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True Happiness in Christ | Pastor Randall Crawford Sr. | Bethel House of Truth

Sunday Sermons | Bethel House of Truth | Pastor Randall Crawford Sr.

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  1. True Happiness in Christ

  2. ===

  3. Ethan: [00:00:00] You are now listening to True Happiness from Yahveh taught by Pastor Randall Crawford Senior. Please visit our website to listen to more messages like this one and subscribe to our newsletter at bethel house of truth dot org. Again that is bethel house of truth dot org. Enjoy the message and God Bless You.

  4. Pastor Randall Crawford Sr: Good afternoon. I wanna welcome you all to Bethel House of Truth this Sunday service. Praise be to Yahveh and Yeshua in the highest. Amen. Right. So let's get right into this. Let's get right into this. True happiness from YHVH. What is true happiness? True happiness. It takes strength to, to gain happiness.

  5. It takes a lot of strength. It takes strength, wisdom, understanding, power, the whole nine yards. Um, but I have something that's written and I also have a prayer before I even begin this message. We all want to be happy, but sometimes trying to find happiness can be a struggle. Oftentimes, we search for it in all the wrong places or [00:01:00] ways when the answer is much simpler than anything else.

  6. The answer is always God. Happy are the people whose God is the Lord. Psalm 144:15. Scripture guides us to true happiness through knowing his promises and God's word. Now, I just want to say a quick prayer.

    Psalms 144:15

  7. _Lord, I long to know and experience happiness in my life. I'm not talking about shallow pleasures._ _Those come and go and the wrong kind leave us empty and unfulfilled. The happiness I desire is so much more than skin. Deep is bigger than my circumstances and larger than my emotions. I want the kind of happiness that trust you or obeys you and follows you regardless of where the path leaves me. Amen._

  8. Amen. It's extremely important that you, um, understand happiness. It really is. [00:02:00] Happiness without God is a problem. It's a serious, serious problem. It really is. It's a problem. So we're gonna start in John, John 16.

  9. Most people when they, when they talk to God and when they pray, to God, they skip right over asking God for happiness. _Lord, I want to be happy. _Instead, they ask for the simple things of life: a car, a home, a, um, more money, friends, a man, a woman. the simple things of life, the things that really don't matter, the things that don't make you happy.

  10. I call those things gravy. I call those things gravy. They're just gravy on top of my life. Okay? A car, a home, a money, um, credit. What else? Just those simple things. They're simple. They're very, very simple. Companionship. Very simple things, but true happiness comes from Jesus Christ. We're gonna explore [00:03:00] these things today, John 16:24.

    John 16:24

  11. John 16:24. One verse one verse John 16:24

    John 16:24 John 16:24

  12. And it reads, Christ speaking to his disciples:

  13. 24 Hitherto, have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.

  14. You gotta understand that God wants us happy. He wants us to be happy, but not just happy in the way of a car or a home or, um, money or credit or companionship. Those things are gravy. They're gravy. Like I said, he wants us to be happy within. Cause you can have all those things to still be unhappy. Amen. You really can and that's a problem. It really is. So he is saying ask, but don't ask for shallow things. When you ask for shallow things, you're gonna have shallow things, okay?

  15. But you won't be happy. You just won't be happy. But when you ask, ask in faith, ask knowing that, um, you're not gonna consume it upon your lust. Don't ask amiss. People who ask for those [00:04:00] type of things ask amiss, ask amiss, and it will be, um, you're gonna have a problem. Let's go to Ecclesiastes two. Right after Proverbs.

  16. Verse 24. Don't you to see this?

  17. I call cars, homes, credit, um, money, companionship, all these things are gravy. I call them gravy because we have access to get these things on our own. Amen. There's no reason for you to be praying, God, I need a car. Please, Lord bless me with a car will bless me with a home, Lord. Unless it's circumstantial, then you really need it.

  18. Then you can talk to God about me. You know what I mean? But if. If you're doing okay, that's something that you can obtain on your own. Amen. Don't make your prayers about shallow things because you'll never be happy at all. Solomon speaks you the wisest man to ever live besides Jesus Christ.

  19. Ecclesiastes 2:24.

    Ecclesiastes 2:24

  20. 24 _there_ is nothing better for a man, (or a woman) than that he should, or she should eat and drink and that he or [00:05:00] she should make his or her soul enjoy good in his labor (in her labor). This also I saw, and it _was_ from the hand of God.

  21. What's the Solomon saying here? He's saying that if you can work for it, enjoy it. Amen. If you can work for it, enjoy it. That's exactly what he's saying here.

  22. 25 for who can eat or who else can hasten hearunto to more than I?

  23. Solomon say I'm the richest man to ever live, and he still is the richest man to ever live. Okay? The richest man to ever live was Solomon there's no one richer than Solomon. He was a multi trillionaire, okay? God blessed him that way. He had money on top of money, on top of money, on top of money, on top of money. He said, who could enjoy life more than I can?

  24. 26 For God giveth to a man or a woman that is good in his sight, wisdom and knowledge and joy: but to the sinner, he give a travail, to gather and to heap up that he [00:06:00] may give _to him_ that is good before God. This also_ is _vanity and vexation of the spirit.

  25. That's what, that's what people live for. I want you to see something here, God gives us everything we need to be happy, but he will not give you the ability to be happy, okay?

  26. That comes from you. Amen. That comes from you. He gives the ability to make as much money as we want to make. Okay? But money ain't everything. Amen. He gives the ability to have someone to have companionship, but that ain't always what us cracked up to be. Amen. Because it ain't always right. It gives us the ability to have everything that we want in life.

