1 00:00:06,530 --> 00:00:11,660 Over 119, verse 2. In keeping with what we've been 2 00:00:11,670 --> 00:00:15,080 singing this morning about the heart, let's read some 119 verse 3 00:00:15,090 --> 00:00:18,600 2. Blessed are those who keep His 4 00:00:18,610 --> 00:00:22,100 testimonies, who seek Him with their whole heart. 5 00:00:23,470 --> 00:00:26,800 Let's pray together. Ohh, great God, a God of every 6 00:00:26,810 --> 00:00:28,560 grace. We come to you. 7 00:00:28,610 --> 00:00:32,740 Grateful for the covering and saving work of Jesus Christ. 8 00:00:33,780 --> 00:00:37,020 Thank you that because of Jesus our hearts are clean. 9 00:00:37,840 --> 00:00:42,730 Thank you that we can say that we are blessed because in Christ 10 00:00:42,800 --> 00:00:45,190 we can have forgiveness and our sins can be covered. 11 00:00:46,870 --> 00:00:50,740 Thank you for the hope of your promise and the hope of your 12 00:00:50,750 --> 00:00:52,750 gospel. And Lord, truly, you are our 13 00:00:52,760 --> 00:00:56,570 greatest treasure. Look, God, we dedicate our 14 00:00:56,630 --> 00:00:59,590 offering to you this morning. We acknowledge that we're our 15 00:00:59,600 --> 00:01:01,020 treasures there. Our hearts will be also. 16 00:01:01,030 --> 00:01:05,190 And we pray, Lord, that as a people that our hearts would be 17 00:01:05,400 --> 00:01:08,530 drawn to you, that we would be clinging to you as our greatest 18 00:01:08,540 --> 00:01:11,640 treasure. Look, God, we acknowledge our 19 00:01:11,650 --> 00:01:14,190 hearts are fickle. They're prone to wander. 20 00:01:14,400 --> 00:01:16,670 And we've sung about that this morning. 21 00:01:16,680 --> 00:01:19,670 And we pray that you had purify our hearts, that you would take 22 00:01:19,680 --> 00:01:22,920 our hearts with ultra fire and that you would change your 23 00:01:22,930 --> 00:01:26,200 hearts, that you would turn our hearts towards you. 24 00:01:27,420 --> 00:01:30,510 So Lord, as we hear from your word, I pray that you would help 25 00:01:30,520 --> 00:01:34,090 us to seek to live in accordance with your word as those who are 26 00:01:34,100 --> 00:01:36,790 forgiven, as those who are already blessed because we're 27 00:01:36,800 --> 00:01:39,090 forgiven. Help us to seek to order our 28 00:01:39,100 --> 00:01:41,670 lives around you and to cling to you more and love you more. 29 00:01:41,740 --> 00:01:43,530 So may our hearts be drawn towards you. 30 00:01:43,540 --> 00:01:45,860 This morning we ask in Jesus name, Amen. 31 00:01:47,970 --> 00:01:51,080 Good morning. The title of this morning's 32 00:01:51,090 --> 00:01:57,520 message is What makes you Happy? What Makes you Hay? 33 00:01:58,360 --> 00:02:00,760 That's an interesting thought. We start thinking about that. 34 00:02:00,770 --> 00:02:04,470 You start looking into it. If you grew up around church, 35 00:02:04,520 --> 00:02:07,240 maybe you heard something that that went like this, something 36 00:02:07,250 --> 00:02:09,870 like this. God doesn't want you to be 37 00:02:09,880 --> 00:02:12,810 happy. He wants you to be holy, right? 38 00:02:12,820 --> 00:02:15,380 Hands up if you've heard something like that with that 39 00:02:15,390 --> 00:02:17,230 effect. Yeah, a lot of people, right. 40 00:02:17,320 --> 00:02:20,050 We, we kind of present there sometimes, like it's like it's a 41 00:02:20,060 --> 00:02:22,450 dichotomy, right? Like it's two separate competing 42 00:02:22,460 --> 00:02:24,430 ideas. And I think sometimes we almost 43 00:02:24,440 --> 00:02:27,690 get this idea that maybe like God's favourite song is like, if 44 00:02:27,700 --> 00:02:30,560 you're happy and you know, it, repeat. 45 00:02:30,790 --> 00:02:33,360 Yeah. And and maybe your story is that 46 00:02:33,410 --> 00:02:36,650 you thought, well, I'm, I'm either gonna be a Christian or 47 00:02:36,660 --> 00:02:39,260 I'm gonna be a happy person. And the Christian life didn't 48 00:02:39,270 --> 00:02:42,320 seem like it matched up with your idea of happiness. 49 00:02:42,550 --> 00:02:45,810 So you kind of drifted away from the Christian life. 50 00:02:45,850 --> 00:02:48,760 What we're going to learn today is that this is a false 51 00:02:48,840 --> 00:02:53,100 dichotomy, that not only can you be happy and be a Jesus 52 00:02:53,110 --> 00:02:57,240 follower, but Jesus says that he knows more about happiness than 53 00:02:57,250 --> 00:03:00,500 anybody else. Those of us who believe in God 54 00:03:00,510 --> 00:03:04,620 kind of understand that, I think because we we think that must be 55 00:03:04,630 --> 00:03:10,120 the case because God has created us with this incredible capacity 56 00:03:10,460 --> 00:03:14,330 for joy and this incredible capacity for happiness. 57 00:03:14,380 --> 00:03:18,510 And why would he create us with such extraordinary capacity and 58 00:03:18,520 --> 00:03:22,830 not want us to fulfil it through him, right through him. 59 00:03:22,840 --> 00:03:25,570 But it's going to be important. We'll see that as we go, right? 60 00:03:25,640 --> 00:03:27,970 So we're going to carry on in Luke chapter 6 this morning if 61 00:03:27,980 --> 00:03:32,930 you want to turn there, and will be starting in, in verse #12 So 62 00:03:32,940 --> 00:03:35,430 we're going to look at this interesting passage where Jesus 63 00:03:35,440 --> 00:03:39,640 says, here's what makes you happy, here's what makes you 64 00:03:39,650 --> 00:03:41,050 happy. We're gonna look at this. 65 00:03:41,060 --> 00:03:43,060 And then at the end of it, we're gonna look at all the different 66 00:03:43,070 --> 00:03:46,330 things that he says about this and what all these things have 67 00:03:46,340 --> 00:03:51,400 in common, which will lead us to this quite amazing insight into 68 00:03:51,470 --> 00:03:54,880 happiness that will either embrace or will spend the rest 69 00:03:54,890 --> 00:03:56,470 of our lives sort of pushing up against it. 70 00:03:56,530 --> 00:04:00,740 So let's get into it, right? Luke chapter 6 verse #12 sees 71 00:04:00,750 --> 00:04:04,370 this now it came to pass in those days that he went out to 72 00:04:04,380 --> 00:04:10,490 the mountain to pray and he continued all night in prayer to 73 00:04:10,500 --> 00:04:13,270 God. So he goes out to the mountain 74 00:04:13,420 --> 00:04:16,600 to pray. You'll see this often as we go 75 00:04:16,610 --> 00:04:19,019 through Luke, you'll, you'll see this talked about a lot. 76 00:04:19,029 --> 00:04:21,170 Now when Jesus was teaching about prayer, we'll get into 77 00:04:21,180 --> 00:04:23,910 this when we get into Luke Chapter 11 where Jesus talks 78 00:04:23,920 --> 00:04:25,410 about it, we'll look at this in detail. 79 00:04:25,420 --> 00:04:28,270 But before Jesus started talking about prayer, he said, look, 80 00:04:28,280 --> 00:04:32,380 when when you pray, go into your room and close the door. 81 00:04:33,100 --> 00:04:34,570 Gandhi room, close the door, right? 82 00:04:35,100 --> 00:04:36,990 Time and a place. Make a time and a place for 83 00:04:37,000 --> 00:04:39,010 prayer where you're not going to be distracted. 84 00:04:39,240 --> 00:04:43,420 We think we can play anywhere. Yeah, you can but get a time and 85 00:04:43,430 --> 00:04:45,620 a place. Get a time and a place, make a 86 00:04:45,630 --> 00:04:48,130 time and a place. Jesus is very specific about 87 00:04:48,140 --> 00:04:49,800 that. Right Now Jesus you often see 88 00:04:49,890 --> 00:04:51,670 he'll go out into the mountains to pray, right? 89 00:04:51,680 --> 00:04:53,660 He just gets away from everybody where he's not going to get 90 00:04:53,670 --> 00:04:56,210 distracted. And he, he prays and he has it. 91 00:04:56,610 --> 00:04:59,810 And we'll see this phrase come up again and again in Luke where 92 00:04:59,820 --> 00:05:03,540 he says, and now he went to a certain place to pray, right? 93 00:05:03,550 --> 00:05:07,100 A particular place to pray because he, he had this time and 94 00:05:07,110 --> 00:05:08,670 place set aside. So that that's important. 95 00:05:08,680 --> 00:05:12,080 We'll get into that more when we get to Luke Chapter 11. 96 00:05:12,490 --> 00:05:14,670 Another thing we'll see in Luke Chapter 11, because when you 97 00:05:14,680 --> 00:05:17,890 look at it here, he continued all night in prayer. 98 00:05:18,050 --> 00:05:20,180 What in the world did he talk about? 