Next Level Gratitude | Associate Pastor Chad Erickson

Well, praise the Lord, everyone. Amen. Welcome to Wednesday night Bible study. And I hope you brought your Bibles. And if you did, if you'll turn with me to First Thessalonians 5 and 18. And I'm just kind of looking around while you're turning there. And uh so good good to see guests. Thank you all for being here. I think Bloodsworth have family here and also pastor and uh and a wife that's here, friends of theirs. So glad to have them. Uh I saw I saw friends. Amen. Brother Chris Holden, maybe family members of Chris Holden. Great to have you all with us. Thank you for being here. And I believe you're from a few states away. Great to have you. So glad to have you with us. I looked out and I saw our missionary to the Philippines, uh Brother Mark Namy. And I believe if I'm mistaken, it's your birthday today. Well, happy birthday, my friend. Put your hands together. Aren't we thankful for the Namies? Aren't we thankful for brother Namy? And uh wish you a happy birthday and and believing for the greatest year yet. And as as Pastor Hammond already said, we have a uh a great Sunday coming up. Mission Sunday is on Sunday morning. On Sunday night, we're going to be having uh a bilingual service. We're just going to we're going to have a great time Sunday. Sunday is going to be a great day. I hope you're prepared uh just to have and expect come expecting great things to happen. Um just want to remind you our FAC Easter um friends and family drive is going to be coming up. Uh we're going to be having the Sunday before Easter, which is Palm Sunday, and then Easter Sunday, and then the Sunday after Easter, which is going to be our family Sunday. uh having a great uh just going to have three great Sundays. If you will, in the grand lobby, we have uh we have uh yard signs that you could put in your yard. You could put maybe at the end of your street. Uh you could put them in areas uh please don't put them in any areas that you think you might uh you might go to jail for putting them in. Uh but just put them in areas that you are confident it'll be okay. Uh there's some people that just don't want yard signs in their yard and and you don't want to be that person putting a yard sign out. So make sure you put them somewhere where you know uh that they will be appreciated. Amen. Uh we want people here on Easter. Um there's also cards that you can give out that kind of explain to your friends, to your family, to your co-workers uh all about uh all about our Sundays that we're having in April. Also, um you will find as you're exiting both both entrances, as you exit, you'll find a card that you can fill out. Uh we are writing names of family members, names of loved ones, names of friends, names of co-workers, maybe classmates if you go to college uh here locally uh that you are going to invite to these three services. Um on uh April the 6, Sunday, April the 6th, we are going to be collecting those cards. uh we're going to be praying over them. Um I just believe we're just going to have a whole host of cards that we're going to be praying over and the believing that God is going to give you favor with those people that you're going to invite in Jesus name. All right. So, please fill those out. Be praying over who uh you will be inviting to those services. And we're going to have uh April is going to be busy. April is going to be a great month and looking looking forward to celebrating the resurrection of our Lord. Amen. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 says, "In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you." In everything give thanks. Um, my title is simply this. Next level gratitude. Next level gratitude. In everything give thanks. Why don't you put your Bibles down? Let's pray before we're seated. Father, I'm so thankful, Lord God, that you brought together, Lord, a whole host of worshippers, God, praises, Lord God, who love to come midweek and give you honor and glory. Lord, I'm thankful, Lord God, that our youth choir, Lord, they didn't just come, Lord, unprepared, but God, they came prepared to lead us in worship, Lord God, they did just that, Lord. I felt your presence. I felt the Holy Ghost in this house, Lord God. I was moved to worship, Lord God, by their worship leading. And Lord God, now we're here to hear your word. We're here, Lord God, to read, to study, and to understand, Lord, what you would have us to know in your word tonight. God bless it. Anoint it, anoint me in Jesus name we pray. And everyone said, "Amen." You may be seated in the house of the Lord tonight. Look back with me if you will. Put um uh put our our text verse 18 back on the on the on the board. And I want you to see this. Um, the Bible says, "In every thing give thanks." And I want you to notice the English language is a is a very um it's a very tricky language. And all of us who have grown up and who uh have learned English from from a young uh uh young child, we probably don't realize it as much. Although, I will say that English was probably um probably one of my lowest grades in school. Grammar was one of my lowest grades. I, brother White, I did not like grammar. I loved literature. Now, I love to read. I love to write. Uh, but when it came to grammar, I'll just be honest with you, I didn't do well. And, um, I and I I didn't know why until really recently when I began to study the English language. It's it's one of the trickiest. is one of the the hardest languages because um well just just for instance though, thought and through all use the u gh sound, but they sound nothing alike. And so when you're when