# How to be Happy

Date: June 7, 2024

Serving people are happy people.

We have not had it the last year or two, but I love it when we have Family Harvest Days. We have the tent set up out here, the magic show going there presenting the gospel, and the registration line here. Back here we have the food, and we have the volunteers giving out hot dogs, chips, and brownies. We would probably eat more of the brownies than we give out, but we have them there. And the hayride and the inflatables and all that. Here is one thing I love: I love to see our people serving.

I can remember many a time walking back here trying to gather crowds to come up here for the magic show to hear the gospel, and seeing our ladies in the food serving line, laughing, having a good time, just seeing smiles on their faces.

I walk by the little carnival games we have out here, and I see the people who are into it. I remember Brother Richard DeVille over here with the throwing—I think he is throwing the hula hoop over the pumpkin. Man, he is so good with those little kids who come up, and he does not have the attitude, “Well, I am a grown adult; I have to watch.” He is there serving. He will get those little kids gathered up and get them tossed. He has such a big heart. He is supposed to give out candy to those who get the hula hoop over the pumpkin, but he gives them all candy. He is serving people, and he is happy doing what he is doing.

I have seen Brother Frank on the back of the hayride, getting everybody gathered up, and he is just having a ball, laughing with the people and joking with the people, trying to get everybody on. And he is happy. I have people sometimes on the front porch of my office; they set up there and play music, trying to get people to enjoy it. They usually play some bluegrass Christian music and gospel, whatnot. And they are happy. They are serving people. Our ladies in the registration line are trying to get all the people to come through there so we can get all their information for follow-up. They are greeting the kids and trying to get the kids to smile and loving on the adults and the parents. And our people are happy.

I see people here and there, busy serving. Men out in the parking lot parking cars, and our people are so happy because they are serving. That is what Jesus is teaching here. You say, “Look, if you know these things and you do these things, you are happy.” Friend, you say, “I want to be happy.” Serve somebody. Serve somebody.

We recently had the privilege of being in Florida. We were driving back up, and we stopped. We were not planning on stopping, but we rode by a church we attended for a year, a year and a half: Lake City Baptist Temple in Lake City, Florida, just a small church there. God used that church in my life as a boy, and we were going to ride by. Sarah was with my wife and me. We were just going to ride by and look at it. Richard Heston, Brother Heston, he and his wife have been there for 53 years. I remember in my mind being a 12-year-old boy when I was there, thinking they seemed short, but I did not realize. I have pictures to show you. He has been there all those years—53 years; he is 78, almost 79. They seemed so happy. We were not planning on stopping, but we saw him walking into the church. Sarah said, “Dad, we have to stop.” I said, “We need to stop.” So we did. We talked to him for a while and thanked him for the input in my life. Here is the thing: they had a missionary there whose car broke down. They were trying to fix that missionary’s car. They are serving people. Fifty-three years, and not a big church at all, but just serving people. And they seemed happy.

Now, friend, that is the key. I have noticed when I get all about Paul and what everybody is doing for me, I am not happy. I thought about the beginning days of our church years and years ago. A good man came—a good man. He was saved when we met him. He was out of church, but he was saved. Man, he knew his Bible. He was very knowledgeable. Years ago, he told me, “I used to teach an adult Sunday school class,” and he is very knowledgeable in the Bible. I always knew I had better be accurate because he knows his Bible over there. He was just… out of the will of God, not in church, having issues and problems, and he just was not happy. You cannot always tell a book by its cover, but if you look at him, you think, “Boy, that man is a grouch.” Be careful. You shake his hand, and you step back a little bit. Some of that was true.

But he came to church, and God began to work in his life. I had the privilege of marrying his wife then. It was the first wedding I ever did. They got married, and they got into church. God began to change his life. I never forget when he was one of our first ushers. We had just a little daycare, just a handful of people. I remember him being so happy. Man, he was an usher, and he was serving people. It seemed like that face had a permanent smile; God was changing him. He had a smile and was so happy.

Now, here is the sad thing about that story—it was such a blessing to see that—but he got consumed with getting another car, putting it on payment. He was intense about getting it paid off. He took a second job working on the weekends, and he got out of church. He was not in church. I was in a grocery store, and I happened to see his wife. She started crying in the grocery store and said, “Pastor, speaking of her husband, he is not happy. He is not happy.”

