What if happiness isn’t something you chase—but something you learn?

In this honest and encouraging message, Dr. Gregg Marutzky explores what truly leads to a joyful, content life—not through perfect circumstances, but through perspective, purpose, and connection. Drawing from Philippians 4, personal stories, and practical wisdom, this sermon challenges common assumptions about happiness and offers a better foundation for lasting contentment.

You’ll discover how outward focus, meaningful relationships, gratitude, rest, and helping others play a powerful role in shaping joy. Along the way, Dr. Marutzky shares simple, relatable tools—like mindfulness, healthy routines, and the “5-3-1” social rule—that can make a real difference in everyday life.

Whether you’re deeply rooted in faith, exploring spirituality, or just tired of chasing happiness that doesn’t last, this message offers hope, clarity, and a fresh way forward.

00:00 – Introduction & Personal Stories

00:55 – Why We All Want to Be Happy

01:31 – Birthday Reflections & Life Lessons

05:29 – Rethinking the “Secret” to Happiness

07:30 – Paul’s Perspective on Contentment

18:09 – Practical Habits That Increase Joy

21:13 – The Role of Sleep, Prayer, and Rest

21:50 – Mindfulness & Mental Health

23:02 – Simplifying Life to Find Contentment

24:19 – The “Year of Yes” and Positive Choices

29:24 – Strength Beyond Yourself

33:29 – Community, Service, and Shared Joy

39:00 – Final Encouragement & Takeaways

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Click here for more sermons

OC Church of Christ

Good morning Church.

2

Good morning.

3

Tried something different this morning.

4

I decided to come from the back

and come out during that last song.

5

I, uh, never want to be on

stage when others are singing

6

because I am not a singer.

7

I, uh, you know, you can't have every gift

and, uh, that's just one I don't have.

8

And, uh, so I looked around, made sure

there were no microphones close to me, and

9

that I got far enough away from the other

singers so that I wouldn't throw 'em off.

10

That's why usually I always sit on the

front row so nobody had, will be in

11

front of me and, and, and I sing loud.

12

And every once in a while, if I ever

see any, any singers looking at me

13

while from the stage, then I know I

need to take it down a little bit.

14

So, 'cause I'm throwing 'em off.

15

But, uh, this morning I'm

talk, talking about happiness.

16

Turn your Bibles over in

Philippians chapter four.

17

It's a great passage.

18

And, uh, you know, when you're a preacher,

you want to sort of be in the mood

19

for whatever you're preaching about.

20

And you know, when, when you're,

when you're preaching about.

21

The cross and suffering

and that kind of thing.

22

Usually there's something in your

life that's tough and you, you can

23

tap into suffering and you can relate.

24

Well, you know, I thought, this

is, this weekend's my birthday on

25

Friday, it was my birthday and so

I'm gonna be happy, you know, and

26

so I'm gonna preach about happiness.

27

And then yesterday happened and you

know, you know the phrase Act your age.

28

You know, I didn't act my age.

29

I'm climbing up and down this, uh, r

this dri this river, uh, marshy, uh,

30

creek bed, picking up trash and taking

it back up the hill and, and back down.

31

And, you know, we drug up

some, some old lawn furniture.

32

We drug up some baby.

33

Uh uh.

34

You know, carriage things, I

don't know what it's called.

35

It was so deteriorated.

36

It was almost unrecognizable.

37

We, we, we drug up a, a tabletop and,

uh, you know, I thought, you know,

38

the idea was we'll drag it up to the

trail and then we'll take our trash

39

bags to the church and we'll get some

young people to drag that stuff and

40

I'll, they can throw it in my truck.

41

Well.

42

The, the, the sister and, and

brother that were with us, Cathy

43

and I and Matt, uh, Thomas and, uh,

Dion Perry, they, they wanted us

44

to just go ahead and take it now.

45

Oh.

46

Okay.

47

And so we put our trash bags on

the chairs and we're dragging 'em.

48

And you know, every once in

a while I'd stop and I'd say,

49

it's okay, you guys keep going.

50

You know?

51

And finally we got it in and

we, we, we, we hauled it off.

52

And, and the, and I

came here to the church.

53

Came to the church, and we unloaded.

54

And I was so excited

and I, I thought, wow.

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I, I, I, I did a lot

better than I thought I do.

