The Hard Work Of Happiness

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at Elevation Worship dot Com. We'll see us here. You know what used to be when I would take a little summer break the day we would get to our vacation as a family, and we haven't been on one long vacation, but normally we'll go away for a little while and I would say, start thinking immediately about the next sermon. So it's weird because I preach, you know, week after week after week, and I'd be like, Okay, in a few weeks, i'm gonna get a little break.

I'm not gonna have to tell anybody what to do for a little while. I could just focus on myself and get myself right. And so I would start thinking about the next sermon. And the Lord told me one day that that was stupid, because he said that if I'm always thinking about talking to others, how can I hear from him? And that some of the best stuff that God speaks in your life doesn't happen when you're straining to hear it, but just when you're open to receiving it. So I wasn't trying to think of a

sermon to preach about. Matter of fact, I was on a bike ride with Holly. Now we had a big celebration since I saw you, our twentieth wedding anniversary. Yeah, I think I need to do a marriage series just to give you all the stuff that I've taught her in those two decades and then unpack that for you. No, I've missed y'all. It's good to see you again. But we were riding bikes to breakfast one day and I had asked the Lord, I'm not going to try to write a sermon or a series, but if you say

something to me, I'll write it down. We were riding a breakfast and I felt like the Lord gave me what we needed to talk about when we got back together, so I could say this discermon today is been a few weeks in the making, and I really think it's been a few years in the making. A subject that I never spoke directly about before in this church, not because I was scared to, but because I didn't think I was ready to. But I'm gonna speak about it today.

I've talked indirectly about these things. I probably mentioned it, But in sixteen years of pastoring Elevation Jurch, I think I've never put this word in a sermon title until today. This is historic and the word is happy. When the Lord told me riding my bike that he wanted me to preach about happiness, I laughed. I laughed because I thought, Lord, you must be confused. Here on vacation. We talk about holiness in church, not happiness. And if we're going to

talk about happiness. Then we shouldn't talk about happiness. We need to talk about joy because you know, joy and happiness aren't the same thing. You know, you hear Christians sometimes make weird distinctions. Well, I'm not happy, but I have joy, the doctor joy joy Joy, Oh, joy, down in my heart? Where zone in my heart? This is not on your face? And added to that all the pharisees that watch my YouTube just to say mean things to me in the comments. I thought, how can I

preach my happiness? So I start doing a little research. I thought, if I'm a preacher about this, let me do a little research. But I'll do it informally, because I told the Lord I wouldn't work on a sermon before I came back to the church, so I would ask people questions. I asked the family at lunch one day, I said, who's the happiest person? You know? I didn't tell them this was a preamble to my sermon in a few weeks. I just said, who is the happiest

person you know? Ah, Dad, that's a dumb question. How can you answer that? You don't really know if people are happy or not. Ah, Maybe that'll preach, But then they started listening to happiest people that they knew, and none of them said you dad. I mean, I eat it up. You know I'm paying for lunch. I ordered appetizers. I let everybody get real drinks. I didn't make them just drink water. And nobody said it's you. I even listen, how bad listen how God pray for me and my family.

Because even right before it got to Holly's turn, I said, Holly, you're the happiest person I know. She said that's so sweet, and then she said somebody else's name, and I'm thinking, well, of course, if I was married to me, i'd be the happiest person I knew too, and she really is.

Holly is a happy person. So I said, Louri, if we're gonna preach about happiness, you will have to show me how, because there's gonna be people that listen to me preach about happiness, and they they say, I do not want to be in one of those feel good churches. This is a feel goods uh huh. And the same people who say that get massages, eat donuts, do all kinds of things to feel good, but when it comes to my faith, I don't want to feel good at all.

Stank me. You are weird everywhere else, but spiritually you want to feel good. You got butt warmers in your car and you come to church like kick my butt. Tell me what I need to hear, make me feel like God is old and mad and slow, and we'll have some scriptures about that as we go, because I think it's gonna take a few weeks, but I want to jump right in. I didn't want to preach a little you know, welcome back, sir, and I wanted to get right into what God told me to preach. I

argued with him. I told him I was a hypocrite because I'm not the happiest person and I have a they call it RBF resting blessed face, but I don't have one of those. I typically I look mad, I mean mug. But the Lord said, okay, then then preach it like this, talk to the people about the hard work of happiness in Psalm one twenty six. Y'all open

your bible. Y'all didn't bring your bible. I'm gonna make you feel bad about it, since that's what you came to church for and you bring your paper bible, you digital demon, all right, I'll put it on the screen. Someone twenty six, did y'all miss me? That's that guy with the big arms from that baptist picture? Was that you up there? They were talking about a baptism earlier at Valentine's six year anniversary, and Graham, they were over

here celebrating baptism, new life in Christ. And all Graham said was, Dad, look at that guy's arms on the screen. You are a distraction, sir. Let me read you this. Y'all stand up. We need to reset and get serious. Now here we go. Tell somebody I'm happy to be here. Put it in the chat. I'm happy to be here. When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream. Our mouths were filled with laughter,

our tongues with songs of joy. Then it was said among the nations, the Lord has done great things for them. The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy. Restore our fortunes, Lord like streams, and then negaf those who sow with tears will reap, will reap the songs of joy. Yeah, those who go out weeping carrying seed to sew, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with them in that cool it's called a psalm of a scent. Going up to Jerusalem.