you're learning English, matter of fact, we have a class that goes on every Wednesday night where they're learning English as a second language. When you're trying to teach though, thought, and through, I'm telling you there, there's some confusion. People are looking at that going, it all says O U G, and why in the world are all those sound differently? And and as I began to to study this this text, I I noticed one thing that I've never really seen before and translate it into the English language in everything. I would have because I didn't do good in grammar, I would have said everything one word. But there's a difference between everything one word and everything two words. And so I I began to research and and sure enough the word everything which is one word with no space. It has the meaning meaning that you consider all elements as one thing together. Make sense? But when you separate the two words every and thing and you put a space in between it has the meaning that you are referring to every element individually within a group of things. So in the same concept I could say I want to thank everyone for wishing me a happy birthday. And if I use it as just one word everyone I'm just simply throwing out a blanket statement to a whole crowd of people. But if I thank every one for wishing me a happy birthday that means I go to I go to brother Mayo and I thank him. I go to you, brother Puit, and I thank you because I'm thanking everyone individually. So when I began and and this is just something in my in my private prayer time, in my devotion time, I I began to ask myself, am I giving God enough thanksgiving for everything he's done for me? Because when we read this key verse and it begins to say, "In everything give thanks." I begin to think to myself, God, you've been really good to me. And I can't say that my worship and my praise reflects the goodness of God in my life. And now listen, you may not get anything out of this. I don't know. But but maybe I can take you with me. I mean, I I felt that God was beginning to inspire me and beginning to say to me, "Hey, Chad, you're not the only one who needs to give thanks for everything that I give them in their life." Because over time, I I've read this verse and I've just thought to myself, in everything, give thanks. Okay? I'm supposed to thank him for the for the car trouble. I'm supposed to thank him uh for the good, for the bad, for the for the mountain top, for the valley low. But Paul, when he is when he is speaking to the Thessalon church, he's he's going a little bit further than that. the church in modern day Greece. He's he's extorting them that in every thing give thanks. He was saying, "Listen, there's all kinds of blessings. There's all kinds of favor that you're going to get of God. And you've got to begin to give God praise and glory and thanksgiving for each and every thing that you're blessed with." So again, I begin to wonder, is my level of gratitude, is it at the place? And and listen, as as a child of God, we've got to continually check our hearts, as long as we're walking in flesh, right? As long as we're on this road to glory, we we've got to continue because what I don't want to do is I I don't want to be the type of person who feels entitled for what I've been given. Because taking blessings for granted feeds the spirit of entitlement. Come on, think about it. And I just I look out and and I guess I in the 20 26 years now that I've been in Marville, I've seen I've seen and woo, brother Tommy, I I've seen how our church has progressed in favor and blessings. I I remember Sister Brother Tommy, Sister Brenda, I I remember and you're some of the first people I met when I came to Maraveville, but we don't look like we looked back then. And you say, "Well, what do you mean?" I I say it like this because we have stepped into the realm of understanding that it's more blessed to give than to receive. And when we understood that and a lot of this has been because of pastor Carpenter because his his revelation he got from God about taking care of God's kingdom, right? And taking what care of what God his mission that that God would take care of our mission would take care of what we have here. And I believe that as a church and and I thank God. Listen, 2008 was a hard year. 2008 when the recession hit and somehow and I believe it was an act of God. It was the miracle miracle. It was the beginning of when when pastor got this revelation of giving more to missions than we'd ever given before in 2000. Listen y'all, 2008. If you weren't here back then, you would think to yourself, surely to God you took a year off. Surely to God, you realize there's a recession and you put everything on hold and you just kind of held on for dear life. But that's not the case, brother Lawless. That's not what happened. People were losing jobs. People People were coming to the prayer line weekly and saying, "Oh, oh, pray, pastor. Pray that I've lost my job and I got laid off and and and my company's failing. My company's closing down. I'm looking. We couldn't You couldn't find a job. McDonald's wasn't hiring. Hardies wasn't hiring. You couldn't find a job anywhere." But some way, somehow, our church became more and more blessed. I I look out today and I think to myself, I remember what we looked like at that time. I remember the way we were struggling at that time. But God has been so good. Listen, we cannot Woo. We begin to count our blessings. Sister Hawkins sings that song about counting our blessings. You begin to start counting blessings and realizing, "Oh, God, you've been so faithful to us. God, you've been so kind