself, and you'll find yourself. The Bible tells us, "Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God, and he'll exalt you in due time." If you want to find true happiness, you must be poor in spirit, see yourself as you really are. A classic example of a guy who was poor in spirit is a man who went into the temple to pray. Jesus told the story. Two men went in the temple to pray. One was a sinner, one was a Pharisee. Actually, the sinner was a publican, not a Republican, a publican. And that meant he was a tax collector. So they were not looked upon favorably at that time. They're not looked on favorably in this time. But they both went to pray, a sinner and a Pharisee who was of the highest order of religious accomplishment. And so the Pharisee starts his prayer like this: "God, I thank you that I'm not like other people." You know your prayers are messed up when you say something like that. And then he takes it a step further: "Especially not like this dude over here." And then Jesus said and the sinner wouldn't even lift his eyes up. He just beat his chest and said, "God be merciful to me a sinner." And then he even said actually in the original language it would be, "God be merciful to me *the* sinner." He said, "I'm the worst of the lot. God be merciful." That's all he said. Jesus said, "Who do you think went down justified?" It wasn't that Pharisee. It was the man who saw his real condition. Blessed are the poor in spirit.
Guest (Male): Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment.
Greg Laurie: I've heard people describe a trip to Israel as seeing the Bible actually come to life. Hey everybody, Greg Laurie, and I've been to Israel many times and I've led a lot of tours and I have to say that's absolutely true. Listen, when you're walking on the same stones that Jesus himself walked on, that's something that's enriching to your faith. It's not just a travel experience; it actually energizes and enhances your study of the Bible. Think of it this way: it's a vacation with a purpose. And we're going to be taking a tour of Israel April 6th to 15th, 2027. You can find out more at israel.harvest.org.
Guest (Male): Step right into biblical history. Join Pastor Greg for a tour of the Holy Land, April 6th through 15th, 2027. Get details at israel.harvest.org. Well, we're considering the Beatitudes today, part of the Lord's Sermon on the Mount. Pastor Greg's text is Matthew chapter 5.
Greg Laurie: Beatitude number two, point number three: Happy people are, I'll put in quotes, "unhappy" people. Happy people are unhappy people. Point number one: happy people are humble people. Number two: happy people are unhappy people. Verse 4: "Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted." You could also translate this, "Happy are the unhappy." What? That doesn't make any sense to us. So to be happy, I need to be sad? Yes, in this way: you have to see yourself as you really are. "I'm a sinner who needs a Savior," and I'm sorry for what I've done, and I want to change. So I mourn over my condition. Listen, better to mourn now and laugh later than to laugh now and mourn later. Some people, all they want to do is laugh. All they want to do is get drunk and party and laugh and laugh and laugh. They don't even know what they're laughing at. Everything's funny to a drunk. But really, what is that all about? Solomon went on a sin binge, basically trying everything the world has to offer. And he said in Ecclesiastes 2:1, "I said, 'Come on, let's give pleasure a try. Let's look for the good things in life.' But I found it was meaningless." Solomon says it's silly to be laughing all the time. What good does it do to only seek pleasure? You know, some people, they suppress tears. They should be crying, and instead they're laughing. Before he died of AIDS, Freddie Mercury, the lead singer of Queen, recorded a song called "Party." And in this song he sings, quote, "We were up all night, singing and giving chase. The next morning everybody was hungover." End quote. And then in the refrain he repeatedly implores his party mates to come back and play. But see, here's the problem: there comes a time when the party's over. All the laughing is behind you, and it really has led to nothing. It's better to be sad over your condition because the Bible says in 2 Corinthians 7:10, the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation. There's no regret for that kind of sorrow. But worldly sorrow which lacks repentance results in spiritual death. In other words, "I'm sorry, and I'm sorry enough to stop." See, the problem is we will minimize sin. We'll say things like, "Well, God loves me and accepts me as I am. Amen. Don't judge my journey." Well, God does love you, and he does accept you as you are. But he wants to change you. And he wants you to repent of your sin. And he wants you to come into a right relationship with him. When the prodigal son was away from his father, he was sad. When he returned to his father in repentance, he was glad. That brings us to point number four: A happy person will be a meek person. A happy person will be a meek person. "Blessed are the meek." Now, meekness is not celebrated in our culture, maybe because we don't understand what it is. For starters, meekness is not weakness. The best definition of meekness is power under constraint. It describes the breaking of a powerful stallion. So when you climb on a beautiful horse, how many of you love to ride horses? I prefer horsepower. I like a throttle. And I decide when it starts and when it stops. Because I was on a horse once that wouldn't stop, and that's kind of a scary process, like, "Where's the emergency brake on this animal, right?" So the idea is that you're breaking the horse, as they say. The horse is submitting its will. It's not that it's lost its will. It's not that it's not stronger than you, but it has surrendered its will to the rider. So when the Bible talks of meekness, it doesn't mean I'm weak. It means I know who's in charge, and I've surrendered my will over to his. But in our culture, we celebrate revenge. You know, there are these films out with Liam Neeson called *Taken*, right? *Taken*. There's three *Taken* films. What if they came out with a fourth film in the *Taken* series? But it was different. *Taken: Turning Over a New Leaf*. And in the film, Liam Neeson picks up the phone and he says, "I have a particular set of skills. Skills that make me a nightmare for a person like you. I will pursue you. I will find you. And I will forgive you." Who would watch that? That sounds good. "I will forgive you and give you a quick hug." Wait, no, you kill them. But before you kill them, you beat them mercilessly. And that's the movie I want to see, in slow-mo preferably. But this is what the Bible is saying. It's forgiving. One of the best examples of meekness and forgiveness in the Bible is the story of Joseph, sold by his brothers into slavery, ultimately exalted to a powerful position where he could have had them all summarily executed. But instead, he forgives them. That is what meekness is. But the ultimate example of meekness is Jesus himself. He laid down everything for us and willingly went to the cross and died in our place. In the only autobiographical statement ever Jesus gave, he said in Matthew 11:29, "I am meek and lowly in heart." Does that mean Jesus was weak? Of course not. He was the strongest man who ever lived. With just a word, he could destroy his enemies. When they arrested him in the Garden of Gethsemane, he said, "Who are you looking for?" They said, "Jesus of Nazareth." He said, "I AM." And the Bible says they all fell backwards. It's like dominoes. "I AM." Those are the words of God from Mount Sinai to Moses: "I AM that I AM." Jesus could have said, "I AM, and you were. Bye." The end. Do that in slow motion. But he did not act in that way. He laid his life down for us. And so do you have this attitude in your life right now? Are you a happy person? The only way you can be a happy person is to be a person who knows God.