99 00:05:20,270 --> 00:05:23,830 How do you pray all night? And Luke Chapter 11 Well, as 100 00:05:23,840 --> 00:05:26,230 Jesus talks about prayer, we'll see more of that as well. 101 00:05:26,240 --> 00:05:29,430 But but have a look at this. And when it was day, he called 102 00:05:29,440 --> 00:05:32,240 his disciples to himself, right? Those are the people that follow 103 00:05:32,250 --> 00:05:36,630 him, follow his teaching. And from those he chose 12 whom 104 00:05:36,690 --> 00:05:40,390 he named apostles. So he he called his disciples to 105 00:05:40,400 --> 00:05:42,320 him on the mountain, right? He's gone up in the mountains. 106 00:05:42,330 --> 00:05:45,330 So he calls them up to him and he appoints apostles. 107 00:05:45,340 --> 00:05:47,570 And then sort of define this a little bit because this will 108 00:05:47,580 --> 00:05:51,330 come up throughout Luke. And then if you read carry on 109 00:05:51,820 --> 00:05:54,010 Luke's next. But in Acts, it's all about 110 00:05:54,020 --> 00:05:59,020 this, the word apostle, the original liquid is apostolos. 111 00:05:59,210 --> 00:06:01,630 It's an example that we're apostolos is an example of 112 00:06:01,640 --> 00:06:03,890 what's called a transliteration, right? 113 00:06:03,900 --> 00:06:06,180 Which is different to a translation. 114 00:06:06,350 --> 00:06:09,040 One good example of this would be like the fresh French word 115 00:06:09,050 --> 00:06:12,020 restaurant. And so we took that word and we 116 00:06:12,030 --> 00:06:15,290 could have translated it. We could have made it eatery or 117 00:06:15,300 --> 00:06:17,960 something like that. But instead of translating it, 118 00:06:18,030 --> 00:06:21,080 we just stole their word, right? And and that's what you do with 119 00:06:21,090 --> 00:06:23,060 the transliteration. You steal the word and you just 120 00:06:23,070 --> 00:06:25,750 make it sound a bit more like your language and maybe change 121 00:06:25,760 --> 00:06:26,950 the spelling a little bit or whatever. 122 00:06:26,960 --> 00:06:29,680 And so we took restaurant and we made it restaurant. 123 00:06:29,910 --> 00:06:34,250 So that's a transliteration. So apostolos is a apostle with 124 00:06:34,260 --> 00:06:36,330 apostle is a transliteration of apostolos. 125 00:06:36,340 --> 00:06:39,310 We just stole their word and made it sound more Englishy. 126 00:06:39,440 --> 00:06:40,670 So what does it mean? Right. 127 00:06:40,680 --> 00:06:44,090 So the word apostle, apostolos, the original word means a 128 00:06:44,100 --> 00:06:48,420 delegate, a messenger, one sent forth with orders. 129 00:06:48,680 --> 00:06:52,640 And it has the connotation of well, not even connotation 130 00:06:52,650 --> 00:06:54,230 actually a different meaning of it. 131 00:06:54,240 --> 00:06:58,670 Definition of it is somebody who is sent out with authority to 132 00:06:58,680 --> 00:07:01,640 speak on behalf of the person who sent them out or or the 133 00:07:01,650 --> 00:07:04,840 organisation that sent them out. And we've talked about this 134 00:07:04,850 --> 00:07:10,530 before, but probably the closest English word we have to this 135 00:07:10,810 --> 00:07:14,500 would be Ambassador. So an ambassador gets sent out 136 00:07:14,510 --> 00:07:17,140 by the government and is authorised to speak on the 137 00:07:17,150 --> 00:07:20,220 government's behalf. So if a foreign government has 138 00:07:20,310 --> 00:07:24,920 questions about New Zealand and about our government's position 139 00:07:24,930 --> 00:07:27,240 on something, what do they do? They call in the New Zealand 140 00:07:27,250 --> 00:07:29,940 ambassador and they say, what is your government's position on 141 00:07:29,950 --> 00:07:32,250 this? And the ambassador is authorised 142 00:07:32,260 --> 00:07:33,880 to speak on behalf of the New Zealand government. 143 00:07:33,890 --> 00:07:37,730 That's why they have to be very much close contact, really good 144 00:07:37,740 --> 00:07:40,360 communications with government, to always be keeping up with 145 00:07:40,370 --> 00:07:42,010 things. And the ambassador will say, 146 00:07:42,020 --> 00:07:43,860 well, this is our government's position. 147 00:07:43,910 --> 00:07:47,680 So someone who's authorised to speak on behalf of someone else, 148 00:07:47,750 --> 00:07:51,270 what would the apostles? Jesus Christ 4 What what, what, 149 00:07:51,340 --> 00:07:54,760 what are apostles for? Ephesians 4 tells us that part 150 00:07:54,770 --> 00:07:58,910 of the reason is is to guide us so we don't get tossed around by 151 00:07:58,920 --> 00:08:02,080 ideas that aren't right. New ideas can come up and we can 152 00:08:02,090 --> 00:08:04,760 get caught up in things and tossed around and and so the 153 00:08:04,770 --> 00:08:08,260 apostles part of the reason for apostles was to help that not to 154 00:08:08,270 --> 00:08:10,710 happen for us not to get caught up in the wrong things, right in 155 00:08:10,720 --> 00:08:13,640 the wrong ideas. The office of apostle of Jesus 156 00:08:13,650 --> 00:08:17,580 Christ was strongly, strongly linked to instruction and 157 00:08:17,590 --> 00:08:19,960 teaching. So have a look at this from ex 158 00:08:19,970 --> 00:08:22,200 chapter 2. This is what the the the first 159 00:08:22,210 --> 00:08:24,780 church there at Jerusalem. This is some of the things they 160 00:08:24,790 --> 00:08:28,180 did says and they devoted themselves to the apostles 161 00:08:28,190 --> 00:08:32,480 teaching and and to fellowship to the breaking of bread and 162 00:08:32,490 --> 00:08:35,740 prayers. What are the qualifications of 163 00:08:35,750 --> 00:08:37,840 an apostle? And we get an insight into this 164 00:08:37,850 --> 00:08:41,039 because remember Judas was an apostle and he took his own 165 00:08:41,049 --> 00:08:44,780 life. And so in Acts chapter 2 and X 166 00:08:44,790 --> 00:08:47,810 chapter 1, the other apostles get together and they go we need 167 00:08:47,820 --> 00:08:50,760 to appoint a new apostle to replace Judas. 168 00:08:51,250 --> 00:08:55,070 And so Peter lays out the qualifications for that apostle. 169 00:08:55,080 --> 00:08:58,160 And this is what he says. It's very specific here in this 170 00:08:58,170 --> 00:09:01,660 is from ex one verse 21. He says this. 171 00:09:02,560 --> 00:09:05,180 So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the 172 00:09:05,190 --> 00:09:08,450 time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from 173 00:09:08,460 --> 00:09:11,530 the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from 174 00:09:11,540 --> 00:09:16,110 us, one of these men must become with us a witness to the 175 00:09:16,120 --> 00:09:18,330 resurrection. That brings up a couple of 176 00:09:18,340 --> 00:09:20,710 questions, right? So the first one is this. 177 00:09:20,800 --> 00:09:23,940 Does anyone today meet those qualifications? 178 00:09:24,850 --> 00:09:27,000 No, no one does. They had to have been with Jesus 179 00:09:27,010 --> 00:09:30,520 the whole time that you know from from John's baptism, right, 180 00:09:30,530 --> 00:09:32,540 right till the time that he he raised that right. 181 00:09:32,550 --> 00:09:34,210 So. So nobody meets those 182 00:09:34,350 --> 00:09:38,140 qualifications. This was a very specific office 183 00:09:38,310 --> 00:09:40,840 that finished when the last apostle died. 184 00:09:40,990 --> 00:09:42,110 That makes sense. Yep. 185 00:09:42,250 --> 00:09:44,900 There's a couple of tricky bits though that go with this. 186 00:09:44,970 --> 00:09:49,290 While the apostle Paul doesn't directly fit the qualifications, 187 00:09:49,390 --> 00:09:53,740 in next chapter 1 and several places he explains how he can be 188 00:09:53,750 --> 00:09:56,000 an apostle and why he was the exception. 189 00:09:56,170 --> 00:09:58,560 That's too much for the scope of today's message. 190 00:09:58,570 --> 00:10:01,040 But if you want to look at that, you can go to Glaciers chapter 191 00:10:01,050 --> 00:10:03,070 1. So he sort of spells that out. 192 00:10:03,140 --> 00:10:06,970 And also First Corinthians 15, he talks about that as well. 193 00:10:07,200 --> 00:10:09,190 Why he's why he was an exception. 