to us." and and not just monetarily, but I look out at at at people whose family members who have come back to God and and been restored into the kingdom of God, backsliders and prodals that have come home, and all I can think to myself is, God, you've been so good to me. God, you've been so good to this church. You've been so good to every family represented here tonight. But the spirit of entitlement takes place when we just look around and say, "This is what we deserve. We begin to think about over from 2008 to 2018. Those were the longest 10 years in the history of mankind. We called this what we called this our eternal building project. And now, brother Clayurn, looking back, it doesn't seem like that long. It was just like ah it was no big deal. tent. It was forever giving, giving on vacations, selling things that you probably wouldn't normally sold and and giving and people getting settlements and giving and giving and giving. And and and right when you thought you were done giving, there's something else to give to. And we had to have sheetrock. And when the sheetrock was done, then oh, there's got to be paint. And oh, then there's got to be carpet. Then there's got to be pews. Y'all remember? But God just kept on blessing. But here's the deal. There is the spirit of entitlement. They could get within us and say, "Now that we're here and we've arrived and we have given all we've given, now we just deserve the blessings from here." But I don't want to be that type of person, y'all. I I I don't want to look and see what God has blessed me with, what God has favored me with, and just think, "Well, I deserve this because of that. Oh, God. I want everything everything that God has everything that God has blessed me with I want to give him praise for and I want my praise to be a reflection of his goodness in my life. I'm just going to I'm going to teach about just a a couple a couple stories in the Bible, one in the Old Testament and one in the New Testament where they kind of uh contract uh conflict from one another. And you'll see this, but I I first want to read through the book of Psalms because I began to read, I began to study thanksgiving. And wouldn't you know that David and the man after God's own heart, the man who fulfilled all the will of the Lord, wouldn't you know that all throughout his book of Psalms, he'll begin to write about thankfulness and gratitude such as Psalm 35:18. You're not going to have time to get here. Just just read the screen. It'll be on the screen. The Bible says, "I will give thee thanks in the great congregation. I will praise thee among much people." Psalm 50:14, "Offer unto God thanksgiving, and pay thy vows unto the most high God." Psalm 69 and30 says, "I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving." David's telling us this is how your praise reflects your gratitude. Psalm 95 and2 let us come before his presence with thanksgiving and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms. Psalm 104 enter into his gates with thanksgiving. Ah into his courts with praise right here. Be thankful unto him and bless his name. Psalm 105 and1. Oh, give thanks unto the Lord. Call upon his name right here. Watch this. Make known his deeds among the people. That's testifying what God has done for you. It's testifying of the goodness of the Lord. Psalm 106 and one. This is making me feel gratitude right here. This is making me want to go to the next level of gratitude right here. It says, "Praise ye the Lord. Oh, give thanks unto the Lord for he is good. For his mercy endureth forever." Psalm 107 and8. Oh them men would praise the Lord for his goodness, for his wonderful worksh. And then I like this last one. Psalm 136 says, "Oh, give thanks unto the Lord for he is good. For his mercy, mercy endureth forever. Oh, give thanks unto the God of gods for his mercy endureth forever. Oh, give thanks to the Lord of lords, for his mercy endureth forever." I wish somebody just give him praise in this house. I wish there would be a rise, a ruckus of absolute glory and honor to the King of Kings and to the Lord of Lords. Oh, give thanks unto the Lord. For his mercy endureth forever. Woo my God. Is there anybody in this place who's thankful for the mercy of God in your life? I'm thankful for the mercy. Thank you, Jesus. I don't deserve it. I don't deserve it. I don't deserve it, but I thank you for the mercy I feel every day of my life. Somebody shout mercy. Mercy. And you would think, you may be saying, you would think that mercy of all things would be easy for everyone to thank God for. And I don't want to spend a lot of time in this story because Pastor Carpenter just preached about it. But but I feel it's a stumbling block to a lot of believers. So, I want us to look at the story of Lot's wife because we got to be thankful for mercy. Thankful for the opportunity. Watch this right here. The opportunity of salvation. Look with me in Genesis 19. Abraham has already pleaded with God to have mercy upon Sodom and Gomorrah. You know the story. He's gone. And he's gone back and forth. What about what about if we can find righteous people in this city? And God said, if we can find if we can find some righteous people in the city, I'll spare the city. And he goes all the way down until God just simply has to tell Abraham, Abraham, there's no righteous people there. I'm going to take Lot and his wife and his family, and I'm going to allow them to escape the city, he said. and I'm going to send down fire and brimstone and I'm going to destroy this wicked city." So look with me in verse 15. I want us to study this. It