Happiness vs Joy

       “Then instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you. I'll be with you as you do this, day after day after day, right up to the end of the age.”  Matthew 28:20  Msg

   Bumper stickers.  They proclaim everything.  One reads, “happiness is being married”; another counters, “happiness is being single”, while a third says, “happiness is impossible”.   For most people, happiness is possible, but it is also fickle and shallow.

   “Behold, I will make you to be a new, sharp, threshing instrument which has teeth; you shall thresh the mountains and beat them small, and shall make the hills like chaff.   16. You shall winnow them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the tempest or whirlwind shall scatter them. And you shall rejoice in the Lord, you shall glory in the Holy One of Israel.”  Isaiah 41:15,16  Amp

Read:  Psalms 33:1-11

I.  Happiness       

*  happiness is a feeling largely based on circumstances

*  most people think it can be achieved and held onto forever

*  but, it is fleeting and soon gone

*  it is sometimes associated with “good luck” or/  our “good fortune”

*  it is generally self centered and self consumed    v.10

*  when good times are rolling along, how can we not “feel” happy ?

*  however, when good times fail, then what?

II.  Joy

*  Christian Joy is a constant- directly related to God-  not effected

      by our outward circumstances   v.4,5

            1 John 1:1-4  written so that our joy would be complete

*  joy moves a person out of self centered focus and onto others

            Psalms 126:5,6  hard times cause us to rejoice-  1 Peter 4:12,13

*  joy can sustain us through all phases of our life

            Philippians 4:4  always rejoice-  again and again

*  joy is the firm confidence that all is well- regardless of failure

            1 Peter 1:6-9  difficulties are not forever-  joy in the Lord is !

*  knowing the Lord transcends the temporal circumstances-

*  obeying the Lord brings a complete fullness of peace and joy