194 00:10:09,440 --> 00:10:14,040 Now several other people in the Scripture are referred to using 195 00:10:14,050 --> 00:10:18,890 the word apostle who clearly don't fit the qualifications of 196 00:10:18,900 --> 00:10:22,470 an apostle of Jesus Christ as as Peter laid them out in Axe. 197 00:10:22,550 --> 00:10:25,450 Let's just look at one of those really quickly because because I 198 00:10:25,460 --> 00:10:28,750 think this kind of unlocks it. And this is a guy named 199 00:10:28,760 --> 00:10:31,810 Nephritis. And Paul is writing to the 200 00:10:31,820 --> 00:10:34,450 church family in the town called Phillippi, right? 201 00:10:34,460 --> 00:10:36,990 So the church is Phillippi and he's running the this letter. 202 00:10:37,060 --> 00:10:39,190 And this is what he says about Aphrodites. 203 00:10:39,200 --> 00:10:42,250 He says, I have thought it necessary to send to you 204 00:10:42,260 --> 00:10:46,390 Epaphroditus, my brother and fellow worker and fellow 205 00:10:46,400 --> 00:10:50,700 soldier, soldier. And you're apostle and minister 206 00:10:50,710 --> 00:10:53,930 to my need right now. Some translations will have that 207 00:10:53,940 --> 00:10:57,560 my messenger. Ohh, sorry your messenger but 208 00:10:57,620 --> 00:11:00,730 but the original word is is Apostolos apostle. 209 00:11:01,180 --> 00:11:02,880 Couple of questions about this right? 210 00:11:03,550 --> 00:11:09,500 If you look at this verse, who was Aphrodite is sent out by? 211 00:11:12,900 --> 00:11:17,930 Yeah, like who's apostle was he? Yet the key there is the 212 00:11:17,940 --> 00:11:21,240 reference at the bottom right. He's running to pulls right into 213 00:11:21,250 --> 00:11:24,280 the church at Philippi and he says appendicitis is your 214 00:11:24,290 --> 00:11:26,620 apostle you your messenger right. 215 00:11:26,670 --> 00:11:30,560 So Aphrodite, this will send out by the church at Philippi hit 216 00:11:30,610 --> 00:11:35,850 and Apostolos gives it the idea that he he sent out on behalf of 217 00:11:35,860 --> 00:11:38,950 the church family of Philippi with authority to speak on their 218 00:11:38,960 --> 00:11:41,280 behalf. Yeah, makes sense. 219 00:11:42,000 --> 00:11:47,660 So who did perfect auto save authorities speak on behalf of 220 00:11:47,730 --> 00:11:49,720 also the Church of Philippi right? 221 00:11:49,730 --> 00:11:53,040 He was their apostle. He was there, ambassador, if you 222 00:11:53,050 --> 00:11:56,290 like, right. Here's a good question, right? 223 00:11:56,610 --> 00:12:00,200 What word would we use to today to describe somebody like 224 00:12:00,210 --> 00:12:04,320 Aphrodites, right? Somebody that sent out by at 225 00:12:04,330 --> 00:12:07,050 least say for us, sent out by our church family, right, with 226 00:12:07,060 --> 00:12:10,780 authority to go and share the gospel and, you know, teach the 227 00:12:10,790 --> 00:12:14,940 word and you know, with the authority of looking to be Bible 228 00:12:14,950 --> 00:12:16,260 church. What would we call that sort of 229 00:12:16,270 --> 00:12:19,280 person? Somebody saying it? 230 00:12:20,360 --> 00:12:22,110 Missionary. Yeah, yeah. 231 00:12:22,120 --> 00:12:26,740 Now, the word missionary doesn't actually appear in the Bible, so 232 00:12:26,750 --> 00:12:28,350 but that's that's what we would use, right? 233 00:12:28,360 --> 00:12:32,460 So appendicitis is a missionary, right, of of the Church of 234 00:12:32,470 --> 00:12:33,550 Philippi. He's an apostle. 235 00:12:33,560 --> 00:12:36,160 He sent out. He can speak on on their behalf. 236 00:12:36,170 --> 00:12:37,600 Does that make sense? Yeah. 237 00:12:37,670 --> 00:12:41,270 And so that also makes sense to when you look at other people 238 00:12:41,280 --> 00:12:44,990 like that are called apostles, like Barnabas, who was sent out 239 00:12:45,000 --> 00:12:47,570 by the the church family at Antioch, right. 240 00:12:47,580 --> 00:12:50,740 He was an apostle of Antioch, if that makes sense. 241 00:12:50,750 --> 00:12:54,360 But in Luke 6 here we're talking about the the original office of 242 00:12:54,370 --> 00:12:57,330 an apostle of Jesus Christ, someone who these guys were 243 00:12:57,340 --> 00:13:00,740 going to be sent out and could speak on behalf of Jesus Christ. 244 00:13:00,750 --> 00:13:03,840 What is Jesus opinion on this? Let me tell you, they were able 245 00:13:03,850 --> 00:13:05,680 to do that and then it names them all. 246 00:13:05,690 --> 00:13:08,620 Let's have a look at this right. Simon, who are also named Peter 247 00:13:09,090 --> 00:13:14,250 and Andrew, his brother Simon's brother James and John, Philip 248 00:13:14,260 --> 00:13:17,300 and Bartholomew, Matthew and Thomas, James the son of 249 00:13:17,310 --> 00:13:18,880 Alpheus. We've got a couple of James in 250 00:13:18,890 --> 00:13:21,560 there and and Simon called the Zealot. 251 00:13:21,630 --> 00:13:23,840 So we got a couple of Simons as well, but one gets called Peter. 252 00:13:23,850 --> 00:13:28,310 So it's confusing Judas, the son of times and Judas Iscariot, who 253 00:13:28,320 --> 00:13:31,100 became a traitor. SO2 Judas as well, right. 254 00:13:31,110 --> 00:13:33,680 A lot of common names in there mention being the Judas that 255 00:13:33,690 --> 00:13:36,620 wasn't Judas Iscariot. Sometimes it says that it says 256 00:13:36,630 --> 00:13:39,100 and then Judas and then all the brackets say not scary it. 257 00:13:39,330 --> 00:13:40,400 Yeah. So. 258 00:13:40,610 --> 00:13:43,820 Yeah, no, yeah. No, no, no, I'm not that guy. 259 00:13:43,830 --> 00:13:47,040 Yeah, yeah. That's anyway it is worth 260 00:13:47,110 --> 00:13:50,140 pausing for a minute, right? So Jesus calls his apostles 261 00:13:50,150 --> 00:13:53,080 together. It's worth pausing for a minute 262 00:13:53,090 --> 00:13:57,270 to remember what happened to each of the apostles and as well 263 00:13:57,280 --> 00:13:59,450 a couple of the early church leaders. 264 00:13:59,900 --> 00:14:02,980 Now, the Bible only gives us direct information about the 265 00:14:02,990 --> 00:14:06,450 death of Judas and James. So some of the information on 266 00:14:06,460 --> 00:14:07,970 the others is a little bit vague. 267 00:14:07,980 --> 00:14:10,980 But here's what we mostly know. And I think it's really 268 00:14:10,990 --> 00:14:13,150 important to to understand this, right? 269 00:14:13,600 --> 00:14:17,170 Matthew, Matthew, Levi, he died in Ethiopia suffering martyrdom 270 00:14:17,180 --> 00:14:20,450 by a sword wound. But actually his death marked 271 00:14:20,700 --> 00:14:23,150 the beginning, not the end of the spreading of the Gospel, 272 00:14:23,900 --> 00:14:27,380 particularly in that region. John survived being put in 273 00:14:27,390 --> 00:14:30,700 boiling oil in Rome. He was exiled to the Greek 274 00:14:30,710 --> 00:14:35,340 island of Pat Moss where he he pinned the the prophetic Book of 275 00:14:35,350 --> 00:14:38,380 Revelation. He's the only apostle to live to 276 00:14:38,390 --> 00:14:42,630 old age. Yeah, we it's pretty amazing we 277 00:14:42,640 --> 00:14:46,030 start thinking about that Peter was crucified upside down, a 278 00:14:46,040 --> 00:14:48,450 choice he made because they said you're gonna be crucified. 279 00:14:48,460 --> 00:14:52,260 And he said I'm not worthy to die the same way that my saviour 280 00:14:52,270 --> 00:14:54,790 died. So they crucified him upside 281 00:14:54,800 --> 00:14:57,210 down. That speaks a lot doesn't about 282 00:14:57,220 --> 00:14:59,930 his humility and his devotion to Christ. 283 00:15:00,240 --> 00:15:04,230 James, the leader of the church at Jerusalem, he faced death by 284 00:15:04,240 --> 00:15:06,110 being thrown off the top of the temple. 285 00:15:06,400 --> 00:15:09,130 The temple was 13 storeys tall, so that's about the same as the 286 00:15:09,140 --> 00:15:11,860 tallest buildings in Hamilton. And apparently he didn't die 287 00:15:11,870 --> 00:15:14,590 when he hit the ground. And so then the whole bunch of 288 00:15:14,600 --> 00:15:15,700 people came and beat him to death. 