Bible Teaching

Calvary Temple Teaching Library

Thanks...!

Hallelujah. Amen. Friday night was a great time. It's always special to me. I don't know; it just does something to see all of those young and not-so-young folks running around the gym with those numbers on their jerseys going clear back to Chris. What year was that, Chris? (1982.) How many of you were not born in 1982? Let me see your hands. I just wanted Chris to feel good. Now think about this. Hold them up again. How many of you were not born in 1982? Well most of us were not born in 1982, but you know what I mean. Look what happened in that time, praise God. Isn't that exciting?

As I was thinking and watching everybody run around, my mind went back. I remember when we were holding the miracle rallies; we were in the gym; and there were all of the great visions and thousands of people that were coming through this place. And where are they? They came for miracles; they came to get blessed; they came to see the big show, but that's not what it's all about. That's not how you build a church. You can build a carnival that way or you can build a club that way, but the church is built on generations of godly seed. We're just so thankful just to see it happening and to watch. What a blessing! And then all of the other little ones that are running around with [class of] 2042 on there [their tee shirts] or whatever-I guess we can't go quite that far. That would be a faith baby, wouldn't it? You see the little ones that are being raised up. To me, that's so exciting and such a blessing. We just thank God for every one of you and your faithfulness to see your children raised up in the nurture and the admonition of the Lord as we see a good, strong three generations. Should the Lord tarry, I believe that we're going to see more and mightier raised up, amen? That's our heart's desire.

Some good news: the team in St. Kitts, Chuck said some of them were feeling kind of guilty that it didn't seem like a "missions" trip. I mean, St. Kitts is now one of the cruise ship stops down there. As you go to St. Kitts and Nevis, the new Marriott resort there in St. Kitts over near where Jack Tar Village was is just phenomenal, one of the really great resorts in the world. They're suffering down there for Jesus. In reality, it's not whether it's a task that's difficult, but it's a task that's necessary, because these folks need the Lord. It doesn't matter if they're the affluent, if they're living in a perceived paradise, or whether you're in the ghettos of Bombay and Calcutta. Frankly, I've been to both. I've been in the penthouses and I've been in the outhouses, and they all need Jesus, don't they? What a great trip.

A good testimony: the Lord opened a door last minute for our team to get into one of the large (I believe) middle schools down there, about 800 students. So they put together a few skits at the last minute-of course, the old, reliable "Good Time Charlie." And they threw that together and a new version of one of the new skits that is being put together for Africa. They put some of those together and were able to go in, and they ministered to about 800 kids. You know what was a blessing? When they gave the altar call, only five responded. Isn't that tremendous? In Africa you give one and 500 respond out of 800; they're just so religious. But hearts that really were touched, and he said about 15 or so-they made themselves available-came up after the dismissal to ask more questions.

Then that night in one of the services, one of the five young men came to the service there at the church. When they came in, there was kind of a surprise on some of them because this kid was the most popular kid in school out of all of those kids. Father put His hand on this kid. He's a kid that's seen. We don't know what the end of this is going to be, but a great testimony of a life being reached and the reality of it: a kid that was perceived by the masses as being something, and now he's going to be scorned; he's going to be outcast; he's got a cross to carry, and now he has a real treasure, doesn't he? So be prayerful. I don't know who this young boy is. I don't know his name, but you might just pray for him that God would give him the grace and the strength to stand. A lot of good things are going on in the ministry there, and we're just excited about that.

Let's turn to Psalm 100, a psalm that we're all very familiar with. I want to talk this morning a little bit about being thankful. It's so important in our day to really be thankful, isn't it? We talk about thankfulness, and there are the obvious things that stand out in our minds. We're so thankful, of course, for our salvation. We're thankful for our families, the body of Christ; we're thankful for our health; we're thankful for the liberties that we have in this nation. Many things come to mind that we're thankful for, but let's examine our hearts and see if we're truly thankful for those things.

