Keith Moore - Thanksgiving Victory Pt.2 Pity Thyself

first corinthians 15. we begin this what was it two a couple of weeks ago or so and i'm very excited about this i would ask your your faith with me on it let's read our text and then i'll explain first corinthians 15 57 says thanks be to god somebody say thanks be to god say it again thanks be to god thanks be to god which gives us the victory through our lord jesus christ say that out loud real loud but thanks be to god which gives us the victory through our lord jesus christ say it again but thanks be to god which gives us the victory through our lord jesus christ now we began talking about this earlier and if you weren't here go back and get the previous message it won't cost you a dime you can download it for free off the internet as well and we talked about the connection between the thanksgiving and the victory is there a connection oh there is go to second corinthians the second chapter second corinthians the second chapter this is one of my favorite verses i have many ii corinthians 2 14 says what now thanks be unto god which always causes us to triumph in christ and makes manifest the savior of his knowledge by us in every place the smell of victory the smell the fragrance of life glory to god what does victory smell like yeah somebody said sweet that's right what does defeat smell like stinks i don't know defeat stinks losing stinks doesn't it god did not call us to be losers and we're not losers the devil will try to convince you you are a loser oh man it's sad he's convinced many many christians that they are losers they might not readily just say it but they believe it about themselves losers but the truth is he's the loser he's not just a loser he's the loser someone said why do you say that have you read the back of the book ain't nobody ever lost like him he is the loser you are more than a conqueror you are an overcomer you are victorious in him he always causes you to triumph even when you've had setbacks you still win i mean if everything went wrong if everything went wrong because of your ignorance or mistakes or failures or sins or whatever the case might be you didn't get your healing you didn't get your bills paid you you didn't avoid the accident whatever and you died young broken sick you still win oh come on now you still your name's in the lamb's book of life right you still win glory to god now if you learn how to live a life of real faith and follow him you can do a lot of winning down here in fact you can win again and again and again he always calls you to trump but again like we talked about during the offering that's if you're being taught of him and following him and pursuing him now again you see thanksgiving connected with the victory thanksgiving connected with the triumph and we went into detail last time talking about how it's not just thanksgiving after the victory it's thanksgiving before so many times people have thought well yeah glory to god we had a victory give god to praise and thanks no that's not all there is to thanksgiving giving god thanks before you see it is faith and connects you to the grace of god i'm very excited about this tonight you know when you're excited about something you have to kind of hold yourself don't let your smoke out of your bottle you want to jump ahead to the other thing but you you got to pace yourself [Laughter] you know uh brother hagin uh brother kenneth hagin senior who's going to be with the lord now he said they they were in a place on a certain time and uh famous evangelists was there in a big tent and uh boy i mean the first night they couldn't get the people in there and the second night it was a little less and by uh you know night three or four the crowd is just a fourth of what it was and he'd ask somebody what uh what happened over there you mean they started out so strong and and the fellow preacher told him well brother hagin said he uh he throwed all his marbles out the first night [Laughter] this must be colloquial saying night tonight isn't it i mean we already got about four or five of them going he threw all his marbles out the first night well you don't you don't want to do that and miss what you're supposed to be doing but the lord said something to me uh i guess it was 25 years ago or so and when i say that i don't mean i heard an audible voice i i heard it inside me and uh you know sometimes people that bothers and they say well they said the lord told me the lord told me i never heard the lord telling me anything you know and all these people talking about the lord told me it bothers me all these people's claiming they're hearing from god another fellow heard that one time he spoke up he said it's all these people that never hear from god that bother me can p well just back up with this do we have record in the bible of god speaking to people and them hearing him in new testament as well as old is he the same yesterday today and forever then why couldn't we hear from him today uh a big part of the thing is learning how he speaks and of course there's a lot of people that claim he said and he didn't say so you do have that as well but you just you know i'm not telling you to believe everything i say just because i say it judge it judge it by the scripture judge it by the spirit you have on the inside you and i got the same spirit right exactly the same and if he said something to me he's the same when it's in you you'll have a witness about it if you don't have a witness about it just leave it alone this