289 00:15:16,550 --> 00:15:18,940 The steadfastness of that I just kinda echoes through time, 290 00:15:18,950 --> 00:15:20,480 doesn't it? It's sort of man. 291 00:15:20,490 --> 00:15:23,500 Okay, so the other James, James, the son of Zebedee, his 292 00:15:23,510 --> 00:15:26,140 leadership and dedication to ministry will cut short by 293 00:15:26,150 --> 00:15:28,700 beheading in Jerusalem. There's an interesting sort of 294 00:15:28,710 --> 00:15:30,870 legend that goes with this one, details a little bit sketchy, 295 00:15:30,880 --> 00:15:35,580 but the legend is that the guy that executed him was so 296 00:15:35,650 --> 00:15:39,020 overwhelmed by James's faith and that he would go right to the 297 00:15:39,030 --> 00:15:42,400 end, you know, for the stuff that he believed that it it it 298 00:15:42,410 --> 00:15:45,080 must be true. And that the executioner 299 00:15:45,090 --> 00:15:48,620 eventually repented, connected with Christ and was himself 300 00:15:48,630 --> 00:15:52,000 executed later on for his belief. 301 00:15:52,010 --> 00:15:54,800 Now, whether that's true, you know, these are from secular 302 00:15:54,810 --> 00:15:56,570 sources. This is now the Bible. 303 00:15:56,580 --> 00:15:59,300 But yeah, interesting story. You know, it's true, right? 304 00:15:59,310 --> 00:16:02,560 Bartholomew, his missionary work took him a long way, but it was 305 00:16:02,570 --> 00:16:05,420 in Armenia where he met his in Martin. 306 00:16:05,430 --> 00:16:09,100 By being flayed alive. Don't Google that. 307 00:16:09,170 --> 00:16:14,640 Yeah man, his commitment to spreading the word was just 308 00:16:14,810 --> 00:16:15,900 unyielding. Right? 309 00:16:16,350 --> 00:16:20,310 Andrew was crucified on an X shaped cross in Greece, enduring 310 00:16:20,320 --> 00:16:24,780 the prolonged agony of crucifixion to preach to his 311 00:16:24,790 --> 00:16:27,310 tormentors until his last breath. 312 00:16:28,340 --> 00:16:31,470 His words, even in the face of death, were words of love and 313 00:16:31,480 --> 00:16:33,590 faith. Thomas missionary endeavours in 314 00:16:33,600 --> 00:16:37,270 India ended when he was stabbed with a spear, but his efforts to 315 00:16:37,340 --> 00:16:41,680 establish a church there laid foundations that would long 316 00:16:41,690 --> 00:16:46,080 outlive his mortal life. Jude was killed with arrows for 317 00:16:46,090 --> 00:16:49,200 refusing to renounce his faith. They said say it isn't true. 318 00:16:49,210 --> 00:16:51,620 All the stuff he did say you made it up and he wouldn't. 319 00:16:51,630 --> 00:16:53,460 They kept firing arrows at him until he died. 320 00:16:54,480 --> 00:16:56,450 Unwavering belief in Christ teachings. 321 00:16:56,620 --> 00:17:00,170 Mathias, who was the guy that was chosen to replace Judas, was 322 00:17:00,180 --> 00:17:01,850 stoned to death and then beheaded. 323 00:17:02,290 --> 00:17:05,450 Paul faced torture and was ultimately beheaded by Nero in 324 00:17:05,460 --> 00:17:10,690 Rome, and his writings are a lot of them from prison, continue to 325 00:17:10,700 --> 00:17:14,890 guide and inspire us today. Now, these these two aren't 326 00:17:14,900 --> 00:17:17,329 specifically apostles, but probably worth mentioning here. 327 00:17:17,380 --> 00:17:20,290 Mark's journey concluded in Alexandria, Egypt, where he was 328 00:17:20,300 --> 00:17:23,170 dragged through the streets by horses until he died. 329 00:17:23,680 --> 00:17:27,730 But his legacy continued to galvanise believers in that part 330 00:17:27,740 --> 00:17:31,650 of the world for a long time. And Luke was hanged in Greece, 331 00:17:31,760 --> 00:17:35,110 mate, a fate met due to his fervent preaching. 332 00:17:35,620 --> 00:17:38,920 And his words live on, and we're reading them right now. 333 00:17:41,330 --> 00:17:43,720 Night. What does that tell you? 334 00:17:43,730 --> 00:17:46,920 That tells you that the stuff we believe is not fairy tales. 335 00:17:47,230 --> 00:17:50,140 No one's going to be flayed alive for something, for a story 336 00:17:50,150 --> 00:17:51,740 they made-up. They're going okay, yeah, it was 337 00:17:51,750 --> 00:17:53,500 good while it lasted. But you know, it was just a 338 00:17:53,510 --> 00:17:56,050 like, we just kind of, you know, we just kind of came up with 339 00:17:56,060 --> 00:17:58,260 this idea. Nobody's going to do that. 340 00:17:58,430 --> 00:18:02,200 This was very real stuff. And Jesus knew, right? 341 00:18:02,210 --> 00:18:04,780 Jesus knew what he was facing and he knew what they would 342 00:18:04,790 --> 00:18:07,640 face. Can you understand now why he 343 00:18:07,650 --> 00:18:11,330 was praying all night before you pointed them? 344 00:18:11,380 --> 00:18:13,510 Yeah, you can. You can kind of see that, right? 345 00:18:13,720 --> 00:18:18,240 Okay, so let's move on. And there's #17 And he came down 346 00:18:18,400 --> 00:18:20,370 with them and he stood on a level place, right? 347 00:18:20,380 --> 00:18:24,850 On a plane with a crowd of his disciples and a great multitude 348 00:18:24,860 --> 00:18:28,550 of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and from the Sea coast 349 00:18:28,560 --> 00:18:31,910 of tyrant Saddam who came to hear him and be healed of their 350 00:18:31,920 --> 00:18:33,720 diseases. Now, Andrew, listen, did a 351 00:18:33,730 --> 00:18:36,270 fantastic job couple of weeks ago talking about how we have 4 352 00:18:36,280 --> 00:18:38,110 gospels, right? And so we have these different, 353 00:18:38,120 --> 00:18:40,070 He stood back from the pole with him and he's looking at it from 354 00:18:40,080 --> 00:18:42,530 different angles, right? To illustrate the point, we have 355 00:18:42,540 --> 00:18:45,930 4 different perspectives on events that went on in the life 356 00:18:45,940 --> 00:18:48,020 of Jesus. Now what we're going to see here 357 00:18:48,030 --> 00:18:51,460 is, is some of the things that Jesus is about to say are very, 358 00:18:51,470 --> 00:18:54,740 very similar to an event in Matthew chapter 5. 359 00:18:54,850 --> 00:18:58,220 And so a lot of people think it's the same event, but there 360 00:18:58,230 --> 00:19:00,040 are some differences between those events. 361 00:19:00,050 --> 00:19:03,000 Matthews Matthews vision, it's the sermon on the Mount, right 362 00:19:03,010 --> 00:19:05,120 was on the mountain. And this one Jesus comes down 363 00:19:05,130 --> 00:19:07,760 from the mountain seems to be slightly different crowds. 364 00:19:07,950 --> 00:19:11,300 So some people think it's a different event that Jesus is 365 00:19:11,310 --> 00:19:14,160 teaching the same stuff that he taught before, but he's teaching 366 00:19:14,170 --> 00:19:17,360 it to a different audience. Not sure, but but the point here 367 00:19:17,370 --> 00:19:20,320 is that I tend to, I tend to think it is a different event, 368 00:19:20,330 --> 00:19:21,900 but I'm not hard and fast on that. 369 00:19:21,970 --> 00:19:24,100 But the point here is that the truth that he's teaching at the 370 00:19:24,110 --> 00:19:27,040 same truths, right? Some of the things that Jesus 371 00:19:27,050 --> 00:19:29,400 said were quite radical. They're radical now, you know. 372 00:19:29,410 --> 00:19:32,340 But he says things like if you want to be first, be last. 373 00:19:33,630 --> 00:19:35,570 Yeah, it's like, that's weird advice. 374 00:19:36,470 --> 00:19:38,640 Yeah, it's not. That's sort of counterintuitive. 375 00:19:38,650 --> 00:19:41,380 He says love your enemies, right? 376 00:19:41,390 --> 00:19:43,970 You don't get a following saying that stuff, right? 377 00:19:43,980 --> 00:19:47,760 You say let's crush our enemies, let's try Viber enemies, right. 378 00:19:47,870 --> 00:19:51,200 Let's make our enemies pay. That's, you know, love your 379 00:19:51,210 --> 00:19:53,180 enemies. That's weird advice, right? 380 00:19:53,190 --> 00:19:54,940 It's it's it's kind of different. 381 00:19:55,270 --> 00:19:57,160 A lot of things were quite radical and quite 382 00:19:57,170 --> 00:20:00,180 countercultural. So why would you take him 383 00:20:00,190 --> 00:20:01,820 seriously? Like if you heard somebody 384 00:20:01,830 --> 00:20:04,680 saying that these kind of radical things, it's like, why? 385 00:20:04,690 --> 00:20:08,440 Why would we believe that? You know, how do we know he's 386 00:20:08,450 --> 00:20:12,400 not just making stuff up? There's a columnist on Stuff who 387 00:20:12,410 --> 00:20:17,040 gives relationship advice and it is terrible advice. 388 00:20:17,700 --> 00:20:20,940 It's just the worst advice. And if you, as you read through 389 00:20:20,950 --> 00:20:24,030 the, the, the columns, you read through the stories this 390 00:20:24,040 --> 00:20:26,860 person's been in, in like, it seems like dozens of 391 00:20:26,870 --> 00:20:30,060 relationships, none of them successful, still not 392 00:20:30,070 --> 00:20:32,310 successful, right? Why would you take this person's 393 00:20:32,320 --> 00:20:33,770 advice? I can't read these things. 