says, "And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying, arise, take thy wife and thy two daughters which are here, lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city." And look at verse 16. And while he lingered, the men, the the the angels laid hold upon his hand and upon the hand of his wife and upon the hand of his two daughters. The Lord, watch this right here, the Lord be merciful unto them. And they brought him forth and set him without the city. And it came to pass when when they had brought them forth abroad, he said, escape for thy life. Look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed. Fast forward into verse 24. The Bible says, "And the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorra, the two cities, brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven. And he overthrew those cities and all the plain and all the inhabitants of the cities that which grew upon the ground." But his wife looked back from behind him and she became a pillar of salt. You see, Lot's wife had a front row seat to the God of deliverance. She had a front row seat to the mercy of God. Did you read that with me? angels literally had to take them by the hand and drag them out of Sodom. Two angels, one had had Lot, his wife, and the other one had the two daughters. And they literally had to take them and drag them out of Sodom before fire would fall, brimstone would fall from heaven and consume the wicked city. God God had spared her life. God had spared this woman's life and gave her a future. Yet it yet she couldn't let go of her past. Do y'all see that God gave her an opportunity? He saved her. Salvation saved her from her past. But she could not get her eyes or maybe I should say she couldn't get her heart off of her past. She she couldn't see the mercy of God because her heart wasn't open to recognize what God was bringing her out of. She was stuck on what she was losing and she could not see what God was allowing her to gain. I believe there's people in this place that are so blinded by what God delivered them from. Old habits, past relationships, past pain and hurt, old habits, toxic relationships. Come on, somebody. The pain that they used to live in that they can't even comprehend that God is wanting to give them freedom and purpose and a new beginning. We see it all the time. We see people run to the altar. We we see people repent of their sins and we see people get in the water and get baptized and and we see them even being infilled with the Holy Ghost, but there's got to be a decision we make. We've got to accept that there's a plan of salvation that if followed, we can be saved from our past. It's more it's more than just being saved into eternity. It's also being saved from our past. And too many people, oh, too many people, they get brought down and there's a stumbling block that they trip over because they think to themselves, uh, but you don't know what I did. You don't know where I came from. You You don't know what I used to do, who I used to date, the places I used to go, and they get so caught up in their old lifestyle that they can't even see the vision that God has for the life, the calling that God has for their life. I see it all the time. And you see it all the time. People come in here, they get hot on God for two or three weeks, maybe two or three months, and then you don't see them again. What causes that? Simply, just like Lot's wife, they look back to where they came from. Whether it was a a high they received on a drug or or or whether it was a sexual experience that they just can't let go of in their mind. Maybe it was something that was done to them in the past that they just they can't forgive themselves. Whatever it is, they get so stuck on their past that just like Lot's wife here, she has two daughters who need a mother. Two daughters that who knows how they would have turned out if they would have had a mother who wasn't stuck looking back. Uh turning to a pillar of salt looking back, but instead was looking forward to what God was trying to bring them to. God, help us today, God. Lot's wife teaches us the next level. Gratitude starts with trusting God's direction even when we don't understand it. Gratitude requires faith. We know Hebrews 11:1. Now faith is the substance of things hoped for. That's a future. That's futuristic. The evidence of things not seen. It's not things we understand. It's not things we can see. Oh, God help me. Lot's wife lacked the faith to believe that God's next step was better than her last step. Next level gratitude says, "I I don't see it all yet, but I trust the one who can see it. I trust the one who can see the big picture." Come on. Sometimes we can't see the trees for the forest or the forest for the trees. Sometimes we're we're so in it, we don't even know where we are. And God's looking down and saying, "Hey, listen. I've got a plan for you. I got a path for you to follow, but you got to trust me. There's no way you can see it. My ways are not your ways. My thoughts are not your thoughts. I'm going to take you places you can't even even imagine I would take you. But you got to have enough faith uh in the unseen. Uh you got to have enough faith uh to believe that things are possible even when you don't believe they're possible. I want to ask the question, is there anybody thankful for the mercy of God? Oh my God. God has had to listen listen. In my life, God has had to take his hand and and drag me out of some stuff that I thought I belonged in. I didn't think I need to be drugged out of, but he said, "Uh, you don't belong there. You don't belong thinking those thoughts and doing those