Transcription
And thankfulness is like, man, it's like the number one virtue that changes a person's life, and dare I say, the entire nature of a city. I think thankfulness can change the nature of a family line. Thankfulness is one of the most profound weapons that God has given us in our arsenal. And I hope to take you through a number of verses just to show you some, some concepts on why God is building in us to be a thankful people.
And I think probably most everybody in the room would say, "I'm a thankful person." That you're a thankful person. Our problem is, is that we cultivate a thankful heart over all these things. We acknowledge God's in charge. He's the one who provided the job. He, uh, you know, gave me this child. He, whatever it might be. We have our list of things, but we almost all have something over here that we're not thankful for. And we justify it because it's the work of the enemy. Something bad happened in my life, this or that. And so we have a special category for things, hoping that God will just vindicate us. Not realizing that being thankful, he said, "In everything, give thanks." He didn't say, "In almost everything, give thanks." Neither did he say, "Just do your best." You know, "I'm rooting for you. Just do your best. Just hang in there. Do your best." He didn't say that. He said, "In everything, give thanks." In everything.
So here's this glaring problem, this conflict, this disappointment, this, whatever it might be. This is here, and I'm cultivating thankfulness here, but I'm unwilling to deal with this very thing that haunts me. What's the problem? Any area of my life in which I am unable or unwilling to to give thanks for that area will have a measure of influence and control over my life, and not for good. It, it will, it will have a voice where it shouldn't have a voice. "God, why is this constantly tormenting me?" "Because you've not buried it in thankfulness." Wow. "Why is this thing constantly there? It doesn't never go away." "Because you've chosen not to express trust in this one thing." We pray the problem, but we, but we don't often give thanks for the effect it's having on the recipe. If we could see Romans 8:28 more clearly, I think we'd be much quicker to give thanks for the IRS audit. Oh yeah. The bad medical report, the loss of this employment, or whatever it might be. The stuff that goes on in all of our lives. He doesn't ever tell us to be thankful for evil. We are thankful that we have a sovereign God who is able to use what the enemy intended for evil for our benefit. And it's the expression of thankfulness that immerses that which is contaminated into the grace of God to where God now uses it for our benefit.
In Psalms 100, he says, "I will enter his gates with thanksgiving in my heart. I will enter his courts with praise." Thanksgiving is all about presence. "I will enter his gates." Where's the destiny? The destiny is the throne room of God. "I will enter his gates with Thanksgiving. I'll enter his courts with praise." Thanksgiving is the specific response to the actions of God, the works of God. Praise is our response to his nature, his character. Thankfulness has always to introduce us to an increasing revelation of his nature. Moses said, "Let me know your ways that I might know you." The revelation of nature is the invitation for encounter. So when God gives us his protocol, it's not a, a formula that we use to manipulate God. It's how he functions. It's, it's almost like, "This is what the presence of the glorious one demands." His commandments are not restrictive. They're not punishments. They are always invitations to life. Good. Every commandment is an invitation to greater experiences in the life of Christ. And so he gives us this mandate. He says, "Enter his gates with Thanksgiving. Enter his courts with praise." What's the result? "And before the glory." Thankfulness is an expression of trust that keeps us conscious of the presence of God. Thankfulness, it's an expression of trust, and it keeps us conscious of him. Keeps us conscious of the presence of God.
One of my favorite, uh, stories in the Bible is Moses upon the mount, mountain with the Almighty God, face to face. And he comes down with a direction. God has shown him what he's supposed to build. They're going to build this Tabernacle. But when he comes down, he sees Israel playing the harlot. They are in absolute, the most grotesque sin one can imagine. He walks into the middle of that, does all kinds of stuff to restore order, bring them into repentance, and then he builds what God showed him to build. And the key verse for me is this: "And Moses built according to what he saw on the mountain." I think I can say this accurately, most believers catch a vision on the mountain and lose sight of it in the midst of a problem. And Moses succeeded to build what he saw up there when he got down here. It's the most challenging thing. And what does thankfulness do? Thanks, the specific acts of thank, Thanksgiving, not just the attitude of gratefulness, which I think is vital, but the specific acts of of thankfulness connect us to our history and God and help to heal and restore memories as it's supposed to be embraced. Because those memories are what help us to carry on the mandate of the Lord. And Moses did according to what he saw on the mountain. It was the memory of that that helped him to be successful in his most perilous time. Memor, thankfulness is what keeps us connected to our history and God. Our history, it's not just mine, it's our history of God.
