You're listening to A New Beginning with Greg Laurie, a podcast made possible by Harvest Partners, helping people everywhere know God.
Visit our website and learn more about Harvest Partners at harvest.org. Today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie helps hungry believers find what they're starving for. It's time to feed our souls. Do you starve for a holy life? Do you hunger for God's best for you?
If so, you can take practical steps to get it. It seems holiness and happiness are now considered opposites. When someone is reverent or pious or devoted, most don't expect to see a smile on their face.
They expect a serious, somber look of concern and stillness. But Christians should be the happiest people on the planet. Today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie helps us see the biblical basis for happiness. It revolves around the word blessed, a term we see repeatedly in the Sermon on the Mount. God wants you to be happy because He tells us that in Scripture. He tells us that over and over again that this happiness is something that He wants us to experience in a relationship with us.
Why? Because the word blessed is another word for happy. They're interchangeable words. So when we use the word blessed, as we will use in a moment in the Beatitudes, you can just take that word out and put in the word happy. So really the theme of the Beatitudes, which is the point of entry into the Sermon on the Mount, is happiness.
How you can be happy if you will do these things. Let's read Matthew 5, starting in verse 2. Then He opened His mouth and taught them, 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 after 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 sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake.
Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets that were before you. So blessed are these people. Now how different the Beatitudes are from modern culture.
If the Beatitudes are rewritten for culture today, they would go along these lines. Blessed are the beautiful, for they shall be admired. Blessed are the wealthy, for they will have it all. Blessed are the popular, for they will be loved. Blessed are the famous, for they shall be followed. But that is not what Jesus says.
He starts with a bombshell. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Let me say it another way. Happy are the poor in spirit. Now what does that mean?
There is a lot of misunderstanding about this. To be poor in spirit is to recognize one's spiritual poverty apart from God. It's to see your spiritual poverty. To recognize the simple fact that apart from the Lord, you're lost, you're helpless, and you're hopeless. Apart from Christ, everyone is spiritually destitute.
You want to be happy? Admit your true spiritual state. Blessed is the person that sees themself as they really are, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. That's Beatitude number one. Beatitude number two, verse four.
Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. So point number two, happy people are unhappy people. Does that make any sense? Happy people are unhappy people. Or another way to put it, happy are the unhappy. You say, well that makes no sense at all. I mean either you're happy or you're unhappy.
No. Before you can truly be happy, you have to first be unhappy. You have to see a real state before God. Sinful. You have to mourn over that state. And by the way, the word that is used here for mourn, blessed are they that mourn, is the most severe of nine Greek words that are used for grief in Scripture. And it's reserved for mourning the dead. And this verse applies in principle to all who mourn. So I've seen myself as I really am.
It's not the greatest discovery. It's a little scary to see what a sinner I really am. So I'm sorry for that. I cry out to God. I mourn over my condition and now I'm going to find comfort. Warren Wiersbe, one of my favorite commentators, said this and I quote, It is as wrong to mourn when God has forgiven us as it is wrong to rejoice when sin has conquered us. End quote. So it's one thing to recognize I'm spiritually bankrupt.
I'm poor in spirit. It's another to grieve and mourn over it. And that's the last thing some people want to do. Listen, better to mourn now and laugh later than to laugh now and mourn later.
Let me say that again. Better to mourn now and laugh later than to laugh now and mourn later. Some people are laughing it up and they shouldn't be because they're living in sin. They'll say let's go out and have a few drinks and have a few laughs. And you know if you ever watch people who start drinking, they start laughing about nothing. They just have a drink, another drink, third drink, and pretty soon they're just laughing at everything.
They're just laughing and laughing, really not even knowing what they're laughing about. In fact, Ecclesiastes, that was written by Solomon, he went on a sin binge trying everything that this world has to offer. And he wrote in Ecclesiastes 2, 1, I said let's give pleasure a try. Let's look for the good things in life.
But I found that was meaningless. And then he says it's silly to be laughing all the time. What good is it to seek only pleasure? That's some people, they're just laughing and laughing and laughing and they should be mourning and mourning over their condition. But when you really mourn for your condition and repent of it, now you can experience the true happiness that God wants you to experience.