Thankfulness is a very strong word and I think we have trivialized it like the word love-"I'm so thankful for that; I'm so thankful for that." I want to take a little deeper look at what it means to be thankful, to truly be able to understand the grace, the mercy, the love behind all of these blessings that God has bestowed upon us and to really realize that it is mercy and it is grace, because we are totally undeserving, aren't we? Thankfulness comes to the degree that you realize you don't deserve what you've been given. You don't merit it. "I worked for this. I'm so thankful for this because it's the fruit of my labors and the sweat of my brow. It's the evidence of my diligence and my skill." No, it's the blessing of the Lord. We begin to then appreciate those things that Father has given us.

We need to see in the little bit of time we're going to take this morning that the Scripture tells us-and we all the know the passage, but I wonder how practically we apply it-in everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. To be unthankful is to question the sovereignty of God. To be unthankful is to question the sovereignty of God. To be unthankful is to question the goodness of God. To be unthankful is to question the wisdom of God. To be unthankful is to deny the presence of God.

Romans, Chapter 1, verse 21: "Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish [hearts were] darkened." That's a powerful passage as it talks about the depravity of man, as it talks about the sin nature coming to total fruition. When you read Romans, Chapter 1, we're seeing man in his worst state. We're seeing this generation that we're living in. I want you to look at that a little more closely. Turn over there for just a second to Romans 1 and let's look at that. Then we'll go back to Psalm 100, but I want you to see something here very clearly. This is not an ignorance of God. It's not an ignorance of God that makes us unthankful; it's a defiance of God, the rejection of God. Let's stop and pause for just a moment and ask ourselves, "How thankful am I this morning?" We need to really take a look at these different areas and judge our own hearts and see what thanksgiving is, thankfulness is, and to realize that true thankfulness is really the working of God's grace in us, because the ability in the natural to be thankful is unattainable. You can only be thankful by faith. You can only be thankful by grace. It's God working in us to will and to do His good pleasure.

When we come to that understanding, we begin to see that thankfulness is the byproduct, the fruit, of Jesus' lordship in our lives. It's the absolute surrender of our own will, of our own self-confidence and self-reliance. It's the boasting in the goodness of God, the grace of God, the provision of God, the purposes of God. Man, in this depraved condition, the Scripture says, "they knew God." Some knew Him experientially and some knew Him intellectually. Some knew about God; some actually had a relationship with Him-people that had tasted the goodness of God and have backslidden; their hearts have gotten cold; they've begun to retreat because new treasures have emerged in their lives and idols have been raised up. The Scripture says here in Romans that God will eventually give these people over. If you're still feeling guilt this morning, God hasn't given you over yet. Can you say "praise God" for that? A young lady that came into the fellowship just recently had asked the question, "What is the unpardonable sin?" If you're even concerned about that, you haven't committed it. When it comes to that place, God gives them over to it.

These are a people that knew God. The problem was they glorified Him not as God. Let's look at this very carefully, this passage. What does the word "glory" mean? "Glorifying" means to make big, to boast in, to come to a place of putting worth and worship upon. What is it that has your time, your worship? We see people caught up with all of the trivial things of life, whether it's family, fun, or whatever it is, and people get so distracted. The question we have to ask is, How big is God in our lives today? How prominent? How much of our thought process is taken up, how much of our energy is used, in glorifying God?

"They glorified Him not as God." We glorify God with our mouth. We glorify God with our works. We glorify God with our offering of this living sacrifice, a life turned over to Him that can say, "Not my will, but Your will be done." Glorifying God isn't what so many people think today. Churches are full of people that come and have worship bands and they all dance and sing and have banners-"We had praise service and a worship service." "Those that worship God must worship Him in spirit and in truth" (John 4:24). "Do not call me Lord and not do the things that I've commanded you to do" (Luke 6:46). Worship is obedience. Thanksgiving is a heart of appreciation for what God is doing in your life and understanding that you don't merit that presence.