  27. But to be happy, you gotta go a little deeper. You have, you have to go a little bit deeper in life, in thought and prayer and wisdom and understanding. Amen. You have to go deeper. Cause if you don't, you just shallow low. It's very, very shallow. Amen. And if you're shallow, that's a problem. It's a huge problem. He's not going to just make you [00:07:00] be happy, okay? He shows us how to be happy. We must execute and not be lazy, okay? And not be lazy. It's on you. _Well, LORD, why am I not happy?_ You're not happy because you're not happy. That's why you're not happy. You're not happy. If you complain all the time, you're not happy. because all you do is complain, right?

  28. That's why you're not happy. It's a problem. Psalms 37.

  29. Try looking on the bright side. Okay? Try looking on the bright side of situations if there is a bright side, but you can always make a bright side. Amen.

  30. Go on the bright side, true happiness from YHVH.

  31. Learn about your, a lot about yourself today. Psalms 37:1 -9 is what we're doing, and it reads:

    Psalms 37:1–9

  32. 1 Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of inequity.

  33. Meaning, if you see someone in the world and they have what you desire, don't be envious of that person. And why are you [00:08:00] zealous or envious of a drug dealer? Why are you envious of someone who's a, a rapper? An ex rapper, bad person, bad boy, turn actor or turn celebrity? No one cares. No one cares. You shouldn't be envious or jealous against someone who works iniquity. Amen.

  34. 2 For this shall soon be cut down like the grass and wither as the green herb.

  35. This, this is funny because God's saying to you, be patient. It takes strength to have happiness. It takes strength to have happiness. _You can't just wake up and be like, okay, everything's gonna go right today and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah._ That aint how it works. That's not how life works at all. I don't care if you are a Christian. That's not how life works. Life comes with challenges. It comes with people who want to challenge you. It comes with the devil, okay? Who will rear his ugly head whenever he can? Amen. And you have to understand that, but you have to work around all that in the name of Jesus Christ. So don't [00:09:00] be angry if someone that does you pain and you know, they don't deserve much of nothing. If they have everything that you desire, don't be angry, okay? Because they will be mowed down shortly. Amen. You have to understand that. It don't sit in anger. They'll be like, how come this ain't working for me? How come? because you're dwelling on the negative, you're dwelling on the bad. Why?

  36. 3 Trust in the Lord YHVH and do good;

  37. there you go. Trust in the Lord. _So_ no matter what you see, no matter how many people's prospering before you, he's saying trust in the Lord. It's a mind shift. It's a mind shift. It really is.

  38. 3 Trust in the Lord YHVH and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land and verily thou shall be fed. By YHVH hand, period. You will be fed by his hand.

  39. 4 delight thyself also in the LORD YHVH; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.

  40. I know that to be true. Delight yourself. Meaning give all your attention to YHVH'S ways and learn of him truly not, not fake learn, but truly [00:10:00] learn of him. Delight all your ways into God, into Jesus Christ, into the truth. Then you will find happiness and joy and peace of mind, because God will give it to you. He will give you your heart's desire, but there's something you must do first.

  41. 5 Commit thy way unto the LORD YHVH; Trust also in him; And he shall bring it to pass.

  42. Facts on top of facts, on top of facts. The word commit here is to pledge or bind oneself to a course or a way of life. Christianity is not the religion. It's a way of life. Amen. Amen. It truly is. And without ever leaving or straying away, don't stray away.

  43. You want happiness? Don't stray away. You want peace? Don't stray away. You want joy? Don't stray away. We live a long life, do we not? We live a very long life. Well, some people call it short, okay? But the average life today is 90. Okay? Is 90. It's because of technology and medicine and all that is [00:11:00] 90 years old. That's a long time, right? So think about from when you were born to when you could actually start to think for yourself from where you left your mom and your dad, and you became independent on your own.

  44. All the way up until right now. Amen. Think about that for a second. And think about how long ago that was, right? And then think about your other half of your life. Think about that for a second, right? Well, this part of my life was good. I did whatever the heck I wanted to do. Okay? Well, this part of your life caused you to be a little different.

  45. It needs you to be a little different in this part of your life. How many people can do that, right? How many people can be a little different? Gotta commit.

  46. 6, And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light.

  47. Light comes every day, does it not?

  48. 6 And thy judgment as the noon day

  49. when you commit to YHVH, he will have you doing things that's unexpected in your life. He will _you be like, I never thought I would do this. I never thought my life would bring this in _[00:12:00] _my life, a greater purpose for my life._

  50. When you have God's back, he has your back completely. And that's the truth.

  51. 7 Rest in the Lord YHVH, and wait patiently for him, for not myself, because of him or her who prospers in his way.

  52. Don't worry about them, don't worry. Stop worrying about what other people have. Don't worry about that. You can't be happy that way.

  53. You're always going to be worrying about what someone else has. Think about what you do have, know what you have. Understand what's before you. Amen. You're messing your happiness up. 7 Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him: Fret not by off because of him or her who prospereth in his (or her) way because of the man who who bringeth wicked devices to pass.

  54. Don't worry about the wicked people of the world. Family. People who are not of God, but they have a better [00:13:00] car than you, or they have more money than you or have greater credit to you. There's a game you gotta play. There is a game you must play, okay? In order to have good credit, it just don't pop out of the sky.

  55. You gotta play the game. Amen? That's the truth. In order to have things in life, you gotta play the game. Amen. You have to discipline yourself and play a game. You wanna be happy, discipline yourself, okay? You want things, you want gravy? Discipline yourself, but what you putting that gravy on? What you putting that gravy on?

  56. If, if you don't have something to put the gravy on, the gravy's just gonna go like this. It's gonna go everywhere. You really ain't got it. You're wasting your time. What's this:

  57. 8 cease from anger and forsake wrath: Fret not thyself in any wise to do evil.

  58. Do not do evil. Do not turn to what you hate. Amen. Don't turn to what you hate. You hear what I'm saying? Don't turn to what you hate. If you got a problem with someone, right? And it's because they're who they [00:14:00] are. Right? Don't turn to what you're like when they going to get theirs. Don't turn to what you hate. Amen. Hear what I'm saying? It's the worst thing you possibly can do.