I want you to look at John chapter 6 with me. We got a couple verses. We'll, we'll go through John chapter 6. This is where Jesus is feeding the 5,000. It says in verse 11, "It says, and Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to the disciples, and the disciples to those who are sitting down." Verse 23, "Other boats came from Tiberias near the place where they ate bread after the Lord had given thanks." Can I pay attention here? The Holy Spirit marked the location. So here we've got a location where Jesus, there's the multiplication of food, thousands of people eat. After Jesus broke bread and gave thanks, the Holy Spirit wanted that place to be remembered. What was it remembered for? It was when Jesus took loaves, broke them, and gave thanks. What's the point? What did he, what did he have? He had not enough. Yeah. And he gave thanks. Holding not enough. The sacrifice of Jesus was in response to human need. But the daily invasions of God are not according to human need. They're according to faith and obedience. And to ignore the protocol of God to apprehend that which is in our life that we refuse to give thanks for is for us to mark a part of our life we don't need his grace in. In the midst of lack, Jesus gives thanks. In the midst of lack. And in verse 23, he says, "What's that place called?" "That's the place where he took bread and he gave thanks." He gave thanks for what wasn't enough.
1 Corinthians 11 is a good one. This is where Paul had received this revelation about the Lord's Supper, and he was communicating, really, the greatest truths we have in scripture on the subject here in chapter 11 of 1 Corinthians. And he said, um, he said, "I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread, and when he gave thanks, he broke it and said, 'Take and eat.'" Okay. What's the point? On the night Jesus was betrayed, he took bread and gave thanks. See, thankfulness took, in John 6, a situation of extreme lack and turned it into extreme abundance, where they ended up with more than they started with in the leftovers. Now, Jesus takes his moment, the most difficult moment, where he has poured himself into 12 people, 12 guys for three and a half years, at the end of which one has a better idea and for personal gain sells the right, the access that he has to Jesus. W, and he betrays. On the night Jesus is betrayed, Jesus is fully aware of what Satan has inspired Judas to do, fully aware of that. He takes the bread, he breaks it, and what does he do? He gives thanks. See, Thanksgiving sanitizes your touch on the matters of your life. It decontaminates us from having influence, remaining flesh influence that that defiles that which God is doing. And it's thankfulness that keeps us in a place where everything in my life now is usable by God because I have, I have, I've cleansed myself, if you will. I, I, if I'm using the right language, but you can, you can help me out and figure it out. I, I have, I, I've sanitized my own involvement in the affairs of my life through thankfulness to what this now is in the hands of the Lord to use on my behalf, for his glory, and on my behalf. And it's thankfulness that transitions that very tool that the enemy intended for evil. The weapons of the enemies are destroyed through thankfulness. It actually removes the tool that he was going to use to destroy it. It removes it from him because now you're playing with God's tools. Now we're playing with God's instruments.
Go with me to Thessalonians. 1 Thessalonians 5, and we'll spend the rest of our time in this, uh, chapter. That last statement I made about thanks, Thanksgiving, thankfulness, I kind of butchered it, and I'm going to butcher it just a little bit more, but I, I want to, I want to give it, give the statement of context because if you understand this, I, I didn't prepare to have these scriptures ready, so you can, you can look them up on your own. But there's this interesting dialogue that Paul has on two occasions about food and what we're to eat. And one of those occasions, he, he says, he says, "Hey, if your neighbor is sacrificing some animal to this demon god, and you know that they sacrificed that meat to the demon god, and they know that you know, don't eat the meat." And he says, "It's not because it will harm you. It's because it'll violate their conscience." But then he goes on and says, "But if they don't know, then eat it." Elsewhere, Paul says, "All foods that you receive with prayer and thankfulness is sanctified." Follow the logic here. So here's this big chunk of meat. My neighbor just offered it to some god. He doesn't know that I know, but I watched. And then he invited me over for dinner, and I saw these demon powers surround him as he offered this offering. And I know that the enemy wants to destroy me through this that I'm about to eat. And I receive it into my life and I give thanks. My thankfulness just sanctified what was previously empowered by the enemy to bring destruction to my life. Did that make sense? Thankfulness sanctifies. So when you're in the middle of a horrific situation, thankfulness in the middle of that, it's not about chasing the devil around. It's simply about turning our heart towards the celebration of who God is in every situation. And it anchors our soul into that, that absolute victory that has been promised to, to each one of us. Thankfulness.