We see Paul going on here in Romans, Chapter 1, and he said, "They knew God but they didn't glorify Him as God." They were a people that were not content. Godliness with contentment is [what?] great gain (1 Timothy 6:6). What is it that we gain from contentment? The presence of God, the peace of God that passes all understanding. Aren't our minds amazing? Even in our pursuit of spiritual reality, so often we see this, that "godliness with contentment is great gain," and we see dollar signs and cars and yachts and split-level homes-that's an old term, isn't it? Great gain: the pearl of great price. Great gain is seen in that parable of liquidating everything that we might obtain; you've seen the real treasure of godliness. Godlikeness with contentment. In other words, the more I become like God, the more content I am. Discontentment-and how many of you have experienced this? You begin to be discontent when you're drawing back from God, when you're backsliding. You now have to fill that with other things. Godliness brings contentment, which is the ultimate treasure, the presence of God, godlikeness.

Paul then goes on and makes this comment: that these people were not thankful. What is it that created thanklessness in them, unthankfulness? Look at the next phrase: "vain in their imaginations." They're creating vain images-"This will make me happy. That will make me happy." Madison Avenue is telling you all the time, "This will make you happy. Here's an image. How about this? If you like this, smell like this, taste this, that will fill that void. This will make you distinct and will separate you from the masses. It's unique. It's special! It's only for you (and everybody else that will give me 20 bucks, and then they'll be special too)." Let's say it another way: "Your eyes will be opened, and you'll be as gods." Vain imaginations. What does the Scripture says to do with these things? "Pull down every evil imagination that [what?] exalts itself against knowing God" (2 Corinthians 10:5). These images are coming in. These lies are coming in. Let me tell you something. Every image the world flashes up has been altered, computer-enhanced. It isn't what it appears: it's vanity; it's vexation. The wise man said, "I partook of everything that they have to offer, and it is vanity." You say, "Well, I'd like to try it myself." That is the thought process and the words of Adam. It will kill you.

The Scripture goes on and it says very clearly, they became vain-vainness. That vanity is an emptiness, a helplessness, a hopelessness. It's worthless; it is incapable of producing reality or what it says it's going to produce. Vanity is without power. There is no power behind it. It's not real; it's smoke and mirrors. It's an illusion; it's a lie. I'm running out of adjectives. We've got to understand this and come to grips. We know it intellectually, but that same bait is thrown to us every day. How many of you look at that thing-you know, we're as dumb as fish. You look at that thing and you say, "That thing looks rubber to me. What does that say on the side, Dick's Sporting Goods? I think I'll just test it to make sure." It got you, right? And the devil keeps throwing out [bait]. You've taken the same bait how many times? There it is. I don't want to call you a big mouth bass. What's the point I'm making? We're helpless before it. We are programmed to believe these lies. Only in our spirit man can we perceive truth. You're only free from vain imaginations-from lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, pride of life-when you begin to have a thankful heart and a life of contentment, a trust in the goodness of God, the sovereignty of God, when we move from the perceivable into the invisible. We see that invisible, that city whose builder and maker is God, and we're a people that begin, then, to speak of the great promises of God and "call the things that are not as though they were," the Scripture says. Here we are called to be thankful.

Because of unthankfulness, they became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish hearts became dark-deception. "How great," the Scripture says, "is that darkness" (Matthew 6:23). What we want to see this morning is that a thankful heart will clear up your vision. It will clear up your perception. It will cause you to begin to make decisions of wisdom. When you begin to find a life that's seeking the glory of God and not the glory of self, you've begun to be free from those vain imaginations of Romans 1:21. We then begin to enter into this 100th Psalm. Turn over there for just a moment. We're all very familiar with it. "Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands. Serve the Lord with [drudgery and obligation and legalism and out of guilt. No, serve the Lord with] gladness: come before his presence with singing. Know ye that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves" (Psalm 100:1-3). Man, is that a simple, profound truth! "It is He that made us, and not we ourselves."

