An Argument For Thanksgiving - Noonday Bible Study

well praise the lord our god indeed is worthy to be praised and we need to give god all the praise all the honor and all the glory i'm so glad y'all streaming with us on the day and i certainly want to just celebrate all of our veterans thank you for every sacrifice thank you for all your service thank you for protecting our interests and our rights and our freedoms here in the united states of america and we honor you on today and on this week and i pray you have a blessed veterans day it's time for us to get into the word of god and today the word of god is coming from the gospel of john chapter 11 and i'm going to preach from verse 41 john chapter 11 verse 41 let's ask god's blessing upon our time together lord let the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts let them be acceptable in thy sight lord you're our strength and you're our redeemer in jesus name we pray amen amen the gospel of john chapter 11 verse 41 this is from the new king james version listen what god's word says they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying and jesus lifted up his eyes and said father i thank you that you have heard me then jesus lifted up his eyes and said father i thank you i want to preach about an argument for thanksgiving an argument for thanksgiving that even in the midst of a pandemic that even in the midst of social injustice in the midst of just governmental craziness in the midst of unemployment and underemployment and the struggles of life god has laid on my heart to talk about an argument but thanksgiving we ought to be able to give god praise even in a pandemic a matter of fact all through scripture all throughout the bible there is a command for us to praise god psalm 100 says make a joyful noise unto the lord come before his presence with singing enter into his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise those are not options those are commands those are demands that god throughout scripture he demands that we praise him i will bless the lord at all times his praise will continually be in my mouth my soul will make his most of the lord the saints here and be glad oh magnify the lord with me let us glorify his name together that's a command for us to praise god even in the new testament the apostle paul was writing to the believers at thessalonica and he said in everything give thanks for this is the will of god that's the command psalm 150 praise the lord praise god in in the sanctuary praise him in the firmament of his power praise him for his mighty acts praise him according to his excellent grace greatness praise him with the timbrel and dance praise him with the loud symbols and the high sounding symbols let everything that have breath he's not asking us to do it it's not an option to do it it's a command let everything that have breath praise the lord and to praise god even in a pandemic and i guarantee you we all got something to praise god for if nothing else the very fact we still here other folk have gone through the same thing we've gone through over these past 10 months and they didn't make it and some have thrown in a towel others have given up the ship but here we are still here and that's enough to give god praise let everything that have breath praise the lord and jesus is showing us right here in john chapter 11 verse 41 that we still need to praise god even in the midst of problems and pain in john uh chapter 11 verse 41 jesus is in a graveyard and he walks into that graveyard and begins to give god thanks he's showing you and i that we can celebrate god even in a cemetery even when death is all around even when tombs are all around even in the graveyard in a cemetery we still ought to be able to celebrate god and that's real interesting because i've been in ministry now for more than four decades and i've pastored i pastored in terre haute at the saint paul church for three years i've been pastoring eastern star church for 33 years and i've been to a lot of graveyards and a lot of grave sites and cemeteries so that i could be with families in the time of their bereavement and i've seen a lot of stuff happen in the cemetery i've seen a lot of things go on from hugging and kissing to embracing to encouraging to trying to uplift to i've seen a lot of things that go on in the graveyard from praying to trying to strengthen one another but one thing i've never seen in four decades more hundreds of times going i dare say more than a thousand times going to the cemetery to be with families i've never seen anybody walk in there and start giving god thanks and here is jesus walking into a cemetery with death all around him and death in front of him and in the face of all of that he begins to praise god he's showing us we can celebrate god even in a cemetery because somebody you're dealing with that right now dealing with the death of a friend or death of a loved one for others it's not the death of a person it's a death of your business or death or your company or seems to be the death of your career or the death of your marriage or the death of a relationship or friendship or the death of what you think the death of a educational opportunity but even in the face of a cemetery you can still celebrate god you can praise god in problems jesus walked into a bunch of troubling situation and began to give god thanks he didn't just celebrate god at the cemetery he celebrated god in a crisis