The daily times., 1922-01-20
THE SECRET OF HAPPINESS


vice was 1.-The Secret Of Happiness.
The text was found in 1st Thess.
5:17 "Rejoice evermore.' Heaven
is a place of happiness but God
meant for us to be happy here. There
is nothing funereal about the relig-
ion of the Lord Jesus Christ. There
are many long faced Christians, but
they are SO in spite of their rellg-
ion and not because of it. Jesus
broke up every funeral he attended.
DR.. Thacker from the context
brought forth the following God
given principles of the secret of hap
piness. % Prayer. pray with
out ceasing." From the old Testa-
ment and the New Testament the
preacher cited instances of prayer
that brought power and peace. Our
thoughts need never be gloomy nor
our hearts cast down when we have
such a prayer-hearing and prayer
answering God.
ca The Split Of gratitude. In
everything give thanks" Not in
some things only but in everything
We thank God for the sunshine but
why not for the rain? The most de-
spicable character is the migrate. He
is so in human relationships but,
how much mole so in his relation
ships to God. We breath Gods fresh
air and all His blessings are new
every morning and fresh every even
ing" Were we more thankful we
would be more happy.
CD Let the Spirit of God have the
right of way in our hearts and de-
votions and our life's service.
"Quench not the Spirit
A piercing question in the Book Of
Acts is Have ye received the Holy
Ghost?" Have we indeed opened the
door and let Him in that we might
be a re-generated being? Then too
We can only understand the Bible as
the spirit interprets the Word to US.
You can't tell the time on a sundial
by moonlight, nor by lamp light.
thrown upon the dial. You can only
tell by the sunlight. So we cannot in
terpret the Bible by native ability,
learning nor tradition. These things
help, but only as the Holy Spirit re-
veals to US the meaning, for the
things of God are spiritually de-
scerned.''
The preacher then showed how
the Holy Spirit is the true comfort
er and also how. the Holy Spirit is
the motive power for all effective
Christian work. We must be emp
Tied of self before we can be filed
with the Holy Spirit and be used of
God
90 The fourth principle, the
preacher found in verse 20. ODE
sp;se not cpaesyings," which in
effect means. "Search the Pcok.''
Have you heen neglecting the old
I:Uok? It is the chart and compass
Of the voyage of life. Ahi my
friends, no wonder we have missed
the way. You will find happiness in
searching the Book.
(5) The next God given principle
is found in verse ri, s'Prove all
things; hold fast that which is
good" Prove everything by the
, word of God, People say: 81 don t
see any harm in this, that, or the
other thing" Why don't they see
what the book says about it? We
hear a great deal these days about
ones rights. Anybody can stick up
for his rights, but it takes a real
man to give up his rights. You know
Christ's challenge to them that would
follow Him is. DENY SELF Hold
| fast that which is good"
co The sixth principle is found
in verse 22. "Abstain from all ap-
nearances of evil'' Till the end of
time there will be evil in the world
The devil comes before us today as
the great evil of life. He came to
Eve with the subtle suggestion
''Hast God said that in the day thou
eatest thereof thou shalt surely
die?" He tried to lodge a doubt in
her mind and he succeeded. He
\ put question mark after what God
had said. The next step was easy
then. God doth know that in the
day that ye eat thereof your eyes
! shall be opened, and you shall be as
/ Gods knowing good and evil They
did know evil but it was a knowledge
that led to the giving up of the good
/ and we are all sinners by inheri-
/ tance as the result.
The devil comes today to Gods
own elect in the same subtle way.
Then declared the preacher, 81 have
made no TRADE, as you who have at