Speaker 1: Lord, let every word that comes out of my mouth
Speaker 1: be what you would have it to be.
Speaker 2: Nothing of my own will, nothing of my own thought,
Speaker 2: just your thoughts, and we just thank you and we
Speaker 2: give you praise.
Speaker 1: So I I thought I was going to be preaching
Speaker 1: a different message in this, but it just keeps coming around,
Speaker 1: and so here we go. Today's message is gonna be
Speaker 1: a little bit like weight training. And what I mean
Speaker 1: by that is that few years back, I decided I
Speaker 1: was unhappy with like the level of health I was having,
Speaker 1: and so I decided I was going to start exercising.
Speaker 1: And then I was like, so I work out at home.
Speaker 1: I had this particular trainer that I would watch and
Speaker 1: eventually I've watched him so much I'm like, I need
Speaker 1: something new. And so my wife was like, oh, you
Speaker 1: should check out this guy, and so I you know,
Speaker 1: you know, he says things that are ridiculous. He says
Speaker 1: things like I'm here, I'm gonna get huge today, and
Speaker 1: he just says the most ridiculous things like he's a
Speaker 1: meathead and and it's it. And so it actually took
Speaker 1: me a little while to like ignore what he was
Speaker 1: saying to be able to catch on to the fact
Speaker 1: that this guy's really brilliant in how he makes you
Speaker 1: pick up weights and use them. And in scripture, uh,
Speaker 1: it talks about that there's benefit to physical training, but
Speaker 1: that there's actually a lot more benefit to spiritual training.
Speaker 1: And so today there's gonna be a little bit. I'm
Speaker 1: not gonna.
Speaker 2: Tell you it's time, it's time to get huge.
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna tell you that, but I am going
Speaker 1: to tell you that we're gonna pick some weights up today.
Speaker 1: And the benefit that you get is directly correlative to
Speaker 1: whether or not you hold onto the weight and whether
Speaker 1: you actually muscle the weight up.
Speaker 2: You have to actually lift the weight to get the
Speaker 2: benefit of the weight training. Okay, So.
Speaker 1: The word thanksgiving appears twenty five times in the New
Speaker 1: International Version translation, the Hebrew word for thanks appears seventy
Speaker 1: two times in the Old Testament, and the Greek word
Speaker 1: gratitude appears one hundred and fifty seven times one hundred
Speaker 1: and fifty seven times in the New Testament. The words thanks, thanksgiving,
Speaker 1: and gratitude are so absolutely interwoven through the scriptures that
Speaker 1: you cannot get away from them. If you actually opened
Speaker 1: up your Bible, you literally can't turn a page and
Speaker 1: you're going to see one of those words or a
Speaker 1: subset of one of those words that conveys the same thing.
Speaker 1: And as we're getting ready to hang out with family
Speaker 1: this week and rejoice and be thankful.
Speaker 2: I.
Speaker 1: Wanted to use this opportunity to talk to you about
Speaker 1: true Thanksgiving and that it's not a day, it's a lifestyle.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 1: The Old Testament has the concept of the fellowship offering
Speaker 1: of thanksgiving. Even in Jesus's miracles, before he feeds four thousand,
Speaker 1: he goes and they give thanks and then they eat
Speaker 1: right like it's everywhere, you cannot get it. So if
Speaker 1: you think I'm like teaching something heretical, like I cut
Speaker 1: out like fifteen scriptures out of here because we're going
Speaker 1: to run out of time. But the point I'm making
Speaker 1: is that this is so foundational to being a follower
Speaker 1: of Jesus. I don't know that you can really be
Speaker 1: an effective follower of Jesus without letting this like saturate you,
Speaker 1: without letting this ruminate and come out of you.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 1: So the Hebrew word for thanksgiving is toda, and it
Speaker 1: means adoration, confession, praise, thanksgiving, and listen to this last part.
Speaker 1: This is out of your strongest concordance. It says by
Speaker 1: implication and extension of the hand.
Speaker 2: Weird.
Speaker 1: Thanksgiving is by implication and extension of the hand. Huh,
Speaker 1: I thought thanksgiving was saying something. No, Thanksgiving actually opens
Speaker 1: up God's hand over you. The Greek word for thanksgiving
Speaker 1: is eucharista.
Speaker 2: Listen to.
Speaker 1: Eucharista means gratitude. It means grateful language to God.
Speaker 2: It means an act of worship.
Speaker 1: Some of you that have come out of certain faiths,
Speaker 1: maybe more liturgical faiths, you might be familiar with the
Speaker 1: term eucharist right by taking of the which we just did,
Speaker 1: the bread and the body the Eucharist. So the word
Speaker 1: eucharista actually means. The word eucharista actually means thanks and honor.
Speaker 1: So it's an act of worship. So when you are thankful,
Speaker 1: do you know what you're doing?
Speaker 2: You're worshiping. You might be.
Speaker 1: Thinking that the only way to worship is up here
Speaker 1: on a stage with really talented musicians and vocalists. But
Speaker 1: believe it or not, every time you are thankful and
Speaker 1: you express thanksgiving, you're actually worshiping the King. And when
Speaker 1: you worship the King, something's happening over you.
Speaker 2: His arm is extending and his eyes are on you.
Speaker 2: Jesus Wow.