So here we've got this portion of scripture that, um, I remember, fact, just look at it. Verse 16, "Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks." I remember reading that as a young pastor, uh, in Weaverville days, remember reading that verse like, "Man, I could spend, spend the rest of my life, every day, the rest of my life on those three verses, and I would have my hands full. I would have a full-time job just learning those three simple statements." Say it with me: "Rejoice always." "Rejoice always." "Pray without ceasing." "Pray without ceasing." "In everything give thanks." "In everything give thanks." Let's say it together: "Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks." Say it again: "Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks."
I'm, I'm not sure that that we see the effect of thankfulness on the human heart, or thankfulness on the spiritual atmosphere or surroundings around our life. There, there is a sanctifying, a cleansing, a purifying work that takes place simply by thankfulness. Why? Number one, thankfulness is automatically a position of humility. Thankfulness is not us dictating something to God or to somebody else. It's coming in low, in honoring him for what he has done. Thankfulness is, uh, is connected to the acts of God, the works of God. Uh, says, uh, of Israel and Moses, it says, "Israel was acquainted with the acts of God, but Moses was acquainted with his ways." Israel with the acts of God, Moses with his ways. There's an interesting graduation in, in perception and experience in those two areas. Many people experience the works of God, but they don't know anything about his nature, about his person. And all the revelation or experiences of the works of God are invitations to discover who he is. Moses prayed this prayer in Exodus. He said, "Let me know, let me know your ways, let me know your, your works, your ways, that I might know you." In other words, "God, I want to see what you're like because I want to follow that invitation into relationship, into encounter." In other words, we're not gathering information for a test. We're not, we're not gathering information to pass the quiz. That's right. We're, we're seeing glimpses of what he's like so that we can take each glimpse as the invitation or open door opportunity to come into relationship. When he revealed himself to Abraham as the provider, Jehovah Jireh, it wasn't to make him more well-rounded in his theological approach to God's resource. He was revealing himself as the one he was about to provide for him instead of him sacrificing Isaac. There was a ram caught in the thicket. The point was, God, his provider, just revealed himself. That provision was to be experienced. Thanksgiving will take you places nothing else can take you. Will take you places in God.
So here he says, "Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks." Here, here's the strange thing about. In fact, let me give reference to Thanksgiving because it'll, it'll be more, uh, more visual. Um, I'm, I'm not a great golfer. It's been years since I've gone. I have some funny stories about my golfing expertise, but anyway, I use this as an analogy. The ball's here. You got a backswing. You meet the ball. It goes on. This is yesterday. This is today. The momentum shows you where you're going tomorrow. I don't know if that made sense. You've got your backswing. You meet the ball. Your club doesn't go that way. It goes that way. There's a momentum created. When you are thankful, "God, you provided for me when I didn't deserve it. I blew it. I made dumb decisions financially. You covered me anyway. You provided. You healed my body here. God, you use a doctor there. I was in crisis here. I expected you to show up in a certain way. You didn't, but you never left me, and you walked me through that into triumph." And you go through all these things. What's happening is you are reviewing your yesterday and God's faithfulness, and you automatically pick up a sense of where you're going. Does that make sense? You automatically pick up a sense. This is my tomorrow. Why? Because before there's a problem, he creates a solution. One of the most astonishing, uh, things in scripture for, to me, is where it says Jesus was crucified from before the foundations of the world. Jesus was crucified before the foundations of the world. So before there was all, all this created, including humans, he was crucified. The point is, before there was sin, there was a savior. Before there was a problem, there was a solution. So what is it that you could come up with in your life that he didn't already have a solution for? The reason for thankfulness is, is really quite astonishing. Thankfulness is what helps to create hope. And you know what hope is? Hope. Hope is where the best definition I've seen of biblical hope, not, not of the, the cultural word hope. The best definition that I know of is the joyful anticipation of good. Joyful. It's excited now for what's about to happen. What that means then is that hope actually gives us the opportunity to enjoy the emotional benefit of a miracle before the miracle happens. That we actually have the opportunity to explore the emotion of victory before the victory actually happens. It actually, we, we actually get to feed from the emotion of victory. Hope gives us access to that. And it's Thanksgiving that creates that momentum.