is what he said to my heart i wrote it down it's etched in me he in a time of prayer he spoke to me he said keith would you like to know how to increase your capacity to receive from me of course he talks to you the way you understand it would do him no good to speak italian to me right or latin huh would do it do him no good to speak hebrew to me i you know i understand mississippi english which is not entirely english so but the amazing thing is god speaks every language and he says things to you in the way you understand it best doesn't he that's why sometimes people wow does that sound like god well he he might say it differently to you but he is able to cross all borders and that's how that's how i understood it that he said to me keith would you like to know how to increase your capacity to receive from me well i didn't have to think about that one one moment i said yes yes and please yes yes i want to know and this is what he said to me cultivate a lifestyle of thanksgiving cultivate a lifestyle of thanksgiving and the reason i'm excited tonight is because i'm seeing i didn't have a clue what he meant by that 25 years ago i learned a few things and i put a few things into practice but i'm getting light now 25 years later on what why why he said it and why what it means so many times things are too simple for us they just we think oh yeah that's good be thankful praise the lord yeah and and jesus warned us he said take heed how are you here didn't he take heed how you hear because how you measure a thing and how you hear it is going to determine what you get out of it and i'm excited because i am hearing it in a whole new way i am seeing things i did never thought to see 25 years ago about this and it's wonderful we've always known thanksgiving was important we've always known that you you can just preach on thanksgiving most any time and if you do it long enough and in the right way something will begin to stir in people and sometimes they'll start just they'll just erupt with thanksgiving before the service is over i've seen it numerous times why something's going on this thing's bigger than we've known it's more important than we've known it's connected to things we haven't seen fully and i'm believing that through these next uh parts of this series our eyes are going to be enlightened to it and we're going to put it into practice in a different way right listen to that phrase cultivate a lifestyle of thanksgiving every one of those words are important anytime the lord says something like that if it's really him you can find it in the word numerous places he's just saying what he's already said in a different way in a way that causes you to recognize it and look at it understand it cultivate means it's not going to happen automatically cultivate means you got to do something right cultivate means you got to go break up the ground you got to plant the seed you cultivate a lifestyle lifestyle is not just church night lifestyle is not just two or three times a week for five minutes what's lifestyle night and day 24 it's it's your life a lifestyle of thanksgiving now go with me please to matthew the 16th chapter matthew 16 verse 13. when jesus came to the coast of caesarea philippi he asked his disciples saying whom do men say that i the son of man am he's asking them who are they saying i am they said some say you're john the baptist some say you're elijah others jeremiah are one of the prophets he said unto them but whom say you that i am what do they say now he's saying what do you say simon peter answered and said you are the christ the son of the living god and jesus answered and said to him blessed are you simon barjona for flesh and blood has not revealed it to you but my father which is in heaven so he's speaking by revelation isn't he he's speaking by the holy spirit when he said that and i say also to you that you're peter and upon this rock i'll build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it and i'll give to you the keys of the kingdom of heaven and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven then charged to his disciples that they should tell no man that he was jesus the christ now this refers to what we're talking about earlier isn't it why not tell them you know in john numerous times the bible would say it started out with uh at the wedding feast uh when jesus said you know what's that to me and you my hours not yet come you see him say that numerous times sometimes he would tell people don't tell it right now don't tell it to them don't tell it to hear don't let your smoke out of your bottle hold onto it don't talk it and he said don't tell this verse 21 from that time forth began jesus to show to his disciples how he must go to jerusalem and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and be raised again the third day then peter took him and began to rebuke him somebody say bad idea [Laughter] now this this is an observation of mine i think uh peter might still be a little bit high from that previous successful word and i mean jesus himself has said in front of everybody that peter has gotten revelation from the father and is speaking from the father so peter's ready to do it some more [Laughter] he's thinking man i got a hotline from the father i mean jesus himself said it that didn't come from me came straight from glory i got the line on man i'm hooked god through me [Laughter] [Laughter] now you're laughing but this has happened oh people wouldn't admit it they'll start out talking like this but