They had songs for the three festivals that they would go to, and they had songs for what we would call celebration. And then there are two there's fifteen of these songs songs of a scent. Two of them are

called songs of lament. And in that interesting how they're going up to Jerusalem, which is high in elevation physically, geographically, where the temple is, where they're going to worship and celebrate these festivals, but they're singing a song of lament can be associated with mourning or grief and repentance, whether it's over sin or devastation. And this is one of the two songs of lament within the fifteen songs of

a sin. That they would sing this, or that they would share this, or that they would declare this, or that they would pray this on their way. Right in the middle of it, it says those who sow with tears will read with songs of joy. What really gets me about that is that somebody on your row, somebody three seats from you, somebody that's just one room over, somebody that's just separated by very little physical space from you, is experiencing something in between those two extremes. As I

speak today, sewing with tears, songs of joy. You know a lot of times when we come to church, I think we asked the question, does God have a word for me today? God speak to me? This is a community song because when they would come together like this, they realized it's not just about me. It's not just about me. This might be for somebody that I know today. This might be for somebody that I don't. You have no idea what's going on on your row right now? Or in the words of my kids, how do I

know who's really happy? I don't really know them. Now, look at your neighbor and say I don't know you. I don't know you. Like that, sit down and look at your other neighbors, say I don't know you. I don't know you. You don't know what's going on on your row. You have no idea what's going on on your row? Well, they didn't lift their hands at all during worship. They must not really love the Lord. They

might have a shoulder injury, a rotator, cuffed hair. You know what I'm saying like they barely got the church. They couldn't even drive because they're shoulder and you're judging them because they didn't lift their hands. You don't know them, You don't really know. This is why it's so hard to preach about happy because you say who's the happiest person that you know? And someone will mention the funniest person that they know. I didn't ask you who's the

funniest person that you know? You ever met a comedian, These are some of the saddest people. It's true. The reason they're making all these jokes is because sometimes they're not all the time, but sometimes they're compensating for something on the inside that's not right. That's why we can't believe it when somebody who has everything that we think is supposed to make you happy is in a headline saying that they took their own life. How could they make me so happy as an actor but they couldn't

make themselves happy in life. I understand there's mental illness, I understand their issues that are beyond the control of life decisions. But I think according to someone twenty six, there are some decisions that you can make in the dry places of your life that will lead you, no matter where you're starting from, into a place a super natural happiness. Super natural happiness. The Lord doesn't care if I'm happy. What The Lord doesn't care if you're happy.

You take your kids on a trip and they're sitting there mad and screaming and yelling and crying, Well, you don't care if they're happy. It's just for the experience. No, you care if your kids are happy. You're just not willing to sacrifice their long term good or their short term happiness. And that's what God is like. So when we see in Psalm one, this is not happy clappy, this is not you know, the shortcut to feeling good.

This is actually a spiritual path for the daily decisions that we can make in the dry places of our life. So I want to give you today yellow right if I teach? I got notes everywhere for this one because the sermon came to me in the restaurant after riding my bike. My notes were on receipts and I didn't even move them over to my iPad because I wanted to preach from the receipt I thought that'd be cool. I'll be hardcore. I thought, make it feel authentic and gritty.

He was preaching from receipts. My taster never takes a break. I mean, I'm priding myself on that for years, right, because I'm good at hard work. Now ask my kids who's the hardest working person? You know? They better sing me because I'm the one who paid for everything they called drip. If it isn't for my busset, they don't have any drip. I might not be happy, but we got central heating and air in the house, don't we And the fridge is full and you're not hungry. I

prided myself on that for years. I kind of don't remember the story. I'm gonna get to someone twenty six, but don't remember the story of the prodigal son in the Bible. I hadn't been gone six years, y'all. Y'all remember the Bible, right, So the one boy goes and he spends all of his father's money and he rolls around with pigs and lays around with prostitutes and squanders his fortune because he just had to have it now. He just had to be happy. He just had to