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I, I'm not, as, you know,

uh, weak as I thought.

57

And then I woke up this morning.

58

And my knee's killing me.

59

My back's killing me.

60

And my, my daughter said, dad, don't ever

talk about your age when you're preaching.

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You look younger than you are.

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And I, well, thanks, babe, but this

morning I don't feel as young as I look,

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and I did not act my age yesterday.

64

And I should have, uh,

paced myself a little bit.

65

But it was worth it, wasn't it?

66

Yes.

67

I mean, there's something, I

just walked away feeling so

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good that I cleaned up nature.

69

I got that garbage out of there, you know?

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Now it's, now it's pristine again.

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At least for a mile, you

know, at least for a mile.

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Yeah.

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And I, I, I, uh, I, I know that,

uh, when I'm gonna preach about

74

something, God puts me through things.

75

So I need to really

live what I'm preaching.

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So the things I'm gonna say today are the

things that I've been doing to be happy.

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And God gave me a really

sweet gift this morning.

78

I was up early, I was praying,

I was reading my Bible, I was

79

going through my notes, and

then our little of 16 month old.

80

Came into the living room where I was,

and there's no music or anything, but

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she starts dancing and she sticked out,

stuck out her little bottom and she's,

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she's just going around in a circle.

83

In a circle.

84

And her dad came in and he thought

it was so funny, he started

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filming her and I said, you need

to turn on some music for her.

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She's got the beat, but

she needs a little music.

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So he turns on some music on his

phone and she just went and went.

88

And I thought.

89

That's the happiness that I

can preach about this morning.

90

All right?

91

But it's also the reason I don't

dance much, because I don't want

92

to look like that when I dance.

93

It's cute on a baby, but anybody

older, it's not that cute.

94

All right.

95

Let's talk about happiness,

the secret of happiness.

96

I'm telling you where I'm

going before I even get there.

97

Okay.

98

Happiness.

99

These are some of the thoughts

just out of the scriptures.

100

Okay.

101

I'm gonna bring in a little bit

of my experience as a counselor.

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Some of the things I've researched,

some of the things I've studied, but

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this just comes from the word of God.

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So we know it's true and we know

it's gonna be helpful for us.

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These nine things, and I

picked nine 'cause there's nine

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verses, and I don't like nine.

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I want seven.

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The perfect number, I

want three, I want five.

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But nine just seemed odd and

I almost took a few out, but I

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decided I gotta preach the word.

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I gotta stick with it.

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So here it is.

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Wow.

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Outward concern fuels happiness.

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Happiness is learned and decided.

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It's a state of mind.

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Share your happiness.

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Create happy memories, help

helping brings happiness.

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That's what we did yesterday.

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Happiness comes around.

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And background and happiness is a gift

for mothers, and it's a gift from God.

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So let's dive in here in the scriptures

in Philippians four and verse 10.

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Let's say a little prayer

before we get going.

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God and Father, I pray that you'd

bless this auditorium and not just

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us as a community of faith, but each

and every individual I know every

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person goes through different things.

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Some of us may have had great weeks, some

of us may have not had so great weeks.

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And so Father, I pray for your

spirit to be moving in this room,

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moving among us to meet the needs.

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I pray that the spirit would meet

all the needs, even if the words

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that I share aren't as helpful.

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I pray for you to work powerfully in each

person so needs can be met this morning.

133

We love your word and we cherish

it, and we're gonna look at it this

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morning, so it has a spiritual impact

upon each one of us in Jesus' name.

135

We pray.

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Amen.

137

Amen.

138

Philippians four verse 10.

139

This is Paul speaking.

140

He says, I rejoice greatly

in the Lord that at last you

141

renewed your concern for me.

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Indeed, you were concerned but

you had no opportunity to show it.

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The Philippians concern for

the apostle Paul comforts him.

144

Now what's going on with

Paul here in Philippians?

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He's in jail.

146

He's older.

147

He's lived a great life.

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He's planted a bunch of churches,

but, and he's talking about joy,

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and I think he's talking about it.

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He's writing about it because he wants

the church to be happy, but I think

151

he wants to lift his own spirits.

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You know, John the Baptist, when he

was in prison, he sent word to Jesus,

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tell me that my life was worth it.

