Participants:
Series Code: WHO
Program Code: WHO210069S
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00:28 Hello, friends, and happy Thanksgiving.
00:31 We are going to be tuning into Thanksgiving 00:34 as we look into the Word of God. 00:35 You know, the Thanksgiving is one 00:39 of those special holidays that's actually biblical. 00:43 And I was raised in England. 00:45 I was born in the States, but I was raised in England, 00:46 I never really observed Thanksgiving 00:48 until I came to the States. 00:49 And even as a young man, 00:51 it wasn't really a big deal to me until I met my now wife. 00:54 We've been married for 32 years. 00:56 And her mom is one of 16 children. 01:00 And every year they get 01:01 together in a place called Bakersfield, California. 01:05 And I was invited to go to that gathering 01:09 when I was dating, Rise, my wife. 01:11 Now I was invited there because the brothers that 01:14 is my mother-in-law's brothers, 01:17 the uncles of my wife-to-be wanted to check me out. 01:22 They wanted to interrogate me. 01:23 They wanted to make sure 01:25 I was going to be quality guy for their little niece. 01:29 So I didn't realize 01:31 what I was getting into with those 15 brothers 01:34 and sisters at that Thanksgiving get-together. 01:36 But it was amazing because they rented a gym. 01:39 That's how many people were there. 01:40 They rented a gym, they had the 16 brothers 01:42 and sisters, then they had their children 01:44 and their children had some children. 01:45 And we just, I just got to meet all these different 01:47 family members, they had basketball, 01:50 they had volleyball, and they had lots of food. 01:53 And it was indeed an opportunity for Thanksgiving. 01:58 Thanksgiving is a holiday 02:00 not only in the country that I live in, in America, 02:03 but it's also a holiday in Canada, 02:05 it's a holiday in Central America, 02:07 it's a holiday in Germany, in Japan, in Liberia 02:11 and many other countries. 02:12 And the reason for this is because there 02:15 is power in giving thanks. 02:18 The Bible tells us that thanksgiving 02:20 carries with it a power that lifts us out of ourselves 02:25 and gets us focused on our Creator God 02:27 and that's what we're going to be focusing on 02:29 as we move through this study today, 02:31 this Bible study today 02:32 we're going to be looking at what it is, 02:34 what it means how we can tune in to thanksgiving. 02:38 Before we get started, 02:39 let's just have a word of prayer. 02:41 Father in heaven, thank You so much 02:42 again for Your Word and for thanksgiving, 02:45 this time when we can lift our hearts to you. 02:49 And we're living in a nation in a time in this world 02:52 where we need to focus on You and we need to have thanks. 02:57 It's difficult, challenging for us, 02:59 perhaps, to give those thanks to you 03:02 when we're struggling with 03:04 the various things that are coming upon us 03:07 right now and the economic crisis and, 03:10 of course, this pandemic 03:11 and many other things that are taking place but, 03:14 Father, we're praying that our hearts 03:15 and minds will be tuning into You, 03:17 tuning in to Thanksgiving as we open up Your Word. 03:20 So guide us with Your spirit, direct our hearts to heaven 03:24 and be with us we pray, in Jesus' name, amen. 03:29 So we're going to open our 03:30 scriptures to Philippians 4:6-7. 03:36 Philippians 4:6-7. 03:38 This is what it says in Philippians 4:6-7. 03:40 It says, "Be careful for nothing," 03:42 now that's the King James. 03:44 The New King James and other translations say, 03:46 "Be anxious for nothing." 03:48 Don't be anxious about everything. 03:50 Well, how can we not be anxious? 03:51 Well, "But in everything by prayer 03:54 and supplication with thanksgiving, 03:57 let your requests be made known to God. 04:00 And the peace of God," verse 7 says, 04:02 "which passes all understanding, 04:04 shall keep your hearts and mind through Jesus Christ." 04:08 The peace of God, keeping your hearts 04:10 and minds through Jesus Christ is what we find, 04:13 is what we experience when we take all our anxiety 04:15 and we throw it out the window 04:17 and we give thanksgiving to God, 04:21 when we lift up our hearts with thanksgiving. 04:24 The thing is that thanksgiving 04:26 is a remarkable place to be in life. 04:30 Thanksgiving is something that we don't just 04:32 experience because everything's coming our way. 04:34 We've got a bountiful harvest, we've got a good job, 04:37 we've got a great income, our families all doing good. 04:40 Everything around us is doing well. 04:42 Thanksgiving is something that can actually pull us out 04:44 of the darkness, the depression, 04:47 the difficulties, the trials that we face. 04:49 In fact, as we move through the Bible, 04:51 we're going to find that more times than not, 04:55 thanksgiving is something that God 04:57 calls us to step into by faith. 05:00 He wants us to exercise this attitude 05:03 of thanksgiving in order for us to endure 05:06 some trial that we're going through, 05:08 some difficult situation 05:09 or season that we're experiencing in our lives. 05:12 So what we're going to do is we're going to lay 05:14 a foundation for this idea 05:17 of thanksgiving being a means of lifting us out 05:20 of our circumstances, our negative circumstances 05:23 and difficulties. 05:24 We're going to lay a foundation for this idea in Psalm 107. 05:28 Psalm 107 is filled with this repeated call to give 05:32 thanks and praise to God. 05:34 Thanks and praise to God in this time of Thanksgiving 05:38 is ultimately an experience that God 05:40 is calling us into in order to lift us out 05:43 of our difficulties and out of our trials. 05:45 So let's start in Psalm 107:1-2 05:47 and we're going to look at verses 1 and 2, 05:50 verses 8 and 9, verses 15 and 16, verses 21 and 22, 05:55 and verses 31 and 32. 05:56 Because in this psalm, Psalm 107, 05:59 this phrase is repeated again and again and again. 06:03 Psalm 102 or 107, and let's begin verses 1 and 2. 06:07 Here's what it says, 06:08 "Oh, give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good for His mercy 06:13 endureth forever. 06:15 Let the redeemed of the Lord say, 06:18 whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy." 06:21 Let the redeemed of the Lord say so. 06:23 That's what God is calling us to do is to actually say so. 06:27 And when we look at this, when we look at these verses 06:30 and we look at our lives 06:31 sometimes it's hard for us to say so. 06:34 Sometimes we're in difficult situations 06:36 where it doesn't feel like we can say so. 06:38 And God is calling us to step out of that by faith 06:41 and say so. 06:43 Let's just look at an example of this. 06:44 The first example I want us to look at 06:46 is the example of Daniel. 06:48 You know, Daniel was a man who went through some trials. 06:51 We know he is faithful to God. 06:53 He was a young man who stood before King Nebuchadnezzar 06:57 and refused to eat the king's food or drink, 07:00 Daniel Chapter 1. 07:02 And yet Daniel was a man 07:03 who was separated from his family, 07:06 you know, he was an Israelite that was taken 07:08 captive to Babylon. 07:09 He probably never saw his family again 07:12 and was separated from his country for the rest 07:14 of his life. 07:15 So here he is taken a captive into another country, 07:18 made a eunuch, that's what Isaiah predicted 07:19 would happen to him. 07:21 And Daniel is in a situation 07:23 where he is actually given a new name, 07:25 they take away his Hebrew name and they give him a new name. 07:28 And then they force him to go to school, 07:31 to be educated in Babylon, in all of the history 07:35 and the courses in the science of Babylon. 07:38 But Daniel, through all of this, 07:40 Daniel stays true to God. 07:42 And Daniel goes through this testing time, 07:44 if you will, in his life. 07:45 You know, there's times in our lives 07:47 when it seems like everything is lost, 07:48 everything is gone, our identity is gone, 07:51 our home is gone, our culture is gone, 07:53 our place of birth is gone, everything that we know, 07:56 everything that we hold dear is been ripped from us. 08:00 That's what Daniel was going through. 08:01 And not only that, but Daniel actually 08:03 came to the place in his experience, 08:06 where he was brought before a death decree. 08:09 Now, it wasn't really his situation or fault. 08:12 The king had a dream that he couldn't remember 08:15 King Nebuchadnezzar and the wise men 08:17 were brought in before him, 08:19 to give him an understanding of this dream. 08:21 He was they would tell him the dream and the interpretation. 08:24 But the wise men of Babylon were actually fakes. 08:27 They weren't real. 08:28 They weren't genuine wise men and they couldn't give 08:30 the dream or the interpretation to the king. 08:32 And the king was furious. 