things. I'm going to drag you out of stuff that's going to corrupt you and hurt you and make you lose faith. And he's had to take me. But I thank him for his mercy. I'm thankful. Oh God, I might have been living in Sodom and Gomorrah and not even realized it. I might have been righteous just like Lot was, but living in a land of the unrighteous. and I didn't even know. But you took me out of that situation and you gave me life and you gave me hope and you showed me mercy. Grateful. Come on, somebody. Gratefulness. Thankfulness. God, you did it. And I'm going to show you gratitude for it. So I move into the New Testament. Look with me in Luke chapter 17. So we have Lot's wife who despised her salvation. She she thought God was trying to take something from her and oh I've also seen people that felt that way that that thought that all all God was and all church was and all all that is is all that is is religion. It's all that is is they're trying to keep me from having fun. That that that Pentecostal church, they're just trying to give me rules and regulations. I've seen people like that. I've heard him say, "Well, well, is it going to send me to hell?" Right? If I do it, is this a heaven or hell issue? That that that's Lot's wife mentality. But then here we have Oh, I love this story right here because now now we go into the story of the of the 10 lepers, the the 10 lepers that Jesus comes across. Look with me in verse 12. says, "And and Jesus entered into a certain village, and there met him 10 men that were lepers, which stood a far off, and they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, master, here we go, have mercy on us." And when Jesus saw them, he said unto them, "Go, show yourself to the priests." And it came to pass that as they went, they were cleansed. And one of them, and listen, I want to bring something out right here. One of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back and with a loud voice, glorified God, and fell down on his face at Jesus's feet, giving him thanks. And he was a Samaritan. And Jesus answered and said, "Were there not 10 cleansed? But where are the nine? They are not found. These are not found. Return to give God glory. Save this stranger. And he said unto him, "Arise, go thy way." Watch this right here. Thy faith hath made thee whole. Come on, imagine with me. Being healed from a life destroying disease. I'm talking about your skin is restored. Your isolation has now ended. Your future is now reclaimed. But imagine now walking away without a word of thanksgiving. Think about this. Not a word. Nine out of the 10 never returned to give Jesus thanks. But one turned back. Oh. And he changed everything. This isn't just a healing story. It's a story about gratitude. that unlocks. We're about to see a type and shadow unlocked by this Samaritan who gave thanks to Jesus because only one came back praising God with a loud voice. He falls at Jesus's feet in raw gratitude. He's a Samaritan. He's an outsider. He's despised by the Jewish community. Yet, the only one who acknowledges the miracles source is a Samaritan. You see, gr gratuitity or gratitude isn't automatic. It's got to be our choice. Gratitude has got to be our choice. There should have been 10 worshiping at the feet of Jesus. There there should have been a crowd of worshippers all bowing and giving reverence. My God, they realized that they were healed. It was more than just a feeling. It was more than just a word from a master. They realized they saw. The Bible says they saw that they were healed. And so here they are. Nine of them go back to the priest. Uh but one of them, one of them returns to give God thanks. Uh and in disbelief, Jesus says, "Were there not 10 cleansed? Where are the nine?" He said, "How is it just this foreigner, this non-Jewish, this non-believer, how is it that just just one came back and gave praise?" and gave gratitude. But here it is. This Samaritan foreshadows a kingdom where outsiders become insiders through faith. I'm going to say it again. It He foreshadowed a kingdom where those on the outside were going to be allowed to come into the inside if they have faith. Oh, come on. That's us. We don't deserve grace. We are not of the chosen bloodline. We are not of the Jewish bloodline, but because of gratitude, uh, because of faith, I just believe we're going to have a seat at the table. The table of redemption. Oh my god. I I've never seen this. I I've never seen this before. And I I've preached this story so many times. But but in this story, the 10 lepers, Jesus instructs all 10, including the Samaritan, to go and show yourselves to the priests. Show me verse 14 real quick on the screen. I want you to see this right here. It does not say to go and show yourself unto the priest. It says, "Go show yourself," and just leave that right there. "Go show yourself unto the priests." See this this command this this aligns with the Jewish law in Leviticus Leviticus chapter 14 where a priest had to examine a healed leper and then perform a cleansing ritual before they could be declared whole and allowed to reenter into the city or into the society. And for these nine Jewish lepers, it made perfect sense. We understand that. However, it also made sense to the Samaritan leper because the Samaritans had their very own religious system, including a priesthood at the temple on Mount Gerism. It was distinct. It was distinct. It was not the temple in Jerusalem. That's where the Jews were going. That's where the nine Jews were going. But the Samaritan, he should have been going to his priest on the mount. And and if you remember the woman at