Today I want to conclude our short series on Unopened Gifts. As I began this message with the thought that God is a gracious giver. Everything He gives is on the basis of His grace and goodness not our worthiness to receive. Grasping this important Bible truth is crucial if we are going to pursue the fullness of our inheritance in Christ. There will always be times when we come to God feeling as though we are unworthy to ask or receive His goodness and blessings. It is in those times, when we are so aware of our weaknesses and shortcomings that we need to remind ourselves of His grace and mercy! Thankfully, the entire package of salvation has been given through grace and is received by faith in the finished work of Jesus on the Cross.

Secondly, we talked about God being a generous giver. According to 2 Peter 1:2-3, He has already given to us a glorious inheritance which covers every area of life. It encompasses every spiritual component and every natural or real-life ordinated issue.  We have be given righteousness, joy, fellowship with the Father, spiritual authority, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the wisdom of God, and every other spiritual empowerment necessary to be victorious in our walk with God.

We have also, been given healing, peace of mind, the promise of material blessings, the assurance of the salvation of our families, God’s divine favor upon our daily endeavors…all we need to be successful and fruitful in our daily lives.

As we open up the Word of God and discover the gifts that we have been given, open them up and walk in the reality of them, we will see our lives flourish and prosper.

Thirdly, I said that He gives to us in abundance so that we can share them with others. Every gift we receive from God should be shared with others. This is why the concept of tithing is so important. It is an acknowledgment that everything I have comes from God and a willingness to honor God by returning a portion back to Him. In reality we are only giving back a small portion of what already belongs to Him. It is about teaching us that we are stewards, not owners. However, this isn’t just about money, it is about life.

This is about EVERY GIFT God has given to us. The talents we have been blessed with are not to sit as unopened gifts…they are designed to bless others. The grace we have received we meant to be distributed to others…the love we’ve been showered with is intended to be shared with others; the gifts of the spirit are designed to edify and build up others; when He gave us forgiveness, He envisioned is forgiving others-that’s the reason He said, if we don’t forgive we won’t be forgiven of our trespasses. Every gift given from His storehouse of blessing has been given to enhance our life and to provide a bounty out of which we bring blessing into the lives of others.

The fourth principle I addressed was the ideal that we do with these gifts will determine the degree to which we experience the fullness of them. If we are faithful to manage them well, God will increase our capacity and enlarge impact.

Last week I talked about the parable of the talents. In this story, a wealthy man, symbolic of God, give three servants different talents, or various amounts of money, and then departs for a long period of time. When He returns, the servants are required to give an accounting of what they have done with the treasures they were entrusted with. The first servant who had received 5 talents invested it and doubled its value.  The second servant was given 2 talents. He invested them and doubled their value as well. The third servant was only given 1 talent. Instead of investing it and trying to accumulate more, he was afraid and buried it. When the servants are audited, the first two are commended for their faithfulness and given greater responsibility. The third servant had his talent taken from him and given to another. He was rebuked and cast out of the presence of the Lord. The story ends with the Master saying to the faithful, in Matthew 25:23, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant.  You’ve been faithful with a few things. I’ll put you in charge of many things.  Come and share your master’s happiness.’”

This is where I ended last week. I want to pick up here today. I want to focus on one particular aspect of this today. These talents or symbols of value can represent all of God’s gifts to us, as well as the message of truth we have been commissioned to share with the world.

Today, I want to use this concept to address the individual gifts God has granted each of us. I believe that every one of us has been given a talent, a special gift, an ability that sets us apart and makes us unique. God wants us to find it, develop it and use it for His glory. When we do, it brings glory to God, blesses others and causes us to experience a level of joy that we would never know otherwise. It also opens the abundance of God upon our lives and enlarges our capacity to receive His blessings and goodness.

You were ordained to live a fruitful life. God created with the ability to be a person of impact and importance. It is the will of the Father for every believer to live life to the fullest! He wants us to achieve success in every area. Success isn’t the size of your house or the brand of your clothes. It is fulfilling the purpose of God in your family, marriage, ministry, finances, body, etc.

Life was originally intended to be a daily adventure-a walk with God down the path of limitless possibilities leading to the destiny, fruitfulness and fulfillment. Life was meant to be engaged, enjoyed, experienced and lived to the max. God intends for us to maximize our potential.

Look with me for a moment at Paul’s perception of life as he expressed it in his final letter to Timothy. “For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” (2 Timothy 4:6-7)

Paul likened his life to the ceremonial drink offering administered by the priest in the Old Testament rituals of the temple, in which the priest filled a cup with wine and ceremonially poured it out at intervals in the service until the cup was completely empty. Using this example, Paul gives a very effective illustration of how our lives should be lived.

Your life is like a cup of drink served to the world by our great Creator. The drink is the awesome, untapped, valuable, destiny-filled treasure, gifts, and talents of potential buried within you. Every minute, day, month, and year is an interval of opportunity provided by God for the pouring out of another portion of yourself until you have exposed all His precious treasure that makes you unique.

How tragic that most of the nearly seven billion people on this planet will settle for an average life limited only by their unwillingness to stretch themselves to the summit of their potential. Anything less than the maximum is mediocrity.

Someone once said, “mediocrity may be defined as the region of our lives bounded on the north by compromise, on the south by indecision, on the east by past thinking, and on the west by a lack of vision. Mediocrity is the spirit of the average, the anthem of the norm, and the heartbeat of the ordinary. Mediocrity is so common and pervasive that those who are labeled as genius or exceptional have to do only a little extra.”

You were called to be exceptional. To do what has never been done…to go where others are afraid to go…to be successful where others have failed…to be all you can be for His glory! You were created to live the extraordinary life…to be a world changer and a history maker.

God wants you to be fruitful in life. Look at John 15:16 “You did not choose me but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should remain…” Remember Jesus said that He came to bring us ‘life in abundance…”

However, Proverbs 29:18 (NKJV) says,  “Where there is no revelation, (ongoing prophetic vision) the people cast off restraint…” vision means a “mental sight or a revealed word from God.”

v  The Word restraint refers to the absence of clear guidance or definite direction.”

v  Hebrew idea of “restraint” – describes a bit in the mouth of a horse; used not to bind him but to direct him and enable him to use his immense power in a constructive manner.

In other words when we lack a mental picture…a revelation of God’s purpose for our lives we will be without direction, having no means of receiving His guidance in the various areas of life. We perish or fail in those areas and never know the fullness God has promised.

Billy Sunday-“More men fail through lack of purpose than through lack of talent.”

1. The first thing is, we must dedicate our lives

Proverbs 16:3 says, “Commit your work to the LORD, and then your plans will succeed.”  Undedicated gifts have the habit of corrupting those who possess them. I am talking about consciously acknowledging that everything comes from God and then offering them back to Him.

I Corinthians 4:7 “…And what do you have that you did not receive? Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it? “

• John 3:27 “”…A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven.”
• I Corinthians 10:31 “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Give no offense, either to the Jews or to the Greeks or to the church of God, just as I also please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved.

Whether it is athletic ability, a singing voice,  a  musical talent, an administrative gift, the ability to communicate, whatever it is dedicate it and yourself to God and you will move from just being successful to being significant. We are here for more than just making enough money to retire early and move to Florida. There is more to life than that. God wants to use you to establish His plan in the earth. You are His body. He has called you, chosen you and gifted you to fulfill a part in the Kingdom.

It is nice if you have a nice home and raise good kids but what about the lost who have never heard? The bound who want freedom? The hurting who cannot help themselves? We are responsible for them as well.  

• This was the testimony of Paul. On the Road to Damascus God called him and told him he would preach the gospel to the Gentiles and in Acts 26:12-19 he tells King Agrippa, “I did not disobey the heavenly vision…” He lived his entire life with a sense of assignment or obligation to the purpose of the Father. It was a pleasure not a burden.
• Gifts that are not dedicated to God will generally end up destroying the one who possess it. [Elvis, Whitney Houston, Katy Perry, Usher so many others.] Greed, divorce, family strife, depression, suicide.
• Everything you have is a gift from God. It all has to be done for the glory of God.

2. Then we must discover our purpose

Some would reverse these two. I say, begin from the premise that all I have is God’s and go from there…it’s much safer!

This then bring us to step number two…you have to know what you are all about; what your desires are, what your gifts are, what you are effective at. Nobody does everything well, but everyone does something well. Take the time to find out what you do well and do it to the glory of God!

Any tool or instrument that is used or operated in a manner that is different than what it was originally designed by the manufacturer to do will not only fail to maximize its potential but will also be ineffective and will generally be damaged in the process.

• Can use a sax to shovel snow-will work to some degree, but will be ineffective and will damage a wonderful instrument.

EXAMPLE: Use a wrench to drive a nail- too lazy to go get e hammer-mar the tool and the wall. It is not what it was intended to do. Same with life – many are not functioning or flowing in the thing they were created for and as a result are ineffective and usually end up being hurt in the effort. We need to be reminded that God has a purpose for our lives. There is something designed for you and something you are designed to do. Your life is ordained to have meaning.

Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so that we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” (New Living Translation)

• Workmanship- “poem; masterful work of art; Hand-crafted design of a master craftsman.”
• We are supposed to have rhyme, reason, order and symmetry. God has some specific things mapped out for us to live and walk in. We are not here by accident or coincidence but are hand chose, ordained, designed by God to be who we are, and when we exist for His desire to be fulfilled in us!
• You are created with destiny, purpose and design. God has an assignment for your life.

Several observations about destiny and purpose:

A.    Your purpose is a discovery not a decision! The manufacturer decides the purpose of the creation. If we try to be or do anything other than what we were created for we will be ineffective, unfulfilled and ultimately miserable. The creator decides what He has intended you to become. The creation merely determines the degree of obedience and cooperation he is willing to give.

It is amazing how many try to be what they are not called to be. [Singers, preachers, the boss, etc.] Life is an ongoing discovery of God’s intention and investment in me. Sometimes there is a defining moment-suddenly you realize you were created for this, this is your future!

Other times it is a steady growing conviction that you are called to a certain purpose-like the sunrise-you go from darkness to light in such small increments that it is almost imperceptible. You just know! Irrefutable!  You have to know who you are and what you are supposed to do!

Orison Swett Marden said, “There’s no greater sight in the world than that of a person fired with a great purpose, dominated by one unwavering aim.”

John the Baptist- “Who are you?” Response- “The voice one of crying in the wilderness…”

Jesus-“Who do men say that I am?” People won’t always see you as God created you to be or as you see yourself. This is why they cannot define your purpose-they don’t know what God has deposited within-they only see the exterior-God sees the interior!

When others fail to see your potential they try to make you something that serves their purpose, not God’s! Whether you are a Pastor, musician, teacher, doctor, secretary, carpenter, etc. you need to be able to say, this is who I am and what I do! You need to be confident that you are living God’s plan for your life.

 B.     You are the solution to someone’s problem.  God always prepares solutions before He permits problems to manifest.

Jehovah-Jireh – “Sees ahead and has already provided…”

Isaiah 41:4 “Who has performed and done it, calling (determining) the generations from the beginning? ‘ I, the Lord, am the first; and with the last I am He.’ “

Remember that everything God created is woven into this incredible circle of life in which every living thing is dependent upon ever other living thing to some degree or other to flourish. Every created thing solves a problem. God wanted fellowship so He created man-problem solved-new problem-man; became hungry- fruits and vegetables, and later gave approval to the consumption of animals; needed a companion-Eve-they need posterity-solution-children-sin-covering-sacrifice-etc.

Eye-see; ears-hear; mouth-speaks, hands-hold; feet-walk; nose-smells.

• Glasses- improves vision; microphone-improves sound-etc.
• Mechanics solve car problems; Dentist solve tooth problems; Lawyers solve legal problems; Mothers solve-every problem; Accountants solve tax problems; Christians solve human problems.

Somebody is waiting for you to discover your purpose and use your God-given gift to solve the problems in their lives!

C.    Your Individual purpose is directly connected to God’s corporate purpose in the earth. This is why God places you in a Body of believers. As each member uses his or her gifts, the cause of the Kingdom is advanced.

Too often ministry or service becomes self-serving, self-indulgent, and self-promoting. It is all about “ME.” In reality unless I am serving the need of another I have no significance. In a larger sense we should be asking, “Lord what is YOUR PURPOSE for my life?” God is weaving this amazing tapestry that has to do with the redemption of mankind.

What He has called and gifted each of us to do somehow fits into the overall plan He is orchestrating in the earth. My purpose is an extension of His universal purpose. You may build, organize, write, sing, serve, persuade others through speaking, build, or any other vocation. But, you need to ask, “How does this fit into God’s greater plan in the earth?”

How?

• Identify your passion
• Evaluate your areas of effectiveness
• Recognize the things that bring fulfillment
• Consult with spiritual leadership

3. Thirdly, we must develop our gift

Once we discover our purpose and dedicate your lives, then we must develop the gift necessary to fulfill it!

I Chronicles 5:18 “The sons of Reuben, the Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh had forty-four thousand seven hundred and sixty valiant men, men able to bear shield and sword, to shoot with the bow, and skillful in war, who went to war…”

Your capacity is being decided by your commitment to take what you have been given and develop it. So many people are given gifts that are unopened, or just opened a little. They either take them for granted or are content to operate them at a low level. God wants us to develop these gifts and maximize their potential. How do you develop you gift?

•  Learn it-study your gift and see how it works. Understand the dynamic of what makes one with this gifting successful. Read books, take classes, watch others, ask questions…hone and polish the gift God has given you.

Proverbs 18:16 says, “A man’s gift makes room for him and brings him before great men.” Realize can refer to a bribe or money gift. Also, a truth throughout the book that generosity opens opportunities. The gift God has given you opens a door that would not be open otherwise. It gives you opportunity. It will be used by God to promote you in life.

Read verse 15  “The heart of the prudent acquires knowledge, And the ear of the wise seeks knowledge.” Never stop learning. A wise man will seek as much knowledge as he can pertaining to the gift and graces in his

• Use it~ Hebrew 5:14 “But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.”

Whatever it is you have been given, it must be exercised. Romans 12:6 says “having gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us let us use them…”

• Muscles-lose them, musical ability-lose finger placement, calluses, etc.
• Most are waiting for the big thing to shine-shine in the small things and God will promote you. Waiting for their big break-their ship to come in-swim out to it. Sing in the shower-improve!

When I began in ministry, I was terrible. I improved as I studied, took classes, watched other preachers, asked them questions about preparation, presentation, and so forth. In the beginning I preached to 6 people; one time I preached to 12 people every night for 3 weeks think two or three were dead. With every message I became more and more comfortable operating in my calling.

One of the world’s greatest violinists, Paganini was born in the city of Genoa, Italy and became very sick at the young age of 40 only living to be 58. Some accused him of being in league with the devil because his finger moved so fast. Towards the end of his life he donated his violin to the city with the stipulation that it never again be played. Within a few years the instrument which had brought such joy to thousands was stored in a museum. In a few short years it was rotten and termite ridden until useless.

• What are you doing with your gifts?

3.) Develop Discipline

I Corinthians 9:24 “Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified…”

• Olympics they work hard to get a prize, a trophy, a laurel wreath, that turns to dust. They don’t decide 2 weeks before the meets to work out-“I think I could do that.” They work for years. Sacrifice and discipline their bodies-if a writer-write-singer-sing, preacher-preach, etc.
• Make time for what you value.

4.) How you respond to criticism, circumstance and correction will determine the outcome

of your life

Criticism – When you are criticized, evaluate, forgive, learn

Circumstances – Don’t allow adversity to knock you off track. Keep the faith and learn to praise in the face of opposition.

Correction – When correction is given, receive it with humility. Be willing to change- it is part of the preparation season in your life. God will always try to expose the things keeping you where you are. Be open to learn and improve. Allow others to speak into your life and share what they have already learned. It will save you many wounds and failures and accelerate your growth.

Today, in this room, there are numerous gifts lying under your spiritual tree unopened. As we embark upon a new year, let’s make a decision to open them up. Let’s dedicate our lives, find our purpose, and develop our gifts so that we can bring glory to God, bless others and experience the joy that only comes from faithful management of God’s resources.

“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.” James 1:17 (NJKV)

“Whatever is good and perfect comes down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting shadow.” James 1:17 (NLT)

Today I want to begin a short series of messages I’m entitling, “Unopened Gifts.” A few years ago Mimi and the kids bought me a beautiful scarf and glove set for Christmas. There were lots of gifts and as the tradition goes in the Walker house we allow the kids to open their gifts one after the other and Mimi and I only open ours when the children push us to open something from them. In the process of opening gifts and cleaning up the aftermath, somehow, my gift box was slid under the snow covering and forgotten. To be totally honest, it warmed up for a couple of days and I didn’t ask for them and I guess Mimi totally forgot to remind me until the next cold spell came through.  I ended up buying another pair of gloves that weren’t as nice and just went on as though I had not received the gift. About three weeks later, when we were taking down the tree, I found my gift. Later, I was thinking about what had transpired. I had what I wanted and needed but had failed to open it and so I was living as though I didn’t have it. I think this is the story with lots of Christians today. God has already provided everything we need but because we fail to investigate and search out what He has given to us, we are living as though we have not received His full provision. Today, I want to challenge you to open your gifts and enjoy the fullness God has given us as His children.

Before I begin to explore this further, I want to make a few observations:

1. God is a gracious giver. In fact, the Bible is a litany of His grace in action. What is grace?

Grace – Grace is usually defined as “unmerited favor; God giving us what we don’t deserve and so forth.” I want to add to the definition of grace… “the willingness of God to demonstrate His power on behalf of those who don’t deserve it; the divine empowerment of the believer; the motivation and the means through which God gives to His people.” 

Look at Ephesians 2:8-9…

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, ⁹ not of works, lest anyone should boast…”

Also, 2 Peter 1:2-3…

“Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, ³ as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness…”

Acts 20:32 from the Amplified Bible…

“And now [brethren], I commit you to God [I deposit you in His charge, entrusting you to His protection and care]. And I commend you to the Word of His grace [to the commands and counsels and promises of His unmerited favor]. It is able to build you up and to give you [your rightful] inheritance among all God’s set-apart ones (those consecrated, purified, and transformed of soul).”

From Genesis to Revelation we see this amazing contrast…we find God giving and man receiving, although mankind is unworthy and undeserving. From the first glimpse of mankind’s interaction with God, it is God initiating this relationship of blessing and grace. Everything God gives is given on the basis of grace. He gives physical and spiritual life, total provision, protection, wisdom, grace, love, mercy, comfort and joy. All that mankind needs is available through the grace of God. He even sent His Son, Jesus to go to the Cross to die in our place and to reconcile mankind back to Himself. He then sent the Holy Spirit, called the Spirit of grace to reveal and to minister the provisions of the New Covenant. God is a gracious giver!

Some would ask why is it so important to focus on the fact that God is good and merciful, full of grace and mercy. Many have false perceptions of the Father. I’ve noticed that there are four common misconceptions about God.  I’ve talked to thousands of people about God personally over the years.  The misconceptions that people have tend to fall in one of four categories.  I have no doubt that many of you here today have been deluded about one of these myths about God

A. For instance, there are some who think that God is unreasonable.  They believe that He puts unreasonable demands on their lives that they could never possibly live up to.  They think that all He wants to do is make their lives tough, and establish rules, regulations and restrictions that remove all of the fun, enjoyment, happiness.  They see God as some kind of cosmic killjoy.  They see Him as too demanding and more of a dictator and avenger for every mistake they make in life.