  59. Verse nine, to close this chapter out.

  60. 9For evildoers shall be cut off: But those that wait upon the LORD YHVH, they shall inherit the earth.

  61. Period. Now what comes with inheriting anything from God? Happiness, joy, peace. Much peace. Listen, we as YHVH's elect are seeking true happiness, not just for the moment. Happiness. People love for the moment. Happiness, they love, um, moment happiness. No one cares about the moment. I'm a futurist. I am a futurist, so I don't live in the moment at all. At all. I live past the moment. Literally, anybody will tell you that, know me. I live past the moment. Now, there's nothing wrong with living in the moment, but if you're just living for the moment, what about your other happier [00:15:00] life? What about that? I get there when I get there. When you get there, it's too late. Amen. It's pretty much too late. Pretty much too late.

  62. Don't live for the moment thing. Don't live for the moment. Happiness. We seek happiness from YHVH that rest for our minds and our lives. Happiness that causes our flesh to shut up and our spirit to take control and surrendering to the spirit of your so we can have true happiness. True happiness. If, if your mind is all jumbled up and you're thinking things and you got this going on and you got that going on, ain't no happiness inside of you at all.

  63. A lot of confusion. A lot of panic. A lot of stress. It's a problem. It's a huge problem. Let's go to Isaiah 12.

  64. Nobody's pointing fingers, but you need to know who you are.

  65. Isaiah 12. A very short chapter. I'm gonna read the whole thing.

  66. Isiah 12:1 And in that day thou shalt say, O LORD, YHVH, I will praise thee: thou wast angry with me, thine [00:16:00] anger is turned away, and thou comfortedst me.

  67. Listen now, let me explain something to you. This is how we ought to be. This is how we ought to be. We shouldn't. Let me read to and I'll explain it.

  68. 2 Behold, God is my salvation. I will trust and not be afraid for the Lord YHVH,

  69. it's Jehovah, but there's no J in the Hebrew alphabet, so that's wrong. It's a, it's a bad, bad mistake. It is YHVH, YHVH for double emphasis. I'm gonna read it again. 2 Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid: for the Lord YHVH, YHVH is my strength.

  70. That's twice for emphasis

  71. and _my _song; he also has become my salvation. What does God saying here? What does Isaiah saying here? He's saying, even though I sinned and then ask for forgiveness, you removed my sin and took away your anger, [00:17:00] then you comforted me and I brought, and it brought happiness to me, to my spirit. Lord, you have become, My true salvation, my redeemer of life, my redeemer of happiness. because you know you lose your happiness a lot during the day. You can lose it a lot during the day. Okay? You can lose it a lot during the regular week. You can lose it a lot within 24 hours and 12 hours, you can lose your happiness. You need to get it back. Amen. You need to get it back. My redeemer for life, my redeemer for, , every situation. My redeemer from myself.

  72. It's important. Self will steal, your happiness, your pride, your your your selfishness will steal your happiness because it always puts you back. In in the line of not receiving what God wants to give you because you're selfish. Does that make sense?

  73. And we praise you for getting us through the storm. The storm of self.[00:18:00] The self-inflicted wounds. That's what I'm speaking of here. Okay. The self-inflicted wounds we, that we put on ourself, which renders our happiness to go. Okay? It's a problem. The joy killers that take our happiness and our clear mindedness away from you. It's really sad. It's really, really sad, and I want you to see that it's important.

  74. God wants to comfort you. He wants to love you. He will forgive you. And if you get into it with someone, let it go. Because when you don't let things go it, it steals your happiness. And I don't want your happiness to be stolen. And I know it takes time to heal. And I know it takes time to, to um, be able to rethink.

  75. It takes strength to be able to rethink. It takes strength to be able to put it in the next gear. It takes strength to do all these things, but it takes strength to keep your happiness. Don't let [00:19:00] Satan steal your happiness. We always talk about your joy, your joy, your joy. You can't have joy unless you have happiness. Do you know that you cannot have joy unless you have happiness, and you can't have happiness or joy unless you have a peace of mind?

  76. I'm just speaking to the choir. Here we go. Three, therefore, with joy, shall you draw water out of the wells of salvation. This is beautiful with joy and happiness. You ever do something so happily? Huh. With so much joy,

  77. with joy and happiness, we can draw waters out of the wells of salvation. The well of salvation is Jesus Christ.

  78. It takes pure trust in God, in Christ. It takes pure concentration to be brilliant in Jesus Christ. Listen to what I'm saying to you. It takes pure concentration to be brilliant in Jesus Christ. It does. Cause what it means is you have to literally release everything that's going on inside of your [00:20:00] mind, every argument, every fuss, every judgment, every, condemnation, every, bad feeling, bad emotion, every everything.

  79. That steals your happiness. You have to release it all. You have to release it all in order that you could concentrate, so you can begin to draw water from the well of salvation. And I'm telling you the truth, that takes total concentration. It takes brilliance to let the brilliance that God has inside of you, which no one could see if you're always unhappy, okay?

  80. Which no one can see if you're always unhappy. If you're always unhappy, you can't show the brilliance that you are in Jesus Christ. Amen. It's a problem. Happiness is extremely important to be brilliant in Christ Jesus. To let YHVH great greatness lead and guide us. We can't show forth the true, beauty of YHVH happiness in our lives if we're.

  81. Distracted by self, by pride, by fear, by jealousy, by hate, by worry. I just told you, I just ran down [00:21:00] Psalms 37, again. But all those things, if you're distracted, you can't show the greatness of God in your life. You can't show the happiness that comes with being a Christian. If you're distracted like that.

  82. 4 And in that day, shall ye say, Praise the LORD YHVH, call upon his name, declare, his doings among the people make mention that his name is exalted.