Let me ask you this. Have you ever shed a tear over a sin in your own life? Have you ever done something you were ashamed of and wept over it and said, God I'm sorry. I'm sorry I did that thing.
I'm ashamed I did that thing. That can be a good thing because that mourning will produce tangible results because 2 Corinthians 7 says godly sorrow will produce repentance. So blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted or as I said blessed are the unhappy for they shall become happy because they've admitted their sin and now they're turning from their sin and they're calling out to God.
Step number three. Beatitude number three. So blessed happy are the poor in spirit. The person who sees themself as they are. Blessed happy is the person who's mourned over their spiritual condition.
Now number three. A happy person will be a meek person. A happy person will be a meek person. Look at verse 5. Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth.
Seeing myself as I am produces a vital spiritual quality. Meekness. We don't hear a lot about meekness today.
It's not celebrated but it's really important. And God says you can be blessed if you're a meek person. What does that mean? I'm no longer inflated with pride. I've seen my real condition so I'm meek. By the way it's not the same to be weak and meek. Let's say you're a professional boxer and you could punch out anyone. You could hit them and they wouldn't get up again. And let's say someone is harassing you and you don't hit them back.
Though you could hit them back and if you did hit them back they may not get up from it. And you choose to not strike back even though they're mistreating you. That's not weakness. That's meekness. Now let's say you're a skinny little dude and you have no fighting skills at all. And someone is harassing you and you don't hit back. That's just because you're a weak wimp.
That's why. So you don't really have a lot of options. But the person who knows how to fight they have an option. So they choose not to exercise that option. That's meekness.
It means power under constraint. In fact the word that is used here for meekness is a word that describes the breaking of a powerful stallion. Have you ever been on a horse that didn't want to do what you wanted it to do? How many of you ride horses?
Yeah. I like horse power. I like to pull that throttle. And I like when I hit that break that thing stops. Ok. That's called a motorcycle. But if you're on a horse.
Hey you can use all your commands but they may not listen. I've told you this story before. The preacher and his horse. How many of you have heard this? The preacher and his horse. Most of you haven't heard it.
Ok. There's the preacher. And he had a horse. And he knew that to make the horse go you say giddy up and to stop you say whoa.
And he thought well that's not spiritual. I'm going to say instead of giddy up I'm going to say praise the Lord. So when I say praise the Lord the horse goes. And then when I want him to stop instead of saying whoa I'll say hallelujah. So he's out riding along and the horse got spooked and he's running at full gallop now toward the edge of a cliff. The preacher is like whoa whoa what's the word for whoa. Well glory to God horse is still running. Thank you Jesus horse is still running. What's the word for stop for whoa. Hallelujah the horse stops right at the edge. Right at the edge.
Pebbles going over the side. Preacher wipes his browns. Praise the Lord. How many of you have heard that for the first time.
Oh you see sometimes it's a good thing to pull out the old jokes. Right. So that horse if he submits to you if the horse submits to the will of the rider that's called meekness. So what this means is I'm surrendering myself to the will of God. That's meekness.
Blessed happy are the meek. How different this is than culture. In the Bible the last is first. Giving is receiving. Dying is living.
Losing is finding. Least is greatest. Weakness is strength. Let me say that again.
In the Bible everything is sort of the opposite. Last is first. Giving is receiving. Dying is living. Losing is finding. Least is greatest. Weakness is strength.
It's meekness. Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment. It's a joy to hear when these studies have truly impacted lives.
Listen to these comments from one of our listeners. Hi Pastor Greg. In the last year because of the pandemic I was furloughed from a job that I was absolutely passionate about. I work at a university as a coach with young adults who have very little knowledge of God, yet I was not doing what God wanted me to do. I was just going through the motions of being a Christian and not utilizing the position God put me in. I've been a Christian most of my life, but this has been a very lonely year and I know that it's because I have strayed from God, but because of your lessons on the radio I finally received the wake up call I needed and am getting back into reading the Bible and devoting my life to Jesus. Thank you Pastor Greg for your passion and wisdom. I've been rejuvenated as a Christian and I look forward to listening to more of your lessons. It's a blessing to know that listeners are hearing these messages and God is using his word to touch hearts. How have Pastor Greg studies impacted your life? Would you let him know? Drop an email to Greg at harvest dot org. That's Greg at harvest dot org. Well today we're studying the Sermon on the Mount and Pastor Greg is pointing out how meekness is one of the keys to living a happy life.
