God wants us happy—Psalm 144:15 says, “Happy are those whose God is the Lord.” God wants our lives filled with joy. God wants to bless us. He wants us to experience bliss, a deep inner happiness, not produced or affected by emotion or by changing circumstance—a kind of blessedness and a kind of joy, a kind of happiness that is not subject to outside forces but only inside ones produced by God in the heart.
True happiness is found only by entrance into His kingdom. What does that mean? That simply means only by coming…becoming a subject of His, acknowledging Him as King, coming under His authority, and coming under His blessing. That’s the only place true happiness occurs. When Jesus said, “You’ll be happy if you do this…You’ll be happy if you do that,” He was really saying, ‘This is how you enter the kingdom and there is where you will find true and lasting happiness.’
The kingdom is a place for God to pour out blessing. Ephesians 1:3 tells us, “We have been blessed with all spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus.” When we come into the kingdom, we begin to be blessed—He provides all the things to make us truly happy and that will go on forever and ever in this life and the life to come. And the path to receive that blessing and to enter the kingdom is outlined for us in the Beatitudes. It begins with being poor in spirit—And in the end, it transforms us into salt and light. The first step in entering the kingdom—to true happiness is being poor in spirit, realizing your spiritual poverty.
Join us this week at Sedona United Methodist Church as Rev. Fred Mast continues an 8-week sermon series entitled “The Master and His Message” in a message entitled “If I Were A Poor Man”. Sunday mornings we enter the spirit of worship at 9:30 a.m. featuring meaningful times of prayer, joyous music, and life messages that will help move you closer in your relationship with Christ. Our worship is upbeat and lively, and spirit filled! Immediately following worship, you are encouraged and invited to stay and join us in our Fellowship Hall for the friendliest and best fellowship time anywhere featuring delicious snacks and great coffee and always friendship.
Get your tickets now for the Emerson Collaborative Theatre Summer Camp performances of “The Tortoise & The Hare Race Again” (Tonight) Friday July 12th at 7:00 PM, and Saturday July 13th at 2 PM. The Tortoise & The Hair Race Again is a rematch challenge offered up by the hare and the many obstacles they encounter written by Dan Neidermyer, produced by Camilla Ross & directed by Denise Royal. Tickets are available in the church office, online at http://Bit.ly/2VZTLS7 and also at the door. Both performances will be held in the Sedona UMC Fellowship Hall. Come and support this great children and youth outreach mission.
We offer several weekly book and bible studies: Wednesday’s our Men’s Bible Study at 9am; and Thursday’s our Women’s Bible Study at 9:45am. So many great missions, ministries and events happening at Sedona UMC—Visit our website at us on www.sedonaumc.org and “Like” us on Facebook. We would love to pray for you! —Prayer requests may be submitted online or by calling us at 928-282-1780. We are conveniently located at 110 Indian Cliffs Road off the Back O’Beyond roundabout on Route 179 in Sedona. All are welcome at Sedona UMC—Come and grow with us!
