Transcription
Share this morning on the best way to express your gratitude to God. The best way to express your gratitude to God. We take our text from Luke chapter 17, verse 11 to 19. I read from the Message version of the Bible.
It happened that as he made his way toward Jerusalem, he crossed over the border between Samaria and Galilee. As he entered a village, 10 men, 10 men, 10 all lepers met him. They kept their distance but raised their voices, calling out, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!"
In verse 14, he said, "Taking a look at them, he said, 'Go show yourself to the priest.'" They went, and while still on their way, became clean, became clean. One of them, one of them, when he realized that he was healed, turned around and came back. This man came back, he says, shouting his gratitude, glorifying God. He kneeled at Jesus' feet. He was so grateful, he couldn't thank him enough, and he was a Samaritan. Jesus then said, "Were not 10 healed? Where are the nine? Where are the nine?"
So what is gratitude? Luke 17:15-19. Now, gratitude is the act of taking set actions to show, to show you appreciate something, to show you appreciate something. It could be for something that has been done for you, something concerning you. It could be gratitude expressed for something concerning someone you know, a loved one. And then sometimes, it may be gratitude expressed for what has been done, not necessarily for you or for a loved one. You have heard of what someone has done or has been doing, and you just feel it's proper for you to also say, "Well done, thank you" to that person, even though the people he has been doing it for, she has been doing it for, are not in any way connected to you.
Gratitude is the act of being thankful, being thankful for something, being thankful for something. I don't know how much you are being paid, but take note, be careful so you, the little you think you are receiving, you don't lose it soon. Ingratitude has made many lose their jobs, lose their stream of income. Gratitude is the act of being thankful for something. If you are one of those that feels, "What am I thanking God for?" that is a manifestation of a heart loaded with a sense of ingratitude. So gratitude is the act of being thankful for something. Could be for something, something that has been achieved, could be for something that has been completed. It's for, could be for something that has been received, something that has been successful.
Now, Church, listen to this. Let us please take note of this. It's very, very key in our, in your journey of life. Certain people that will do the most for you, whatever they would have done for you, may not produce the desired result afterwards. Someone else may do a little, and by Providence or by chance, the result will come. The Holy Spirit says I should teach us that we should learn to appreciate effort, the efforts of people, the effort of people. I hope we are understanding this here. Let's appreciate effort, the effort of people, the sacrifice, the time, the, the money, the resources, the goodwill, the kind words that people speak behind our back, people that have defended you, people that have valued you when nobody, including family, valued you. Because sometimes it is the impact of the effort that has been put in that now made it easy for that result to be obtained.
So the grateful one among these 10, what made him stand out from the other nine? One, he made a timely effort to express his gratitude. So I want you to take note of two key factors that determines whether or not you are grateful. Two key factors. One is the expression, the expression of the gratitude you have in your heart. The expression. Number two is how timely you express your gratitude. How timely. Delay can put you in the category of the ungrateful. I refuse to believe that the nine did not appreciate what Jesus did. So you could see also that how soon you say thank you is very, very critical in evaluation, in the evaluation of your level of gratitude. So he quickly came back and traced Jesus to wherever he was, just to say thank you. You must have be able to think back, think back at different instances of your life that God used certain people to do one thing or the other for you. Some of them significantly, some of them sacrificially. And whenever you have the opportunity, without them asking, a heart of gratitude will move you to also go the extra mile to do what they need at that particular time. I pray that between now and December 31st, someone listening to this message, certain people you have helped before, God will use them now to reward and pay you back. Can those men or women say a more powerful amen? Praise God.