Let's continue. Joseph is a classic example of meekness. Remember he was betrayed by his brothers, sold as a slave, and through God's providence he was elevated to become the second most powerful man in all of Egypt in charge of the food supply. His brothers thought he was dead. One day a famine came in the land and the brothers went to Egypt. They were Jews to get some food.
And there is Joseph looking at them. They didn't recognize him anymore because he didn't look like a Hebrew with long hair and a beard. He probably had a shaved head.
The eyeliner. He walked like an Egyptian. Whatever.
You know. But they didn't recognize him and certainly they didn't think he was even living. And as he looked at his brothers he could have given one command with a snap of his finger and they would have all been put to death. But instead he forgave them. That was meekness.
Power under constraint. And the meekest man that ever walked the face of the earth was Jesus Christ himself. He was the meekest of all.
But now let me also ask this. Who was the strongest man that ever walked the face of the earth? Jesus Christ. No one was stronger.
This is the Creator in human form. He could have spoken his enemies out of existence. Do you think he had to submit himself to Pontius Pilate? Pilate the powerful Roman governor who could sentence him to death.
Jesus could have said, you know you are getting on my nerves. You are dead. They have been over with. Get them walked out of there.
What a joke. One occasion they tried to throw him off of a cliff. Remember that story? And Jesus walked right through the middle of them. He is like, yeah I am not going to go off a cliff today. I am going to go right through here.
You are going to get out of my way. But he controlled that power and submitted and laid himself down and gave up his rights. Not his divinity.
But he laid his rights aside. He suffered for us and died on the cross. And Jesus said of himself in Matthew 11 29, I am meek and lowly in heart. Now we come to beatitude number four. A happy person passionately desires a righteous life.
Let me say that again. A happy person desperately desires. Passionately desires a righteous life.
Verse 6. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled. When you are emptied of sin you are hungry for God. I don't know about you but I am not a good hungry person. I get irritable. I get headaches.
The first thing I think of in the morning when I wake up you think prayer. No. Food. I want food.
I am just being honest. I need food. My wife will go through half the day. I think I forgot to eat lunch.
I am like that is not even humanly possible. How do you forget to eat lunch? I am counting down the minutes to lunch.
Like I am serious. At 9 30 I am thinking how long to lunch. Oh I have to wait an hour and a half. I eat around 11 by the way.
Yeah I just have to hold out until 11 you know. And I am hungry. My stomach is growling. So when you are hungry for God the only thing that will satisfy you is God. And isn't it a great thing to be hungry for the Word of God. To be hungry to worship God. To be hungry to be with the people of God.
And when you say well I don't know I don't really feel like I need to read the Bible that much and I don't really desire to be in church. Well I am sorry for you because you are missing out because blessed are happy are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled. The psalmist was hungering and thirsting for righteousness when he said in Psalm 42 one is that dear thirst for the water brook so thirst my soul for you oh God my soul thirsts for the living God.
Listen to this. When the prodigal son was hungry he went to feed upon husks but when he was starving he turned to his father. Do you starve for a holy life? Do you hunger for God's best for you? If so you can take practical steps to get it.
So let's put it all together and conclude. Number one you must be poor in spirit. See yourself as you really are.
Recognize that this world system this culture will not satisfy you. The answer is not within. The problem is within. We are sinners in need of a Savior. Number two I must mourn for my sin. Be sorry for what I have done. Be sorry that I broke the commandments of God.
Be sorry enough to stop and turn to Jesus Christ. Number three as I believe I will have a change in attitude. Instead of arrogance there will be a new humility that comes from seeing things as they are and I am changed. And then fourthly and lastly I will have a new hunger and thirst for that which will satisfy me.
A hunger for God. You know my wife likes Indian food. How many of you like Indian food?
Yeah quite a few of you. I don't really like Indian food. I am sorry. I mean it is ok. I mean I like a lot of foods but I just I don't know. I just don't know what to order.
