Giving Thanks - Pastor Robert Morris

we're in this series called love expressed and we're talking about worship worship is expressing our love our heart what we feel in our heart toward God and in Luke 17 here's this story we're told about the ten lepers and I saw some things in here about expressing our love about worshipped I've never seen the title of message today is giving thanks giving thanks is a large part of our expressing our love to God so Luke 17 of look at verse 11 it happened as he went to Jerusalem that this fell not Jesus that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee and then as he entered a certain village there met him ten men who were lepers who stood afar off will talk about why they had to stand the far off later and they lift up their voices and said Jesus master have mercy on us so when he saw them he said to them go show yourselves to the priests and so it was that as they went they were cleansed and one of them when he saw that he was healed returned and with a loud voice glorified God and fell down on his face at his feet giving him thanks and he was a Samaritan so Jesus entrance said where they're not ten cleansed where are the nine where they're not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner it appears the other nine were Jewish people and this the only one was a Samaritan and he said to him arise go your way your faith has made you well and by the way this made you well that the Greek word there is so so which means saved you it's the same same Greek word you find in Romans 10:13 whoever calls on the name of Lord shall be saved same word so CH so made well or made whole so he says this guy gets healed physically but then he comes and expresses his faith he says your faith has saved you or made you completely well physically spiritually as well so it's an amazing passage this guy expresses his love to the Lord so we all wanting to do this I know we do it's in our heart no everyone wants to be a worshipper we won't express our love what caused this guy to express his love and so I started looking for a black a formula almost a tract that we could follow in this passage and it just seemed like it was just natural that the Lord showed me so I want to show you three things here about giving things here here's number one gratitude produces worship gratitude produces worshiping this guy worship he comes with a loud voice look verses 15 and 16 and one of them when he saw he was healed returning with a loud voice glorified God and fell down on his face at his feet giving him thanks so he expresses his love to Jesus for what the Lord's done and really I'm not so much talking about the our expressions here as much as I am the inward heart and his heart was gratitude and because he had gratitude I had worship so again I'm saying I know we all want to be worshipers so I'm thinking well what produces worship and when you look at this passage it's really very clear what produces worship gratitude this guy gets healed now I want you to think about this he's healed from leprosy was it appropriate for him to do what he did I mean to fall down on his face at Jesus feet everybody looking and shout to glorify God thank you God with a loud voice was that appropriate well sure it was but I got another question for you is it scripturally appropriate is it it's is it scripturally appropriate with the scripture condone shouting are falling down on your face well in the in the Old Testament there are eleven Hebrew words that are translated praise but seven are very dominant there they're the primary ones and so I want to show you the seven Hebrew words and and I just want you to look at the meaning of these these are the words translated praise in the Old Testament all right here's the first one is toda and it means a Thanksgiving choir matter of fact sometimes this is actually translated Thanksgiving rather than the word praise but it's also translated primarily praise okay so it's a Thanksgiving choir now just what you notice this because notice these words thanks and giving or giving thanks the second is the word Barack and it means to kneel in Thanksgiving - Neil this is a Hebrew word to kneel in Thanksgiving the third is tehila and it means to sing a song of Thanksgiving out now pronounce it correctly to hila it's not tequila you might you might see after tequila but it's probably not worship okay so tehila alright to sing a song of Thanksgiving notice Thanksgiving in all of these and then the fourth is how long it means to give thanks by being clamorously foolish listen there's someone right there that's the law okay yes okay say hello and this is by the way where we get our word hallelujah they say we get it from this Hebrew word hello by the way I can say hallelujah in Spanish hallelujah okay the fifth is da da it means to give thanks you noticing the pattern giving thanks to give thanks with extended hands so it's it's scriptural to extend your hands when you give thanks to God scriptural the the sixth word is some are it means to give thanks with a musical instrument our worship team does this every week they give thanks by using their instruments and then the seventh is shabak which means to give thanks in a loud tone sometimes a pastor wheeze explain this word will just shorten it to shout sometimes it's actually translated shout in the Old Testament Shabbat let's give us shabak to the Lord okay so I want you to notice that it's scriptural according to the Hebrew words of translated praise to shout to