that's for you and i don't know no matter how chaotic things have gotten no matter how confusing things may seem jesus says to you and i he's showing us right here you can celebrate god even in a crisis and i know this is a crisis this is this is in bethany that this is happening bethany is right outside of jerusalem jerusalem was the capital of israel and bethany was like the suburbs of jerusalem just right outside of jerusalem and that's where lazarus the man who's dead in the text and his two sisters mary and martha they live there they're friends of jesus jesus loves them they love jesus and they found themselves in a crisis just because you love jesus doesn't mean you're not going to go through something we see that right here in this passage of scripture when jesus was in revival in jerusalem or he had to do a seminar in jerusalem or go to the convention in jerusalem he didn't stay at the jerusalem hilton hotel he would go right on over into bethany and he would stay with lazarus and mary and martha and he and lazarus would be kicking it and then martha would be fixing dinner for him and mary just loved to worship jesus and and to be in the word with g all that was going on they opened their heart their home to jesus christ and in the face of that lazarus the brother still got sick later on he still died that was a crisis and i know it's a crisis because in verse 35 it says that jesus began to cry jesus wept you know i've read scripture from cover to cover from genesis to revelation only one other time and it may be more it's only one that i noticed another time that jesus wept that jesus cried as recorded in scripture and that was when jesus was looking over jerusalem and when he overlooked jerusalem he said jerusalem o jerusalem jerusalem if thou had known how much i loved you that i would have taken you under my wings the way a mother hand takes her chicks under her wings and with that love i would have provided for you and i would have protected you but jesus said you didn't know how much i loved you and he wept over jerusalem and now he's weeping over this situation where lazarus dies mary and martha are troubled by all of this and even in this crisis jesus began to celebrate god y'all you can praise him in your problems you can give thanksgiving even in your troubles you can celebrate even in your suffering you can still rejoice with god even when times get rough you can bless god in bad times and even in hard times you can still honor the lord jesus is showing us that right here in this text he's celebrating god in a crisis celebrating god in a cemetery and he's celebrating god even as he faces criticism facing criticism when lazarus got sick mary and mark this is all in john chapter 11 mary and martha sent a message to jesus that the one you love is sick and of course this is before technology that we have this is before cell phones and twitter and facebook and social media so they couldn't just text jesus they had to send a messenger to jesus to let him know lazarus was sick it took the messenger one whole day to get to jesus jesus waited two additional days before he left then he would take jesus a day to get to bethany where the situation was taking place and so after jesus waited those two additional days he tells his disciples listen i gotta i have to go to bethany i gotta go i gotta go check on lazarus and they told jesus you can't go to bed that's what his disciples begin to criticize him you can't go to bethany beth and he's too close to jerusalem and you know they trying to kill you in jerusalem how you going to go to bethany and jesus said i have to go because lazarus is sleeping they respond again critical of jesus and they said jesus if he's sleeping he's doing well you don't need to go there you're going to die and jesus said no you don't get it you don't understand lazarus is dead and i have to go check on this situation because lazarus is they're criticizing jesus because they don't understand all that is going on they don't comprehend everything that is happening and out of that lack of understanding they begin to criticize him i wanted to bring that up because more than likely i'm talking to somebody right now that you live under a constant state of criticism that every day in your life like jesus you're being criticized by those who are close to you simply because they don't understand the journey you're on for jesus they don't understand what the lord is doing in your life they can't quite comprehend they can't perceive what god is up to in your life and as a consequence you're being criticized and that if that were not enough to be criticized by his own disciples jesus leaves go to bethany took him a day to get there when he gets there he just barely got into bethany when martha had already heard jesus was there martha runs from the house runs to find jesus at the edge of bethany and listen to what martha said to jesus she didn't say i'm so glad you're here thanks for looking out for me and my sister she didn't say thank you for coming i appreciate your support that's not what she said what martha said was she began to criticize if you had been here my brother would not have died if you had come when we caused you things would be different if you had responded that day we had sent for you it wouldn't be like this and now she begins to criticize jesus it's one thing to be criticized by folk that don't know you matter of fact that's just me personally that