i think this is a huge limiting factor and how much god can use somebody so many times god bless somebody just a little bit they begin to get the big head it's true he begins to use somebody just a little bit and they stay they take it too far they start acting like what they're doing is god everything they're saying and thinking is god and that's as far as he can can use them one of the first revelations i got from god as a teenager was i was reading the bible through on my own for the first time in my early teens i'd gone to sunday school and i'd heard a lot of scriptures but i'm doing it myself on my own i'm getting hungry for god and i got to the place where it said in numbers now the man moses was meek very meek above all the men that were on the face of the earth was at numbers 12 3 i think it is moses was very meek and the lord spoke to me again not an audible voice one of the one of the first times i remember him speaking to me like this he said keith did you notice moses was the meekest man in his generation on the earth i thought yeah that's what it says he said did you also realize he's the most used man of me in his generation i made the connection then and i immediately began to try to find out what is real humility because the the the degree of your humility determines the limitations of your usefulness to god because he gives his grace to the humble and i'm go ahead and get ahead of myself a little bit here because it's so pertinent one of the key indicators and expressions of humility is thanksgiving you show me a truly humble man or woman i'll show you every time a thankful man or woman every time every time thankful thankful now uh peter is uh too bold and too forward fresh off of his experience of being used of the father he decides that he is uh in place to rebuke the master now he's just going to step right on up and rebuke jesus now the scripture said he did it privately he called him to the side well that was nice of him what did i mean if you read other translations that took him includes him he said jesus come here it happened friends jesus is explaining to them he's telling them about all the bad things that's about to happen to him how he's going to be tried and mocked he's going to be scourged he's going to he's going to be killed dead and he's going to be raised and in the middle of this he keeps talking about it and finally peter goes jesus jesus come here jesus no jesus this is not going to happen to you and jesus responded in one of the strongest ways that you'll see in the gospel accounts and i want to draw your attention to how strongly he responded are you ready peter said he began to rebuke him be it far from you lord no way know how this shall not be to you but he turned and said to peter get behind me satan wow this is strong isn't him why would it be so strong because it is so serious what's going on here get behind me satan you are an offense to me you savor not the things that be of god but those that be of men this probably let the air out of peter don't you imagine because i don't think jesus was quiet about this peter's calling him over to the side rebuking him and jesus wheels around i think everybody around there heard this get behind me satan now for the master to do that had to be serious is he calling peter the devil no peter's not the devil but peter is yielding to the devil and the devil is speaking through peter the same peter that just a few verses before the father was speaking through or not is it true you can yield to the holy spirit in the morning and yield to the devil in the afternoon it's true he went on to say then jesus said to his disciples if any man will come after me let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me let me read this to you from some other translations there's so much here the young's literal says this shall not be to to you be kind to yourself the margin of my bible has a number one for and it says gr for greek it says pity yourself everybody say that out loud pity yourself say it again pity yourself about what about all these bad things that are about to happen did jesus deserve these bad things had he done anything to earn this this kind of treatment this mocking this scourging this crucifixion this death this going to the heart of the earth and paying the penalty for all our sin did he deserve any of that and yet he's a man he has all the feelings you have he has taken on himself flesh and he has become like other men he is he's not almost like a man he is a man we spent you know months around here a while back reading the scriptures and talking about how he was tempted in all points just like us yet without sin was he capable of feeling like it wasn't fair or it wasn't right or he didn't deserve this yes he'd have to deal with some of the same feelings you or i would and that is the heart of the issue what is the enemy trying to get him to do to focus on that and pity yourself let me read this to you from some other translations the easy to read says jesus said to peter get away from me satan you're not helping me you don't care about the same things god does you only care about what people think are important the net says get behind me satan you're a stumbling block to me the uh the english version says you're an obstacle in my way god's word says get out of my way satan you're tempting me to sin now think about it why would he respond like this why would he respond like this because he's already dealing with it are you listening now sometimes people don't like