  83. The happiness you feel makes us praise and exalt YHVH you hear that? This is why when, when it says here in verse four, in that day, shall ye say, praise the Lord YHVH, call upon his name, declare his doings among the people. This is why when God does something good for me, I share what he does with me. Because I can't, sometimes I can't contain it. I just can't because I'm so happy. And a lot of the times it's the future, um, praise to God because I'm praising him for something that he's about to do.

  84. Amen.[00:22:00]

  85. The happiness you feel makes us praise and exalt YHVH. So when people don't praise, I know you're not, you're not happy. I know you're not exalting God the way you're supposed to. Amen.

  86. Isaiah 12:5 Sing unto the LORD YHVH; for he hath done excellent things: this is known in all the earth.

    Isaiah 12:5

  87. When your happiness is full, you can't hold back. It's a form of praising ve when you make mention to the people the goodness of God, when you exalt his name. It's a form of praise. Hear what IT just said here, it's a form of praise.

  88. 6 Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion:

  89. his favorite place for his favorite people. He has no favorites, well...

  90. 6 for great is the holy one of Israel. In the midst of thee,

  91. This is called your happiness [00:23:00] turns to thanksgiving. It's not pride, it's not boasting, it's happiness turning to thanksgiving. Amen. So when someone says, God did something for me that was so wonderful, he fulfilled a promise from his word on me, and it's so wonderful, right?

  92. And when you say what he did to the people, it's not bragging, it's not boasting, it's not pridefulness. What it is is thanksgiving to God. That's exactly what, it's those people who think that it's bragging or boasting, they have no happiness and that's their problem. Cause they're still waiting on whatever they're waiting on and that's a problem for them.

  93. Oh, well. II Corinthians 12.

  94. All right, so we have second Corinthians 12 :7 and it reads:

  95. 7 unless guys should be exalted above measure,

  96. this is Paul speaking of the thorn that he has in his side from God. Okay. [00:24:00] Everyone don't have a thorn in their sides. Okay, now. You gotta be guys that like to have a thorn in your side.

  97. God puts it there for a reason.

  98. 7 And lest I should be exalted above measure, through the abundance of the revelations, Through all the knowledge that God has given him, okay? Through all the knowledge that God has given him you gotta have something wrong with you, right? Amen. You gotta have something wrong with you, right?

  99. 7 There was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted, above measure.

  100. Unless I should be so prideful because I have so much knowledge, so much wisdom, so much understanding. The spirit is just on me strong. I begin to think I know it all. I begin to forget that I am human. So God alone, saved me. You still flesh. You still flesh, bro. You're still flesh. This is true.

  101. 8 For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, [00:25:00] that it might depart from me. And he's said to me, my grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. That's beautiful. Let me tell you why it's so beautiful. It's beautiful because God's saying that, I allow you to go through what, what you go through because I've given you so much that you don't get the big head, so that you don't lose focus on what I need you to do. Amen. 9 My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in your weakness. You can't boast about your weakness. Okay. But you could boast about the grace that God gives, as it makes God it makes God, it glorifies God. Amen. When, when you mess up and you go back to God in the name of Jesus Christ, it glorifies God. Watch this.

  102. So, so, um, Paul just got something. No, he, he just has a, a, um, [00:26:00] Satan buffet at him for the rest of his life. God says, I'm not taking it away at all.

  103. 9 Most gladly, therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities

  104. (Yep. I fall short. That's what he's saying).

  105. that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

  106. Do you understand that? Well, I thought God wanted us to be happy. If we're in sin, how are we happy? Paul's not in sin. Paul's not a habitual sinner. Paul's a repenter. Amen. So if Paul's a repenter and he's repenting of this one thing, constantly, not constant, but it always gets him this one thing, he just can't shake it, glorifies God.

  107. But then the power of God's grace, his mercy, his salvation, Paul constantly dipping and taking from that well of salvation. Amen. Do you understand what he's saying here? Am I teaching it correctly to you? I pray to God that I am cause it's from the Spirit.[00:27:00]

  108. 9 That the power of Christ may rest upon me.

  109. And he may rest upon me and that brings in the true happiness. Amen. Watch this:

  110. 10 therefore, I take pleasure, infirmities and reproaches in necessities, in persecution, in distress, for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then I am strong.

  111. Because it glorifies God. I need him. I call on him. He makes me strong. I forget about it. It's over. Amen. Most, most people can't do that. I want you to understand most human beings, Christian or not, they can't do that.

  112. They can do that. You have to. I'm, I'm trying to teach you how to have happiness in Christ. Pure happiness.

  113. 11. To close this chapter,

  114. 11 I am become a fool in Glorying ye have compelled me for I ought to have been condemned of you for [00:28:00] in nothing I am behind the very cheifest apostle, though I be nothing.

  115. Paul always thought of himself as the lowest apostle when he wasn't at all. He always thought of himself as the least apostle behind all the apostles when he was the most educated apostle. Okay? The most educated apostle, and he had a greater commission than all the apostles, Paul. you have to understand this. I want you to listen to Paul here, what he said. He's saying, I have a weakness. I asked YHVH to remove it from me. YHVH said to him, my grace is more than enough. It is sufficient. It is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness for when you sin

  116. YHVH's a great grace strengthens us. YHVH puts us back together again. [00:29:00] So there's no place for pride or shame, okay? Or arrogance. It is YHVH that takes away all of our shame that comes from sin. It is Christ that removes all the guilt. Now we can be happy and praise YHVH and Jesus Christ. Want you to see that if Paul has something, buffeting him a spirit, the the devil himself buffeting him constantly over and over again. If he has that, how is that happy?