Speaker 1: The history of Thanksgiving is that in sixteen twenty one,
Speaker 1: there's a Native American tribe called the wam Pog that
Speaker 1: meet with the Pilgrims at the time who came here
Speaker 1: and they basically wanted the capacity to worship God and
Speaker 1: to pursue him freely without anybody telling him what to do, okay,
Speaker 1: And they have a really wonderful harvest, and so they
Speaker 1: end up having this bountiful harvest season. They gather with
Speaker 1: the with the tribe at the time and they have
Speaker 1: a multi day festival, and the purpose of the festival
Speaker 1: was to express thanks for how gracious or how bountiful
Speaker 1: God had been to them in giving him a harvest.
Speaker 2: It was all about expressing thanks.
Speaker 1: And if you look at the early people who came here,
Speaker 1: the Pilgrims, all of them were Christian, not all, but
Speaker 1: almost all of them are Christians. They came here to
Speaker 1: pursue God and they didn't want any human constraint or
Speaker 1: interference with that.
Speaker 2: They were wholehearted devoted to.
Speaker 1: Creating a new land where there was no obstacles to
Speaker 1: pursuing the king and being intimate with him.
Speaker 2: They were translating that over to the Native.
Speaker 1: Americans and in well, anyhow, so I'm gonna skip past
Speaker 1: some of this stuff. But in eighteen sixty three, President
Speaker 1: Lincoln actually created Thanksgiving as a national holiday by proclamation.
Speaker 1: So we've been celebrating a few hundred years here in
Speaker 1: America of this thing called Thanksgiving. Earlier this morning, Pastor
Speaker 1: Dwayne was talking about having God's face turned towards you,
Speaker 1: and that the devil is roaring around like a lion,
Speaker 1: seeking whom he may devour.
Speaker 2: But if we will humble ourselves before.
Speaker 1: The hand of the Lord, if we will humble ourselves,
Speaker 1: turn from our wicked ways, he will look towards us.
Speaker 1: He will see us. And this is even him talking
Speaker 1: about healing our land. Right, So he sees us when
Speaker 1: we're walking in humility. And he always opposes pride. He
Speaker 1: gives grace to the humble, He opposes the pride, the
Speaker 1: pride fuller the person who's proud. Right, You guys know
Speaker 1: what I'm talking about. These are not like new scriptures
Speaker 1: to you. What I'm going to tell you is that
Speaker 1: I think that most people, when they think about.
Speaker 2: The term humility.
Speaker 1: I actually think that they think it's self deprecation, that
Speaker 1: it would be like beating yourself up or presenting yourself
Speaker 1: in a lowly light to somehow get someone else to
Speaker 1: think that you're like pious or like holy or something
Speaker 1: like that.
Speaker 2: That's a bunch of junk. That's a lie.
Speaker 1: What's true humility is Thanksgiving. There is no other thing
Speaker 1: on the planet that expresses humility more effectively than Thanksgiving.
Speaker 1: And the reason why that is is because you're saying, Lord,
Speaker 1: I couldn't do it.
Speaker 2: You did it for me.
Speaker 1: It's all you, and so naturally in Thanksgiving, humility is
Speaker 1: the underlying current.
Speaker 2: Of which Thanksgiving flows. Does that make sense?
Speaker 1: And so if you're looking, if we don't want God
Speaker 1: to oppose us because we're prideful, but we want him
Speaker 1: to give grace because we're humble, we better be walking
Speaker 1: in Thanksgiving twenty four to seven. Because that's the key
Speaker 1: characteristic of humility. It's not saying, oh woe is me,
Speaker 1: and so tough to be me.
Speaker 2: No, that is not humility. To be totally honest with you.
Speaker 1: More often than not, that's people looking for attention. That's
Speaker 1: a wounded spirit that needs deliverance. There are few things
Speaker 1: that will move the hand of God like a gratitude lifestyle.
Speaker 1: It's not a day, it's a lifestyle, and it is
Speaker 1: your superpower.
Speaker 2: So the Lord gave me.
Speaker 1: Before we get too far into this hope, you realize
Speaker 1: that there's now no condemnation for all of us who
Speaker 1: are in Christ.
Speaker 2: Jesus correct that we're been hidden in him.
Speaker 1: That's it's Christ in us, the hope of glory that
Speaker 1: he's He loves us so much that he doesn't leave
Speaker 1: us the way we are. He's renewing us day by day. Right,
Speaker 1: this is this is what he's doing. He's our dad,
Speaker 1: and so he doesn't like we come into the kingdom
Speaker 1: and he just.
Speaker 2: Doesn't leave us that way.
Speaker 1: He loves us enough enough that he's trying to get
Speaker 1: us to pick up the weights. So I'm going to
Speaker 1: tell you that I had I have in the past
Speaker 1: week done some whining and a little bit of complaining.
Speaker 1: And it could be that maybe there's another person or
Speaker 1: two in this building that might have done the same thing.
Speaker 2: Could be possibly or maybe it's a different church.
Speaker 1: Down the road, probably not new horizons. Do you know
Speaker 1: that some sins, sins of commission, like if you went
Speaker 1: and committed adultery, you're sinning. But some sins are a
Speaker 1: sin of omission. Omission means you just didn't do the
Speaker 1: right thing, but you should have done it. And a
Speaker 1: lot of times, thanksgiving and gratitude, that's how they work.
Speaker 1: You have so much to be thankful for, but yet
Speaker 1: every day you're not getting up and giving thanks, you're
Speaker 1: just taking it for granted. And so two hundred years ago,
Speaker 1: people spent all of their time trying to heat their
Speaker 1: home and get enough food where they could have food
Speaker 1: in their tummy and make it through a season.