B. Others see Him as unreliable.  They have been hurt and disappointed in people, churches, leaders or even their earthly father and transfer that resentment towards the Heavenly Father.  It’s an interesting characteristic of human behavior; often times when a person gets hurt, abused, attacked they not only blame the person who hurt them, but they also blame God for allowing it.  Many carry bitterness and resentment in their hearts toward God blaming Him for all of the bad things that have happened in their lives.  “Why did that happen, God?  If that’s the kind of God You are, no thanks, God!”  So you resist it because you think, He’s not unreasonable, but He’s unreliable.  “I can’t trust Him.”  When you’ve been hurt a lot you say, “I’m not going to trust anybody and I’m certainly not going to trust God!”

God has given each of us the freedom to choose.  That’s one of God’s greatest gifts to us.  He could have made you a puppet where you didn’t have a choice between good and evil.  You could only do good.  God could have kept people from hurting you by taking away their freedom to choose.  But He didn’t.  And because He’s given us the freedom to choose, people make the wrong decisions and they hurt other people.  You’ve been hurt by people who make bad decisions.  God could have taken away their freedom to do that, but He also would have, to be fair, taken away your freedom and you wouldn’t have liked that.

We always tend to focus on how people have hurt us.  Have you ever focused on the fact that you’ve hurt a lot of people?  And God never stopped you.  You’ve hurt many people through your own selfishness and self-centeredness.  We blame God for our hurts, as if He caused it all.  He didn’t cause those hurts – people did.  It happened because we’ve all been given the freedom of choice.  He wants you to choose what’s good.

C. Others think God is unconcerned.  I’ve heard, “Yes, I believe there is a God.  He’s just too busy to bother with me.  How could God be possibly interested in me?  God’s got big things to worry about, like universes to create.  How could He be concerned about my job, my kids, my family, my career, my schooling, my education, my boyfriend?”  Those things seem petty so you think God is unconcerned.  If you think He’s unconcerned, you’re not going to seek His wisdom and council in your decisions and daily choices. They see God as out there… aloof.  Like the Better Midler song, “God is watching us from a distance.”  Not up close but backed off… from a distance.

Today, I want you to open up your mind and allow all of the concepts you’ve had about God to this date to be set on a shelf for a minute.  Instead, we’re going to look at what God says about Himself in the word, in the truth, in the Bible. The Scriptures tell us that He is caring, close, consistent and competent.

Look at our text for a minute… James 1:17

“Every good and perfect gift is from the Father who does not change like shifting shadows.” 

The truth is, earthy fathers are unpredictable.  Some of them are incredibly unpredictable and fickle.  I know some teenagers who feel like, “I never know what to expect from my dad.  It changes so much from one day to the other depending entirely on the mood he’s in.  One day he’s silent and the next day he’s violent.  One day he’s a good guy and the next day he’s a tough guy.  I don’t know what to expect.”  Inconsistent fathers produce insecure kids.  They are afraid to approach him. Our Father is good all the time…consistently good and consistently giving good…”every good (helpful, favorable or beneficial gift is from above and comes down (is constantly coming down) from the Father…”

One of the greatest causes of resentment and rebellion in kids is broken promises.  Some of you still have thoughts of times when your parents broke a promise and you still have thoughts of times when you broke a promise to your kids because we are all imperfect.  That feeling of “….  But you promised!”  The good news is God always keeps His promises.  That’s the kind of Father that He is.  Romans 11:29 “God will never go back on His promises.” You can count on Him every single time.  We have a God who is a gracious giver.

2. He is a generous giver-As I said a few weeks ago, He is not stingy or tightfisted. He is generous and showers His people with abundance.

Psalm 68:19… “He daily loads us with benefits…”  Psalm 145:16 says, God, “you open your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing” (NIV). The Message translation is, “Generous to a fault, you lavish your favor on all creatures.” Not only do we as humans experience God’s generosity, but all living things, plants and animals, experience it. God lavished beauty, complexity and grandeur in creating the world. Did you know that there are 600 varieties of asters and 25,000 varieties of orchids? Those are just two of 270,000 species of flowers. Why so many? What extravagance! What lavish, overwhelming beauty! God of the open hand has poured out his blessing in creation.

Think about the phrase “Father of Lights…” I am overwhelmed by the grandeur of God’s creation. A thousand stars in the sky would be plenty. I can only keep track of a half dozen or so by name. We can actually see about 5,000 stars with the naked eye. Surely that would be enough. But our galaxy has 400 billion stars. And there are now 10 billion galaxies within reach of our most powerful telescopes. There are 70 sextillion stars (7 with 22 zeroes). To think of it another way, there are 10 times as many stars as all the grains of sand on all the world’s beaches and in all the world’s deserts. God of the open hand lavished complexity and majesty in the creation of the universe and the earth.

Why such grandeur, such beauty, such intricacy in God’s creation? God says, “I made it for you to enjoy, to contemplate, to fire your imagination and to saturate your soul.” In Genesis 2:16, the Lord completed the Garden of Eden and gave it to Adam. “Here it is. For you. You are free to eat of any tree of the garden. Enjoy.” One tree Adam and Eve were not to eat from, but that’s another story.

“Earth is drenched in God’s affectionate satisfaction” Psalm 33:5 (MSG). The description of God’s generous, extravagant creation continues: “The skies were made by God’s command; he breathed the word and the stars popped out. He scooped Sea into his jug, put Ocean in his keg” (Psalm 33:6-7 The Message).

How does God give?

According to James 1:5 “God gives to all generously and ungrudgingly.”  This word translated as generously means, “to give liberally, lavishly, abundantly, and without holding back, or seeking self –gain or personal recognition.” It is the idea of giving your best as often as possible from the goodness of your heart. In practical terms it means to do the best you can because it is an expression of your heart of love and concern. The idea of “ungrudgingly,” is He doesn’t taunt you, or throw it up in your face, reminding you that you are unworthy or undeserving. He takes joy in blessing His people…

Our God is generous! He is generous in grace, mercy, love and blessing… “able to do exceedingly abundantly above all we could ask or even think.” He is a big, generous God!

3. The third observation is, He gives to us and then ask of us that we return a portion of what we have received back.

Look at I Chronicles 29:14 in the Living Bible says, “Everything we have has come from You, Lord.  We can only give You what’s Yours already.”  In reality everything already belongs to God.  We need to remember it’s all God’s.  We don’t really own anything.  It wasn’t yours before you were born.  It’s not going to be yours after you die.  God just loans it to you for about seventy-five or eighty years.  Then He says I’ll loan it to somebody else.  Then He’ll loan it to somebody else.  You don’t really own anything.  You didn’t bring anything on to this planet.  And you’re not taking anything out of this planet.  It’s all just on loan. We are just stewards or managers over His resources. How well we manage it will determine how much H can trust us with!

Jesus said in Luke 6:38 from the Message Bible, “If you give you will receive and your gift will return to you in full measure and running over.  Whatever measure you use in giving will be used to measure when it’s given back to you.”  Hear what God’s saying there.  God is saying that you and I get to choose the level of blessing that we will receive in our lives.  The limits on how much God is able to give back to us is determined by our measure of giving.

We have all heard the passage in Malachi preached where the prophet says that when we don’t honor God with our tithes we are “robbing God.”  Have you ever wondered how that works?  How is it that robbing God is to not tithe?

Beloved, God doesn’t need my money.  What am I robbing God of?  I’m robbing Him of His opportunity to bless me, His opportunity to do things in my life that He wants to do.

I want to go back and quote again what my dad said in a message several years ago. He said, “Giving is not God’s way of getting our money. If He needed something He would just create it or take it because it is all His anyway. He has such wealth He paves Heaven’s streets with gold. It is His way of doing 4 things;

1. He is trying to teach us the principle of sowing and reaping which is the most important law of success and blessing in the universe. In fact every living thing depends upon it to survive and proliferate.

2. He is trying to teach us the principle of generosity, for it really is more blessed to give then it is to receive. He wants us to reflect Him and by doing so understand that what we have is entrusted to us so that we can distribute God’s bounty of blessings in the earth. WOW!

3. He is trying to teach us the principles of faith. Do we trust God enough to be a liberal giver, or are we so bound by fear that we hold tight to all that we have fearful that we will never have more?

4. He is trying to teach us stewardship-that all we have is God’s and what we do with it determines whether He can give us more, or whether this is all we can be trusted with. What we do with our resources; our time, investment, money, and talents demonstrate where are devotions are and what our priorities are.”

Stingy people miss out on many of God’s blessings.  If you look at a stingy person you will find a person who is empty, alone, unfulfilled and otherwise miserable. They’re missing out on so many of God’s blessings. 

The Bible says in Deuteronomy 15:10 “Give generously and do so without a grudging heart.  Then because of this God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to.”  Don’t let Satan rob you of one more minute of blessing.

2 Corinthians 9:11 “You will be enriched in every way for all your generosity.”  I’ve just told you a couple promises from the Bible about generosity.  The truth of the matter is there are more promises in the Bible about giving than about anything else.

Now this is the beautiful part of this ideal. This isn’t just about money! In fact the passage in Luke 6:38 is taking about forgiveness and grace being given to those who have hurt us and mistreated us. He says as we give grace, mercy and forgiveness, it will be given back to us…good measure, pressed down and running over.

This is about EVERY GIFT God has given to us. The talents we have been blessed with are not to sit as unopened gifts…they are designed to bless others. The grace we have received we meant to be distributed to others…the love we’ve been showered with is intended to be shared with others; the gifts of the spirit are designed to edify and build up others; when He gave us forgiveness, He envisioned is forgiving others-that’s the reason He said, if we don’t forgive we won’t be forgiven of our trespasses. Every gift given from His storehouse of blessing has been given to enhance our life and to provide a bounty out of which we bring blessing into the lives of others.

Someone once said, “You make a living by what you get.  You make a life by what you give.” I will add… “You leave a legacy by what you give…not what you keep.” When your life is over people will remember you for the problems you solve or the problems you cause!”

In Acts 20:35 the Message Bible says, “In everything I’ve done, I have demonstrated to you how necessary it is to work on behalf of the weak and not exploit them. You’ll not likely go wrong here if you keep remembering that our Master said, ‘You’re far happier giving than getting.’” (“There is more happiness in giving than in receiving.”)  I’ve always loved that verse because it’s so honest – there’s more happiness, blessing and joy in giving than in receiving.  Does Jesus say there’s no happiness in receiving?  Of course not.  I don’t know about you, but I enjoy receiving. There is indeed happiness in receiving – no doubt about it. But Jesus says “there’s more happiness in giving.”

That’s the exact opposite of the way much of the world thinks.  Most of the world thinks there’s more happiness in what you get.  Jesus says not true.  There is more happiness in what you give.  You know that’s true – many of you – because of what you’ve given as a church and the things we are able to do for the Kingdom because of it.  It feels good, no great to give.  You want your family to be more joyful?  Then be more generous as a family.  You want to be more joyful in your life?  Then be more generous as a person. I’m asking you to look under the tree and get a firm understanding of what God has blessed you with and begin to share it with others.

Again, I am not just referring to money. Give some extra time to you children and see if it doesn’t bring more joy into your life. Take your wife out on a date, and not to McDonald’s and see if doesn’t make you feel good. Why? Every time you give it enlarges you capacity to receive.

How do we give to God? By sowing into His work and giving to others.

4. Here’s the final observation…whatever and to what proportion we give, we receive back in return.

It’s the principle of harvest: what you sow you’re going to reap. That’s true about money but it’s true about everything else.  If you sow criticism what are you going to get back?  People are going to criticize you.  If you sow gossip, guess what?  They’re going to gossip about you.  Here’s the law of life – whoever gossips to you will also gossip about you.  Never, ever listen to gossip.  The Bible calls it sin.  Don’t listen to it.  Why?  Because you are partaking in stolen goods and in the law someone who receives stolen good is as bad as someone who stole it.  Don’t listen to gossip.  If they tell you they’re going to tell somebody something about you.  A gossip is not your friend.

Whatever you give out you receive back!  Do you need more energy?  You know how to get more energy?  Whatever you need more of give it away.  Do you need more energy?  You have to exercise.  When you exercise you have more energy.  That’s true in every single area of life.  Whatever you need more of, give it away and you’ll get more back.  Do you need more affirmation in your life?  Give it away.  Start affirming other people.  You’re going to get more back. That’s the way God made the world.  For good or for bad, negative or positive.  Whatever you plant you’re going to get more back.  You plant resentment you’re going to get people resenting you.

There are a lot of people who believe they are immune to this law. However, just because it doesn’t happen immediately, doesn’t mean it isn’t going to happen. There’s always delay between planting and harvest.  When you plant a seed in the ground do you get an ear of corn the next day?  No.  Of course not.  You plant in one season and you harvest in another.  The same is true in giving.  You give to other people.  You give to God.  You give your life away and do you instantly reap the results the next day?  No.

There is season of waiting before God gives you the harvest.  Why?  He’s testing your faith.  He’s testing your faith to see if you’ll trust Him while there’s a delay in the planting and harvesting.  You cannot out-give God so you ought to get excited.  It’s not an obligation, it’s an opportunity.  Giving is not a debt we owe, it’s a seed we sow.  The real issue is fear.  Will I trust God?  Will I believe that God will keep His promises?

HE ALWAYS GIVES US MORE than we have given IN RETURN for our obedience. If you take a kernel of corn and you plant it in the ground do you get one kernel back?  No.  I’ve actually planted corn. When you plant one kernel in the ground, you don’t get one kernel back.  You get a stalk with a bunch of ears and thousands of kernels.

Here’s the point – you always get back more than you put in.  You plant an apple seed, what happens? Ask Johnny-you know Johnny Appleseed!

It is time to open your gifts and open the heavens in your life!

I want to conclude the series on Appreciation. Look with me one more time at the passage in I Thessalonians Chapter 5…

“Thank [God] in everything [no matter what the circumstances may be, be thankful and give thanks], for this is the will of God for you [who are] in Christ Jesus [the Revealer and Mediator of that will].” I Thessalonians 5:18 (AMP)

To give thanks means to “confess your appreciation; to praise or acknowledge verbally your gratitude for something you have received.”  I said in the beginning that Appreciation has three elements…

1. What does appreciation mean?

A.     Acknowledgement-first there is the realization that everything good in my life comes as a gift from God. Appreciation begins with a recognition that we have been blessed and it all comes from Him!

B.     Attitude- The natural effect of this realization is an attitude adjustment. I become a person of gratitude and appreciation.

Our text says, Thank [God] in everything [no matter what the circumstances may be, be thankful and give thanks], for this is the will of God for you [who are] in Christ Jesus [the Revealer and Mediator of that will].” I Thess. 5:18 (AMP)

The idea is that we thank Him in all things good or bad. Regardless of the circumstances or situations the child of God should be people of praise and gratitude. It is a determination to focus on the good and positive not the negative.

Notice the text says, “No matter what the circumstance may be…be thankful…for this is the will of God for you who are in Christ Jesus, the Revealer and Mediator of that will.” Underscore in your mind the phrase, Jesus is the revealer and Mediator of the will of the Father; He is leading us into the fullness of the inheritance purchased by the blood of the Lamb; He is telling us that we have assistance and aid, so we can find reasons to rejoice even during the worst of times because Jesus is working on our behalf. Thanksgiving is ALWAYS AN APPROIATE RESPONSE TO CIRCUMSTANCES!

C.      Actions-Finally, an attitude of appreciation and gratitude is expressed through actions. There are a variety of ways in which appreciation is shown. I want to focus on some of those today.

2. How is appreciation expressed?

A.     PRAISING- We can show our gratitude by offering praise to God.

B.     SERVING- We can also show appreciation by serving or blessing others as an expression of our appreciation for what God has done for us.

C.       GIVING- The third way we show appreciation is through the giving of gifts and material support.

D.      PRAYING-We can show appreciation by praying for someone.

An appreciative person doesn’t forget the acts of kindness and love they have been shown! One of the best ways to show appreciation is to pray for God to bless them for their generosity! If God has used someone to help you, encourage you or bless you in any manner, you should pray blessing over their kids, that they would have health, that their seeds would produce a bountiful harvest, etc. Pray for those who bless you!

3. Why Is Appreciation Important?

A.     It keeps our hearts soft and sensitive to God.

Romans 1:21-23 “because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man–and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.”

The core issue that caused these people to deny God and be turned over to the deception of their enemy was thanklessness! Ingratitude!

If having an unthankful attitude leads to a darkened heart, a heart that cannot perceive truth, or accept the sovereignty of God, or walk in even natural decency, then having a thankful heart produces a heart that is opposite. It is heart full of light, love, righteousness, sensitivity, discernment, and generosity.

B.     Appreciation keeps the blessing in my life and keeps out the curse. It helps you keep what you have and opens the door for you to receive more.

Kids-Parents don’t want to give gifts to unthankful children. When they are grateful doesn’t make you sacrifice to give them more?

Shakespeare said it well, “Sharper than a serpents tooth it is to have an ungrateful child.”  In the famous “Blessing Chapter” Deuteronomy 28:47 it says “because you did not serve the Lord your God with joyfulness of mind and heart in gratitude, for the abundance of all with which He had blessed you, therefore you will serve your enemies.”

If you want the door to stay open for greater blessings – be thankful – causes obedience.

Everyone loves the blessing but no one desires to be curses. And yet it seems that even though we are redeemed from the curse some of the symptoms are still hanging around in our lives. You want to know what releases the cures into our lives? The Bible uses the word “because,” indicating that this is one of the reasons. Remember that to be blessed means, “to be empowered to prosper or succeed” so be cursed means, “empowered to fail.” It means things don’t work, the favor of God in not upon his efforts; even when he does the right things he doesn’t get the expected results. He sows much and reaps little.

The Bible also tells us that the curse will not come without a reason. Look at Proverbs 26:2; “Like the sparrow in her wandering, like the swallow in her flying, so the causeless curse does not alight.” The Hebrew offers deeper insight: “He that is cursed without cause, the curse shall do him no more harm than the bird that flies over his head.”  In other words unless there is an opening, the curse can come but it doesn’t land, or affect your life.

What opens us up to the curse? Of course disobedience, but there is more. The Bible also teaches us that ingratitude, lack of appreciation or unthankfulness.  Read our passage: “⁴⁵All these curses shall come upon you and shall pursue you and overtake you till you are destroyed…because you did not serve the Lord your God with joyfulness of [mind and] heart [in gratitude] for the abundance of all [with which He had blessed you], ⁴⁸Therefore you shall serve your enemies whom the Lord shall send against you, in hunger and thirst, in nakedness and in want of all things; and He will put a yoke of iron upon your neck until He has destroyed you.

WOW! Verse 47 actually says, that if there is not thankfulness then there will be need and no help, problems without solutions, sickness without healing, the door will be opened for that which we have been we have been redeemed from to return!

This means we must learn to be joyful and thankful whether we feel like it or not. Otherwise, the door is opened for more problem then we can deal with. Circumstances are not acceptable reasons for ingratitude. They are excuses but not reasons! Regardless of what you are driving, wearing, if you have to take the bus, give God thanks. Praise will keep you open for blessing while complaining will release a curse.