08:34 And he made a decree that all the wise men 08:36 of Babylon should be destroyed 08:38 and that included Daniel and his three friends. 08:40 Now they weren't exactly wise men, 08:43 yet they were still in training. 08:45 This is probably in the middle of their three year 08:47 training period. 08:48 But the king included them in the decree. 08:51 We pick up the story right here in Daniel Chapter 2, 08:55 Daniel Chapter 2, 08:57 and we're going to look in verse 12, 08:58 "For this cause, the king was angry 09:01 and very furious and he commanded to destroy all 09:04 the wise men of Babylon." 09:06 So can you imagine all the wise men 09:08 of Babylon are going to be destroyed 09:10 and the decree went forth, verse 13 says, 09:12 "That the wise men should be slain 09:14 and they saw Daniel and his fellows to be slain." 09:18 So you've got all the wise men 09:19 who are going to be slain and Daniel 09:20 and his fellows are going to be slain. 09:22 Then verse 14 says, 09:23 "Then Daniel answered with counsel 09:25 and with wisdom to Arioch 09:27 the captain of the king's guard, 09:28 which was gone forth to slay the wise men of Babylon: 09:32 And he answered, He said to Arioch," 09:33 verse 15," the king's captain, 09:35 'Why is that decree so hasty from the king?" 09:38 Now I want us to pause right here 09:40 and just think about this because what's happening 09:42 right here is that Daniel is being really wise. 09:45 Daniel is asking a question 09:47 so that he can understand what's actually going on. 09:49 Instead of trying to defend himself, 09:51 Daniel is seeking to understand 09:52 what's going on with the king. 09:54 What's concerning him? 09:55 Why is he so upset at all the wise men? 09:57 Why does he want them all to be dead including us? 09:59 And then he finds out. 10:02 So Arioch made the thing known to Daniel. 10:04 Then Daniel, verse 16 says, 10:07 it says, "Daniel went in, 10:08 and desired of the king that he would give him time, 10:12 and that he would show the king the interpretation." 10:14 Daniel is saying, "You know what? 10:15 I think that I can understand. 10:17 I think that I can get an interpretation 10:18 of this dream, if you give me some time. 10:20 If you give me some time, I think I can figure it out." 10:23 "So then Daniel went to his house," 10:26 verse 17 of Daniel 2, 10:28 "and he made the thing known to Hananiah, 10:30 Mishael and Azariah, his companions." 10:33 So they're hearing about 10:35 what's actually going on behind the scenes 10:38 "That they would," verse 18, 10:39 "desire mercies of the God of heaven concerning 10:42 the secret that Daniel and his fellow 10:45 should not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon." 10:47 Now notice, this is an important point, 10:50 the motivation for them going into the king. 10:52 The motivation for them going into prayer 10:55 is so that they don't perish with the rest 10:57 of the wise men of Babylon. 10:58 They're going to pray, these guys are going to die, 11:00 but we don't want to perish with them. 11:01 That's their prayer as they go in before 11:04 the Lord to seek an answer to the king's dream 11:06 and its interpretation. 11:08 Verse 19, "Then was the secret reveal 11:11 unto Daniel in a night vision 11:13 and Daniel blessed the God of heaven." 11:15 Praise the Lord, God answers prayers. 11:17 God will answer prayers in your life 11:19 and God will answer prayers in my life. 11:21 He answers prayers. 11:22 He is a prayer hearing, prayer answering God. 11:25 Now sometimes His answer may be hold on, 11:27 wait a minute. 11:29 Sometimes his answer may be no, 11:30 that's not the best right now. 11:31 And sometimes the answer may be yes, absolutely, 11:33 we're going to get this taken care of right away. 11:35 But He always hears 11:36 and He always answers our earnest prayers. 11:40 So Daniel blessed the God of heaven. 11:42 Verse 20 says, "Daniel answered, 11:44 He said, 'Blessed be the name of God 11:47 forever and ever, for wisdom and might are His.'" 11:49 "And He changes," verse 21, 11:51 "the times and the seasons, He removes kings, 11:53 He sets up kings, He gets wisdom out of the wise, 11:56 knowledge to them that know understanding, 11:57 He reveals the deep and the secret things, 11:59 He knows what is in the darkness 12:01 and the light dwells with Him." 12:03 Verse 23, here it is, you ready? 12:05 "I thank thee. 12:07 I thank thee and praise thee, 12:10 O thou god of my fathers who has given me wisdom 12:12 and might and hast made known unto me now 12:14 what we desired of thee: 12:16 for thou hast made known unto us the king's matter." 12:20 I love this. 12:21 Daniel was filled with thanksgiving, 12:24 Daniel was thankful. 12:25 And it was this thankfulness that helped transform him, 12:29 it helped transform his experience. 12:31 Daniel was thankful and his thankfulness 12:33 caused him to say praise God. 12:36 And check this out. 12:37 Here's the next verse what it says right here. 12:39 Check this out. 12:40 Verse 24, therefore Daniel therefore, 12:44 because Daniel was thankful to God, 12:46 because Daniel was praising God, 12:48 even though his situation was dire, 12:50 even though he's in a difficult situation, 12:51 he was under a death decree, he was praising God." 12:54 Therefore Daniel went in unto Arioch, 12:57 whom the king had ordained to destroy 12:58 the wise men of Babylon: 12:59 he went and he said thus unto him," 13:01 this is verse 24 again, 13:03 "destroy not the wise men of Babylon: 13:07 bring me in before the king, 13:09 and I will show unto the king the interpretation." 13:13 Did you hear what Daniel said? 13:14 He said, "Destroy not the wise men of Babylon." 13:16 One of the things that thanksgiving does 13:19 is it changes us, it changes even our motivations. 13:22 Daniel's motivation, 13:23 his friends' motivation going in to prayer 13:26 was we need to pray that we're not destroyed 13:29 with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. 13:31 Daniel's heart as he came out filled with thanksgiving 13:34 and praise to God was, 13:35 destroy not the wise men of Babylon. 13:38 Do you think the wise men of Babylon 13:39 would have been saying that if they understood 13:41 the king's dream and its interpretation? 13:42 Oh, don't kill the Hebrews. 13:44 No, they would have been thinking about themselves. 13:46 But Daniel was thinking about others. 13:48 He was outfaced. 13:50 He was focused other centeredly. 13:53 In other words, Daniel's heart was filled with thanksgiving 13:55 and praise to God and because of that Daniel 13:58 not only thought of himself and his friends, 14:00 Daniel also thought of those rascals, 14:02 the wise men of Babylon, those false prophets, 14:05 those false prognosticators. 14:08 Daniel was interested in seeing them saved from the death 14:12 decree as well as himself. 14:15 I love that. 14:16 That's what praise and thanksgiving does. 14:19 It causes us to be outward facing, 14:20 it causes us to focus on others. 14:22 It causes us to want to do what God 14:25 would want for other people around us 14:27 and not just be focused on ourselves. 14:30 So it's really important for us to enter into the spirit 14:32 of thanksgiving in this time of the year. 14:36 Why? 14:38 Because it can set the stage for us, 14:39 it can set the foundation for us to be filled with 14:41 thanksgiving all through the year. 14:43 Thanksgiving doesn't have to be a holiday 14:45 once a year that we celebrate with our family 14:47 and friends and eat a bunch of food. 14:49 Thanksgiving can be a spirit. 14:51 It can be an attitude. 14:52 It can be an experience that carries us 14:54 throughout the whole year. 14:57 Let's go back to Psalm 107 because we got 14:59 a couple more verses here we want to read. 15:01 Psalm 107:8-9, here's what it says, 15:05 "Oh that men would praise 15:07 the Lord for His goodness for His wonderful 15:10 works to the children of men. 15:12 For He satisfies the longing soul 15:15 and fills the hungry soul with goodness." 15:18 You see that phrase right there satisfying the longing soul? 15:22 So here we are again in the same psalm, Psalm 107, 15:25 which I think we should read 15:27 every week at least to remind us to give thanks 15:29 and praise to God. 15:31 Oh that man would praise the Lord for His goodness 15:33 and His wonderful works to the children of men. 15:35 He satisfies the longing soul, 15:36 He fills the hungry soul with goodness. 15:39 When I think about this, 15:40 I think about the story of Jonah. 15:44 You know, Jonah was a man 15:45 who God called to give a message to Nineveh. 15:49 But Jonah turned and went in a different direction. 15:52 You know, we can do that in our life sometimes. 15:54 You know, God can call us to preach and to teach 15:56 and to give a message to the world. 15:59 For some reason we feel uneasy about it. 16:01 For some reason maybe Jonah was just like, 16:03 "Yeah, I don't think this is kind of work." 16:05 And he gets on a ship to Joppa. 