extend your hands to God to kneel to sing to him and when you take these seven words it's amazing there's one verse in the Old Testament that has four out of the seven that's amazing four out of the seven Hebrew words for phrase in one verse okay and I'll give you a little Bible trivia see if you can tell me where this verse is enter into his gates with Thanksgiving and his courts with praise you ever heard that verse Psalm 100 all right let me let me read it to you and show you these four words Psalm 100 verse 4 enter into his gates with Thanksgiving okay that word Thanksgiving there is third toda in Hebrew means the Thanksgiving choir and into his courts with praise that word is tehila singing praises be thankful that is the Hebrew word Kedah which means extend your hands to him and bless Barak bow before his name now let me read a paraphrase of this with just the definitions in her alright enter into his gates with a Thanksgiving choir and into his courts with singing praises be thankful by extending your hands to him and bless him by bowing before his name not a good verse that's just saying express your love to God now I want to clarify something we're talking about expressing our love to God Express love which is worship I'm not trying though to get everyone to express your love the same way I do want you to know that I want you to understand that I'm not trying to get you to all be hollow clamorously foolish or to all do you know Barack to bow at the same time or anything like that I'm not trying to do that I am though trying to get every person to express your love to God now I know we have different gifts and different personalities and things but I still want every person to express his or her love to God and here's here's what I want to say about this the main reason the main reason that many many people don't really express their love to God or really worship in a scriptural way according to scriptural expressions the main reason we don't listen is because many people grew up in a dysfunctional family that's the main reason many many people grew up in a family that did not express love I've heard that so much well I never heard my father say I love you that's that's what some people say I have heard my father saying I'm not saying that personally but many people say I never heard that I never had that or we never hugged in our family we were not an expressive family we just did not express our love okay I understand that but please hear me you're in a new family now you have been adopted into the family of God you are not in a dysfunctional family anymore yeah matter of fact your father is not dysfunctional and according the Bible we're the Bride of Christ your husband is not dysfunctional your spiritual husband okay I don't know about your natural one but your Jesus and the father are not dysfunctional and you're not in this functional family anymore so don't don't use that okay and again I know that we we all have different personalities I was reading a book years ago called sacred pathways and it described the the nine different ways according to or nine different ways that people connect with God so I was kind of going through to see well which which one of these am I and and I have to admit to you I get a little nervous when I read things like this because it doesn't seem like any of them really fit me you know have you ever done that I was reading a book one time a leadership and talked about the seven types of a leader and I read the first one I thought that's not me that's not me that's not me and that read the second one I thought that's not me hey some of it is but some of life's moving you know third one well a little but no no no and I got all the ways in the book and I wasn't any of them and I remember thinking shoot I really wanted to be a leader and but I got thinking well I'm a little this a little that little that that's the same way with this sacred pathways you know I don't know if you'll find anything that will describe you completely I understand that but the sacred pathways one of them was a naturalist there are people who connect to God through nature and I'm not gonna read that I thought that's me I love the outdoors I love to be outdoors you know and so I'm reading I think that's what I am that's who I am and then it says this is the person who would like to spin the night by a stream that's not me well I want to spend the night in the Hilton but not by a street so then I got this the loner the loner and I thought I'm not a loner but then they start telling me this is a person love stick to be alone with God just to just be alone with God and and spend time alone the other I thought that's I like that I really like that and then it said this is the type of person that would like to spend the day in a monastery That's not me and then it said the the revelation list this is the person that loves to get revelation about God and learn new truth about God and that's how the perd this person connects with God and I thought that's that's me I like that and then it said this is the person who likes to read many many books I thought that's not me you know I don't I like to read the Bible I really do and I but I read books but I just I don't like to read a lot of books I really like just the Bible and then I thought I know I know what I am I I would like to be alone in the woods with a Bible and then meet Debbie at the Four Seasons that's that's me that's me okay so I'm not saying that I want every person to be like