It is easy to become unthankful. As soon as we begin to compare our lifestyle to those who have more than us, the focus seems to shift upon what we DON”T HAVE, which they possess. It is easy to become ungrateful. We should always focus on what we DO HAVE and always remember while there will always be people who have more, there will also always be people who have less. The quality of our lives is not determined by the things we possess, but rather by what we do with the opportunities God blesses us with. We must make a conscious decision to appreciate what we have and that will keep the door closed so that the enemy of our souls cannot come in and steal it.

C.       Appreciation helps us maintain stability in our faith. Look at Philippians 4:6-7 from the Amplified Bible:  “Do not fret or have any anxiety about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything, by prayer and petition (definite requests), with thanksgiving, continue to make your wants known to God. ⁷And God’s peace [shall be yours, that tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God and being content with its earthly lot of whatever sort that is, that peace] which transcends all understanding shall garrison and mount guard over your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”

Why? It keeps in an attitude of expectancy and faith while I am waiting for God to answer my prayer. Grumbling and complaining will undo what you have been establishing as you position of faith. Murmuring, grumbling and complaining are the evidences of fear, doubt and unbelief and they short-circuit your faith.

“…You will have whatever you keep saying” Mark 11:23 Your words determine the quality of your life! You are deciding whether the promise is fulfilled or not by either your agreement with His Word or your decision to doubt and disagree with what He has spoken.

When we begin to complain we hinder the ministry of Jesus. Remember He is the High Priest of our confession. (Hebrews 3:1) He takes our words and uses them to represent us before the Father. When we are speaking faith filled words we give Him substance to work with but when we speak doubt and unbelief, we hinder His mission of ministering blessing to our lives.

It gives us the ability to believe even when nothing is happening. It helps us focus on the promise not the problem. It says, “I see the problem but I choose to consider (place at the top of the list) the promises of God!” WOW!

It gives us the ability to obey even when we don’t understand what God is doing. It is an important means of demonstrating our trust in God and His promise.

Thanksgiving gives us the ability to believe even when it seems as though nothing is happening. It helps us focus on the promise not the problem. It says, “I see the problem but I choose to consider (place at the top of the list) the promises of God!” It declares, “Lord, I may not see it, feel it, or have any natural information to suggest that anything has changed but I know you cannot lie and you are faithful and so I praise you even before I see the promise materialize because I know you will perform your Word.” WOW!

This is how we remain in position for God to finish what He has started in our lives. It is easy to grow weary, impatient, and even bitter when things don’t seem to be progressing favorably. However, we must remember that God is working behind the scenes. He is working even it appears as though nothing is happening. He is the author and finisher of our faith. He is committed to completing what He has begun. When we waver and begin to murmur, gripe, complain or grumble we can delay the process and even at times abort the blessings! [“He that wavers …shall not receive anything from God…”] This is why we must continue in thanksgiving and praise.

The basic issue is, thanksgiving is the language of faith and complaining and grumbling is the language of fear, doubt and unbelief.  While I am waiting on God to answer my prayer and perform His word, if I maintain a heart of thanksgiving and praise, it allows me to maintain my position of faith and resist the temptation to doubt when I don’t see it happen immediately. The giving of thanks enables us to maintain an attitude of expectancy and faith while we are waiting for God to answer our prayers. IT IS THE LANGUAGE OF FAITH!

We have to learn to thank Him like we’ve got it before we have it so that we can get it!

We need to thank God for the things we need before we have them so that He can give them to us. Thank Him for it before you have it so that you can get it! This is called “rejoicing by faith…” Not because I feel anything, or see anything, but because I believe that God is able to keep His word! This is something the immature Christian who is controlled by his feelings and emotions cannot do. It requires faith in God’s ability to do what He has promised!

John 11:41

“…And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. 42 And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me.” 43 Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth!” 44 And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with grave-clothes…”

God expects us to do what we are able to do and then He does what we are unable to do. He will not do for us what we can do for ourselves.

Notice He says, “ Father I thank you have already heard me…” He thanked the Father for what He desired before He received it so that He could receive it. WOW!

When we are presenting a request to God we must also offer thanks. We are remembering His past blessings and showing God that we believe He has heard and will respond with sufficient grace again. It also, keeps us focused upon the promise rather than the petition. “I may not see it, feel it, nothing may have changed but I know you cannot lie and you are faithful and so I praise you even before I see the promise materialize.” Faith puts it in the past tense. If you really believe God has granted it you will rejoice! IT IS THE APPROPRIATE THING TO DO-SAY, “THANK YOU!” 

Andrew – When he was a baby would ask for his sippie.  Even before I gave it to him, he’d reply, “Thanks Dad.” As far as he was concerned it was done because Dad said, “Yes.” His faith in his fallible Father’s word caused him to be thankful.

Dr. Dale Robbins writes, “I used to think people complained because they had a lot of problems. But I have come to realize that they have problems because they complain. Complaining doesn’t change anything or make situations better. It amplifies It helps us maintain our focus on the promise of God in spite of our current condition. Frustration, spreads discontent and discord, and can invoke an invitation for the devil to cause havoc with our lives.” Complaining makes us miserable.

Psalm 77:3 says, “I complained and my spirit was  overwhelmed.”

Philippians 2:13 “Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe.”

People may think you are crazy, but you are operating in the spirit world and releasing things that will shortly manifest in the natural. This means we must learn to be joyful and thankful whether we feel like it or not.

This is how we remain in position for God to finish what He has started in our lives. It is easy to grow weary, impatient, and even bitter when things don’t seem to be progressing favorably.

However, we must remember that God is working behind the scenes. He is working even it appears as though nothing is happening. He is the author and finisher of our faith. He is committed to completing what He has begun. When we waver and begin to murmur, gripe, complain or grumble we can delay the process and even at times abort the blessings! [“He that wavers …shall not receive anything from God…”] This is why we must continue in thanksgiving and praise.

D.     Appreciation releases the supernatural.

I want to finish with the verse I used a few weeks ago, from Hebrews 13:15

“Through Him, therefore, let us constantly and at all times offer up to God a sacrifice of praise, which is the fruit of lips that thankfully acknowledge and confess and glorify His name.” (AMP)

To offer the “Sacrifice of praise…” means to give the best praise expressions we can, even when the circumstances are adversarial. (people laughing, body in pain, no money in the bank, husband walked out). Why is this so important? Why does God want me to praise Him and give thanks when times are hard and things are going bad?

Isaiah 57:19

“…I create the fruit of his lips, and I will heal him [make his lips blossom anew with speech in thankful praise].” (AMP)

When we begin to offer praise, God begins to create what we are praising Him for. WOW! What do you need? Begin to praise Him for it. Find a promise and begin to praise Him for it and it will manifest. You see there is power in words. When we speak negative words it releases bad things into our lives but when we begin to offer thanksgiving to God and praise Him for His promises it releases the angels to cause it to come to being.

I have to praise for what I want Him to do before He does it. I’ve got to praise Him like I have it before I get it so He can give it to me!

• 5 Lepers- “Go show yourself to the High Priest”- It is already done! “As they went they were cured.” 
• Paul and Silas in jail in Acts 16

E.      It sets the law of sowing and reaping into motion [Galatians say, “Whatsoever a man sows he will also reap…”]

In Luke Chapter 6 and verse 38 when Jesus said, “Give and it shall be given to you, good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over,” He wasn’t just referring to money. In fact in the context He was referring to love and forgiveness.  [“Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, ²⁸ bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you. ²⁹ To him who strikes you on the one cheek, offer the other also…” “Blessed are the merciful they shall obtain mercy.”]

When you express gratitude, whether it is verbally, through acts of kindness, by giving and tithing, or through prayers, if you express it you set this law in motion and it will return.

Story of Jabesh-Gilead – Saul had just become King they were attacked by the Ammonites, wanted to pluck out their right eye-could never defend themselves again. Saul saved them. Now 40 years later they returned the favor.

II Samuel 2:4-6 “Then the men of Judah came, and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah. And they told David, saying, “The men of Jabesh Gilead were the ones who buried Saul.”  So David sent messengers to the men of Jabesh Gilead, and said to them, “You are blessed of the Lord, for you have shown this kindness to your lord, to Saul, and have buried him. And now may the Lord show kindness and truth to you. I also will repay you this kindness, because you have done this thing.”

This law began with Saul, went to them, and now David was blessing them-he was next for blessing. It is a cycle that never stops.

Whenever someone says, “No one appreciates me.” I ask… “Do you show appreciation to others?” Generally, if you ask someone other than your husband-they’ll tell you the truth! When you give it out it will come back greater than you gave it out!

v  A seed is anything that you possess that can help someone else achieve their dreams and goals.

v  A Harvest is whatever God can do that will help you achieve your dreams and goals.

Look at: Philippians 2:4 “Look not every man on his own things, every man also on the things of others.”

“Knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord…” Ephesians 6:8

The greatest secret of blessed and fulfilled life is sowing what you have received from God into the life of someone else.

• When you give others what they need to fulfill their dreams, God will give you what you need to fulfill yours!
• Your contribution to others is the measuring cup God uses to pour into your life.
• The rewards are incredible: forgiveness, health, protection, promotion, provision and long life.

Successful businesses are those who figure out how to meet the needs of their customers.

We need to think about what God has done in our lives. Have you ever had an answer to prayer? I suspect there are people here who have had an intervention from God in their life. The fact that you are here today tells me something: God has been good to you. Has He ever given you mercy when you did not deserve it? Has He ever kept you from getting what you did deserve? Yes! We need to consider and meditate on His works.

The answers to prayer, the marvelous things that He has done, we need to think about it. Has He changed? No! He says, “I am the Lord, and I change not.” He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. What He did yesterday, He will do today, and it will strengthen our faith and give us courage as we meditate on His previous works, not just the things He has done for us, but also on creation.

F.      Finally, it causes God’s presence to manifest in your life.

Psalm 100:4 without gratitude you don’t even get past the gate.  David paints a vivid picture of worshippers coming into the presence of the Lord.  At this time the presence of God was confined to the Temple. Three times each year all families were required to come to Jerusalem to present themselves before God at the time of the feasts. As they climbed the hills in their approach to the Holy City, they sang songs called the Psalms of Ascent. They are recorded from Psalm 120 to 134. It is interesting to observe how these songs reflect the spiritual condition of the heart as people prepare to worship.

First of all in Psalm 120 they are expressing their problems; “In my distress I cried to the LORD, And He heard me.” In Psalm 121 they see their answer coming; “I will lift up my eyes to the hills—From whence comes my help? My help comes from the LORD” In Psalm 122 they express their desire to be in His presence; “I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go into the house of the LORD.” Psalm 123 says, “Unto You I lift up my eyes, O You who dwell in the heavens.”

Notice the improvement as they get their focus off of their problem and onto God. By the time they get to Psalm 133 they are declaring, “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is For brethren to dwell together in unity!” when they reach the Temple they are unified and ready to worship and be blessed. Look at the last song; Psalm 134; “Behold, bless the LORD, All you servants of the LORD, Who by night stand in the house of the LORD! Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, and bless the LORD. The LORD who made heaven and earth bless you from Zion!

Now they are entering the presence of God with Thanksgiving and praise and are experiencing the goodness and blessings He has reserved for them!

We have access by the blood but we have entrance through our praises.

Gated community-‘give him my name”-opened the gate and said, “Welcome.” God has a gate- the password is “Thank You!”

Appreciation

 I want to begin a new series, I’m simply calling, Appreciation.  Today, at Church Alive it is Pastor’s Appreciation Day. The word appreciate comes from the Latin and is a combination of two words-add and price, meaning, to appreciate is to affix a value to something. In modern terms, appreciate means, “to be grateful for, to honor, to highly esteem, to value a person, place or thing.”  I must admit that I am humbled that this day is set aside to honor Mimi and me as the founding Pastors of this ministry. Unless you’ve done it, it is impossible to understand the complexity of planting a church and pastoring it. It is filled with joys and sorrows, ups and downs, good moments and terrible ones! It is a huge encouragement to actually know that the people we serve appreciate what we are doing.

For several years when we were first getting started, we didn’t do a Pastor’s Appreciation. I would travel around and preach all of my friend’s special days and then come home feeling unappreciated myself. Someone asked me why I didn’t organize one myself. I remember saying to them, “I don’t need a particular day, or event to feel honored.” The truth was, I was PRETENDING I DIDN’T NEED IT BECAUSE I DIDN’T HAVE IT!

Remember in school, the guy who was always saying it wasn’t important to have a girlfriend because he couldn’t get one? Subconsciously, that was my attitude.

However, once they organized one, I understood for the first time that while I don’t need anyone’s affirmation to confirm my calling and destiny, it does mean a lot to know that there are those who appreciate what you give your life for.

Having said that, I also want to add, that there are times when I feel like I’m NOT appreciated. You know… when saints won’t support the church financially, aren’t faithful in attending service on Sunday, fail to show up when they’re supposed to be serving in a particular ministry, or worst of all when there is fighting and strife between people who should be holding up the standard of God’s love for the all the world to see.  It’s like the bumper sticker that says, “Honk if you love Jesus!” I want one that says, “Don’t honk; If you love Jesus, pay your tithes, treat others right, forgive each other…”

You see, appreciation, thanksgiving, and gratitude are emotions, that can be articulated, but if they are not also be displayed by actions, they are simply empty and meaningless words. Over the next few weeks, I am going to talk about what Appreciation means, why it is important and how we express it.

Gratitude, thankfulness and appreciation are essential elements of the Christian walk. Whether it is showing appreciation to God, or other people, all of us need to realize that we have much to be appreciative and thankful for.

The word most often used in the Bible to express appreciation is the word, “Thanks; thankful or thanksgiving.” Look with me at one of my favorite passages…

I Thessalonians 5:18 “In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” 

The term “give thanks,“ means to “confess your appreciation; to praise or acknowledge verbally your gratitude for something you have received.”  In fact, in the Hebrew language there is no particular word for “Thank you.” The word is always used as explanation-meaning do something such as offer praise as your expression of the gratitude of tour heart; an admission of gratitude and appreciation. In the Greek there are a few words. The main comes from the root word charis and is directly related to the word for grace, meaning it is the appropriate response to God’s grace in our lives.

Now, notice that it is a command from God! It has nothing to do with our current condition, situations or circumstances. It is a matter of the heart. It is a choice to appreciate the good that God has caused to manifest in my life. We can either be unappreciative and ungrateful or we can choose to honor God and be thankful! THE CHOICE IS OURS!  If we are going to live in the will of God we must learn to be thankful even during the negative circumstances of life.

Observations:

Thanksgiving does not come automatically in my life; I must choose to express it.

Negative circumstances are never reasons for negative living. They may be excuses but not reasons.

In order to move in into the fullness God has prepared for my life I but learn to appreciate and be grateful for what He has already done. It is a stewardship issue. God will not promote m or entrust me with more than what I can be a proper manger of.

So thanksgiving is the appropriate response of appreciation from one who is grateful!   It is an acknowledgment that everything good in my life thing comes from God that results in an attitude of gratitude and appreciation, which is expressed by actions.

There are 3 aspects: 

1)     Acknowledgment-first there is the realization that everything good in my life comes as a gift from God. In fact one of the Greek words translated as “thank” in Matthew 11:25 actually means to acknowledge and agree fully. James tell us, “…every good gift is from above and comes down from the Father of lights…” (James 1:17)

Thanksgiving and appreciation begins with an acknowledgment of the gift that has been given. It is easy to forget how we got here.

Look at Deuteronomy 8:10 “When you have eaten your fill, praise the LORD your God for the good land he has given you. 11 ”But that is the time to be careful! Beware that in your plenty you do not forget the LORD your God and disobey his commands, regulations, and laws. 12 For when you have become full and prosperous and have built fine homes to live in, 13 and when your flocks and herds have become very large and your silver and gold have multiplied along with everything else, 14 that is the time to be careful. Do not become proud at that time and forget the LORD your God, who rescued you from slavery in the land of Egypt. 15 Do not forget that he led you through the great and terrifying wilderness with poisonous snakes and scorpions, where it was so hot and dry. He gave you water from the rock! 16 He fed you with manna in the wilderness, a food unknown to your ancestors. He did this to humble you and test you for your own good. 17 He did it so you would never think that it was your own strength and energy that made you wealthy. 18 Always remember that it is the LORD your God who gives you power to become rich, and he does it to fulfill the covenant he made with your ancestors. (New Living Translation)

In a couple of weeks we are going to celebrate a holiday we call, Thanksgiving. Families will gather together to eat turkey, ham, stuffing and pumpkin pie and offer thanks for the good things that they have experience this past year.  Let’s be very careful not to fall into the trap of being thankful for a few hours and then reverting to our sense of entitlement or ingratitude.

It seems as though as a generation we have more than any previous generation has ever had but have become more unthankful than any other in recent history. There is almost a sense that we deserve what we have and what others have as well. It is an attitude of entitlement that is being demonstrated in cities all across this nation right now.

There seems to be a mentality that that everyone is entitled to equal status in life. Thank God for a nation that tries to guarantee equal opportunity but none can promise equal outcome. There are far too many factors such as talent, timing, work ethic, favor, relationships, and so forth to guarantee that everyone can live life at the same level.

We have to learn to focus on the good things we have rather than the things that we want.

It is easy to forget how we got here. [“I worked hard; got lucky; got a break; I deserve this.”] Better people then you have failed. People with more talent, looks, education and skills fail failed. You are where you are because God smiled on you and gave you grace and mercy.

EXPLAIN! Every good thing in your life is from God! Even when you tried to fail He wouldn’t let you-we ran He chased us; hid-He found us; He found a vagabond and a beggar and made a son out of him. [How He found me-stuttered, shy and introverted, full of rejection and low self-esteem-loved me into His purpose-I owe it all to Him]

Look at 1 Corinthians 11:23-24… “For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” This Greek word translated as given thanks is the word “Eucaristia” where we get the word Eucharist.

EXAMPLE: St. Justin Martyr, considered one of if not the chief apologist or defender of the faith from the 2nd century, who was beheaded for his faith in 165 A. D. said regarding the Lord’s Supper, “And this food is called among us Eucaristia [the Eucharist], of which no one is allowed to partake but the man who believes that the things which we teach are true, and who has been washed with the washing that is for the remission of sins, and unto regeneration, and who is so living as Christ enjoined.”

Justin referred to the Lord’s Supper as the Eucharist in Greek, which was a noun denoting giving of thanks. Thanksgiving, gratitude and appreciation begins with an acknowledgment of God’s grace at work in our lives…

In the 100^th Psalm the writer gives us three specific things for which we can be appreciative…

A. David the psalmist states very clearly, the Lord is good. There are a lot of things that I don’t know about God. I can’t tell you what He looks like, but I do know that God is good. The very nature of God’s character is good. The way He deals with mankind and especially His children is good!

The Hebrew word translated good is “friendly, pleasant, gracious, wealthy, prosperous, generous, becoming (revealing Himself as) better;” The idea is that God is easily approached, quick to forgive, kind and loving, fully of resources and willing to extend them to those who are in His favor.

You might say, “Well pastor, you just don’t know what I’m going through right now!” That’s why it’s important to see what the author of this psalm is stating. He did not say that the Lord feels good; he did not say that the Lord is acting good, or behaving good. It said the Lord is good, stating that God’s nature is good. This is important, because life is filled with changes, our plans change, our circumstances change, but we know that God does not change in His nature. If He was good yesterday, He is good today, and if He is good today, He will be good tomorrow as well. God’s goodness is completely independent of my circumstances. Even when life is bad God is good!

