“ In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” -1 Thessalonians 5:18
I have observed that one of the particular temptations for Christians is the danger of getting accustomed to God's blessings. We are in danger of taking his or her blessings for granted and getting so accustomed to them that we fail already to excite us. We have grown accustomed to our blessings. The result is that too many Christians have become thankless Christians. Just like in the days of the Israelites when they crossed the Red Sea and reached the other side that they forgot the goodness of God when He saved them from the pursuing Egyptians, There, too, the whole community of Israel complained about Moses and Aaron. “If only the Lord had killed us back in Egypt,” they moaned. “There we sat around pots filled with meat and ate all the bread we wanted. But now you have brought us into this wilderness to starve us all to death.” (Exodus 16:2-3NLT) Blessings upon blessings but in return... complaining after complaining, self conceited people, care’less’ and care’full’ population they were. Thankless Nation. Is there anything new to us too? Same attitude, same mindset... And so, I believe there are at least four attitudes that steals away our gratitude and keep us from being thankful. I call them the Thieves of Thanksgiving.
I- CONCEITED SPIRIT:
“Too much pride will destroy you.”Proverbs 16:18 CEV
Or spirit of pride. Proud people don't say thanks. Proud people don't need grace. They don't think their hearts are empty without God. They are filled with their own wisdom! Claiming to be wise, they exchange the glory of the immortal God for something other than God. It is a deceptive and dangerous sin. Pride’s ultimate goal is to preserve self, to protect self, and to promote self. It may take many different forms, but ultimately it must preserve, protect, and promote self. It is then robbing God of the glory that belongs solely to Him and to Him alone. Pride was birthed with original sin when Lucifer attempted to ascribe glory to himself that was God’s alone. And pride continues to be the great separation between God and man today.
I just read it at moreillustrations.com that Our Lord Jesus Christ destroyed pride and is worthwhile here to repost it and share it to you through this sermon:
The life and death of our Lord Jesus Christ are a standing rebuke to every form of pride to which men are liable.
Pride of birth and rank—'Is not this the carpenter's son?'
Matt. 13:55
Pride of wealth—‘The Son of Man hath not where to lay His head.’ Luke9:58
Pride of respectability— ‘Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?' John 1:46
Pride of personal appearance—'He hath no form nor comeliness.'
Isa. 53:2
Pride of reputation— ‘A friend of publicans and sinners.' Luke 7:34
Pride of learning—'How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?' John 7:15
Pride of superiority—`I am among you as he that serveth.' Luke 22:27
Pride of success—'He is despised and rejected of men.' Isa. 53:3
Pride of ability—`I can of Mine own self do nothing.' John 5:30
Pride of self-will—`I seek not Mine own will but the will of Him that sent Me’ John 5:30
Pride of intellect—'As My Father hath taught Me, I speak.' John 8:28.
Pride has been classified into a few categories:
Pride of face, pride of race, pride of place, pride of pace, pride of grace.
“Pride slays thanksgiving, but an humble mind is the soil out of which thanks naturally grow. A proud man is seldom a grateful man, for he never thinks he gets as much as he deserves."
—American writer Henry Ward Beecher
How do you arrest the thief of conceit? Get the police of Humility!
II- CRITICAL SPIRIT:
1 Corinthians 10:8-11
“Nor grumble, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer. Nor let us act immorally, as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in one day (Nu 25:1-9, second generation Israelites, tempted by women from Moab and Midian, fell into immorality. Twenty-four thousand died in one day. God disciplined them through a plague that did not stop until Aaron’s grandson Phinehas speared a couple engaged in fornication. The Corinthians committed the same sin (5:1-5, 10-11; 6:9-10, 12-20). Nor let us try the Lord, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the serpents.”)
Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.
another attitude that keeps us from being thankful is constant complaining, grumbling. Instead of being grateful, this person will always find something to complain about. These are the 10 spies of Israel sent to Canaan! These people are the Judases when a woman anointed Jesus of a very costly perfume. Their mouth is full of negativity and criticism.
ILLUSTRATION:
There’s a story of a woman who is an incurable grumbler which constantly complained about everything. She had a beautiful garden and was probably the best in their barrio. When a traveling man saw her garden one Sunday, he said with a smile to the woman, “you must be very happy. I can see how beautiful and how healthy your garden looks—especially the potatoes.'' "True they're pretty good" she said, "But what am I going to do when I need bad ones to feed the pigs!”
Numbers 13 verse 28 “... the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there. 30And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it. 31But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we. 32And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature. 33And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.
And see the result of their critical spirit!
Hebrews 3:8Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: 9When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. 10Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways. 11So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.) 12Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. 13But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. 14For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end; 15While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation. 16For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses. 17But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness? 18And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not? 19So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.
How would you arrest the thief of criticism?
Call 911 for Instruction against such condition.
And we have a Handbook for such situations; the Bible. For from this Book “...you took in the sacred Scriptures with your mother's milk! There's nothing like the written Word of God for showing you the way to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. Every part of Scripture is God-breathed and useful one way or another--showing us truth, exposing our rebellion, correcting our mistakes, training us to live God's way.” (2Timothy 3:16 The Message)
Focus On The Positive. The Word of God. His Love-letter to us.
III- CARE’FULL’ SPIRIT:
This is also known as worrisome Spirit for me.
Full of cares of this world. Cares there, cares here. Care everywhere.
People in this genre are those who don’t want to walk the extra-mile. They don’t want to make a step of faith. Paralyzed inside their own box. They have a relative known as fear.
According to Warren Wiersbe; The Nature of Worry came from historical origin of the Greek and English words for which reveals worry's nasty nature. The Greek word translated "anxious" in Philippians 4:6, merimnao (mer-im-nah'-o), means "to be pulled in different directions." The Old English root from which we get our current English word "worry" means "to strangle."