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Yeah, tell me that I haven't

wasted my life preparing the way

155

for you, tell me some good news.

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And so Jesus sent messengers back to

John and said, tell him that the, the

157

sick are healed and the hungry or fed,

and the good news of Jesus is true.

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Just to confirm John,

while he was in prison.

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That everything his he had worked for his

life had the meaning that he expected.

160

And so Paul is sort of

preaching to himself, I think.

161

I think he's telling himself,

you know, there's a lot of things

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in my life I can be happy about.

163

You know that Philippian

Church is an amazing church.

164

It's sort of like the Orange

County Church, the OC Church.

165

It's a great church, and they

have always shown their concern.

166

He's gonna get specific and tell

us how that they encouraged him.

167

But the first thing.

168

He says is you got to be

outwardly concerned for others

169

and not just look inward.

170

Sometimes when we get down, we navel gaze.

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You know what I mean?

172

We look inside and looking inside's, okay,

but you can get stuck looking inside.

173

Yeah, you gotta, you gotta look

outside of yourself at times.

174

And as a counselor, I want my clients

to, to have what's called social concern.

175

To look outward and personal

concern to look inwards.

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You gotta have a balance of both.

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You can't have one or the other.

178

And if you've been looking

on, uh, social media today,

179

there's this 5 3 1 rule, right?

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Anybody heard of it?

181

Huh?

182

Yes.

183

Raise your hand if you have.

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Oh, you guys gotta get on social media.

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You're not with it, right?

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I'm not on it that much and I found this.

187

Okay, well, the 5 3 1 rule is this.

188

It's saying you've gotta

have social interaction.

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If you don't have social interaction,

you're, it's, you're not gonna be healthy,

190

you're not gonna be, well, you can have

a tendency to be depressed and anxious.

191

So the 5 3 1 rule.

192

According to a researcher in England

and also a research researcher

193

here in America, confirmed it

that you need to have sort of

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five meetings a week with people.

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You need to get out, you

need to go to church.

196

If you go to church a couple

of times, there's two of them.

197

You only need three more.

198

You go to work and you don't just go

to your cubicle and pull into yourself,

199

maybe go to lunch with somebody.

200

There's a third one, you know?

201

And then when you come home, if you

walk the neighborhood and you stop

202

and start talking to some of the

kids on the street or some of your

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neighbors, there's another one.

204

And then on, on Friday or Saturday

or you know, or Sunday, you go to

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a park and you meet some people and

you hang out and you get talking.

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You gotta have five interactions

every week according to research,

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or you're not gonna be well.

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And then it says you need to have three

deeper conversations where you get

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real and you share what you're feeling.

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And you know, there's two

things about feelings.

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Feelings is a a, uh.

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It's a right brain thing.

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You know, there's left brainers

and there's right brainers.

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The left brainers are the engineers.

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The right brainers are

the artists, you know.

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But the right brain is

where you hold your emotion.

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And if you don't get enough sleep,

the right and the left connect during

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your sleep and you process your

emotions that you had during the day.

219

So if you're not getting a whole

lot of sleep because you're staying

220

up too long, playing video games.

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You're not gonna process your emotions,

you're gonna be emotionally stunted.

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All right?

223

And so get that sleep.

224

I sound like your your

mom and dad now, don't I?

225

All right.

226

But it's healthy.

227

It's healthy for us to get enough sleep.

228

I used to not get enough sleep.

229

I used to pride myself.

230

I can live on four or five hours.

231

That's not good.

232

You need seven or eight.

233

I have a friend, Jay, uh, Kelly.

234

He said, Greg, I've done this study.

235

You gotta get eight hours of sleep

and you can, if you'll get eight hours

236

of sleep every night of the of your

life, then you can live to a hundred.

237

Well, Jay, I don't

wanna live to a hundred.

238

How about 85, 7 hours of sleep?

239

Will that work?

240

He's gonna live to a hundred.

241

I know he is.

242

He's done all this research and that's

one of the things, sleep eight hours.

243

But I am wanting you to get enough sleep.

244

So you can process all of your

emotions because if you don't process

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those emotions at night, if you're

right and your left brain aren't

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connected, and guys, guess what?

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We don't have as many circuits

that are connecting our right and

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left together as much as the women.

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You ladies might not even need as

much sleep as US men because you

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have better connections Right.

