Ephesians 2:1-10 Common English Bible
Saved from sin to life
2 At one time you were like a dead person because of the things you did wrong and your offenses against God. 2 You used to live like people of this world. You followed the rule of a destructive spiritual power. This is the spirit of disobedience to God’s will that is now at work in persons whose lives are characterized by disobedience. 3 At one time you were like those persons. All of you used to do whatever felt good and whatever you thought you wanted so that you were children headed for punishment just like everyone else.
4-5 However, God is rich in mercy. He brought us to life with Christ while we were dead as a result of those things that we did wrong. He did this because of the great love that he has for us. You are saved by God’s grace! 6 And God raised us up and seated us in the heavens with Christ Jesus. 7 God did this to show future generations the greatness of his grace by the goodness that God has shown us in Christ Jesus.
8 You are saved by God’s grace because of your faith.[a] This salvation is God’s gift. It’s not something you possessed. 9 It’s not something you did that you can be proud of. 10 Instead, we are God’s accomplishment, created in Christ Jesus to do good things. God planned for these good things to be the way that we live our lives.
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.
Can anyone answer the question; “Where and when did our happiness begin?”
If we had to take our best guess, our most educated guess, our best considered guess, our best biblical or theological guess when our happiness really began;
How would we be most likely to respond?
Contemplatively?
Considerately?
Compassionately?
Easily?
Instantly?
Quickly?
Immediately?
Joyfully?
Mockingly?
Scornfully?
Spitefully?
Spontaneously?
Snarky?
Mysteriously?
Cryptically?
Instinctively?
Laughingly?
Sadly?
Tearfully?
Angrily?
With as much malice and forethought as we could muster from inside our soul?
With a “wide eyed thousand mile stare into the depths of who knows where?”
Not answer the question at all?
Is it really that difficult a question to ask and then expect an honest answer to?
What time frame would we be most likely to assign to our answer?
Minutes ago?
Just a few seconds ago?
Hours ago?
Days, weeks, months, years, decades ago?
“I cannot remember when I last felt happiness?”
“I don’t believe I have ever experienced happiness!”
“What is happiness, anyway?”
If we were to ask Abraham or Sarah?
If we were to ask the Israelites being held in bondage in Egypt?
If we were to interview Moses – while a Prince of Egypt, while a fugitive on the run for murdering an Egyptian, wandering in the harsh wilderness with so little to eat, drink to keep him moving forward toward survival in who knows where?
When he was received and was welcomed in Midian, took a wife, had children, a steady job? Before or after his experience with God Himself and a burning bush?
What about an interview with King Saul, before and after he was anointed the first King of Israel and then suddenly lost it when he was disobedient to God?
David, standing in the presence of a scared stiff King Saul, listening to the day after day taunts of the giant Goliath? Then defending the honor of his nation in a simple shepherds tunic with only a sling and a few stones from a dried river?
Examine the moment when he lustfully eyeballed a naked bathing Bathsheba?
When David then conceived, then enacted, his plot to cover up his adultery?
Select and examine any moment in scripture … when did their happiness start?
Our Happiness began in our Being Created by God.
Genesis 1:26-28 Common English Bible
26 Then God said, “Let us make humanity in our image to resemble us so that they may take charge of the fish of the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the earth, and all the crawling things on earth.”
27 God created humanity in God’s own image,
in the divine image God created them,[a]
male and female God created them.
28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fertile and multiply; fill the earth and master it. Take charge of the fish of the sea, the birds in the sky, and everything crawling on the ground.”
Why are we here?
What is our purpose for living here and now?
Maybe you have asked or heard these questions before.
These are philosophical questions that have kept the brightest people busy.
Do you have an answer?
The Bible teaches that we are created by God and made in his image.
“We are God’s handiwork,” and he sent Jesus to redeem and renew us so that we can have eternal life with him.
God renews us so that we can do good, and this is our purpose in life.
With the new life that God makes possible for us in Christ, we seek to live God’s way and to do good so that we can show others the way to know God.
We find true happiness in being created by God for an extraordinary purpose.
We are not a piece of wood floating aimlessly through the ocean of life.
We are not like a loose leaf carried by the wind.
Life has a truly meaningful purpose.
We are created by God to have full life with God and to shine the light of his love to others. God is the source and the destiny of our life.
The very meaning of eternal life is to know God and his Son, Jesus Christ, through the life-giving work of his Holy Spirit.
There lies our greatest and most complete happiness.
What is the origin, the real source of our happiness in our life?
In our current emotional, multi-emotional condition, what are we doing here to help ourselves connect to that moment when our happiness genuinely began??
How will you happily help someone happily answer these questions?
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Psalm 16 New Century Version
The Lord Takes Care of His People
A miktam of David.
16 Protect me, God,
because I trust in you.
2 I said to the Lord, “You are my Lord.
Every good thing I have comes from you.”
3 As for the godly people in the world,
they are the wonderful ones I enjoy.
4 But those who turn to idols
will have much pain.
I will not offer blood to those idols
or even speak their names.
5 No, the Lord is all I need.
He takes care of me.
6 My share in life has been pleasant;
my part has been beautiful.
7 I praise the Lord because he advises me.
Even at night, I feel his leading.
8 I keep the Lord before me always.
Because he is close by my side,
I will not be hurt.
9 So I rejoice and am glad.
Even my body has hope,
10 because you will not leave me in the grave.
You will not let your holy one rot.
11 You will teach me how to live a holy life.
Being with you will fill me with joy;
at your right hand I will find pleasure forever.
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.
Loving God, Living God, Loving Hope, Living Hope, Loving Living Life His Way! "Many things are possible for the person who has hope. Even more is possible for the person who has faith. And still more is possible for the person who knows how to love. But everything is possible for the person who practices all three virtues." - Brother Lawrence (1605-1691), Practicing the Presence of God (1692). 