Speaker 2: Today, you click a button, you flip a switch.
Speaker 1: We're probably living in the easiest point in human history
Speaker 1: right now. And do you know that people are less
Speaker 1: happy today than they've ever been. Do you know they
Speaker 1: whine and complain more today than they ever have. We're
Speaker 1: actually a weaker society producing far weaker people. Yet we
Speaker 1: have so much abundance it's available to us. And so
Speaker 1: I believe that we actually commit the sin of omission
Speaker 1: a lot, which is that we don't just simply step
Speaker 1: back and look at all that we have to be
Speaker 1: thankful for it and say thank you Lord. The three words,
Speaker 1: the three words that I want to come out of
Speaker 1: my mouth more than any other words are thank you Lord,
Speaker 1: thank you Jesus, Thank you Jesus. Those are the three
Speaker 1: words that should come out of my mouth more than
Speaker 1: any other words on the planet. Those are the three
Speaker 1: because you could be thanking him for what he did yesterday,
Speaker 1: You could be thanking him for what he's doing today.
Speaker 2: You could be thanking him for what you have today.
Speaker 1: And you could also be thanking him for even that
Speaker 1: maybe a difficulty or something where you need him to move.
Speaker 1: You could just say, let's say you need him to
Speaker 1: give you a job. You could say, thank you Jesus
Speaker 1: fill in the blank for giving me this job, Thank
Speaker 1: you Jesus that you've got this coming, Thank you Jesus
Speaker 1: that the healing's on the way. You can actually function
Speaker 1: in thanksgiving on any single thing, even something that you
Speaker 1: want to see happen that you haven't seen happen yet,
Speaker 1: that maybe.
Speaker 2: Even some like wound in your heart. The Lord gave
Speaker 2: me a picture.
Speaker 1: This is how I ended up coming up with this message,
Speaker 1: because I was actually planning on preaching on something else,
Speaker 1: and the Lord gave me a picture, and the picture
Speaker 1: he gave me was of his death on the cross
Speaker 1: and the tearing of the veil from top to bottom
Speaker 1: that happened when Jesus was crucified.
Speaker 2: Okay, why was the veil torn? The veil was.
Speaker 1: Torn to separate the holy place in the most Holy Place. Correct,
Speaker 1: you guys are looking at me like, did I just
Speaker 1: say something wrong?
Speaker 2: Yeah? Yeah. The reason he tore it was to.
Speaker 1: Remove the veil and to give us access, you and me.
Speaker 1: He tore the veil so that we could have access.
Speaker 1: He woke me up this morning really early, and I didn't,
Speaker 1: and so I'm like, what are you talking about? And
Speaker 1: in the Book of Exodus, if you'll look at the
Speaker 1: veil that was torn from top to bottom, which means
Speaker 1: man didn't tore it, God tore it. On on the
Speaker 1: veil that he tore, the cherubim or woven in. It's blue,
Speaker 1: it's purple, it's red, and it's woven in. And on
Speaker 1: the other side of it, in the most Holy Place,
Speaker 1: you have the Ark of the Covenant. And on top
Speaker 1: of the ark is what the mercy seat, but the Cherubim.
Speaker 1: So what happens is that he tore this veil to
Speaker 1: give us access to intimacy with him, and he said unfortunately,
Speaker 1: he said, my kids, they'll grab a needle and thread,
Speaker 1: and they're working from the bottom to try and actually
Speaker 1: sew the veil back together.
Speaker 2: And I'm like, what are you talking about? So the
Speaker 2: veil back together?
Speaker 1: Hebrews or excuse me, numbers eleven one through six. Now
Speaker 1: the people complained about their hardships in the hearing of
Speaker 1: the Lord. And when he heard them, his anger was aroused,
Speaker 1: and fire from the Lord burned among them and consumed
Speaker 1: some of the outskirts of the camp. When the people
Speaker 1: cried out to Moses, he prayed to the Lord, and
Speaker 1: the fire died down, so that place was called Tabah.
Speaker 1: Because fire from the Lord had burned among them, the
Speaker 1: rabble with them began to crave other food. And again
Speaker 1: the Israelite started to wail and say, if only we
Speaker 1: had meat to eat. We remember the fish we ate
Speaker 1: in Egypt at no cost. Also the qcum melons leaks
Speaker 1: onions and garlic. But now we've lost our appetite. We
Speaker 1: never see anything but this manna. Moses heard the people
Speaker 1: of every family wailing at.
Speaker 2: The entrance to their tents.
Speaker 1: And it says the Lord became exceedingly angry, and Moses
Speaker 1: was troubled. Moses actually pleads with the Lord, and he says, Lord,
Speaker 1: why did you make me lead these people? And then
Speaker 1: he actually says kill me, now, kill me now, I
Speaker 1: can't deal with them. That's how frustrated Moses was with this.
Speaker 1: And if you look what was causing the Lord to
Speaker 1: be exceedingly angry where he actually burned, you know, sections
Speaker 1: of the outermost aspects of the camp up.
Speaker 2: Complaining.
Speaker 1: But I thought he produced something for them. That's what
Speaker 1: they needed in the manna. And you know, they couldn't
Speaker 1: be thankful for the manna. All they could do is
Speaker 1: wine and complain about the leaks, the onion, the garlic,
Speaker 1: the fish that they had back in Egypt. Wow, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna go to the New Testament now, so you don't
Speaker 1: think I'm a heretic one Corinthians ten one through twelve,
Speaker 1: For I do not this is the New Testament.