We're talking about being thankful. Let's first of all ask ourselves, Are we thankful with how God made us? We had softball practice for the church yesterday. I was up there and I was hitting a lot of balls to the infield and the outfield. I was getting in the car to go home and I thought, "You know, I never thought I would come to the day when I thought, ‘Man, I wish I could be 40 again.'" You know, young. There is a lot of stuff that's exciting that's going on, and I would like to be some of your ages again and get to see this thing at full speed. I'm still young in mind and heart; it's the rest of this that's not getting it.

But you know, I want to be thankful for where God has me. I want to be thankful for all the trials that being good looking bring upon you. Here we are, a people, and some of us are not thankful; we don't like our shape. "I don't like my shape." "I want to be in shape." Round is a shape! Some of us are round, and some of us are triangles, and some of us are squares. Then there are those people that all of us don't like: the upside down triangle, the guy with the big shoulders, the small waist-and the tiny brain. I didn't-I'm sorry. Here we are, and we realize, then, that even in these small things, it is God that made us and not we ourselves. Some of us don't like our shapes; some of us feel we got shortchanged in our ethnic groups, and all of these different things. You've got black people bleaching themselves and white people lying on the beach. You've got black people straightening their hair and white people curling it. You ask, "What is wrong with this picture?"

Here we are looking at where men's hearts are. We're always wanting something that we don't have. That is a spirit of diminishing the sovereignty of God. Be thankful, for it is God that made us and not we ourselves. God not only made you, He has predestined us to be conformed to the image of Jesus. Life is a process of predestining us to the final product of glorification in Jesus Christ-not predestined to heaven and hell, but predestined to Christlikeness. Here we are being processed to the will of God: God working in us to will and to do His good pleasure, all things working together for good (Romans 8:28) to those that love God and are called according to His purposes. Are you thankful for what God is doing in your life today? "Well, I'm sick." "I just got a diagnosis of malignancy." "My child has just backslidden." "My wife is leaving me." "My business is going under." In everything gives thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. In the midst of life, can you just stand up-as the utterance said this morning-and say "God is good" and glory in the Lord, glorify God for all the good things that He has done and is doing in our lives? We're going to see that this whole process works in us an understanding of some of these aspects I'm going to show you that we need to be thankful for beyond material things and health. In our midst, God is building a body, and everything that's happening in your life is to strengthen the church that Jesus might be glorified.

"They glorified Him not as God," the Scripture says. They had their own agenda, but we subordinate ourselves to the goodness of God, the will of God. We believe that all things are working together for good. In everything, the Scripture says, we give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning us-not grudgingly, not grudgingly, willingly. "Serve the Lord with gladness: come before his presence with singing. Know ye that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name. For the Lord [say it] is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations" (verses 2-5).

If you believe that God is good, if you believe that God is merciful, that His truth and His justice endure to every generation, then we don't have to go around feeling like we've been transgressed against, like we've been ripped off, like life isn't fair. God is just. It may not work-the balance may not balance out in your time or in your way, but I want to tell you something. God is just. When you begin to be disoriented, when you begin to lose sight of this, you begin to be depressed and cast down, and you begin to wonder why the wicked are prospering and why things don't seem to be going right, the psalmist said, "I went to the house of the Lord." You realize that the God of all of the earth does right, and that makes you thankful. You can rejoice! You can enter into His gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise. You're not dissatisfied. You're not discouraged, because God is good, the Scripture says.