the well, remember her? She was saying to Jesus, she's saying, "You all worship in Jerusalem, but we worship up up on the mount." She was talking about the temple of the Samaritans, they had they had their own rituals. They had their own priests. They they weren't allowed to be in the Jewish temple. So, they had to have their own temple where they worshiped, where they sacrificed, and where where all these cleansing rituals would take place for their people. It was on the mount. The Torah, it's a Samaritan Penetuk. It includes the same or very similar law about leprosy. So I I've preached this before where I said the only reason he came back was he was a he was a gentile or he was a Samaritan and he wasn't allowed to go to the temple uh to go see the priest. That's not true because he could have went to his temple and he could have saw his priest. However, he came back and this is what's so beautiful. He came back to the healer. And coming back to the healer, it was a form of gratitude. It was a form of worship that he wanted to declare, I'm not going to the temple. Oh no. I'm not going to the Samaritan temple. I'm coming to who we know is God in flesh to the healer and I'm going to come back and I'm going to make you my priest. It only it only says here that that they went they went to be cleansed. But he saw that the healer was not only the healer, but he was also the priest. And so right here as we study this verse in verse 19, and he said unto him, arise, Jesus said, go thy way. Thy faith hath made thee whole. Your faith hath made thee whole. That's a priestly pronouncement. But it's done with divine authority. Because that's what the priests are going to do. When those nine lepers come before the priest, the priest is going to check them out. They're going to go through this this cleansing ritual. He's going to look at their hands, look at their bodies. He's going to see that there's no their flesh is no more white. Their their flesh is no more flaking. And and he's going to say, "You are whole. You are now released to go back into society." But when Jesus, woo, Jesus took on his priestly duty. When that leper came back, that Samaritan leper came back and said, "Hey, I can go to my hill. I can go to my temple. But instead, I'm going to give you praise. I'm going to give you glory." He didn't come back because he had no other choice. He came back because his level of gratitude, oh my God, help me right here. His level of gratitude was at a place where he said, "I can't help but praise you. I can't help but thank you. I can't help but lift my voice and say, "Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Savior. Thank you, Master. Thank you, priest." And so Jesus took on his priest's priestly authority and he pronounced him, you are made whole. Woo. And it echoed this priestly blessing. But there was a twist. It's not contention on a ritual or a temple. It was immediate. It was personal and it was absolute. Because in the Old Testament, which is at the time the story took place, it was before Calvary. It was before Pentecost. The priest's role was to declare someone clean after examining the evidence. Oh, the priest did not heal. All they did was verified healing. But Jesus, oh, Jesus could both heal and he could pronounce wholeness. He bypassed the entire system. But here, watch this. Because now we're going to go a step further. He's a healer. He's the priest. But oh, he's so much more than just healer and priest because he says, "Your faith hath made thee whole." It's just not a passive observation. It's a royal declaration. It's creative words. It makes it so. These are kingly words. He put into effect this man's freedom. Oh, come on, somebody think about this right here. He healed him. He told him he was made whole. But then he said, "Go in peace." He gave him woo a kingly authority. This was the type and shadow that Jesus was not only the healer. He was not only the savior and deliverer but he was also priest and he was also king. Uh he showed right here to this Samaritan man. Oh there is going to be a day when you're going to be able to sit at the table. Every Gentile Jewish blood gentile blood. Oh my God, that gives me oh that gives me hope today because we are a gentile congregation and we sit here today and say Jesus I'm so thankful for salvation that we do not deserve. We are not your royal bloodline we are not your priesthood uh of the Old Testament. But God, because of your spirit, uh, because of your redemption power, because of the blood of Jesus, because we've been baptized in his name, and we take on his name and salvation, we are now a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people. Woo! We've been called forth out of this world. We've been saved from this world. Again, when I say saved, I talk about Lot's wife. I'm not talking about eternal salvation. When I talk about this leper, I'm not talking about eternal salvation. They're saved from a lifestyle of bondage. That, oh, come on, Sodom and Gomorra. That's a lifestyle of bondage. That's a lifestyle of sin and debauchery. You look at this this man who had leprosy. I'm not talking about eternal salvation. I'm talking about salvation from a lifestyle where he was segregated from society where he was all alone. I'm sure he lived a life of depression. He couldn't live with his family. He couldn't be around his children. Uh he was segregated and separated. Uh he his fingers his toes, his nose, everything began to fall off. His skin began to deteriorate and flake. He had sores all over his body. But here we have salvation from that life. Woo. But here we can look at these two and