Speaker 2: Okay, that was the Old Testament.
Speaker 1: This is the New For I do not want you
Speaker 1: to be ignorant of the fact, brothers and sisters, that
Speaker 1: our ancestors were all under the cloud, and that they
Speaker 1: passed through the sea.
Speaker 2: They were all baptized into Moses. In the cloud and
Speaker 2: in the sea.
Speaker 1: They all ate the same spiritual food and drink the
Speaker 1: same spiritual drink, for they drank from the spiritual rock
Speaker 1: that accompanied them. The spiritual rock was Christ. Huh, I
Speaker 1: thought we were talking about the Old Testament. I thought
Speaker 1: it was Moses.
Speaker 2: No.
Speaker 1: Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them. Their
Speaker 1: bodies were scattered in the wilderness. Now these things occurred
Speaker 1: as examples to us to keep us from setting our
Speaker 1: hearts on evil things as they did. Do not be
Speaker 1: idolatrys as some of them were. As it is written,
Speaker 1: the people sat down to eat and drink, got up
Speaker 1: to indulge in revelly. We should not commit sexual immorality,
Speaker 1: as some of them did, and in one day twenty
Speaker 1: three thousand of them died.
Speaker 2: We should not test Christ. We should not test Christ.
Speaker 1: As some of them did and were killed by the snakes.
Speaker 1: And listen to this, and do not grumble as some
Speaker 1: of them did and were killed by the destroying angel.
Speaker 2: Huh.
Speaker 1: A destroying angel came and killed them because of their
Speaker 1: grumbling and complaining. If you think I'm talking an Old Testament,
Speaker 1: I want you to listen to the next verse, these things.
Speaker 2: Happened to them.
Speaker 1: As examples written down as warnings for us, for me
Speaker 1: and you on whom the culmination of the ages has come.
Speaker 1: So if you think you're standing firm, be careful that
Speaker 1: you do not fall. The devil is roaring around like
Speaker 1: a lion, seeking whom he and it may devour. And
Speaker 1: I'm going to share with you that a lot of
Speaker 1: times we don't realize that God may have a perspective
Speaker 1: and culture has a different perspective. And I think a
Speaker 1: lot of times, as Christians, we can actually become so
Speaker 1: influenced by culture we might not even realize we're being influenced.
Speaker 1: Grumbling and complaining opens us up to the destroyer.
Speaker 2: We need to check ourselves.
Speaker 1: Like sometimes when I start to whine or complain, like here,
Speaker 1: it's almost like the Lord wants to slap my face,
Speaker 1: give me a check. And then I hear myself and
Speaker 1: I'm like, no, okay, rudder, get back where you're supposed
Speaker 1: to be. Let's praise and exalt him, let's.
Speaker 2: Give him thanks.
Speaker 1: And so what happens is that complaining and grumbling and
Speaker 1: whining cannot occupy this same space, cannot occupy at the
Speaker 1: same time as Thanksgiving. So if you are whining, if
Speaker 1: you are unthankful, if you are complaining, if you are grumbling,
Speaker 1: do you know what you're not doing. You're not giving thanks,
Speaker 1: You're not operating in gratitude. And I'm wondering how much
Speaker 1: of our days are actually spent whining and complaining. And
Speaker 1: you know what I know is if he says thanksgiving
Speaker 1: is worship unto him and it causes his outstretched arm
Speaker 1: to rest over us, I kind of want that. So
Speaker 1: it means I better stay in Thanksgiving and not get
Speaker 1: out of it. And you know, I can tell really
Speaker 1: easy whether I'm in Thanksgiving or whether I'm not, because
Speaker 1: this thing always it's out of the abundance of the
Speaker 1: heart that the mouth speaks, and it'll give you away
Speaker 1: every time.
Speaker 2: It'll just tell on you.
Speaker 1: And then thankfully the Holy Spirit will come and he'll
Speaker 1: since you have the mind of Christ, and he comes
Speaker 1: and he's like and then you're like, Nope, I'm not
Speaker 1: doing that.
Speaker 2: I choose to give thanks even if there's something I
Speaker 2: don't like.
Speaker 1: Lord Jesus, I thank you that you're working this out
Speaker 1: for me. The Lord works in contrasts. What do I
Speaker 1: mean by that? So he always when he tells you
Speaker 1: to do something, he'll always tell you what not to do.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 1: So if he says, be anxious about nothing, but in
Speaker 1: all things, by prayer and supplication, make your request known
Speaker 1: to God, he'll give you the peace. He'll also tell
Speaker 1: you in four eight of Philippians, he'll tell you.
Speaker 2: So when he tells you, don't be anxious, he says,
Speaker 2: don't do this.
Speaker 1: And then he comes over here and he says, finally, brethren,
Speaker 1: whatever things are true, right, noble, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent,
Speaker 1: or praise worthy, think on these things.
Speaker 2: He tells you, don't do this. Do this, okay.
Speaker 1: If you look at the Old Testament in the book
Speaker 1: of Deuteronomy, the blessing of the Lord is if you
Speaker 1: will harken diligently to my voice. That's the Holy Spirit
Speaker 1: on you telling you what to do. He says, these
Speaker 1: blessings will accompany you. And then he also goes to
Speaker 1: say that if you don't do that, this comes on you,
Speaker 1: which is what we don't want.