Regardless of where you are living, or wearing…if you came here on the bus, or drove a BMW give God thanks. Most people take for granted what they have excess of…Food, car, clothes, family, home, job, etc. We have sufficient reasons to be thankful! It has nothing to do with our current condition, situations or circumstances. It is a matter of the heart. It is a choice to appreciate the good that God has caused to manifest in my life.

B. Next, give thanks because His mercy is everlasting. How many times have we failed God and yet God is still good to us? Why? Because of His mercy!

Mercy-“loving-kindness-covenant love, to get inside someone’s skin, to look at where they view life and feel what they are experiencing.”

But it also meant to move in and act on behalf of the one who is hurting. Mercy is not simply the withholding of punishment, but it is the act of giving help or having compassion on someone who is afflicted. Does God get so angry when we fail Him that the heavens shake and the ground opens up and shallows us? Of course not! Why doesn’t that happen? Simply because the Lord is also merciful. If we are to have security and happiness in the Lord, we must know Him as being more than a God of justice; we must also know Him as a God of mercy. His fountain of mercy never runs dry. Mercy triumphs over judgment. (James 2:13)

The Hebrew word used here is the word “checed” mercy, loving-kindness, or faithful. Many Bible scholars see in this word, not only God’s mercy, but the reason for His mercy, simply this fact, God loves you and me. It is the word that describes the love extended towards those involved in COVENANT!

Psalm 107:8 declares… “Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!”

C. Finally the psalmist mentions one other enduring reason for giving God thanks and that is for His enduring, unchanging truth. His truth endures to all generations.

Psalm 119:160 states, “…the entirety of Your word is truth, and every one of Your righteous judgments endures forever.”

I Peter 1:24 adds, “The grass withers, and its flower falls away, but the word of the LORD endures forever.”

Why is that important and why should we be thankful for that? Simply for this reason; His truth that was so real to the early Christians and gave them solutions to life’s struggles and infused them with the power to overcome is the same truth that exists today and will help us in our walk with the Lord. His promises are dependable and trustworthy. HIS WORD DOES NOT CHANGE! He promises to give provision for us and so He will, He promises to keep us in His care and so He does, He promises to forgive me and so He does, and He promises to be with me and so He is. What He did He does, and what He does He always will do!

The good news is you can go the Word and find a promise that is truth regardless of what the circumstance is. When you make the decision to believe it, because the truth endures, or does not change then my contrary situations must come in line with the word of the Lord.

2)     Attitude- The natural effect of this realization is an attitude adjustment. I become a person of gratitude and appreciation.

Our attitude is an inward feeling expressed by behavior. Attitude is the thermometer of our spirit. It gives us an indication of the condition of our heart.  Jesus taught us that what comes out of our mouths and what is produced around us is a reflection of what is in abundance within us. Our attitude gives us a means of measuring the spiritual condition of our hearts.

That is why an attitude can be seen without a word being said. Your face can reveal what you are thinking regardless of what you are doing. Since an attitude often is expressed by our body language and by the looks on our faces, it can be contagious.

Have you noticed what happens to a group of people when one person, by his expression, reveals a negative attitude? Or have you noticed the lift you receive when a friend’s facial expression shows love and excitement? Our attitude determines our actions.

To grumble is to show lack of appreciation. Mumbling, grumbling and complaining are expression of fear, doubt and lack of appreciation. It is the response of a person who fails to acknowledge the goodness of God in their lives.

Look at Israel in the wilderness…they had gone from being slaves to having silver, gold, cattle and herds; they had heard God speak to them in an audible voice and establish a covenant with them. They had gone from sickly feeble people to healthy and strong; they were eating food from heaven every day, drinking water out of a rock in the desert, had a cloud to shield them from the heat of the sun and fire to keep them warm at night. God was fighting their battles, and directing their journey into a land of plenty. They were living in the season of the greatest manifestation of supernatural provision ever recorded in Scripture and yet they were fighting, complaining and filled with doubt and unbelief to the point that an entire generation died in the desert at the border of their place of promise.

God warned them in Deuteronomy 28:47…

“Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joyfulness of [mind and] heart [in gratitude] for the abundance of all [with which He had blessed you], ⁴⁸Therefore you shall serve your enemies whom the Lord shall send against you, in hunger and thirst, in nakedness and in want of all things; and He will put a yoke of iron upon your neck until He has destroyed you.”

He says that if they were “unthankful and unappreciative,” then there will be need and no help, problems without solutions, sickness without healing, the door will be opened for that which we have been we have been redeemed from to return! WOW!

Everyone loves the blessing but no one desires to be curses. And yet it seems that even though we are redeemed from the curse some of the symptoms are still hanging around in our lives. You want to know what releases the curse into our lives? The Bible uses the word “because,” indicating that this is one of the reasons. Remember that to be blessed means, “to be empowered to prosper or succeed” so be cursed means, “empowered to fail.” It means things don’t work, the favor of God in not upon his efforts; even when he does the right things he doesn’t get the expected results. He sows much and reaps little.

This means we must learn to be joyful and thankful whether we feel like it or not. Otherwise, the door is opened for more problem then we can deal with. Circumstances are not acceptable reasons for ingratitude. They are excuses but not reasons! Regardless of what you are driving, wearing, if you have to take the bus, give God thanks. Praise will keep you open for blessing while complaining will release a curse.

It is easy to become unthankful. Open a closet full of clothes and complain that you don’t have anything to wear. Are you thankful? Do you have shoes one your feet? Thank you Lord! Did you eat this morning? Thank you Lord! Do you have hair on your head? Thank you Lord! Doesn’t matter if you grew it or bought it; thank you Lord you have it! Bald? Thank you Lord it shines!

“I don’t’ have anything to be thankful for…” Let me make a few suggestions…How about for being in your right mind, having clothes, living in America, being saved are reasons enough.” [Organs that are working, eyes that see, ears that hear; your children are well, you have breath in your lungs. If you can’t pay your bills, be thankful you’re not one of your creditors… etc.]

Most people are waiting for some great, spectacular event to occur that will solve all of their problems and cure all of their ailments and then they will thank God. We need to start where we are and give thanks and we will keep the environment suitable for greater miracle to occur. As long as you are alive, you are NEVER WITHOUT A REASON TO GIVE GOD THANKS!

This is why our text says, “In everything give thanks…” Notice it doesn’t say “for everything” it says, “In everything.”

In Ephesians it says, “Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ…” (Eph. 5:20)

The idea is that we thank Him in all things good or bad and for all things He is the source of. This doesn’t mean we face sickness that we offer praise to God for the sickness, because it doesn’t originate from Him (“Every good and perfect gift…”). It means that we offer thanks “IN SICKNESS” because He is the Lord our healer! In the midst of crisis, “Thank you Lord,” not for the problem but because we are still alive, because He is a way maker, there are still good things happening. It is a determination to focus on the good and positive not the negative.

The Amplified reads like this: “Thank [God] in everything [no matter what the circumstances may be, be thankful and give thanks], for this is the will of God for you [who are] in Christ Jesus [the Revealer and Mediator of that will].” I Thess. 5:18 (AMP)

“No matter what the circumstance may be…be thankful.” Jesus is the revealer and Mediator of the will of the Father; He is leading us into the fullness of the inheritance purchased by the blood of the Lamb; He is telling us that we have assistance and aid, so we can find reasons to rejoice even during the worst of times because Jesus is working on our behalf. Thanksgiving is ALWAYS AN APPROPRIATE RESPONSE TO CIRCUMSTANCES!

It is about focus…are we going to focus on what we’ve lost or on what we have left? This means that we praise Him in the good times and in the bad; in sickness and health; at all times. Even Jonah who was stuck in the belly of a fish for three days was thankful, as we see in Jonah 2:9:

“But I will sacrifice unto Thee with the voice of thanksgiving: I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord.” Jonah was in one of the most disgusting places on earth for three days. He was languishing in the intestines of a fish covered in the remains of its last meal and probably up to his neck in intestinal acid. Now if he can be thankful to God in that situation then how much more can we, who do not have it that bad, give thanks in our everyday lives. We are to be appreciative that we are counted worthy to be called children of God; that we have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. No matter how bad things may seem, even on our worst day we are still sons of God, joint heirs with Christ Jesus and the Apple of His eye. There is nothing that this world can throw at us that He cannot give us victory over. We have a reason to be appreciative but it begins with an attitude.

3)     Actions-Finally, an attitude of appreciation and gratitude is expressed through actions. There are a variety of ways in which appreciation is shown.

A.      We can show our gratitude by offering praise to God. Singing, lifting our hands and verbalizing our thankfulness is one way. You see our verbal praise is also a declaration to others of the wonderful works of God.

B.      We can also show thankfulness by serving…blessing others as an expression of our appreciation for what God has done for us. The only way to serve God is to serve people. {Jesus-“I was hungry and you didn’t feed me, cold and you gave me no heat, in prison and you didn’t visit me…’} [“This is pure religion undefiled… James 1: 27

C.       Giving- The third act of thankfulness shown through the giving of gifts and material support. One of the most practical ways we can show thankfulness is by giving back a portion of what has been given to us. Even when it comes to tithing or honoring God with the first-fruits of all of our increase, it is and must always be an expression of gratitude.

D.      Praying- I could add an additional action defined as an act of thankfulness in the New Testament, that of praying. A heart of gratitude does not forget the acts of kindness and love it has been shown! One of the best ways to show appreciation is to pray for God to bless their sock off! Bless their kids, give them health, etc. Pray for those who bless you!

It is a matter of the heart; making a choice to be thankful and appreciative. It is not easy but it is rewarding. Leviticus 22:29 says, “…when you offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving to the LORD, offer it of your own free will…” It is an act of our will; a choice.

I want to challenge you to make a decision to look at the big picture of life. Every child of God has a reason to be appreciative. Even if you are in jail or in the hospital or struggling to survive you have the assurance that He is good, His mercy is everlasting and His truth endures to all generations or that His promises will never fail. Begins to focus on what you have to be thankful for and as you being to express your gratitude to God you will see His power and glory manifested in your life!

Look at verse 7…But Isaac said to his father, “We have the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” 8 And Abraham said, “My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering.” 9 Then they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar, placed the wood in order, bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, upon the wood. 10 And Abraham took the knife to slay his son. 11 But the Angel of the LORD called to him and said, “Abraham, Abraham! Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.” 13 Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son.”

This was the defining moment in Abraham’s life. He passed the greatest test of all. He was able to trust God even with his promise, his son. Abraham named the place, “Jehovah Jireh”-meaning the Lord will provide.

Abraham is called the father of all who believe. He represents to us a model of what it takes to believe God to see the fulfillment of the promises given. For a man to be willing to offer his only son has got to be an act of great faith. He exemplified the type of faith that pleases God and sees the fulfillment of what has been promised. He had the ability to hear God’s voice and the courage to be obedient to what God commanded. I believe this is the highest expression of true faith…be courageous enough to trust God, even when we don’t understand what God is doing or why He is doing it this way.

It is easy to obey when the word of the Lord makes sense…when it seems rational or logical. But, all of us struggle when God tells us to do things that don’t quite seem to fit with our plans or understanding of the current circumstance or situation. This is when we learn to walk by faith!

Abraham is a prototype of what it takes to experience the fullness of God’s provision and blessing. He was first of all able to hear God’s voice…this is where it all begins. (Story of being a lost child at Knots Berry Farm-I was able to detect and distinguish my dad’s whistle and voice out of all the noise and activity. It brought comfort and security to me and let me know everything was going to be alright). It is as we spend time in God’s presence that we get in tune with Him and are able to hear Him speak above all the noise of our world.

Then, there must be the willingness to simply obey Him.

According to a famous theologian named famous theologian Finis Dake there are approximately 7000 promises in the Bible that apply to us! The truth is the Bible is filled with exceedingly great and precious promises each designed to improve the quality of our lives both spiritually and naturally. However, it is only through faith that we receive from God.

As I said a few weeks ago…grace is God reaching to us and faith is us reaching back to Him. Faith is: “the God kind of faith is absolute assurance of things continually hoped for, the firm conviction of things already done (by God) but not yet seen with the eyes.”

Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” (NIV) The Authorized King James says, “Faith is the substance of things hoped for…” or “faith gives substance to things hoped for…” (New English Bible)

Hope is a positive expectation of something we believe is about to happen. Faith gives substance to hope and believes it is done simply because God’s Word says so. It then provokes corresponding actions that confirm the belief.

It is not as some claim, “Blind faith.” I heard a preacher mock faith as “believing what we know isn’t true.” That is ignorance, not faith. Critics say that Christian faith is “irrational.” Which means it is not support rationally or logically or based on facts and evidence.

Now, we know belief is a matter of our will. We choose to accept something as truth based upon certain facts.

There are 4 main areas of faith:

o Faith in what God says about Himself-Good, faithful, merciful, all powerful, etc.

o Faith in what God says about us-We are redeemed, righteous, forgiven, blessed, an heir with Christ Jesus, etc.

o Faith in what God says about the devil-defeated, powerless to defeat the believer, etc.

o Faith in what Gos says about life’s situations and circumstances .

The mind doesn’t have to understand everything in order to believe. I believe in cell phones, fax machines, computer, but I cannot explain how they work. I just know they do so I use them. I understand a little about them but I cannot explain how it all works.

I fly often to speak in various parts of the world. I don’t know everything there is to know about aviation, but I choose to trust the air industry because of their record. Now, that doesn’t mean I don’t pray and take precautions but I make a decision to trust them BASED UPON THEIR RECORD of safety. To believe is a choice to trust the evidence presented or the word of the one speaking.

It didn’t make any sense to Abraham to sacrifice his promised son on an altar. After all, God had guaranteed him that Issac would be the fountainhead of a new race of people who would carry a covenant with the only true and living God into future generations. He would be the first of a multitude of descendants that would become more numerous than the stars of the heavens or the sands of the sea. Now, God is saying, “Sacrifice him?” Abraham had such trust in God that according to Hebrews 11:17-19, he even believed that if necessary God wold raise him from the dead. That my friend is a confidence based on the credibility of the God who had spoken before and kept His word! WOW!

For example, to believe in evolution is an act of the will. It is a choice one makes with their will. It is theory that cannot be proven yet millions believe that a monkey came from a single cell organism and that humans came from monkeys. That is faith beyond my ability to grasp. It is a whole lot easier to believe God created man that to accept that nonsense!

Bible faith has to be built upon a foundation that will sustain it during the time of opposition and adversity.

Today, I want to establish one of the foundations of faith today. This is something you can build your life and future upon as a solid foundation that will support your trust and never fail. God gives us things that are logical to build upon. You don’t have to check your mind at the door to trust God. It requires a “mind renewing, but real faith has a solid and firm foundation. When you choose to believe God with your will, He will enlighten you mind and increase your understanding. In fact He promises to give you wisdom and understanding. The will and the mind work together to create a support system for solid, unshakable faith.

Abraham believed God to the point of being willing to offer his son on the altar. He chose, as an act of his will to obey. This faith was based upon an unshakable confidence in something.

How was he able to take this great step of faith? I know people who cannot even believe enough to tithe. What is the difference? He had a deep understanding of the nature of God and the reality that God would provide.

He was able to act because he knew something. He was able to exercise his will because of the understanding in his mind. What was this foundation? GOD WILL PROVIDE!

1. Provision is supplied before the need arises. We refer to this as the doctrine of “providence.” It is a combination of Latin words which means, “foresight; the ability to see the future and plan ahead.” “Pro”-means ahead, or before-hand; “Videncia”-(video and vision) means to see. When we talk about the provision of God we are referring to God’s ability to see ahead and plan for what will be needed.

It is foresight or the ability to see the future. One dictionary says, “A prime characteristic of rational being is that they plan with reference to a purpose or a goal.” [My dog Lucky storing food in the snow] [Squirrels store acorns for winter]

We all operate in this we just don’t always realize it. When we plan vacation-shorts, underwear, socks, shirts, etc. You say with your mind, “I’ll need this and this so I had better take it.” You try to see ahead and take what you will require to accomplish you goal. Why you carry a spare tire, plan for retirement, invest, etc.

Have you ever gone on vacation and realized you forgot something you really needed? We overlook, forget things, or fail to plan for the unexpected.

Sometime things happen that we are totally unprepared for and there was no way to plan because it wasn’t supposed to happen. We are limited in our providence because we don’t have perfect foreknowledge. When you talk about God, you are referring to one who dwells in eternity not time. He sees the past, present and future all as one. He is never taken by surprise. He has never said, “Ops!” He not only looks ahead to make provision to accomplish His purpose but He is infallible in finishing what He has set out to do.

Because the future is only partially known to us we often attempt to guess and provide only to discover we came short. But God knows perfectly the future and so His provision is perfect. Abraham knew that.

Look at Isaiah 46 Isaiah 46:8 “Remember this, and show yourselves men; Recall to mind, O you transgressors. 9 Remember the former things of old, For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me, 10 Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things that are not yet done, Saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, And I will do all My pleasure,’ 11 Calling a bird of prey from the east, The man who executes My counsel, from a far country. Indeed I have spoken it; I will also bring it to pass. I have purposed it; I will also do it.

Hebrews 4:3 “For we who have believed do enter that rest, as He has said: “So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest,’ “although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.”

Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.”

There is nothing God hasn’t thought of. This was the platform for his faith. He had a will to obey based upon His knowledge of God’s providence.

Look again at verse 5: “Stay here with the donkey,” Abraham told the young men. “The boy and I will travel a little farther. We will worship there, and then we will come right back.”

How could he say that knowing he was going to offer his son? Verse 8, “God will provide…”

Verse 13 God’s provision. God got there before Abraham did. The provision was already there but it wasn’t manifested until his faith was expressed in obedience. There are miracles hidden away for you, but you have to be willing to take the risk to trust God in order for them to manifest. As long as you choose to play it safe, never take a chance, you don’t need a miracle. But when you jump out of the boat that is when you need the water to hold you up! You don’t get miracles until you do what you can God does what you cannot.

The Hebrew says, “Jehovah sees” The idea is that God Jehovah has already been there and provided before the need occurs. Faith is based upon the confidence that God has already provided.

If you are going to see the promises fulfilled in our lives, we must have the same foundation.

There are many philosophies that war against the doctrine of providence. Atheism-there is no God; pantheism – everything is God-the chair, the tree-Oprah Eastern Cults and false religions. Then there is deism- the belief in the existence of a God or Supreme Being but denies that He is involved in His creation.” All false!

The Biblical view is that there a God who is actually involved in the creation as well as the daily details of His creation. He chose to create and maintains all He created.

Hebrews 1:3 “…upholding all things by the word of His power…”

Colossians 1:16-17 “… For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. 17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist…”

He not only created the world but He is actively involved in holding it together. In His perfect foresight He has anticipated everything necessary for His plan to succeed.

It is staggering to think that at every level of creation God is providing. Sometimes it is by the natural processes He set in motion, but at other times He personally intervenes to sustain His desire.