go get it. He just had to go see. And we preach about that boy, not realizing that wasn't the point of the story Jesus was telling. It was his older brother back home, who was home but not happy. It wasn't happy when his brother came back. He was mad that it had dipped into his college fund with his brother's dumb decisions. In fact, in Luke fifteen, I should have prepared this for the screen, but I forgot when the father started throwing a party for the son

who came home, who was lost. He said, he was dead, he's alive, he's lost. His family have to celebrate. The older brother said, I've been slaving for you all these years, and you never did any of this for me. I always thought I didn't really relate to that story because I wasn't that wild in college. I never had this season of my life where I developed a horrible addiction to a substance. And the Lord started showing me recently, you are often like the brother who stayed home, working

for something that is already yours. I put a lot of my worth in my work, put a lot of worth in my work. I remember many times when we were starting in the ministry, thinking if I get there, I will be happy. Legitimate real One of my Buddies has a church here in the area, and he had two thousand people coming. I remember going to see him one time. Now, at this point in our church, we had twenty about twenty thousand, twenty people like that row, and five of them were the same ones that are

there right now. I'd be happy if I had two thousand. And Since we're taking a psalm of assent and we're talking about the lament within the song, I want to point the fact out that you can be on your way up and still have to deal with being down. Like watch it in the text. Watch it in the text. I want to ground this thought in the text so you don't think I'm off on a tangent here. Instead

of talking about truth, I'm talking about feelings. No, watch it, he said, when the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dreamed. We were shocked. They have been in Babylon for almost fifty years and God

brought them back. They have been captives in a strange land for almost fifty years, since five eighty seven, when Babylon came and got all of the Jews, and the ones they didn't kill they deported, and the ones that they deported, they detained, and for fifty years the people of God had to live in the patterns of Babylon. But now we see that they have been brought back. That's what he means when the Lord put Verse one up there again, when the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion.

This is a past tense event that he's remembering. When the Lord brought us back, we were shocked. We couldn't believe it had actually happened. It had been so long since we had expected this result that when we actually experienced it, it didn't even feel real. Sometimes you can't even be settled into your own blessing because you have gotten so adjusted to a negative experience. This is it,

This is it. This is a decision that you have to make in the dry places of your life if you are to really be lastingly happy, last say, lasting happy, supernatural happy. What the Bible says as joy, unspeakable and full of glory in the holy ghost, holy ghost, happy Jesus joy. The world didn't give it, and the world can't take it away. Your boyfriend didn't give it, and your boyfriend can't take it away. Your ex sure didn't give it, and your ex can't take it away. Situational

happiness has no interest in the Kingdom of God. It is too cheap and Jesus paid too much for me to need for my life to be going a certain way, to feel a certain way. So part of the process of coming to church and listening to sermons and having your mind conform not to the patterns of this world, but transformed to have a new mind, is this decision. Write this down you're ready. Negative is not my normal. Negative is not my normal. Help me, Holy Angels of God.

I feel like a hypocrite saying that, because honestly, my first view of a situation, and I need you raise your hand if you like me, because I feel awfully lonely up here. I don't even have a collar on this jacket to keep me company up here. I feel all alone with y'all looking at me so judgmental. Right now, My first instinct in the situation is to see vulnerabilities, liabilities, and even sometimes hypothetical liabilities. Oh, I am a creative

finder of things to fear and dread. Y'all pray for Holly, the happiest person that I know. This is what she has to live with. I came by some of it. Honestly. I was born into a family called the human race. My first parent, Adam, he screwed up real bad. He had the whole thing on luck, walking around with plenty to eat and no clothes on, and a woman that he said was very good, and he had to have an apple. That was my first father. So I came

by this. I can't really be too hard on myself, because the Bible says that all have sinned and falls short of the glory of God. The prophet Jeremiah took it further and said that the heart is deceitfully wicked above all else who can know it. That's why I had you tell your neighbor, I don't know you. I don't know you like that. I don't know what you cry about behind all that clapping that you do when we're in church together. I don't know you like that.

And really it takes a while before you know yourself well enough to ask the question, do your patterns match your prayers? Someone twenty six is not only a song, it's a prayer. It's a petition. Lord restore to us the fortunes of Zion. Lord restore our fortunes Lord, restore us to the state, the state that we were intended for. Now, I want to make this clear if you are a Christian, that it is not normal for you to be ruled by the same cynicism that you see seething from this

angry world. It is not normal for you, if you are a Christian, to spend all of your time running after solutions to problems that God is not staying up late about, pacing the halls of Heaven wondering what He's going to do about them. Furthermore, for those of you who might have grown up in an atmosphere, in a family or an environment where you say, like everything was pessimism, how I grew up, Well, you know what. That might have been your background, that might be your default setting,

but it is not your destiny in Christ. Hey, spoiler alert. That's why I named the Church Elevation because I think you're going up. Because I think if Christ is seated in heavenly places, you are not going to spend all your days down here on this earth, wallowing around in stuff that God has called you to win over. I don't believe it. I'm not settling for it, and I'm not going to be the older son like standing around, going, well, God,

