If Things Are so Good, Why Do I Feel So Bad?

immediately at any cost.
4. Look at our health: Overweight, no exercise, drug abuse, alcohol abuse, sexual abuse.
5. Look at our level of compassion: While it appears that racial issues on average have gotten better, the compassion that generations have for each other has reached an all time low. Children place their parents in institutional care; elders are more and more deciding to leave their estates to charities instead of to their ungrateful, arrogant children. The heart of the family is mortally wounded.
6. Look at our wisdom: We have a lot of knowledge but little wisdom. Although we have machines to grind out reams of information, we have so little discipline to make that knowledge apply to our own lives.
7. Look at our spirituality: We appear to know less and less about what we believe and why we believe it. We have forfeited our faith to the gods of achievement and comfort. We as a nation have no awe of God or intention of respecting His rules. We have replaced the presence of God with well-intentioned but superficial religious activity. We have swapped God for the Big I.
F. Andresh Czonka, an immigrant from Hungary now a naturalized U.S. citizen living in Illinois: Americans are afraid. I see the fear in their eyes; I hear it in their voices. They lock their doors. They lie to protect themselves. I feel so bad for the country. But I feel so bad for the individual people; they seem to hurt so much, to be so alone. My country had problems. But we had an inner strength that is missing here. We had a different group of things we wanted to achieve, different things that we considered important and valuable. I wish this for Americans, to have the inner strength that God can give. When I came to this country, I was excited to be an American and to be with Americans. I looked at your country and felt it was the best in the world. And since my childhood I have believed that your country was blessed because of your faith in God and you’re chasing for the right things in life. But now I think differently. Americans don’t have much real faith in God. This surprised me. I thought when the tough times come; Americans make it okay by praying to God and being connected with Him. But this is not the case. Not many people pray. People here think they can do it by themselves. This saddens me, because I am a man of faith. I know I cannot do it except by the grace and power of God.
G. Happiness is gone. The happiness is gone from the nation, the happiness is gone from the church, the happiness is gone from the family, and the happiness is gone for each individual. Know why? Because we are trying to do it by ourselves.
H. We need the grace and power of God. The happiness, the joy left when we pushed God out.
I. Let’s make this more personal this morning. Are you happy? Are you joyful? Do I know God’s joy in a personal way, or am I in a constant state of stress, anxiety, business, frustration, and uncertainty?

Thesis: This morning I am going to ask 5 questions about your happiness, your joy.

For instances:
1. Do I know the joy of salvation?
A. Every one has fallen short of the glory of God. No one is good, no not one.
B. Our sin is a problem because God is a righteous, holy God. He demands payment for sins committed against Him. The payment for sin is death. The wages of