One of the things we need to be thankful for-let me go down and list a few of the things that we need to begin to focus on instead of the things that would cause our eyes to be cast down and our hearts to become heavy. There doesn't have to be reason. I've shared with you I'm a person that battles depression all the time. I don't know exactly the causes of it, whether it's chemical, whether it's genetic, or whatever. I know my mother has fought it all of her life. I've shared with you some of the testimonies. She was agoraphobic. She was in the house for well over a year, wouldn't even leave a certain area of the home. It's a very interesting thing because there doesn't have to be any reason behind it. The Scripture says, "Put on the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness." Don't think that it has to be circumstantially initiated. I believe that it's a just a consequence of the fallen nature of man. It's a byproduct of sin. Don't think that it's just based upon circumstances, because the circumstances can be absolutely great. I, as an individual, am not lacking for anything in the natural or material realm. I am blessed beyond my greatest imaginations in every area. Yet to have to come to war with this spirit, I've found that the only thing that is able to deal with and break this power of depression-I want you to understand one thing. Depression comes in a lot of different ways to express itself, but one of the ways that you'll find out is in discontentment. Discontentment is just a mild form of depression. In these particular areas, it's primarily based upon an over evaluation of self, self-worth; it has its greatest access when you're serving self instead of others. It has its greatest access to you when you are not on the front lines at war. In other words, when you have idle minds and idle time; when you're not focused on lifting up other people's hands, on the good of the kingdom. Then Satan is able to take and turn on you these vain imaginations.

So one of the things that we need to be thankful for is the body of Christ-not only what they put into our lives and do to edify and to build us, but the access to edify others. One of the great gifts we have are the lives around us that we can serve, that we can get involved in preferring others' riches and not our own and lifting up hands that are hanging down. Colossians 3:15 says this: "Let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful." It's interesting what Paul is saying here contextually. How does this peace rule in our hearts? There's never a greater peace than knowing, of course, you're in right relationship and about Father's business. It's His presence that brings peace-"Peace I give unto you not as the world gives. Be anxious for nothing; but in everything with thanks through prayer, supplication let your requests be made known unto God, and the peace of God that passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus." The lack of anxiousness, the prayerfulness, the pursuit of God, the supplication, the intercession for the goodness of the body of Christ, for the goodness of brothers and sisters, for the will of God in our lives-the peace of God comes as we begin to find our place in that unit, the body of Christ; to which you were called in one body. You're never going to be content until you find your niche in the body, until you're fulfilling God's purposes in your life. When you're on the perimeter, there is no peace.

I don't have time to break down every Scripture, but look again at what Paul is saying here. He says, "Be ye thankful." I don't have time for this, but just be thankful for where you've been placed in the body. We've not made ourselves; God has made us. The clay can't say to the potter, "Why have you made me thus?" All of this brings about thankfulness. It brings about peace. It brings about a unification of the body of Christ. Are you thankful for the body of Christ? "Oh yeah, I'm just so thankful for friends." I didn't say "friends"; I said "the body of Christ." It's different. The body of Christ is what nurtures you, brings life to you. These other members pour into you the presence, the power of God. They bring instruction. They bring reproof. They bring rebuke. They bring to you a strength where two is better than one. They lift up your hands when you're weary. Are you thankful for the body of Christ this morning? They give you purpose in life, someone to serve. Are you thankful for the body of Christ? Are you thankful for the members that have needs and that God gives you grace to meet them, or would you rather use that time and energy serving self? That's where thankfulness comes in. Do you begrudge when others have needs, that they're going to "take away your time"? You don't have any time. Your life belongs to God. That's where thanksgiving comes in. That's where the joy of the Lord begins to manifest itself.

"Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name." How do we start this thing? You start off by just blessing the name of the Lord. You just go around talking about how good God is. It can become trite; I understand that. Some of the cultures, like when you go to Africa, if you happen to say-when I say this, I mean it. But if I'm talking to somebody and I say, "God is good," you'll hear in reply, "All the time." "God is good." "All the time." That's their little catchphrase. Somebody says, "God is good," and the person responds, "All the time." Well, that's the truth. But let's make sure that it's not just some type of Pavlovian response. Let's make sure that when we say, "God's good," we're praising Him-"For those that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth." Let's make sure it's coming out of the abundance of our hearts, that our praise can't be restrained like when the religious people said, "Jesus, see if you can quiet those people up" as He was riding into the city and they were crying, "Hosanna! Hosanna!" "Save now" is what that means. They began to sing the goodness of God and to praise Him. He said, "You can't shut somebody up that has worship for Me. It's impossible!"