I'm serving you and it sucks. But one day in heaven I'll get wings and sing and play harps, and then I'll be happy. You won't be happy playing a harp. We're not supposed to be happy till we get to heaven. Well, if heaven is happy and they let you in with that attitude, it won't be happy once you get there. So you're not going because it would ruin the whole program. Negative, say it negative is not my normal? No, no, no, no, no. It might be. It might be natural, but it's not normal,

not for a believer. Because my Bible says if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. That means I've got a new nature. That means the way I wake up in the morning doesn't determine how I walk through the day. I gotta get my mind right, my heart right. How many of y'all are over forty Wave at me real quick? How many of y'all have to

stretch before your maximum capacity could be achieved? If it's true and the body is true in the spirit, you really wake up in the morning and consult how you feel in your mind to see what kind of day you're gonna have. So the psawmist begins this prayer. He says, there's two things going on in the song you study it. There's what God has done and what God hopefully will do. And in the middle of all of that, there's an amazing verse. I need to show you this. Slow. Can

I go slow? Oh man? We might take We might take a week, or three weeks or five weeks. I might preach this to everybody in the church. Gets happy. I might preach this to everybody in the church. Touch somebody, say, get your happy back, get your happy back, get your happy back. It's been a long time since you had what Psalm one twenty six is describe. Our mouths were filled with laughter. There was no room in your mouth for laughter. This week. You were complaining so much that

there was nothing to laugh about. It wasn't funny to you. You've been going through some things now. This psalm is interesting because it gets to a point where it says that God restored the fortunes and brought us back to the land, and then verse three he makes a declaration, the Lord has done great things for us. The Lord has done great things for us. Stand up if that verse is true in your life? Sorry, I wasn't smiling when I asked you that I would looking at you

like that. Did the Lord do anything great for you? She? My default is color. Sometimes I have to remind myself that the Lord has done great things. Okay, stay standing, I'm far from done with this lower illustration. How many of y'all think they were telling the truth when they said that the Lord has done great things for us? Put it back up. They just got out of fifty years in Babylonian captivity. Is that true? They don't have a temple to worship and yet it's still destroyed in

lying in ruins. Is it true they don't even have a wall around the city yet. Nehemiah hasn't even showed up yet when someone twenty six is ready, So they have no infrastructure, so they are exposed to enemy attack from all side. Is it true? Is this? Is this a Bible verse or a hallucination? Is this just positive thinking? Is it just center around? Is this a yoga class? What is this? What is what is he talking about? The Lord has done great things for us? Is that

a fact? No? No, I'm asking him for real? Is that a fact? Now? In your life. Is that a fact? Is it? Oh, you come mom? Your mom got diagnosed with Alzheimer's last year. Is that a fact? But we aren't reniate a minute. Your job, your job? You hate your job? Is this? I figured that what hit everybody in the room at least one day this week. The Lord has done. And you stood up so quick. You just stood up so quick. That kid was sleeping and he stood up automatically. I think his mom yanked him.

But you stood up so quick. You stood up like something was on fire. I said, the Lord has done great things for us. You didn't hesitate. You didn't pull out a calculator. You didn't check a bank balance. You didn't start reading a report. You didn't pull up CNN or Fox News. You weren't checking anything. Something instinctively in

you knew. Wait a minute. If I don't stand up on this verse, I have to explain to these exiles who were taken out of their homeland why I'm not standing up to say God has been good to me. And I don't want to have to explain to them who are trying to figure out how to settle back in after fifty years of being gone. After that's half

a century. Some of their kids have never even seen Canaan, and now they got enemies on every side, and not everybody likes them being backed, and not everything is finished yet. Kind of like your life, you got some walls that are down, you got some altars that are dismantled. You got some habits that have you by the throat, kind of hung up on, some stuff, kind of can't get over,

some stuff kind of weeping over. Some seasons that got past you and got away from you, and some opportunities you didn't seize, and some loyalties that were not made good on, and some checks that weren't cash, and some promises that are partially fulfilled. Yet something in your soul knows that God has done great things from me because when I really when I when I really when I really focus, when I really focus, when I really focus, see, it's a fact when you focus, if you focus, it's

a fact, not a feeling, not a feeling. Because the whole time we've been sitting here talking, your heart has been pumping blood. And that's why your fingers aren't blue. Because the Lord has done great things for you. The whole time we've been talking, We've still been making our little trip around the sun, and nobody needed you to make sure to press the gas pedal or fill the tank. Because God has done great things for you. Some of y'all are standing next to the great thing God has