don't even bother me people that never met me i don't know you you don't know me and you criticize they don't bother me too much i know it bothers others but it don't bother me too much it's one thing to be criticized by people you don't know it's another thing to be criticized by your enemies and your haters that really doesn't trouble me too much either that's what haters do they criticize and you're gonna always yo i don't care who you are when you trying to do anything for god you're gonna run into criticism because if you do this somebody gonna criticize say you should have did that if you do that they're gonna say well you should have did this if you go in they're gonna say you should have stayed out if you stay out you should have came here you're gonna run into criticism but to be criticized by folks that don't know you to be criticized by haters and enemies that's different from being criticized by somebody so close to you somebody you've shared meals with somebody you've been in their house somebody you've done ministry with somebody you've worshipped with somebody that you love and you believe that they love you and now to have to hear that criticism but in the face of that criticism jesus begins to celebrate god father i thank you he's thanking god in the midst of these crazy times and that's my word to you and to me that in a pandemic we can still praise god that in troubles we can still thank god and in hard times we can still honor god god commands us to praise him let everything that have breath praise the lord in everything give thanks because this is the will of god and you can do it even in the midst of the crisis and chaos and confusion that you're going through it was in in march 2003 that shoshanna johnson who was in the military she was in the army in the war in iraq and uh the company she was with they got attacked by some iraqi soldiers and in march 2003 she ended up being a prisoner of war in iraq and those iraqi soldiers they shot her in both ankles and they beat her and they batted her and they bruised her and they left her broken but 22 days later that's when um our own military from the united states they they went over and they were able to free her uh out of that prisoner of war camp that she was in and even i mean even as they freed her she had been broken in both ankles so she couldn't walk they had to literally carry chauchata johnson out she's over there fighting for our freedoms and fighting for our rights here in the united states of america she's a shero a legitimate shero and but they had to carry out broken and battered and beaten so she comes back to the u.s because our military has a philosophy no soldier left behind no man left behind no woman left behind she comes back to america we all celebrate her months later that's when oscar de la hoya was fighting against sugar shane mosley that second fight that they had that boxing match that they had and shoshanna ended up ringside at the boxing match of de la hoya hoya and and sugar shane mosley and that's when michael buffett noticed her in the crowd and you know michael buffett let's get ready to rumble so he noticed shoshanna johnson this shero that's in the army he noticed he was there and he said listen we have a special guest who is here at the fight tonight it's shoshana johnson and and he said now she's still nursing her wounds but she's here and she'll shiner stood up and when she was standing she began to wave later on in the fight they showed her clapping her hands now let me remind you what michael buffon said we got somebody special here tonight is shoshanna johnson she's still nursing her wounds but she's still here and she's clapping and she's waving her hands and she's standing and she's smiling yo that's how some are right now this pandemic and all that's going on has left you battered and bruised and broken all of this economic downturn and social injustice and whatever's going on with the government have left you broken but even though you're nursing your rooms you can still take a stand you can still give god a praise with a wave praise as some people call that you can still smile because god will give you joy in the time of your sorrow and you can put your hands together and you can begin to clap oh clap your hands o ye people because god is worthy to be praised even in a pandemic i'm trying to give us our argument for thanksgiving you've been battered and bruised but you still here you're nursing your wounds but you're still here and that's something to glorify god about and i know what somebody's thinking you're thinking preacher i know god commands us to praise him i see the model of our messiah giving god glory i understand that i know i need to i know i ought to i know i should but i just don't see how i can you don't know what i'm going through you don't know the pain i'm experiencing you don't know my hurt and my brokenness i just don't know how i can do that because my troubles didn't start in the pandemic my troubles didn't start 10 months ago 11 months ago i was already having issues and trials and troubles and pains and problems in my life i i know i should do it i'm commanded by god to do it but then how does that happen well jesus shows us that as well jesus when he walks into that graveyard and because he when he came to the city martha said if you had been here my brother would not have died jesus said show me where you laid him she said he stinks by now jesus i didn't