394 00:20:33,780 --> 00:20:35,890 Why would anybody take this person's advice? 395 00:20:35,940 --> 00:20:38,110 They're failing at the thing that they're giving you advice 396 00:20:38,120 --> 00:20:40,470 on. So why would you take Jesus 397 00:20:40,480 --> 00:20:42,870 advice when he says all this different kind of radical stuff? 398 00:20:43,580 --> 00:20:47,090 One of the one of the reasons is that he could heal people of 399 00:20:47,100 --> 00:20:49,740 their diseases. And as we go through Luke's 400 00:20:49,750 --> 00:20:52,870 orderly account of things, we'll repeatedly see this and also 401 00:20:52,880 --> 00:20:56,400 other times when Jesus just breaks the laws of physics and 402 00:20:56,410 --> 00:20:59,610 the Bible calls these kind of things signs because they they 403 00:20:59,620 --> 00:21:01,450 demonstrated they were assigned to everybody. 404 00:21:01,490 --> 00:21:04,890 They were assigned to everybody that this wasn't an ordinary 405 00:21:04,900 --> 00:21:08,590 man. This was somebody to take notice 406 00:21:08,600 --> 00:21:11,100 of. This was somebody to listen to. 407 00:21:11,780 --> 00:21:16,440 Have a look at this in the 17 there carrying on all these 408 00:21:16,450 --> 00:21:20,560 people who came to hear Him and be healed of their diseases, as 409 00:21:20,570 --> 00:21:23,750 well as all of those who were tormented with unclean spirits, 410 00:21:24,180 --> 00:21:26,650 and they were healed. And the whole multitude sought 411 00:21:26,660 --> 00:21:30,240 to touch Him, for power went out from Him and He healed them all. 412 00:21:31,060 --> 00:21:34,460 We'll deal with the, the concept of of demons and the unseen 413 00:21:34,470 --> 00:21:38,450 realm all in more detail when we get to chapter 8, right? 414 00:21:38,460 --> 00:21:41,280 So we'll go into that. But for now, the thing to 415 00:21:41,290 --> 00:21:44,480 understand here is that Jesus killed people with physical 416 00:21:44,490 --> 00:21:51,510 problems and as well as those who were tortured mentally and 417 00:21:51,520 --> 00:21:54,330 emotionally. O, if you were there and, and 418 00:21:54,340 --> 00:21:58,750 you saw this, you would be thinking there's something big 419 00:21:59,200 --> 00:22:01,780 about this guy, right? This is not an ordinary man. 420 00:22:01,790 --> 00:22:05,390 This is, you know, maybe the stuff he's talking about is 421 00:22:05,400 --> 00:22:08,130 worth listening to. They, they kind of backed up 422 00:22:08,140 --> 00:22:10,770 this authority, right? So let's let's carry it on this 423 00:22:10,780 --> 00:22:15,390 number 20 and says, and then he lifted up his eyes towards his 424 00:22:15,400 --> 00:22:19,370 disciples and said, right, So he's he's speaking directly to 425 00:22:19,380 --> 00:22:22,250 his disciples, his followers. Not obviously a lot of these 426 00:22:22,260 --> 00:22:24,890 other people are listening in on this conversation, but but he's 427 00:22:24,960 --> 00:22:29,030 he's primarily speaking to them and he's going to talk about how 428 00:22:29,040 --> 00:22:31,290 to be happy. It's interesting, right? 429 00:22:31,300 --> 00:22:34,080 Because in English the word heavy comes from, from the root 430 00:22:34,090 --> 00:22:36,190 word hap. It's an old Norse word. 431 00:22:36,280 --> 00:22:38,930 And hap refers to an event, right? 432 00:22:38,940 --> 00:22:42,460 Usually a fortunate event, a good event and it's where we get 433 00:22:42,470 --> 00:22:45,930 words like happen. And I mean, I could, right? 434 00:22:45,940 --> 00:22:48,930 An event took place hapless, somebody's hapless. 435 00:22:49,040 --> 00:22:55,230 It means they no good events have happened to them that 436 00:22:55,240 --> 00:23:00,190 without good events have hazard, meaning an event happened that 437 00:23:00,240 --> 00:23:03,760 without any planning, you know, it just sort of came about just 438 00:23:03,770 --> 00:23:06,660 by chance, right? So originally the word happy 439 00:23:07,360 --> 00:23:10,550 mean lucky, as in you're really lucky that that good event 440 00:23:10,560 --> 00:23:13,730 happened. But overtime, the word changed 441 00:23:13,740 --> 00:23:17,910 from kind of meaning lucky or influenced by chance events to 442 00:23:17,920 --> 00:23:22,460 describe an internal feeling. And it changed from describing 443 00:23:22,470 --> 00:23:27,060 your circumstances to describing your mental state yet how you 444 00:23:27,070 --> 00:23:30,300 feel about something. In other words, I feel happy 445 00:23:30,310 --> 00:23:33,440 because my circumstances are going well, right? 446 00:23:33,450 --> 00:23:36,080 So if you imagine it like this, So guys, he's walking down the 447 00:23:36,090 --> 00:23:39,800 beach and it's a beautiful sunny day and he's got his arm around 448 00:23:39,810 --> 00:23:43,340 a beautiful girl and he's got an ice cream and it's an awesome 449 00:23:43,350 --> 00:23:49,710 ice cream and he's happy because his circumstances are good and 450 00:23:49,720 --> 00:23:51,470 fortunate. But then a sudden big storm 451 00:23:51,480 --> 00:23:55,270 clouds are all in, and it just buckets down. 452 00:23:55,280 --> 00:23:57,830 The heavens open, and it just pours down, right? 453 00:23:57,920 --> 00:24:01,240 And the girl looks at him and goes, you didn't check the 454 00:24:01,250 --> 00:24:03,910 weather forecast, did you? This is just so typical of you. 455 00:24:03,920 --> 00:24:07,290 And she storms off, right? And the rain's pouring down, and 456 00:24:07,300 --> 00:24:10,970 his cone gets soggy and his ice cream falls off into the sand, 457 00:24:11,040 --> 00:24:14,010 you know? And so now he's not happy, 458 00:24:14,650 --> 00:24:17,010 right? Because the circumstances aren't 459 00:24:17,020 --> 00:24:19,400 good. Yeah, that's kind of how we we 460 00:24:19,410 --> 00:24:21,670 we think of it in English, right? 461 00:24:21,800 --> 00:24:26,870 But Jesus is about to radically redefine happiness because he 462 00:24:26,880 --> 00:24:29,160 disconnects it from circumstance. 463 00:24:29,510 --> 00:24:32,750 And so Jesus uses this Greek word called macarius, which 464 00:24:32,760 --> 00:24:35,520 means to be happy. But very early on, English 465 00:24:35,530 --> 00:24:39,200 translators realised that that would have slightly different to 466 00:24:39,450 --> 00:24:42,720 our thinking of happy because we we connected with circumstances. 467 00:24:42,730 --> 00:24:45,570 But macarons is more about contentment, right? 468 00:24:45,580 --> 00:24:48,100 Despite circumstances. And actually, the first time we 469 00:24:48,110 --> 00:24:51,270 see it in in secular literature, it's, it's connected to the 470 00:24:51,280 --> 00:24:54,680 island of Cyprus and which was called the happy island, the 471 00:24:54,690 --> 00:24:58,430 happy Isle because Cyprus had all the stuff they needed. 472 00:24:59,500 --> 00:25:02,250 And so it didn't matter if you look at where Cyprus, Cyprus is 473 00:25:02,260 --> 00:25:05,730 that island in the to the to the right hand side of the mid 474 00:25:05,740 --> 00:25:07,250 there. And you can see all of these 475 00:25:07,260 --> 00:25:10,210 countries all around it. It didn't matter what chaos was 476 00:25:10,220 --> 00:25:13,340 going on in all those countries, all around it sufferers was 477 00:25:13,350 --> 00:25:15,340 happy, right, because they had their needs met. 478 00:25:15,850 --> 00:25:19,000 So that was that was Makarios was yeah, that Cyprus, the happy 479 00:25:19,010 --> 00:25:21,300 Isle. So instead of you using happy 480 00:25:21,310 --> 00:25:24,100 that the English translators decided to use the word blessed 481 00:25:24,170 --> 00:25:27,340 or blessed. And that that word occurs 50 482 00:25:27,350 --> 00:25:29,840 times in the New Testament. So we'll see this a little bit, 483 00:25:29,910 --> 00:25:32,060 right? Verse #20 carrying on. 484 00:25:32,150 --> 00:25:34,380 Then he lifted up his eyes towards his disciples and he 485 00:25:34,390 --> 00:25:36,850 said, bless it, right, happy, content. 