we can see they're so opposite when it comes to gratitude. When you look at Lot's wife and you look at this leper, they both oh watch this right here. There are some similarities. They both turn back. But one turns back to Sodom. One turns back to their old lifestyle, their old way of living. And the other one turns back to give God gratitude and God thanks. Uh one turns back and says, "You know what? I had it better back then." And the other one says, "Oh, thank you, Jesus. You had mercy upon me. I was undeserving. The other nine may have been deserving, but I was so undeserving. But you had mercy upon me. In all things give thanks. They both turned back. They both became examples for the rest of time. One Jesus reminds us of. He says, "Remember Lot's wife." One Jesus says, "Hey, you better keep in mind those who look back." But the other one, we look at him and say, "Thank you. Thank you. Thank you." Because between you and between that woman, between that woman who Jesus called a dog, right there, oh, there between the woman who sat on the whale, the Samaritan woman who Jesus foretold salvation to. Thank God for these Samaritans who were willing to praise the Lord even when they were hated by the society that Jesus came from. They're still willing to say, "You call me a dog." Or the woman at the well said, "Hey, you know all of my past, my dirty dirty past." Or whether there's this this leopard that said, "Hey, you realize I'm a foreigner. I'm not a citizen of your nation. I'm not a people of the royal bloodline." But thank God, they elevated to the next level their great gratefulness and their gratitude. And they said, "God, I'm going to worship you no matter what." Uh even if it's not popular, even if it's not the thing that everybody else does in my culture, my society, my friend group, God, I still got to give you praise uh for every single thing. Oh, I wish somebody just began to praise him right now. Look back over your life, what God has brought you out of. Uh what God has brought you through. We've got a testimony. Every person in this room has a testimony. And you can say, "God, if it was not for your salvation power, if it was not for your grace and for your mercy and your kindness and your goodness, I would not be here today." Woo! I started I started my message out talking about how God has blessed us, whether financially, uh, blessed our families, and thank God for all of that. But I'm thankful what he brought me out of. I'm thankful I'm not who I used to be. Come on. That's what a testimony is. A testimony is simply telling everybody you come in contact with, you don't have to live like that. You don't have to be like that. You don't have to die like that. You can live again. You can have life for eternity. Uh you can have power. You can have authority. You can go in the name of Jesus. Uh and everywhere your feet trods, uh everywhere you walk, uh you can be blessed and favored by God. Oh, I wish we could just stand to our feet right now and lift up hands to heaven. Just begin to praise him right here. Come on, just begin to praise my I wish we could lift our our level of gratitude just a little bit higher and say, "God, I've not been thankful enough for all you've done for me." Uh, I'm not giving you the praise you deserve for all you've done for me. Come on, we come into this place. Uh, David said, "You ought to play instruments in the house of the Lord." Uh, you ought to sing in the house of the Lord. God, I want you to convict me. Uh, every time the choir gets up to sing, uh, and I don't sing to the top of my lungs. I want you to convict me every time I walk into this placeh with a complaint on my mind and I don't give you the glory that you deserve. Come on. I feel the Holy Ghost right here. I believe every person, including myself, we can Oh my God. We can get to the next level of gratitude right here. Come on, somebody. You got to get to the next level of gratitude. If you've been right here praising, you can get to right here. And I'm not just talking about your vocal worship. I'm not just talking about lifting hands. I'm talking about everything that you are. Your lifestyle of worship, says, "God, I want what's on the outside to reflect what's on the inside." Come on. Gratitude is a whole lot like holiness. Holiness starts on the inside, but the outside has got to show with the inside. Woo! Whatever's going on the inside is going to find its way to the outside. And the same thing with gratitude, your worship, if you're truly grateful, if you're truly thankful, it will show up in your praise. Uh it will show up in your worship. Uh if you can't think of anything to worship God for, uh oh my God, I pray that he'll convict you right now. I pray that he'll open up your mind right now. Come on, every eye closed. Come on, every eye closed. I want you to think over your life. I want you to think back to yesterday. I want you to think about what God did for you yesterday. The blessings he did you wake up in the morning. Is there air in your body? The Bible says, "Let every thing that hath breath praise ye the Lord." Come on. Right there. Come on. Come on. Come on. Everything, those are two words. Let everything He's not talking to us as a congregation. He's speaking to us oneon-one. If you've got oxygen in your lungs, you ought to be praising him. If you've got oxygen in your lungs, you ought to be praising him. Let everything that have breath. Praise ye the Lord. Praise ye the Lord. Praise ye the Lord. Praise ye the Holy Ghost. Holy Ghost. Holy Ghost went up right here. Holy Ghost right here. Come on. He's our priest. He's our king. He's our