Friend, when you are not serving the Lord and serving people, the happiness goes. Jesus says here, “Look, you have seen Me serving these apostles,” washing their feet, serving. He is saying, “If you know this and you do it, you are happy.” It is the key to life, friend. Happy people are serving people, and they are involved in serving and doing what they can for the Lord and serving one another.

This morning, teaching Sunday school over here, I saw a man come in, and I believe he brought some offering and brought some diapers in. I imagine he left and went back home and probably watched the service online, and I thought, “You know, he probably left real happy because he was serving.” I am just saying Jesus says those people that serve, they are happy.

Many a time I have been to a nursing home—some of you have been there before—and you go there to be a blessing to them, to have a church service at the nursing home, and you are there to try to be a blessing to them. But I always left with the biggest blessing. I always left encouraged and excited and happy. I went there to serve others.

It is always a blessing when you take some young people and let them sing in a nursing home. I will even sing in a nursing home because they cannot hear, amen. It is still a blessing. But man, you bring those kids in. They are going to sing in the nursing home; they are going to be a blessing to those people. If they truly came, not for themselves, but for the people, they would leave happy.

I have said it often, but we take a van or bus out witnessing and going through a neighborhood. We get on that bus, and maybe it is quiet, but we go out and we just serve people. By the way, the greatest way to serve someone is to tell them about Jesus Christ. You go out serving those people throughout the community, loving them, telling them about the love of Christ, and trying to win them to the Lord Jesus Christ. When we get back on that bus, our people are happy. You have to get everybody quieting down while we give testimony. Why? Everybody is happy; we have been out serving. That is what Jesus is teaching. He said, “Look, you go out and serve.” Happy.

Husband, you say, “I would like to be happy in my home.” Serve. Do you serve your wife? Serve your kids. Wife, can I just say a word here? Do not get the attitude, “Well, I am always serving.” Praise the Lord; it is a good thing. Kids, young people in your home, do not let Mom and Dad just serve you all the time. Get busy serving Mom and Dad.

Serving people are happy people. Happy are you when you do it. Here is the amazing thing. Point number one is very simple: Serving people are happy people. It is a profound message, all right? You are going to be amazed at the vocabulary I am using tonight. Here is point number two: Selfish people are not happy. They are just not happy.

Look, if you will, over in Luke chapter 22, the same story, just a little different angle from another gospel. Luke 22, if you would please. Luke chapter 22, the same instance recorded here in another gospel. Look in verse number 24. Now, Jesus is busy washing feet, serving. I want you to see this verse number 24: “And there was also a strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest.” And He said unto them, “The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors. But ye shall not be so: but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve.”

These apostles were not serving. They were over there being served by God. While Jesus was serving happily, these guys were not serving. They were talking about who was going to be the greatest, who was going to be the top dog. While Jesus was going on with all these things, there was strife.

I have noticed in homes when it all gets about who is serving whom, there is strife in that marriage. Can I say this, parents, wherever you are, do not raise your children just to get served. Raise your children to serve. If we are not careful with those children in our day and time—“kids first, kids first”—that is a philosophy. If I am not careful, I will let that philosophy get in there where those kids are being served all the time. If we are not careful, we will raise a generation of selfish people, not happy people. No, no, there is strife there in the home, and there is not happiness. When I get all about my feelings and my needs and what they are doing or saying about me, when I say, “Hey, I am going to lay all that aside, just going to serve. Let me just find somebody somewhere I can serve,” it does not bring much good. Happy? Selfish people are never happy. Never happy.

Jesus hears, and He said, “Look, I am your Master and Lord, and I am serving. I am going to go do the same thing.” Look over in Jeremiah, Jeremiah chapter 20, if you would very quickly tonight. Jeremiah chapter 20. What a great prophet Jeremiah was. We often call him the weeping prophet. I am amazed at Jeremiah. I would have quit and thrown in the towel, gotten mad. But Jeremiah just kept serving. He preached to Israel, and they just would not listen. He bore often the penalty for their not listening. He had to bear that, at times being put in a dungeon and the mire for preaching the gospel and the Word of God. It is amazing how Jeremiah just kept going through all the tears and heartaches, even though people did not listen. He had warned them, but they would not follow him. For a brief moment, Jeremiah said, “The more I tell them what God tells me to tell them, the worse it gets.” Every time I try to serve them and give them the message from God, it just does not go very well. My popularity ratings are not going up; they are going down. For a brief moment, Jeremiah said, “I am just not going to do this anymore. I am tired of serving them.” Jeremiah, for a little bit, just said, “I am stopping serving.”