ask you about his his condition i asked you about the location show me where you thought i was too late and i couldn't get anything done and they go out to the cemetery and when they go out there here's what it says in verse 41 john chapter 11 verse 41 and jesus lifted his eyes in the niv new international version says and jesus looked up i want to show you that sometimes if you and i are going to celebrate god properly we have to be able to change our focus everybody when they went to that graveyard with mary and martha and the family and the friends and those paid professional mourners when all of them were out there everybody was looking out looking out at the graveyard looking out at the tomb looking out at the death looking out at each other but when jesus walked into that situation he didn't just look out jesus looked up that's about vision that's about world view that's about perception that's about perspective y'all if we're going to glorify god the way we need to glorify him and to celebrate him properly even in the midst of these issues is when we change our focus i'm not saying to to be irrelevant i'm not saying not to know what's going on in the real world but i'm saying at some point you can't just look out at all the pain and the problems and the troubles and the struggles you got to look up you got to here's what psalm 121 says look into the heels from with cometh your help our help comes from the lord i'm gonna look to the heels from with cometh my help my help comes from the lord that made heaven and earth y'all when we look up start looking up to god changing our perception changing our worldview trusting in god we're gonna see the same thing um that that john talks about in the book of revelation when he was on that penal colony and he said and all the hell going on with the oppression of the romans were bringing it to the jews he said i looked up and i saw heaven open saw heaven yeah and it's still open and and there's one sitting on the throne and the one sitting on the throne is still god because god is still in control so if you look up to heaven you're going to know god is still on the throne so no matter here's what here's what they used to say when i was a child in church they say even on this earth if our issues are over our head they're still under god's feet i love that whatever you face it in your life whatever you're going through it may be over your head but it's under god's feet i will look unto the heels from which cometh my health my help comes from the lord the word of god teaches us that there is no sorrow on earth that heaven cannot heal oh hallelujah to the lamb there is no sorrow on earth that that's why we got to look up that heaven cannot heal you know what that means that means that there is no issue on earth that heaven cannot settle there is no burden on earth that heaven cannot lift there is no mountain on earth that heaven cannot move there is no river on earth that heaven can't cross there is no valley on earth that heaven can't press through there is no bill on earth that heaven cannot pay there is no sickness on earth that heaven cannot heal there is no fault on earth that heaven cannot fix there is no error on earth that heaven cannot erase there is no sin on earth that heaven cannot forgive there is no soul on earth that heaven cannot save yo you got to set your affections on things above not on things of this earth two men peered through prison bars one saw mud the other saw stars two men same predicament same situation they both looked one looked down and saw mess mud and murk the other looked up and saw the sky is the limit it's all about perception don't just look out at the things we're going through but start looking up to god and you want to know how do you do this how do you praise god in a pandemic how do you celebrate god in the midst of your suffering and that is when you claim the fact that god is your father yeah you can celebrate him properly when you acknowledge god is my father y'all when you believe jesus died on the cross you believe god raised him from the dead you confess that with your mouth believe it in your heart whosoever shall call upon the name of the lord shall be saved man you become a christian you become a child of god god becomes your father jesus said when you pray pray our father the apostle paul says that you can cry abba that's that's informal you can call you can call god daddy now because he's your father jesus walks into that graveyard in the midst of all of that pain and hurt in the midst of that chaos and confusion and crisis and jesus he didn't just say i thank you he said father i thank you because he's in in essence he said in the midst of this messed up situation i still got the same relation he still my father in the midst of all of this friction and that's what i'm trying to get across to us today yes it's painful yes it hurts but we gonna be all right because he's our father and you can celebrate god even in the midst of the pandemic when you acknowledge he's your father and those of you who've never believed jesus for forgiveness and sin you're not a christian you take care of that right now you can confess with your mouth jesus is lord believe in your heart god raise jesus from dead and you are saved now what's so special about that when jesus was dying on the cross he said several things when he was down crossed one of the things he said was eli eli lama sabathany my god my god why hast