Grace Point Church - Topeka

What Makes You Happy: Part 5 - You’re Not Enough

 

We’re tempted to believe that happiness comes from acquiring things. But happiness is an outcome of what we sow in our lives. Knowing that truth is like paint in a can: it makes no difference until you apply it. Doing makes the difference—especially doing for others. You won’t be happy as long as you are all about you.

 

As long as you are all about you, you won’t be happy.

What Makes You Happy: Part 4 - Shoes

Have you ever watched someone else’s life and it was like watching a slow-motion car wreck? You can see self-inflicted pain headed in that person’s direction. You wonder how he or she doesn’t see it coming. Maybe you’ve been that person. Others tried to warn you, but you couldn’t see the danger that was so obvious to them. How does that happen? Why are we tempted to make decisions that hurt us in the long-run? The problem often stems from our confusion about the relationship between pleasure and happiness.

 

Prioritize happiness over pleasure, you’ll have both. Reverse it, you’ll have neither.

 

What Makes You Happy: Part 3 - Peace With God Happy people are at peace with God, themselves, and others. The three are connected… and they begin with God. Peace with God paves the way to peace with ourselves and equips us to make peace with others. But how do we find peace with God? It begins by faith in Christ and is sustained by submission to Christ.   Peace with God is possible because God has made peace with you.

What Makes You Happy: Part 2 - Plan For ItHave you ever heard, “God doesn’t want you to be happy; he wants you to be holy”? Too often we assume that happiness and holiness are mutually exclusive. We think we have to choose one or the other. We believe we can’t be both. The New Testament does teach that God wants us to be holy. But holiness and happiness don’t stand in opposition. It’s quite the contrary.

 

Happiness isn’t immediately accessible, you reap and sow your way to happy.

What Makes You Happy: Part 1 - NothingWhat makes you happy? Something comes to mind, right? Something comes to mind for all of us. We all daydream about a trouble-free life made possible by some thing: a job, a house, a car, a spouse, a child, a family, or a pile of money. But what if what makes you happy isn’t a what at all. What if it’s a who?  No “thing” can make you happy. The path to happiness begins with “who”.  

This is Us: Part 6 - MultiplierJohn 15:8, Acts 1:4-8, Matthew 28:18-20 When you hear the phrase "The Great Commission," what is your initial reaction? The tendency is to relegate the carrying out of this command to those who are "called," or perhaps to those of a certain personality type. But if we follow Christ, the command to make disciples applies to us all—to the introvert as well as to the extrovert; to the lawyer and the barista as well as to the pastor and the career missionary. Every follower of Jesus is called to live with gospel intentionality in a way that results in true multiplication.

 Who is following Christ by imitating me?

This Is Us: Part 5 - Giver

Luke 16:1-14 

A legacy is inherently something that reaches far beyond us, making an impact long after we're gone. So how do we approach the stewardship of our money in a way that leaves a lasting legacy? One of Jesus' parables actually shows us how leveraging our resources for eternity truly is the wisest course of action. If we believe that everything ultimately belongs to God, that radically changes how we handle everything we’ve been entrusted. 

What am I doing with what God h

as given me?

This Is Us: Part 4 - Listener

Galatians 5:16-6:5 

There’s a connection between one of the most mysterious doctrines of the church and one of the most mundane. The mysterious one? The Holy Spirit. The mundane one? How we love one another. When we follow the lead of the Spirit, the same power that resurrected Jesus could begin to flow into every dimension of our lives. It all begins with how we walk.

 What is the Spirit saying?

This is Us - Part 3 - AbiderWhether you make resolutions or not, you probably have areas of your life you’d like to change. But the path to change, as we all know, isn't an easy one. It can be difficult to break old habits, make new ones, and incorporate fresh rhythms into our lives. In John 15, Jesus makes it clear that our growth as disciples isn’t a matter of willing new routines and habits into existence. Rather, true growth is a natural byproduct of abiding in Jesus as he abides in us. It is this true connection to Jesus that will produce fruit that lasts into eternity.

This Is Us: Part 2 - Belonger

We all want to be known for something. Maybe it’s something we’ve created or built, maybe it’s how we look or what we own, and sometimes it’s being known for how our kids turn out. There’s nothing inherently wrong about that but Jesus puts more emphasis on being known by someone. There is a cost to faking it and a risk of being known, the choice is ours.  

Who knows the real me?