Speaker 2: It's called the curse, and we don't participate with the curse.
Speaker 2: And so what happens. He always gives you the do this,
Speaker 2: don't do that. You know what I'm talking about.
Speaker 1: So anybody who's in here, who's ever been to a wedding,
Speaker 1: you have heard First Corinthians, chapter thirteen talked about.
Speaker 2: It's the love verses, right, love.
Speaker 1: Is patient, love is kind, love is gentle. It's not arrogant, rude, proud,
Speaker 1: or boastful. It's not self seeking. It considers others better
Speaker 1: than itself. It keeps no record of wrongs. So in
Speaker 1: those verses, there's fifteen things that's talked about. Seven of
Speaker 1: them are love is, eight of them are love isn't.
Speaker 1: So he tells you what it is and what it
Speaker 1: isn't so you can figure out how to walk.
Speaker 2: Do you know what I'm talking about.
Speaker 1: He doesn't leave his kids without the direction like we're
Speaker 1: not out here, like, oh what do I do?
Speaker 2: Lord? No, I got direction for you. And so this
Speaker 2: is how he operates.
Speaker 1: And Pastor Frank last week when you were talking about
Speaker 1: I believe it's First Corinthians, excuse me, Second Corinthians, and
Speaker 1: it was chapter eleven, maybe like verse four or something.
Speaker 2: We don't have to put it up right now, but.
Speaker 1: He was talking about Paul talking to the church about
Speaker 1: the gospel that they had received from Paul and making
Speaker 1: sure that the gospel that they had received was accurate too,
Speaker 1: the real gospel. And he was talking to them about
Speaker 1: a spirit having been on them and that they didn't
Speaker 1: want to receive a spirit that wasn't the true gospel,
Speaker 1: the one that Paul preached. And he was talking about
Speaker 1: how if Paul hadn't been careful, it could have.
Speaker 2: Killed Paul if that spirit had been on him, because
Speaker 2: he received a false gospel.
Speaker 1: He was talking about this pertaining to the thorn in
Speaker 1: the flesh, and which I don't believe is a physical malady.
Speaker 1: We were talking about this preparing food in the kitchen
Speaker 1: or something at the desert auction. I don't believe it's
Speaker 1: a physical malady. I think that's a bunch of junk.
Speaker 1: It was it was a spiritual It was a messenger
Speaker 1: of Satan sent to buffet him.
Speaker 2: This was a spiritual thing. It was not physical.
Speaker 1: So if you anyhow, if you believe that's physical, you
Speaker 1: need to keep looking.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 1: So Christians have been robbed of their faith because they
Speaker 1: don't understand scripture and they can't rightfully divide it.
Speaker 2: So that's kind of meddling. I'm sorry. Please forgive me, Lord,
Speaker 2: Please forgive me, Please forgive me.
Speaker 1: A lack of Thanksgiving brings opposition from the Lord as
Speaker 1: well as stirring anger.
Speaker 2: What does Thanksgiving look like? I think Thanksgiving looks like
Speaker 2: you wake.
Speaker 1: Up in the morning because we're talking about what it
Speaker 1: is and what it isn't. It's not grumbling, it's not complaining,
Speaker 1: it's not whining.
Speaker 2: Right, what is it?
Speaker 1: I think it looks like waking up in the morning
Speaker 1: and saying, today is the day the Lord has made
Speaker 1: I will rejoice and be glad in it. I think
Speaker 1: it looks like making your espresso and saying thank you
Speaker 1: Jesus that you gave me this espresso maker. I think
Speaker 1: it looks like getting up and opening up your Bible.
Speaker 2: And then you're like, Lord Jesus, thank you that I get.
Speaker 1: To have a new international version and I also get
Speaker 1: to open my phone and have a new American standard
Speaker 1: and a message translation and the passage translation. Like I've
Speaker 1: never been in an easier time in human.
Speaker 2: History to be a Christian.
Speaker 1: Like come on, Like, I think Thanksgiving looks like you
Speaker 1: could have said thank you Jesus one hundred times before
Speaker 1: you got to work, one hundred times before you got
Speaker 1: to work. There should The three words that should roll
Speaker 1: and emanate out of your mouth more than any others
Speaker 1: on the planet is thank you and Jesus or Lord,
Speaker 1: whatever you want to throw in there, both are good.
Speaker 1: If those words aren't the three most prolific coming out
Speaker 1: of your mouth, it might be that we're not.
Speaker 2: Yet walking in the full level of gratitude that we
Speaker 2: ought to have. Frank was referencing it was a.
Speaker 1: Good word, you did, great job, and he was referencing
Speaker 1: doctrines of demons, and I actually think that Christians sometimes
Speaker 1: pastor Dwayne does a good job and recover or restored life.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry with this, but I think that sometimes Christians
Speaker 1: can partner with doctrines of demons and they don't know
Speaker 1: that they are. If you look at our world right now,
Speaker 1: this concept I'm talking about of thanksgiving being an act
Speaker 1: of worship and God's outstretched arm is over you, Toda,
Speaker 1: if you get what this is, it's a spiritual thing.
Speaker 2: It's not just a physical act.
Speaker 1: The words that come out of your mouth are a
Speaker 1: response of what's in your heart.
Speaker 2: Correct.
Speaker 1: So we're living in an interesting day and age because
Speaker 1: most of what Christian people not in you guys, not
Speaker 1: in New Horizon and other churches out there, not us,
Speaker 1: But a lot of times what happens is that Christian people,
Speaker 1: without realizing it, have bought into something called the spirit
Speaker 1: of entitlement.