done for you. Some of y'all are standing next to the praise report that is currently your prayer request, that is going to be your praise report again in the near future. Just don't die, Ah, But you got to make some decisions in dry places, because look, he said, the Lord give me the verse has done great things for us. Is that true for you? How about the next part? And we no, no, no no, the next part of the same verse. I don't even need the next verse. I'll do it off of this verse. I'll set you

up and we are filled with joy. If you struggle with that second part, sit down, I do. I'm gonna sit down. How could God be so good to me? You're honest? How could God give me all of this? And I'm not happy now. When I told you I started writing the sermon on the bike, that wasn't the whole truth, partial truth. I started writing this sermon four years ago. Two things happened that scared me a little bit. One was here and one was on an island, and

they both had one thing in common. In both situations, I was in the middle of something that I had told myself at one point in my life would make me happy, and I wasn't happy one was here. I can't ever decide how much to tell y'all. I don't want to freak you out, but I want to be real. I was getting ready to come out here and preach. In the room was crazy, like packed out. People were coming.

I started starting a new series. In fact, you know, the day we opened this building at Valentine where I preached from, one of my best friends was being removed from his church and I was on the phone trying to help him because he was devastated the church he started. And I was coming out here, smiling at y'all, phraise the Lord everybody. I was sewing with tears. I was

sewing with tears. And the Sunday that I came out here to preach, and you would remember the Sunday Chunks, because I think it's the biggest crowd that we ever had at that point at least. I mean, this was not two thousand people. This was like thirty two thousand people. In the building. And I'm not saying that the brain I can send it to set. Of contrast, I couldn't feel anything. I think I had set so much as

a goal. Oh, if I had two thousand people in my church, I would feel like a real pastor, and if I felt authentically valid as a pastor, I would be happy as a person. So why was I back there feeling like I wanted to cry and having to come out and say, y'all give the Lord a shout of praise. I'm not saying it was bad. Maybe I was just tired. It could be that I was just exhausted.

But it scared me a little bit because I thought, if I don't feel happy now, when will I. Then the other one was a couple months after that, because then I said, well, I just need a break. I just need a break. I just need to get away. We were on an island and we weren't even paying for it. Somebody else was paying for it. Invited us to an island to vacation for a week. And I was so sad on the island like I was in

a prison. I was in prison on the island, and it was beautiful and it was free and my brains were there, and my wife was there, and I wasn't. I was there and not there, and it scared me. You ever got scared because you had what you asked for and you still weren't happy, And now you feel guilty because you're not happy and God gave you what you asked for. Please don't know at this point, because

your husband might think that you're talking about him. The best strategy for this part of the sermon is for you to look totally confused. Hello, what you're talking about? Aster? The joy of the Lord is my strength. Oh, yes it is. This is the day the Lord is made. I will rejoice and be glad in it. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. So it goes like this. It goes like this. This

is the hallucination of worldly happiness. And I want to contrast it for you because it's not the same thing to have your happiness in Christ and what he gives, as it is to put your hope in the things of this world which are really sinking sand. It's not the same. The one goes like this, if I had, I'd be happy. If I had, I'd be happy. You ever done that? That's a math equation for frustration. If I had kids, I'd be happy. Why did he laugh? I'm asking, I'm asking, No, I'm asking if kids make

you happy? Did y'all hear him laugh? I heard a peep out of that guy all service? He said, Oh, go get your Some children are a blessing from the Lord. People who say that children are a blessing, they say it mad. I'm like, you don't sound convinced. They remind me. There's an Old Testament character named Leah. She has sister named Rachel. Rachel was really pretty. Leah had a great personality. I said it nice. I said it nice, el Jay,

I said it nice. She had a great personality. And Leah had a fruitful womb, and Rachel had a beautiful countenance, but not a fruitful woman. They start going back and forth, these two sisters that were both married to Jacob Jacob. You recognize that name, the god of Abraham Isaac Jacob. So this is an important guy. And they're both married to the same man, which is a recipe for happiness. And they're both trying to have his babies. And Leah

has about four and Rachel has none. And Rachel, according to the customs of this day, now this sounds sketchy, we hear it now. But she gave her maid servant to Jacob so that the maid servant could conceive for her, like as a stand in as a surrogant, and so that works. But then Leah can't have any more kids, so she gives her servant to Jacob. She already gave him four, but he done lover, He done lover. Oh, but I'll give him another one, and he's still done lover.