486 00:25:37,250 --> 00:25:41,490 Are you poor? For yours is the Kingdom of God. 487 00:25:42,380 --> 00:25:46,970 OK, so right off the bat, Jesus addresses one of our most 488 00:25:46,980 --> 00:25:52,350 persistent myths about happiness, which is that rich 489 00:25:52,360 --> 00:25:56,250 people are happy people. Let's just pervasive and that 490 00:25:56,260 --> 00:25:59,170 idea is getting worse, I think as time goes on. 491 00:25:59,460 --> 00:26:02,080 Now in the event that happens in Matthew where Jesus is talking, 492 00:26:02,140 --> 00:26:07,550 Jesus says listen to those who are poor in spirit, in attitude. 493 00:26:07,600 --> 00:26:12,410 What does that mean? To be poor in spirit is to have 494 00:26:12,420 --> 00:26:16,560 this attitude of acknowledging that no matter how much I have 495 00:26:16,680 --> 00:26:20,530 or how little I have, just acknowledging I'm completely 496 00:26:20,540 --> 00:26:24,080 dependent on God. Forget about how much I've got. 497 00:26:24,090 --> 00:26:27,200 I'm just completely dependent on God every single minute of every 498 00:26:27,210 --> 00:26:29,180 single day. People who are poor in spirit 499 00:26:29,190 --> 00:26:32,470 are people who embrace their daily dependence on God 500 00:26:32,720 --> 00:26:36,950 regardless of what they have, whether it's a little or a lot. 501 00:26:37,590 --> 00:26:41,980 Now they wake up everyday and they say this, God, I'm no less 502 00:26:41,990 --> 00:26:44,220 dependent on you today than I was when I had absolutely 503 00:26:44,230 --> 00:26:47,300 nothing. Yeah, now maybe you've learned 504 00:26:47,310 --> 00:26:49,650 this the hard way, or maybe you're on the verge of learning 505 00:26:49,660 --> 00:26:52,270 this the hard way. But here's what Jesus knew right 506 00:26:53,140 --> 00:26:57,270 The moment you put your trust in riches instead of him who richly 507 00:26:57,280 --> 00:27:03,780 provides, you are unhappy. You're unhappy. 508 00:27:05,080 --> 00:27:07,070 Let me say that again. The moment you put your trust in 509 00:27:07,080 --> 00:27:11,860 riches instead of him or he who richly provides, you're unhappy. 510 00:27:12,080 --> 00:27:15,310 Now by riches we mean the stuff you have, right, your 511 00:27:15,320 --> 00:27:19,200 opportunities, your education, what you have you know what you 512 00:27:19,210 --> 00:27:21,450 own, what you've borrowed for, where you live, what you drive, 513 00:27:21,460 --> 00:27:25,000 all the things that we tend to kind of build ourself esteem 514 00:27:25,010 --> 00:27:28,410 around. And the moment wetransfer our 515 00:27:28,420 --> 00:27:32,350 trust from the one who richly provides to riches themselves, 516 00:27:32,500 --> 00:27:36,280 we become become unhappy. And here is why. 517 00:27:37,230 --> 00:27:43,140 Because suddenly it's up to you to control outcomes, and you 518 00:27:43,150 --> 00:27:48,160 can't control outcomes. You can influence outcomes, but 519 00:27:48,170 --> 00:27:51,670 at the end of the day, none of us control them, right? 520 00:27:51,740 --> 00:27:54,430 And the moment I place my trust, trust in riches instead of Him 521 00:27:54,440 --> 00:27:58,010 who richly provides, suddenly I take upon myself this burden 522 00:27:58,020 --> 00:28:02,850 that's just too heavy cause it's all on me and I've got to 523 00:28:02,860 --> 00:28:04,770 control the outcomes and I can't. 524 00:28:05,820 --> 00:28:08,130 That's why you've met unhappy poor people and you've met 525 00:28:08,140 --> 00:28:12,300 unhappy rich people, because anyone who's feeling the burden 526 00:28:12,310 --> 00:28:14,860 of it's up to me is by definition unhappy. 527 00:28:15,840 --> 00:28:17,370 Jesus is. Let me tell you who the happy 528 00:28:17,380 --> 00:28:19,710 people are. The other people who are poor in 529 00:28:19,720 --> 00:28:22,090 spirit. The other people who recognise 530 00:28:22,160 --> 00:28:25,960 I'm as dependent on God for my provision as I have ever been. 531 00:28:28,150 --> 00:28:30,260 Yeah. Very poor people don't attempt 532 00:28:30,270 --> 00:28:35,000 to find satisfaction and things because things are not an option 533 00:28:35,010 --> 00:28:37,160 for them. You know what I mean? 534 00:28:37,410 --> 00:28:39,450 If you, if you're very poor, if you living out in the back 535 00:28:39,460 --> 00:28:42,300 blocks of, you know, Chad and the Central African Republic on 536 00:28:42,420 --> 00:28:44,060 the desert, you're, you're not going. 537 00:28:45,030 --> 00:28:47,500 My happiness depends on my new Mercedes-Benz. 538 00:28:47,510 --> 00:28:49,220 Those cause that's not an option. 539 00:28:50,070 --> 00:28:53,830 Jesus invites us delivered that same kind of understanding that 540 00:28:53,840 --> 00:28:57,090 my confidence is not in my stuff, it's in the one who 541 00:28:57,100 --> 00:28:59,490 provides the stuff you want to be happy. 542 00:28:59,500 --> 00:29:03,210 The happy people are the ones that recognise everyday that 543 00:29:03,220 --> 00:29:06,430 they're completely dependent on their Father in heaven, right? 544 00:29:06,440 --> 00:29:09,210 He goes on. Blessed are you who hunger now, 545 00:29:09,910 --> 00:29:13,890 for you shall be filled and filled or satisfied in the event 546 00:29:13,900 --> 00:29:17,270 of Matthew, Jesus adds blessing to those who hunger and thirst 547 00:29:17,320 --> 00:29:20,780 for righteousness, right? In other words, happy. 548 00:29:20,790 --> 00:29:23,720 The happy people are those who hunger to do the right thing. 549 00:29:23,730 --> 00:29:25,410 And we'll come back to this one in a minute. 550 00:29:25,830 --> 00:29:30,190 There's 21 carries on. Blessed, happy content are you 551 00:29:30,200 --> 00:29:33,440 who weep now, for you shall laugh. 552 00:29:33,450 --> 00:29:37,220 You gotta laugh would weep here means to whale or to cry out. 553 00:29:37,230 --> 00:29:39,470 It's very, very similar to the multi word tongue. 554 00:29:40,350 --> 00:29:42,820 Just like the word tongue. This Greek word is is usually 555 00:29:42,830 --> 00:29:44,620 connected with grief and funerals. 556 00:29:45,350 --> 00:29:48,580 It's a very kind of similar word there right. 557 00:29:48,650 --> 00:29:52,440 And in fact, in the event in in in Matthew, Matthew 5, Jesus 558 00:29:52,450 --> 00:29:54,100 says blessed are those who mourn. 559 00:29:54,810 --> 00:29:58,440 You know who mourns? Mourners are people who are 560 00:29:58,450 --> 00:30:02,590 emotionally connected, the people who recognise and don't 561 00:30:02,600 --> 00:30:05,950 hide from the facts that there are bad things in the world, 562 00:30:05,960 --> 00:30:08,100 there are unjust things in the world, there's randomness in the 563 00:30:08,110 --> 00:30:11,120 world. And they're willing to walk into 564 00:30:11,130 --> 00:30:14,370 those moments of death and sorrow and grief and stay there 565 00:30:14,380 --> 00:30:18,820 and face it full on and embrace the fact that death is actually 566 00:30:18,830 --> 00:30:22,260 a part of life. You know, Jo's friends, they 567 00:30:22,270 --> 00:30:24,310 take a lot of Flack. But when Job had all this 568 00:30:24,320 --> 00:30:26,830 horrific, traumatic stuff happened to him, his friends 569 00:30:26,840 --> 00:30:29,260 came, just sat with him for seven days, didn't say anything, 570 00:30:29,270 --> 00:30:32,630 just for a week, just came and sat with him, you know, watching 571 00:30:32,640 --> 00:30:35,310 that intense grief. Somebody has just lost ten 572 00:30:35,320 --> 00:30:39,110 children, you know, and lost his health and all his businesses 573 00:30:39,120 --> 00:30:41,030 and all of that. And, and they, they were willing 574 00:30:41,040 --> 00:30:43,470 to just be in there and, and face it and mourn with him, 575 00:30:43,480 --> 00:30:45,830 right. In our culture, this is more and 576 00:30:45,840 --> 00:30:48,830 more unusual because I think, you know, death is so sanitised 577 00:30:48,840 --> 00:30:52,610 for us, isn't it, you know, and we see this a lot, right? 