Pursuit Of Happiness | Jason Martin

You're listening to a message to go from a church. We hope this message

will light up your team. Title of today's sermon is actually the pursuit of

happiness. Okay. How many of y'all have watched the movie before? Yeah,

you'll watched the movie, right, but today I'll be taking it from

a different angle. Okay, So the pursuit of happiness. How many of

y'all are pursuing happiness? Right now? All of us wanted to pursue happiness,

right, because if you don want to pursue happiness, then you pursue

sadness. You don't pursue sadness. Okay, all right, So next slide.

Okay, So who is this guy Elon Musk? You see, everyone

knows Elon Musk? Okay, And why is Elon Musk very famous? Create

a tesla richest man? All right? You may love him or you may

hate him. Right, you may love him or you may hite him like

some Okay, why you may hate him? Right? He does not believe

in work from home, and all those who love the work from home definitely

don't support him, right okay, And then you know right that he created

the electric cars, right Tesla? Right? So do you know that his

cask can go really really fast? Okay, so most of the time,

right, we think electric cars they are not fast. You know, they're

just like very green, environmental friendly and stuff like that. But do you

know that electric cars can go very fast? So how do you know that

his cars go very fast? You Tesla trying to see you and then you're

awake or not? Okay, lame joke, but yes, so Elon Musk,

right, everyone, you either love him or you hate him. You

want to because what he did, right, is he became from Rex to

riches. You know the company PayPal, Right, he actually created PayPal,

and then when he sold it, that's when he created another company, space

x, which displace exploration, and he went into Tesla, and he is

now the one of the world's richest person, right and all of us Right,

parents, when you're telling your kids to study, Hey, your study

heart, study heart so that you get a good job, yet a good

job so that you ailed more money and then you become successful. Ro And

that is how the world sees it. The pursuit of happiness. Okay,

So that is how the world's rules work. If you want to be happy,

you have to hustle. You have to work hard and make it happen,

and sometimes you have to step on others, you know, in terms

that you have to win. But this year our church title or team is

Heaven rules. So we are not living by earthly rules. We want to

live by heaven rules. Okay. So we will see that it is very

different from what the world sees success as. Okay. So let me go

to the scripture, and the scripture is next. Okay. So this is

a parable, the parable of the employer and the vineyard. Let me read

it out. For the Kingdom of Heaven is like a landowner who went out

early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. He agreed to pay

them a denarius for the day and send them into his vineyard. About nine

in the morning, he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing

nothing. He told them, you also go and work in my vineyard and

I will pay you whatever is right. So they went. He went out

again about noon and about three in the afternoon and did the same thing.

About five in the afternoon, he went out and found still others standing around.

He asked them, why have you been standing here all day long?

Doing nothing? Next line, because no one has hired us, they answered.

He said to them, you also go and work in my vineyard.

When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, call

all the workers and pay them their wages, beginning from the last ones were

hired, and going on to the first. So last one. That means

those who started working at five pm. Okay, so God said, aw,

you say, I want to pay them first, Max, there are

workers who are hired. About five in the afternoon came and each received a

denarius. So then those who were hired first, they expected to receive more.

But each one of them also received a denarius. When he received it,

they began to grumble against the landowner. These were who these who are

hired last only worked one hour, they said, and you have made them

equal to us, who have borne the burden of the work and the heat

of the day. But he answered one of them, I am not being

unfair to you. Friend. Didn't you agree to work for a denarius?

Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired

last the same I gave you. Don't I have the right to do what

I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous.

So the last will be first and the first will be last. Okay,

how many have read this story before? Okay, I've read this story,

And how do you feel when you read this story? Unfair? Right?

Life is so unfair. If I was the one that was hired early

and I get paid the same, do you think that's fair? No?

Right, then I'll be like, hey, I want to get hired at

five fifty nine fifty nine. I will come and work and then I work

for one minute. I will also get one denarius, you know, But

this is God is trying to teach us something from this story, because if

we look at this story through Earth's rules or the world's rules, of course

it's unfair. But what is heaven rules in terms of this? Okay?

So I put it into three piece. Okay, so the kids who are

thinking notes, you can take this is three piece. So the first one

is God will pursue each of us. God pursues us. Okay, how

many of us are working? Do you remember your first job? How did

you get your first job? You applied, you had to go out.