  117. How, how is that not stressful? How is it not stressful to Paul? How is it not aggravating to Paul? Right. You have to understand grace. You have to understand the grace of God that falls upon someone, [00:30:00] and when they have the grace of God, when you have that, that, that, that well of salvation, which is Jesus Christ, and God allows you to constantly dip from it over and over and over again. You're drinking from the well of salvation, which is Christ, even though Satan's buffeting you and he's causing you to fall. Because he's not, God said, I'm not taking the witness from you. You're going to deal with it because I need you to do what I need you to do without having the big head. You. You understand what Paul's saying here. You understand what I'm saying to you?

  118. Right. Okay.

  119. How will you ever enjoy life? The goodness of life. If you lack happiness, you can't enjoy what YHVH created until you learn to focus on YHVH and His reasons and his reasons. He has reasons for everything. Reasons for everything. If I wasn't recording, I would sing the song reasons, [00:31:00] but I am so. But I am.

  120. Proverbs 16.

  121. Two more places after this thing we're done. Proverbs 16.

  122. Peter had to deal with that as well. He had to deal with the fact that he denied Christ three times. Three times. He had to deal with that his whole life, that that shame, that guilt. But Peter did his job and Peter was happy. Proverbs 16:16. If you have it say, glory to God.

    Proverbs 16:16

  123. 16 How much better is it to get wisdom than gold!

  124. Way better. You want to keep the gold, right? Right.

  125. And to get understanding rather than to be, rather to be chosen than silver. What's your choice? Chosen of God? I, I hope, right?

  126. I hope. Wisdom or gold: I hope it's wisdom. Amen. I, I pray to God in his wisdom, but you gotta understand these things make God's elect happy. Wisdom and being chosen, [00:32:00] right? Gold and silver makes other people happy, right? But without wisdom they won't be happy long. Amen. Listen to wisdom.

  127. 17 The highway of the upright is to depart from evil: he that keepeth his way, preserveth his soul.

  128. If you stay on the path of God set you on, you're gonna preserve your soul. And that's the fact.

  129. 18 Pride goeth before destruction, And a haughty spirit before a fall.

  130. Pride will always cause you to fall. If there's someone prideful, they will fall. They will fall soon. It may not be in the timeframe that you want it to be okay, but they will fall. Amen. So you have to be patient and don't let them take your happiness from you because they haven't fallen yet. because now you're just like them. Amen.[00:33:00]

  131. 19 Better i_t is _to be of an humble spirit with the lowly, Than to divide the spoil with the proud.

  132. Humble's always better because it's pleasing to YHVH, always. When you're humble, you're gonna be happier. If, if you've stolen something or if you did something wrong with people and you're celebrating what you've done wrong, there's always a sharp feeling in the back of your mind, like somebody coming for me. Okay? That's why God said, don't, don't be envious of drug dealers. Your life is like this, this short, this short. Don't be envious of people in the world. Their life is like this. Short. Don't be envious of people who don't have my happiness, who don't have my wisdom. Their life is like this short. You don't have to worry about them. Worry about bringing happiness to you. Amen.

  133. 20 He that handleth a matter wisely shall find [00:34:00] good:

  134. Yep, what happens if you're a hot head? You won't find good, right or wrong.

  135. 20 And whoso trusteth in the LORD YHVH, happy is he. What does it mean to trust in the Lord here? If you have a matter in your life or you're arguing with someone, a coworker, or you just going through life or whatever, isn't it better to handle it in a happy way? So that the outcome for you will be a happy life, right? It truly is. You have to trust God. You have to trust his way. You have to trust everything you've learned from the word of God in order to be happy. It takes strength to be happy. It takes strength to hold back from hurting someone. It takes strength. To deescalate a situation. Amen.

  136. 21. [00:35:00] The wise in heart shall be called prudent: And the sweetness of the lips increaseth learning.

  137. True wisdom from Yahveh always blesses others. Amen. That's just the fact. There's no way around. That understanding is a wellspring of life unto him that half it, but the instruction of fools is folly. What you need to understand about this chapter is this is always better to have yahweh's, pure wisdom that brings in true happiness than to have surface happiness. What's surface happiness? Cars. Homes, money, credit. All those things. Do you understand what comes with credit? If you have good credit, everyone's sending you applications for a whole bunch of stuff, right or wrong. You getting attacked this way, you're getting attacked that [00:36:00] way. You're getting attacked this way. You getting attacked that way. If you got good credit, everyone's sending you the people who you are with that gave you a large credit card, they're sending you a larger one. That's just the way it is. But if you could barely afford the one you have, why you taking a larger one now? It's usually right. . And now you're in trouble. You won't be happy. Why won't?? I want you to see the trinkle-down now. Why won't you be happy? Because now you have to work overtime to make sure you can pay that back. Now you gotta work overtime to make sure that this works out good for you. And now you're overworking. Well, you should pretty much be relaxing, right? Well, you should be relaxing. Do you really think I'm overworking, huh? For a credit card? Do you really think I'm overworking for anything? No. It [00:37:00] ain't happening. I have a shirt that says, _don't ask me to do anything._ Okay? I mean, it absolutely mean it. I wore it on Daddy's day. I I absolutely mean it. Don't ask me to do nothing. That's not true. I can pretend. Surface happiness, shallow happiness: car house, money, shoes, clothes, things people can see and be driven to envy. Hear, what I'm saying to you. Okay, lemme say it again. Shallow happiness. Okay. Surface happiness. You know, things that make you feel good about yourself or you should already feel good about yourself. If it takes a car to make you feel good about yourself, you an idiot. Okay? If it takes a new home to make you feel good about yourself, you a freaking idiot. If it takes, new clothes to make you feel beautiful and happy, you're an idiot. You're an idiot. You should already feel that way. Amen. [00:38:00] You really should. Shouldn't take that, to make you feel that way. Things people can see and be driven to envy you, to have jealous towards you, to have hate towards you. If we learn to focus on what's pleasing to YHVH first, and his happiness. And his happiness, and I say yours? I said his happiness, his happiness concerning you. His happiness concerning you. People can't do that. They were like, what? God got everything. What you mean? His happiness? His happiness concerning you.