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And left brain.

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And you already knew that already, right?

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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And, and, and that's

just one of those things.

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That's why men aren't as emotional,

but we do need to process our emotions.

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So three conversations and then one

hour a day talk to someone else.

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At least a full hour.

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You know, maybe it's over the

phone, maybe it's FaceTime.

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It's better face to face, but

5, 3, 2, uh, 5, 3, 1 rule.

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All right, next verse verse 12.

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It says, I know what it is to be in

need and I know what it is to be plenty.

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Have plenty.

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I have learned the secret here it

is of being content in any and every

265

situation, whether well fed or hungry,

whether living in plenty or in want.

266

Contentment does not come

from our circumstances.

267

Listen to this, but from our state

of mind, contentment is the ability

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to express joy, whether hungry or

well fed, solvent or insolvent.

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It, the circumstances of our

lives go up and down, don't they?

270

Yes.

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You can even be at a nice

restaurant and not be well fed.

272

We, my family took me out.

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Our tradition is to take the birthday

person to whatever restaurant they want.

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I always want to go to Cheesecake Factory,

you know, and you know why, right?

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Yeah.

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'cause of the cheesecake, right?

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But I always get.

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Cajun Jamal Pasta.

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You know, I, when they re recruited

me to LA years ago, they took me to

280

cheese cat cake, and they said, you

gotta get the Cajun Jamal pasta.

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I did.

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I got hooked.

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I came to LA and I've been happier

ever since, especially having

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King Cajun Jamal Pasta and here in

Orange County, they don't shrimp.

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I, uh.

286

Yeah, that's the right word.

287

They put a lot of shrimp and

chicken and, and meat in there.

288

Some of the other cheesecakes

factories don't put as much, so I

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like it down here in Orange County.

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Right.

291

We used to meet at the

one at Mission Viejo.

292

My, our family would come up from San

Diego and we'd come down and we'd meet

293

there, and so that's a, a personal story.

294

You're not interested.

295

I'm moving on.

296

All right.

297

Happiness is a state of mind.

298

You know, we waited a long time for our

food, and when you have a 16 month old

299

and a 4-year-old, they don't like to wait.

300

And by the time the food got

there, my food was great.

301

Kathy's food was great, but

one of the plates was cold.

302

And it was really cold.

303

And when you pay as much as Cheesecake

Factory, pricess, you don't like cold.

304

And so they took it back.

305

They reheated it, they apologized.

306

We had a great evening, but then

the kids were so restless, uh, the

307

little baby needed to go out for a

little while, and she fell down on

308

the sidewalk and cut her little eye.

309

Oh.

310

And I thought, oh man,

they try to encourage me.

311

They take me out and

something bad happens.

312

But this morning she was dancing.

313

She didn't care.

314

I've been feeling guilty that they

celebrated my birthday and baby got hurt.

315

I felt really bad about that.

316

I thought, oh, that we

shouldn't have gone.

317

Here I am being selfish

and baby gets hurt, right?

318

Circumstances gonna up

go up and down, right?

319

And you're sitting there

thinking, Greg, they don't

320

connect, that don't be illogical.

321

All of us are illogical.

322

It's called nonsensical logic.

323

Everybody has some nonsense in

their thinking and they connect dots

324

that shouldn't be connected, and

that's what makes us crazy at times.

325

All right?

326

That's why we gotta get our

stinking thinking straight.

327

Amen.

328

Here's a few secrets of happiness.

329

Shrink the problem.

330

You know, when you talk about

your problem, what happens

331

gets bigger and bigger.

332

And we even sometimes are so

dramatic and PR passionate about it.

333

'cause we want people

to share in our misery.

334

We want 'em to join our pity party.

335

I mean, feel sorry for me.

336

It's tough, right?

337

And so we share with all this energy

and passion and we're, we're expanding

338

the problem instead of shrinking it.

339

And you know, as a dad, I'm always

trying to help my kids and shrink

340

their problem and they're like, dad.

341

I didn't ask you for a solution.

342

I just wanted you to listen.

343

Well, I got flooded by all that

emotion the first three minutes.

344

I'm trying to just manage here.

345

All right.

346

Shrink the problem guys.

347

Don't let it expand solutions.

348

Listen to solutions and think

about how you can fix things,

349

not just let it get bigger.

