Many want to talk about joy and happiness, but today we go to God's encouraging Word with today's message, God's Prescription for a Happy Person. Today Dr. Don Wilton, well-known author, evangelist, pastor, seminary professor, as a matter of fact his latest book on Dr. Billy Graham is available right now at TEWonline.org, is going to teach us today's message, God's Prescription for a Happy Person.
I want you to take your Bibles this morning and turn with me to Psalm 1, Psalm 1. One of the things that gets to my heart, perhaps as much as anything does, is when I encounter an unhappy person. Do you know anyone this morning who is unhappy? And I should imagine that there's hardly a week that goes by that I don't come into contact with somebody that's unhappy. You know, unhappiness finds its expression in many different ways. Some people wear their unhappiness on the outside. You can tell that they're unhappy. They don't have to tell you anything, they just are unhappy. Of course, some of them tell you that they're unhappy, that's another way you would know. But some people are just unhappy. They are unhappy, there's no other way to describe it. Some people wear their unhappiness on the inside. They seem to have an unusual capability of being able to do the right thing at the right time, smile at the right time, put on the right look for the appropriate occasion, but on the inside they're unhappy. I know a number of people like that. I know some teenagers like that.
I know some older folks like that. On the inside they are desperately unhappy, even though you wouldn't necessarily know that looking at them on the outside. I wish that God could give me some kind of power, which He doesn't, but I wish that I had the power or the ability to walk up to people and say, I hereby give you happiness.
What is the solution to the predicament? Well God talks about it here in Psalm 1. I want to read about it. Psalm 1 and verse 1, and as we looked at last week, we looked at God's portrait of a happy person, and we basically did an exegesis of the first three verses, and particularly verse 3. We focused in on verse 3. What does God tell us that a happy person looks like? What is the capability and the capacity, according to God's scheme of things, concerning my blessedness? And of course, we discussed really the meaning of this word blessedness, because the word happy has become so loosely associated with all the kinds of wrong things. The Bible talks about blessedness and happiness. We're talking about an interconnectedness with the Lord Jesus Christ, who gives to us everything that is available to His own Son. We come into union. We are fused in one with Christ Jesus.
Well, let's read about it. Verse 1 of Psalm 1, blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers, but rather his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither, and whatever he does prospers, not so the wicked. They are like chaff that the wind blows away. Therefore, the wicked will not stand in the judgment nor sinners in the seat or the assembly of the righteous, for the Lord watches over the way of the righteous.
But the way of the wicked will perish. Now I've got a question that I have to ask of myself. It's one thing for God to tell me what the portrait of a happy person is, but how do I become such a person? What do I need to do? And so this morning I want to speak to you from God's Word on God's prescription for a happy person. Last week we looked at God's picture of a happy person, and I know that I've got a goal out there. I've got something for which to work and strive in my Christian faith, but how do I actually get there? What do I need to do? Now we're going to notice something remarkable here, because in Psalm 1, God's Word says that there are basically only two things that I need to do.
Now can you imagine that? You know, sometimes when I get real sick and I go to the doctor's office and I say, Doc, what do I need to do? And he says, here's what you need to do, number one, number two, number three, number four, number five.
And then he writes me a prescription and I go to the pharmacy and I go and get whatever I need and I begin to take the correct medicine according to the prescription of the one who knows what I need in order to get better. Well God here has written a prescription, but He basically says everything revolving around two fundamental issues. And so today I want to take note of that because God says to me, Don Wilton, if you want a prescription for genuine happiness in Christ Jesus, if you want to be a complete person, if you want to experience complete joy and satisfaction, you want to be the kind of person that you know that you can be because of what God intends you to be, here's the two things that you need to do. Number one, repent and number two, delight. We find these here in verses one and two, but I want to look at that word repent.
That's the first instruction and it's implied in verse one in what God says. Most of us sitting here are saying, oh, come on now, we're going to talk about repentance again. Yes, I know what repentance is, it's telling God that you're sorry. Listen folks, what God's word is showing us here is that if we want to become complete people, and if we want to appropriate the completeness and the fullness of everything that God has in store for us, we must repent by virtue of the changed heart that we're willing to undergo and experience.