That was the whole thing that Daniel was facing. Over in Daniel, Chapter 6, verse 10, it says, "Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed [You all remember the story. Anybody that worshiped any other god was going to death.], he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he [had always done]." Do you want to know what got Daniel in the lion's den? Thanksgiving. You couldn't shut him up. "All I'm asking you to do, Daniel, is take off 30 days of being thankful to God. Just for 30 days, that's all we're saying. I know in your heart you're thankful. Just keep it to yourself for 30 days. Go ahead and be thankful in your heart; just don't say anything." "Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name." You've got to tell somebody. You've got to tell somebody how good God is.

We're talking about reaching a soul for Jesus this year. You want to know how to reach people? Go out and tell them how good your God is. Just go out and tell them how good your Father is, that everything that they're seeking for is vain imaginations. Reality, truth, is here in the presence of God. Do you want something that'll finally bring contentment to your life, purpose? It's He that made us, and not we ourselves. This is what we've been created for. Nothing else will satisfy. So Daniel went in there, just threw the windows open, and began to pray.

Isn't it interesting what we're facing in our world today and the influence of Islam? We talked about the fact that their religion requires them to pray. You're driving down the road- How many of you ever been driving down [Route] 95 and seen some guy alongside the road praying? I've seen that. They'll stop, the real orthodox guys, and they'll get their little mat out. They'll find Mecca. I guess it's their GPS. And their obligation requires them to pray. The governments are beginning to bow down-"See, these people are committed to this. You're just Christians. Everybody knows Christians don't practice what they believe." We're to pray without ceasing. "We can't do that because we might get into trouble." Trouble, nothing! Are you ready to go into the lion's den? Are you ready to go into the fiery furnace? Are you ready to lose your job? Some of you have been told, "You can't talk about the Lord on your job. It's against the law." I want to ask you a question: Am I supposed to obey God or men? I'm the light of the world. I'm the salt of the earth. What I've seen in secret, I proclaim from the housetops. You can't keep the thankful person quiet in blessing his God, in boasting about his God.

Is God as good as the Redskins? Is God as good as George Mason [University]? Have you been talking about what God has done? People are sitting around talking about the trades that the Washington Redskins have made. Have you been talking about the trades that Jesus has been making for the kingdom of God? Have you been talking about the trades that you've experienced? I've traded the spirit of heaviness for the garment of praise. Let's talk about that! Let's talk about the souls that have been added. Let's talk about the people that we've witnessed to. Let's talk about some eternal things instead of all of these vain imaginations.

What are we thankful for? You see, where our treasure is, that's where our heart is. That's what we talk about: our treasures, the things we're thankful for. When you wake up in the middle of the night, do you look over at your spouse and just say, "Thank you, Lord. I'm just thankful that You put them in my life." Or since they're in REM sleep, do you slap them so that they'll think they dreamed it? When you get a chance to witness to somebody, do you walk away just shaking your head saying, "Praise God. Lord, thank You. What a privilege to take Your name in my lips and speak the truth to somebody!" When you walk into your closet and you look around and you see what God-You say, "Walk in the closet? I can't even get in the closet."

Can I clarify for you? I've lived in places that didn't have a closet. It didn't matter, because I didn't have anything to put in there. I told somebody the other day, when I decided to serve the Lord I lost everything I had. I lost-as I've shared with you-my family, my home, everything that was provided for me. Everything that I had was in the back seat of my GTO. Everything that I owned was in my car. I was happy just serving God. I didn't need anything else. Today I can still almost put everything I have in my cars. It must have been something that stuck; I don't know. The point I'm making is are you thankful?