thou forsaken me so one of the things he said was my god my god why so they nailed his hand he'd been betrayed by friends he'd been denied by friends they gambled for his garments they put a fake crown of thorn on his brow he was not just sweating but blood was coming it was a mess and in that mess before it was all over dying on the cross for our sins jesus said father into your hands i commit my spirit wait he went from my god my god why on the cross to father into your hands i commit my spirit notice when he referred to god as god it was when he questioned god my god my god why now i know your grandparents and mine they told us never question god y'all that that doesn't mean never ask god a question you no question you have is going to trip god up you can ask god whatever you want you're not going to throw god off his game because you got a question when they told us never question god they meant don't question the essence of god don't question the reality of god don't question who god is not don't ask god questions jesus is our perfect model he has god at all that mess he was going through my god my god why because when he referred to him as god he he asked why when he referred to him as father it wasn't about question father into your hands i commit my spirit when he referred to god as father he says i trust you enough to put my life in your hand even when i don't understand you as god yo his ways are not our ways his thoughts are not our thoughts they're higher than ours as the heavens are above the earth some things happen in our life that we don't understand god that's why we want to know why but jesus shows us that even when we don't understand god and got some questions for god that we can still trust god enough to put our light in his hand father into your hands i commit my spirit because even when i don't understand you as god i still trust you as my father if you want to be able to celebrate god properly in your pain you got to realize that he is our father and with him being our father you know what comes with that relationship with god as our father resources in the gospel of john it said and he gave them power to become the children of god gave them power yeah that's a resource the children of god that's relationship because when you and i get it right with god through his son jesus christ we don't just get the relationship we also get the resources that come with the relationship i mean i i have four sons all my sons are adults now but my sons have never had to worry about where they gonna live because they knew their father would provide that they never had to worry about am i gonna have something to eat no i got their father got enough resources to deal with that they never had to worry about transportation they knew their father has enough resources to handle transportation they have to worry about am i gonna have adequate clothing their father got the resource to handle adequate am i going to be able to go to college their father has the resources to handle college and if you and i being what we are know how to take care of our children how much more shall our heavenly father provide for my god shall supply all your need he'll give you housing you get your transportation he'll give you clothing he'll give you money he'll get your job he'll provide healing he'll provide deliverance because you don't just get the relationship you get the resources as well you go ahead and celebrate him just realize he's my father let me give you one more and i'm done because i'm trying to give you this argument for thanksgiving even in troubling times how do you praise god in a pandemic you do it based on faith you and i gotta have if we're gonna celebrate god properly we gotta have enough faith to do that jesus uh walks into bethany says to martha show me where you laid your brother he she said he stinks by now i'm not talking about condition i'm talking about location show me where you lady she she takes him to the graveyard to the cemetery and and when they get there jesus said roll the stone away now i don't have time to talk about uh that god won't do for us what we can do for ourselves because you can't raise lazarus from dead but you can at least roll the stone away stop waiting on god to do for you what you can do for yourself i learned a long time ago if if if you can do what you can do then god will do what you can't do hallelujah you can't raise lazarus but you can roll the stone away they rolled that stone away jesus looked up and then jesus said father i thank you that you have heard me that's past tense i thank you that you've already heard me and i know you always hear me and i'm not saying this for myself i'm only saying this now to benefit all these people that are standing around me because i have enough faith jesus i have enough faith that when i call on you i know you're going to respond on my behalf i'm saying it for them now we know what jesus was doing those two additional days because somebody you criticizing jesus too how jesus is going to wait two days before he leave what was he doing those two additional days evidently he had spent time in prayer with god i thank you that you already heard me and then he said lazarus come forth and lazarus was raised out of that dead situation but i'm trying to show you he didn't wait till he could see lazarus raised before he praised god he praised god before he could see the outcome because he had enough faith that god i