everyone else in your expressions of love I'm not saying that I am saying though I want every person to express your love to go that's worship all of us like sheep have strayed away you though your sins are like scarlet I will make them as white as snow I am and Forever Yours so if I'm thinking this process okay we all want to be worshipers so what produces worship and I thought well gratitude this guy expressed his worship because he was grateful and then I thought well what what produces gratitude well according to this passage here's part number two miracles producer attitude let me it's kind of clear verse 15 and one of them says when he saw that he was healed when he saw he was healed he returned to glorified God with loud words okay miracles produced raptured I mean if you've received a miracle you're grateful right so I'm thinking wow this is incredible so many times so we don't even understand the extent of this miracle the reason is it's because we don't really understand leprosy today we tell you a few things about leprosy leprosy is a disease that they thought for years that it actually caused your flesh to just rot away but that's actually not what happened they didn't discover this to the 1950s they had a leprous aureum and a doctor just did a lot of research and what they found out was leprosy all actually causes the nerve endings to to deaden and you can't feel pain and so what people actually did was was harm themselves and and the leprosy that there's their flesh then would get a sore and they didn't know it because they couldn't feel it but here was the other thing they found I know this is very difficult to hear but what they found was that these open wounds that people had when they would sleep at night the rats were coming in and eating the flesh but they couldn't feel it and that's actually what was causing the flesh to quote-unquote rot away it's it's it's unbelievable when you stand how difficult this disease is although there's part of the disease that does cause the flesh to rot away as well but they found so many things out about this but we don't we don't know much about it today because medical cures have come into place for much of this but in Jesus's day there was no cure if you were a leper you couldn't hold a job you could not hold a job because you couldn't be around other people because it's very contagious matter of fact you had to keep a certain distance from every person if you contracted leprosy after you got married you could never see your family again you can never go to one of your children's ballgames you can never go to a children's recital you can never hold your wife again you can never kiss your kids goodnight never you totally lost your life you were an outcast completely from society and you had to stay a certain distance if you broke that rule you could be put to death if someone started coming close to you and didn't see you you had to this was the law you actually had to shout the word unclean unclean can you imagine having to announce that you're an unclean person this week when I was reading this passage in thinking about the law with the law described about having shot unclean I just thought if there's anyone in our church that has a past that he would have shout unclean that's me but one day Jesus came by in the same way this guy got healed I got healed now let me ask you something if you had leprosy in Jesus's day could never see your family couldn't be a productive member of society had to stay could never hold anyone touch anyone and you got healed would you express your love to Jesus okay I got you because we all had leprosy we have a reason to express our love to the Lord we have a reason I remember when the church was small for some reason the one of the Deacons sent me right before a service he said so-and-so's here and I I don't remember now who so-and-so was but so-and-so was somebody important you know maybe someone the community a city representative or something I don't know but I don't remember now I just remember so-and-so was you know I so-and-so maybe in more ways than one you know old so-and-so you know I don't know but but I just remembered that he can just send me someone's hose here you know and every we were just a real small church and and someone important you know or something and so I mean I walked out and I remember so-and-so was right behind me and we started worshiping and just I just wanted to express my love to the Lord and I remember right before I started to raise my hands this voice said to me what was so and so thing and I thought to myself if so-and-so knew what I got delivered from he would understand well I stand like this and worship and even if he doesn't know it's all right with me it's all right because I'm going to express my love to the one that healed me so it was appropriate for this guy do it but let's just take this analogy a little farther let's let's bring up to modern day a guy gets his life back gets his family back gets his career back things go well for him kids grow up get married get good careers his marriage is good 30 years have passed since he gets his life back since Jesus Hills him and one day's walking in Town Square and he sees Jesus another question for you is it still appropriate to run up and fall down and say thank you thank you thank you sure it is he owes his last 30 years to that man it's still apparent when we come together by the way you say well yeah if I saw Jesus what did you know when two or three are gathered