I can still remember that first home that we lived in. We paid $11,000 for our first home. It was a nice little home. I can still remember just standing in that little place. I don't know what it was. It was probably 1050 square feet or something like that; so it wasn't super small. I can remember just standing in that house and being in awe of the goodness of God and how He had blessed us and thought, God is so good.

Just the other day, I was looking around at a place. I don't know where it was, some house up here. And we were just kind of looking around at some houses. It was a nice place. It was about 7500 square feet, or whatever. It was a nice place. It was a few mil. I was looking around there, and I thought, "This is cool." I had no desire; I'm just so content. I could live there if I wanted; I'd just have to sell a few cars. My mind flashed back to that little house, and I was so aware of the fact that one was not better than the other if the presence of God was there. That's what makes it great. That is what makes us thankful, because the goodness of God is the source of both, and both have the same worth if God was the originator. Do you believe that this morning? So everything you have, everything you possess that God has given you-regardless of where it fits in man's perception-we're all equally wealthy and blessed, and we all should be equally thankful. "For it's God that made us, and not we ourselves."

In this world that is trying to create in us discontentment and create images that "unless we achieve these certain levels, we'll never be happy," it's vanity; it's a lie; pull it down. Godliness with contentment is great gain. We all hear this, and we doctrinally believe it. But there is a spirit, beloved, that we're facing in this world: that secret power of lawlessness that we spoke to, that aspect of self-exaltation. The spirit of discontentment is the war.

I want to ask you, then, How would you evaluate yourself in light of Psalm 100? Do you constantly enter His gates with thanksgiving? Is that how you're living? "Praise God, I'm just thankful all the time. I'm just so thankful for the privilege of being able to minister in Children's Church, and I'm thankful for the opportunity of serving in Young Adults. I'm thankful for the privilege of being able to help out in Home Fellowship Group meetings, that I'm able to go down and be with the Single-Minded Saints on board [game] night last night." They're all down there, you know, still wanting to champion the cause, still have to win that Monopoly game. We all have a little bit of self in there. Hopefully, no fights are breaking out down there, but if I play, I have to be the car.

Are we content? Are we thankful? Are we entering His gates with thanksgiving? Did you come in here this morning longing, serving the Lord with gladness, longing to be in His presence, longing to be with the family of God? Colossians 3:15: "Called to one body," thankful for that body, thankful for the call, thankful for the placement. 1 Chronicles 16:8 speaks toward that last aspect, and I'm going to finish with this for this morning. 1 Chronicles 16 speaks considerably of being thankful for the goodness of God. You can look over there really quickly, 1 Chronicles 16, the ark of the Lord, the presence of God manifesting. The Levites are ministering, verse 4, before the presence of God. It says, "And he appointed certain of the Levites to minister before the ark of the Lord, and to record [a million-seller], and to thank and praise the Lord God of Israel" (verse 4).

You're going to see a couple of things here, and I think it's very interesting. In the days of Nehemiah, they put together two groups, two bands-worship bands, I guess-two bands of folks, and they began to go around the walls, and they had one job. We remember in the building of the walls the people had a mind to work. They held a spear with one hand; they built with the other. They had a singleness of heart; they had a mind to work. In the midst of all of this, there were two bands that were put together, and they began to circle the walls. Do you know what their job was? You can guess from this message, right? They were just a group of people that were sent to continually declare the goodness of God, to bring thanksgiving to God, to encourage every worker to be thankful for where God placed them, how God gifted them, and for the vision that was before them.

What am I saying? Thankfulness is something that can be regimented. "Well, I don't fell like being thankful." You don't have to feel like it; God put you in the group. Give thanks! Bless the Lord! Speak of the goodness of God. Thanksgiving is not a feeling; it's a choice of making God big. It's a choice that chooses God and His promises over the natural circumstances. It's a choice to declare that God is sovereign, that His ways are higher than your ways. You may not understand what's going on, but you know that it's working together for good to those that love Him and are called according to His purpose.