So here we have this issue. Rejoicing is a key to emotional health. Rejoicing in any situation, every situation. So good. I, I believe strong that these kinds of expressions require physical response. It requires physical response. He didn't say, "Shout for joy, all you [Laughter] extroverts, and and all you introverts, you just think happy thoughts. I'm good. I'm good. Just feel warm and fuzzy about me. I'm fine." I'll work with that. He didn't say that. He said, "Shout for joy." Shout for joy. Period. There's something about the expression that changes our capacity to experience what God is doing and what he's about to do. There's something that is transformed in us through the physical outward obedience. Sometimes it's kneeling, sometimes it's laying on your face, sometimes it's raising hands, sometimes it's a dance. Sometimes, I, I'll never forget the first time I, I danced before the Lord. I was alone in a house, and I, I was worshiping, and I felt like the Lord said, "Dance." I was so embarrassed. I was, I was embarrassed as could be. I made sure all the curtains were closed because I knew that all the news networks were there. They were one of the filmed this great event that was about to happen. I did. I actually, I went, I made sure all the, the curtains were closed, everything. And I'm the only one in the house. The lights are very dim, you could hardly see. And I'm in this house, and I go, and I have to admit, I actually felt kind of good inside. So I did it again, and again, and again. Eventually, you don't care what anybody thinks. But at that time, it, it really mattered. It mattered to me. There, there had to be some sort of a physical response. I like Wigglesworth says, "My body doesn't tell me how it's feeling. Says, I tell my body how it's [Applause] feeling." And there are times where there's just, they're, they're not monumental things. They're not, you know, they're not God commanding us to do some impossible thing. Sometimes it's a simple thing. Raise your hand. Sometimes it's lift your voice. Sometimes it's give what's in your pocket to that person in need. It, it's just, they're none of them are a huge noble task, but they all require some sort of external obedience. And rejoicing is just like that. I think rejoicing takes great faith. I think it's easier to hang your head and sing a song about God's worth than it is to celebrate his worth because you actually have to have some sense of confidence that you are accepted to rejoice. And he says, "Rejoice always."
The second part of that experience, I rejoice always. The second was, um, "In everything give thanks." And I, I really felt strongly that he, that he impressed, he impressed on my heart that the key to mental health was giving thanks in everything. I remember hearing a talk show, this psychiatrist or psychologist, I forget whoever now, was being interviewed, and they made some statement, I won't get it exactly right, but it's basically this: that 90% of all mental illness is the result of trying to avoid pain. 90% of all mental illness is the result of trying to avoid pain. Somehow facing the difficulty with thankfulness, it's not denial. It's not pretending something doesn't exist. It's owning up to this. You know, it's, it's Joseph with his brothers who sold him into slavery, and he says, "You know, you did this to destroy me. However, God looked ahead and he put me here." It was like, "I'm owning up to the challenge of the moment, but I am, I am liberated and I am free in this moment." And being able to be free in that moment with Thanksgiving and with rejoicing is the nature of the Christian life. And I tell you, we've got to get it now because, I mean, it's crazy out there. But here's the issue: if I move in offense, I then will fight the challenge with their tools, which puts us on a level playing field. And whenever you fight the devil on his field, you lose. It's moving into the grace gifts of God where I refuse to live in offense, but I, but I also refuse to live irresponsibly. And I recognize flesh and blood is not my enemy. This person believes a lie, but me yelling at him is not going to change him from believing a lie. Me accusing or doing whatever, it doesn't fix anything. It just helps the person to feel better for a moment until God convicts. Are you getting what I'm trying to say? Moving into a place of, of bringing about change requires a couple things. And, and I think the, the safeguard here is profound on bringing transformation. It's rejoicing always and everything give thanks. Those two things, emotional, mental health. If there's anything that, that the world is crying out for right now because it's, it seems to be dissolving, you know, quicker than Chasta Lake evaporated, it's this, this sanity of life, this mental health, emotional health. And yet you have it. Inside track. I don't mean that you're better than I, I don't mean in any way. I mean, taste of the favor of God because it will be useful in bringing others into that same blessing. Useful to bring others into that same sound mind, sound heart. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks. So key to emotional health, there's rejoicing always. Every, give, everything, give thanks is key for mental health. And the last one is to pray without ceasing.