2. The provision is always greater than the need. God is not stingy or tightfisted. He desires for all of His creatures to enjoy abundance. a. Creation: It is staggering to think that at every level of creation God is providing. In Genesis 1 the Bible says in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The first thing He does is create light because all life depends on it to exist. He separates the water from the dry ground. God then establishes the mineral kingdom, the vegetation, which needed water, light, soil and minerals which was already there. Then He creates animals. He knows they will need to eat, so foliage has already been provided. Even before they needed it, it was there. Finally when he creates man, all man needs to sustain himself is in existence. There is a perfect circle of life that is not dependent upon the environmentalist to protect it.

b. Look at Exodus 3:8 “So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey…”

God delivered them from slavery and poverty to lead them into mastery and prosperity. It is not enough to get out of bondage, God wants you to enjoy a “good and large or spacious inheritance…”

Jesus said it is the Father’s pleasure to give good things to those who ask. Now notice the land was not only good, but spacious. Abundance! It was more than just enough to survive; but space to grow and increase. He also calls it a land of milk and honey.

Milk-a place suitable for the multiplication of their goats and cattle. Honey- a place suited for them to grow their crops. It was a place where they would thrive doing what they did best. It was perfectly suited for them.

However, there is more. Milk is what you need to survive. [Baby-symbolizes your basic needs] Honey is what you desire. You can live without it but sure makes life more comfortable. It was a luxury item in ancient times reserved for the wealthy. God is promising them extras. [“You don’t need that house; nice car, fine clothes, etc.]

God gives us things to enjoy because He takes pleasure in blessing you. He wants to teach you how to do for other what He has done for you! You are blessed with nice things so that you can bless others. There will always be resistance. Giants- represent the false ideas that keep us from embracing the provisions of God.

John 10:10 Jesus addresses the teaching of the Pharisees that was robbing people of eternal life.

Jesus feeding the 5 thousand and the 4 thousand. Jesus had to teach the disciples that they could be dependent on Him rather than Rome or even natural circumstances.

Psalm 34:9-10 Fear the LORD, you his saints, for those who fear him lack nothing. 10 The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing

Psalm 23:1 (Amplified) THE LORD is my Shepherd [to feed, guide, and shield me], I shall not lack.

Manna-Sabbath day provision-sustained for 1500 years. All creation depends on God’s care.

Look at Psalm 104:21 “…The young lions roar after their prey, and seek their food from God. 22 When the sun rises, they gather together and lie down in their dens. 23 Man goes out to his work and to his labor until the evening. 24 O Lord, how manifold are Your works! In wisdom You have made them all. The earth is full of Your possessions– 25 this great and wide sea, in which are innumerable teeming things, Living things both small and great…”

The animals seek their food from God. They are dependent on Him for survival. From Genesis through the Revelation you see the ongoing provision of God revealed throughout the Bible.

Turn to Psalm 105:17 “He sent a man before them– Joseph–who was sold as a slave.” 14 years before the famine Joseph is sent to Egypt to sustain the people of promise.

Before the need was manifested God had provision set in place. God took what the devil meant to destroy the promise and used it for His plan.

Moses- Rod-set my people free-3.5 million people-cloud, fire, water, quail, mamma, etc. This is why you don’t ever have to fear.

Elijah- Brook and ravens, widow, raised her son from the dead.

Daniel in Lion’s Den

3 Hebrew Children in Furnace

People everywhere are asking, “How are we going to make it? What are we going to do?” The answer is, “Believe God!” He can use an evil man- (he heart of the king is in the hand of the Lord.

In Matthew Chapter 6, Jesus told the disciples not to worry about what they were going to eat, wear or sleep because the Father who cares for the sparrows is going to provide.

Where does this type of faith come from? Knowing God will provide. I don’t have to figure it out, just trust Him and He will open windows in heaven.

In Revelation 13:8 Jesus was called the “Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” Man’s greatest need was provided for even before man was created. In Christ Jesus, we have been given all we need to flourish in every area, naturally and spiritually. His provision is always more than what is necessary for mere survival. He always supplies more than enough.

3. His provision is not dependent upon natural resources. Philippians 4:19 “My God shall supply all of your need…”

The first thing you need to know is that He is not dependent upon natural resources because He is the source of your provision. Notice it says, “But my God shall supply.” Seven times in his letter to the Philippians, Paul uses the pronoun, “my.” He writes of “my grace” (1:7), “my hope” (1:20), “my joy” (2:2 and 4:1), “my Lord” (3:8), and “my God” (1:3 and 4:19). It is an extraordinary sort of prisoner who speaks of “my grace,” “my hope,” and “my joy” from a prison cell!

In this passage, he speaks confidently, affectionately and possessively of “my God.” Paul is making a statement of dependency on the Lord as the source of their supply.

Notice he doesn’t mention the government, economy, their employment of normal means of livelihood. God can use a variety of means…your job, other people, natural events or supernatural means, but never forget that behind all of the means used is the source who is directing the supply. Why is this so important? He wants your trust to be in Him and not in His methods or means of supply.

God has unlimited avenues and unusual ways to provide that are beyond our natural comprehension. When it seems the most unlikely and impossible—when paycheck, economy, job market and others say, “This is humanly impossible”—God says, “I have ways to supernaturally provide for you.”

The word supply is translated from the original Greek meaning, “to cram a net or level up, like a drink, to the top of the rim; or to fulfill.” This is the same word that is used in verse 18, where Paul said, “I am full.” So our need is like a giant empty vessel, and God’s supply fills it to the brim. What a promise! And God watches over His Word to fulfill it, however he may choose to do so.

Notice two other words… needs- “needs; desires; employment; wants” and all. Give special attention to the inclusive word, “all.” It is not some of your need, or much of your need, or merely most of your need that God will supply, but all of your need. So this is a great promise of abundant provision. The provision of our needs is overwhelming. “All our needs” will be met!

Our needs are as varying as our personalities, as different as our circumstances, as distinctive as our unique situations of life— but they will be met!

The needs referred to not only apply to our financial needs but notice He said, “ALL” meaning that He is able to supply our physical, mental, financial, relational, and spiritual needs as well. God’s resources are sufficient in every arena of human need.

Psalm 37:18-19 “The Lord knows the days of the upright and their inheritance is forever; they shall not be ashamed in the evil time and in the days of famine they shall be satisfied.” NLT “Even in famine they will have more than enough.”

Now look where the supply comes from…“My God shall supply all our needs according to His riches in glory.”

Practically, this means that it is not possible for us to have a need that is too great for God to supply.

Now notice that the world has a supply and God has a supply. The world, or natural provision is limited but His is exhaustible. If we choose to live by the world’s systems, or the natural way of doing things, we suffer lack and insufficiency. However, if we live by Kingdom principles we have the guarantee of Kingdom prosperity. It doesn’t matter what is happening in the natural world. We are living according to a higher order of existence-the Kingdom of God. We are not subject to natural effects, crisis or events.

Example: The widow whose sons were about to be sold into slavery only had a little oil left. When we take what is not enough and place it in the hands of God, it becomes more than enough! No matter what you’ve lost there’s always something left. Even if it’s only enough to make a small morsel of bread it’s enough to release a miracle. It’s all about focus. Those who focus on what they’ve lost look backwards while those who focus on what they have left look forward! 4. Miracle provision requires an expression of faith.

Story of the feeding of the 5 thousand in Matthew 14. They had to learn three things: A. The disciples had to give Him what they had. If what you have is not enough it is your seed not your harvest. They had to place their harvest, their future, their prosperity in His hands. B. Then they had to obey His Word. As they obeyed, from their hands a miracle of multiplication occurred.

C. Provision is based on His surplus not yours. (Philippians 4:19) I Timothy 5:8 But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” God is a Father who provides for His children and He expects us to do the same. It is unthinkable to be a Christian free-loader. God says to put him out. God’s nature is to bless.

Where does this type of faith come from? Knowing God will provide. I don’t have to figure it out, just trust Him and He will open windows in heaven because He is Jehovah-jireh!

Ten years ago today, America was hit with the first major terror attack on our mainland. I remember the day as if it was yesterday. Mimi and I had just started Church Alive and still lived in North Carolina. I was either flying or driving up every weekend for services. On that particular weekend I had driven and brought the entire family because we were looking for a house. After service on Sunday, we left to return to North Carolina. I had driven all night and was exhausted. I finally pulled over in Raleigh, NC at McDonald’s to sleep for a few minutes. Mimi was feeding the children breakfast as I slept. She woke me up to tell me that she had overheard people talking and something really bad was going on but she couldn’t tell what it was. I turned on the radio as the announcer said, “I repeat…a commercial airliner has

crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center.”
I was numb! Then, within 12-15 minutes the South Tower were hit and that was when they began to tell us they believed it was terrorism. I remember rushing to get the children into the van so I could get them to Greenville, about an hour and a-half away. I don’t believe I ever drove it so fast. During that time the Pentagon was hit, and the other plane was brought down in Shanksville, PA, and the South Tower collapsed. I rushed into the house to see the collapse of the North Tower. I was stunned.
Never before had I been afraid to go out. I kept Mimi and the children in the house until we were assured that all was

calm and there were no additional plans under siege by terrorists. As I sat spellbound watching the news I had such mixed emotions. There was anger towards the fanatics who had perpetrated such a horrific crime, deep sadness for those who had lost loved ones or those who were unsure, because remember it took weeks for them to sort through all the missing people. I also felt fear and uncertainty as well as a sense of resolve to see our military destroy whoever was responsible for this senseless, cowardly act.

However, I also remember feeling proud to be an American as I watched people of every race, religion, socio-economic group, and region of the nation step up and perform some of the most amazing acts of selfless sacrifice and heroism I’ve ever witness in my life. Everyone from firemen, to first responders, to the police, EMS workers, clergymen, doctors, nurses, construction workers, military and national guard, and average ordinary citizens who gave blood, sent donations, housed homeless people, fed search and rescue workers, comforted those who had suffered loss, volunteered to serve in the armed forces, and so many other gallant gestures time would not allow me to list.

In the moments and days that followed the tragedy of Sept. 11 we heard stories of people who exhibited incredible acts of heroism with a variety of selfless acts. We read about the brave firefighters, who knowingly risked their lives to save others, and the policemen who rushed to the scene knowing full well the dangers associated with their tasks. We read about two men who carried a woman in her wheelchair many flights of stairs to safety, and about the man who refused to leave his quadriplegic friend alone and perished with him. All these stories and many others evoke in us great appreciation for these heroes.

We also heard of the thousands of volunteers, who left their lives behind, to help with the rescue operations hoping to save even one life. Many worked for days at a time; working twelve- hour shifts, day after day, often refusing to stop to eat, rest or sleep. This type of selfless dedication to others is nothing short of heroic.

The reason heroic acts are so admired is because they are physically and psychologically contradictory to the human survival instinct. Psychologists tell us that the instinct of survival is mankind’s strongest drive. In moments when he feels endangered he will throw all sense of social commitment aside to protect himself. They tell us that all human instincts, behavior and intuition are primarily concerned with self-preservation. An infant cries for food, we experience fear in face of danger so that we will protect ourselves. We are programmed to guard against all harm to assure our continued existence.
For example, our bodies use hunger to induce feeding. When we begin to feel too cold or hot our bodies alerts us to maintain a safe and comfortable temperature. Pain warns us of the malfunction of an affected organ or region of the body. Tiredness is a signal that we need to sleep to refresh ourselves. Thirst tells us that we need to drink to hydrate ourselves. When we ignore these and other signs of self -care, we act contrary to our survival demands. To override nature’s signals requires tenacity, the capacity to tune out pain and a deliberate disregard for self needs. When this is done to help others, it is indeed heroic.
We have all heard stories of soldiers or rescue personnel who have risked their lives to save someone else. In the normal pattern of things it seems unnatural or illogical that a person would be willing to sacrifice his own life for another. However, these heroes who survived, repeatedly recalled that their only motivation was the desire to save others, they never even considered the risk to themselves. I believe there is something deeper that the Psychologists are missing and it is this…deep within every person is the God given capacity for greatness; each one of us have the ability to exceed the limitations that we have lived under. We have the wherewithal to rise to the occasion in times of crisis or great need and do extraordinary things!

In this passage the writer list several of the more renowned characters of faith and talks about the heroic acts of their lives as they laid it all on the lone to believe God. It wasn’t just about them…it was about trusting God and paying a price to possess a promise that others would share as well. There are some amazing stories of faith and achievement.
He talks about Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, and many more. But then the Bible adds this little statement that I want to dwell on a few minutes today.

Look at verse 32…

“And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets: 33 who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. 35 Women received their dead raised to life again. Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection.
36 Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment. 37 They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented— 38 of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth.
39 And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, 40 God having provided

something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us.”
Notice the term…”still others…” There are always “others.” Before I define a hero, let me first tell you what a hero is not…

A hero is not a superstar. There are always people who look for the spotlight. They seek to do things that bring attention to themselves. It’s not about God, others, a vision or purpose but rather self-promotion and narcissism. They love the parades, the accolades and will be sure to let you know if you fail to acknowledge their contribution. However, they are also the ones who bailout when the going gets tough, or when they don’t get their way or when they aren’t recognized sufficiently. They may be Superstars but they are not heroes.

Heroes are average, ordinary people who during times of crisis or great need arise to the occasion and do extraordinary things! They are common people who possess an uncommon tenacity or resolve to do what is right, handle crisis well, and manage life based on a set of core values or principles.

I also believe that God created within each of us the capacity for self-sacrifice in the service of another’s well-being. It is my conviction that people respond to crisis or need based on their core values…those things which they really believe. Beliefs can be stronger than your desire for comfort or even life itself.
Everyone needs to have something worth dying for and something worth living for!

A prime example is the pilot who logged 19000 miles in more than 40 years of flying. Because he lived by a set of core values when crisis came he arose and landed a plane safely in the Hudson River which such precision, there were no causalities. His name was Chesley Sullenberger. When interviewed later he said, his experience and training helped him stay calm and think through the process of gliding the plan to a safe landing. Without that event, most of us would have never known his name. Just an ordinary guy but when crisis came, he responded and rescued many!

The truth is all of us are going to face crisis and great need at some time or another in our lives. How we respond determines if we ever become the people we were created to be. General George Patton once said, “The real hero is the man who fights even though he’s scared. Some get over their fright in a minute, under fire; others take an hour; for some it takes days; but a real man will never let the fear of death overpower his honor, his sense of duty, to his country and to his manhood.” You see, the battle doesn’t make a man a hero or a coward; it only brings to the surface what he is already in his heart!

1. The First Characteristic of a Hero is Courage
A hero has the courage to break out of the limitations others are restrained by and takes the risk of venturing into the unknown!

People who are mightily used by God are just ordinary people who are willing to take the risk to trust God enough to cross over the lines that hold others back. They are “barrier breakers.” They break out of the boxes of life that limit and confine them and do things others think can never be done! Each of these people listed in Hebrews 11 were able to break through the barriers that would have otherwise disqualified them and keep them living ordinary lives. Most people said it was impossible but they believed God and were able to do what others thought could never be done!

They refused to allow others to define them; to disqualify them or contain them.

What type of person breaks barriers?

Those with the proper attitude! Attitude is everything. Attitude is “the way we think; a frame of mind.” A frame suggests that there are limitations or boundaries.

If you frame a picture you put borders around it. Child Psychologists claim that children lose 60% of their creative thinking by 6 years of age.

Why? They have been framed to adjust to the environment in which they live. They have begun to learn boundaries-culturally, racially, economically, and so forth! Peer pressure has forced them to conform. Less and less they are willing to act in a manner that causes displeasure. The older they get, the more comfortable they become in their surroundings and the less they are willing to take the risk of venturing beyond the box that their environment has created.
All of us are born in a box. – A system established by our culture, beliefs, and environment. Unless we choose to live outside of it, our lives will be limited by the boundaries of others!

• Living inside the box means accepting the status quo. “That’s the way it’s always been done!”
• Living inside the box means being unwilling to take risks.
• It means seeing the world from the perspective of what cannot be instead of what can be. For example, Charles H. Duell, Director of the US Patent Office, said, “Everything that can be invented has been invented.” That was in 1899: clearly he was in the box!

In-the-box thinkers find it difficult to recognize the quality of an idea. To them, an idea is an idea. A solution is a solution. In fact, they can be quite pigheaded when it comes to valuing an idea. They rarely invest time to turn a mediocre solution into a great solution. More importantly, in-the-box thinkers are skillful at killing ideas.

They are masters of the creativity killer attitude such as “that’ll never work” or “it’s too risky.”
• In-the-box thinkers are unaware that they drain the enthusiasm and passion of innovative thinkers while they kill their innovative ideas. Apathy and indifference can turn an innovator into an in-the-box thinker.

Outside the Box
Thinking outside the box requires different attributes that include:
• Willingness to take new perspectives into consideration
• Openness to do different things and to do things differently.
• Striving to create value in new ways.
• Listening to others and remaining teachable.

When we as Christians became  adults, got married, went  into business, etc. we were subconsciously thinking, I have to live within the box. We kept telling ourselves to stay within those limitations, whether they were denominational, racial, or other. We just had to stay within the box! Because of that, as a people, we don’t expand, grow, or reach new horizons.

I am suggesting to you that the Bible is challenging us to step outside of the box. Now this does not in any way mean we are to cross a line of Scripture. But we have to break out of the boxes that have developed around us — those self-imposed limitations; the cultural and racial limitations put on us, not by God, but by people, by systems, by cultures, by denominations, by religion. I don’t ever want to be limited when it isn’t God who limits me!

It requires courage in order to change. It’s tough. There’s an old saying that goes…”the devil you know is better than the devil you don’t.” Heroes are people who have the courage to take risks for the things they believe in.

These people were willing to take the risk because they had courage. Where did it come from?
A. The first place courage comes from is God’s promise
They had a promise from God. They believed it and then risked everything on what God had spoken. Maybe you’re afraid today because of a situation you’re facing in your life. Maybe something you’re confronting is causing you to be fearful and agitated. All right, find a promise. Promises from God will inflame the heart with courage. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Someone said fear is the opposite of faith. I believe it is simply faith in the wrong thing. It is time to grab ahold of the promise and stand on it knowing God cannot lie! Think about them; reflect upon them; speak them. It will cause them to grow and to take root in our hearts.

B. The second place courage comes from is the memory of His previous acts of goodness
Each generation passed down through oral tradition the mighty acts of God from one generation so that when crisis came they would have a point of reference to entreat God. This is why He was called the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. What He had done for one He would do for the other.

I would venture to say that virtually every person has some sort of a God story in their life. Everybody can look back to a point where God intervened in your life. God answered a prayer, God helped you, or you know someone that God intervened in their life. There is a reference point to God’s previous work. That’s reason for courage, because what He did in times past, He’ll do again!

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. You have reason to take courage, rise up and venture into the unknown trusting that He is faithful!

2. The second Characteristic of a hero is Character.

Courage will get you through the door; character will keep you there. Some people are courageous enough, but their lack of character eventually causes them to self-destruct. You have to have character. D. L. Moody said character is what you are in the dark. Philip Brooks said character may be manifested in the great moments, but it is made in life’s smaller moments. I agree with that. It is made by the day-by day decisions that you make of the small things. That’s what really forms your character.

• Character is the one thing we make in this world and take with us into the next.
• Reputation is what you’re supposed to be; character is what you are.
• Reputation is what you have when you come to a new community; character is what
you have when you go away.
• Reputation is made in a moment; character is built in a lifetime.
• Reputation makes you rich or makes you poor; character makes you happy or makes
you miserable.
• Reputation is what men say about you on your tombstone; character is what angels say
about you before the throne of God.