  138. It takes strength to do that. And in turn, he will focus on your happiness.

  139. That takes sacrifice and commitment to trust and obey. You gotta become a different purpose, a different person, okay? In Christ Jesus. You gotta become a different person if you [00:39:00] want true happiness. And that's just the fact. You have to become a different person. You can't be _shallow,_ okay? You can't be surface and you just can't and that's the truth. Go to Deuteronomy 28. You know why we coming here? One more place after this and we are done. Deuteronomy 28:9. Blessings and cursings. Great. Raise your hand if you think you deserve to be happy. Raise hand. You have every right to deserve to be happy. You feel like I deserve to be happy. Why can't I have happiness? But what type of happiness do you want? What type of happiness do you deserve? Every, listen, human beings have shallow modes, okay? They have shallow modes in their life, okay? A lake or a pond, I'll say a lake or a river sometimes start off as the smallest, shallow. The smallest amount of [00:40:00] water. Okay? Very, very shallow. You can get in, it won't, you won't drown. You won't. The current won't take you nowhere. You'll be just fine, okay? But once you mature, once time goes on and it begins to rain, okay? because everything's connected and it begins to rain, it's gonna get a little deeper, okay? So you can't be shallow no more cause all your crap gonna be floating. Okay? You have to go, you have to grow. You have to grow. Amen. That's the word I'm trying to tell you. You gotta grow. You have to grow in mind. Spirit. You have to grow. You have to grow.

    Deuteronomy 28:9

  140. Deuteronomy 28:9 The LORD YHVH shall establish thee an holy people unto himself, as he have sworn unto thee, if thou shall keep the commandments of the Lord, YHVH thy God and walk in his ways, what must you do?

    Deuteronomy 28:9

  141. Keep the commandments of the Lord thy God and walk in his ways. [00:41:00] Hands down. That's what you must do. That means forgive when you're, when you supposed to forgive. That means let things go. If you wanna be happy, why would, if you wanna be happy, why in the world would you not obey God? Why in the world would you just be a shallow individual? Shallow people go to church, okay? They're in false church, but shallow people go to church. They go to church. Shallow people go to church. You be like, well, there's no place for shallowness. Shall, is that a word? Shallowness? There's no place for shallowness in church. There is because the pastor is just as shallow and that's the example that's kicking out. Watch this:

  142. 9 the Lord YHVH The LORD shall establish thee an holy people unto himself.

  143. Don't you want to do that?

  144. 9 As he have sworn unto thee, if thou shall keep his commandments, if thou [00:42:00] shall keep the commandments of the Lord, YHVH thy God, and walk in his ways.

  145. All his ways.

  146. 10 And all people of the earth shall see that thou are called by the name of the LORD; YHVH.

  147. That's Christian. And they shall be afraid of thee. Now, I know this to be true, that when you have the spirit of God, people run from you. When you have the spirit of God, people run from you. Satan runs from you. So if Satan's running from you, right? How should your life be? Happy, right? Should have a happy life, right? The Bible states that if you make your wife happy, you can have a happy life, okay? Pretty much, right? But it also states that her wife is to make her husband happy as well. Amen? Because they're just not one. I mean, they're just not two. They're one. They are one. Amen.

  148. And the Lord YHVH shall make the plenteous and goods. You see that God's making you plen and goods. Is God doing that? Not you. Not you at all. Do you hear what he just said? And [00:43:00] the Lord YHVH they shall make the plen and goods. That means the shallow things. You like the drizzle, the gravy. Amen. The gravy, right? All those things you like the, the cars, the boats, the cycles, the, the homes, the beach home, the vacation home, the penthouse. All the stuff you like, the credit, the money, the cash, the bonds, the stocks. All the stuff you like, the clothing, the diamonds, the jewelry, the gold, all the things you love. The exotic animals, all the things you love, right? The cars. He says, I'll make you plentious in goods. That means you don't have to focus on them. Okay. Because if you're focused on that, you won't be happy. You will [00:44:00] not be happy. Hear what I'm saying to you. If you focus just on goods, you will not be happy. You just won't.

  149. 11 And the LORD shall make thee plenteous in goods, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy ground, in the land which the LORD YHVH sware unto thy fathers to give thee.

  150. He's gonna bless you on top of, bless you, on top of bless you.

  151. 12 The Lord YHVH shall open unto his good treasure the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all the works of thy hand. And thou shall lend unto many nations and thou shall not borrow. Listen now. What comes with borrowing

  152. Usury. Usury comes with borrowing, right? You can't, you really can't avoid it. Okay? You can't avoid it, but God just said, this is [00:45:00] how you avoid. This is how you avoid that, okay? By only borrowing what you need, okay? Anything above and beyond that is foolishness. Amen. That's the truth. Only borrow what you need. But he's saying to you, that's someone in transition, borrowing only what you need. You're in transition. It ain't gonna hurt you. You won't be in usury. But once you come out of transition, he's telling you you will not borrow. You will. Not borrow. Y'all hear what I'm saying? Right. You will not borrow. It's gonna set you up to the point where you don't have to borrow. _Well, Lord, I need, I need a home, Lord. I need a home basically because I want a floss, but I need a home. My credit is good. Well, it's okay._ _I think I borrow it. Okay_. You, you, you go ahead and you borrow it with bad credit, a home. Look at your interest rate. Okay. You tell me [00:46:00] how it's going to be. You tell me how lovely it's going to feel when you get that, that bill, that mortgage in the mail. Okay. You tell me how that is. You tell me if you borrow to get anything and you don't play the game. You have to play the game. But when you do things God's way, okay, you will lend unto many nations and thou shall not borrow.

  153. 13 And the Lord YHVH shall make thee the head, and not the tail;

  154. no one wants to be the tail right?

