True Nature of Happiness Part 1 - Pastor Mike Popenhagen
Myths of Happiness
1. Happiness is circumstantial.
1 Peter 1:6-7 6 6 In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith. NIV
2. Success will make me happy.
Ecclesiastes: 2:4-5,8 4 I undertook great projects: I built houses for myself and planted vineyards. 5 I made gardens and parks and planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. 6 I made reservoirs to water groves of flourishing trees…8 I amassed silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and provinces. I acquired male and female singers, and a harem as well—the delights of a man’s heart. NV
Ecclesiastes 2:22-23 22 What do people get for all the toil and anxious striving with which they labor under the sun? 23 All their days their work is grief and pain; even at night their minds do not rest. This too is meaningless. NIV
3. Perpetual happiness is attainable.
Ecclesiastes 2:10-11 10 I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my labor, and this was the reward for all my toil. 11 Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun. NIV
4 Elements of Happiness
A relationship with God is our true source of happiness.
Romans 15:13 13 I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit. NLT
2. The ability to enjoy your life-moments.
Ecclesiastes 5:19 Moreover, when God gives someone wealth and possessions, and the ability to enjoy them, to accept their lot and be happy in their toil—this is a gift of God. NIV
3. Finding satisfaction in accomplishments.
Ecclesiastes 2:24-25 24 A person can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in their own toil. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, 25 for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment? NIV
4. Having a sense of meaning and purpose.
Philippians 2:14 13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.
NIV