And here in verse one, God's word describes for us the meaning of repentance within the context of our completeness. What does it mean? It means that I must undergo a changed heart. Now folks, watch me.
Everybody watch me here because I'm going to come to this in a big way in just a moment. You're saying to me today, pastor, what must I do in this life? The Bible says that you need a change of attitude. You've got to go through a change of heart, and it begins with your relationship with Jesus Christ, otherwise nothing else is going to make any sense. You see, repentance means that I have been walking in this direction, and I'm going to make a deliberate choice to turn around and walk away in the opposite direction with God being the one who's going to give me the ability to do that. If I'm going to become happy and blessed, if I'm going to appropriate the very best of what God wants of me, I need to be a person who is about a heart change.
In what way? I need a change of heart about where I get my advice from. Look at verse one, blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked. Folks listen to me. I met a lady two weeks ago, I think it was, spoke to me here in Spartanburg, and she had a lot of problems, and I said to her, I said to her, well, I want you to know that I want to help you in any way. She said, well, don't worry, pastor, I'm going to a counselor. I said, well, good, I'm very grateful.
Listen folks, there are many, many wonderful, godly, God-called Christian counselors. I said, who are you going to? Well, she told me, and I just happened to know this man's reputation, because I've dealt with this before. And I looked at her in the face and I said to her, my dear friend, do you love the Lord Jesus Christ? She said yes. I said, how long have you been going to this man?
She said for over a year now. I said, it's no wonder that you're still in such pieces. It's no wonder that you're still so unhappy. How can you go to an ungodly person and expect to get godly counsel? Folks, where do we go for counsel today? We go to television sets. We consult horoscopes and Ouija boards. We hang around in corners and dark places.
We listen to what people are telling us about video poker, that it's going to make a difference to education, and we take all this kind of hype and drama that is being put out across our people, and we find ourselves gravitating toward all the things that are nothing more and nothing less than ungodly. And what God says is, listen, if you want to be a complete and a whole and a happy person, you need to have a change of heart about where you go to get advice. Be careful. Be careful. The world is filled with people who are going to give you the wrong advice.
But He takes it further there. He says you've also got to have a change of heart about where you spend your time. You're going to have happiness in your life, folks. You've got to repent. You've got to have a change of heart. You've got to turn away from. You've got to alter your behavior. You've got to do something practical about it. Otherwise you are never going to get out of that pitfall.
I will guarantee you. And what God says here is that you must have a change of heart about where you spend your time. Watch what He says.
Blessed or complete or happy is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners. Here's the question. Now this is a very, this is a searching question. Where did you spend your time last night? What were you doing last night? Where did you go last night?
Where were you this past week? God's Word says you want a prescription for God's happiness and completeness. You need to have a change of heart, not only about where you go to get counsel and advice, but you need to have a complete change of heart about where you are spending your time. Do not stand in the way of sinners. And then number three He says you and I need to have a change of heart about whom we associate with. Look what He says there in the third place. He says, or sit in the seat of mockers.
I want all our teenagers to watch me, all the young people. And I will guarantee you there's going to be at least one person here today, or one of the thousands upon thousands listening and worshiping by way of television today who are going to say, oh goodness me, there he goes again. If I've got to hear that statement one more time, I'm going to scream.
I don't want to hear this any more time, so let me just say it one more time. I will guarantee you, young people, I will guarantee you that if you hang around with young people who are about the business of ungodly, unwholesome behavior, if they are young people who use four-letter words all the time, their conversation is about what they're going to do to the girl next door all the time, their conversation is ugly, it is unwholesome. The places they go, the things they read, the places they frequent, I am going to guarantee you that you are writing yourself a prescription for guaranteed unhappiness.
Now you can wash that any way you want to. You hang around with the wrong company. God's Word says you will not be a blessed man or woman. You cannot be happy as a person if you do not have a change of heart about the company you keep. Don't do it. I've heard young people say to me, man, listen, I just can't seem to get away from my friends. Some of you young men sitting here watching, and some of you young people talking right now, the same thing applies.
Exactly the same thing. This is not a joke. I am dead serious.
And the reason some of you are laughing about it is because you think it's a joke. And I'm going to tell you something, folks. If you hang around with the wrong company, you are going to be dragged into the mud. It's going to happen.