Do you know, in, in Nehemiah, it's kind of a, to me, it's an awkward, uh, part of a story. It's in chapter 11, the end of chapter 11, and all of chapter 12. It has this reoccurring theme. There were people that were assigned to give thanks to God. "What do you do for a living?" "Oh, I, I give thanks." "I give thanks?" "Yeah." "Like, what is that look like?" "Well, they just give me a list, and, uh, and I, I stand before God and I say, 'Thank you,' and I, and I mention what we're thankful for." That sounds, that sounds so formal and so, so ritualistic that there's no life in it. And yet, there's a secret in that routine. Yeah. You bypass the limitation of your own emotional condition and you make mature choices which activate your emotional condition to get into line with what you're doing. See, complaining empowers the inferior to undermine your faith. Complaining only happens when we are more mindful of a problem than we are of God. It's impossible to complain when you're more aware of the goodness of God than you are of a problem. You actually violate to do that. You'd have to violate your, your conscience, your, your sense of purpose, your sense of being, the sense of God's presence. You have to violate all of that just to start complaining. I'm glad I've never done that. I, I says, "Rejoice always." That means like in the original language, always actually means always. Just always. Just, just, you know, no matter what happened, choose joy. Well, I don't feel like it. That's why it's a choice. Do you think he would have to command it if we did it naturally? Yeah, that's good. The only reason it's a command is because here's a chance for you to flex a muscle. You said you want to grow. You said you want to carry the weightiness of God into the earth. Here's something you can learn to do. Well, what is it? Well, you're going to miss your flight. No, no, not that. Not that. Here, I'm, I'm taking you deep into my personal life. When I miss a flight, I come up to the gate. This has happened. I've sat on the tarmac forever because they can't find a place to park my plane. And I look at my clock. I go, "My other flight's boarding right now." Boy, am I thankful. Boy, am I feeling rejoicing right now. And I just sit there for a half hour while my plane boards, and we're just sitting there on the tarmac. And then I notice my plane, and then the one I'm on finds a place to park. My first response is not rejoicing. And I've got to admit to you, it's not my second either. It's rejoicing is like way down little. This, I've got to experience a few other things first. I've got to explore the emotional tundra before I end up in rejoicing. When that happens to me, when somebody passes you on a freeway, no problem. You go as fast as you want. Not a problem for me. Pulls in front of you and then slows down. It's not a big deal. It's just wrong. It's just wrong. Have they no [Laughter] conscience? Where's the conviction of the spirit of God when we need it? Rejoice always, pray without ceasing. Rejoice always is is choosing joy. It's, it's actually, it wouldn't be commanded if it wasn't within the reach of a choice. That's good. Joy is, is like, is the part of the kingdom. So it's, it's, it's at hand. It is always within reach. I have, I'm a powerful person. Say this with me: "I am a powerful person." Joy is always within reach. Joy is always within reach. Pray without ceasing is kind of like the same as rejoice always. Without ceasing means just always. Just always. Just, you know, pray and don't stop. Interestingly, Philippians says, um, Philippians, based, I'll just quote it to you. It's, make reference to it. Philippians 4:6 talks about supplications and prayers. That's the earnest getting before the Lord, contending with God for a breakthrough. And he says, "With Thanksgiving." Why? Thanksgiving creates the context to keep prayer unfocused. That's good. I mean, I know this is a dumb question because all of us would say yes, but how many of you want to have effective prayers? Of course, we do. We don't pray just to, you know, we're not running on a treadmill just trying to cover the miles. We, we want to bring impact. Our heart is to bring change, to see it in our own lives, our families, the world around us. We want to see, uh, things take place because we've prayed. Thankfulness is what helps to keep prayers on target. There are times I'm praying for somebody, ministering to somebody, let's say that's sick. Let's say they have a, a certain problem or arthritis, let's just say throughout their arm. And and I'm praying for them, and nothing's happening. Zero breakthrough. And then the Lord will give me an insight of a more precise way to pray. And when I change my prayer from a general prayer of, "God, heal the arthritis that's in the arm," and I get down to a very specific or precise prayer, then the breakthrough comes. I can't tell you why, but I can tell you this: for me to stand up here and just say, "Oh, Jesus, please heal everyone in the room today. Amen. We give you thanks." Nothing's going to happen. Why? Because it's got to be more precise. And what thankfulness does is it hones the precision of our prayer life because it keeps it about him. Because is, is that place of dependency, place of acknowledgement. The, the strength in prayer is not that you complain or belly ache about a problem. It's that you've joined your heart with his to see his kingdom come and his purposes worked out in the earth. And thankfulness is what keeps us engaged with precision. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks. I, you know, I don't know that anybody's supposed to give thanks for a bad report from the doctor. That wouldn't be, doesn't make any sense to me. But it does make sense to me to remain thankful. To to keep my list of blessings stronger than my list of needs. That's good. How many of you have a, you've ever made a prayer list out? How many of you, if you've not written one, you certainly have one in your mind? I mean, I, I've got them in my iPads. I've got goodness, I've got lists in there of things that I pray for. And you know, just stuff, stuff that I can contend for. I just get before the Lord. God, God, we've got to see breakthrough. We got to see breakthrough there. And I, I believe in it. But how many of you have thankfulness lists? Probably not as many. There's, there's a few, and it's wonderful. But, but the point is, is we stay more conscious of need than conscious of blessing. And when I stay more conscious of need than I'm conscious of blessing, I will tend to pray out of a hole instead of from heavenly places. I will stay, I'll tend to pray more out of a place. Desperation is not bad. So I, I, I don't have the best language, so give me a little grace with this, but I will tend to pray out of a place of desperation instead of a place of authority. Thankfulness, thankfulness. What hones that?