trust you enough that i don't have to wait to see the outcome before i give you that praise right now it's a matter of faith some of us we can't praise god and glorify god because we don't operate by sight we pray on faith we praise god based on sight we have to see it first jesus had to deal with martha like that if you had been here my brother would not have died he said didn't i tell you if you just believed you could see the glory of god she was trying to see glory the glory of god before she believed it that's how most of us are that god if you show it to me then i believe it god says no you believe it then i'll show it to you it's about faith you ought to have enough faith that when you call on god and you pray to god you can thank him right then because i know you're going to do everything you said you're going to do you don't have to wait to you you've been praying for a house but you can't thank him while you're still living in your apartment because you got to see the house first you've been praying for a car but you can't thank god right now because you're still catching the bus because you got to see the car before you pray you've been praying for healing but you can't thank god right now because you got to wait till you're up and about before you can thank you because you got to see the healing first you've been praying to god for that degree but you got to wait till you can see your finance in place amen no it's about faith that if you're praying for a house even though you're living in an efficiency go ahead and buy a welcome mat because god is going to do everything he said he's going to do you've been praying for a car even if you got a bus pass go and buy you a key chain clean that garage out because god is going to do everything he said he's going to do we got to learn how to praise god on faith that god i haven't seen it yet but i trust you so much dear god that i'm going to praise you in advance that's my word to you today an argument for thanksgiving that even in the trial even in the trouble even in the pain that god i got enough faith that i'm gonna give you i don't have to wait till everything is finished i don't have to wait till everything is over i trust you enough to praise you in the pandemic cause i know you're gonna make everything all right let me close it like this this was this before the nfl changed the nfl used to be real tight on their celebration penalties they loosened up but before they loosened up those penalties for excessive celebration the tennessee titans were playing against the miami dolphins it was it was a close game and then in the fourth quarter still didn't know who's gonna win the game the tennessee titans defense did what they call a pick six they they intercepted the dolphins pass and then ran it back over the goal line for the touchdown and it's still in the fourth quarter still trying to decide who gonna win the game they did another pick six titans intercepted the ball from the dolphins ran it back past the goal got the touchdown this time since they knew that the victory had been sealed six of the players began to dance in the end zone they were dancing and celebrating in the end zone because they just sealed this victory and then the very next day the nfl penalized them and fined them forty thousand dollars they said because that was excessive celebration they said uh that was prolonged celebration that was premeditated celebration and so we're gonna find you for that and here they being judged based on their celebration y'all when you and i decide we're gonna praise god in a pandemic believe me we're gonna have to do it in the face of criticism it's gonna be those that are protesting our praise and those who are saying it doesn't take all of that it might be a cost to you giving god praise and dancing for the lord and celebrating the lord but i'm telling you once you realize that that victory is yours you could do like the tennessee titans the game wasn't even over yet but they knew y'all this game we got the victory in this situation even though it's not over and they begin to celebrate god prolonged premeditated they begin to give god praise and if a football team can do that people of faith ought to be able to do that y'all i don't care what nobody says i always premeditate my praise i decided i'm praising god every day i'm lifting the lord every day even in the face of the pandemic i'm giving god pray even in rough times i'm rejoicing even in in suffering i'm celebrating because god is worthy to be prayed and i don't have to wait till i see it because i got enough faith to know that god already gave me the victory the victory is already ours and you don't have to wait till the battle's over songwriter said you can shout right now i've had my times of life's ups and downs there were times i was leveled to the ground but that's when god spoke these words to me praise will confuse the enemy i started singing i started shopping i started clapping people were laughing because they knew my problems and they knew my pains but i knew that god would take it away so i praise god with my hands and i praise him with a dance because he's given me another chance i can praise him in advance yo i know it's hard but god still deserves our honor and it's a it takes faith to know that our father when we change our focus and start looking to him that he's already promised us a victory and everything is going to be all right and we don't have to