savior. He's our everything. Come on. Hebrews 13:15 says, "By him, therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually." That is the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name, giving thank Come on. Giving thanks to his name. Giving thanks to his name. Let everything that had breath give thanks to his name. You ought to use vocal worship. Fruit of your lips. Use the fruit of your lips. Giving thanks to the name of Jesus. Come on. This is why we come and we praise and we worship. We don't come to church to hear our favorite genre. We don't come to hear our favorite choir song. We come every service to say, "God, thank you." We come every service to say, "God, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Come on. I wish this I wish this revival of worship would just spread from from pew to pew, from section to section. I know this is Wednesday night. I know I know you didn't come expecting to hear anything about worship and praise. But come on, somebody let this just spread. Let the Holy Ghost minister right here in Jesus name. As you begin to praise him, as you begin to send glory, as you begin to send honor to his name, you better watch out because there's going to be a blessing coming your way. Woo! Come on. The father seeketh such to worship him in spirit and in truth. He's looking for emotion. He's looking you to come in here in truth and say, "God, I bless your name. I praise you." Come on. Let there be gratitude. Let there be a level of gratitude. Let there be a level of gratitude. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. I don't want to cheerlead you. That's not what I've come to do. But I pray that something will up inside of you. Something will well up inside you to say, "God, I don't even have the words to thank you. God, I have nothing to give you in return. All I can say, God, is my gratitude. Come on. I pray that you ask yourself the same question I've been asking myself. Does my praise and worship reflect my thanksgiving and my gratitude? Oh, come on. I hear passionate prayers going up. I I hear passionate praise going up. I I hear passionate worship going up. Get out of here. Beautiful. All my words fall short. I've got nothing new. How could I express all my gratitude? I could sing these songs as I often do, but every song and you never do. So I'll throw up my hands, praise you again and again. All that I have is and I know myself nothing else except for a heart single. Hallelujah. I've got one response. I've got just one move with my arms stretched wide. I will worship you. So I my hands praise you again and again cuz all I have is a hallelujah. I know it's not much. Nothing else for a king except for a heart single hallelujah. Woo! Here we go. Praise the Lord. Yeah. So come on my soul. Oh Lift up your soul cuz you got a lion inside of the get up and praise him. Get up and praise the Lord. Oh, come on my soul. Oh, don't you get shy of me. Lift up your soul cuz he got a lion of those lord. worthy. Oh my soul, don't you get shy on me. Lift up your song cuz you got a lion inside those. Get up and praise the Lord. One more time. Come on, my soul. Oh, don't you get shy of me. Lift up your soul cuz you got a lion inside of those lungs. Get up and praise the Lord. So I'll throw up my hands. Praise you again and again. Come on, throw your head back and just thank him. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelu. And I know it's not nothing else. Oh, that sounds so beautiful. Hallelujah. Just one more time. So I'll throw up my hands. Praise you again. Cuz all that I have is a highle. And I know it's not much, nothing else fit for a king except for a heart singing hallelujah. Come on in everything give God thanks right now. Come on. And everything give God thanks. Let everything that have breath praise. Everything give God praise. Everything praise. Everything praise. Oh, thank you Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Oh, if I could if I could ask you Sunday when you come into the house, when you come to the house, oh Lord, I want you just to say, "God, let me take my gratitude to the next level. God, help me, God, to take it to the next level." Come on. If you come and maybe you're used to just maybe slipping a hand up once in a while, maybe it'll just come and both hands be lifted to heaven. Maybe with every once in a while you you get happy and jump or shout, maybe you'll do it. Maybe just lift that that level of gratitude just a little bit. Come on, church family. If we could ever ever get a glimpse of how good truly is to us, how good God truly is to us. Just one more time. Oh, Roboto. God, I thank you. God, I thank you. Oh, his spirit is here. Come on. If you don't feel the Holy Ghost right now, you might want to check yourself cuz he's here. So, it's it's a thick it the spirit is here in such a beautiful way. Come on. This is where healing takes place right here. This is where deliverance takes place right here in this kind of an atmosphere right here. Even on a Wednesday night. Come on. It would be no great thing for you to receive the Holy Ghost for the very first time. It would be no great thing for God to fill you with his spirit, with the presence of a holy God. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. God help us. God help us. God minister through us. I know we're going to have some baptisms in just a few minutes. Amen. But until that time, God bless you. You're dismissed in Jesus name. Love you. Sunday morning. Come on, come ready. God's going to do great things in this place on Sunday. Love you. Thankful for you. Have a great rest of your week in Jesus name.