Roads to Happiness
Worship
Bright Intervals
40 Brief Worship Services and Meditations for Any Occasion
Object:
Greeting and Call To Worship
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; he leadeth me beside the still waters; he restoreth my soul!
Opening Prayer
O God, our Good Shepherd, sometimes the pathway of life is long and difficult. The burdens and heartaches of life rob us of the happiness and joy we yearn to experience. Deliver us, O God, from bitterness and despair. Remind us that the Living Christ walks beside us through every day. He is the way, the truth, and the life, and in him may we find our true joy. Amen.
Lord's Prayer
Special Hymn
"He Leadeth Me"
Joseph H. Gilmore, the writer of this hymn, was a Baptist minister in Philadelphia. In March of 1862, he preached a sermon based on Psalm 23, and was inspired to write this hymn text to close that service. His wife sent it to a Baptist paper, and eventually it found its way into most hymn books. The hymn writer has a vision of our lives as a journey through all sorts of experiences hardship, ease, joy, pain, and loss. But always on that journey is the sense of Someone who goes before us, Someone who knows the way and will stretch out a helping, guiding hand whenever it is needed.
Scripture Reading
John 14:1-6
Meditation
It is amazing how many people live out their lives in unhappiness, bitterness, and sadness. There was a little boy trying to raise some money by collecting old bottles. He stopped at the home of a woman who was known as the "Town Grouch." "Do you have any old Coke bottles?" he asked. "No, I do not," she snapped. "Do you have any old whiskey bottles?" asked the boy. "Young man, do I look like the kind of person who would have old whiskey bottles around? Shame on you!" The boy studied her unhappy and twisted face for a moment and then asked, "Well, then, do you have any old vinegar bottles I could have?"
How sad that so many people live out their days in unhappiness when God intended our lives on this earth to be full, happy, joyous, and meaningful. But the key to happiness in this life is not clout out there in the world, but Christ living in here in our hearts. The key to happiness is not possessing a lot of things, but being possessed by the Living Christ who walks beside us each day. If Jesus is the way, then we will find the happiness and joy we yearn for by following the same roads Jesus walked in his life on earth.
Jesus changed a man's whole life on the road to Damascus. Saul, the persecutor, became Paul, the missionary to the world for Christ. Most truly happy people are those who somewhere along the way have experienced a life-changing moment. It may not be anywhere near as dramatic as Paul's experience, but it was a moment when they moved from self-centeredness to Christ-centeredness. Dr. James Simpson was a Scottish surgeon who became famous as the discoverer of anesthesia. Toward the end of his life he was asked, "What was your greatest discovery?" Without hesitation he responded, "The greatest discovery of my life is that I am a great sinner, and Jesus Christ is a great savior!"
That's the same discovery Paul made on the road to Damascus.
A second road Jesus walked, and we must too, is the road to Jericho. That was the scene of Jesus' famous story about a good Samaritan who stopped to help a man who had been beaten and robbed and left by the side of the road. Jesus' whole life was spent showing the same kind of compassion and kindness that the Samaritan traveler showed to the man who had been mugged. Those who walk that same road of selfless love and concern for others have discovered a joy in their own lives that nothing can ever take away.
And then there is the other road our Lord traveled in his life -- the road to Calvary. Jesus knew that almost certain death awaited him when he set his face towards Jerusalem, but he traveled that road in the assurance that God would lead the way, and God would bring him through whatever he faced! The Christian's true joy is not in knowing what lies ahead, but in knowing that Christ will be there to help us face whatever comes.
Closing Words
One night a man had a dream. He dreamed he was walking along the beach with the Lord. Scenes from his life flashed across the sky and he noticed two sets of footprints in the sand: one belonging to him and the other to the Lord. When the last scene of his life had flashed before him, he recalled that at the lowest and saddest times of his life there was only one set of footprints. Dismayed, he asked, "Lord, you said you'd walk with me all the way. Why, at the troublesome times of my life, did you leave me?" "My precious child," said the Lord, "I love you and would never leave you. During your times of trial and suffering, when you saw only one set of footprints, that was when I carried you."