to look at this because they think well that's jesus why did jesus sweat blood in the garden what was he dealing with what was going on there's nobody physically hurting him yet he's there by himself what's going on the bible said you have not you know resisted sin yet unto blood he's resisting temptation to sin are y'all with me now it's not a sin to be tempted it's a sin to yield to the temptation and he was tempted in all points just like us in fact he's tempted he was pushed to the limits anybody could any human being could ever be tempted in all the way he's sweating blood resisting what well listen to the prayer it tells you right there he said oh father all things are possible to you and if there's any other way let this cup pass from me what's what's the problem after his own humanity he doesn't want to do it he doesn't deserve it right yet what does he come back with nevertheless not my will but your will be done and here he's already dealing with this he's telling them about how many understand this is not the first time he's thought about this when he's telling them the reason he's talking to them about it it's about to happen everything's been leading up to this and he's tempted already he's being pulled and it only got worse to the point of the garden and now one of his closest helpers is yielding to the devil and saying what the devil's been bothering him with for months now vocalizing it thinking he's being a friend and jesus responded strongly get behind me get behind me jesus said in verse 24 if any of you want to be my follower you must stop thinking about yourself and what you want you must be willing to carry the cross that's given to you for following me the basic english he turned to peter and said get out of my way satan you're a danger to me because your mind is not on the things of god but on the things of men you're a danger to me that's why i responded so strongly wasn't it he can't listen to this for a minute he can't entertain this for a second and he wanted peter and all the other guys around there to know in no uncertain terms this is not god this is the devil we're not going to talk this we're not going to think this i'm not going to talk to you about it why because it was all designed to get him to not do the will of god and to feel sorry for himself one of the absolute worst things that could ever happen to you in life ever is for you or i to feel sorry for ourself and i'm going to jump ahead again and i'm about to come back and explain this one point at a time or should i do that if you're feeling sorry for yourself what are you not being you're not being thankful you can't be thankful and feel sorry for yourself at the same time impossible and the lord gave us some light last time we taught on this is there a place in between being thankful and being unthankful can you say well i may not be just really thankful about it but i'm not unthankful is that true there is no place in between thankful and unthankful if you're not thankful what are you you're unthankful is that a problem it's a bigger problem than i'd ever seen and i saw a few things over the years but i'm seeing now man this thing goes right straight to the core of our help what would the devil care whether we feel sorry for ourself or not or whether we're unthankful how would that benefit him what would he care i'm telling you it does make the difference in winning and losing he said you're a danger to me is somebody talking to you about feeling sorry for yourself or being justified and being depressed and feeling sorry for yourself is it a danger to you should you respond strongly about that should you not give place to it for one second should you stop and say wait wait we are not talking about that no go with me to first kings 21st chapter pity yourself the enemy through peter was trying to get jesus to think about himself instead of the plan of god think about what he was going to suffer what he was going to go through how he didn't deserve it and if the enemy could have got him over there in that realm of his mind he's got a right to feed to him feelings and thoughts that would bring him down and cut him off from the grace of god now again that's i'm getting ahead of myself a little bit saying that but i want you to keep it in your mind and be rolling it over say it out loud thanksgiving is connected to the grace of god what got him through the mocking the garden first of all what got him through sweating blood what got him through them coming and taking him and smiting him and the crown of thorns and what got him through that was the grace of god i said it was the grace of god yes he had faith yes he obeyed but it was the grace of the father what got him through how could you hang there on the cross in that kind of agony and look down and say father forgive them they don't know what they're doing that's grace somebody say grace grace grace is a gift somebody say gift grace is a gift you cannot earn grace you don't deserve grace you never will grace is a gift who gets grace the humble get grace the proud get resisted the humble get grace and we already know one big indicator of humility guess what thanksgiving don't take my word for it study it out but we can't cover everything in detail in one night thanksgiving and grace are connected let's go back to this phrase the lord gave me 25 plus years ago would you like to know how to increase your capacity to receive from me how am i are you going to receive any good thing from god yeah it's through our faith