in his name there he is in the midst so we come together it's very appropriate for us to express our love so I'm again I'm following this little pattern okay I'm thinking okay I want everyone to be a worshipper and we all want to be worshippers so what would produce worship in her life well gratitude would produce worship well what would produce gratitude well miracles would produced if we if we were experiencing miracles on regular basis we'd be grateful right so then I'm thinking well what produces miracles well according this passage here's part number three obedience produces miracles obedience produces miracles look at verse 14 it says so when he saw them he said to them go show yourselves to the priests and so it was that as they went they were cleansed or we could say as they obeyed now think about this he said go show yourselves to the priests they could have said we're not healed because we're not supposed to ourselves to the priests until we get healed but they didn't he said go show yourselves the priests they were like okay and they start going and they get healed when they obey this is all through the Bible it's all through the Bible they get up to the Red Sea and and God says to Moses lift up your rod okay Moses could have said of the Egyptian army is right there we need a better battle plan then hold up a stick and gods thinking hold the stick up and watch what you just obey you obey my parts the miracle part your parts the obey part you obey ah you know when they when they go into the Promised Land when Joshua's leading them in they get right up to the Jordan and the Jordan is at flood stage we read these things and we just go right over them you know we we've seen on the news what a river looks like at flood stage we have seen cars going down a river at flood stage right it's okay you don't want to mess with flood stage and so they get up there at flood stage and the Lord gives them this instruction put your foot in the water hey I would have thought remember the Red Sea you part the water and I'll put my foot in and God's thinking no you put your foot in and I'll Park the water see when God speaks we obey and when we obey there's a miracle and when there's a miracle then we're grateful and when we're grateful then we worship lights that's it it's that simple I remember hearing a story one time from a pastor friend of mine I was looking to see areas right there Jim Morrison Jim pastored for many many years and he told this story about a guy in a Sunday School class shared that he was a carpenter and he was out of work and so the the he's praying one day for work and the Lord said to him build a sawhorse and you know you know his response would probably be like any of us Lord I don't need a sawhorse I need a job when the Lord said build a sawhorse so he got the materials and he started building the sawhorse in his front yard and while he's building it a guy drives by and he stops and he says are you a carpenter they said yes I am he said I got a job for you and he said however many years that had been I think 20 or something years since that time and this is what he said I've never gone without work since that day never since that day because it's real simple real simple he obeyed he obey that's what I'm saying now I've said to you for many many years when you see a passage if you really want to understand the passage read the passage before it and after read the context well I just want to show you the passage before because we're talking about obedience and many people have never seen this and many people still never tie this passage not only to the passage we just read they don't even put it together we're going to read the ten verses before it and many people even separate the first five in the first and the next five verses but look at this alright Luke 17 verse 1 what then he said through the disciples it is impossible that no offense that should come but woe to him through whom they do come it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea then that he should offend one of these little ones now let me just say this he talks first to the offender he's saying don't don't don't do this don't walk where you offend people because it's going to bring judgment on you but then he talks to the offended alright verse three take heed to yourselves if your brother sins against you rebuke him and if he repents forgive him and if he sins against you seven times in a day and seven times and day returns to you saying I repent you shall forgive him now even in my Bible it puts verse five with the next part but I just want you watch and the Apostle said to the Lord increase our faith now you got to see this because we I don't know why we separate this and why we don't understand this here's what happened here in my mind using my Holy imagination alright here's what happened Jesus said okay guys listen uh you're gonna get offended I mean if you're alive you're gonna get offended it's gonna happen and people should not offend other people but they do but here's what I want you say to you if you get offended if someone does something against you I want you to forgive him and now okay get in my mind I kind of see it like this I see the disciples soon okay Lord we can do that we will do that and then Lord said well I'm not finished yet um if the same person does the same thing seven times on the same day I still you to forgive I think the disciples would we're gonna need more faith that's what they said that's what happened uh increase