Your character is what God knows you to be; your reputation is what men think you are. Here is a good test of character. Ask yourself:

• If you were an employer seeking to hire an efficient, honest, and competent employee, would you hire yourself at your salary?
• If you had to live with someone just like yourself for the rest of your life, would you look forward to it as a wonderful opportunity and privilege? It will tell you a little bit about your character.

I think the things that make you laugh and the things that make you weep and the things that make you angry are a good test of your character.

One author said, “The measure of a man’s character is what he would do if he knew he could never be found out.”

I like what C. S. Lewis said, “If there are rats in the cellar, you can find it out by bursting in upon them suddenly because the rats don’t have time to hide.” He said the “sudden intrusion doesn’t create the rats. It just reveals the fact that there are rats in the cellar.” He said, “If you want to find out what a man’s character is like, catch him off guard. The sudden intrusion, the sudden offense when you catch a person off guard and they respond and react, it’s a real revelation of what’s in the cellar of their life.”

I think sometimes when a crisis hits us or we’re taken off guard, it is a revelation of who we really are. Heroes are people who have greatness hidden within them. They are only an opportunity away from displaying it.

One of the primary character traits of a hero is that of servant-heartedness…they sacrifice to make the life of someone else better.
What is a servant? A servant is a person who sacrifices their own comfort and desires to aid another. A servant places others’ needs before his own, commits himself to doing concrete things to meet those needs, and seeks nothing in return from the person whom he serves. This is where those who love the limelight are separated from those who are willing to work in the moonlight. Superstars are entertainers…I love entertainment…I enjoy the lights, the laughter and the performance…but it’s all an act! It is a display to impress others. I’m convinced that there are too many people performing instead of serving.
Most heroes are so ordinary, and shun the limelight so much that they would never be known to society without their moment of heroism. For example, I know of a woman who cooks, serves and visits an unrelated elderly man on a weekly basis. She doesn’t save his life, but enhances it, with a small time-consuming commitment on her part. Yes, she probably gets the satisfaction of doing a kind deed, but that certainly is not what motivates her. Her life is full with many other personal and family obligations. Yet, she inconveniences herself weekly, for several years, to do what is kind and loving.

We all know many other people who extend themselves to do kind deeds for the sake of others. We know of many volunteers, good neighbors, good Samaritans for whom, at times, the well-being of another takes priority over their own.

There are four characteristics of a true servant…
a. Serves because he wants to, not because he feels pressured to. (“I delight to do thy will, O my God…” Psalm 40:8) So many seem to serve because “somebody has to…” They almost act like they are prisoners of war, forced to labor against their will. A true servant serves because they count it an honor to be able to give something back to the God who has given them eternal life. It is the least they can do.
b. Serves with passion and diligence. He performs his responsibilities and duties to the best of his ability and determines to seek wisdom and knowledge in order to improve his performance. He gives his best effort. He’s not late, hap-hazard, sloppy or unprofessional about the work of the Lord. Romans 12:11 in the NLT adds… “Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically.” Too often the work of the Lord is done with slothfulness.

Think about David when he faced the lion and the bear. There were core values that caused him to step up and respond the way he did. When the time came to face Goliath, he was confident going to battle against a proven mercenary who had been trained for war from his youth. Even though David had never even picked up a sword, or been engaged in physical combat, he was ready because he had risked his life wading out into a rapid current to rescue a frightened sheep; he had crawled down the side of a steep slope to retrieve a stranded lamb; when the lion and bear came looking for an easy dinner, David stood in the path and defended the sheep. He didn’t realize it while it was occurring, but his faithfulness in tending the sheep was preparing him for the future challenges and responsibilities of his life.

Right now, we are being tested for promotion by the degree of faithfulness we maintain. There are things being developed in your life as you serve in the shadows that will cause you to be effective once you step into the spotlight. There are no shortcuts! At every level we learn something that makes us successful at the next level of life. This is why we not only approach each task and responsibility with excellence and perform our assignments the best of our ability, but we also make a commitment to continually improve and elevate our performance because this is the training ground for future adventures in destiny!!

This is the proving ground for promotion. When we are faithful to care for what belongs to another, then God will give us our own!

c. Serves as unto the Lord
Colossians 3:23 says, “Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.” (NLT) Remember you are doing it for God. HE is only one who can repay you. So many serve because they want something in return- a title, a position, recognition, but a servant does it for God!
3. The Third “C’ stands for Commitment. You have to have commitment.

When the Spanish explorer, Hernando Cortez, landed in Vera Cruz, Mexico in 1519, he was committed to conquering and seizing Mexico’s vast treasures. He was so committed that when he arrived, he burned his entire fleet of eleven ships, and left no means of returning home. There stood all of his soldiers, all of his troops, and all of the people that he had brought with him from Spain. They looked out on the harbor, and the ships were on fire. They had no way of retreat, and no way of getting out. The only way then was forward. That is commitment. Sometimes in life you have to burn your ships.

There were people referred to as heroes who shouted and the walls came down. But there were also others who died believing and never received what they were seeking. It was the fact that they refused to quit that qualified them as a hero in God’s eyes. The point is this: What is it that you know in your heart is right? The course of action that you believe you should be on? You are going to have to be committed to it.

When those firemen ran back into the Trade Towers, they knew there was a chance they may die, and sadly some did…but it was right and so they stuck with it and became heroes. Sometimes you have to stay the course through misunderstanding. You have to stay the course through boredom, through loneliness, through attack, through ridicule, through rejection and betrayal, through times of blessing, through times of struggle, through times of fatigue. You have to have staying power. If you will stay the course it will eventually pay off if you will stay committed. You need courage, you need character, but you need commitment.

Some of you, I’ll tell you, you’re doing the right thing, but you just give up too soon. You have to stay at it. Have you ever noticed that God rarely works according to your timetable? Anybody ever discover that? But God will fulfill His promises to us; God will do everything that He has told us that He’ll do.

Courage… Character… Commitment… characteristics of a hero!

“You shall have a song
As in the night when a holy festival is kept,
And gladness of heart as when one goes with a flute,
To come into the mountain of the LORD,
To the Mighty One of Israel.”

It is important to remember that the Christian life is lived in stages and arrived at one level at a time. Each of us is a work in progress. Your life is filled with projects that God has either finished or He is still working on. All of us have areas that are flourishing and areas that are in various stages of growth and development. There are no shortcuts, and there’s no way to circumvent the process. What we learn at each level qualifies us to be promoted to the next. Growth is difficult on your flesh. It will stretch you in every area. Example: working out-in order to increase the strength of a muscle there must be resistance place against it. As the muscle is worked, it becomes stronger. The process of stretching and exercising can be a painful one but it’s the only way to grow!

One of the big mistakes we make way too often is to spend so much time focusing on the areas that are in development; the areas of lack, need, brokenness, or struggle to the point that we fail to recognize and acknowledge the progress we’ve made, improvements in our lives, or even the victories God has given us. While we never want to be a person that settles for mediocre, we also don’t want to become a person that is so driven to achieve the next thing that we fail to celebrate the current things God is doing in our lives.

We’ve all seen people that rush through life only to turn around and realize they never took time to live and enjoy all of the things they spent their lives pursuing. We need to learn to take periodical evaluations of our lives and celebrate the wins!

Celebration is important. Your life is changed when you become a person who celebrates.
• Celebration improves your outlook on life…
• The atmosphere in your home gets better…
• It strengthens relationships and makes them more enjoyable….
• Your faith and confidence in God soars…
• You have a more positive influence on the world around you when you live a life that is authentically and consistently in an attitude of celebration!

Most people think God is always somber, stoic and serious; but beloved, God loves celebration. The word celebrate is a common word in the Bible first introduced in the Old Testament when God instructed his people to celebrate their successes or wins in life in a grand fashion, with elaborate parties that were called Feasts or better yet, “festivals.” He instructed them to incorporate the practice of celebration into the fabric lives, as part of their lifestyle and culture. To this day, the Jewish people are known for the celebrations and festivals they observe.

Look with me at a few scriptures on this matter…

Exodus 12:47 “…All the congregation of Israel are to celebrate…” (Notice the term, “all” includes the broke, sick, depressed, angry, or disgruntled. No one was excluded from celebrating, regardless of their status, circumstances or situations.)

Nehemiah 12:27 [Dedication of the rebuilt Wall of Jerusalem] “At the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem, the Levites were sought out from where they lived and were brought to Jerusalem to celebrate joyfully the dedication with songs of thanksgiving and with the music of cymbals, harps and lyres.”

Psalm 145:7 “They will celebrate your abundant goodness and joyfully sing of your righteousness.”

Deuteronomy 16:10-12
“Then celebrate the Festival of Harvest to honor the Lord your God. Bring him a voluntary offering in proportion to the blessings you have received from him. 11 This is a time to celebrate before the Lord your God at the designated place of worship he will choose for his name to be honored. Celebrate with your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, the Levites from your towns, and the foreigners, orphans, and widows who live among you. 12 Remember that you were once slaves in Egypt, so be careful to obey all these decrees.” (NLT)

Celebrate-“observe; laugh, rejoice, singing, dancing, eating and music”

There were 7 major feasts that celebrated the notable wins in their history… God instructed them to celebrate those wins annually for every generation.

1) Passover = celebrate the Passover lamb that saved the lives of Israel’s children
2) Feast of Unleavened Bread = to celebrate how God brought them out of slavery
3) First Fruits = celebrating first harvest (provision)
4) Pentecost = celebrating the laws (Gods word) given to Moses as well as the beginning of the latter harvest.
5) Feast of Trumpets = New Year celebration
6) Feast of Tabernacles = Celebrating the abiding presence of God that dwelt among them as they wandered in the wilderness.
7) Day of Atonement = Celebrating the sacrifice that provided covering for their sins and fellowship with God.

God told them that they were to celebrate these Feast every year with their families. God is into the passing on of spiritual heritage. One generation would be declaring His goodness to another. He wanted it to be a memorial that was built among the children so that they would ask questions and learn about the acts of God’s goodness to the children. Each Feast was to include there things…

a. commemoration
b. celebration
c. contribution

First, they were to remember the blessings of God or the victories God had given them; in doing so, it would bring a spirit of joyfulness and thankfulness that would inspire rejoicing and celebrating. This spirit of thanksgiving and joyfulness would inspire and motivate them to bring a gift of appreciation to honor God and to bless someone else less fortunate than them.

The entire family was involved in this process. They played games, observed rituals and recited the stories of God’s provision over and over and then brought gifts to God and others. Remembering and celebrating the goodness of the Lord caused them to develop an attitude of gratitude and generosity. People who remember the goodness of God are much more likely to be happy, joyful and generous.

Question: “How can I receive such grace, goodness, and blessings that I certainly do not deserve; and then fail to share it with someone else?” Celebration changes us!

1) Celebrating helps us remember the RIGHT things.

A lot of people forget what they should remember and remember what they should forget. You see, Satan is a master at pointing at all the stuff in your life that is still under development in his attempt to try to get you to believe nothing is happening. He will point at struggles, needs and remaining problems and say, “See, this faith stuff doesn’t work!” “God doesn’t really love you.” “Your failures have disqualified you.”

You know, we all have success and failures, and wins and losses. Sadly, many people spend their lives fixated on every negative thing that has happened in their lives. They don’t remember that fact that God brought them through, they just remember what they went through. God wants you to stop focusing on the struggles, mistakes, failures and begin to think about the good things that you have experienced and focus on them Praise helps you remember the right things.

Example: Dallas Mavs celebrating the NBA Championship… they are not just celebrating winning a game… they are celebrating how they pressed through adversity… overcame injury… bounced back after losing a couple of games…
• Anniversaries=celebrating that you didn’t give up… that you didn’t walk out… that you stayed committed to each other.
• Not just celebrating a new job, you’re also celebrating that you made it thru 6 months of unemployment you did not give up… God provided… I kept my faith… that’s the celebration…
• Celebrate sacrifice…When we see people that are successful, we tend to think they are an overnight success…It takes 20 years to be an overnight success!!

Celebration helps you stay focused on the positive things in your life. You don’t want to dwell on the people who hurt you… the disappointments… the frustrations… because that only magnifies those experiences in your life until they completely overshadow everything else and you being to forget that while there are certainly battles, there are also victories!

God never promised us that we wouldn’t have troubles, battles, or bad experiences… But he teaches us to focus our attention on the good and to live a life of consistent praise and thanksgiving.

Why is this so important? David said, “Come magnify the Lord with me and come let us exalt His name together.” Whatever you focus on-you magnify, and create an atmosphere for it to reproduce in your life because it becomes the primary thing.

It’s not that we forget our struggles completely…but celebrating your wins puts your struggles in proper context. If you focus on your weakness, you get weaker…this is why the Bible says, “Let the weak say, “I am strong.” Proper perspective allows you to learn from the failures, mistakes, and misfortunes of the past while staying focused on the promise of a brighter future and a better tomorrow!

Look at Genesis Chapter 1 and verse 31
“And God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.” Genesis 1:31 (NIV)

Recount the setting…earth void and barren…Spirit hovering over the mess…there was great potential hidden beneath the surface. God begins to go through the process of restoring and bringing out that which was hidden under the murky waters of despair.

• Like the earth, each of us was created with design and precision because we have a destiny and purpose. He created you to be the object of His love and attention. He desired to shower mankind with the goodness of His love, to load him with blessings, and to give him the authority to rule his environment and surrounding as he submitted to the Lordship of God. Mankind in return would respond with worship, adoration and devotion to God bringing Him pleasure.
• There is an adversary who is committed to your destruction. Like the earth every time mankind comes under his influence the results are brokenness and devastation. The devil is terrified of you getting the understanding of your God given potential. He realizes that you have the right to force him to submit. In order for him to keep you from operating in your rightful place of Kingdom power and authority, he must distort the image of God in your mind. He has to convince you that you are less than God created you to be.
• This adversity and enemy who comes only to steal, kill and destroy has to create situations and conditions that cause you to doubt and question the reality of God’s Word until you begin to believe a lie and begin to live a substandard life. He brings traumatic circumstances…failure, divorce, sickness, foreclosure, rejection, abuse, rape, any type of hurtful situation he can in order to bring you to the place that you begin to accept your current circumstances as the constant level of life. He wants to drag you into a state of ruin-until you are left broken and hurting, believing this is your lot in life.

This is where many people live. They are overwhelmed by life’s problems. They have accepted their conditions and unchangeable. They are drowning in a sea of misery, living in darkness afraid of the light, they have built prisons of guilt and shame and have locked themselves in behind the bars of failure, rejection, abuse, and defeat. They are convinced that no one can ever find them here! They have allowed the pain of their past to consume any prospect of a brighter future!
• Thank God for the Holy Spirit. While the earth was void and waste, the “spirit was moving” (hovering…brooding, fluttering) over the situation. He is not intimated by the depravity of our condition. He hovers over the darkness…looking for someone to bless, heal, deliver. He looks for the hurting and broken…those thrown on the ash-heap and forgotten… “those who are well don’t need a physician but those who are sick…” “Spirit upon me because He has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor to, He has sent me to heal the broken hearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives; And recovery of sight to the blind…To set at liberty those who are oppressed; To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD “ (Luke 4:18-19)

• We need to understand that restoration is a process. It doesn’t happen immediately. He has to shine the light-truth into our situation. Then He brings order and structure, and places things in their proper boundaries. Then He speaks to those things hidden beneath the surface and calls them forth!
• Remember it didn’t happen overnight. It took time! There was much to be continued at the end of each day. But, God, chose to focus on what was good, not what still needed to be completed. He took time to praise Himself for what He had accomplished. Before God created the galaxies and planets He first created beings to praise His works.

Job 38:7 declares… “When the morning stars sang together, And all the sons of God shouted for joy?” God always works in an atmosphere of praise.

We need to remember that God is committed to the process of restoring our lives. During the transformation process, it is important to focus on the good and allow Him to address the other.

2) Celebrating enable you to develop a mindset of victory.
When we learn to rejoice and celebrate the wins and successes in life, it deposits the mentality of a winner in our DNA. We begin to expect to win every time we go into the battle.

“Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. 2 Corinthians 2:14

This is one of the reasons God wanted them to record and by oral tradition pass on the history of His interaction with them. The children would develop an expectation of victory because of the successes of their parents. He wants you to go into the battle expecting to win!

Memorials…Often after significant events they would stack some stones to build a memorial so that every time they walked passed it they would remember the good things God had done for them! Also, there children would relive the victories of their parents for generations to come and remember that the same God who did that can handle this…whatever this is…

This is why God referred to himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob…He was saying, “Listen; I don’t change. What I was I am and what I am I always will be…you can trust me…if I did it before, I’ll do it again!” He was trying to approach life through the lens of a person who expected to be victorious!

This is why it is so important to become a praiser. Once God begins to show Himself strong and mighty on your behalf, celebrate! Celebrate every healing… blessing …positive transition… every promise! Don’t let the enemy steal the pleasure and joy of your success…take some time and rejoice!

Example: Joshua and Caleb focused on the grapes while the other 10 spies focused on the giants. They doubted because they failed to remember the mighty acts of God in bringing the out of Egypt and to the Promised Land.

• God had his people put phylacteries (fa lack ter ies) on left arm (near the heart)…or on their forehead… near the mind… to help them remember his word-his promises-his faithfulness in their life. They would write promises and place them in little boxes and keep them near the heart.
• They were reminding themselves that they were people of covenant, they were blessed by the God of the Universe; they had supernatural favor on them. Even when things went wrong, they could have the assurance that God was fighting for them and victory would come. Celebrating recounted the faithfulness of God and helped them build a mindset of success into their heart. This is critical because out of the heart, the Bible tells us in Proverbs, are the forces that determine the capacity of our live. If we are going to experience success and victory in life’s sometime difficult situations, we have to have victory so etched into the tables of our hearts that no matter what the enemy throws at us, we don’t waver or back down!

This is what James 1:2 is all about…

“My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. 4 But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.”

The only way to count it joy when you are being forced to deal with pain, setbacks, betrayal, and unexplained situations is to have a hope…a knowledge that steadfastness and consistency will produce something greater within you and when you come out you will have recovered all you have lost and more!

One reason a lot of people don’t experience more wins in their life is because they don’t have winning in their system. (heart/mind). They may have a lot of talent, loads of potential… but they come from a family tree that’s rooted in a history of negative experiences… They haven’t tasted much victory but they are very experienced in defeat. All they can think about is the negative things they have lived through. They are conditioned to expect one bad thing after another. They need to go to the Word, put on the helmet of salvation and renew their minds to the promises of God…they need to realize that they have been redeemed and God is working on their behalf. It may look bod now but joy comes in the morning!

As we celebrate the moments that define us and our future it position our hearts, minds, our homes, our families for God to finish what He has begun.

The only way to change that pattern is to embrace Gods plan as our plan—-His promises as our promises. A key in this process is to begin to declare victory and celebrate wins even before the battle takes place.

Scientists tell us that the brain has an area called the, “prefrontal cortex,” it is anterior part of the frontal lobes of the brain, lying in front of the motor and premotor areas. It is where a person’s self-control muscle is. A person develops eating disorders or a shopping addiction, or even a lazy lifestyle a because of a repeated pattern becomes a subconscious habit. Every time an action is performed, it sends a message to the brain that says, this is how one should respond next time a similar situation occurs. Once an act is repeated over and over again, it becomes a developed pattern of behavior we call a habit. We eventually do it without even thinking.