And so okay, I'll give him another one, and he's still done lover. And she is trying to win the love of someone who, up until this point in scripture, has given no indication that he even loves himself. In fact, the whole reason he's there in the house is because he was running from himself, pretending to be his brother. So now you've got sister Rachel trying to pop out babies like sister Leah, and Jacob loves Rachel, but he

gets his babies from Leah. And I pulled this verse, just this one, from you, to show you something that Leah did. And I've done this before, and you've done this before, and how long will we keep doing this? When she had about the fifth or sixth. Kid, look at this In Genesis thirty, throw it up there. Leah's servant, Zilpah board Jacob a second son. This is the second son the servant gave about the fifth or sixth that Leah has given in all next verse. Then Leah said,

how happy I am? The women will call me happy? So she named him Asher, which means gladness or happiness. How happy I am? Who are you trying to convince? How happy I am? I did the funniest thing I've been researching for this series, the hard work of happiness. So I watched people take selfies over the last four weeks. You know what the best moment of a selfie is when it's a group picture, watching the people who don't

want to be in the picture when they unsmile. I could tell how strong the manipulation was from the picture taken by how quick you unsmile? I start pointing out to Abby, I said, Abby, watch how quick that that boy is gonna unsmile after this picture. He don't want to be in that picture. His wife's making him take that picture. He does not want to take a picture right now, and just as quick as the camera's over, boomed, which makes me wish that I could go home with

you after church and see how quick you unsmile. Some of y'all cut out the middleman and you don't even smile at all while you're here. So you don't have to change back into the Clark kid. You never go in the phone booth to start with. But I wish I could see how long does it take you? How long does it take you to unsmile? How long is that happiness? Leah gonna last? Just see what she said? How happy I am? What's the next thing she said? Put it back up? The women will call me happy?

What does your happiness have to do with what they call you? Anyway? You're really gonna put your happiness in somebody else's hands. You do that with your phone. You let a complete stranger either make you happy or make you miserable. That's a horrible strategy for happiness. But now your happiness is only a safe as the sanity of the person whose hands you put it in. And bonus notes,

people are crazy. What does it take for you to look She's she's having She's having babies left and right for the approval of someone who hasn't even truly met himself, and so are many of us. I can't wait to preach at youth X this week. I can't wait to talk. I can't wait to talk to my sixteen year old self, because that's what I'm gonna do when I get up here. Okay, I'm gonna talk to my sixteen year old self and say, there is no formula for happiness that starts with if

I had, because it doesn't come from them. Because you can be on an island, you can be in the back room ready to preach the thousands. And God has had me on this journey. See you realizing that my joy is my job. My joy is my job. I may never write another book again, but if I did, that'd be a great title. My joy is my job. And in fact, I I don't want to point at you today and say your joy, I'm gonna make you do it. Look at the person next to you and

say you can't make me happy. Are they offended? I promise you if you said that to somebody that you live with, they're relieved. Because you're heavy. You are heavy. They always gotta make you happy. It's not there. See, it's not their job description to make you happy. And it's not God's either. I lost them arow the turn chucks, I lost the lost God, so good look at it, case Ion, restore our fortunes. Lord like streams and the agaf. Now look, the Negev is the southern part of the desert.

It doesn't get any drier than that. To have a stream in the Negev only happens in the winter rain season. And when the rain comes in the in the winter season in the Negev, it floods the banks. Man, It'll tear up the bridges, it'll tear up the roads, it'll wipe out the livestock. You gotta be ready for the rain when it comes. And some of us are praying for things that we haven't built the infrastructure for. And even if God gives it, it will not feel like

a gift. It will feel like a burden. Because your joy is your job, not an event, not a promotion, not knowledge, not in a mouth. Your bank account keeps going closer and closer to that level that you thought that you would need to feel secure, and you are still scared. Because blessedness is not a state of affairs, it is a way of life. M hm, m hm. We got some work to do, the hard work of happiness. And look what it looks like. He said, the Lord can do a miracle in it, like streams and the

negav which is a completely supernatural phenomenon. That's not an ordinary thing for the Lord. And we need to pray, Lord restore my joy. But watch what the Psalmist instructs us to do. And I don't know if you're ready to do this or not. And for many years of my life I wasn't ready to do that because I was addicted to self pity, too confusing or too real.

That was my addiction. It was my addiction. In fact, one of the most powerful things the Lord ever told me was, you have let your mood become your master. And I read in the Bible about Pharaoh, and the Lord will say, you have let your feelings become your Pharaoh. Tell you when you can go, and what you can do and what you can say. When did you get the idea that your feelings are in charge of your

obedience to God? And Someone twenty six is a picture not only of what God is going to do, because I have a feeling that God is in the process of restoring someone's joy even as I speak. But it won't look like it, because what he said is those who sow with tears will reap with joy. What's that about. I thought we were talking about happiness, but the Bible says that in order to get to that place of happiness that will last, not to get a high. You

can get a high. Hey, if we all want to feel happy, we should have skipped church and met at Chrispy Kreme because we could have got happy fast. It's called hot now, and it could do it all whole lot quicker than someone twenty six. Oh yeah, I don't need a Bible verse for that. I just need some sugar. I could get happy real quick. There's a better way

to get happy than to come do this. But if you wanted to last where the enemy can't unsmile you fifteen seconds after it happened, then we will have to learn watch this the hard work of happiness. What's that sewing with tears? That means faith is in charge, not feelings. Faith is in charge, not feelings. I'm sewing with anticipation, even though I'm having a hard time even believing as possible. I'm getting in this spot. I'm showing up for this task.