Speaker 2: And the spirit of entitlement is in.
Speaker 1: Direct opposition to the real gospel that Paul preached, and
Speaker 1: it's actually a doctrine of demons. And if you think
Speaker 1: I'm crazy, what I'm going to share with you is
Speaker 1: that in recent years, all of a sudden, it's become
Speaker 1: people's perspective that everybody's supposed to have a cell phone
Speaker 1: paid for by the government, that the government is actually
Speaker 1: supposed to pay for your rent and everything else for you.
Speaker 2: And then what you do is you take the money
Speaker 2: that you have and then you use that for entertainment,
Speaker 2: the movie theater. You can use that for a new
Speaker 2: video game cartridge.
Speaker 1: It's someone else's job to pay for your cell phone
Speaker 1: and to pay for your housing. And I'm going to
Speaker 1: tell you that that's a spirit attached to that, and
Speaker 1: it's called a spirit of entitlement. It's how we just
Speaker 1: have created a couple of people who are socialists who've
Speaker 1: actually won office in our nation. And that's because a
Speaker 1: spirit of entitlement is out there.
Speaker 2: It's the spirit of the day, it's the cultural spirit
Speaker 2: of the day. But it's in.
Speaker 1: Direct opposition to the true gospel that Paul preached. Because
Speaker 1: if I look at the parable the minas, if I
Speaker 1: look at the parable the talents, if I look at
Speaker 1: he who's faithful with little will be faithful with much.
Speaker 1: I could give you so much stuff to absolutely prove
Speaker 1: to you in two seconds flat that the spirit of
Speaker 1: entitlement is not from God. And unfortunately, sometimes Christian people,
Speaker 1: without realizing it, we may partner with that a little bit.
Speaker 2: And if we partner with that a little bit, do
Speaker 2: you know what spirit's not at work in us?
Speaker 1: The spirit of thanksgiving. The spirit of thanksgiving is juxtaposed
Speaker 1: to the spirit of entitlement. Because the spirit of thanksgiving says, Lord,
Speaker 1: I have nothing apart from you gave it to me,
Speaker 1: and You're good, and I love you and I appreciate you.
Speaker 1: This is not true with the people of New Horizon.
Speaker 1: This is not so for the people of New Horizon.
Speaker 1: There is a never enough spirit that we can fall
Speaker 1: prey to and partner with. If we're not aware that
Speaker 1: there's a lion seeking whom he may devour. I'm going
Speaker 1: to tell you something. I believe that there. I believe
Speaker 1: that there is something called the woe is Me spirit,
Speaker 1: and a good cartoon character that.
Speaker 2: Would express it would be e Or.
Speaker 1: And I believe that that spirit, it likes to whine,
Speaker 1: It likes to complain, it likes to grumble. The scriptures
Speaker 1: we just read in the Old New Testament whine, complain, grumble,
Speaker 1: be unthankful.
Speaker 2: Wow.
Speaker 1: And I believe that if we're to walk the way
Speaker 1: God would have us walk, we do not want to
Speaker 1: partner with that spirit. We want to rebuke that. We
Speaker 1: want to reject that spirit. We want to say no
Speaker 1: to that spirit. So if He's always letting us know
Speaker 1: what not to do and what to do, I want
Speaker 1: you to listen to this scripture. This is First Thessalonians
Speaker 1: five sixteen through eighteen. We're gonna read this together.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 1: Rejoice, always, pray, continually, give thanks in all circumstances, for
Speaker 1: this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.
Speaker 2: You know, sometimes people will say, I don't know what
Speaker 2: the will.
Speaker 1: Of God is. Well, boom, there it is. That's the
Speaker 1: will of God for your life right there. Rejoice, always pray,
Speaker 1: continually give thanks in all circumstances. For this is the
Speaker 1: will of God for you in Christ Jesus. So next
Speaker 1: time you're wondering what's his will, I want you to
Speaker 1: take this verse and I want you to put this
Speaker 1: on your refrigerator. I want you to put this on
Speaker 1: a post it note. You put this on your bathroom mirror.
Speaker 1: This is the will of God for you. What else
Speaker 1: does he tell us to do? Let's go to Colossians
Speaker 1: three point fifteen. Let the peace of Christ rule in
Speaker 1: your heart, since as members of one body, you were
Speaker 1: called to peace and be thankful.
Speaker 2: Let the message in quiet Christ dwell.
Speaker 1: Among you richly as you teach and admonish one another
Speaker 1: with all wisdom through psalms him songs from the spirit,
Speaker 1: singing to God with gratitude. There's that word again, gratitude
Speaker 1: in your hearts. Thanks and gratitude. Toda eucharista, you see it,
Speaker 1: Colossians two six through seven. So, then, just as you
Speaker 1: receive Jesus Christ as your lord, continue to live your
Speaker 1: lives in Him, rooted and built up in Him, Strengthen
Speaker 1: in the faith as you were taught and overflowing with thanksgiving.
Speaker 1: If I'm not overflowing with thanksgiving. And if you're not
Speaker 1: overflowing with thanksgiving, this passage says rooted and built up
Speaker 1: in him. It might be that our roots aren't quite
Speaker 1: deep enough. It might be that our roots are kind
Speaker 1: of shallow. Actually, So if the roots aren't deep enough,
Speaker 1: we need to be meditating on this and we need
Speaker 1: to be expressing more thanksgiving.
