Series: AM I HAPPY (week 2 of 4) – March 14, 2010

Fun/Funny:

This past Sunday we introduced our new monthly “crazy announcements” section with “Sundae Announcements with Megan and Haley.”  Basically they made sundae’s on each other’s head as they gave announcements (whipped cream, chocolate and caramel sauce, cookies, sprinkles, etc).  Yeah it was pretty funny.  I’ll put up a video soon.

Overview:

Can our accomplishements or successes bring us happiness?  Will getting all A’s on a report card?  Will excelling in sports?

Notes:

We spent some time looking at two different people from the Bible and how they viewed success.

The first person was the Apostle Paul – prior to putting his faith in Jesus his view of success was all about the things he did (Philippians 3:4-6).  But then his world was rocked by Jesus and everything changed.  He later realized that all of his “things” or so called accomplishments were worthless compared to knowing Jesus (Philippians 3:7-9).  He actually called them garbage or worthless.  The Greek word he used for garbabe could also be translated dung or poop.  That is how he viewed success compared to knowing Jesus.  No Comparison!

The second person was Jesus – many people view Jesus as a great success, but in reality Jesus viewed himself as a servant.  Philippians 2:7-8 says, “(Jesus) made himselfe nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness…he humbled himself and became obedient to death – even death on a cross!”  The very next verse begins by saying “Therefore God exalted him to the highest place.”  Jesus was a great success not because he did miracles…not because he fed over 5000 people with a small boy’s lunch…not becasue he raised Lazarus from the dead and so on.  He was a great success because he was obedient to God.

Final Thought:

In reality our accomplishments and successes can’t bring us true happiness.  They don’t last.  They can actually get in the way of what’s important.  True happiness or better yet JOY can only be found in Knowing Jesus and being obedient to His call on our lives.

How well do you measure up to “Knowing Jesus?”  Are you being obedient to God’s call on your life? 

Up Next: AM I HAPPY – Appearances (week 3 of 4)