578 00:30:52,620 --> 00:30:55,930 We have a lot of funerals here. And, and they'll, they'll always 579 00:30:55,940 --> 00:31:00,450 be a bunch of people who kind of go, you know what really want to 580 00:31:00,520 --> 00:31:02,680 face that, right? And so leave work sort of 10 581 00:31:02,690 --> 00:31:05,620 minutes and, and arrive just as the thing starting and sit in 582 00:31:05,630 --> 00:31:08,230 the back row, right? And then rush out the door 583 00:31:08,240 --> 00:31:11,050 straight afterwards, you know, and, and maybe stop and get a 584 00:31:11,060 --> 00:31:13,180 drink, you know, and then on the way back to work, you know, 585 00:31:13,190 --> 00:31:15,290 because I don't want to think about death, don't want to be 586 00:31:15,360 --> 00:31:18,830 faced with death. When we first went to Scotland, 587 00:31:18,840 --> 00:31:21,480 this was like 20 years ago. They have conversation with 588 00:31:21,490 --> 00:31:22,940 someone. If you started talking about 589 00:31:22,950 --> 00:31:26,050 something to do with death, instantly somebody would say, 590 00:31:26,120 --> 00:31:29,190 well, that's a really morbid subject and change the subject. 591 00:31:29,480 --> 00:31:30,910 Yeah. And I thought that was really 592 00:31:30,920 --> 00:31:32,290 weird, right when I first got it. 593 00:31:32,300 --> 00:31:35,350 Now it's exactly the same here. They were just a hit of the hit 594 00:31:35,360 --> 00:31:37,060 of the game. You know, it's kind of like 595 00:31:37,070 --> 00:31:38,850 that, right? We don't want to think about 596 00:31:38,860 --> 00:31:42,270 death, but Jesus says if that's your attitude to life, you'll 597 00:31:42,280 --> 00:31:47,300 never be happy because fear of dying will rob you of the joy of 598 00:31:47,310 --> 00:31:52,400 living. So Jesus is happier those when 599 00:31:52,410 --> 00:31:55,980 they are faced with the fact that this life comes to an end, 600 00:31:56,590 --> 00:31:59,780 they're happy to embrace that, endure it, and be part of it. 601 00:32:00,310 --> 00:32:03,440 You'll find contentment and happiness there far more than if 602 00:32:03,450 --> 00:32:07,070 you spend your life thinking, you know, living like it's never 603 00:32:07,080 --> 00:32:09,730 gonna happen to you and not preparing for it. 604 00:32:09,740 --> 00:32:12,920 We'll talk about that and see in the last bit that he says is 605 00:32:13,210 --> 00:32:17,760 blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you and 606 00:32:17,770 --> 00:32:21,420 they revile you, when they cast your name out as evil for the 607 00:32:21,430 --> 00:32:26,200 Son of man's sake, right for Jesus sake, rejoice in that day 608 00:32:26,250 --> 00:32:30,420 and leap for joy, for indeed your reward is great in heaven. 609 00:32:30,750 --> 00:32:34,550 And like men of their fathers did to the prophets, boys are 610 00:32:34,560 --> 00:32:37,790 you wearing people hate you. Those things don't seem to go 611 00:32:37,800 --> 00:32:39,650 together right? Happy content to you. 612 00:32:39,660 --> 00:32:42,230 When people hate you, they don't seem to match. 613 00:32:42,370 --> 00:32:44,970 It's like a disconnect, right? Another radical thing that Jesus 614 00:32:44,980 --> 00:32:46,610 says, right. But here's the thing. 615 00:32:46,620 --> 00:32:48,450 And if you if you're old, you know this. 616 00:32:48,920 --> 00:32:50,930 I am literally twice as old as Google. 617 00:32:50,980 --> 00:32:53,490 But if you if you haven't discovered this yet, what will 618 00:32:53,500 --> 00:32:55,950 will all eventually discover it. So let me just sort of lay it 619 00:32:55,960 --> 00:32:57,770 out in case you haven't got there. 620 00:32:58,060 --> 00:33:01,410 You are going to suffer in life and you're gonna suffer. 621 00:33:01,420 --> 00:33:04,890 Either suffer for doing right or doing wrong. 622 00:33:05,970 --> 00:33:08,980 You're either going to suffer for doing the right thing or for 623 00:33:08,990 --> 00:33:12,940 doing the wrong thing. But you can only be happy on one 624 00:33:12,950 --> 00:33:17,440 side of that coin. You can be happy when you are 625 00:33:17,450 --> 00:33:21,890 persecuted for doing the right thing, because at the end of the 626 00:33:21,900 --> 00:33:25,210 day, you can be at peace with yourself and you can be at peace 627 00:33:25,220 --> 00:33:28,860 with God. But if you suffer for doing the 628 00:33:28,870 --> 00:33:30,450 wrong thing, then you don't have peace with you. 629 00:33:30,460 --> 00:33:34,490 You don't have peace with God. And Jesus draws us into the sort 630 00:33:34,500 --> 00:33:37,050 of wider context right says in this life, you're going to be 631 00:33:37,060 --> 00:33:38,640 mistreated. Do you want to be mistreated for 632 00:33:38,650 --> 00:33:40,960 doing the right thing or for doing the wrong thing? 633 00:33:42,030 --> 00:33:45,290 Listen to those happier, those who choose to pursue 634 00:33:45,300 --> 00:33:47,940 righteousness, right. They hunger and thirst after 635 00:33:47,950 --> 00:33:50,560 doing the right thing, right? Even when it costs them. 636 00:33:50,570 --> 00:33:53,420 Because you can be happy doing the right thing. 637 00:33:53,430 --> 00:33:56,960 You can be content doing the right thing and facing the 638 00:33:56,970 --> 00:33:58,900 consequences. And on top of that, you're 639 00:33:58,910 --> 00:34:00,880 reward is greater than heaven, right? 640 00:34:00,890 --> 00:34:03,500 God sees it, He sees what's happening. 641 00:34:03,610 --> 00:34:06,040 He sees what you're trying to do and how people hammered you for 642 00:34:06,050 --> 00:34:09,659 trying to do the right thing. Yeah, does not blind to it. 643 00:34:10,090 --> 00:34:11,380 You know, Ezekiel talks about it. 644 00:34:11,389 --> 00:34:13,639 You know, he goes like a rock with seven eyes. 645 00:34:13,650 --> 00:34:15,820 He's a weird sort of thing. But in the ancient world, when 646 00:34:15,830 --> 00:34:18,699 he had seven of something, you had a whole set, right? 647 00:34:18,750 --> 00:34:19,949 Seven days. You had a week, right? 648 00:34:19,960 --> 00:34:22,300 You know, 7/7 was kind of this complete set. 649 00:34:22,370 --> 00:34:25,030 God has a complete set of eyes. He doesn't miss it. 650 00:34:25,469 --> 00:34:29,250 God sees it and he'll reward it and you're in good company 651 00:34:29,260 --> 00:34:32,949 because that's what the prophets of God always experienced when 652 00:34:32,960 --> 00:34:35,570 they told people what God told me, that people were unhappy, 653 00:34:35,580 --> 00:34:36,469 right? Verse 24. 654 00:34:36,480 --> 00:34:38,530 Then he sort of talks about the flipside of these things real 655 00:34:38,540 --> 00:34:39,889 quick. He says. 656 00:34:39,900 --> 00:34:43,090 But woe to you who are rich, for you've received your 657 00:34:43,100 --> 00:34:45,880 consolation, right? You got all these stuff. 658 00:34:46,810 --> 00:34:51,989 What has made you happy? What are you who are full for? 659 00:34:52,000 --> 00:34:54,489 You shall hunger, right? You don't see your need? 660 00:34:54,500 --> 00:34:58,810 You don't see any need because you have full you satisfied, you 661 00:34:58,820 --> 00:35:01,190 think you have what you need, but you're gonna come up short. 662 00:35:01,480 --> 00:35:03,690 Now Jesus talks about, you know, it's, it's, it's harder for a 663 00:35:03,700 --> 00:35:05,890 rich man to get into heaven to, you know, push a camel through 664 00:35:05,900 --> 00:35:09,110 the eye of a needle, you know, and he, he's exaggerating for 665 00:35:09,120 --> 00:35:10,110 effect. You know, he just said, you 666 00:35:10,120 --> 00:35:12,230 know, you stranded on that and swallow a camel, right. 667 00:35:12,840 --> 00:35:15,010 Why is it so difficult? The, the, the swimmers go, well, 668 00:35:15,020 --> 00:35:16,850 who couldn't be saved then? And they go, well, he says, 669 00:35:16,860 --> 00:35:18,430 well, God, anything is possible, right? 670 00:35:18,440 --> 00:35:20,130 It's all possible. But what's he saying? 671 00:35:20,140 --> 00:35:24,250 He's saying, why is it so hard for a rich man to get to heaven, 672 00:35:24,260 --> 00:35:27,150 to, to to repent and, and come to Jesus and ask for 673 00:35:27,160 --> 00:35:28,130 forgiveness? And maybe they can. 674 00:35:28,140 --> 00:35:30,330 Why is that so hard? He doesn't see his need. 675 00:35:30,880 --> 00:35:34,220 All right, You know, I got my skill set, got my job, pays 676 00:35:34,230 --> 00:35:37,100 alright, got a house, got the car, either right? 677 00:35:37,310 --> 00:35:39,160 I'm I'm good. Yeah. 678 00:35:39,230 --> 00:35:41,520 We actually our need. We are very wealthy country 679 00:35:42,090 --> 00:35:44,240 depending on the lists you read, you know, we're we're way up 680 00:35:44,250 --> 00:35:47,480 there in the top 8% whilst in the world. 