but it's first of all by his grace through our we got nothing to receive through our faith until it's by his grace you can only receive what god's given to you and he gives you nothing because you deserve it he gives you nothing because he owes you nothing one of the ugliest things there is is you owe me i deserve it this attitude this feeling these thoughts these words will cut you off from the grace of god i correct people oftentimes concerning myself and i don't i know they may not understand it but i do it to keep myself straight as much as anything else numerous times something good happens to you people say why y'all work hard you deserve it i say no no i don't deserve it people look at you strange like yeah you y'all work hard y'all do good you deserve no no i don't believe i deserve it i refuse to say i deserve it and so should you i lost a bunch of people right there didn't i find me any scriptures that support you deserving it but if you feel that you do you're in trouble the lord said this phrase to me i'm throwing out a lot of marbles here but is it okay if i go back and pick one of them up that i've already put out and we'll talk about it the lord said this to me about the same length time ago you can't be gracious to one who feels they deserve it you cannot be gracious to someone who feels they deserve it say it out loud you can't be gracious to someone who feels they deserve it impossible whether you understand that or not it's it's a fact it's truth what does that mean if you do it for them they feel like you should have done it right they deserved it you owed them so grace is out of the picture it's impossible for you to be gracious and if they don't deserve it unless the lord dealt with you to do it you're making a mistake in doing it because the truth is they don't deserve it i don't care if they're family i don't care if their friend i don't care who they are because if you feel like it's owed to you in any way or you feel like you deserve it in any way you will not you are not thankful for it and grace is out of the picture and god only does things for human beings by grace only only so personally for decades now i have removed the phrase from concerning me and my vocabulary and phyllis and myself about us deserving anything it's not just a point of talk i don't believe it i don't want it said i'm not trying to be humble i don't want it said it's a hindrance to me did you hear me do i have a lot of nice stuff yeah i do why because god is good to me he's good to me he's gracious do i deserve it because i worked hard no no no have you worked hard yeah we've worked hard at times night and day at times there's times we've gone year after year after year with no break no vacation no anything we've laid aside stuff we've laid well then you deserve it no we don't no no everything the lord has done for us is a gift from him because he's been gracious to us and we don't deserve it we're thankful for it but we don't deserve it i see i got my work cut out for me [Laughter] i can just feel there's a lot of people watching and listening you think deserve it is right sometimes and if we can't get this fixed you'll have cut yourself off from the grace of god in numerous areas of your life it's an answer to why some things happen haven't happened yet god doesn't owe you a spouse god doesn't owe you grace to lose 50 pounds god doesn't owe you did you hear me now he doesn't owe you any of this he wants to give it to you it's already bought and paid for but it is not owed you and you don't deserve it and you never will go to ephesians first ephesians 1. have you noticed how many times in the epistles he starts out the letter and or closes the letter with grace grace be unto you grace grace do you understand there's other words he could have used he could have said life he could have said joy he could have said peace but again and again he says what grace why because friend every success in your life is completely dependent on the grace of god every every every success every victory in your life is dependent on the grace of god we as a usual thing we don't realize how dependent we are on the grace of god if you've lived a few years and maybe had a little success in something you get to thinking well i know that i can do that but the truth is it's not you remember paul talked about he said i labored more abundantly than them all and yet not i it was the grace of god see he had discovered this he had understood this oh this about the same length of time ago 25 plus years ago i was working there at brother kenneth hagin's ministry at the healing school and prayer school and uh i was spending a lot of extra time with the lord and having some really wonderful times of fellowship with him special special and just extra time and in a time of waiting on him i saw that i did not realize how much of things in my life was his grace i got that revelation and so i asked him i said well lord i want to see i don't want to be ignorant i don't want to go around thinking it's me and it's you help me to see it i want to know show me don't make a doctrine out of this this is an experience that i had don't pray this necessarily but i said i want to know show me at that time i was teaching in the healing school i was teaching a ministry in prayer school i was teaching in in the bible school i was very busy and after a few years of that i sometimes i'd get up with two verses and preach for an hour and a half and quote scripture through half of it and all kind of illustrations