It's going to happen. Well, pastor, how do I become a happy person? How am I complete? God's Word says repent. Most Christian people say, oh, I've heard all that before. God says let me tell you what I'm talking about. I'm talking about a real change of a heart.
I'm talking about a change of heart about where you get your advice from and where you spend your time and who you associate with. But God says I'm going to take it much further than that. You not only need to repent, but you need to delight. See that word there in verse 2? But here's delight.
I love this one. I love this word, delight. You know what the word delight is? It means that it's not just a change of heart about where I've been, but it is a changing of the God in terms of where I'm going. It means I don't only let go of this, but I pick up that. It means I'm not just turning my back on this, I'm being proactive.
I'm making a decision that this is where I'm going to be. It doesn't mean that I just turn my back on godly friends. It means that I turn toward godly friends. It doesn't just mean that I stop frequenting these places that break me down. It means that I turn toward and I begin to participate in things that are going to build me up.
That's what it means. That's delight. Forgive the interruption. We'll be back with the rest of today's message from Dr. Don Wilton on God's prescription for a happy person in just a moment. But if you just tuned in or perhaps want to hear the entire message again, you can hear it on our website right now at TEWonline.org. Not only can you hear this message, but also see video messages from the pastor. We feel like it's a powerful resource for growing in Christ. It's the website called TEWonline.org and we at The Encouraging Word would love to meet you there online. Now back to today's message with Dr. Don Wilton. This is where I want to be.
That's my delight. God says, listen, it's not a matter of just having a change of heart and moving away. It is turning that around and translating that into a marvelous delight in the Lord Jesus. Well let's put this into some kind of practical perspective.
What does this mean in practice? Number one. Number one. You want to be happy? Give your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's step number one. Folks, there are people today worshiping with us right now. You don't know the Lord Jesus Christ. I know some people like that, some people who've grown up in the church. I know some people who've grown up as preacher's kids. They can talk the talk, but they don't know Jesus. They don't know happiness, they haven't got it.
Everything has become a smokescreen, critical of everybody else and anything else, fighting through life, desperately unhappy. Give your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ. Number two, second step, become a disciple maker. Become a disciple maker. Folks, that's what we're all about. Have you ever wondered what the goal of our church in all of our ministries is? We've talked about it many times. We are a disciple making church.
That is our goal. Who is a disciple maker? A disciple maker is a disciple who has grown in the faith to the point at which he or she is about the business of making disciples out of other people.
You have in turn matured in your faith so that you are now teaching others and you are now giving to others. I am a disciple maker, not just because I'm the pastor, but because in my faith I have begun to grow in the knowledge and admonition of the Lord Jesus and that qualifies me to stand and to teach and to help others as others help me. Disciple makers help one another. You need to resolve today, say, listen, I've given my heart to Jesus Christ, I'm a disciple. I follow Jesus, but today I resolve that I'm going to be a disciple maker. I want to be a teacher of others. And if you're going to be a disciple maker, you therefore need to subject yourself to the disciplines and opportunities afforded to you in a church like this.
You need to be availing yourself of the opportunity to study the Word of God whenever you can so you can grow in the grace and knowledge and admonition of the Lord Jesus Christ. Friend, listen to me, this ought never to be an option as far as you're concerned. It's a mandate. It's something we must do.
We don't have an option in this regard. Become a disciple maker. Number three, choose happiness. I'm going to put number three and number four together. How's that? Choose happiness. And number four, cultivate the habit.
I want to put both of those together. This past Friday my wife and I went to go and visit several people in the community and folks who had been sick. One of the homes we went to was the home of Mr. and Mrs. Pardon, precious people in our church and we were in their home and I noticed a little kind of frame that was sitting there in their living room and the frame said this, it said, happiness is a habit, cultivate it. Now folks listen, number one, if you want to be happy, choose to be happy.
You cannot do it if you don't know the Lord, by the way, it's not going to work. You cannot choose to be happy outside of God's scheme of things. But number one, choose to be happy.