I am confused. And so she will order all these things because she you know she was raised a part of her childhood. She lived in Malaysia. She would eat all these exotic Asian foods and Indian food and I just you know I grew up here in California. I ate hamburgers, French fries in the mall.
That was it you know. And TV dinners. How many of you remember TV dinners? By the way you know my childhood goes back to the 50s. I remember TV dinners from the 50s. You don't even want to think about that. That was I don't even know if you could call that food.
And it wasn't much better in the 60s. But you know so I will go into an Indian restaurant with her every now and then. And I will just start ok. I will have some rice and some bread and can I get the chicken you know. And she is ordering all these other things. Tikka. This is acka wacka. I don't know.
I don't know what is happening. All I know is afterwards I am still hungry. And I want something to fill my stomach right. Sorry to use Indian food as this analogy.
Because it is really good food for some. But we can chase after all these things the world says will satisfy you. And we can learn this the hard way or the easier way.
And let me appeal for a moment to someone who is young. You know you say what do these people know. They don't know anything.
Yeah we know a few things. Because we have lived life. Don't find this out the hard way. Don't waste years of your life. You can miss a lot of misery. And you don't have to waste years of your life. I know people who have wasted decades of their life figuring this out the hard way.
People in their 50s who say oh I guess it is Jesus Christ. Yeah too bad you wasted most of your life. But thank God He will still forgive you. But oh it is so much better to discover this when you are young. I figured it out at the ripe old age of 17. And I got on a course that I have been on to this present day. And I have never regretted being on that course to follow Christ.
Not once. You chase after all these other things that won't satisfy you. But Christ will. He is the bread of life that will satisfy your spiritual hunger. He is the living water that will satisfy your spiritual thirst.
So I am going to close by asking this. Are you a happy person? If you want to be a happy person here is what the Bible says. Happy is the man or the woman whose sin is forgiven. When your sin is forgiven you will be happy. Sin is the big wall that keeps you separated from God. There is nothing you can do to break that wall down. You try to be a good person.
You try to do good work. You try to even be religious or spiritual. None of it changes that wall that is before you.
But the good news is Jesus the meekest man who ever lived died on the cross in your place. And that wall can be broken down now through Christ and you can have a relationship with God. And find that fulfillment that has eluded you throughout all of your life.
That happiness you have always wanted can be yours. And what you need to do is admit to God you are a sinner. Like old naming you have to peel off the armor. And you have to just say, Lord I am sorry for what I have done. I know it is wrong. I turn from that sin and put your faith in Jesus. And if you do that He will forgive you and give you a second chance in life if you are 17 or 70.
It doesn't matter. He will change you but you must reach out to Him. I am going to close in prayer and I am going to extend an invitation to any of you that have joined us who may not have this relationship with God we have been talking about. The Bible says whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. Saved from your sin. Saved from hell. Saved from a future judgment. Saved from yourself. Saved and safe. Let's all pray. Father thank you for your word to us. I pray for any here.
Any listening. Wherever they may be. If they don't know you Lord help this to be the moment where they would reach out to you and receive your forgiveness. In Jesus name we pray.
Amen. Pastor Greg Laurie with an important prayer about coming to the Lord to find forgiveness of sins. And if you'd like to do that Pastor Greg will help you in just a moment before today's edition of A New Beginning concludes. But if you missed any part of today's insight you can catch up by hearing the program again online at harvest.org.
Stream it while you're online or download an MP3. The title to look for is Happiness, What It Is, and How to Have It Part 1. You know Pastor Greg I'm looking at one of the two children's books we're making available from children's author Sally Lloyd-Jones called Near. Talking about how God is always near our child or grandchild. Really that's no small thing. That's talking about God's omnipresence.
Somehow God can be in heaven and at the same time he's with us. How do we bring those significant truths to kids in a way they can understand? Well we have to come down to their level. You know Jesus said unless we become as a child we cannot enter the kingdom of God. This does not mean we need to be childish but it means we should be childlike and there's a difference. Childlike means that you enter their world. You speak with words they understand.