Take a look at me with, uh, 1 Timothy chapter 5, excuse me, chapter 4. 1 Timothy chapter 4. We're going to read five verses. Verse one, "Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry, commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with Thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth." Um, look at this again. Verses 1 and 2 give us warning. I don't know how your Bible reading goes. I, I just want to encourage you, don't skip over the hard stuff. It's, it's so vital. Here's the difference. There's meat and milk of the word. Are you with me in that analogy? There's meat of the word. There's the milk. Milk comforts. Meat provokes change. Meat is called in Hebrews the word of righteousness. So it is the word that equips, enables, and provokes. It cuts to bring about change. And we all want to be comforted, but we've also got to be changed through the reading of word, the embracing of what God has said. And sometimes it's just, it's meditating on receiving, dwelling, slowing down in the hard places. "He who gains his life will lose it, but he who loses his life for my sake will gain it." Slow down in those passages because it needs to cut deep. It's got to cut deep. If, if it doesn't cut, if it, if it doesn't bring pain, it's not a, it's not the word of righteousness that brings change. There's got to be that, that point where you go, "Oh, it's necessary." It's, let me illustrate this way. There are people who have certain kinds of, uh, afflictions, difficulties in their body, and perhaps you go to a doctor, and the doctor says, "Man, you have no feeling in your foot." He says, "No." So takes a sock and shoe off, and he takes a needle, and he'll just prick the bottom of the foot, and there's no pain. See, it's not a good sign to not feel pain. It's not positive. It's actually, it's a sign of a problem. It's when, is when something should hurt and it doesn't. You don't ever want to read through this stuff and go, "Oh, yeah, all is well." Not a good sign. Not a good sign. You want that thing to prick you. You want to go, "Oh, that hurts so good." But it's, it's, it's that, it's that word that makes you know you're alive.
So he talks about those who fall away from the faith. Interestingly, verse 3 says, "Forbidding to marry, commanding to abstain from foods which God created to receive with thanks, Thanksgiving." Let me just stop there. This is kind of a, a weird deal. Paul's warning Timothy and the group that he leads. He's warning them. He said, "Listen, um, we know people's hearts is going to grow cold. They're going to become deceived by demons. This all this junk's going to happen, and out of that group is going to come a list of rules, non-biblical rules." Now, remember, the Bible does give us commands, and don't ignore them just because you live under grace. Grace doesn't give you a pass to skip the rules. Grace gives you the power to do the [Applause] rules. So here's a list of rules. It's created out of this deceptive movement, and what is it? They are rules that make you more pleasing to God. That's what they say. So in other words, you're going to obtain favor if you do this. If you don't marry, you don't eat these certain foods, you do this, this, and this, you observe this particular day. In Romans, he, he expands the list. Says, "You, you follow this day instead of this day. You eat this instead of this. You drink this instead of this." These list of rules, if you do everything just right, then you'll have favor with God. What happened to Adam and Eve? The serpent crawled up to him and said, "If you partake of this fruit, you'll be like God." They already were. The enemy tried to get them to obtain through works what they already had by grace, which they already had by design. So shifting the focus from what God has done for me that now enables me to be to live freely for him, the focus now shifts to what I must do to somehow apprehend and gain God's favor. The focus shifts. And whenever, whenever that happens, it becomes a flesh-empowered movement. And that was the deception of this movement. Yes. Amen.