I want you to notice this time in his life. Jeremiah 20, look in verse number seven. Jeremiah 20, verse number seven. Jeremiah here says, “O Lord, thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived: thou art stronger than I, and hast prevailed: I am in derision daily; every one mocketh me.” By the way, was not God doing that to them as those people did it to them? But we get like that when we are down.

Verse number eight: “For since I spake, I cried out, I cried: Violence and spoil.” He was warning them because the word of the Lord was made a reproach unto me, and a derision daily. He said every time I tell them the word of God, I get derision. I have problems. I have scars. Nobody likes me, and so on.

Verse number nine: “Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name.” But look at this, what happened? “But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.” Jeremiah said, “I tried just to shut up for a while and stopped giving the message of God, stopped serving.” But he said, “I got weary with that lifestyle.” Jeremiah spent his life; he said, “This thing was just burning in my heart.” He said, “I could not live that way anymore. I could not withhold. I could not withstand Him. Finally, I just had to serve like God called me to serve.”

Friend, be so careful that you do not say, “Well, it is not turning out. I have been serving people at work, and everybody is taking advantage of me, so I think I am just going to stop passing out those gospel tracts. I think I am just going to stop telling people about the Lord. I think I am just going to stop serving my family; they are taking advantage of me.” Oh, be so careful. Jeremiah said, “I tried that a little bit.” He said, “I could not do that.” He said it was just like a fire burning, and I had to get back to giving up the words that God gave me. Praise the Lord for old Jeremiah! He said, “I got to get back. I got to stay after this thing of serving.”

Friend, I am just saying, keep serving wherever you are. Preacher, you do not know how my husband or my wife takes it. I have been serving them for all these years; it is about time they serve me. Friend, you will not be happy. If you could convince them to try to serve you, friend, you might enjoy it a little bit before long. You will not be happy.

The best thing you can do, friend, by the way, you cannot change your spouse, so stop trying to change your spouse. Just serve them. Serve them, yes, serve them. You say, “I want them to serve me.” I understand all that, but friend, will you lay that aside and follow our Savior and go ahead and gird the towel and bend down and wash their feet? Those are happy people. You cannot change your mate; you are going to be frustrated trying to change your mate. Friend, you cannot even change yourself; God changes you. Just get in that marriage and serve them. Happiness is found in you serving, whether they grow in the Lord or not.

Can I say this, young people: do not get a judgmental attitude towards your parents. “Well, they do not do what so-and-so does for their kids. So-and-so, when they turn 16, they got such and such and such.” Do not get that attitude. Hey, will you do this? Will you do this? Hey, Mom and Dad, I will serve you a little bit. Now, you might ought to say, “All right, Dad, check your blood pressure. You need to take another blood pressure reading, Madison, you know, need that.” And, hey, young man, will you say, “Dad, I will cut the grass”? Mom, I will cook, and I will even clean up afterwards. I mean, that cleaning up does not mean “All right with the leftovers; let me put it down, let the dog eat it.” I am teasing. We have good young people, but serve them. Do not go out in the crowd wondering who is going to treat you well. Go out and serve somebody in the crowd.

I like a good Christian lady who used to say that when she went into a crowd, whether it was in church or a meeting or something, she always looked for the person who was in some corner somewhere that had no friends, and that is the person she would go talk to. She was serving. Just find ways: “How can I serve? Who can I be a blessing to? What can I do? Who can I bring a smile to? Who needs encouragement?” Just spend your life serving. Those are happy people.

When you go to work, serve those people at work. If you ever go to a restaurant and the waiter or the waitress is in a bad mood, and there is service—wow, you call that service? Bless God, I am not going to give them a tip. They are not happy. But you get a waiter or a waitress that is truly serving, and they are sincere about you, usually, and they are just trying to cheer up and help and serve people—more often than not, you will find happy people.

That is what Jesus is teaching. You get a church full of people who just kind of come in and fill up 18 inches—hopefully it is only 18 inches—but they are filling up their chair, waiting for everybody to serve them. If you are not careful, you get a church full of strife. But you get a church where people just come in, there to serve each other, encourage one another, love one another, be a blessing to one another—they have a happy church.