Maybe if you're old enough, you probably looked at the newspapers for job opportunities

is before Jobstreet, before LinkedIn and stuff like that. But you had to

go and look for jobs, right, You had to go and look for

jobs, and a lot of times, right, how many of y'all were

fortunate enough the first time you look for a job, you got it immediately.

Wow, see Joel walk. So it's very rare that the first job

you get, the first job you apply for, you get it immediately.

Most of the time you have to go again and again. Right. But

from this story, next line, this story, right, you can see

verse three about nine in the morning, he went out. Who is he

the landowner? So you can see, right, the person who you are

work, the employer is actually the boss is going out and looking for people.

So it's not that we go and look, God is looking for us.

God goes out and he goes out time and time again. He went

out at nine, he went out at twelve, he went out at three,

he went out at five, and there is a lot of work available.

But this most of us sometimes we do not know, right, and

we are unaware. It's like we are probably lost, and that's why God

needs to find us. So he pursues us. All right, So when

he pursues us. Right, if we try and do things on our own,

most of the time we are lost. We have no idea what you're

doing for. Again, ask you the question, how many of you all

the first job that you took was your dream job? None? Well also

and also then now dream job still yes, yeah, But the thing is,

most of the time, right, we go through a school of hard

knock where we try it on our own. We go in, we try

first time. I don't think this is the one I try again. And

if we go through a school of heart knock, and it's because we are

depending on our own strength. But you see, God goes out and he

looks for us. Right. So this is the parable of the lost Sheep

again. Parable is a story that Jesus tells us to get a point across.

And Jesus told him a parable. Suppose one of you has a hundred

sheep and loses one of them. Doesn't he leave the ninety nine in the

open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it. And when

he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulder and goes home.

Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says rejoice in me. I

found my lost sheep. I tell you that in the same way, there

will be more rejoicing in heaven over once inner repents than over ninety nine righteous

persons who do not need to repent. So you can see right that God

will look for you. God will look for you. And I want to

I have shared this testimony before the testimony where I want to illustrate this point

right this testimony where we went to Tioman for a holiday. Okay, we

went for Tioman for a holiday, so me and Jess and my two kids,

all right, So we were having breakfast. Then Jerome says he wants

to go and walk around and look for the latest movie. Okay, so

he said, okay, you go and see and then come back to breakfast.

After fifteen minutes, he didn't come back, so Jess when to look

for him. And then Jess was like, suddenly she called me. He

said, hey, I think I see a small black dot. I'm not

sure where is he, but I see a small black dot in the middle

of the sea. And I was like, what, so, so what

have is? I went to the beach just to see and then really right

there was only one small black daughter was so far away we couldn't see.

But what happened is I just decided, Hey, I'm just gonna look anyway.

So I looked at that time. Right, if you are a parent

and you have lost your child before, or you are a child and you

have been lost in a supermarket before, how many here we all? When

you are a child, you're lost in the supermarket before, you know the

feeling, the feeling of a heart attack. You know, you're like,

oh man, and that's the exact feeling that God has when he loses one

of us. When I had that feeling, right, I don't think that

a It's okay. I still got Jude. That's what they say, Yo,

I still go ninety nine sheep. Oh, I tell Jess Tequila,

we make one more. It doesn't make sense. I will pursue. I

will leave Jazz and Jude on the beach, and I will go out for

the one. I went out for the one. I'm telling you, I

was scared I will not make it back alife because it was really deep and

it was a small black dog. But safe to say, thank god we

found the black dog was Cyculy him. He was still chilling, still chilling,

it's fine. Yes you did. Yeah, yeah, he's yeah,

he's doing well, good swimmer. And God brought us back safely, you

know. And and that is the kind of God that we served. You

know, if I am a flawed dad have that kind of love and passion

to go and look for my kid. What more? God, what more?

God? He will pursue us. He is going to look for us.

And do you know that sometimes the sheep don't even know they are lost.

Because when I found Jerome, he was like, why did I'm okay?

I'm okay. And most of the time we do not know how lost

or how in trouble we are. But God's hand of protection is always there.

Okay. So that's the first pe God pursues. He will continuously go

out and get us. Okay, we don't have to depend on our own

strength. Next, the second one is God gives us purpose and pay.

So God gives us purpose and pay. Okay, Next lighte Matthew twenty.