our faith the blessed woman I'd take the lessons I learned I lay out the truths that the Holy Spirit taught me and the lessons he showed me and interject a little my story they're really pushed myself not to give a cliched look or presents to a Christian woman and that we all have struggles and we all have challenges and I wanted to be as transparent as I could this is a book that is maybe a little bit of a field guide to being a woman a little bit of a hell to you know so I feel like there's a little something in this book for every woman I'm still very passionate about helping other women do our mandate in loving and reaching younger girls not judging them not putting an expectation on them to be anything but a passionate pursuer of Christ okay now watch what he's his response so the Lord said and again you got to tie this together okay don't let it be separate if you have faith as a mustard seed you can say to the mulberry tree be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea and it would obey you notice the word obey and then watch verse 7 again I can't even believe many commentators have never seen that this goes together watch and which of you like he just goes into this story like it wouldn't relate it relates exactly what he's saying about forgiveness and which of you having a servant plowing or tending sheep will say to him when he's come in from the field come at once and set down deep but will he not rather say to him prepare something for my supper and gird yourself and serve me till I have eaten and drunk and afterward you will eat and drink does he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him I think not so likewise you when you have done all those things which you are commanded say we are unprofitable servants we had done what was our duty to do now let me read University and then in the Living Translation just makes a little easier to understand it says in the same way when you obey me you should say we are not worthy of praise we are servants who have simply done our duty can I want you to combine this with everything that just happened the Lord said when someone offends you I want you to forgive him they say ok no no same person same thing on the same day we're gonna need more faith and he and here's what he says you don't need more faith you need to obey that's what he tells his story about obedience they say and I think he kind of did it like this if you had just a little faith I'm not cuz I think you just got little you know if you just had a little faith you could speak to a tree and it just be planting seed you can't even do that and that's what I think he's feeling you know and then he says and which of you that has a servant comes in from the field you use that servant obeys you he does what you tell him dude you thank him for doing what you tell him to do here's what he's saying listen listen he said you don't need faith to forgive you need to do what you're told that's what you need to do see we put yes Jesus is our friend yes he's our friend he's our master let's not forget that he's our Lord and he says to them I want you to forgive they said we're gonna need more faith here's what Jesus senescent says listen this is gonna shock you he says you don't need faith to forgive you need obedience you don't have to have faith I told you to forgive that should be enough for you if I told you to do it you do it this is strong and then 10 lepers say have mercy on us I'm thinking Jesus's think thinking yeah let me let me show you something let me show you what happens when you obey don't show yourself to the priest and as they went they were healed see that's what Jesus is trying to say to him let's say you got all these problems in your life but you got a bunch of problems because you're carrying around unforgiveness yeah but I'm gonna need faith to forgive verse no you don't you just need to do it I'm the master you're the servant do it is that strong okay don't get mad at me that's Jesus all right he's the one that said this okay he said he's the one that brought the servant thing up okay okay it's just amazing to us that I really think that many times we're not expressing our worship because we're not grateful and sometimes we could even be on the other end of the spectrum we might not just not even be grateful to God but we might even be mad at God I mean why you want me to lift my hands to him I'm mad at him yeah I'm grateful for the things that he has done let me tell you about what he hasn't done but if we would simply obey I'm not saying it always turns out like we won't but we're gonna see miracles first of all we when those of us who know Christ we've got the miracle of being healed in the first place but then we've got all these miracles along the way and I think we forget about maybe the smaller miracles you know we call the prayer before the meal most of us and it's almost a generational thing most of us now we call it blessing the food let's say the blessing who wants to bless the food and that's Scripture you can say that doesn't matter if you want to call that prayer blessing the food or the blessing because the Bible tells us that the food is blessed by prayer it is sanctified by prayer so that's fine but I was thinking about this my parents didn't call it blessing the food I clearly remember my dad when we would gather to pray here's what my dad would say and some of you know this some of you remember this here's what he would say let's get thanks let's give thanks I think it's because