350

Here's a good one.

351

Remove the pile.

352

Think about your house, your

desk, your car, your garage.

353

Think about it.

354

Is there just clutter?

355

You know, I didn't clean my garage like

the first year we moved in up in Antelope

356

Valley and every time I pulled my car

in, I'd get this tension in my neck.

357

And I'm like, I gotta clean this garage.

358

This is a mess.

359

I can barely get my car in here.

360

I'm gonna hit something.

361

Oh my goodness.

362

But I just didn't do it.

363

I, I was too spiritual.

364

I'm doing God's work.

365

I don't have time to do this, you

know, but it would stress me out.

366

And then one day I decided I'm doing it.

367

And one of my kids helped

me and we cleaned it up.

368

We put up some racks.

369

One of the brothers came over, we got

all organized, and then every time

370

I'd pull in the driveway, I'd just

have this, I'd take this deep breath.

371

Wow, what a great garage.

372

Wow.

373

This is an organized ground.

374

And then I then, uh, Al Baird

came over one night for dinner.

375

And he saw my garage door up and he said,

I've never seen such an organized garage.

376

And I thought, yeah, I got

a pretty organized garage.

377

See, I got out from under the

pile, I dealt with the stack.

378

Sometimes you just gotta get rid of

that clutter, get rid of that stack,

379

and you're just gonna feel better.

380

And sometimes it can be little

stacks or sometimes they're big

381

stacks of to do things, but remove

the pile express to decompress.

382

If you don't express, then you keep

it inside and it starts overflowing.

383

Sleep on it.

384

Sleep on it.

385

There's times I get all stretched

out and worried and I've just

386

decided, nope, I'm gonna sleep on it.

387

Gonna give it over to God.

388

I say a good prayer before I go to bed.

389

I go to bed, I sleep, I wake up.

390

And sometimes I wake up with a

solution and a lot of times I

391

just wake up feeling different.

392

Like, this guy, you know, didn't fall.

393

I thought it was gonna fall.

394

It didn't fall.

395

A new day makes things look different.

396

Sleep on it guys.

397

Eight hours.

398

Okay, see how that ties together?

399

Breathe in.

400

Breathe out.

401

Breathe in.

402

Breathe out.

403

I led a group, it's called the DBT

Skills, dialectical Behavioral Techniques,

404

and it's all about mindfulness.

405

And I've learned all these type

techniques from, uh, uh, professional

406

wrote a book on it named Marsha

Lineman, and so I got into teaching

407

this and it's for folks with severe

mental illness, one of the more severe.

408

Uh, issues.

409

And so these were some of

the sickest patients I had.

410

But I love some of this mindfulness

stuff because I'm a wound tight guy.

411

I'm a hyper on two guy.

412

Some of you are like me.

413

You're a little weird too.

414

I wasn't talking to you, Sam.

415

Don't, don't, you didn't have, I

didn't mean to look at you straight.

416

Alright.

417

No, he's playing with me.

418

Right, but guys, sleep on it.

419

It does make a difference.

420

Next scripture.

421

Verse 11.

422

I'm not saying this because I'm in need.

423

No, you're saying it

'cause you'd like help.

424

I'm not saying it 'cause I'm in need

for, I have learned to be content,

425

whatever the circumstances really.

426

Okay.

427

The church provided for Paul's needs

and so he expressed his gratitude.

428

Paul had also learned contentment.

429

There's a great verse I looked up

this morning, Psalms 37, verse 25.

430

I've been young and I've been old

and I've never seen the righteous

431

abandoned, so I read the whole chapter.

432

So encouraging.

433

It was so encouraging.

434

Read Psalm 37 to get some

encouragement, but that verse.

435

It plays in my head.

436

I've been young and I've been old,

and God's always taken care of me

437

and most of us that are Christians

in here can say that God is good.

438

God is fair.

439

I haven't had an over in abundance,

but I've never had too little.

440

God's always been there.

441

He cares.

442

He's faithful.

443

He's good, and I've learned

that over the years, and I want

444

to just share it this morning.

445

But contentment can come in a lot of ways.

446

Guys, I want you to get the attitude

of, you know, this is the year of yes.

447

I'm not gonna let you forget that.

448

This is the year of Yes.