Verse 4. I, I didn't plan this, but having gone hunting this last week, it's just the perfect verse to read. "For every creature of God is good." I believe that. Right next to the potatoes. I, I went on an outreach with my boys this week. We reached out and touched the [Applause] heart. Harvested protein to sustain a revival is what it is. All right. "It is good. Every creature of God is good, for nothing is to be refused if it is received with Thanksgiving, for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer." This is amazing. Here's what he says: "Nothing is to be refused." What's the point? Is this not something you bought at the store? What's the implication? What Paul had to deal with with a group of people is they would be invited to somebody else's home, and they would hear they were being served a food that was either unclean, pork, or whatever, or it was actually food that was offered to an idol. And here he's giving him instruction: "Don't refuse anything that you would determine is unclean." Why? Because that which is used to be against you becomes sanctified by your own thankfulness. Your thankfulness takes the sting out of what the enemy attempted to destroy you and is now used for your benefit because it is sanctified with prayer in the word of God. Sanctified. Sanctified is an interesting word because it means separate. Separate from sin, separate from darkness, separated to God. But it doesn't stop there. It actually implies that when I am made holy, when I, as I am, as I am separated from my own lifestyle to to the Lord, it means it implies I actually become like the one I am separated to. Wow. We should know this. Just in the natural, husbands and wives have been married a long time. They start thinking alike. They start acting alike. I mean, there's, there's just this, this time of just being together where they, they change because they've been separated from everyone else unto this person, and they actually, in many ways, pick up some of their characteristics and natures. Well, this is even more profound in our relationship with Christ because we are separated from a dark world system that is self-serving unto the Lord. We actually, in the relationship, become like the one we're separated to. Now, follow that thought. When you are offered something, in this case, it was food that would contaminate you, with thankfulness, it enables the word of God and prayer to sanctify that which was released against you and now become something that is for you. Um, thankfulness takes the sting out of something sent your way to harm you.
Oh goodness, I'm almost out of time. I'm going to go over a couple minutes because we can afford it on this service, but just a couple minutes. "I take it. Thank you. I receive it." Thankfulness. I had a friend, acquaintance, in dialogue with this last summer, was writing a book, at least part of the book, against me and against us. And so I wrote him and I told him, "I welcome the book. I welcome it." Not because I think it will add to the health of the body of Christ, but because what I want in life is on the other side of facing difficulty. Well, navigating betrayal or criticism. You know, you can't be trusted with praise if you don't trust him with criticism. You can't, you can't be trusted with gain if you don't trust him in loss. You can't be trusted with loyal friends if you don't trust him in betrayal. And so while I don't think any of these things are designed of the Lord, I'm going to embrace them and learn how to navigate life through those challenging situations. Why? Because of the prayers I've prayed. I've prayed the same scary prayers you've prayed: "God, I want to see everyone that we come into contact with healed. I want to see everybody saved in our city. God, we want to see nations discipled." These are huge prayers, but they are not released upon careless people because careless people become preoccupied with themselves in the midst of the glory being manifest, the glory being poured out. And so difficulties come our way. What is it? It's just simply an opportunity to learn how to monitor my heart, to give thanks in all things, rejoice in all things, pray in every situation, absolute dependency on him. Why? This is what we were born for. And what I want is on the other end of adverse winds. And I've got to learn how to use my sail and the rudder, if you will, to tack until I can make the advancements necessary to get me to where I want to go. So I, I, I told him, I said, "I, I don't welcome it because I, I think it'll help us, but I do welcome him." You know, he wrote back very kindly and ended up a long, long dialogue. That isn't the point of the discussion today, except that he, he openly, openly repented and and changed that particular part of his book. And it's not up for discussion. It's not necessary for today. But the, the point is, is being thankful for things that you think the enemy sent you away. It doesn't mean I'm thankful for the book. I am thankful for the opportunity to grow. I'm thankful that if I learn to navigate this right, he can trust me with more. I don't like it. It's not something I'd volunteer for, but I gave up my rights when I said yes. When I said the big yes, I gave up my right to to bargain for what kind of circumstances I'm willing to face. And thankfulness is like, man, it's like the number one virtue that changes a person's life. And dare I say, the entire nature of a city. I think thankfulness can change the nature of a family line. Yeah. Amen. All right. Happy Thanksgiving.