16:07 He goes in a different direction 16:09 and God doesn't let him off the hook so easy. 16:11 He's on that ship and a storm comes up. 16:14 And this storm is a Godsend storm. 16:16 Many times in our lives, there are storms that come in, 16:19 when we turn away from God and turn away from God's will. 16:22 We have trials, we have difficulties that we face. 16:24 But if we're open, those trials and difficulties 16:27 can actually get us back in a God direction. 16:30 That's exactly what was happening with Jonah. 16:32 So he's on this ship in the storm, 16:34 and that other sailors like man 16:36 we all need to pray to our gods 16:37 and they get Jonah out of the hull. 16:39 You need to pray to your God. 16:40 And finally, Jonah says, you know what? 16:42 This is all about my God, it's all about me, 16:43 just throw me overboard. 16:45 I mean, that's outward facing right there. 16:46 That's self-sacrificing right there. 16:48 That's why Jonah, in a sense, is a type of Christ. 16:51 Jonah was outward facing and so Jonah says, 16:54 "Throw me overboard." 16:55 And he gets thrown overboard and all of a sudden 16:57 a huge fish of some kind swallows him up, 17:01 you know, you think that's a crazy story. 17:02 I remember when I first became a Christian, 17:05 a dedicated Christian, I was working in a hospital 17:07 and I was working with different 17:08 nurses on different floors. 17:10 And I remember talking to one nurse, 17:11 she was raised a Christian but she didn't really 17:12 believe in the Bible. 17:14 She only believed in the words of Jesus. 17:15 We were talking about the Bible and she was saying, 17:17 "The Bible's just full of a bunch of fish stories 17:19 and fairy tales." 17:21 And she said, "The only thing I believe 17:22 is the words of Jesus." 17:24 And I said, "You mean like the story 17:25 of Jonah in the Old Testament 17:26 being swallowed by this big fish?" 17:28 And she says, "Yeah, that's exactly 17:29 what I'm talking about." 17:31 And I said, "Well, did you know that Jesus 17:32 actually confirms that story. 17:33 He tells the people there that just like 17:35 Jonah was swallowed by that fish. 17:37 So I'm going to be in the earth for three days 17:39 and for three nights." 17:40 And she was like, 17:42 "I love the fact that the Bible hits the heart, 17:45 speaks to us where we are, 17:47 and the word of God came to Jonah 17:49 and Jonah rejected that word, 17:51 he found himself in the belly of this fish 17:53 and then it says 17:56 and we're gonna look here in Jonah 2:7-10. 18:00 Jonah 2:7-10, 18:02 it says that when Jonah is down in the belly 18:05 of this fish, and by the way, 18:06 when he's down in the belly of this fish, 18:08 he does something that all of us 18:09 can do when we find ourselves in prison. 18:12 He felt like he was in a prison, 18:15 with the bars all around him. 18:18 And in the belly of this fish, 18:20 he did something we can all do in our times 18:23 when we have even turned away from God, 18:25 run away from God. 18:26 We feel like our circumstances have 18:28 imprisoned us in places that are ugly 18:30 and stinky and we don't want to be. 18:31 They are terrifying to us. 18:33 We can call out to God. 18:34 And Jonah reminds us we can call out to God 18:36 wherever we are, wherever our situation is, 18:40 whoever got us in that situation, 18:41 our decisions, decisions of others around us, 18:44 turning from God, running from God, 18:45 we can call out to God. 18:47 You know what God's going to do? 18:48 Look at it right here. 18:49 Jonah Chapter 2, beginning with verse 7, 18:51 "When my soul fainted within me." 18:53 Well, let's start with verse 6. 18:55 Actually, let's start with verse 5. 18:57 Actually start with verse 4. 18:58 You know, I want to start with this. 19:00 In the very beginning of this chapter Jonah 19:01 prayed to the Lord his God out 19:02 of the fish's belly, that's what he did. 19:04 He prayed to the Lord his God out of the fish's belly. 19:07 And he cried, he said, I cried by reason of mine 19:09 affliction unto the Lord. 19:11 And He heard me out of the belly of hell cried I, 19:15 and thou heardest my voice. 19:17 For thou hadst cast me into the deep, 19:18 in the midst of the seas, 19:19 and the floods compassed me about: 19:21 all thy billows and thy waves passed over me. 19:24 Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight, 19:27 yet I will look again toward thy holy temple." 19:30 We can always look again toward the temple of God. 19:32 We can always look again to God's holy temple. 19:35 "The waters," verse 5, 19:37 "compassed me about, even to the soul: 19:39 the depth closed me round about, 19:41 the weeds were wrapped around my head." 19:42 So down to the very soul is very inmost being 19:45 felt completely wrapped up 19:48 and cast down into the depths of darkness. 19:51 "I went down to the bottoms of the mountains, 19:54 the earth with her bars was about me forever." 19:57 You know, when you're in a bad situation 19:59 about experience Just a short time, 20:01 three days can feel like forever. 20:02 The Bible used that phrase forever to describe 20:05 events that aren't really forever, 20:07 but they feel like forever because they're so bad. 20:10 They're so difficult, they're so challenging. 20:12 And that's what Jonah was going through. 20:13 "The bars were about me forever, 20:16 yet thou has brought up my life from corruption, 20:19 O Lord, my God." 20:20 Here it is, verse 7, 20:21 "When my soul fainted within me I remembered the Lord." 20:25 When your soul faints within you, 20:27 you can remember the Lord. 20:29 "And my prayer came up unto thee, 20:31 into thine holy temple." 20:33 You know why our prayer comes up to God 20:34 and His holy temple is not because of us. 20:36 We failed Him over and over again, 20:38 we failed Him miserably. 20:39 It's because of Jesus, we have an intercessor, 20:41 we have a mediator, Jesus Christ 20:43 and His righteousness, 20:44 His perfect obedience allows our prayers to come up 20:47 before Him in His holy temple. 20:49 "They that observe lying vanities 20:51 forsake their own mercy." 20:52 Don't keep following vanities and lies, just let him go. 20:55 You're forsaking your own mercy. 20:57 And then he goes on to say in verse 9, 20:59 "But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of," 21:02 here it is, "thanksgiving," 21:04 he still in the belly of this fish. 21:06 He's still at the bottom of the ocean. 21:08 He still got the bars of the earth wrapped around him. 21:09 He's still at the bottom of the mountains. 21:11 And he says, "I'm going to sacrifice to you 21:14 with the voice of thanksgiving. 21:15 I'm going to pay that that I have avowed. 21:17 Salvation is of the Lord. 21:20 "Verse 10, "And the Lord spake unto the fish 21:23 and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land." 21:26 That's what we need. 21:28 We need to be vomited out upon dry land. 21:30 We need a new beginning. 21:31 We need to get rid, God needs to get rid 21:33 of all of the wetness of all of the... 21:36 My life, it was alcohol, 21:38 you know, everything that's in, afflicts us, 21:40 everything that ties us down, 21:42 that imprisons us, that wraps us around, 21:44 that hinders us from doing God's will. 21:46 And it all starts with prayer. 21:47 That's how it started with me. 21:49 It all starts with praying to God, 21:51 praying in the name of Jesus Christ and letting 21:52 our prayer come up to Jesus Christ in His holy temple. 21:56 And then we're freed, we are free, 21:58 we are taken out of that pit, 22:00 we are taken out of that prison house, 22:01 and God puts us on dry land. 22:03 That means we start all over again, 22:05 Jonah started all over again. 22:07 He started all over again. 22:08 And God says, "Okay, let's try this all over again." 22:11 And, of course, now, Jonah is ready to go to Nineveh. 22:14 And he goes there and he preaches his heart out, 22:16 you know, this crazy town that's just filled with evil. 22:20 And God has just said, you know, this town is so bad. 22:22 This city is so bad, I'm giving it 40 days, 22:25 and then I'm going to take it out. 22:26 And you just need to tell them that, that's what he did. 22:28 He said, hey, 40 days and you're going down. 22:30 And what did they do when Jonah who was reportedly 22:35 vomited up by a fish? 22:36 Can you imagine these guys 22:38 were worshiping the fish gods? 22:39 So they're really impressed with this. 22:40 He comes into town 22:42 and he's probably got seaweed still wrapped 22:43 around his head, right? 22:45 He comes into town, he's wearing a seaweed suit. 22:47 He starts preaching, and these guys are listening, 22:50 and they are responding and they repent, 22:52 the whole city repents. 