Speaker 2: Thankfulness is your superpower. I'm telling you, if.
Speaker 1: I could get this across to you, if you will
Speaker 1: pick that you know how in scripture, put off, put on?
Speaker 1: You know what I'm talking about the contrast again, if
Speaker 1: you can put this on and keep it on, it
Speaker 1: is a superpower. Like you are acting evading God's hand
Speaker 1: on your life.
Speaker 2: There is there is no obstacle that He will not
Speaker 2: overcome for you. If you will put on this cape.
Speaker 2: I'm telling you, you don't know how powerful this is.
Speaker 2: You just do it. Wow.
Speaker 1: Wow. If you're talking about what you do not have,
Speaker 1: what you cannot do, and you're feeling sorry for yourself,
Speaker 1: you are not walking in thanksgiving. I'm seeing three Lipenski
Speaker 1: children on the second row. They would if I said
Speaker 1: Lapenske's do not they would finish this statement they would say,
Speaker 1: they're they're all shaking their head.
Speaker 2: They agree.
Speaker 1: So apart from the other scripture they said the most
Speaker 1: when they were kids is they'd be like fighting in
Speaker 1: the back seat and we would say, my wife, do
Speaker 1: all that you can to live in peace with everyone.
Speaker 2: That's like that was the scripture of our house.
Speaker 1: But apart from that, they would say, lipenskis, do not
Speaker 1: talk about what they do, not have what they cannot do,
Speaker 1: and they never ever ever feel sorry for themselves because
Speaker 1: you're beating up the spirit of entitlement. You're beating up
Speaker 1: the spirit of woe is me when you do that.
Speaker 1: If you can get this in somebody's heart and get
Speaker 1: it so it's coming out of them, what happens is
Speaker 1: you're destroying the demonic realm as you do this. Lord,
Speaker 1: there was a gentleman, I'm going to give you a
Speaker 1: story of contrast in thirty.
Speaker 2: Seconds, am I doing? Okay?
Speaker 1: Okay, thirty seconds the story of contrast. So I have
Speaker 1: this lady that I saw I was talking to in
Speaker 1: the past week and a half. She's probably one of
Speaker 1: the most incredible Christian women I've ever met. I think
Speaker 1: she's got I don't know if she's ninety two or
Speaker 1: what she is. But she is the most pure hearted,
Speaker 1: genuine sweet woman. She's the grandma you wish you had. Okay,
Speaker 1: this woman said to me last week, She said to me,
Speaker 1: so she does not come from a branch of Christianity
Speaker 1: that we would come from, and so her branch of
Speaker 1: Christianity is a little bit different.
Speaker 2: But she was sharing with me that she had these.
Speaker 1: Like two life hymns that she loved, and one of
Speaker 1: them was called I think it was count your Blessings. Well,
Speaker 1: I don't know any hymns because I grew up a heathen.
Speaker 1: But this woman, you can see in her kids and
Speaker 1: her grandkids and her great grands kids.
Speaker 2: You can watch the spirit. Thankfulness is a spirit. You
Speaker 2: can watch it over her life, over her children's life,
Speaker 2: over her grandchildren, her great you can watch it over
Speaker 2: all them.
Speaker 1: And her two favorite hymns are count your Blessings, and
Speaker 1: it was something else about Thanksgiving. I have an interaction
Speaker 1: with this lady, and I'm like, this woman is going
Speaker 1: to receive the largest crown in heaven. She'll be the
Speaker 1: one that nobody down here knows, and in heaven we're
Speaker 1: all going to be looking at her like, she's the one.
Speaker 1: That same day, I had this experience where I was
Speaker 1: engaging with a person and I've known the person for
Speaker 1: probably eighteen twenty years. They love Jesus, great person. They
Speaker 1: and their wife were in a room. I walked in
Speaker 1: the room and I said to them. I said to him,
Speaker 1: I said, well, what's been the biggest blessing in you're
Speaker 1: past couple of weeks? And the person's response to me
Speaker 1: was this, So I'm gonna I want you to watch
Speaker 1: me first.
Speaker 2: This was their posture, look at my lip. Well, I
Speaker 2: don't know that I have anything to be thankful for.
Speaker 2: I really wish the Lord would just do something for me.
Speaker 1: This is somebody who is a blood bought believer who
Speaker 1: knows Jesus, who has four kids and a whole bunch
Speaker 1: of grandkids. And I said to him, I was like, well,
Speaker 1: you woke up this morning and you flipped a light switch,
Speaker 1: you turned on a faucet, and you had water.
Speaker 2: I'm like, you went to a fridge and you had food.
Speaker 2: And he was like well yeah.
Speaker 1: So I'm like trying to talk him into being happy
Speaker 1: and so he no. Seriously, I do this to people,
Speaker 1: those of you who know me, I do this to
Speaker 1: you on purpose? What's the biggest blessing in your I
Speaker 1: do this. It's a question I ask everybody because I'm
Speaker 1: trying to reformat their thinking to be this okay, I
Speaker 1: don't want to let them stay in the thinking that
Speaker 1: they're in. I'm going to ask them a question that's
Speaker 1: going to spur this on. And if they don't cooperate
Speaker 1: with me, which is this particular guy, he was just
Speaker 1: still being super woe is meism and moping and whining.