sometimes i wouldn't even have a song list i'd sing song after song that just come to me i would know all the words to hundreds of songs and all the chord progressions without writing them down just flow out of me easily and i've always been able to speak i mean in kindergarten i performed bill bailey for the whole bunch with a hat and cane in middle school there was a big convention in a certain thing we were doing and nobody was there to run for president i said i'll run i got up unprepared made a speech they all voted me in president not ashamed not bashful i could get up in front of people i could speak well when you do that all your life you can get to thinking that's just me i can do that wrong i said wrong tell me what it is come on help me out what it's grace it's grace and i saw in waiting on the lord that i did not realize i wasn't distinguishing between me and what i could do and his grace and i asked him i said lord i want to know i do not want to be ignorant i want to know so i can be thankful like i should be and walk in the truth and not believe lies and not be confused but i was not prepared for what happened after that again don't make a doctrine out of this i'm telling you an experience i had a couple of days after that i got up in the morning and it felt like i don't make a doctrine out of this it felt like the grace had been taken off of me suspended off of me i went in that morning and i'm supposed to preach and do music and i felt like i couldn't do it and this is strange for me and i thought come on keith come on now you do this every day i thought okay uh well i'll start singing and playing and and i'm i'm i'm thinking i couldn't even think where to put my hands on the piano now you may think i'm exaggerating but i'm not i couldn't think i thought come on boy you do this every day and and and a fear of excuse me a feeling of fear came over me of inability i couldn't put one verse with another i think we'll you'll start hearing what illustration i couldn't i don't know it's hard for me to even explain it to you but i i was so that way and it it got worse as the morning went by i asked somebody else to take it i didn't see how i could do it and i was that way for how long fellas a few days three or four days scared her scared me i just sat and looked out the window for three days and the enemy brought thoughts to me you'll never preach again you've lost it whatever it is you can't do it you don't know how and i didn't i couldn't i couldn't put a thought together with another thought i i didn't know one verse with another or how it would flow or an illustration how many understand man woman me anybody get up and words flow out of you and thoughts and illustrations and verses in truth and revelation none of us can do this of ourselves do you understand this i was that way for three days and at the end of that time i sensed when the grace came back on me and for lack of a better way i felt like my old self but now i know what's me and what's him and the truth is without him you can't find the door to get out of the house in the morning i'm telling you without him i don't care who you think you are what you've done or how long you've done it these abilities are graces their graces some of them were born with god puts them in us from birth some of them some of these graces god has put in us from our mother's womb and now that's some of the things you can think is you because it's been with you your whole life and you can do it but it's grace this is particularly the way you can identify it is if if there's a thing that other people find challenging and hard to do but it just comes real easy and natural for you grace it's not because you're so amazing and so intrinsically wonderful of yourself it is the grace of god for which you want to thank him every day at night thank him thank him thank him thank him thank him and thank god it came back to me and i've been a preacher ever since but i know i know better than i ever knew before that what's him and what's me and how helpless i am without his grace i'm not i'm not telling you to pray that way don't seek that that's an experience that's not scripture but uh i do want you to believe it and understand that without his grace you're totally helpless and that abilities in your life some things you're born with some things he adds to you when you're born again other things he adds to you when you feel with the spirit other graces he can add to you throughout your life through different phases of your life and ministry and and i've come full circle again to what he told me originally he said would you like to know keith how to what how to increase your capacity to receive from receive what well anything you're going to receive has to do with grace oh come on can you see it grace would you like to be able to receive more grace giftings more grace abilities oh come on are you interested in this what did he tell me to do cultivate a lifestyle of thanks gif it works something in you when you're continually thanking god you're living in reality which is another big indicator of true humility real humility is just reality in that you are thanking god for all these things that are him that other people are taking for granted that's themself and because you are aware and know what's really going on then you're valuing what he's giving you he can give you more and and the more he gives you you won't take glory for it and claim it's you that did it you'll know it's him and he can add to you and add to you and