449

And one of the things you need

to say during the year of yes

450

is I can, don't say, I can't,

definitely don't say I won't.

451

Don't be stubborn, but

say you can be positive.

452

Be hopeful and the way to be content,

and Paul's gonna share this is simplify.

453

Simplify your life.

454

Whenever I'm just running too much

and I'm too busy and it's just

455

from one thing to another, I get

stressed and I'm not as happy.

456

I need to realize that.

457

I just need to simplify

and I'm gonna simplify.

458

Today.

459

Usually I fill up Sundays.

460

Because I'm gonna maybe take a little

time off on Monday, which I usually

461

don't get to take that much time off

on Monday, but I've decided I'm gonna

462

watch the Rams game and I'm gonna

be happy whether they win or lose.

463

All right.

464

I, you know, I'm just gonna be happy

and I'm even gonna invite myself

465

over to someone's house to watch it.

466

I live with my daughter.

467

Uh, the, the, the TV in the den is

always on Bluey or on something else.

468

You know, it's a kid's show and

I've learned a lot from Bluey.

469

He's, he's funny.

470

He's good, right?

471

But I wanna watch the game and I

can go in our room and we have a tv,

472

but I'd rather be with some bros.

473

And so, uh, invite me after service.

474

All right?

475

Because I can, I will.

476

But simplify.

477

I can do it.

478

Diversify.

479

I can do something else.

480

I don't have to have it

the way I think I do.

481

Like this morning, we, we didn't

have all the instruments and

482

I walked in and I, I had this

expectation of all the instruments

483

and I was looking forward to it.

484

And I like to rock.

485

And it was a great service.

486

'cause Dallas is so good, isn't he?

487

I mean, if you have Dallas,

you don't need anything else.

488

I mean, I, excuse me.

489

We need all of you worship leaders.

490

Excuse me.

491

We need all of you.

492

All right.

493

We're gonna have a boycott after I'm done.

494

But we can always do something else

and make it work and God can bless it.

495

Diversify, modify.

496

I can wait till later.

497

All right.

498

I don't have to have it now.

499

Amplify.

500

I can enjoy, uh, what I have.

501

I put want there.

502

What?

503

All right.

504

It.

505

Verse 14.

506

Verse 14.

507

Yet it was good of you to share

in my troubles the church shared.

508

It's, this is one place Paul felt

safe, the Philippian Church, and

509

so he's writing this letter to him.

510

And guys, we need to get good at

sharing ourselves with others first.

511

Share yourself with

me, myself, and I What?

512

Yeah, share the honest

truth with yourself.

513

Don't be in denial.

514

Tell yourself the truth and,

and secondly, be social.

515

You, me and them.

516

Don't keep secrets.

517

Trust somebody.

518

Share what you're really feeling,

and you may not think they relate.

519

I'm sure they relate more than you

think, and it's just gonna relieve you.

520

It's gonna get it out of you.

521

It's gonna help you be honest with others.

522

And then be honest with God.

523

Pray with somebody.

524

You know, I've been, I've been

asking people in the groups I'm with.

525

Pray for the person next to you.

526

Don't pray for yourself.

527

Pray for them, and then

pray for the next one.

528

And, and just by us going around

the circle praying for each other,

529

there's a different spirit than

you just praying for yourself.

530

And when you hear someone praying

for you, doesn't it melt your heart?

531

Doesn't it fill your spirit?

532

I mean, I was on a call with some

people that I, that don't really

533

even know me that well, and one of

'em was praying for me and I, and I,

534

and I'm glad it was on Zoom 'cause

I got all teared up and choked up.

535

I thought, how, how do

they know what to pray for?

536

The Holy Spirit must be whispered

to them, but that's right on.

537

Thank you God.

538

And so before the prayer was,

before the prayer call was over,

539

we had another ti time to pray.

540

And I prayed for that person and I don't

even know 'em they live in, in Nashville.

541

But I prayed for 'em

because they prayed for me.

542

That makes what makes the world go round,

guys, this communal prayer for others.

543

Amen.

544

And then he says in the next verse,

and this is good stuff, verse 13,

545

I can do all things through him.

546

Who gives me strength?

547

This is the secret.

548

When he says, I've learned the secret.

549

He shared it with us

a couple verses later.

550

I have learned the

secret of being content.