Because no one has hired us answer. Sometimes in the world we will feel

like we have life has no meaning, Life has no meaning. Hey,

I am not good at this. There's so many more people much more talented

than me. No, one has chosen me. You know if you have

played team spots before? How many of you all have played teams spots before?

Especially when your kids, right, when you're playing in your kids in

a playground. Okay, now, maybe everyone wins a prize, you know,

for the last time when we are growing up, right, and we

went to the playground and they're playing football. So there will be two captains,

two captains, and of course the captain will choose the strongest players first,

and then as you go down the list, and then finally, oh,

the last guy there. Okay, no choice, I think you la.

You know, sometimes you feel like, oh why am I still standing?

No one has chosen me. No one has chosen me. But God

has chosen you. God goes out and chooses you, and he gives you

purpose. Without God, why do we? Why does it? Why?

If you go into our bookshop, right, the number one topics of books

right are self help books. You know, there's so many self help books.

We need less of self help books and more of God. We need

you books because we can't help ourselves. Only God knows us. He created

us, He has given us a purpose. Right, So if I go

to the next slight we have different gifts according to the grace given to each

of us. Turn to your neighbor and say you have a gift, And

then turn to your neighbor other neighbor and say I have a gift. So

do you believe that you have a gift? Do you believe that you have

a gift. You may not have found your gift yet, but it does

not mean you do not have a gift, because we have different gifts.

This is what is written in the Bible, and the Bible is true.

We have different gifts according to the grace given to it each of us.

If your gift is prophesizing, then prophesize according to your face. If it

is serving, then serve. It is teaching, then teach. If it

is to encourage, then give encouragement. If it is giving, then give

generously. If it is to lead to it diligently. If it is to

show mercy, do it cheerfully. So when God goes out and says,

ay, come and work with me, he is asking you to use your

gifts and to do it well, because only you can do what God has

made you to do. Okay, and he will of course pay you,

he says, right, God, says the employer, agree that I will

pay you one denarius and one denarius if you translate it to today's wages,

right, it is the normal wages of a skilled worker. So it is

actually good pay. God will pay you more than what you deserve. Because

if not, what were these people doing. If God didn't choose them and

God didn't pay them, what would these people be doing? Nothing? You

would have had nothing, you had no purpose, you would have no pay.

But God gives us the talents, and then on top of that,

he pays us for partnering with him as well. And that is grace.

That is grace. Next, and my God will supply all your needs according

to the riches of His glory in Jesus Christ, in Christ Jesus. So

when you partner with God and you work with God, God will supply all

your needs. Again, this is the message of grace. So what is

grace? So this is an acronym of grace. There's so much of long

teachings about grace, but I just wanted to condense it so that we can

remember it. God's riches at Christ's expense, God's riches at Christ's expense.

You get all of God's riches not because you deserve it, but because Christ

has died for us. And that's what grace is. So think about it,

right, First of all, you have a God who pursues you.

Then he gives you purpose, and he pays you. On top of that,

rewards you for working with him. And he does all this right at

the expense of Jesus. That's the scandal of grace. Okay, But of

course there is a there with all this. There is I'm coming to my

last point. There is a point. There is something that we need to

be aware of. So we know that God pursues us, he gives us

purpose, and he will also pay us, he rewards us. So what

do we need to be aware of? Next? We have to beware of

pride. Sometimes we think, wow, we have heard it before. I

myself made men just because we have God's success. We Forgod, who is

the one who pursued us, who is the one who gave us purpose,

and who is the one who has rewarded us, And that is pride.

Okay, next light, but each one of them also received a dead areus.

So whether you work in the morning or you worked in the evening,

you still received the same amount of pay, and then the employers said,

I am not being unfair to you. Friend. Didn't you agree to work

for a denarius? The funny thing is we have agreed. When you signed

the awful letter to your employer, you agreed I will get paid this amount

of money. But what happens right when you find out that your colleague gets

paid more? What happens right? Or are you envious? Because I am

generous? So the last will be first and the first will be last.

Okay, next light? Yes, okay? So you know right that in

whatever we do, we need to be do it heartily as to the Lord

and not to men. So most of the times we feel it's not fair

because we feel we are doing it for ourselves. If you are doing it

for God, you won't be so calculative. But if you're saying, hey,

how much am I going to get out of this? Hey, I

do this amount of time, I get this much. This peller do less

so he gets less. Can you imagine if God was as calculative as us.