Of course art and illustrations are very helpful at a time like this and these two resources that we're offering do just that. But a child needs to know that God is with them and they're not alone in life because they're things that scare children late at night. They have bad dreams and parents have them too. But it's always good to comfort them with the word of God and teach them to pray and teach them to call on the Lord. And this needs to start at the earliest age. You know both of my sons Christopher and Jonathan I started reading Bible stories to them when they were just little ones. Even before they could fully understand them and then they grew to love them and want to hear more of them. And I've done it with my grandchildren and it was very gratifying to see both of my sons do the same with their children and enter into these stories with the kids. And it's so important because you know Moses tells us that the responsibility of parents and specifically the father is to teach these things to your children when they get up in the morning.
When they lay their heads down in the bed at night and it's great to have a little help right. And so we have some great help to offer you. Two resources we're offering this month both by my friend Sally Lloyd-Jones a prolific and outstanding children's author.
One of them is called Near. It's a beautifully illustrated little book based on Psalm 139 showing the child that God is omnipresent. Which means he's present everywhere. God is with them wherever they go. The other resource is called Babies Carry Along Bible. This has outstanding packaging. A very heavy duty paper in the inside a hardcover beautiful illustrations with a little handle on it. So the little one can carry their Bible around the house or carry it with them when you go to church or wherever you go. And these are two resources that are going to be very effective with small children newborn to age four.
I highly recommend you order them for your kids or your grandkids for some of you maybe your great grandkids. And we'll rush you your own copy of Near and Babies Carry Along Bible written by Sally Lloyd-Jones for your gift of any size. So whatever you send to us here at Harvest we'll take those resources and use them to continue to reach out through our radio broadcast and our other ways that we reach people through television online etc. And bring the teaching of God's Word and the proclamation of the gospel.
So order your copy of this book by Sally Lloyd-Jones called Near and also her book Babies Carry Along Bible. Yeah that's right we have both of them here waiting for you. And we'll send both together to thank you for investing so Pastor Greg's teaching can continue coming your way each day.
We're so grateful for listener support. It's the only way we can make a new beginning available. So get in touch today with your donation and we'll send you Near and Babies Carry Along Bible to say thanks. And we won't be mentioning this much longer so contact us soon. Write A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, CA 92514. Or call 1-800-821-3300. We can take your call anytime 24-7. Again 1-800-821-3300.
Or go online to harvest.org. Well Pastor Greg you pointed out the importance of asking Jesus to forgive our sins a few moments ago. Could you help those who want to do that very thing right now? Yeah you know the Bible tells us that Jesus Christ stands at the door of our life and he knocks. And if any man will hear his voice and open the door he will come in. Maybe as you've heard me speak today, well you've heard another voice speaking to you.
It's the voice of God. And you realize you need Christ in your life. You need your sin forgiven. You want the assurance that you will go to heaven when you die.
Well here's what you need to do. You need to pray. And I would like to lead you in a prayer right now where you will be saying to Jesus, Lord come into my life I choose to follow you.
So let's pray. Lord Jesus, I know that I'm a sinner. But I thank you for dying on the cross for my sin. I turn from that sin now and I put my faith in you. Be my Lord, my Savior, and my God, and my friend. I choose to follow you Jesus from this moment forward.
Thank you for loving me and calling me and accepting me. In Jesus name I pray. Amen. Listen if you just prayed that prayer I want you to know on the authority of scripture that Christ himself has come into your life. The Bible says these things we write to you that believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life.
If you just prayed that prayer in minutes you can know today you have eternal life. And may I be the first to say to you welcome to the family of God. Yeah and we want to help you grow as a believer. Let us send you something called our New Believers Growth Packet. We'll send it free of charge if you prayed with Pastor Greg today. Just write A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, CA 92514. Or call us anytime 24-7 at 1-800-821-3300.
1-800-821-3300. Or just go online to harvest.org and click Know God. Well next time more insights on happiness and where it's found. As Pastor Greg continues his series from the Sermon on the Mount called Salt and Light. Join us here on A New Beginning with Pastor Greg Laurie. This is the day, the day when life begins. Hey everybody thanks for listening to A New Beginning. This is a podcast made possible by Harvest Partners. So for more content that can help you know God and equip you to make Him known to others. To learn more about how you can become a Harvest Partner just go to harvest.org
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