The New Bad

It seems as if everything is turned upside-down in our culture today. Think about it: Good has become bad and bad has become good. This is even true of the slang expressions we use today.

Back when I was a kid, words like "far out" and "groovy" were popular, although I could never bring myself to actually say "groovy." Some of these terms have gone by the wayside, but certain expressions dating back to the 1950s are still popular today, like "cool." Here in the 21st century, people still say "cool."
But today, we have another word, "hot," which means the same thing as "cool." To take it a step further, if something is really cool or really hot, we say that it's "bad."

If you have a really fast car, someone might ask you, "How fast will that bad boy go?" They wouldn't ask, "How fast will that good boy go?" because good is bad and bad is good. Everything is turned upside-down.

In the old days—back when more people would try to live a moral life—if someone did drugs or had sex before they were married, people would say, "Oh, that is bad," and "bad" actually meant bad.
But now in our twisted culture....

Contiune reading at http://www.harvest.org/devotional/daily-devotions/home.html..... find devotion for Saturday, 5 Dec 09.

Nathaniel Hawthorne:
"Happiness is as a butterfly which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but which if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you."

Be Happy, Be Honest

Many of us try to hide our true problems. Many fake it till they make it. Some of us just find ways to keep busy so that we don't have time to handle our true problems. Many times we also hide how we feel with a big smile on the outside or even with a drink or two. It's natural for us because we are humans. "To hide is human." We tend to hide what we really are on the inside because we are afraid to reveal too much of ourselves. We don't want to appear weak to others. Like boiling volcanoes waiting to erupt, our hidden problems also build up if we don't handle them with care.  I think if we are really honest, we all can say we face problems in life. I want to talk about specific problems of loneliness, guilt, fear and emptiness. That is because we were made with the idea of an ideal which we can't seem to reach. Be it that ideal friendship, amount of good deeds, material goods, fame or pleasure, they often leave us dissatisfied at the end of the day. More often than not, we end up wanting more and more. The ideal or should I say true happiness always seems to be just a step away but yet we never quite get it. Why? It is because God says He has placed eternity in our hearts that no man can understand it. God is the One who placed that Ideal in our hearts and He is the only that can fill it. Sadly, instead of turning to God, many of us turn to the wrong places. What is stopping us from experiencing true happiness? Answer: Our faults and sins that have separated us from God. God knows that and now He wants us to be honest about our faults and sins before Him. From the beginning of time, humans have tried to hide from God. Don't delay, be honest and talk to God about it. Maybe you ask, 'Are you sure He can be trusted with my secrets?' 'Can He handle all my faults and failures?' Well, He made you & me and sent His Son to die for our sins. He has the best in mind for all of us. Certainly, we can trust the One who loves us so much that He died for us. He wants us to be truly happy in Him today. Be happy, Be honest!

"The Bubble that Burst"

Location: Angel Stadium of Anaheim, California
Speaker: Greg Laurie
Audience: 29,000
Occasion: Harvest Crusade
Date: 14 August 2009, Friday Night
Case Study: Madonna, Simon Cowell and Solomon
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Some 29,000 people kicked off the 20th Southern California Harvest Crusade Friday night with this...

His name was Solomon, a king who lived hundreds of years ago,
evangelist Greg Laurie told thousands at Angel Stadium in Anaheim. He was mad for pleasure and was the guy who tried it all.

But the conclusion he came to was that everything was meaningless.

"He was trying to live life without God,chasing after everything this world had to offer," Laurie explained. But Solomon realized "there's nothing this world offers that will satisfy a person who's created to know God."

Naming current celebrities such as Madonna and American Idol's Simon Cowell, Laurie illustrated the same sentiment of emptiness is felt today.

"Is Simon Cowell, this wealthy, powerful, successful man, a happy man?

In [an] interview, he says 'I get in very dark moods for no reason ...
I get to points where I think I'm never going to be happy.
Someone said to me recently you're like a human buffet table.
Everyone comes and takes something from you and at the end there's nothing left.'"

"There's nothing new under the sun," the 56-year-old evangelist Greg Laurie said. "Hundreds of years ago Solomon said it. In yesterday's newspaper, a Hollywood celebrity said it."

Addressing the thousands in the brightly-lit stadium
who may be searching for happiness, meaning and purpose,

Laurie told them the answer is found in a relationship with God.

Relaying the conclusion Solomon came to, as revealed in the Old Testament,
Laurie told them that the bottom line is to fear God, do what He says, and realize He knows what He's talking about.

Urging crusade attendees not to waste their life, the Southern California evangelist invited them to come forward and accept that Christ died for their sins.

"God's not looking for the religious type.
He's looking for the sinner type," he said.
"No one is beyond the reach of God."

Nearly 3,000 people made professions of faith in Christ that night.

PS: For more info, check out http://www.harvest.org/crusades/2009/anaheim/webcast/player.php?id=134&width=1018&height=680&alt_path=/crusades/2009/anaheim/

Maybe we can learn something from Billy Graham's message... on True Happiness