681 00:35:47,770 --> 00:35:50,190 We don't think of ourselves as rich, but we really are in the 682 00:35:50,200 --> 00:35:52,300 big, big scope of the world, right. 683 00:35:52,550 --> 00:35:54,250 And so we don't often see our need. 684 00:35:55,110 --> 00:36:00,000 Why do you laugh now? For you shall mourn and weep. 685 00:36:01,320 --> 00:36:07,430 You know you, you avoid thinking about death and mourning, so you 686 00:36:07,440 --> 00:36:10,230 never do anything about it. And it's going to come on you 687 00:36:10,240 --> 00:36:12,340 quickly, and you'll go into eternity unprepared. 688 00:36:13,970 --> 00:36:17,200 And why do you win? All means speak well of you, for 689 00:36:17,210 --> 00:36:20,020 so did the their fathers to the false prophets. 690 00:36:21,110 --> 00:36:24,400 If every single person is saying nice things about you, it's 691 00:36:24,410 --> 00:36:26,300 because you're telling them what they want to hear and not what 692 00:36:26,310 --> 00:36:28,920 they Yeah, you're telling them what they want to hear and what 693 00:36:28,970 --> 00:36:32,390 not, what they need to hear. This is what the false prophets 694 00:36:32,400 --> 00:36:34,330 did. You know, Jeremiah said, you 695 00:36:34,340 --> 00:36:37,400 know, God told Jeremiah, okay, time's up, judgement is coming. 696 00:36:37,410 --> 00:36:40,160 The Babylonians are going to tell the people, get ready for 697 00:36:40,170 --> 00:36:43,090 that. Jeremiah says that the false 698 00:36:43,100 --> 00:36:46,690 prophet said God's a loving God. He wouldn't do that. 699 00:36:46,760 --> 00:36:50,250 Jeremiah is lying and the people listen to the false prophets, 700 00:36:50,420 --> 00:36:51,410 right? They said, we're listening to 701 00:36:51,420 --> 00:36:52,950 these good guys, not the doomsayer. 702 00:36:53,040 --> 00:36:55,630 They smashed out Jeremiah's teeth for him in a sewer pit up 703 00:36:55,640 --> 00:36:57,350 to his armpits. Ohh. 704 00:36:57,360 --> 00:37:00,530 You know, just listen to these good guys, you're in good 705 00:37:00,540 --> 00:37:03,150 company, right? If, if people are reviving you 706 00:37:03,160 --> 00:37:05,710 for the, for the things that you say and how you live your life, 707 00:37:05,720 --> 00:37:08,350 right. Okay, so wrapping it up, what is 708 00:37:08,360 --> 00:37:10,970 the common denominator to all these things, right? 709 00:37:10,980 --> 00:37:13,160 When, when Jesus finishes this part of the message, because he 710 00:37:13,170 --> 00:37:17,260 moves on to some other stuff. What's the take away from all 711 00:37:17,270 --> 00:37:19,330 this detail and all those applications and all those 712 00:37:19,340 --> 00:37:20,990 words? I think the take away and the 713 00:37:21,000 --> 00:37:24,730 big sort of a hard moment for me and hopefully for you, the thing 714 00:37:24,740 --> 00:37:27,850 that could be sort of life changing for you if you are 715 00:37:27,860 --> 00:37:30,620 struggling with this season of your life right now. 716 00:37:31,270 --> 00:37:33,720 Through all of these words, Jesus brings us to this kind of 717 00:37:33,730 --> 00:37:38,140 unavoidable conclusion, which is this that happiness itself is an 718 00:37:38,150 --> 00:37:40,930 outcome. It's an outcome. 719 00:37:40,980 --> 00:37:43,910 It's a result. It's about something now that 720 00:37:43,920 --> 00:37:48,450 leads us to something later. Yeah, happiness is a more is 721 00:37:48,460 --> 00:37:50,710 more about ultimate than immediate. 722 00:37:51,810 --> 00:37:54,590 That happiness is not immediately accessible. 723 00:37:55,750 --> 00:38:00,090 Another words you saw in Reap your way to happiness. 724 00:38:00,790 --> 00:38:04,100 Not because you control events or circumstances, but by 725 00:38:04,110 --> 00:38:07,790 trusting in the right things, right? 726 00:38:07,860 --> 00:38:10,310 You become content, You become happy. 727 00:38:10,660 --> 00:38:13,910 Just like we, we saw and reap our way to unhappiness, right? 728 00:38:13,920 --> 00:38:16,050 The place where we wish we'd never arrived. 729 00:38:16,240 --> 00:38:20,250 We sowed ourselves there, right? We trusted in our circumstances 730 00:38:20,260 --> 00:38:25,300 for happiness and when circumstances changed, we it 731 00:38:25,310 --> 00:38:27,500 made us unhappy. The good news is you show your 732 00:38:27,510 --> 00:38:29,940 way out of it as well, right? How? 733 00:38:29,980 --> 00:38:31,020 How do we show our way out of it? 734 00:38:32,160 --> 00:38:34,440 No one decided to be poor in spirit, right? 735 00:38:34,450 --> 00:38:37,150 Every single day, acknowledge and embrace your dependence on 736 00:38:37,160 --> 00:38:40,870 God for everything, for your food, for your health, for your 737 00:38:41,140 --> 00:38:43,410 salvation. You know we're going to see that 738 00:38:43,420 --> 00:38:45,590 again in Chapter 11. Like I say, when Jesus teaches 739 00:38:45,600 --> 00:38:49,670 us to pray, decide to stop trusting in what you have and 740 00:38:49,680 --> 00:38:51,950 instead trust on the one in the one who provides it. 741 00:38:52,990 --> 00:38:54,440 Yeah, you can't control outcomes. 742 00:38:54,450 --> 00:38:57,080 The burden of trying to do that will make you unhappy. 743 00:38:57,890 --> 00:39:02,540 Get right with God. You, you, you fall short and 744 00:39:02,550 --> 00:39:07,460 nothing you are and nothing you have well is enough will be 745 00:39:07,470 --> 00:39:09,620 enough, right? Go and ask God for forgiveness 746 00:39:09,630 --> 00:39:11,100 first. John 19. 747 00:39:11,190 --> 00:39:16,240 If we confess our sins, then He is faithful and just to forgive 748 00:39:16,250 --> 00:39:18,840 us our sins and cleanse us from all our righteousness. 749 00:39:19,550 --> 00:39:20,680 Then you don't need to fear death. 750 00:39:21,990 --> 00:39:23,650 Death is not anything to be feared, right? 751 00:39:23,660 --> 00:39:25,500 Because death is not an endpoint for you. 752 00:39:25,550 --> 00:39:28,240 If you've, if you've been forgiven, if you've gone and 753 00:39:28,250 --> 00:39:32,280 asked for forgiveness and received it, you can face it and 754 00:39:32,290 --> 00:39:34,660 you can relationally engage with people. 755 00:39:35,600 --> 00:39:41,460 Yeah, fear of death will rob you of joy in life, and in this life 756 00:39:41,470 --> 00:39:44,180 you're going to be mistreated. Do you want to be mistreated for 757 00:39:44,190 --> 00:39:46,890 doing the right thing, or do you want to be mistreated for doing 758 00:39:46,900 --> 00:39:49,030 the wrong thing? Because only one side of that 759 00:39:49,040 --> 00:39:53,300 coin can bring happiness, peace with yourself and peace with 760 00:39:53,310 --> 00:39:55,880 God. And so the question we want to 761 00:39:55,890 --> 00:39:59,380 leave us with today is what makes you happy? 762 00:40:00,440 --> 00:40:03,620 Right. What are you trusting in for 763 00:40:03,630 --> 00:40:07,170 your happiness? Let's pray. 764 00:40:07,590 --> 00:40:12,840 Father, we thank you for the fact that you are just so 765 00:40:12,850 --> 00:40:15,580 infinite in your wisdom and your knowledge, and we thank you for 766 00:40:15,590 --> 00:40:18,210 Jesus. We thank you for the miraculous 767 00:40:18,220 --> 00:40:23,260 things He was able to do that make it so obvious that he is 768 00:40:23,450 --> 00:40:26,800 God, the Son of God. We thank you for that, and we 769 00:40:26,810 --> 00:40:30,780 thank you for these teachings. We thank you that your gracious 770 00:40:30,790 --> 00:40:33,840 God and forgive us for getting off on the wrong track and 771 00:40:33,850 --> 00:40:35,160 believing things that aren't true. 772 00:40:35,200 --> 00:40:36,830 We thank you for the apostles teaching. 773 00:40:36,910 --> 00:40:39,680 We thank you for as they spoke on behalf of Jesus. 774 00:40:39,690 --> 00:40:43,850 All we thank you for these teachings here that correct some 775 00:40:43,860 --> 00:40:47,880 of the things we get wrong about happiness and we thank you for 776 00:40:47,890 --> 00:40:50,060 happiness. Thank you for the capacity for 777 00:40:50,070 --> 00:40:52,940 happiness and joy and thank you for helping us to understand 778 00:40:52,950 --> 00:40:55,670 what it is. Lord thank you for everything 779 00:40:55,680 --> 00:40:57,700 that you are. We pray these things in Jesus 780 00:40:57,710 --> 00:40:58,100 thing.