Do you want to God to be a fair God? Because just now

you say it's not fair? So do you want God to be a fair

God? Now? I was at least say you want God to be a

fair god, because if God was fair and there was no grace, all

of us will fall shot, all of us will not receive eternal life.

I wanted to just reveal it to your Okay, so you know the picture

on the left is Okay, cartoon character. How many of you all grew

up in the nineties. You know this cartoon character Uncle Scrooge Scrooge McDuck.

Right, so imagine this. Okay, your boss comes to you, you

before you sign the awful letter. Right, the boss tells you I give

you two packages for you to choose from exact same job. Exact same job,

but you can choose off a letter A or off a letter B.

So awful letter A is you get paid one hundred thousand, everyone else gets

spaid eighty thousand. Package B is you get paid one hundred and fifty thousand,

everyone else gets hundred and eighty thousand, same job, everything else is

the same, same amount of work life balance or whatever we wish. One

will you choose? Oh? Yeah? How many you choose A? Why

Jacob will choose A? Yeah? I mean, it's just to think about

it. How many are you choose? Be sure? Sure not, because

when we but in act in theory, right, when we look at this,

we will choose B because how much more will be in our pockets one

hundred and fifty thousand. But what happens when you compare so comparison is the

teeth of all joy. When the when the laborers were chosen by God and

God gave them a purpose, God gave them pay, they were so full

of gratitude. But what caused them to lose their gratitude comparison? And that's

what causes us to sometimes get angry with God. Right, you say,

God, you are not fair God? How come? How can you do

this? But God is a good God and he is full of grace,

right, so are we when we when you are unhappy with God, everything

is God's fault and we forget actually who he is. So think about it,

right, And even as I draw tows a close, I want to

leave us with this story. Okay, sent the picture. Okay, So

this picture, it looks like it's a happy picture, right, it's is

this picture of this guy called Steve Saint. Steve Saint is the guy,

the white guy. Minkaya is the tribal person. Okay, and the story

goes like this. So it was in the nineteen sixties, I think five

missionaries went into the interior of Ecuador to preach the gospel. When they went

to preach the gospel, right at first, they were received very well,

but then there was some misunderstanding and all five of these missionaries were speared to

death. They were speared to death, and Steve, this guy, his

father was one of the missionaries who died. He was five years old.

When the father died. After the father had died, the father's sister and

also the wives of one of the other missionaries went back to the same people

group. Every day at home they prayed for these people group, and they

prayed that God, that you will kiss Connie to love them, and that

they will come to know you. What happened was this guy, Minka,

was actually the guy who speared and killed Steve's father, and Steve got to

know that when he was nine years old. Because after five years old,

right, the families didn't give up. They still went every year back into

the tribal with the young kids to continue to minister to these people. And

sooner and later the whole tribe came to know Jesus and this guy, Minkaiat

there was a point of time when Steve was nine years old, Minkaya went

and complained to Steve's auntie or the father's sister, Hey, he doesn't know

how to fish, he doesn't know how to hunt, he doesn't know how

to do anything that a boy needs to do. And the auntie just looked

at him and said, how is he supposed to know when you are the

one that killed his father. But what happened is Minkaya became a father to

this boy, and they the whole missionary family forgave the whole tribe, and

there was such a reconciliation that right now they have. Previously, while Minkaya

was still alive, they went around the world sharing how God forgave him and

how the whole family has loved him and accepted him. And because of that,

the whole tribe came to know Jesus. So I want to ask you

the question right now, do you think that the missionary and his family were

short changed? If you were that missionary family and your father went there and

died, how would we respond? Again, God has called given us a

purpose and given us grace, and we need to just believe and accept and

say that God, you are in control. No matter what the circumstance,

and whatever the enemy has meant for evil, God has turned around for good.

So do you think that Minkaya, it was fair for Manka that now

a murderer can go into heaven. Do you think it's fair. It's not

fair. But it's only by the grace of God. And the same grace

of God is the same grace of God that cowards each and every one of

us. So what is the pursuit of happiness? Let's pursue God like how

God pursues us. He gives us a purpose, He gives us, he

rewards us, and let's not let our own pride stop us from serving Him.

We hope you've been blessed by this message. For more information on our

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a hit for you. God bless