Have you ever been around people that no matter how good things are going, they are always expecting something bad to happen; or they carry a chip on their shoulder because they have been hurt in so many relationships, they become defensive against even those trying to help them? What’s the problem? They haven’t developed the habit of winning. Success is not in their DNA!

When we learn to CELEBRATING THE WINS… WE LITERALLY BULK UP THE MUSCLE OF SELF-CONTROL! IF WE DO IT ENOUGH AND OUR MENTAL MUSCLE OF SELF CONTROL GETS STRONGER and victory becomes a habit. We fire up our spirits, upgrade our thinking and exercise self-control.

David…It’s interesting that David, before going to face Goliath references his past wins… lion, bear… he had a trophy case of some sort… which is why he saved Goliath’s weapons and cut off his head.

“I will remember the works of the LORD; Surely I will remember Your wonders of old. I will also meditate on all Your work, and talk of Your deeds…” Psalm 77:11-12

The Apostle Paul expressed this in Romans 8 “Who shall separate us from the love of God…I am persuaded…death or life…angels or principalities…powers…things present nor things to come…heights, nor depths…nor any other creature…”

Most people are waiting for some spectacular event to occur that will solve all of their problems and cure all of their ailments before they begin the celebration. However, a person with a winner’s mentality celebrates before the battle is over because they know…help is on the way and victory shall be mine!

Example: My own life…a series of failures and successes. But by learning to rejoice in the times of pain, failure and defeat by searching out the reason why it happened and then finding a solution that corrects it and stops it from happening again, I’ve developed a mentality that expects things to constantly get better. It’s not some sort of self-deception, or state of denial, it is a faith that no matter what happens, God is the captain of my ship and though the winds blow and the storm rocks the boat, I’m going to the other side!

It was sleeping in my car, on the pews and in nasty hotels, preaching to crowds of 10 and 12 people, hearing pastors after pastor tell me I wasn’t called, it was being told I was the worst preacher they had ever heard and yet pressing though to success that created within me a mindset that says, “I can handle it; I won’t quit; God is faithful and I’m destined to win!

3) Celebrating releases an attitude of generosity

The third area of focus during the Feasts was to bring an offering to honor God and bless others. By its very nature, celebration is an inclusive act. Think about it; when we get ready to have a birthday party for our kids what do we do? We invite a bunch of their friends over! When we get ready to celebrate… an anniversary, a promotion, a significant purchase, a graduation, a new baby, etc. What do we do? We call our friends and family and share our story. By doing so, we bring other people into our celebration.

You need to take time to remember what God has done in your life; you need to take the time to celebrate the wins…to give Him praise and glory for the great things He has done…you need to then become a vessel of blessing to someone else. This is why we’re even told to bring our tithes and offerings with a spirit of thanksgiving and praise. We’re told that God loves a cheerful giver…” (I’m blessed to have something to give…”)

Generosity is one of the most Christ-like attributes we as a believer can express. Most of aren’t generous because of 2 issues…selfishness and fear! Celebrating the wins causes us to evaluate the success we’ve enjoyed and releases a generous heart that wants to share it with others. (“How can I not tell someone else!”)

4. Celebrating the wins causes God’s presence to manifest in your life.

Three times each year (during the Feasts), all families were required to come to Jerusalem to present themselves before God. At this time the presence of God was confined to the Temple. In the Psalms, the writers paint a vivid picture of worshippers coming into the presence of the Lord.

As they climbed the hills in their approach to the Holy City, they sang songs called the Psalms of Ascent. They are recorded from Psalm 120 to 134. It is interesting to observe how these songs reflect the spiritual condition of the heart as people prepare to worship.

First of all in Psalm 120 they are expressing their problems; “In my distress I cried to the LORD, And He heard me.” In Psalm 121 they see their answer coming; “I will lift up my eyes to the hills—From whence comes my help? My help comes from the LORD” In Psalm 122 they express their desire to be in His presence; “I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go into the house of the LORD.” Psalm 123 says, “Unto You I lift up my eyes, O You who dwell in the heavens.”

Notice the improvement as they get their focus off of their problem and onto God. By the time they get to Psalm 133 they are declaring, “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is For brethren to dwell together in unity!” when they reach the Temple they are unified and ready to worship and be blessed. Look at the last song; Psalm 134; “Behold, bless the LORD, All you servants of the LORD, Who by night stand in the house of the LORD! Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, and bless the LORD. The LORD who made heaven and earth bless you from Zion!

Now they are entering the presence of God with Thanksgiving and praise and are experiencing the goodness and blessings He has reserved for them! Without a spirit of gratitude and celebration, you don’t even get past the gate into God’s presence. We have access by the blood but we have entrance through our praises.

EXAMPLE: Gated community-‘give him my name”-opened the gate and said, “Welcome.” God has a gate- the password is “Thank You.”

Conclusion: The world needs to see the face of celebration on Christianity. They’ve seen so much strife, contention, mean spiritedness, and sobriety. They need to know serving Jesus is not a lifestyle of joylessness. It is joy unspeakable and full of glory!

Rick Warren said, “The reason people come to Christ is b/c they know a Christian… the reason people don’t come to Christ is b/c they know a Christian.”

You’re either going to represent God from point of timidity and fear, or from a posture of freedom and generosity. It’s either going to be from exclusiveness or inclusiveness. Include others in your celebration!

Text:
“Train up a child in the way he should go [and in keeping with his individual gift or bent], and when he is old he will not depart from it” Proverbs 22:6 (AMP)

2 Timothy 3:14-17
“But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, 15 and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

Introduction:
A man observed a woman in the grocery store with a three-year-old girl in her basket. As they passed the cookie section, the little girl asked for cookies & her mother told her, “No.” The little girl immediately began to whine and fuss, & the mother said quietly, “Now Jane, we just have half of the aisles left to go through – don’t be upset. It won’t be long now.”

Soon, they came to the candy aisle & the little girl began to shout for candy. When told she couldn’t have any, she began to cry. The mother said, “There, there, Jane, don’t cry – only two more aisles to go & then we’ll be checking out.”

When they got to the checkout stand, the little girl immediately began to clamor for gum & burst into a terrible tantrum upon discovering there’d be no gum purchased. The mother said serenely, “Jane, we’ll be through this check-out stand in 5 minutes and then you can go home & have a nice nap.”

The man followed them out to the parking lot & stopped the woman to compliment her. “I couldn’t help noticing how patient you were with little Jane. It’s quite commendable,” he remarked. The mother replied, “I’m Jane. My little girl’s name is Tammy.”

While we have all felt the effects of the latest economic downturn, I never cease to be amazed at how the building industry in the USA seems to find a way to survive. Some areas are clearly in disrepair, but in other cities and suburbs you see houses, large houses going up everywhere. One of the shows I like to watch is Property Brothers. One brother, Drew Scott is a real estate brokers while the other brother, Jonathan, is a designer/carpenter. The Scott brothers work together to help families buy fixer-up properties of all sizes, shapes, and floor plans and make them and remodel them into fantastic, dream homes. The creativity and technology are simply amazing. There seems to be no limit to what they able to do.

But the sad truth is that as our nation is becoming more skilled at building and remodeling houses, we’re becoming less proficient at turning those houses into homes. As a result, many of the beautiful new structures that grace the neighborhoods around this country will end up being mere facades that hide lives of loneliness, pain, and heartache.

Consider the following statistics and you’ll see what I mean:

 Since 1970, single parent families have increased by 124%.
 Almost 50% of the children who enter grade school will be living in single parent homes by the time they graduate at age 18.
 In 1955, only 12% of mothers who had children less than age 6 worked outside the home. By 1990, this percentage had grown to 60%.
 30% of grade school children are going home each day to an empty house.
 Out-of-wedlock births have increased 450% since 1965.
 In some of the inner cities the rate is as high as 75%.
 In Cleveland, in some urban areas it is 80% or more.
 Adolescent suicides have tripled since 1975.

These alarming statistics underscore the magnitude of the pressure that the American family is dealing with. It should also cause us to refocus our priorities on building families that the gates of hell cannot prevail against.

In the mind of God, the Family is a very significant thing. It was the first institution ordained by God. He established the family unit before He set up government or even the church. He designed the home to be a special place where 1 man and 1 woman could live together in a loving, serving relationship and enjoy the pleasures of a mutually beneficial covenant. Out of that union, children would be born into an environment fit for them to flourish and become all they could be. It was designed to be a place where children find love and acceptance so that they may become comfortable with the person God created them to be; embrace a family identity; learn to cope with the pressures and challenges of life, practice living successfully until they get it right. The home was ordained be a sanctuary where children can make mistakes and still be loved; a place where they can discover who they are, what their passions and gifting are and what they desire to spend their lives pursuing. It was to be refuge where learning, development, and growth can occur in a safe and secure atmosphere. Most of all it should be a training ground for life; a place where they are led into a relationship with God at an early age and taught the value of living life according to God pattern and blueprint.

Sadly, most people don’t realize such a divine blueprint exists. They see God as so busy managing the universe that He couldn’t possibly be interested in their little family problems. But, the true is, He is!

As we study the Bible we learn that God places such an importance on the home that He cited faithfulness in family responsibilities as one of the key reasons He could choose Abraham, from a nation of pagans, enter into a covenant with him, and promise to bless him in such a manner that through his lineage, the Messiah would come and bring salvation to all who would believe. An idol maker became the father of our faith, and the patriarch of the nation through of Israel because God knew he would walk in obedience and steer his children in the ways of the Lord.
Look at Genesis 17:17-18…

“…Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him…For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment; that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.” (Genesis 17:17-18)

God knew He could fulfill His covenant with Abraham and use him a catalyst of blessing for the whole world, for two reasons…1. Abraham had the capacity to believe God’s Word, and number 2. He could be counted on to faithfully train his family in the ways of the Lord thus perpetuating God’s plan from generation to generation.

God should be able to have that same confidence in us as New Testament believers. After all, all New Testament believers are called the seed of Abraham in Galatians 3:29, which says, “…if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise…”

God has a plan for our lives and has given abundant promises for every believer today. He has promised to make you a man or woman of influence, purpose and significance; designed to not only inherit His blessings, but to become a vessel through which those blessings touch the nations. That begins in the home!

When children are taught and instructed in the ways of the Lord it follows them through life. Look at the text in 2 Timothy. Timothy was going through a crisis and so Paul reminds him of the seeds that had been sown in his heart from his youth. This reminder was to serve as an encouragement for Timothy to remain steadfast in the truth regardless of the paths other chose. Let me read it to you from the Message…

“But don’t let it faze you. Stick with what you learned and believed, sure of the integrity of your teachers—why, you took in the sacred Scriptures with your mother’s milk! There’s nothing like the written Word of God for showing you the way to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. Every part of Scripture is God-breathed and useful one way or another—showing us truth, exposing our rebellion, correcting our mistakes, training us to live God’s way. Through the Word we are put together and shaped up for the tasks God has for us.”
2 Timothy 3:14-17 (MSG)

God’s design is, that in the home of the righteous, relationship with Him can be initiated, faith can be developed, dependency established and purpose fulfilled. All of our outside successes should be the fruit of the spiritual success of our family.
The Scriptures are so clear on the home being the birthing place of public success, that before a person can be considered a candidate for the office of elder, Bishop, or even a deacon, he must have the testimony of a spiritually healthy home life.
Look with me at I Timothy 3:12-13…
“Let deacons be the husbands of but one wife, and let them manage [their] children and their own households well. 13For those who perform well as deacons acquire a good standing for themselves and also gain much confidence and freedom and boldness in the faith which is [founded on and centers] in Christ Jesus.” (AMP)
Why is this such an issue? There are two reasons…
A. They are to be examples to the flock of God.
B. God prepares us for promotion by the proving of our faithfulness in every area of life. We are granted greater responsibility as you are proven dependable stewards of that which we have been entrusted with.

So, how do we build this type of home? I believe there are 3 essentials that every home must have in order to stand against the attacks of the enemy and fulfill God’s assignment for the family…
I. BEGIN WITH INSTRUCTION

If we are going to build spiritually healthy families, we must determine to follow God’s blueprint. Parents must become instructors not just baby sitters. We must teach our children Biblical values and principles, and create an environment that ripens their character so that they become followers of Jesus and productive citizens in this society, advancing the cause of the Kingdom as they live their lives, raise their families and pursue their chosen field of interest.

Sadly many parents have allowed Hollywood, the entertainment industry or the school system to become the role models for their children and the shapers of their perspectives on life.

Most of us would agree with that the Bible is the God’s textbook for successful living. It provides a roadmap for navigating through life and from earth to heaven. It shows us everything necessary for to be fruitful spiritually, relationally, financially and in every other way. Those of us who have embraced relationship in Jesus Christ understand that to the degree we follow His teaching, life works! The problem is, too often we become so busy working jobs, addressing daily issues and simply surviving, that we take for granted that our faith and values are being passed on to our children when often times they are not!

It is a fight because the devil is subtle and works almost imperceptibly to establish his philosophy. He’ll use radio, television, magazines, the entertainment industry and your friendships to gain access to their minds in order to indoctrinate them with the world’s values. They are constantly being influenced by the spirit of this age and they need your wisdom and guidance in order to know how to properly respond.

The world’s belief system is self-centered, carnal and fleshly. It is based on the premise that the end justifies the means. As we have all observed, life based on that premise eventually ends in dysfunction, destruction, disaster and even death. Our children will never experience the fullness of the favor and blessings of God following the world’s system. They must be taught and instructed on a daily manner in the ways of the Lord.

To win this battle we as parents must instill the word of God into the hearts and minds of our children.

In Deuteronomy, the Israelites were commanded to “…teach, recite, remind and prominently display the words of the Torah for their children.

“And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. 6 And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. 7 Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up. 8 Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders. 9 Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” Deuteronomy 6:5-9 (NLT)

In Psalm 119, David said the Word of the Lord was a “lamp unto my feet and a light unto my paths…” In other words, the Word of the Lord was so etched into the tables of his heart, that it determined the direction of his life decisions!

The Word of the Lord must be the foundation of our children’s values and belief system. Remember that what you believe controls how you live because it determines your thought processes, decisions and choices which set the course of your life.

They won’t just pick it up because they grow up in a Christian home…they have to be taught and instructed on a daily basis. It has to be more than an occasional devotional designed to compensate for an entire day or week of spiritual neglect. They have to be trained up in the ways of the Lord from the time they are small.

Training is a comprehensive process that includes instruction, modeling and discipline.

It is consistently communicating that the Bible is the foundational source of truth, and that things of the Lord are top priority. They must learn that being a follower of Jesus is more than an occasional routine lived out on Sundays–it is a lifestyle.
Training begins with instruction in Bible study, prayer, worship and church attendance.

They should study the Bible because it is the written word of God. In the Bible God is revealed as a Father who loves and cars about His children and provides answers to their life questions. Children must learn how to effectively study the Bible; to search out answers and learn to apply it to their lives so it is more than a compilation of sacred writings, but interesting and relevant to their real life experiences.

They must also be taught how to pray. When they are young, pray with them and teach them how to talk with God. As they grow older, show them how to use prayer to search out answers for the challenges of life and to keep God involved in the choices and decisions that are shaping their futures.

You can also help your children learn to recognize God’s voice, draw strength and comfort from fellowshipping with Him and to expect divine involvement as He answers their prayers. They must learn that prayer is not some religious recital of insincere petitions but a real communication with the Lord that changes the direction and circumstances of their lives.

They must be taught the value of worship. Model for your children learn how to enter into the presence of God through worship. By doing so, they are able to make a heart connection with the Heavenly Father that takes them beyond the ritualistic activities of mere religion and brings them into fellowship and intimacy with their Creator.

They must know that true worship is not just for the adults, it is for everyone! It is more than singing some meaningless hymn, or chorus, reciting prayers and following some well-planned ceremony. Worship is the humbling of their hearts before God. It is the acknowledgement of His greatness, the expression of a thirsty soul crying out for the living water of the Holy Spirit, a reverencing of the Almighty that results in a total surrender to His will and way and invokes a vibrant relationship that transforms every area of their lives!

Don’t send them to church, bring them! Let them partake of Communion, teach them to tithe, to serve and to respect God and others. Establish the precedent that faithful involvement in the House of the Lord is an essential part of a fruitful Christian life and necessary for spiritual growth and maturity.
II. ESTABLISH AN EXAMPLE; PRACTICE WHAT YOU PREACH
We begin with teaching and instruction. Then we add to that example to create a prototype or model of what we are teaching.

CREATE A PROTOTYPE- A MODEL OF WHAT YOU ARE TEACHING.

Instruction is fundamental, and a great launching pad; but it’s not enough. There must also be example. In order to effectively train your children in the ways of the Lord, it is equally important and necessary to model righteous behavior. The idea of “do as I say and not as I do,” simply doesn’t work! They’ll do what you do most often!

You must model the value system you’re trying to teach your children and be the example of what you’re preaching. Your actions must support your words. Otherwise, you’ll undermine your own efforts and they’ll lose faith in what you are teaching them.

This what the Father did for us when He sent Jesus into the world! He sent Jesus, not just to reveal the love of the Father, but to also model the life of God. While He was God manifested in the flesh, one of the reasons He denied Himself the special rights and privileges of deity was to show us how a righteous life should be lived through obedience to the Word, fellowship with the Father and dependence on the Holy Spirit.

The Apostle Paul emphasized this same truth when he wrote in 1 Corinthians 11:1
“…follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.” (CEV)

Also, let’s look at Philippians 3:17, which adds, “Brethren, together follow my example and observe those who live after the pattern we have set for you.” (AMP)

Paul lived what he preached. He was confident enough in his walk with God that he could actually say to this church, “I’m committed to imitating Jesus, watch me and imitate me as I follow Him.” In fact the term “Christian” was first coined at Antioch to describe followers of Jesus. Believers were so much like Jesus they were referred to a being “Christ-like.”

If you want your children to become followers of Jesus, they need to see it in you! They must see consistency in what you say and what you do! Not just when you’re at church or with other Christians but during the times of crisis and testing. They don’t have to see perfection, when you fail, take responsibility for it and talk to them about it. It will help them in their own struggles and temptations!

Consider the example of training your children in forgiveness and the importance of conflict resolution:
1. Maybe your children get into an argument.
2. You intervene by bringing them together; making them address the divisive issue, talk through the problems and find a common ground or solution.
3. You instruct them as how to forgive, release resentment and bitterness and co-exist peacefully with one another.

Let me just add a side note…All that instruction will be for naught if they see mom and dad arguing, fighting, screaming and yelling at each other. Your own example will negate everything you’ve tried to teach your children about communication, forgiveness and conflict resolution.

As Christian parents, we do more than simply avoid modeling inappropriate behavior; we must also demonstrate godly behavior. It’s not enough to “just say no” to unhealthy and unproductive habits; we must help them say “yes” to correct and fruitful patterns of life.

What are your children seeing in you? Do your children see you studying the Word, praying, worshipping, giving, serving, forgiving and faithfully attending church? Do they observe your hands raised in thanksgiving before God, with tears of gratitude flowing down your cheeks for what He has done? Have they seen you turn to the Bible for answers in time of crisis or pray and seek God during times of need? Do they hear you speak words of faith rather than doubt and unbelief? They are listening and watching…make sure they are hearing and seeing the right things.