  155. 13 And thou shall be above only and thou shall not be beneath;

  156. f that thou hearken unto the commandments of the LORD YHVH thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them:

  157. to be a doer, it takes work to have happiness. It takes work to be happy, and that's the truth. It takes strength to be happy. God's setting you up. He wants to set you up. [00:47:00] God is the promise keeper. So therefore, God can't lie. He cannot lie. He can't lie.

  158. 14 and thou shalt not go aside from any of the words which I command thee this day, to the right hand, or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.

  159. Remember, God's a jealous God. So when he's telling you something and you don't do it, or you start off doing it, but then you go straight from doing it, he gets jealous. There's a problem.

  160. 15. But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD YHVH thy God to observe, to do all his commandments and his statues, which I command you this day, that all these curses shall come upon the and overtake the overtake you.

  161. Just like the blessings will overtake you. The curses will overtake you. You'll be overtook in by curses.

  162. 16 Cursed shalt thou be in the city and cursed shalt thou be in the field.

  163. I'm liking this too. You can't go nowhere without the curse of God still being on you. Some people move from the east coast, they say it's [00:48:00] whack up here. I don't like being up here. It's whack. I'm moving down south. You moving down south because you couldn't cut it up here, you cursed. That's why you going down south. Well, it's whack down here. So I'm coming up east coast. No, it ain't whack down there. You're cursed and you're trying to take your, you're cursing and bring it up here. You're cursed. Wherever you go, you will be cursed because you're not obedient to your father and the happiness that you seek.

  164. You can't have true happiness because you're shallow. Very, very _shallow. _*_Shallow _*people have a problem. They have a serious problem. Think about what I'm saying, right. Here we go.

  165. 17. Cursed shall be thy basket and thy store. 18Cursed shall be the fruit of thy body.

  166. That's your children, your money.

  167. 18 And the fruit of thy land, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep. That's your business.

  168. 19 Cursed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and cursed shalt thou be when thou goest out.

  169. Stop. Now. That ain't a curse. I don't know what is. [00:49:00] If you walk in, cursed. If you leave again, cursed. You just cursed. You go in, you curse to come out. That's bad. Who are you? What are you? What are you not doing? Some people don't ever wonder. They don't ever wonder why they're not happy. They just take whatever and they don't wonder cause they're shallow. They're shallow shit. People are shallow. God don't want us to be shallow. Amen.

  170. 20 to close this chapter out. The LORD shall send upon thee cursing, vexation, and rebuke, in all that thou thine hand unto for to do, until thou be destroyed and until thou perish quickly. because of the wickedness of thy doings, whereby thou hast forsaken me.

  171. Not believing in God, not trusting in God, not giving God your all. He's saying, I'm going to put all this vexation and [00:50:00] rebuke upon everything you try to do. So when people say, nothing's working for me, nothing's working for me. How come this isn't working? How come that's not working? It's not working because you're not working. It's not working because you're not working. You know how hard it is to have happiness and to keep true happiness. It is hard. You have to work at it. So if you're not working at it the right way, but you're only working at it in a shallow way because you're shallow lalo, you have a problem, a serious problem. I want you to see here that the blessing of the Lord YHVH depends on you. Your mindset , your awareness, your faith, your doing towards YHVH and Christ. What you do and what you don't do determines your joy, your peace, your favor, your love, your wealth, your health and your [00:51:00] happiness, miss. It's everything. What you don't do and what you do determines everything in your life. And that's the truth. That's the truth. That's the absolute truth. In closing, Ecclesiaties 9, back to Solomon. Close out with him.

  172. Now Solomon was a wise, wise, wise, wise man. He was extremely wise, okay? And he was the wisest man under earth besides Jesus Christ. There's none wiser than Jesus Christ. What I want you to understand about this is Solomon understood everything under the sun.

  173. He understood that when you die, you go to heaven. Yes. So he doesn't stay in the ground, okay? He understood that, but he didn't understand what happened once you got there. Amen. He didn't get that part. God didn't give him that, okay? He didn't give him that knowledge.

  174. So Ecclesiaties 9 :1. We're gonna read all the way to 10. 10 [00:52:00] long grueling verses.

  175. Hope it brings happiness to you.

  176. If you have it say, glory to God, and it reads: in closing.

  177. 1 For all this, I considered in my heart even to declare all this, that the righteous and the wise and, and the wise and their works are in the hand of God: no man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before them.

  178. What, what he's saying is this. He's saying, no man knows why they feel this way. No man knows what's going on in there. No one understands why you got hate love. They don't understand it. Watch's this. Why do I feel this way? This, this goes all the way back to Wednesday's message too. Why do I feel this way? [00:53:00] Why do I have this inside of me? It's a good question, right? Why do I have this inside of me? Why am I a jerk? Why am I a good person? Why am I loving? Why am I a hater? Why am I jealous? Why am I envious? Right? Watch this:

  179. 2, All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not:

  180. We just talked about sacrifice. Do we not as is the good?

  181. as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that sweareth, as he that [00:54:00] feareth an oath. This is an evil among all things that are done under the sun

  182. That one event is death. Well, there's two, it's death and birth. Okay? It's death and birth.

  183. 2 This is an evil among all things that are done under the sun, that there is one event unto all: yea, also the heart of the sons of men is full of evil,

  184. yeah, they are.

  185. 2 and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead.

  186. We all die. Amen. We all die. So because we all die, we're gonna get into what he's saying in a second, because we all die. How should we be living?

  187. 3 For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope: for a living dog is better than a dead lion.

  188. What good can a lion do? You If it's dead, uh, you [00:55:00] take the dog, amen. That's alive.

  189. 4 For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thingneither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.

  190. We know once you die, you go to the Father and there is a gulf. Okay? You go to the left side, you go to the right side, right? We understand that Solo Solomon didn't understand that, okay, have all this wisdom, have all this knowledge. He did not get that.