increase you and increase you if you're doing what come on if you're doing what you're cultivating you're working it come on you get up in the morning and you put your mouth in gear thank you jesus thank you lord for the health in my body thank you lord for the life in my mind thank you lord for the favor i have everywhere i go thank you lord for the skill and ability in my hands in my eyes and my ears it's you it's you it's you it's your grace for which i am thankful thankful and if you practice this diligently it works something so powerful in you that enables you to receive greater grace which makes you increasingly useful and fruitful to the kingdom are you excited about this you know makes you want to say thank you lord thank you lord thank you lord ah thank you master ephesians 2 ephesians 2 verse 4. you know i think i'm gonna put that marble back in the bag not not this particular one but the the first king one king's one for just a moment before you read this go to romans romans please i think we need to establish this better before we get into that part romans the fourth chapter it's interesting the greek word that's translated grace is translated you know the most frequent times favor other than grace favor and thank are thankful the word for grace is translated thankful have you thought that way before it is so intertwined it is so the same we you know if you ask somebody say what is grace a lot of times people say the unmerited favor of god it is favor but grace is one of the biggest words of the bible you you can't define grace with a few phrases out of a dictionary what is grace the planet you're sitting on is grace the breath in your lungs the light in your eyes i'm telling you god didn't just create this thing he sustains it every millisecond he didn't just create the sun he's why it'll continue burning the next hour he didn't just create the planet he's why it'll continue to spin throughout the night are you with me grace what about people that don't believe that they don't believe in so-called creationism they don't believe in god they are also unthankful unthankful why well they're not going to be thankful for something they don't believe happened but unbeknownst to them that unthankfulness has darkened their minds and their understanding so they can't even see god and can't even understand him and has cut them off from the grace in jesus that they so desperately need on the one hand they're clamoring and screaming and crying they need grace for their relationship they need grace for their body they need grace to raise their kids they need grace to be a success on their job but they've cut it off by not acknowledging him somebody say not me i believe and i'm thankful back on up to the first chapter of romans romans 1 says this verse 20. romans 1 20 the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even his eternal power and godhead so that they are without excuse phyllis is now on vacation just a few days ago we went by this place that had all these puppies phyllis saw it said i was gonna stop and play with them puppies so we went in there and then they had puppies oh brother they had little poodles little bulldogs little every kind of and they're all in the floor jumping up and down wanting to play and we looked at them and and we came out and i said to her i said now that came out of god whoever thought up a puppy a little fuzz ball jumping playing want to lick your nose puppy by looking at that you're learning something about god that's in him the majesty of the mountains is in him but puppies are in him too amazing that's in him and every everything we see in this amazing creation that's beautiful and and wise and glorious and perfect and fun and everything we ought to look at it and go thank you lord shouldn't we we should go thank you lord look at this this is who you are this is what you are when people say there is no god there is no proof of god they are willingly ignorant because everything around us is talking to us about him telling us about him this didn't just happen people say well i don't believe in creation i believe in evolution you use the right word believe it's an unproven theory and you just accept it by faith without any proof it's a faith issue with you you've just chosen to believe it oh friends like i've said before someone said well it was the big bang there probably was a big bang when god spoke but the perfection of the cycles the the orbits the magnetic forces the the principles and laws of light and gravity and and where this planet is i mean if it was a little bit closer or a little bit further away from the sun none of this works and and well it's amazing it just evolved so perfectly listen you can take all the c4 you want to and set it off in the middle of a salvage yard and you can make explosions for the next one zillion years and never when the dust clears will there be a new lexus sitting there never never never to have things like that you have to conceive it in yourself you have to design it you have to build it you have to create it engineer it well god has set it all up by faith so it's a choice but keep reading what happened when you choose not to believe verse 21 because that when they knew god they what they glorified him not as god neither were what neither were thankful but became vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkened professing themselves to be wise they became fools i don't care how many degrees you got i don't care how many books you've written you don't believe