So to worry is to be pulled apart and strangled!
(Reference: The Bible Exposition Commentary, New Testament, Volume 2, Warren Wiersbe, p. 94)
“He brought me out into a spacious place; He rescued me because He delighted in me.”
(Psalm 18:19NIV)We're not completely change-resistant, but we're definitely change-reluctant. Most of us prefer stability to change, yet God grants us all “bringing out” stages of life.
GOD IS BRINGING US OUT OF OUR BOX INTO HIS WORLD!
Through His WORD!
1Peter5:6 So be content with who you are, and don't put on airs. God's strong hand is on you; He will promote you at the right time.
5:7 Live carefree before God; He is most care”full”with you.
Matthew 6:31 What I'm trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God's giving.
6:32 People who don't know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how He works.
6:33 Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don't worry about missing out. You'll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.
6:34 "Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don't get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes. (The Message)
Care”full” is related to stress and here’s a list of worrisome and stressful events in our life according to a survey of psychiatrists Thomas Holmes and Richard Rahe:
In 1967, they conducted a famous study to determine whether stressful life events caused illness. Out of that study came the Holmes and Rahe Stress Scale, which lists the most stressful life events.
The Top 10 Most Stressful Life Events:
Death of a Spouse
Divorce
Marital Separation
Imprisonment
Death of a Close Family Member
Personal Injury or Illness
Marriage
Dismissal from Work
Marital Reconciliation
Retirement
Some other Most Stressful Life Events on the list:
Pregnancy, Change in Financial State, Major Mortgage, Child Leaving Home, Change in Residence, Change in Church Activities.
The psychiatrists compiled a separate list of Most Stressful Events for Minors, which included things such as:
Getting Married, Unwed Pregnancy, Divorce of Parents, Becoming Involved with Drugs or Alcohol, Breaking up with Boyfriend or Girlfriend, Failure of a Grade in School.
(And, yes, their study did find a positive correlation between stress and illness).
Reference: "Holmes and Rahe stress scale," wikipedia.org
Now, how should we correct this Care”full” spirit?
Arrest him with Lt.Abraham’s Faith! And it will be counted to us as Righteousness!
IV- CARE’LESS’ SPIRIT:
Luke 6:49
"But the one who has heard and has not acted accordingly, is like a man who built a house on the ground without any foundation; and the torrent burst against it and immediately it collapsed, and the ruin of that house was great."
ILLUS.
If the sun came out only once a year, everybody would stay up all day to behold them. We have seen the sun so often that we don’t bother to look at them anymore. Ingratitude is an insidious sin which leads one down a path of spiritual stagnation. Thanklessness leads to a negativity about life. Show me a negative Christian and I'll show you a Christian who does not spend much, if anytime thanking God. Negativity leads to a bitterness about your circumstances, you see happy people all around you and feel as if God has cheated you.
Bitterness leads to jealousy, not only do you become bitter about your own life, you become envious toward those around you who seem to be enjoying life... A downward spiral...
thanklessness is the product of negativity, the critical thief, the conceited thief, the care’full’ thief and the care’less’ thief rolled into one... Result? Thanklessness! From negativity to bitterness to jealousy!!!
How would you capture and render this thief of care’less’ spirit?
Call Sgt.Solomon for that spirit of wisdom that dwells in him! He knows what to do. He’s got Best-selling Books; “Proverbs, Songs of Solomon and Ecclesiastes.” The teacher discusses the meaning of life and the best way to live in those Books!
CONCLUSION:
While many things might be mentioned, here are a few things to consider and remember...
These thieves of Thankfulness should be stopped and put to the bars of Justice. They should be imprisoned and never to be released again in our lives. These are spirits which should be subjected to the One who is Greater and dwells inside of us. He is an Overcomer to those thieves infesting our surroundings and mind. We can only overcome them by means of the Holy Spirit!
CONCEIT/PRIDE should be arrested by the Police of Humility
CRITICISM should be handled by the 911 of our Bible
Now, how should we correct this CARE”FULL”spirit?
Arrest him with Lt.Abraham’s Faith! And it will be counted to us as Righteousness!
Lastly, the opposite of CARE”FULL “is CARE”LESS”...
How would you capture and render this thief of CARE”LESS”spirit?
Call Sgt.Solomon for that spirit of wisdom that dwells in him! He knows what to do.
Surely, when they are put behind the bars of prison, we become thankful, praising, worshipping, full of faith people of God in Jesus’name! Now we seek to triumph and live by the grace of God rather than by our own ingenuity or self-sufficiency
(1 Cor. 15:57; 2 Cor. 2:14).
NOW, focus on the sovereignty of God and the fact that He is in control and working all things together for good regardless of how they may seem to us in our limited perspective (cf. Rom. 8:28, 29; Jam. 1:2-4; Gen. 50:19-20). While all things may not be good, God uses them for good, the good of making us like His Son. Also, since a spirit of thanksgiving keeps our eyes on the Lord, it also keeps us alert and promotes an eagerness to go to God in prayer to lay our burdens and those of others at His feet (Ps. 68:19-20; Col. 4:2). Finally, we should always give thanks because it protects us against the dangers and consequences of thanklessness mentioned above.
IF JESUS SETS US FREE, WE ARE FREE INDEED TO THANK GOD IN THE POWER OF THE HOLYSPIRIT!
“GIVE THANKS IN ALL CIRCUMSTANCES, FOR THIS IS GOD'S WILL FOR YOU IN CHRIST”
thankYouLord!!!
We will now start “Living In Overflowing Thanksgiving!” In Jesus’name! Amen.
0541pmsaturday@doJpowerHouse!27october2018
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delivered:43rdSundayofOctober2018