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; he leadeth me beside the still waters; he restoreth my soul!
Opening Prayer
O God, our Good Shepherd, sometimes the pathway of life is long and difficult. The burdens and heartaches of life rob us of the happiness and joy we yearn to experience. Deliver us, O God, from bitterness and despair. Remind us that the Living Christ walks beside us through every day. He is the way, the truth, and the life, and in him may we find our true joy. Amen.
Lord's Prayer
Special Hymn
"He Leadeth Me"
Joseph H. Gilmore, the writer of this hymn, was a Baptist minister in Philadelphia. In March of 1862, he preached a sermon based on Psalm 23, and was inspired to write this hymn text to close that service. His wife sent it to a Baptist paper, and eventually it found its way into most hymn books. The hymn writer has a vision of our lives as a journey through all sorts of experiences hardship, ease, joy, pain, and loss. But always on that journey is the sense of Someone who goes before us, Someone who knows the way and will stretch out a helping, guiding hand whenever it is needed.
Scripture Reading
John 14:1-6
Meditation
It is amazing how many people live out their lives in unhappiness, bitterness, and sadness. There was a little boy trying to raise some money by collecting old bottles. He stopped at the home of a woman who was known as the "Town Grouch." "Do you have any old Coke bottles?" he asked. "No, I do not," she snapped. "Do you have any old whiskey bottles?" asked the boy. "Young man, do I look like the kind of person who would have old whiskey bottles around? Shame on you!" The boy studied her unhappy and twisted face for a moment and then asked, "Well, then, do you have any old vinegar bottles I could have?"
How sad that so many people live out their days in unhappiness when God intended our lives on this earth to be full, happy, joyous, and meaningful. But the key to happiness in this life is not clout out there in the world, but Christ living in here in our hearts. The key to happiness is not possessing a lot of things, but being possessed by the Living Christ who walks beside us each day. If Jesus is the way, then we will find the happiness and joy we yearn for by following the same roads Jesus walked in his life on earth.
Jesus changed a man's whole life on the road to Damascus. Saul, the persecutor, became Paul, the missionary to the world for Christ. Most truly happy people are those who somewhere along the way have experienced a life-changing moment. It may not be anywhere near as dramatic as Paul's experience, but it was a moment when they moved from self-centeredness to Christ-centeredness. Dr. James Simpson was a Scottish surgeon who became famous as the discoverer of anesthesia. Toward the end of his life he was asked, "What was your greatest discovery?" Without hesitation he responded, "The greatest discovery of my life is that I am a great sinner, and Jesus Christ is a great savior!"
That's the same discovery Paul made on the road to Damascus.
A second road Jesus walked, and we must too, is the road to Jericho. That was the scene of Jesus' famous story about a good Samaritan who stopped to help a man who had been beaten and robbed and left by the side of the road. Jesus' whole life was spent showing the same kind of compassion and kindness that the Samaritan traveler showed to the man who had been mugged. Those who walk that same road of selfless love and concern for others have discovered a joy in their own lives that nothing can ever take away.
And then there is the other road our Lord traveled in his life -- the road to Calvary. Jesus knew that almost certain death awaited him when he set his face towards Jerusalem, but he traveled that road in the assurance that God would lead the way, and God would bring him through whatever he faced! The Christian's true joy is not in knowing what lies ahead, but in knowing that Christ will be there to help us face whatever comes.
Closing Words
One night a man had a dream. He dreamed he was walking along the beach with the Lord. Scenes from his life flashed across the sky and he noticed two sets of footprints in the sand: one belonging to him and the other to the Lord. When the last scene of his life had flashed before him, he recalled that at the lowest and saddest times of his life there was only one set of footprints. Dismayed, he asked, "Lord, you said you'd walk with me all the way. Why, at the troublesome times of my life, did you leave me?" "My precious child," said the Lord, "I love you and would never leave you. During your times of trial and suffering, when you saw only one set of footprints, that was when I carried you."