They began to bring out the psalteries and the harps and the cymbals, and they worshipped and they sang praise, and the trumpets blasted continually before the ark of the Lord. "Then on that day David delivered first this psalm to thank the Lord.... Give thanks unto the Lord, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the people" (verse 7). One of the greatest ways that we can show our thanksgiving is to go around telling other people how good He is and what He's done in your life. Make known His deeds among the people. Instead of complaining, instead of prayer requests-"I need this; I need that"-just go tell them how good God has been to you. Just make His deeds known among the people. Go back and lift up the hands that might be hanging down. And if you haven't experienced anything in your life, then go talk about some of your relatives. Talk about brother Moses and how the sea was departed. Talk about your brothers and sisters that He fed with manna in the wilderness. Talk about those that experienced the shade of the cloud as God preserved His people. Talk about brother Peter who walked upon the water and who brought up the draught of fishes. We're part of an innumerable host that have been called and separated to show forth the praises of Him who has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light. We have something to be thankful for: We were blind and now we see. The Scripture goes on and says, "Give thanks." Give thanks for that incomprehensible gift of Jesus in our lives. "Make known," the Scripture says, "His deeds among the people."

Verse 34 goes on, and I'll end with this for this morning, "O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good [Beloved, if you have nothing else to be thankful for, listen to this last phrase. You can finish it for me.]; for his mercy endureth for ever." Aren't you glad for the mercy of God this morning? Aren't you thankful you're not getting what you deserve? Aren't you thankful that God is tenderhearted and full of loving mercies toward His people? He pities His children. He knows that we're just clay. And we just rejoice in the goodness of God. In that 100^th Psalm that we were talking about, as the psalmist was rejoicing in all the great things that were taking place, the boast in the Lord, he goes on and says in the very next couple of verses over in Psalm 103, "The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy.... He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.... Great is his mercy toward them that fear him.... As a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him." We're a blessed people, praise God. We have so much to be thankful for.

Let's just stand before Him this morning. Take just a moment, declare His goodness in your life, and thank Him for His mercies that endure forever. Thank Him for all of the good things that He's done in your life, that He's placed us into the body of Christ. He has given us an inheritance. He has called us His children. How much we have to be thankful for! Just thank Him. Just take some time and just thank Him. Just thank Him. Just tell Him how thankful you are for all the great things that He's done in your life, for what He's doing. Thank Him for bringing you right to where you are today. Everything is working for good if you love God, if you'll allow His purpose to be finished in your life. If you're not weary in well doing, in due season, you'll reap if you don't faint. Hallelujah.

We just declare, "Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name." The Lord is good, and His mercies endure forever. It is He that made us, and not we ourselves. You've done a good job, Lord, and I'm thankful. I don't see it; I don't understand it. But Your ways are higher than our ways, so we judge You good. Hallelujah! Let's sing it together and just rejoice in His goodness. "O give thanks to the Lord / Call upon His name...." We bless you, Lord. Lord, we just stand before you humbled by Your goodness, Your presence. In a world bound by covetousness and discontentment, in a generation deceived by vain imaginations, You've shown us Your face and You've changed us. You've given us illumination in this era of darkness. We see the truth. We see the vanities of everything that is outside You, so we enter Your gates. We come to You. We run to You and we say, "Thank You, for You're good, and Your mercies endure forever." You've made us, and not we ourselves. You've called us. You've placed us. You've ordained us. We say, "Thank You." Now give us grace to declare it in truth and in faith when we don't believe it, to take it as it's been revealed and say, "Yes, this is right and this is just and this is God, and for that, I'm thankful." That's what blesses You, Father, when we choose to make You great against our understanding, against all circumstances, because of who You are. We say, "Thank You," in Jesus' name, amen. Before you go, turn to somebody next to you and say, "God is good." Praise God. Amen.

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