22:54 And what does God do? Does it destroy the city? 22:56 No, He doesn't destroy the city. 22:58 You know, Jonah is an example of how weak and failing we are. 23:02 And the fact of the matter is, 23:04 is that this work of preaching 23:06 and this work of being thankful is not about us, 23:08 it's about God. 23:10 It's not about what we can do. It's about what God can do. 23:12 And if Jonah, if God can use Jonah, 23:14 God can use you and He can use me, 23:15 can use anybody if He can use Jonah. 23:17 We just need to give thanks to the Lord, 23:20 we need to give thanks to God for what He does in our lives, 23:23 in the lives of others in biblical history 23:26 who have preceded us. 23:28 So Jonah preaches to Nineveh and they repent. 23:33 Praise the Lord. God wants to use you. 23:35 He wants to use you, just like Jonah to be outward facing. 23:37 He wants to use you to look in a different 23:40 direction than yourself to give 23:41 thanks for what God can do through you, 23:43 in spite of yourself. 23:45 All right, let's go back to Psalm 107, 23:46 because we're running out of time now. 23:48 Psalm 107, we've got three other sections 23:50 here that we want to cover. 23:51 Psalm 107:15-16. 23:54 Here's what it says, 23:55 "Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, 23:58 and for his wonderful works to the children of men! 24:01 For he hath broken the gates of brass." 24:03 We just talked about that with Jonah, right? 24:05 He hath broken the gates of brass, 24:07 and cut the bars of iron in sunder. 24:09 Well, they weren't gates of brass 24:11 and bars of iron with Jonah, 24:13 but he felt like he was in prison. 24:15 He felt like he was in jail. 24:16 But there are literal gates 24:18 and bars that God wants to break 24:21 open for us when we praise Him, 24:23 when we give thanksgiving to Him. 24:25 So we're going to look at the story now in Acts Chapter 16. 24:28 Acts Chapter 16 is a powerful story of Paul and Silas. 24:34 Paul and Silas are New Testament evangelists. 24:37 They're preachers, they're pastors, 24:39 and they're just going from place to place 24:40 and they're preaching the word of the gospel, 24:42 the good news of Jesus Christ and Him crucified for our sins. 24:47 And as they go from place to place, 24:49 they end up in this town 24:51 where there's a lot of people that are worshiping idols, 24:54 a lot of people that are not open to, 24:57 not following the Lord. 25:00 And it says here that in this town 25:02 where they are now, 25:03 they're going from place to place. 25:05 But in this one area where they come, 25:07 it says that there's a gal 25:10 who's following them who's basically a soothsayer. 25:12 She's basically possessed with a spirit of divination. 25:17 And she's following Paul around, 25:19 she's someone who can predict the future. 25:20 And she makes a lot 25:22 of money for the people that she works with. 25:23 But she starts following Paul around in verse 17 of Acts 16, 25:26 "And she cried, saying, 'These men are the servants 25:28 of the Most High God, which show unto us 25:30 the way of salvation. 25:31 And she did this for many days. 25:32 And as she did this, Paul was grieved, 25:35 and finally he turns to her. 25:37 And he says to the spirit that's in her 25:39 and this is an unclean spirit. 25:40 He says to the spirit that's in her, 25:41 I command thee in the name of Jesus to come out of her. 25:44 And he came out of her the same hour. 25:46 And when her master saw that their hope 25:48 of gains was gone, 25:50 they caught Paul and Silas, and they drew 25:52 them to the marketplace to the rulers, 25:54 and they brought them to the magistrates. 25:56 And they said, these man being Jews to exceedingly 25:58 trouble our city. 26:00 And they teach customs 26:01 which is not lawful for us to receive, 26:03 neither to observe, being Romans. 26:05 And the multitude rose up together and against them: 26:08 and the magistrates rent off their clothes, 26:09 and they commanded to beat them." 26:10 So you know, the gospel isn't being accepted here 26:13 as readily as Paul and Silas were hoping, right? 26:16 These people were upset that they're preaching the gospel. 26:18 These people are not happy about 26:21 what's happened with this young lady 26:23 that used to bring them all this money by predicting 26:24 the future, right? 26:26 And so they beat them. 26:27 And it says, verse 23, 26:28 "When they had laid many stripes upon them, 26:32 they cast them into prison, 26:33 charging the jailer to keep them safely." 26:35 So here's the situation, right? 26:36 I don't know if you've ever been to jail. 26:38 I spent one night in jail. It was the... 26:39 It was the time in my life 26:41 when I wasted more time than any other 26:42 time in my entire life, 26:44 just sitting there doing nothing for 24 hours. 26:47 I hated it. And it taught me a lesson. 26:49 I never wanted to go back again. 26:51 Paul is thrown in jail, not for what I was doing, 26:54 which was illegal drugs, but for preaching the gospel, 26:58 for preaching about Jesus Christ. 27:00 And I can imagine like him that I would never 27:02 want to go back into that situation. 27:04 I've never wanted thrown in jail again. 27:05 But he doesn't have an option because he's not going to stop 27:08 preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. 27:09 So Paul's preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. 27:12 And he's thrown into jail after he has been beat 27:14 with many stripes him and Silas, 27:15 and they're told to be kept safely to jailer, 27:17 they're told, tell the jailer keep him safely. 27:20 And then it says in verse 24, 27:21 "Who the jailer having received such a charge, 27:24 thrust them into the inner prison." 27:26 So it's like he put them in solitary, 27:27 you know, he's put them way back in the inner prison 27:31 and made their feet fast in the stock. 27:33 So not only did he put them in solitary back in the, 27:35 in the inner prison, 27:37 but they put stocks around their feet 27:38 and around their hands, you know, 27:40 so that they couldn't even move in their jail cell, 27:42 if you can imagine that. 27:44 And so what are you going to do, 27:45 you know, what are you going to do when life 27:47 treats you like this? 27:48 What are you going to do when you get beaten? 27:49 What are you going to do when you get whipped? 27:51 What are you going to do when you're doing good 27:52 and bad comes to you? 27:54 When you're doing good, and people mistreats you. 27:56 When you're doing good, 27:57 and they put you in the inner prison. 27:59 When you're doing good, 28:00 and they put stocks on your hands and your feet. 28:02 When you're doing good, when you're preaching 28:03 the gospel, and you're hated for it. 28:05 What are you going to do? 28:06 Well, what did Paul and Silas do? 28:08 Here's what Paul and Silas did. 28:09 It says right here in verse 25, 28:11 and at midnight, 28:13 and now let's just pause there for just a second. 28:15 And that midnight, that is the darkest hour. 28:18 You know, many of us face our darkest hours, 28:21 when we're facing our darkest hours 28:22 when things look the very worst. 28:25 When it's, when it seems like everything is against us, 28:27 what are we going to do? 28:29 What are we going to do? 28:30 "In that at midnight at the darkest hour," verse 25, 28:33 "Paul and Silas prayed 28:36 and sing praises unto God." 28:40 And they were just, you know, kind of, 28:42 they weren't just kind of mumbling to themselves, 28:43 you know, kind of like, oh, you know, he's a God. 28:46 They were singing praises unto God so loudly, 28:49 it says, in the context of verse 25 28:51 of Acts Chapter 16, they were singing 28:55 so loudly that the prisoners heard them, 28:57 the other prisoners heard them. 28:58 You ever been in a situation, 29:00 you know, you kind of feel 29:01 embarrassed that you're a Christian. 29:02 Can you imagine being in jail, you kind of like, 29:04 you know, you got all these rough people, 29:05 men, these rough characters, and they're all around you. 29:07 And you think, Well, I got to be, you know, 29:09 I gotta, I gotta act. 29:10 I got to be a little, like, tough looking myself, 29:12 and you start singing gospel songs. 29:15 That's what Paul and Silas were doing in prison. 29:17 They were singing gospel songs, right? 29:19 Because they knew where the power lie, 29:21 they knew where they needed to have their minds and hearts. 29:23 They need to be focused on God. 29:25 They need to give Him praise. 29:26 They need to give Him thanksgiving. 29:28 They needed His power. 29:29 His power was the only power that could 29:31 help them in this situation. 29:32 And indeed, God's power helped them. 29:35 Notice what happens. 29:36 They're singing praises to God. 29:38 They're praying and singing praises. 29:40 And it says, verse 26, "And suddenly, 29:42 there was a great earthquake. 