551

Have you learned it?

552

It's earlier in this chapter when he

says, rejoice always again, I'll say it.

553

Rejoice.

554

Be happy.

555

He says Whatever you have,

any anxieties, any worries.

556

Take 'em to God and then in your mind

only think about what is good and

557

excellent and noble and pure and sacred.

558

And so now he's saying, and

here's the real secret, though,

559

I can do all things through God.

560

It gives me strength.

561

I don't know about you, but there's been

times in my life I've felt alone, alone.

562

And some of that's my fault as a

leader, I need to ask for help.

563

I need to tell people and what I

need, and, but I'm not good at that.

564

I'm a man and I'm stupid, so

I don't, I just keep it in.

565

Sometimes I'm preaching to myself,

this stuff about sharing with others,

566

but I don't always say that I need

help and I, I, I, I, I, I feel alone.

567

And earlier this week 'cause the OC

cleanup, you know, I'm looking at the

568

whole church and making sure we're

organized, but then the south sector is

569

my responsibility and I hadn't done a

very good job getting that organized.

570

I, we had the whole thing organized,

but I didn't have the sector organized.

571

But I called a couple brothers.

572

I called Matt and I said, Matt, can you

help find some trash force to clean up?

573

And I called Charles Perry.

574

I, I need, I need a place where

there's bunch of trash down here.

575

And the first thing they said to me,

guess there's no trash down here.

576

There is where they get washed off

the streets and into the stream beds.

577

That's where all that

trash and plastic goes.

578

All right.

579

But they found us some places and I've

just been praising God for Matt and

580

Charles all week 'cause they've helped me.

581

The secret is get help, share with others.

582

The secret of happiness is I can.

583

I can handle this.

584

God wouldn't give it to me if I couldn't.

585

I can through him who gives

me strength, say it with me.

586

I can through him who gives me strength.

587

Again, I can through him who gives me

strength third time say it together.

588

I can through him who gives me strength.

589

You know, if you have that kind

of positive mentality and you

590

really give it to God and ask

him to help you, you can do it.

591

I mean, I'm just a hick from the sticks.

592

I'm from a little place called

Fruita, and look at me now.

593

I'm in the big city

594

and and OC it is.

595

I even like it better than la.

596

All right.

597

I've been in la All right.

598

Oh, don't go there.

599

It's all good.

600

It's all good.

601

Let's finish up happiness.

602

If you say, I can do everything,

see here's what's wrong with it.

603

I can do everything that's a humanist,

a spiritualist, that sort of.

604

Head in the cloud says

God can do everything.

605

But a good Christian says we, God

and me can do everything I can

606

through him who gives me strength.

607

We can.

608

We, me and God.

609

You and God can make it happen.

610

Are you with me here?

611

Verse 15 more over.

612

As you Philippians know, in

the early days of our coined.

613

With the gospel, you're

acquaintance with the gospel.

614

When I set out for Macedonia, not one

church shared with me in the matter of

615

giving and receiving, except for you.

616

The Philippians always took care of Paul,

and so he had happy memories yesterday.

617

We made some happy memories, didn't we?

618

Church?

619

Yeah.

620

Wearing our orange T-shirts, and at

first when I was picking up trash and.

621

Going down the sidewalk.

622

You know, people looked at me

like, oh, is he one of those?

623

I mean, a lady sped up

as she was walking by.

624

She started jogging all the, you know,

625

and, and I thought, she thinks

I'm a convict, you know?

626

Well, I am sort of, so that's okay.

627

Alright.

628

Gotta be humble about that.

629

But by the end of the day, there were

people that were stopped and say,

630

thanks for doing what you're doing.

631

Thanks for cleaning up trash.

632

You know, they'd read the front

of the t-shirt, OC church,

633

and then they'd read the back.

634

And Kathy and I, we made some great

memories yesterday, and we put the

635

use of my little truck trucker.

636

Greg, it's not a real truck.

637

It's a car truck, but I call it my truck.

638

All right.

639

It doesn't have a frame.

640

It's unibody.

641

It's not a real truck, but

it's an, it's my truck.

642

All right.

643

And we filled it up.

644

We got, I don't know, five or

six bags of trash in there.

645

And then we got three old rusted chairs

that were in the stream bed and, and

646

all that other junk, you know, and I,

I, I'm so proud of this picture and, uh.