wait till we see it before we celebrate it you can praise god right now now for those of you who can't claim god as your father because all of us have sinned and come through the glory of god that sin separated us from god that's why jesus had to die on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins to give us an opportunity to get right with god but the only way for that to happen you have to confess with your mouth that jesus is lord believe in your heart god raised jesus from the dead and when you do that you can be saved in romans 10 it says whosoever shall call upon the name of the lord shall be said i'm gonna give you a chance to do that right now even in a pandemic even in all this chaos even all this confusion you can become a christian right now i'm gonna pray out loud i want you to pray out loud with me follow me in prayer and the moment you believe it you become a christian god becomes your father you become his child pray after me father i come right now i admit i've sinned i'm sorry for my sins i believe jesus died on the cross i believe you raised jesus from the dead i received jesus by faith please fill me with your holy spirit in jesus name amen hallelujah well if you prayed that prayer you a child of god let me be the first one to welcome you to the family of god and of course i want to get you connected with eastern star church so here's what i need you to do i need you to email us at membership at easternstarchurch.org to let us know this commitment of faith that you've made those you're already christians you're a child of god already but you had this disconnect from the church you kind of got caught up like martha and and like the disciples and didn't quite understand everything was going on and there was a disconnect well we're going to get you reconnected so just go ahead and email us at membership at easternstartchurch.org so we can get you reconnected to the house of god and the ways of god so that you can continue to grow as that child of god praise the lord praise god well let me again uh i want to just celebrate and thank god for all of our veterans thank you for your sacrifice your service your time and all you did to make sure we have our freedoms and rights here in the united states of america we do not overlook that have a great veterans day all right it's time for the offering now this is our opportunity to do what god told us to do to be obedient to him bring the tithe and the offering so we want you to do that and let me say thank you for all your generosity we've been able to do so much in the pandemic to come alongside and help people in these tough times because of your generosity now those of you who want to help in this offering uh here's how you can do it you can text to give text four five seven seven seven and then esc with your amount four five seven seven seven esc or uh you can mail it to us at eastern star church 5750 east 30th street indianapolis indiana 46218 or uh you can certainly go to our website to give easternstartchurch.org there's a little tab there for give click on that and go ahead and get your offering in we pool all that together we give it to god and allow god to bless whoever he wants to bless whether it's in our community here in indianapolis or the country or different parts of the world especially our brothers and sisters over in haiti and so we want uh you to certainly trust god you can't wait till you see it god says no i'm not gonna show it to you then you believe you believe it then i'm gonna show it to you god's gonna do everything he said he's gonna he always blesses obedience let's ask god's blessing upon our gifts today father thank you for your love for us thank you that even in our own crisis that you've not forgotten about us you will show up and whenever you show up it's right on time thank you for showing us what faith is all about and helping us to understand god's command for us to honor and glorify him and i put your sons and daughters in your hands dear god i know resources come with that relationship and we praise you for that and those who are giving today to your god i pray that as we give you take it and bless it and stretch it and help us to deal with the marginalized and the outcast and the least the lonely and the left out help us to deal with those who are hungry and hurting and to make a difference to god in this world and lord i pray that those who are given that you'll give back to them good measures press down shaken together pray you'll make it run over in jesus name amen hallelujah well i know i've been blessed by today and i'm gonna put that word in my heart and try to live it out in my life and i encourage you to do the same thing god is going to be true to his word trust god even in difficult times and give him the thanks even if it's in some dead times and deadly times in which we live uh let me go ahead and offer god's benediction unto us today may god bless you and keep you may god have his face to smile upon you and be gracious unto you may god turn his countenance towards you and grant you peace and i pray that god will give you a praise even in the pandemic i pray he'll do that today and forevermore in jesus name amen you

Channel: Eastern Star Church

Views: 1,968

Rating: 4.8545456 out of 5

Keywords: ESC, Eastern Star Church, Bible Study, Noonday, Indianapolis Church

Id: NUrKJ3oNVxo

Length: 43min 40sec (2620 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 11 2020