I was going for a song right the other day and I didn't feel like going, and I said, I start saying out loud, good things happen when I show up. Good things happen when I show up, saying I love. Good things happen when I show up. Now say this, nothing good happens when I sleep in. Good things happen when I show up. You keep hiding your talents in the ground. You know why you do that because you don't really believe that God has joy to give you.

You don't rebelieve it. In the Parable of the Talents in Matthew twenty five, there was a man who had five talents that were given to him. That's like a bag of gold, a measure of money. The one that had five talents to give went out, invested it, doubled it, turned it to ten. The master was like, that's good. Now, here's what's crazy. To another, he gave two talents. The dude with the two talents had every right to say to the master, according to our human view, where's my

other three? But instead of doing that lies something that well, I think it's a cultural lesson that needs to be spoken. And jealousy is the enemy of joy. Right, I don't need anybody else to tell me I'm blessed. If I have peace and contentment in my heart with God, I am blessed. I love Abby because it's hard to compliment her, not because she's like insecure. It's the opposite. She's like, oh, I know years you look you look good today, Abby, Oh, I know, Like is this good Lord? That? Ain't the

ring this in a little bit. It's like, no, I don't. I don't want her to need somebody else to tell her what she is. Shout, I know. The Psalmist said, then the nations will say, the Lord has done great things for us, And the Salma said, the Lord has

has done great things for us. Whether you like my post or not, whether you like my car or not, whether you see my value or not, whether you think I'm worth calling back or not, whether you like my ministry or not, whether you think I know God or not, whether you agree with my decision to pull aside and get my heart right or not, whether you want to go the next mile with me or not. The Lord has been good to me. I don't need anybody to tell me that. I already know the joy of the

Lord is my strength. I know. So the next time somebody tells you, oh, you're so good at that, you don't have to say it out loud. But let it be the cherry. Don't even let it be the icing, let alone the cake, because you need to know in your soul that God's hand is on me to do what I do, and what I do I do well, and who I am I am fully. And when the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion are like those who dream. Our mouths were filled with laughter, and our tongues with

songs of joy. When you fill your tongue with praise, it floods your heart with faith, and then you can sew with tears. You can do it regardless of the mood that you're in. And the man with the two talents turned his two into four. And the Master called him back, and he said, this is Matthew twenty five. I think we could show this to you. You entrusted

me with two bags, I have gained two more. And for all of y'all that think that God is like your most cantankerous relative at the family reunion, look at the next verse. What Jesus said, God is like his master replied, well done, good and faithful servant. Huh wait a minute, the other guy with five he gave you ten, only gave you four. Disappointed in me? No, no no, no, no no, I only hold you responsible for what I

gave you. See now, I'll just set you free from a lot of misery right there, didn't I you wish you were a little bit taller. You wish you were a baller, and you're not. My biceps and never looked like that. God gave me different fibers. I'm doing good with my fibers. I'm gonna maximize my fibers. And then something we're so surprised to find in the Bible. We mean, we got to go somewhere else for this. We think we come to God for holy and go to the

world for happy. Look what the Master said, when you do what God gave you to do. You have been faithful with a few things. I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share in your Master's happiness. You mean God is happy, that's good news. A lot of Christians tiptoeing around church like dad's in a bad mood again. A lot of us running around like the older son in the prodigal star saying I'm slaving for

you God, Okay, I'll do it. No one notices you weren't supposed to do it to be noticed to begin with, God knows, and your Father, who sees what has done in secret, will reward you openly. So I just want to teach you today that to really get to this place that you've been praying about, it's gonna take some new patterns. And sometimes that will mean I am crying

while I am carrying. It means I will take the seed with me into my day and I will sow it in contradiction and defiance to every dry place in my life. You want to do the work or do you want to wait on the faith fairy to put peace under your pillow? And how in the world am I gonna pray about something like God give me my joy back if I am not willing to sow into

the very thing that I am asking for. I want to talk about this I want to go through in the next few weeks, and I want to talk about the difference between watch this supernatural happiness that comes from God and can't be taken away by the world, that lasts, that permeates and that makes a difference and the shallow, superficial stuff that will end up costing us everything that we have in the pursuit of realizing that we don't