in god you're a fool it's just a fact ain't got enough sense to realize somebody's giving you your next breath you ought to understand you're not giving it to yourself right where's it coming from what's keeping the sun burning what's keeping the world turning this is the principle i want you to see when you when we fail to be thankful now again is there a place in between being thankful and unthankful if you're not thankful you're unthankful that's why the lord said to me cultivate it you don't just wait for it to fall on you automatically you have to stir yourself up and say i got to be thankful stir your mouth up stir yourself up express thanks because of not being thankful what happened and what happens still what happens became vain in their imaginations their foolish heart was darkened the more unthankful you become the dumber you get darkness comes over your mind the less you see the less you understand another way of saying it like we've already said when you when you stop being thankful you cut yourself off from the grace of god it's only by grace we see things and understand things now go to the fourth chapter please just a couple of minutes here and i think i can can wind this up and we'll leave the other marbles in the bag for another time at first kings 21 marble the boy that's a you want to come back and get that marble because that's a big one big shiny one romans 4 verse 4 not to him that works is the reward not reckoned of grace but of debt but to him that works not but believes on him that justifies the ungodly his faith is counted for righteousness you'll see this theme in romans you'll see it in galatians you'll see it in ephesians you'll see it in colossians you'll see it in hebrews you see it over and over and over again have you read the new testament works versus faith do you know it's big james oh man it's all over the place works versus faith and what is what is the word again and again it's not by works it's not by works right how many read the bible enough to know what i'm talking about it is not by works it's by grace well here's the thing if it's by works it's owed to you see the word debt if anything is owed to you it's because you worked for it you earned it you merited it some way and if it is owed to you if you deserve it grace is not involved it's a debt go to the 11th chapter please eleventh chapter of romans just a couple more verses here 11 and 5. he says even so at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace according to what grace and if by grace then it is no more works otherwise grace is no more grace but if it be works then it's no more grace otherwise work is no more work that's king james but why would he say it that way because if it's grace it is not works and it cannot be where if it is works it can't be grace if it's works you deserve it it's owed to you there's no reason for you to be thankful you earned it you worked for it you deserve it but when it comes to god doing things for you what things fall into that category of things that you've earned of things that you deserve things that you've worked for and he owes you not one thing not one thing being in healing school for years i've had people come to me more than once or call or write in and and i'm this is a composite but uh people say things like this they say brother keith i my mildred one of the finest women on the planet love god with all her heart and she works so hard in the church he's there every time the door is open and uh you know she cook for people and and visit people and and just pray all the time and and just a wonderful woman of god but the lord wouldn't heal her she didn't get her healing how come and that shocked when i say well what does her being a good woman have to do with her getting healed they look at me like and this is the problem people think it does they think because i've been a good christian god owes me something and if you feel that way whether you express it or not if you feel that way if you entertain thoughts that way you're cutting yourself off from his grace he cannot be gracious to you because you feel you deserve it finally ephesians second chapter ephesians 2. he said verse 4 but god who is rich in mercy somebody say thank god thank god for his great love for with he loved us thank god say thank you lord say thank you lord even when we were dead in sins he quickened us together with christ by grace you are saved everybody say by grace by grace it's by grace and he has raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in christ jesus because we've done such a good job believing him no no it's by his grace that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through christ jesus friend that's throughout eternity he's going to be revealing amazing things to you and me and for you and not one of them will we ever be able to stand up and say i deserved it not one of them not a one he said for by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves it is the gift of god somebody say gift gift it's a gift if somebody gives you a gift that you didn't earn that you didn't deserve that they no way know how owed you what should you do what should you say you should say thank you thank you thank you for by grace are you saved through faith he said not of yourselves it's the gift of god not of works lest any man should boast stand on your feet everybody please

Channel: Jason Wigood

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Length: 71min 58sec (4318 seconds)

Published: Thu Aug 19 2021