he was really thankful for that food and I'm wondering if we've gotten to the place that we really don't have gratitude because things are just so available to us let's just bless what we have but I mean food is always there yeah I'm I tell you a funny story my I have two nephews one nephew is a chiropractor the other nephews in medical school and the one that's in medical school of course one's chiropractor also they're both brilliant there's brilliant but the ones medical school is like a genius you know a valedictorian toughest class all that stuff and so so he something happened to him that was kind of funny made a little mistake and so anytime someone's smart you know messes up you tell everyone you know so um I actually sent him a text asked him I could tell the story very gracious said sure but when he was in school he was the running back football team and what they want to gain one time and they the coach took him all out for pizza and he they go out for pizza and then the coach says to him I bless the food no he didn't he didn't say bless department he said James Jake he said Jacob give thanks and to Jacob grew up good Christian home and all but just not familiar with that at that time that saying that's almost like the generation before us you know give thanks he was familiar to bless the food so the the coach says Jacob give thanks and so he said well I'd like to thank the offensive line for the way they walked tonight and you running you taught in she did great you did really good here's the point do you know where this phrase gift thanks came from or who began giving thanks over food in the first place now as far as I can tell it's nowhere in the Bible until you get to Matthew Mark Luke and John and there was one person that every time he broke bread it said this and he gave thanks is Jesus Jesus is the one that started this you know I think he did I think he was trying to tell us guys I know you kind of take this for granted hey you don't think this is a miracle but this bread this is a miracle your heavenly father provided this for you and I want you to live a life of giving thanks I want you to live a life of gratitude and watch what gratitude does in your life so I want to encourage you where's the next step of obedience for you because that obedience could release a miracle in your life that miracle will release gratitude that gratitude will release worship and we will have no problem at all when we gather expressing our love to the one that we're grateful to I want you to bow your heads and close your eyes now won't you just take a a moment and just say the Lord Lord what he's saying to me Lord what do you what are you saying to me just let the Lord speak to you Holy Spirit what are you saying to me through this message think about all the miracles that God's done in your life don't let the enemy try to focus you on things that didn't turn out like you wanted or they God maybe didn't do his part look what God has done in your life and if you're going through a difficulty right now and we all go through difficulties we want to pray for you in every campus no matter which campus you're attending or or if you're in one of the overflow rooms at every campus and in the overflow room we're gonna have leaders at the front and if you need prayer for any area of your life in the area of your life finances health job marriage family relationships any area at every campus we're gonna have one more worship song during this worship song I want you to just come to one of the leaders at the front and say I need prayer I need prayer and you don't have to be a member of Gateway Church maybe this is your first time here maybe you've only been here a short time maybe been here 10 years but everyone needs prayer so if you need prayer for any area of your life as soon as we stand up you just come to one of the leaders at every campus now let for you Holy Spirit I pray you'll draw every person that needs prayer in I was 19 years old when I gave my life to the Lord and everything changed I didn't have any desire to go back to that old life I wanted to walk with the Lord and learn more about him and some people helped me to learn the Bible and to learn how to pray and to learn about my new life in Christ and that's what we want to do for you I am so excited that you've given your life to the Lord he's forgiven all of your sins and you're on your way to heaven but we need to learn some things now about the Bible about prayer about some basics of the Christian life so that you can be victorious and live for the Lord like I know you want to so we've designed a class called fresh start and I want to encourage you to sign up for this class because we want to help you grow in your walk with the Lord now I love you and I'm so proud of you pastor Roberts newest book the blessed church is now available you'll learn practical wisdom for cultivating real growth by nurturing biblical health in your spiritual community in the book pastor Robert unfolds how a church can be successful and healthy purchase your book at passages today

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Keywords: Gateway Church, gatewaypeople, Love Expressed, Worship, New sermon, New, New series, Robert Morris, Pastor Robert, DFW, Southlake, Texas, Church, Conversation, Connection, Desire, God, Lord, Giving Thanks, Thanks, Thank you, Forgive, Forgiveness, Offended, Offense, Obey, Obedience, Leprosy

Id: mQvKQ6Dz36I

Length: 39min 26sec (2366 seconds)

Published: Wed Feb 06 2013