Guest (Male): Pastor Greg Laurie is bringing us a good look at happiness: the real source of happiness, the real pathway of happiness from the pages of Scripture. And there's more to come here on A New Beginning. So, can you say you're a happy person, happy as the Bible defines it? Have you come into a relationship with Jesus and had your sins forgiven and your eternal life secured? Pastor Greg, maybe there's somebody listening who isn't sure that they have come to the Lord in that way. What would you say to them?
Greg Laurie: I would say that God is just a prayer away. You know, it doesn't take years to become a Christian. It doesn't take months. Frankly, it doesn't even take hours. It can happen so quickly. It just starts with you saying to God, "I know I'm a sinner. I know that you love me. I know that you sent Jesus to die on the cross for my sin and pay for those sins and then to rise again from the dead. And I want him to come into my life." So here's my question to you: have you done that yet? Because Jesus, who did die on that cross and rose again from the dead three days later, is alive and standing at the door of your life right now, and he's knocking. And he's saying if you'll hear my voice and open the door, I will come in. Would you like your sin forgiven? Would you like to know that when you die, you will go to heaven? Do you want Christ to come into your life right now? If so, why don't you just stop whatever it is you're doing and pray this prayer with me. You could pray it out loud; you can pray it in the quietness of your own heart. But pray this prayer to God. Say, "Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner. But I know that you are the Savior who died on the cross for my sin and rose again from the dead. I'm sorry for my sin and I turn from it now. And I choose to follow you from this moment forward. I ask all of this in Jesus' name. Amen." Listen, if you just prayed that prayer, the Bible promises that God has heard your prayer and has answered that prayer. The Bible says if we will confess our sin, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So, God bless you. You've made the right decision, the decision to follow Jesus Christ.
Guest (Male): Yeah, that's right. And listen, Pastor Greg would like to help you start off right living for the Lord. He'd like to send you his New Believer's Bible. It features hundreds of helps for new believers and it's written in an easy-to-understand translation. So contact us for your free copy of the New Believer's Bible. Call us at 1-800-821-3300. That's 1-800-821-3300. Or just go online to harvest.org and click "Know God." Well, Pastor Greg, let me read a listener comment that we recently received. Okay. It goes, "I have been a Harvest Partner for many years now and see the impact you've made on many people who've become Christians. I am in awe. I thank the Lord for the continued successful ministry of Harvest on a daily basis. Thank you, Pastor Greg, for being used by God to change my life and redirect my paths. Your example of Christianity has been so consistent." Isn't that an encouragement? That she says those nice things, but also that she believes enough in this ministry to become a Harvest Partner. What is a Harvest Partner?
Greg Laurie: Well, a Harvest Partner is somebody that gives to our ministry on a regular basis, even on a monthly basis. And what I really appreciate about this listener—and if that person happens to be listening, let me just say to you personally, thank you so much—but what I really appreciated was when she said, "I've been doing it for years." And you know what I also want to say to this person, or any person that supports us in this way? You share in the fruit of what we are doing. There's an interesting story in the life of David where he was going against his enemy with his army. They were tired from battle, and a bunch of them said, "We just can't go into battle." And his army was already relatively small. They said, "We're going to have to sit this one out." Well, the remaining soldiers went into battle. The Lord blessed and they were victorious. And when they returned with the spoils of the battle, those who had fought said, "Don't give any to those people that sat this out." Well, the fact is those folks who had sat it out on this occasion had fought in previous battles. And David said, "Hey, no. Those that tarry by the stuff," that's King James. "Those that hang out by our possessions share in this as well." And you know, the reward, the blessing goes to all those who participate. It goes to all of us that believe in the power of the gospel. So when you give, you're part of the team. You're making it possible for us to reach more people with the gospel. So would you "tarry by the stuff," to put it in King James vernacular? Would you invest in our ministry? And then we pray that you will share in the reward of what God is doing, as well as Paul said, "It's fruit to your account. Spiritual fruit to your account, laying up for yourself treasures in heaven." So prayerfully consider becoming a Harvest Partner today.
Guest (Male): Yeah, that's right. And we can take your call right now. It's a 24/7 phone number: 1-800-821-3300. Again, 1-800-821-3300. Or just go online to harvest.org. Well, next time, Pastor Greg brings us more from the Lord's insight on where happiness can be found. Join us here on A New Beginning with pastor and Bible teacher Greg Laurie.