even want it when we get it. And so you're like, well, a pastor, you share some pretty I'm gonna be honest, some pretty disturbing stuff, saying that you were not happy coming to preach and all that, and you weren't very happy, just like I have to go to the gym every day to keep my body resembling something that I can feel good about and feel good in. I got to go to God every day to get my joy where it needs to be. You worked out one time in twenty thirteen, and you think you're going to be in

shape for the rest of your life. And emotionally, we're so weird we want to break through, but the Lord said it's going to be hard work. Now. The interesting thing about sowing in tears and reaping in joy, because the Bible makes the connection. See it says those who sow with tears, who press past the pain of what they feel into the purpose that God is accomplishing, which maybe where God has you right now, I'm doing the hard work to stop blaming other people for where you're at.

I got home the other day and the toilet was broken before I left, and I told everybody not to use it. And I got home and the only two of our kids that were there because me and Abby and Holly were gone. The only two of our kids that were there were Elijah and Graham. And I went to use that toilet and it was filled not with the joy of the Lord, but it was still all right. I gotta clarify. Oh, I lost it, y'all. I lost

it because I told y'all not to use it. And I was mad at first, but not crazy mad, but mad. Who did this? Who did this? You know, like the Bible says a man came and sold tears among the wheat? Who did this? And I texted Elijah, you did me dirty, because he was there when I found out the toilet was broken, so it had to be him that forgot

and used it. He said, I'm so sorry for what you're dealing with right now, because I said, it smells like a sewer down here, and I don't know how many days this has been down here, but it's been. I think you did it. The first day I left and you left it. He said, Dad, I promise it wasn't me. I'm sorry for what you're going through. I'm here for you in any way you need me to be here for you. But as it was not me and he wasn't there, and Graham was there, so Graham

felt the rat. I said, there's only one left. If it wasn't him, it was you. Graham said it wasn't me. I said, oh, we got a mystery pooper just breaking through the window, just sitting on the toilet, just coming through the back, kicking down the door and using the toil. This is great, this is great. Kind of stole my joy for a minute. But when they came out with

the plumber. So what happened was I went out in the yard a few days later, after the case of the mystery toilet abuse her and I smelled something in the yard and I saw some water on the ground, and I saw a light on something that looked like a tank. And I realized that I was walking around looking for who did it. And the plumber confirmed my suspicion.

The pump is broken. And it became to me a parable, a parable of the mystery true that you can run around blaming people for crap for however much longer you want. To Come on, y'all, I'm back. I'm back. I'm back, I'm back. I'm back. I'm happy to be back because

I gotta fix this at the pump. I gotta fix this at the palm, and I gotta be willing to get in my heart and say, you know what, Lord, there are some things in me right now in this season of my life that if I don't dig through this and sow through this and cry through this in process through this, I'm gonna always stay at the surface, settling for a high but never really being happy, trying to look like a hero but never being happy, having

another baby, naming an asher, but never really being happy. And the invitation is here, Come and share in your masters happiness. Consider Jesus, who, for the joy set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame. Now stand up. If God has done great things for you, are you filled with joy today? I think that's a decision that you make in the dry places. And I think whether you sow in these tears in this season of your life determines whether you will carry sheaves of grain home in

the next. It doesn't happen in the same day. You don't carry home sheaves the same day. You so see, and that's why God gave you the Holy Spirit for these in between spaces, for these Negev deserts, that we all find ourselves here. I'm home, but I'm not happy. I've accomplished some things, and God has done some things. But honestly, my pump is broken. And so let this day be a day of declaration. It's no more was it you? Was it you? Is it? This? Is it that?

If I had, then I will stop and let this psalm of a sin be the declaration of your life. When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dreamed. Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy. Then it was set among the nations the Lord has done great things for them. The Lord has done great things for us. Will you make that declaration? Maybe even lift your hands, Yeah, yeah, yeah, just do that. Let your ass to say, the Lord

has done great things for me. In spite of all that the enemy did to try to take me out. The Lord has done great things for me. Look at me. Stop taking the great things for granatt it it's here, it's now. It's not gonna be one day. It's here, it's now, and it's in you. The joy of the Lord is our strength. Would you tell at least seven people God has done great things for me in my life. God has done great things for me. Put it online, put it in the chat if you can. God has

done great things for me. Now, let's listen up a happy shall come on, let's left up a happy shout? Why are not bay? Well? If you enjoyed today's podcast, there are a couple of things I'd love for you to do. Make sure to subscribe, rate, and review this podcast. You can also help us reach others by investing today at Elevation Church dot org, slash give and thanks again for joining us on the Elevation Podcast.