29:44 So the foundations of the prison were shaken, 29:47 and immediately all the doors were open. 29:50 Can you imagine that? 29:51 Immediately, all the doors were open, 29:53 and everyone's bands were loosed. 29:54 In other words, it wasn't just Paul 29:56 and Silas that were freed from this prison house. 29:58 Everyone was free. 30:00 All the doors were open and everyone was free. 30:02 That's the power of praise. 30:04 That's the power of thanksgiving. 30:05 That's the power of prayer. Everyone is freed, 30:08 all the doors are opened and loosed. 30:11 And then it says in verse 27, 30:13 "And the keeper of the prison awaking out his asleep, 30:16 and seeing the prison doors open, 30:19 he drew out his sword," right? 30:21 What's he going to do with that sword? 30:22 He drew out his sword. 30:24 He's going to kill those prisoners before they escaped. 30:25 No, he drew out his sword, 30:27 and would have killed himself 30:29 supposing that the prisoners had fled. 30:32 See, that's what happens when you're a prison guard 30:34 back in the day, and you let your prisoners escape. 30:36 Your life is taken, you're done, you're finished. 30:39 You are kaput. 30:40 And so right here at this situation, 30:43 this prisoner needs help. 30:44 This prisoner needs someone who is outward facing. 30:47 This prisoner needs someone 30:48 who's going to try to reach out to him. 30:50 And that's exactly what Paul does. 30:52 Even though he's been beaten, even though 30:53 he's been put in the inner prison, 30:55 even though he's been shackled up. 30:56 When he is free, the first thing 30:58 he thinks of is this other... 31:00 Well, is this prison guard. 31:02 The first thing he thinks of is this other person 31:03 who doesn't know Jesus. 31:05 And it says here, verse 28, here it is. 31:08 "And Paul cried out with a loud voice." 31:12 You know that, that there's a parallel there somewhere, 31:15 when we go from Acts 16 to Revelation Chapter 14, 31:19 and Revelation Chapter 18, we have loud voices. 31:21 It's the loud voice of the gospel. 31:23 We're told that an angel comes down from heaven, 31:25 Revelation 14:6. 31:26 And this angel has the everlasting 31:28 gospel to preach unto all 31:29 of them that dwell on the earth, every nation, 31:31 kindred, tongue, and people. 31:32 And it preaches with a loud voice. 31:34 There's a loud voice that declares the gospel. 31:37 And that's what Paul is doing right here. 31:38 He says, with a loud voice, 31:40 because he doesn't want this person to miss. 31:41 He doesn't want this jailer to miss this. 31:42 He doesn't want him to take his life. 31:44 He doesn't want him to be harmed. 31:45 He says with a loud voice, do thy self no harm, 31:50 for we are all here. 31:51 We're all here. Don't hurt yourself. 31:53 We're all here. 31:54 Can you imagine how powerful thanksgiving is? 31:58 Thanksgiving is so powerful that it takes our minds off 32:01 ourselves and it gets our minds on others. 32:04 Others who have hurt us, others who have imprisoned us, 32:06 others who have mistreated us. 32:07 Yes, it gets our minds on others. 32:09 We start thinking about other people and not about ourselves, 32:12 even though we're in misery, even though we're afflicted, 32:14 even though we've gone through physical affliction, 32:16 even though we've gone through mental torment. 32:18 When we lift up our voice in praise 32:20 and thanksgiving to God, we become outward facing. 32:23 And Paul basically says, with a loud voice, 32:25 that's the gospel, Revelation 14:6-7, 32:28 "Do yourself no harm." 32:31 Right? 32:32 And then he called for a light, verse 29 says, 32:35 "And he sprang in, and he came trembling, 32:37 and he fell down before Paul and Silas. 32:39 And he brought them out and said, 32:41 'Sirs, what must I do to be saved?'" 32:44 Oh, this is so powerful. He didn't. 32:46 He didn't say, 32:48 "What must I do to join your church 32:50 and to believe your fundamentals?" 32:51 He said, "What must I do to have an experience 32:53 like you just had? 32:54 What must I do to be able to live 32:56 a life that you're living, 32:57 to be able to relate to life 32:58 the way that you're relating to life?" 33:00 See, salvation is not just signing the book, 33:02 you know, and not just having our names on a book 33:04 and not just join in church. 33:06 Salvation is an experience. 33:07 And Paul and Silas had that experience. 33:09 They had the experience of the gospel, 33:12 the experience that caused them to pray 33:15 and to praise and thank God in their worst situation, 33:18 their worst hit and stance, and to watch God work or not, 33:22 to trust in God no matter what their situation was. 33:25 And that was the experience this jailor want. 33:26 He said, "What can I do to be saved?" 33:28 What he was actually saying was, 33:30 what can I do to have the experience that you 33:31 have because what I just saw is supernatural, 33:34 is superhuman. 33:35 I've never seen anything like this before. 33:37 I would like to have that experience. 33:39 And that's what praising God does. 33:41 Oh that men would praise the Lord for His goodness, 33:43 His wonderful works to the children men! 33:45 For he's broken the gates of brass and cut the bars 33:47 of iron in sunder." 33:48 That's what God does. 33:50 And I imagine Paul was thinking about these verses 33:52 there in Acts Chapter 16. 33:53 He was thinking about these verses when he started praying, 33:56 and when he started praising God, 33:58 and when he and Silas were there, 33:59 they were praying and praising God with a loud voice. 34:02 And the other prisoners were listening. 34:03 He was thinking about these verses, 34:05 and he was thinking, I wonder what God's going to do. 34:06 I wonder how God's gonna deliver us. 34:08 And indeed, God came in and God 34:10 delivered them in such a way that the prison guard 34:14 was converted, the prison guard 34:15 and all his house going on with the story 34:18 says that they were all converted, they were baptized, 34:20 and they accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. 34:23 See, that's what it's all about, friends. 34:25 All the trials we go 34:26 through are opportunities for somebody to realize 34:30 there's a God in heaven. 34:31 Somebody is going to see that through you 34:34 and your circumstance and your situation 34:36 when you're down. 34:37 I mean, when you are down and you feel overwhelmed, 34:39 you just want to give up, that's the time to reach 34:42 out to God with a prayer, that's the time to reach 34:44 out to God with the praise. 34:45 That's the time to reach out to God with a giving 34:48 of thanks and watch him work, not just for you, 34:51 but for others, 34:53 that you are influencing for others that are around you, 34:56 for others that are in your life, 34:57 for others that are in your vicinity, 34:58 there're others that you work with, 35:00 others in your community, whoever they are, 35:02 for other people to see 35:03 something that they've never seen before, 35:05 this prison guard had never seen anything like this before. 35:09 All right, let's go back to Psalm 107. 35:12 Psalm 107:21-22. 35:14 Here's what it says, Psalm107:21-22, 35:16 "Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, 35:20 and for his wonderful works to the children of men! 35:22 And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, 35:28 and declare his works with rejoicing." 35:31 See, that's what Paul did. That's what Silas did. 35:33 They sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, 35:37 because sometimes thanksgiving requires a sacrifice. 35:40 Thanksgiving is not just easy. 35:42 I mean, it's easy to be thankful, 35:44 you know, when your bank account is full, 35:46 when your belly is full, 35:47 or when you got your everything in a row, 35:49 you know all your ducks in a row. 35:50 It's easy to be thankful then. 35:51 But what about the sacrifice of thanksgiving? 35:54 What about when it's a sacrifice to give thanks. 35:57 That's what Psalm 107:21-22 are talking about. 36:00 They're talking about the sacrifice of thanksgiving. 36:03 And that reminds me 36:05 of a little story in the Book of Daniel Chapter 6. 36:09 Now, just to give a little bit of background, again, 36:11 we've looked at Daniel Chapter 2, 36:13 Daniel is much older now. 36:15 In fact, he is no longer 36:17 a eunuch under the power of Babylon. 36:20 He is now a president, like a prime minister, 36:24 like a vice president next to Darius. 36:27 He is second in command, at least that's what Darius 36:29 is thinking of putting him in position, 36:32 second in command under the Medo-Persian Empire, 36:36 and the rest of the cabinet aren't too excited about that. 36:40 In fact, they're pretty jealous of Daniel. 36:42 Let's pick up the story in Daniel Chapter 6. 36:45 The rest of the cabinet members are all politically envious. 36:51 They are the elite of the kingdom of Medo-Persia. 36:56 They have been working for position 36:58 and prestige for all of their lives. 