Jesus is saying here, “Hey, those of you who know this thing,” He said, “Look, happy. Happy are you.” Can I say this? I have noticed myself when I go through hard times, if I am not careful, I will get all about Paul. Some of you have scars and wounds from your past, and it is so tough. I understand; I am not trying to take away from that. But if you are not careful, that will drive you to be all about you when heartaches and burdens and trials are coming. If I am not careful, it will cause me to become all about me. I am so glad Jeremiah had so many hard knocks, much more than I ever dreamed of going through. But Jeremiah said, “I am just going to keep serving these people. God has called me to serve.” Happy are they! Can I just encourage you: keep serving the Lord. Just keep serving.

I love to see families serving together. I like to see families serving in the bus ministry together. I was speaking with a young lady recently, and she said, “I grew up riding the bus. My parents went to church all the time, but Dad drove the bus, and I ran the bus.” She said, “My parents told me and my brothers and sisters, ‘Go to the back of the bus and keep those kids quiet on the back of the bus.’” You go back there, you are just a kid yourself, and you try to tell them to sit down and shut up, and they do not listen to you. You try to convince them, “Hey, I am a bus worker here.” They say, “You are not a bus worker; you are a kid.” They do not listen to you. But it is such a good thing; my parents had me in there serving.

I thought about the Caseys, John and Marie Casey. They teach Junior Church, and Emily is over there with them too. They are serving the Lord together. There is just joy. I love it when families serve. Brother Patrick was saying he remembers growing up, and one time in particular, they were having a special day that Sunday, I believe. He said Saturday morning, they went up there Saturday morning trying to get the media minister all just right. He said his dad stayed up there too, maybe in the middle of the night, 2 a.m. or something like that. He said, “I have good memories serving the Lord, serving the church together with my dad.” Just serving.

I hope Brother Frank does not mind; I was not planning on telling this. I just looked at Brother Frank. I remember when Miss Wanda was in the hospital, and of course, he was so burdened about his wife, and she is okay now. I came up to church, and Brother Frank was up here cutting the grass. I said, “Brother Frank, my goodness, go back and be with your wife.” He was with her all the time during the crucial stage, but days later, I said, “Brother Frank, man, you do not have to do this.” He said, “Pastor, if you do not mind, I want to do it.” I understood that. I really did. I understood something about cutting grass—amen—you do a lot of thinking and praying on that lawn. But you are still serving; there is just joy in serving.

Happy. It makes you happy to serve. Two of our people this year, during the Mission Conference, we have the little services in homes. Health issues were going on this year, and two of them were questioned whether they could have the missionary in the home and the people in the cottage prayer meetings in their home. One could not because of health issues, and the other, Miss Wreath, she was sick, but she said, “I still want to do it.” They are wise because they know that when you serve people in your home, you are happy from that. That is what Jesus is teaching.

Friend, I am just saying, let us go out from here, wherever you are, in your home with your family tonight, let us just serve them. By the way, if we are not careful, here is what we will do: “Well, let me go out and serve everybody else when everybody is watching.” No, no, no, no. It starts at home. You start in your marriage, and you start with your kids and your family, and then it goes out from there. Just serve. Does anybody know about it? It does not matter. It probably is better off if they do not know about it. Just serve. You know this: “If ye know these things, happy are ye, if ye do them.”

One of our men, a good man, a good man. He is nearing the end; he knows that, the family knows that. He is just in his bed. I was back in his bedroom last week, I believe. He said, “Sit down on the edge of the bed there.” I just had a great time talking with him and his wife. At one point, he shed some tears as he was rehearsing his life a little bit. They are good Christian, great people; they have such a sweet attitude during this time of their life—amazing. But he said, “Pastor,” he said, “the happiest days of our life were in church just serving the Lord.” He said, “If I look back, that is the happiest days.” That is what Jesus is teaching. “Do you know these things?” He said, “Happy are you if you do them.”

Serving people are happy people. By the way, it is a privilege. What a privilege we have; we get to serve the Lord. It is a privilege. Let us just keep serving. It may be a great time to serve the Lord when everything is going on. God’s Word is still true, and you can be happy. Let us just keep fulfilling what He said, and He will use that. What a great time to shine for the Lord. Let us just keep being faithful in everything. Let us not miss a beat. I appreciate that. Let us just keep our schedule at church: Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night. Do not cheat. Do not say, “Well, I can listen to it later on.” No, you will get out of sync. Let us just keep the routine: Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night. Be a help and be a blessing. Let us just stay out. Brother Frank, can I get you up here to dismiss us in prayer? Let us go serve somebody, and you will not regret it. You will be happy. Happy are those that serve Him.

Original File: How to be Happy - Pastor Paul Chisgar 32920 pm