What does that mean? It means that every day you get up and you say, I'm going to be happy. Have you ever met people who just choose to be unhappy? And once you've chosen happiness, you need to cultivate it, very much like we would go and plant a plant in our yard and put fertilizer in it and cultivate it and work it up and it grows up into the kind of plant and the flower that we want in our yard. So it is folks, the Bible says that we need to be in the business of cultivating the happiness of our lives. In other words, we need to be deliberately about the business of fertilization and of association with the things that are going to make us grow to be strong and healthy. You've got to cultivate happiness.
You've got to be deliberate. On Friday night, later on, Karen and I stopped by Mr. Ron Wells. How much we love you, Ron.
Thank the Lord for you so much. You go and visit Ron Wells and you just come out there, the blessed one. You know Ron Wells, Steve, what is it? He's writing a new musical entitled Moses with Teresa.
And I tell you, when I go and visit Ron Wells, he shares little snippets with me because I think he's got a faint inkling that I'm going to be doing this for the next several years. And he's got a song that he's written to describe the children of Israel wandering around the wilderness for forty years. You know what they did when they wandered around? They grumbled here, they grumbled there, they grumbled everywhere. I mean they were grumblers. You want to hear this song, folks.
I said, Ron, I can just see Tony and yesterday's teens and Steve Skinner singing Grumble Grumble Grub. People are going to crack up when they hear this. But you know something?
It's true. Folks, watch me. How many of you today can say, honestly, I'm a grumbler? No, don't raise your hand.
Have you ever met a grumbler, grumble grumble grumble man? You give them eggs up this way, they want them that way. And so you give it that way, no, they want it this way.
People who just don't—listen, folks, if you're going to choose happiness and cultivate the habit, don't be a grumbler. Make a decision. Don't go through life backwards.
Don't tunnel underground and move through everything in reverse gear. It's not good for you. Stop it. Stop it.
Stop it. Stop complaining. Stop moaning about everything.
It's what I love about this church. We don't have moaners and grumblers in this church. We don't allow moaning and grumbling.
It's not on. We share opinions. We don't moan and grumble. Don't grumble. Don't grumble about your home and your children.
Don't grumble about your motor car and don't grumble about your food and moan and complain. Don't do it. Make a decision. Say, listen, I'm not going to do—I choose happiness. I'm going to cultivate this habit.
I'm going to turn around. I don't want to live like this. Number five, strive to be happy, to be healthy, I beg your pardon. Strive to be healthy.
And how we long to be healthy, both physically, emotionally, and spiritually. You've been listening to Dr. Don Wilton as he's been preaching from Psalm 1 on God's prescription for a happy person. But I pray you'd open your heart, not to just his preaching, but he steps into the studio now to share his heart. Are you ready to give your heart and life to the Lord Jesus Christ? Why don't you pray this prayer with me right now? Dear God, I know that I'm a sinner, and I know that Jesus died for me on the cross. Today, I repent of my sin, and by faith, I receive you into my heart. In Jesus' name, my friend, I welcome you today into the family of God.
This is exciting news. Perhaps today, as you were praying along in your heart with Dr. Don Wilton, you've given your life to Christ for the very first time or rededicated your life. You need to know we would love to stand with you to pray for you. We have great resources that we'll put in your hands absolutely free if you'll call this number, 866-899-WORD.
That's 866-899-9673. As a matter of fact, we would love to connect with you online as well. If you'd rather use your keyboard, meet us at www.tewonline.org, and let's talk about what God's doing in your life. And Dr. Don Wilton would love to pray for you.
His email is don at tewonline.org, simply don at tewonline.org. It's a privilege of ours to pray for you corporately, but Dr. Don also enjoys to pray for you, and if God's working in your life, let him know, and let us know how we can be a support for you, how we can encourage you. As a matter of fact, that phone number to get your free resources, 866-899-WORD, is more than just a resource line. Psalm 17 says, I call on you, my God, for you will answer me. Turn your ear to me and hear my prayer. The Encouraging Word has a 24-hour live prayer line. You can call 866-899-WORD, that's 866-899-9673, and talk to a real person who will be glad to pray with you. The Encouraging Word is a viewer and listener supported ministry. Thank you for listening today. Our time's gone, but let's stay connected online as well at tewonline.org. That's tewonline.org. We would love to encourage you.
Whisper: medium.en / 2023-09-16 12:37:29 / 2023-09-16 12:47:48 / 10