37:00 And Daniel just kind of slips in ahead of them. 37:02 Why? Well, he had such a good spirit, he was so honest. 37:05 And that's what the king was looking for. 37:07 He was looking for honesty and accountability. 37:08 I mean, that's what we need in all our leaders 37:10 and politicians. 37:11 I wish we could get more of that today. 37:12 You see it in a few, a few areas, 37:14 but most of them are just willing 37:17 to, well, just to go with the flow, 37:19 to receive the bribes, or the money 37:21 or whatever it is to try to get to the top politically, 37:25 and basically sacrifice truth. 37:28 Daniel was not willing to do that. 37:30 Daniel was a man of integrity. 37:31 He was man who was true as a needle to the pole. 37:34 And this man could not be bought or bribed. 37:37 He was seeking to do what God wanted him to do. 37:40 And he was going to serve the Medo-Persians, 37:42 just like he was going to serve the Babylonians, 37:43 just like he was going to serve any other government. 37:45 He was going to serve with integrity, with honesty. 37:48 And these other men knew that and they knew 37:50 the king was impressed with him. 37:51 And so they came up with this plan. 37:53 They came up with this plan to basically destroy Daniel. 37:57 Now they look for dirt on Daniel, 37:59 but they couldn't find it. 38:00 You can imagine not being able to find any 38:01 dirt on someone who's in politics. 38:03 They couldn't find any dirt on Daniel. 38:04 He was just a good guy. He was just a good guy. 38:06 And so they decided that they were going to come up, 38:09 they were going to frame a law that they knew 38:11 Daniel would violate. 38:12 See, this man was a man of prayer 38:15 and a man of thanksgiving. 38:17 And they knew, they looked at him, 38:18 they've been watching, they've been trying to find 38:19 dirt and they couldn't find any. 38:21 But they knew that every day, Daniel would go to his house, 38:24 actually three times a day he would kneel on his knees 38:25 and he would pray with his windows 38:27 open because he was praying to the God of heaven. 38:28 He was praying toward Jerusalem, his city. 38:30 And say, they said, "You know what, 38:32 we could actually use this against him." 38:34 So the presidents," verse 4, 38:35 "and the princes sought to find occasion 38:37 against Daniel concerning the kingdom, 38:38 but they could not find, 38:40 they could find none occasion nor fault, 38:41 forasmuch as he was faithful, 38:42 neither was there any error or fault found in him. 38:45 "Then said these men, we shall not find 38:47 any occasion against this Daniel," 38:48 verse 5 of Daniel 6, "except we find it concerning 38:51 the law of his God. 38:53 And these presidents and these kings assembled 38:55 together to the king, and they said unto the king, 38:57 unto him, King Darius, live forever. 39:00 All the presidents of the kingdom 39:02 and the governors, and all the princes, 39:03 and the counselors, and the captains 39:05 have consulted together." 39:06 See they lied right there, didn't they? 39:07 See it, politics is all about lies. 39:10 It's all about deception. 39:11 And that's and it hasn't changed even since 39:13 the days of King Darius. 39:16 They said, all but Daniel was excluded. 39:19 Daniel was left out, Daniel wasn't there. 39:21 If Daniel had been there, 39:23 they wouldn't be able to do what they were 39:24 going to do because Daniel said, "You know what, 39:25 if you pass this law, I'm going to be in trouble." 39:28 Right? So they excluded Daniel. 39:30 "And they told the king that all of the governors, 39:33 and all of the presidents, and all of the princes, 39:35 and all of the counselors, 39:37 and all the captains have consulted together to establish 39:39 the royal decree, a statute to make a firm 39:42 decree that whosoever shall ask a petition 39:44 of any god or man, save of thee, 39:47 O king, for 30 days 39:50 shall be thrown into a den of lions." 39:53 Oh, the king was so flattered 39:55 that he signed that to establish that decree. 39:57 Verse 8, "He signed it with 39:58 the writing that it couldn't be changed. 40:00 That was the law of the Medo-Persians, 40:01 what they signed in law could not be changed." 40:03 It was infallible and so they, 40:06 he signed it and it was put into law. 40:09 The law of the Medo-Persians which alters not. 40:11 Verse 9, "Wherefore King Darius signed 40:13 the writing and the decree. 40:14 Now when Daniel," here's the key verse, 40:16 when Daniel, verse 10, 40:18 "When he knew that the writing was signed, 40:20 he went to his house and his windows being open," 40:24 he closed them. 40:26 You know, so one would see him praying, right? 40:27 No, "His windows being open in the chamber 40:30 toward Jerusalem, he kneeled down upon 40:32 his knees three times a day and prayed," 40:36 just like he had before. 40:38 Nothing changed with Daniel. 40:39 See, he was a man of integrity. 40:41 Nothing changed with Daniel and he knew it all 40:44 of all the times to stop praying, 40:46 this is not the time to stop praying. 40:48 When our life is on the line, 40:49 when the laws are written against us, 40:51 when we are going to come under 40:53 the violation of the laws of man, 40:55 that is not the time to give up on God, 40:57 that is not the time to stop praying to God, 40:59 that is not the time to hide our faith. 41:00 That is not the time to close the windows, 41:02 that is not the time to compromise. 41:04 Of all times that's the time 41:06 when we need to stand up for Jesus by kneeling down 41:09 before the throne of God. 41:10 And that's what he did. But this is what he did. 41:12 Just check out what else he did though. 41:13 This is amazing. 41:15 When you think about this is amazing. 41:16 It says that he opened up his windows towards Jerusalem, 41:19 he kneeled upon his knees three times a day 41:21 and pray just like he had before 41:23 and gave thanks before his God as he did aforetime. 41:27 You know, there are times when we can give thanks to God, 41:29 because things are going well. 41:31 There are times when we can give thanks to God 41:32 because you know, everything's going the way we want it to go. 41:35 But then there's times 41:36 when things are going in a different direction. 41:38 There's times when things aren't going 41:40 as well as we want. 41:41 There are times when we're meeting troubles 41:43 and difficulties in our life. 41:44 There are times when it's hard for us. 41:47 What are we going to do then? 41:48 What did Daniel do? 41:50 Daniel thanked God in these times, 41:53 just like he had before, 41:54 just like he had when Darius said, 41:57 "Hey, you know what, Daniel, I'm thinking 41:58 about putting you in the number one spot." 42:01 Daniel said, "Who? Me? Wow, oh, that's really cool. 42:04 I've been praying, thank God for that. 42:05 That's really cool. I mean, you know." 42:07 And then a law is passed that's going to completely 42:10 ruin his political career. 42:12 He's not only going to be vacating 42:15 his political spot, which was going to be number 42:17 one next to the king. 42:18 He's going to be thrown into the lions' den. 42:19 He's going to be thrown in prison. 42:21 He's going to be thrown. 42:22 He's going be put on death row, he's dying. 42:24 Daniel goes into his room with his windows open, 42:26 could have shut them so no one could see him. 42:28 With his windows open, 42:29 openly confesses his faith in God, 42:31 openly prays to God 42:32 and also gives thanks to God. 42:37 Why is that? 42:38 Because God knows all circumstances 42:40 and all situations. 42:42 You know, the Lord told us to pray, 42:45 our Father which art in heaven, 42:46 hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, 42:48 Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 42:49 And you know He told us to pray that way. 42:51 Because God's will isn't always done on earth 42:53 as it is in heaven. 42:55 And we need to pray that it would be done on earth 42:57 as it is in heaven. 42:58 And we need to pray that we would be delivered from evil. 43:01 Because there's a lot of evil going on in this planet 43:03 that is not part of God's will. 43:05 If it was, we wouldn't be prayed to be delivered 43:07 from it because we just say, "Well, all evil is God's will. 43:09 Everything that happens is God's will. 43:10 We can just go along with it because God will do something." 43:12 No, some 43:13 of the things that happen in this world are not 43:16 God's will. 43:17 They are evil 43:18 and we're to be praying to be delivered from that evil. 43:21 We would be praising God that we 43:22 will be delivered from that evil. 43:24 You know, in the New Testament, 43:25 the Bible tells us that the devil goes around 43:27 like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. 43:29 And so in type we have Daniel being delivered into the hands, 43:32 the clutches of the devil of the dragon, right? 