  191. 6 their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now un perished;

  192. The people who lived is now perished. Okay. No one's gonna, you probably bring them up twice in a year. Okay? You probably remember something they said every five years. Okay?

  193. Neither have they anymore, a portion forever in anything that is done [00:56:00] under the sun. They have no more, they have no say so at all. What goes on on the earth anymore when someone dies? Amen. No say so at all. This is interesting, okay? Because I'll say this to you. If you have wisdom and you get things right, right, you're blessed, right? And when you die, you left something to your family and to your loved one. People you care for.

  194. And if you bias, you have a will. Okay? And that will can dictate who gets what, where, go, where this go, where that go, where this go, where that go. So you still have some type of say, so some type of say so. Amen. You could screw people, like some people do you know you could be a billionaire, give all your money to a cat, right? You could be a billionaire and give all your money to a dog, right? The kids be sitting there like this, oh, I'm about to get this and that. It goes to Kobe. And when Kobe can't live no more and take care of it, then it's divided amongst the three of you. Kobe be like, he [00:57:00] takes off. He's gone through the doggy door. If they can't find me, they can't kill me. That's funny. There we go.

  195. Listen to Solomon:

  196. 7 go thy way, eat by bread with joy, and drink by wine with a merry heart with a happy heart; for God now accepteth thy works. What do you mean? God accepts your works? God don't accept everything we do. He just don't. Okay? Because a lot of stuff we do is wrong. It's backwards, right? It's so backwards. We take the long way to do something when as it says, and um, I think it was, I think it was Isaiah, as it says, God's the answer to everything. He's the answer to all happiness, right? Solomon's saying, get that bread, eat that bread with joy and drink that wine with happiness of heart. God only accepts what's pleasing [00:58:00] to him. Okay? That's it. I don't want you to see that he only accepts what's pleasing to him. Anything else he rejects, he rejects. And if you never are pleasing to him, when you do die, and you do find your way on the left hand side because you were never pleasing to him and because you had a happy life here, but it wasn't pleasing to God, so therefore it was a shallow happiness.

  197. Okay? We talk a lot about your ladder life. Do we not your ladder life. If you're 25 right now and you're like, I look 25 years, I'm doing great. Okay? What about your, your next 25 years? How you gonna be doing? Then? What about that? A change must take place. Amen. So if you think now, if I was, if I was to read this with no wisdom, you would think that drink, get your beer, get your wine, be happy. Get toasted every night. Do what you gotta do. You work [00:59:00] hard for it. It's acceptable to God. No, not at all. Try that if you want to. Okay. Watch this.

  198. 8 Let thy garments be always white; and let thy head lack no ointment.

  199. Be clean. I ain't talking about the oil of God.

  200. 9 Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity, which he hath given thee under the sun, all the days of thy vanity:

  201. Your youth even into your older age.

  202. 9 for this is the portion in this life and in thy labor, or that is thy portion in this life, and in thy labour which thou takest under the sun.

  203. So what's he saying here? If you have a wife, Right. I have a wife. I have a beautiful wife. I have a wife who keeps me on the right track. I have a wife who [01:00:00] helps me, okay? And I help her. He's saying, enjoy your wife. But with the wife and with and with the husband, it takes so much to grow a family. It takes so much to grow wealth. It takes so much to break curses. It takes so much to do a thing. Amen. It takes a lot to do a thing. It really, really does. He's saying, enjoy your wife. Wife, enjoy your husband. Don't allow shallowness, the world empty words, whatever the case may be. Don't allow it to mess your happiness up. Hear what he's saying because I hear what he's saying. I hear exactly what he's saying. Watch this:

  204. 10 Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might;

  205. Do it with everything you got.[01:01:00]

  206. 10 For there is no work nor device, no knowledge, no wisdom in the grave. Whether thou go, there's no advice. There's nothing in the grave. He don't understands. Don't get it. He don't get it. He don't get this part to be wise.

  207. He didn't get the fact that when you die, yes you go to heaven. Yeah, but there's a side, there's two sides. There's two sides. If you live the true, if you live for true happiness in y, you on the right hand side, period. Hands down. If you live the shallow. With shallow happiness, you going to the left, and that's the truth of the matter. It really is. Solomon saying, you all will die, so live your best life. I heard people say that today. Be like, I'm living my best life. You don't know what your best life is, especially if it's not in Christ. You ain't living nothing. You ain't doing nothing. You're living a [01:02:00] shallow life. Your best life is in Christ. Amen. Solomon saying, we all will die. So look your best life while you're here and there's nothing wrong. We're striving to be your best while you're here. For after we don't know and that's not true. We know because God allowed us to know. We do know that when you die, okay, it matters what you do here. It so matters what you do here. It matters how you are here. Your mindset matters. So when you die, right, and you live a shallow life on earth, like most people live a shallow life, they live just for things. Most human beings, they, that's not a good human. Amen. So most people who live a shallow lalo life, because they're shallow mentally, and they never grew up. When that person passes away, if they lived 80 years or 90 years or a hundred years, when that person [01:03:00] finally passes away because their mindset has never changed. And when you see heaven, it's like, oh my God, this is where I am. This is beautiful. But then you gotta be walked to your seat. You have to be walked to your seat. You have to be walked to you where you will be sitting until the millennium begins. That's a long, it's the longest walk of your life if you're shallow, right? If you're shallow and don't know what true happiness in YHVH is, it really is. It really, really is. Remember to stand the grace of God because that's where he wants you.

  208. God bless you all. I love you all. All glory and praise to the Father and son I take credit for nothing in Jesus name. A lot to think about it. Amen.

  209. Ethan: Where you moved by today's message? Download it now via our website for a donation of $10. Help us sow a seed of [01:04:00] truth around the world. Donate any amount today. Thank you and God bless you.