Speaker 1: And I started sharing a lot of his blessings with
Speaker 1: him because I know a lot of his blessings. And
Speaker 1: he said to me, he said, you know, he said,
Speaker 1: you're awfully happy most of the time. And I said,
Speaker 1: I know because Jesus loves me and we got a
Speaker 1: good gospel. And he said, brother, things are getting darker.
Speaker 1: And he was like, what do you think about that?
Speaker 1: So I spent about ninety seconds and I told him,
Speaker 1: I said, well, it just so happens that we might
Speaker 1: think a little different on a couple things. I said,
Speaker 1: the thing you're looking forward to this day that's so
Speaker 1: terrible and shouldn't be a pregnant or a nursing mother.
Speaker 1: It's going to be so bad, I said, I actually
Speaker 1: am not looking forward to that day. I believe that
Speaker 1: day already happened. And so I believe that day happened
Speaker 1: in seventy eighty. And if you would look at the
Speaker 1: writings of the Jewish historian Josephus, you would see that
Speaker 1: the streets were running with blood. It was a terrible day.
Speaker 1: That day happened, and we shouldn't be looking forward to
Speaker 1: that day. So you know what you have to look
Speaker 1: forward to? And ever expanding kingdom?
Speaker 2: Do you know what you have to look forward to?
Speaker 1: Have the glory of the Lord covering the waters?
Speaker 2: Oh, my lord, you have the glory.
Speaker 1: Of God coming and a revival coming, and you're sitting
Speaker 1: here moping, whining and compla. I didn't say those parts,
Speaker 1: But what I did tell him is I tried to
Speaker 1: spur him on, and then I encouraged him. I gave
Speaker 1: him some theology, and I said, let's talk more about this.
Speaker 1: I'll recommend you read some things in the way, look
Speaker 1: at some things. Okay, do you know between these two contrasts,
Speaker 1: the sweet little lady who's two favorite hymns are count
Speaker 1: your Blessings, and this guy over here that's super blessed.
Speaker 2: But is ere.
Speaker 1: Do you know you can see the spirit on him.
Speaker 1: It's so it's so palpable, it's so tangible, like you
Speaker 1: can see this thing from a mile away. It's like
Speaker 1: you're just looking at it and you're like, oh, I'm
Speaker 1: walking into this, and then you walk over here and
Speaker 1: you're like, oh, my Lord, this is Mother Teresa. And
Speaker 1: I'm just telling you that the spirit of Thanksgiving will
Speaker 1: open up the gates of heaven. The veil has been
Speaker 1: torn over your life. And if we walk around moping, complaining, whining, grumbling,
Speaker 1: we're actually grabbing a needle and thread and trying to
Speaker 1: sew that thing back together.
Speaker 2: That from the bottom that he ripped from the top.
Speaker 1: Do you get it? And we don't participate with that?
Speaker 1: Come on, okay, we need to be done. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: have you stand up.
Speaker 2: The Lord told me that we're supposed to impart He.
Speaker 1: Said, yeah, if I'm gonna tell you to stand up,
Speaker 1: I want you to put.
Speaker 2: Your arms out ahead of you like this.
Speaker 1: He told me that we're supposed to impart today, the
Speaker 1: spiritual impartation of Thanksgiving.
Speaker 2: That a spirit.
Speaker 1: So I'm gonna pray over each of you right now,
Speaker 1: Lord Jesus, we receive the spirit of thanksgiving, the spirit
Speaker 1: of gratitude, the Todas spirit, the arm of the Lord
Speaker 1: moving spirit.
Speaker 2: Over our lives, over our families.
Speaker 1: As we meet with our families this week, as we
Speaker 1: celebrate a meal, we just lift up right now that
Speaker 1: the spirit of Thanksgiving ruminates in the room. We thank
Speaker 1: you that the spirit of Thanksgiving is being deposited, that
Speaker 1: we're depositing it from generation to generation, that kids and
Speaker 1: grandkids are being just arrested with the deposit of a
Speaker 1: spirit of thanksgiving. We rebuke grumbling, We rebuke complaining, We
Speaker 1: rebuke whining, We rebuke the spirit that would be a
Speaker 1: woe is Me spirit, And we just agree with a
Speaker 1: spirit of Lord Jesus, you are worthy, You are the
Speaker 1: exalted One. We are thankful for you, or thankful for
Speaker 1: what you do for us. And we just agree with
Speaker 1: the spirit of Thanksgiving moving so mightily in our hearts,
Speaker 1: in our homes. And we would agree that we actually
Speaker 1: adopt this not just as a day, but we'll put
Speaker 1: on our capes.
Speaker 2: We'll agree with the superpower of the spirit of Thanksgiving.
Speaker 2: Then it would be a it would be a daily event.
Speaker 1: It would be a hallmark, it would be a characteristic,
Speaker 1: it would be a it would be a fruit of
Speaker 1: the spirit that would so ruminate and manifest in our
Speaker 1: lives that the gates of hell can not prevail against it.
Speaker 1: We just thank you that your Church is prevailing over
Speaker 1: the gates of hell, and that the spirit of thanksgiving,
Speaker 1: that spirit of worship to the King, is extending the
Speaker 1: King's arm, and we agree with it, we partner with it,
Speaker 1: we put off anything that would be in opposition to it,
Speaker 1: and we thank you with your hand moving on our
Speaker 1: thanksgivings this weekend, and as we go through this week,
Speaker 1: we just say, let more of thanksgiving ruminate out of
Speaker 1: our hearts, out of our minds, and we agree and
Speaker 1: participate with it in the name of Jesus