43:34 We see all of that taking place in Revelation 13, 43:37 with the mark of the beast, you know, 43:38 and the dragon and the image of the beast. 43:40 All of that, the mark and the enforcement, 43:43 all of that God's people gonna be delivered into that. 43:46 Our prayers should never change. 43:49 Our attitude should not change. 43:51 We at that time just like 43:52 we do at this time are to give thanks to God 43:54 because He's going to do something. 43:56 God is up to the occasion. 43:58 We may be overwhelmed with change in circumstances. 44:01 We may be overwhelmed with the mountains 44:02 of evil that are coming against us. 44:04 We may be overwhelmed with the darkness. 44:06 We may be overwhelmed with the deception that's taking place. 44:09 But God is not overwhelmed. 44:10 And this isn't about us. 44:12 This isn't about what we can do. 44:13 It's always been about what God can do. 44:15 That's what the whole Bible teaches us. 44:17 It's always been about what God can do. 44:19 And when we give up on ourselves that when, 44:21 that is when God can move in and work to the utmost 44:24 of His power and ability. 44:26 It's when we trust partly in ourselves, 44:27 like Abraham did with Hagar, that we get it wrong. 44:30 But once we give up on ourselves completely, 44:32 it took Abraham 25 years to do that. 44:34 Once we give up ourselves completely, God can step in. 44:37 And He does step in and in stepping in 44:39 when we have nothing to offer Him, 44:41 but ourselves surrendered to Him, 44:44 God gets all the glory, all of it goes to God. 44:47 That's what it means to give God glory, 44:49 to fear God and give Him glory, to trust in Him, 44:51 to look to Him in these times of difficulty, 44:53 in these times of trial, in these times of duress. 44:56 And that's what Daniel did. 44:58 It's powerful when you think about it. 44:59 He kneeled upon his knees and he gave thanks to God 45:02 as he did beforehand, before time. 45:05 Nothing changed with Daniel. 45:07 Nothing was different with Daniel. 45:09 God was more important to him than men's decrees, 45:11 than life itself. 45:13 Daniel was outward facing and God delivered him. 45:16 Powerful, powerful story. 45:18 Back to our Psalm 107. 45:20 Because we've got another phrase here in Psalm 107:31-32. 45:24 This is our last phrase. 45:26 So we're going to be able to close out 45:27 with this and a few more thoughts. 45:28 Psalm 107:31-32, 45:31 "Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, 45:34 and for his wonderful works to the children of men! 45:37 Let them exalt him also in the congregation 45:41 of the people, and praise him in the assembly of the elders." 45:47 Exalt Him in the congregation, 45:48 praise Him in the assembly of the elders. 45:50 This is directing us to worship, 45:53 this is directing us to the church, 45:55 this is directing us to stepping into the presence 45:57 of God. 45:59 And this is something that is so powerful, 46:02 that it is repeated over and over 46:05 and over again in the last book of the New Testament. 46:10 The last book of the New Testament 46:11 is the Book of Revelation. 46:12 A lot of us think that Revelation, 46:14 the Book of Revelation is all about the beast. 46:16 The Book of Revelation is all about judgments. 46:19 The Book of Revelation is all about the terrible 46:21 things that are coming on the earth. 46:22 But actually, the Book of Revelation 46:24 is all about Jesus. 46:25 It's the revelation of Jesus Christ. 46:28 The Book of Revelation is also about 46:30 delivering us from the beast and the dragon, 46:32 delivering us from the mark, delivering us from the plagues, 46:36 delivering us from all the evil on planet earth. 46:38 That's why Revelation closes in Chapters 21 and 22 46:41 with this picture of the new heaven and the new earth, 46:43 no more pain, no more sorrow, 46:45 no more evil, no more tears. 46:47 God is directing us 46:49 as to how we can move through all 46:51 of the events that we see happening in the Book 46:54 of Revelation, not just us in this final 46:57 generation because the Book of Revelation 46:59 is all about historicism. 47:01 It's all about how God has worked in ages past 47:04 and is working now 47:05 and will continue to work for His people up until 47:07 the very end of time, the Second Coming of Jesus 47:10 and in the time when we're ushered into the new 47:11 heavens and a new earth after the 1000 years. 47:14 And so Revelation Chapter 4 47:16 begins this epic journey of praise, 47:20 not fear but praise. 47:22 In Revelation Chapter 4 and we'll start with verse 8, 47:25 we see the same picture that we've seen 47:27 all through the Bible. 47:28 The same picture that we've seen in Psalm 107. 47:31 In fact, why shouldn't we see it there in the Book 47:34 of Revelation because the Book of Revelation 47:36 is the beginning and the end of the entire Bible. 47:39 In the Book of Revelation, the entire Bible meets and ends. 47:43 And so we should see in the Book of Revelation, 47:45 a summation, if you will, 47:46 of everything else that we see in the Word of God. 47:49 And that's what we see there. 47:50 You know, a lot of people have told me that they're scared 47:53 of the Book of Revelation. 47:54 I love the Book of Revelation. 47:55 It's my favorite book of the Bible. Why? 47:57 Because it is basically a distillation, 47:59 a summary of the entire Bible. 48:01 It's all there. 48:02 And when you go to the Book of Revelation, you're like, 48:03 "Yes, that's in the Old Testament. 48:05 That's in the New Testament, that's in that story, 48:06 that's in this story." 48:08 All of it is uncovered in the symbolism 48:11 of the Book of Revelation. 48:12 You discover all these portions and stories 48:15 of the Bible in the Book of Revelation. 48:17 And so in Revelation Chapter 4, 48:19 you have this powerful picture of God's throne in heaven. 48:23 In verse 8, it talks about "The four beasts, 48:25 each of them having six wings about him 48:26 and were full of eyes within: 48:28 and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, 48:31 holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, 48:33 and is, and is to come." 48:35 I wish we had time to talk about that. 48:37 But basically, that's a foundation for historicism, 48:40 understanding that God that was with His people, 48:42 is with His people, and will always be with His people. 48:45 That's what the Book of Revelation is all about. 48:47 It's a picture of God's present 48:48 with His presence with His people throughout 48:50 all ages to the very end. 48:53 "And when those beasts," verse 9, "give glory 48:54 and honor and thanks to Him that sits on the throne, 48:57 who lives forever and ever. 48:58 The four and twenty elders fall 49:00 down before him that sat on the throne, 49:01 and worship him that lives forever and ever, 49:03 and they cast their crowns before the throne, 49:04 and they say, Thou art worthy, 49:05 O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: 49:08 for thou hast created all things, 49:10 and for thy pleasure they are and were created." 49:13 This is what it looks like in heaven. 49:15 It looks like praise and thanksgiving in heaven. 49:17 And this is where we're going. This is where we're destined. 49:20 This is where God wants us to be. 49:22 And He doesn't want us to be there at some future time. 49:25 He wants us to be there now, right now. 49:28 That's why we've read all these stories in the Old Testament 49:31 and the New Testament about God's people 49:32 who went through trials and difficulties, 49:34 and death decrees, and imprisonments, 49:35 and beatings, and yet kept their focus on praising 49:38 and thanking God. 49:40 That's what thanksgiving is all about. 49:42 It's a time for us to give thanks to God, 49:44 not just for what He has done, not just what He is doing, 49:46 but for what He will do. 49:48 The Book of Revelation tells us what's coming. 49:50 But that's not to be our focus. 49:52 Not that at least the doom and gloom of what's coming, 49:54 but the praise and glory of what's coming. 49:57 We need to keep our focus on the good 49:59 that God has in store for us. 50:00 And that's what Revelation, it reminds us to do. 50:02 In fact, move over here to Revelation Chapter 5, 50:05 just a few verses. 50:07 Revelation Chapter 5, and let's read Revelation 5:9-14. 50:11 Here it says, "And they sung it, 50:13 as it were a new song, saying, Thou are worthy to take 50:17 the book to open the seals, therefore, for thou was to, 50:21 was slain and has redeemed us to God by Thy blood out 50:24 of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation, 50:26 and has made us unto our God kings and priests: 50:29 and we shall reign on the earth. 50:30 And behold, I heard the voice of many angels round about 50:33 the throne, and of the beast and of the elders: 50:35 and number of them was ten thousand times 50:37 ten thousands and thousands of thousands. 