So he expressed his gratitude to Jesus. He did something to show he was grateful to Jesus. Grateful people are those who make deliberate efforts to express their gratitude, and they do it on time. They do it on time. They do it on time. Take note. The other nine may have been very grateful in their heart. So I know some of you would say, "Daddy, if you know how much I love you in my heart." But the Lord is saying, move beyond your heart and express it. Move beyond your. We are, we are, we are not distinguishing your love in your heart, but we want to see life, we want to see in the physical realm an expression of that love that you have for that father or mother. So the other nine may have been grateful in their hearts, but they had not yet expressed their appreciation to Jesus. God expects you to show your appreciation to him if you really feel so. If you really feel, if you really show your appreciation, show it, show it, not just in your heart, show it. So it's not enough to feel grateful. May God move you from this category of people that just feel grateful but they never express it. Move to the category of those who feel grateful and they also express that gratitude in the heart. That is where you rightly belong. It's not enough to feel grateful, it has to be intentionally expressed, intentionally expressed. And can I always remind us that gratitude is not always about money? There is a time and a place for money, but it's not always about money. The man that is now an example of gratitude did not give Jesus money. Thank God for this example. He didn't give Jesus money, but there is a place for that, and there is a time for that.
Now, the second thing, the second thing you will note is that he expressed his gratitude to Jesus on time. He expressed his gratitude on time, on time, on time, on time, on time. Time. There sometimes somebody will call you and say, "Have you called that person to acknowledge what the person sent? Have you called that person to say thank you for what she has done?" It's not just about putting a call across, that call has to go out on time. He expressed his gratitude to Jesus on time. The other nine, listen to this, may have been planning to do something later. You know, we need to be very practical in looking at this story practically. One, two, three of them may have been planning to do something later. Can I tell you this? As much as possible, never postpone your Thanksgiving. Never postpone your Thanksgiving. You don't have, you don't have control, control over life. You don't have control over circumstances. You don't have control over tomorrow. And in fact, one of the reasons why God will spare you and spare those good things happening for you to continue is based on your gratitude today. So as much as possible, don't postpone your Thanksgiving. There are times when you know, like the annual Thanksgiving is coming up, even if something happens within a week to that time, to that particular major Thanksgiving, the Thanksgiving should still go ahead. It should still go ahead. What's the guarantee that the next day, the date you are looking at, something will not also happen before that day? So these are the dynamics of it. So the timing of the show of your gratitude is very key. Sometimes you may not be able to immediately express your gratitude to the extent that you desire, to the extent that you desire. For those of you who have lost your parents, lost one of them, 80% from observations, when it happened, it came as a surprise. So the lesson then is that this thing could happen at any time. So don't wait for perfect conditions before doing what you have in mind for your parents. Don't wait for perfect conditions. There is some, there are things you have in mind, "I will like to do this, I will..." No, not "I," this quality, this magnitude, this volume. Very good, but start with something. It is better that you have done a little and you are doing a little for now than just waiting for something big before expressing your gratitude. Can I tell you this also? Gratitude can be expressed in phases, in phases, in phases. There are some people today you may have even done them a favor as a payback, but in your heart, you still wish to do much more. So you already know that what you have just done is just for now, but as God gives opportunity, you already have it in your heart to do much more than what you have done now. So the expression, gratitude can be expressed in phases, starting with a timely thank you message. Always start with a timely thank you message that must go out as quickly as possible. So the point is this, on this point, you must not delay. In this first phase, don't delay, or else the person will begin to ask, "Did you get what I sent to you?" Gratitude, the expression of gratitude, is a necessity, is compulsory for every true child of God and for anyone who is going to go far and go close with God. Gratitude is compulsory.
In verse 17, Jesus said, "Were not 10 healed? Where are the nine?" So it shows you the Lord was expecting them to come back and express their gratitude. Jesus never asked the 10 lepers to come back to say thank you. When he told them, "Go and show yourself to the priest," he didn't tell them, "And the miracle happens, come back and say thank you." That is why he's sending his servants to preach this message to you on what you ought to do ahead of that which God is about to do for you. Can that lady or man say amen? So he expected them to use their personal initiative to do so. Unfortunately, it was only one out of the 10 that came back to say thank you. This is what is called a sense of gratitude. So we must learn to have a sense of gratitude, and we should train our children to have a sense of gratitude. And most of the people who have a sense of entitlement, they are not loyal. They are not deeply loyal because loyalty is also one of the things that you ways you express your gratitude to people. Loyalty is one of the ways you express your gratitude to people. So we should train our children to have a sense of gratitude.