647

And my knee wasn't hurting in

this picture, so I'm smiling.

648

But anyway,

649

good memories yesterday, weren't they?

650

Helping brings happiness.

651

That's why we needed to do that.

652

People are wondering why you doing this?

653

Well, there's a lot of reasons we needed

to raise some money, but we as a church

654

needed to get out and do something

together and we needed to do something.

655

Not just for ourselves,

but also for the community.

656

So, so many, you know, things were

accomplished through what we did

657

yesterday, and most of all, it

brings happiness for even when I

658

was in Thes Sonika, you sent me

aid more than once when I was in

659

need, helping brings happiness.

660

And now every time I look at, look

at, uh, Daniel, I'm gonna think

661

of the orange shirt number one.

662

Alright, as he made it happen.

663

And he, he really was behind

the scenes on this whole thing.

664

I'm so proud of Daniel.

665

I'm so proud of so many people, but

Daniel really made it happen, you know?

666

Yeah, let's think Daniel,

667

but all of us that were able, not

everybody was able, and I'm not gonna

668

ever try to guilt people out for

when they can't do something, but

669

those of us that were able to do it,

didn't you have this good feeling?

670

Yeah, I'm a good person.

671

Yeah, you do.

672

You just feel good and, and,

and I, I, I would go after those

673

rappers, you would see 'em among

all that dead wood and stuff.

674

You'd see that rapper and you're like,

I can't get in there and get that.

675

And I try with my little picker upper,

but I've got to, that is just so wrong.

676

That trash right here in nature.

677

Oh my.

678

Okay.

679

And I just break the bushes and I get it.

680

And I'd feel so good about getting

this little Reese's wrapper, you know?

681

And I put it in the bag and thought

it sure didn't fill it up much,

682

but it was hard work to get it.

683

And I just felt good.

684

I worked for the, my trash bag, all right?

685

I thought it'd be easy, but it

wasn't, wasn't, but that's part of

686

the blessing, doing what's good.

687

Amen.

688

Amen.

689

Happiness comes back around.

690

I don't know how that's gonna

bear fruit for our lives or

691

for the church, but it will.

692

Not that I desire your gifts, what I

desire is that more may be credited to

693

your account 'cause God sees everything.

694

A book I want to encourage you

to read is this shape of joy.

695

You know, my friend Richard Beck wrote it.

696

It's about positive psychology.

697

It's about being happy.

698

And here's what he says in the book, just

to give you a cliff, cliff notes version.

699

Slow your mind down.

700

Get your turn down, the

volume in your head.

701

Get quiet.

702

Focus on other people.

703

That's what we did yesterday.

704

Invest socially.

705

We did that yesterday.

706

Today.

707

Don't be reactive.

708

Make figure things out.

709

Be solution oriented.

710

Get that I can mentality.

711

And then value yourself.

712

You're worthy.

713

I can do it through him

who gives me strength.

714

And then your ego will

be just the right size.

715

It's not just you can do everything.

716

It's you and God can do it.

717

And so the size of your ego will be small.

718

Good stuff.

719

Verse 18.

720

Two more verses.

721

I have received full payment

and have more than enough.

722

I am amply supplied.

723

Now that I have received from

Epaphroditus, the gifts that you

724

sent, they're a fragrant offering.

725

You know that trash that smelled and

stunk was a fragrant offering to God.

726

Accept an acceptable

sacrifice, pleasing to God.

727

Verse 19, and my God will meet.

728

Here's my promise to you, church and my

God will meet all your needs according to

729

the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.

730

I'm a representative, a spokesman for

God, and so I want us to claim his

731

promise there that my God, your God,

our God can supply all your needs

732

because of the riches of his glory.

733

And the church said, amen.

734

All these things bring happiness

in our lives, but the key

735

secret to it all is right here.

736

I can do all things.

737

In Christ who gives me strength leave

here today with the I can mentality.

738

Okay?

739

I can.

740

I can be happy even if some things

aren't what I want 'em to be.

741

I'm not gonna let my circumstances

dictate I can't and it's gonna get better.

742

Whatever it is now, it's gonna get better.

743

Amen.

744

I can through Christ

who gives me strength.

745

God bless you, church.

746

Amen.