50:40 And they were saying with a loud voice," 50:41 remember Paul, "with a loud voice. 50:44 Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, 50:47 and riches, and wisdom, 50:49 and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing." 50:51 They're thanking God, they're praising God." 50:53 And every creature which was in heaven, 50:55 and on the earth, and under the earth, 50:57 and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, 51:00 I heard saying, Blessing, and honor, and glory, 51:02 and power, be unto him that sits upon the throne, 51:04 and unto the Lamb forever and ever." 51:07 This is the picture of our future 51:10 and we might as well make it our present. 51:12 You know, I used to read the Book of Revelation, 51:14 I used to get so upset with all of these praise interruptions, 51:17 all of these thanksgiving interruptions, 51:20 you know, because I was really into prophecy. 51:21 I mean, I wanted to know what the symbols were. 51:22 I want to know what was coming. 51:24 I want to know what the history was. 51:25 I want to know all of the events. 51:27 I wanted to know the details. 51:28 I didn't want to be stuck in this praise chorus. 51:30 You know, this is just kind 51:32 of what are we doing in this thing. 51:33 We're just kind of, it seems like 51:34 we're wasting our time here. 51:36 And then I realized, 51:37 this is why the book is written. 51:38 The book is written to show us that in the midst of all 51:42 of our troubles, in the midst of all of our trials, 51:43 in the midst of all things that are coming, 51:45 all things that are past, God is giving us praise 51:48 and thanksgiving as a way out. 51:50 He's giving us praise and thanksgiving 51:51 as the power that causes us to be able to move 51:54 beyond these things. 51:55 And that's why He puts them in so often, 51:57 you know, I used to think, 51:58 well, we already did this, right? 52:00 We did this once in Revelation 4, 52:01 we did it again in Revelation 5. 52:02 Will we're going to do it again in Revelation 7. 52:04 Yeah, Revelation Chapter 7. Check this out. 52:06 Revelation Chapter 7 52:08 is where we pick it up again in verse 9. 52:10 God here is showing John a picture, 52:14 showing us a picture 52:15 of who's going to be saved in heaven. 52:16 And sometimes when I do evangelism, 52:18 I tell people, you know, tomorrow night, 52:19 we're going to study about 52:20 how many people are going to be saved in heaven. 52:22 Don't miss it. 52:23 We'll come here tomorrow night, we're going to... 52:24 God actually tells us 52:26 how many people are going to be there. 52:27 He gives us a number. 52:29 In Revelation Chapter 7, He gives us a number, right? 52:30 I am like really? 52:32 We know how many people. 52:33 I said, "Yeah, He gives us an exact number." 52:34 So they come the next night. 52:36 We open up to Revelation 7:9, 52:39 where it says, Revelation 7:9, 52:42 "And after this I beheld, and lo, a great multitude, 52:44 which no man could number of every... 52:48 And, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, 52:49 of all nations, and kindreds, and people, 52:51 and tongues, stood before the throne, 52:53 and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, 52:55 and palms in their hands. 52:56 And they cried with a loud voice." 52:58 There it is, again, just the same thing. 52:59 Paul did the same thing that everlasting gospel does, 53:02 a loud voice saying, "Salvation to our God, 53:05 who sits upon the throne and unto the Lamb." 53:08 Salvation to our God. 53:09 How many people are there? 53:11 So many people, you can't count them. 53:13 So many people, you can't number them. 53:14 So why are we trying to number? 53:16 Why we trying to tell people there's not enough 53:17 room for this one or that one? 53:19 There's plenty of room in heaven for everyone 53:20 who wants to be there. 53:22 And God isn't talking about a specific race or culture, 53:24 every nation, kindred, tongue and people. 53:26 So God is not racist. God is not prejudiced. 53:28 And God wants everyone to be there who wants to be there. 53:31 There's room enough in heaven for everyone. 53:34 There's going to be so many 53:35 people there that we won't be able to count them all. 53:37 That's what God is telling us. 53:38 Now what are they doing? 53:39 We see this picture and it continues on in verse 11. 53:42 It says, "That all the angels stood 53:45 about the throne and the elders 53:46 and the four beasts that fell before 53:48 the throne on their faces, and they worshiped God, 53:50 saying, Amen: 53:51 Blessing, and glory, and wisdom," 53:53 and here it is, "thanksgiving." 53:55 Yeah, we're going to be keeping thanksgiving in heaven, 53:57 not just on this earth but in heaven 53:59 we're going to be keeping thanksgiving. 54:01 "Thanksgiving, and honor, and power, 54:03 and might be unto our God forever and ever. 54:07 Amen." All right. 54:09 We're going to move on here because we just got 54:10 a couple minutes left. 54:11 Revelation 11:15-17. 54:15 Revelation 11:15-17. 54:17 Notice what it says here. 54:19 "Jesus Christ comes, He reigns and seventh angel sounds, 54:22 great voices in heaven, saying, the kingdoms 54:23 of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord 54:25 and of his Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever." 54:27 And the four and twenty elders 54:28 who sat before God on their seats fell 54:30 before their faces and worshiped God, 54:32 saying, We give thee thanks." 54:33 We do what? We give the thanks, right? 54:36 "We give thee thanks, O God Almighty, 54:39 which art and wast and art to come because thou 54:41 hast taken to thee thy great power and has reigned." 54:44 Let's move on now to Revelation Chapter 14. 54:47 Revelation 14:2-3 54:49 talks about the great multitude, 54:50 not the great multitude. 54:52 The 144,000 standing on the mount Sion 54:55 with the lamb and it says, they're singing the song, 54:58 the song that is new to them." 55:00 Verse 3, "They sang as it were a new song before 55:02 the throne and before the beast that no man could know, 55:04 but the 144,000 that were redeemed from the earth." 55:08 And then we go to Revelation Chapter 15:2-3, 55:10 and we learn more about the song. 55:11 It's a song of Moses and the Lamb. 55:14 Moses, the servant of God and the lamb, 55:16 verse 3 says, and it's a song it says, 55:18 great and marvelous are thy works, 55:20 Lord God Almighty, just and true are thy ways, 55:22 O King of saints. 55:23 Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? 55:26 For thou only art holy: 55:28 for all nations shall come and worship before thee, 55:31 for thy judgments are made manifest." 55:35 And then we go to Psalm, excuse me to Revelation 18:20, 55:38 where they're rejoicing because of the fall of Babylon. 55:40 Revelation 18:20, 55:42 a loud cry has wrung out throughout all the earth, 55:45 lightening the earth with the glory of God, 55:47 and Babylon has fallen. 55:49 And all of the merchants and all of the men 55:51 of this world are mourning and weeping over this fall 55:54 of Babylon, this fall of agnostic system, 55:56 but God's people are called to rejoice. 55:59 Verse 20, says, "Rejoice over her thou heavens, 56:01 and you holy prophets 56:03 and for God has avenged you on her." 56:05 We ought to rejoice, we're to give thanksgiving, 56:07 Revelation 19:1-7. 56:09 Thanks, thanking God for His righteous judgments, 56:12 for His rulership, for the marriage of the Lamb. 56:15 The Book of Revelation 56:16 is not the scariest book in the Bible. 56:18 The Book of Revelation 56:19 is the revelation of Jesus Christ 56:21 and for this book, for the Book of Revelation 56:24 and for the Bible itself. 56:26 We ought to give thanks to God because He has done 56:29 something for us through His Son, 56:31 Jesus Christ that we could not do for ourselves. 56:34 He has redeemed us. 56:35 He's lived a perfect life 56:37 that stands in our place in the judgment 56:40 and He's died our death 56:42 as our substitute to atone for our sins, 56:45 taking our penalty upon Himself 56:47 and He has been resurrected from the grave. 56:50 The life, the death and the resurrection 56:52 of Jesus is gifted to us. 56:54 It's called the plan of salvation, 56:56 that is the everlasting gospel 56:59 and it calls from us and appreciation, 57:01 a thanksgiving to God, 57:03 not just on Thursday or the fourth Thursday 57:06 of the month of November, 57:07 but every single day of our lives, 57:11 a cry of thanksgiving 57:12 and praise to God who's redeemed us by the blood 57:15 of Jesus Christ. 57:17 That's what the Bible is all about. 57:18 That's what the Book of Revelation is all about. 57:19 And that's what your life can be all about. 57:22 As you surrender it to Jesus Christ 57:23 and I pray that that will be your prayer. 57:27 In Jesus' name, amen. |
Revised 2021-12-02