In Deuteronomy 8:18, he said, "But thou..." King James version, he said, "But thou shall remember the Lord thy God, for it is he that giveth the power to get wealth." Grateful people are those who always think back. They remember where they are coming from. God places so much value on humility and brokenness. Humble people, for instance, have a sense of gratitude and they have no difficulty expressing it openly, have no difficulty expressing it openly. They are humble, they never forget their days of little beginnings, their days of little beginnings. They are conscious of the trap of Deuteronomy 8:17, that is the tendency to claim personal credit for one's success and one's empowerment. The humble can publicly acknowledge that they were once lost, but like the prodigal son, they are now restored. Humble people are not ashamed to publicly acknowledge that they were once very poor, deep in a particular scene of vice. If an examination, many times they are not ashamed to say it publicly, and so you see them say it in their public testimonies.
So how can you have a better sense of gratitude? Better one, avoid complaining all the time. Avoid complaining all the time. You think you are, you see when you complain, you are actually trying to justify, you actually trying to justify your, your, your position of ingratitude. Yes, that this is the reason why I don't see any reason to be grateful, I don't see any reason to be happy over this, over that. So you avoid complaining all the time, all the time. Number two, don't attribute all you achieve or possess to your personal efforts. Don't. Deuteronomy 8:17. Don't. Number three, be consistently thankful for those things that God has already done, for those things that God has already done. Be consistently thankful. Be thankful for those things that God has already done. Always remember that there are things that God has done for you as an individual, as a family, as a group, that others are still wishing for, others are still praying for. Number four, be consistently thankful for those things God has enabled you or your loved ones to achieve. Those things God has enabled you to achieve, what he has enabled your team, your group to achieve. Always remember that there are things that God has helped you to achieve that others are still wishing for and others are still praying for.
Now, this is a lesson I was telling you earlier about on the similarity between expression of gratitude and the proper expression of honoring your parent. In Ephesians 6:2, it says, "Honor thy father and mother." It comes with a promise that it may be well with you. Now, to honor means to respect, to honor means to have high regard for that person, to honor means to appreciate that person. Now, also to honor means to give attention, give attention to that person. So just like gratitude, honoring your parents should not just be a feeling in your heart. "If you know how much I love..." No, no, it should go beyond that to an expression. You should intentionally express each of these things we have just metion, have just mention.
There are different ways of expressing Thanksgiving. One, have a list of things to thank God for. So I told you earlier that the same things we do for prayer, we should do some of those things for when it now comes to Thanksgiving and gratitude. You have prayer list, have your Thanksgiving list of things you want to thank God for specially. Count your blessings one by one, write them down. Number two, true verbal expression. We are talking about different ways of expressing Thanksgiving and gratitude. Number two, verbal expression. Thank you, thank you, words of adoration to God, words of praise. Number three, by publicly sharing testimonies of what God has done, by publicly sharing testimonies of what God has done. Number four, by singing, by singing praise songs, worship songs, hymns, hymns like "Great Is Thy Faithfulness." Let's put expectation aside for one day. I just came today just to say thank you. That's what I've come. Number five, by rendition of musical sound, praise. You celebrate God with drums, musical instruments, the keyboard, the guitar, the tambourines, the maracas. Number six, by clapping. Number seven, by making a joyful noise. Number eight, by dancing. And number nine, by your posture. I said that earlier. So some people lift up their hands towards heaven to say thank you. Some people kneel down to say thank you. Some people prostrate, they lie on the floor, they lie on the to say thank you. And number 10, by giving. Number 10 is by giving.