Your life will set a standard for them to follow and a model for them to copy!
III. ENFORCE POSITIVE BEHAVIOR WITH DISCIPLINE
To ensure your children adhere to the instruction you are giving them, and the example you are modeling for them, you must include another element of training; discipline.

Discipline is Not a Dirty Word

In the 1970s, discipline became a dirty word. It was popular to let kids grow up “to be their own person, to be what they want to be; or make their own choices.” The children of that generation have become the many of the adult role-models and teachers of this generation. As they attempt to perpetuate the distortion, the consequences are becoming catastrophic. We’re seeing a disproportional amount of broken homes; we have unbelievably high crime rates, illiteracy, divorce, teen drug use, reckless sexual activity and the largest prison population in American history.

Obviously that theory didn’t work. While they think they know it all, the truth is a child and even a young adult must be given direction because they are immature physically, emotionally and spiritually. They don’t know what’s best for them! They tend to think in terms of the moment not the long-term.

When I was 20 I thought I knew it all but the older I get the more I realize just how much I DON’T KNOW and how much there is to learn!

Discipline involves establishing requirements, setting up boundaries and then supporting them to meet those requirements, and observe those boundaries. There must also be the element of reward for meeting those requirements and observing the boundaries as well as punishment or some other form of negative consequences when they fail to adhere to the standards you set.

One of the big mistake parents make is punishing their children for crossing undefined boundaries. Often I hear, “Well they should have known better!” Maybe so, but it’s very unfair to try to enforce what has not been defined. We need to establish chores, goals, responsibilities and assignments for our children and then help then reach them. If we don’t they won’t ever learn that there are rewards for achievement and negative consequences for failing to achieve.

Example: I read an article the other day that suggested that schools remove score-keeping from elementary and middle school sports so kids don’t feel bad when they lose. They also suggested giving everyone the same prize so the losers won’t feel bad about themselves. They argue that competitive sports put too much pressure on kids to win! In other words, they want children to feel good about competeting.

While I understand the goal of limiting the activities of some parents who are living vicariously through their kids, I also believe we each need to learn to take pride in things we have earned and achieved. Despite what experts may tell you, in a world where everyone is special, no one is really special.

Coming from an adult who was active in sports as a child and teenager, it is my belief that competition also helps one learn how to lose gracefully. By losing a ballgame, where the consequences are small, it helps a person deal with setbacks and failures that are sure to come later in life. This is an important, learned skill that is necessary to be successful. The person who encounters obstacles and picks himself up to try again and again is the one who will ultimately succeed because the world can’t deny someone who refuses to give up.

We need to teach them how to win and lose with grace a resolve to always give their best and continually improve their approach to whatever they attempt in life. As they encounter successes and setbacks, we should encourage them with attention, affirmation, and affection, continually expressing our delight at how they’re growing and learning!

There are even moments when punishment is necessary. I realize a lot of parents avoid spanking their children because they experienced abuse at the hands of their own parents. Or maybe they listened to some so-called expert who told them spanking would be harmful to their child. But you have to decide. Are you going to believe the Bible or what the world says?

Abuse in any capacity is unacceptable but don’t allow the abuse of authority to cause you to turn away from the Bible. The fact is, when spanking is done in the appropriate manner, it can be a useful tool in enforcing the standards you have set in your home. But it has to be administered in love and not in anger.
The Bible says if you discipline in anger, you will provoke your children to wrath. They will become angry children and later on, angry adults. So if you’re boiling mad about something your child has done, wait until you cool off before you deliver the necessary correction. Wait until you can do it in love.

Remember that the objective is correction-change not just punishment!

CONCLUSION: HOW?

Refuel, Recuperate and Rearm

Remember that the reason your children need training in the first place is because there’s a war going on the world. Satan and his allies are doing everything possible to disrupt God’s plan not only in the earth but also in your home.

Satan knows that a strong Christian home is a powerful base of operations for overcoming his scheme.

That means your home must function like a base of operations in the military. It is the place where your family’s day originates and terminates. It must provide refueling, recuperation, and rearming for your own little unit of God’s army.

1. REFUEL:
Love is the fuel that drives God’s agenda. It must be available in abundant supply in your home. Without adequate love, your family won’t have the strength they need to handle the repeated rejection, disappointment, heartbreak, and failure they experience in the world every day. Every member of the family needs it, even MACHO DAD!

Since love is kind, any word, deed, or gesture done in kindness will help your family members feel loved.

Touching is an important part of this. You big macho guys shouldn’t be embarrassed to hold your wife’s hand in the grocery store or where someone might see you. And when you notice that little fellow sitting at the other end of the couch, make him scoot toward you so you can put your arm around him. You need to tell your children you love them every day!

2. RECUPERATE:
There will be times, despite all your efforts, when your children will experience real trauma out in the world. It may be something as simple as an older kid telling your son he’s weird or your daughter being made fun of by a boy she likes may.

As parents concerned with the major problems of adult life, it’s easy to make light of such childish hurts. Because they seem small to us, we often fail to give our children the help they need to recover from them.

Here again, we can learn from the military example. In combat situations, every soldier is given regular periods of rest and recuperation because the hostile environment can be so traumatic.

If a pilot has to eject from his airplane, he is given a comprehensive evaluation and time to recuperate. Then he is put back in the pilot’s seat so his fears won’t magnify and keep him from flying.

Give your children that same kind of consideration. Be sensitive enough to notice when they have experienced trauma. When they’re too quiet or just not acting like themselves, find out what’s wrong. If they’ve been hurt, take special measures to counteract the bad effects and help them gain back their confidence. Then support them to get back in the battle and not let their bad experiences immobilize them.

3. REARM:

Finally, you must help your children to rearm. As Christians, our major offensive weapon is the Word of God. So make certain your children leave the house each day armed to the teeth with God’s Word and a knowledge of how to effectively apply scripture to the challenges they face.

It’s Never Too Late

If your children are no longer babies, right now you may be wishing you’d learned these things years ago. You may be thinking of the ways you’ve failed as a parent and feeling sorry for all the opportunities you’ve missed. Most of us have felt such regrets at one time or another.

But don’t be discouraged. Just start today and do everything you can to make your house a home.

Even if your children are grown up and gone, remember God is the Lord of reconciliation and restoration. If you truly repent of mistakes you made, God has promised to restore the years the locusts have eaten. He will work with you to repair those damaged family relationships.

No doubt it will take time and work to change old patterns in your family and establish new ones, but with the help of the Holy Spirit you can do it. I can assure you that in the end it will be well worth the effort.

As you choose to follow God’s plan for your family, you’ll experience a marvelous side benefit. Your own walk will become deeper and more powerful.

You’ll see the glory of the Lord in your life as never before. And because you’ve trained your children to know and walk with Him that glory will be with your family for generations to come.

Special acknowledgment to Mac Hammond for portions of this message.

A couple of years ago I watched a movie called, “National Treasure,” starring Nicholas Cage. Cage plays Benjamin Gates, a historian and amateur cryptologist searching for a lost treasure, once protected by the Knights Templar and hidden by the Freemasons during the early years of the United States. A coded map on the back of the Declaration of Independence points to the location of the “national treasure”, but Gates is not alone in his quest; whoever can steal the Declaration and decode it first, will find the greatest treasure in history. Ultimately they found a huge enclave of massive riches and wealth that was supposed to be the National Treasure of the founding fathers hidden beneath a historic Trinity Church in New York City.

When you think about a treasure, we usually think of something that has hidden that needs to found and rediscovered. A TREASURE IS SOMETHING OF GREAT VALUE. A treasure typically consists of various valuables…including jewels, silver, gold, original manuscripts, pearls, priceless works of art, and so forth.

Look with me at the Book of Judges, Chapter 2 and verse 10…

“After that the whole generation had been gathered to their Fathers, another generation grew up, who knew neither the Lord nor what he had done for Israel…” Judges 2:10

Joshua’s Generation was a powerful, prosperous and successful generation. They were the conquerors; the ones who experienced first-hand the goodness of God in their lives on a regular basis. In two generation this people had gone from being slaves in Egypt to possessing and enjoying a land of plenty. They did a lot of right things. But they also made a few crucial mistakes. In the midst of their prosperity, success and conquest they failed to pass on their spiritual heritage to their children. So, a new generation grew up that did not know God, quickly forgot their history and lost its “National Treasure.” Joshua had warned them of this danger near the end of his life and they promised not to forget the great deliverance and abundant blessings God had given them. In fact, they had made a public declaration to serve the Lord and walk in His ways. They had even built a memorial to remind them to follow God.

Sadly, I believe America is in the same situation today. Previous generations have paid a tremendous price to build the greatest nation in the history of mankind. However, in the midst of our great economic prosperity, innovation and success, it seems as though we are in danger of parenting a generation that doesn’t know its history and has lost touch with its national treasure. We have a generation who hasn’t had to sacrifice, do without, or struggle in the same manner as our forefathers and has sadly either not been informed or has been misinformed as to how we got here and what has made this nation great. They have wealth and opportunity no other people on earth have ever known; they have cell phones, computers, i-pads, debit cards, cable and satellite television, advancing and ever-expanding technology at their fingertips and yet because they don’t know the TRUTH about the source and the means of our prosperity, they’ve have lost the moral compass that built America and made it the greatest nation in the history of mankind. I want to redefine some of our National Treasure today…  

1.      Our Start…Christian roots

Contrary to what many in the media and in the political arena would like for you to believe, this is a Christian nation. We are Christian by heritage, by statistics and by practice. 92% of Americans believe in God and 83% identify themselves as Christians. Allow me to remind you of the history of this nation.

A.     The Foundation of our Republic

The Constitutional Convention had been meeting for five weeks, and had hit a perilous deadlock. The large states were insisting that congressional representation be based on population; the smaller states wanted a one-state-one-vote rule. The entire effort to create a stronger union was in jeopardy. Eighty-one-year-old Benjamin Franklin, quiet during most of the deliberations, then addressed the group. In his own words… “I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth- that God Governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid? We have been assured, Sir, in the sacred writings, that “except the Lord build the House they labour in vain that build it.” I firmly believe this; and I also believe that without his concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better, than the Builders of Babel.”

On April 18, 1775 Samuel Adams was at the home of Rev. Jonas Clarke, a Lexington pastor and militia leader. That same night Paul Revere arrived to warn them of the approaching Redcoats. The next morning British Major Pitcairn shouted to an assembled regiment of Minutemen; “Disperse, ye villains, lay down your arms in the name of George the Sovereign King of England.” The immediate response of Rev. Jonas Clarke was…“We recognize no Sovereign but God and know no King but Jesus.” This became the battle cry of the volunteer militias.

Thomas Jefferson once said,“God who gave us life gave us liberty. Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God?”

Charles Carroll, signer of the Declaration and member of Continental Congress: “Without morals a republic cannot subsist any length of time; they therefore who are decrying the Christian religion, whose morality is so sublime and pure, which insures to the good eternal happiness, are undermining the solid foundation of morals, the best security for the duration of free governments.”

Alexander Hamilton, a signer of the Constitution and one of America’s most preeminent founding fathers, was author of 51 of the 85 Federalist Papers, which powerfully made the case for ratifying the Constitution. He was Secretary of the Treasury in George Washington’s administration. Shortly after the Constitutional Convention of 1787, Hamilton stated: “For my own part, I sincerely esteem it a system which without the finger of God, never could have been suggested and agreed upon by such a diversity of interests.”

“I have examined all religions, as well as my narrow sphere, my straitened means, and my busy life would allow me; and the result is, that the Bible is the best book in the world. It contains more of my little philosophy than all the libraries I have seen…” Thomas Jefferson

In year 1777 Patrick Henry wrote, “It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religion, but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For that reason alone, people of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity and freedom of worship here.”

 An article in Time Magazine dated June 21st 2004, states referring to our national heritage, “It’s only natural that a country founded by pilgrims would never let its politics wander far from its faith.”

George Washington, when he was being sworn in as President ad-libbed the line “So help me God” at the end of his oath of public service.

Noah Webster (author of American dictionary) said, “In my view, the Christian religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children, under a free government ought to be instructed…No truth is more evident to my mind than that the Christian religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free people.”  He also added…“the moral principle and precepts contained in the scriptures ought to form the basis of all our civil constitutions and Laws…”

Benjamin Rush said, “If moral precepts alone could have reformed mankind, the mission of the Son of God into our world would have been unnecessary… The only foundation for… a republic is to be laid in Religion… Christianity is the only true and perfect religion; and that in proportion as mankind adopt its principles and obey its precepts they will be wise and happy”

This nation was founded upon the Bible and the Christian faith. Our nation’s founders constantly refer to the Bible and prayer as they established our system of government. When they referred to God, or the “Almighty” they were not referencing some genetic deity out there somewhere to be define by any cult or religious group; they exclusively referring to the God of the Bible.

Our public monuments testify of our inclusion of God in government 

The Jefferson Memorial

Library of Congress-Moses with the 10 Commandments

Supreme Court-Moses

The Lincoln Memorial

The 10 Commandments on the floor of our National Archives

The Prayer Mantle in the White House

The Washington Monument inscription at the top, “Laus Deo,” Latin for“ Praise be to God.”

Did you know that the view from the Washington monument is designed as a cross imposed upon the landscape, with the White House to the North, the Jefferson Memorial to the South, the Capitol to the East and the Lincoln Memorial to the West.  All additional references to the God of the Bible and Jesus His Son.

The term, “SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE” WAS NOT, AND IS NOT IN THE CONSTITUTION

The words “Separation of church and state” are NOT in our Constitution. It has been so misrepresented by those who defy God and the principles of the Bible. That phrase is from a letter from Thomas Jefferson written on January 1, 1802 to the Danbury Baptist church. They were afraid that the state was going to infringe on their freedom of worship. Jefferson was assuring them that they were protected from state interference. He says he thinks there should be a “wall of separation between church and state” in order to protect the country’s various churches from being controlled by the state (government),  as it was in England. The metaphor was used exclusively to keep the state out of the church’s business, not to keep the church out of the state’s business.

The constitution states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” Both the free exercise clause and the establishment clause place restrictions on the government concerning laws they pass which interfere with religion. No restrictions are placed on religions except perhaps that a religious denomination cannot become the state religion.

America has always had freedom of when/if/how to go to church, and he was protecting the church from the government stepping in and taking those freedoms away. Our forefathers were NOT concerned with taking religion out of schools, nor the public square.  

Our Founding Fathers never desired to keep God out of government, but rather, to protect the church from Governmental interference.  The first amendment simply states that:

”Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof”’

• Declaration of Independence, John Adams declared that the Fourth of July `ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty’;
• The Liberty Bell was named for the Biblical inscription from Leviticus 25:10 emblazoned around it: `Proclaim liberty throughout the land, to all the inhabitants thereof’;
• In 1777, Congress, facing a National shortage of `Bibles for our schools, and families, and for the public worship of God in our churches,’ announced that they `desired to have a Bible printed under their care & by their encouragement’ and therefore ordered 20,000 copies of the Bible to be imported `into the different ports of the States of the Union’;
• In 1782, Congress pursued a plan to print a Bible that would be `a neat edition of the Holy Scriptures for the use of schools’ and therefore approved the production of the first English language Bible printed in America that contained the congressional endorsement that `the United States in Congress assembled . . . recommend this edition of the Bible to the inhabitants of the United States’

They understood Psalm 33:12, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD…”

C.      Our churches have always played an important role in the political and moral choices of our nation.

The health and strength of our nation is directly connected to the strength and health of the churches. When the church is weak the nation is weak… when it’s strong, the nation is strong.

In the early days, the Founding Fathers appealed to the churches throughout the colonies to rally their people against the injustice and tyranny of England. The pastors challenged their people to support independence knowing it was the only way to truly be liberated from the restrictions of the King and the Church of England.

In the mid 1800’s it was the preachers who railed against slavery and human indignity and awakened a nation to the oppression of slaves. (Oberlin, Ohio-birth place of the abolition of slavery.)

In the 1960’s it was the churches that said enough to the inequality being experienced by blacks and stood hand in hand…blacks and whites…to force the President, Lyndon B. Johnson to sign the Civil Right Act.

All throughout history it was the church who pushed for human rights and dignity; from child labor  laws to the voting rights act.  

While understand there is a uniquely set of objectives that church and the government pursue, I think we make a huge mistake when we try to remove God from the equation. I’m not calling for a Taliban sort of theocracy; I just calling for a return to our foundations and recognize this nation has a long history of dependence upon the God of the Bible.

The Bible states, “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.” Proverbs 14:34.

And, for those who insist that we cannot “legislate morality,” allow me to remind you that we do that every day. In fact, every government and society passes laws based upon its moral perspective. All of our laws are a reflection of the moral judgments we make as a people and those moral judgments must come from somewhere. I say they originally came from the Bible and must continue to. 

2.      Our Strengths.  Just look at a few of these treasures… 

A.     GREAT LEADERSHIP

Leadership stands alone in its supreme place of influence in the life and health of a nation. Think about how often God raised up great leadership at crucial times the history of the world…Moses, David, Nehemiah, Peter, Paul, Washington, Lincoln, Martin Luther King, and Ronald Reagan.

The culture of our country is not producing an abundance of competent, wise, God-honoring leaders. They are few and far between.

-You can’t make enough good laws to make up for poor leadership.

-Good people cannot make up for bad leadership.

-Great potential is not enough…

-That’s why the bible teaches us to pray for our leaders great leaders are a key to a great nation…

Someone defined leadership as “the ability to exert influence.” We need leaders in the home, family, school system, city, state and federal government. We need business leaders, community leaders, spiritual leaders…men and women who will arise and use the gifts and positions God has entrusted them with to influence this nation in the ways of truth.

Example: I have traveled throughout the world and especially the USA. It never ceases to amaze me how you can go from community to community, sometime only a few miles apart and see the huge economic disparity.  Even right here in Ohio, you can go from Cleveland to Solon and see tremendous economic difference in the businesses, the quality of education, the housing, and so forth.  It is so interesting to leave one city that was extremely healthy and prosperous only to enter another that is severely oppressed. Generally, most cities, especially in the US have the same opportunities and the same challenges, but different leadership. Everything rises and falls on leadership.

You can look at a city and know whether it’s had good leadership or not. It’s the same with a nation…

Opportunities and challenges exist for all nations, but good leadership finds answers and seeks out viable solutions that are reflected in the health, safety and prosperity of the nation.

B. SELFLESS SERVICE/SACRIFICE

Its vogue to hate America… In liberal academia it’s popular to scorn America…TO BE ANTI-AMERICA…blaming the United States for all of the world’s ailments from war to poverty, to hunger to oppression. There is a popular song entitled, “I Don’t Want to be an American Idiot” by a group called Green Day. They scorn all that is great in this nation as though it is evil to prosper and succeed. These groups fail to recognize that this nation is the greatest beacon of freedom, generosity and compassion in the world!

EXAMPLE:

• Eugene, Oregon city council just voted not say the Pledge of Allegiance because in their minds it is too “divisive.”
• In Houston, the Veteran’s Administration is trying to remove any references to God or the Bible in military funerals as not to offend anyone! Such arrogance, ignorance, intolerance, and stupidity is difficult to eclipse!

I’ve noticed is that the people most critical are the least helpful! These people philosophize, politicize, and intellectualize while the real heroes of our nation are busy serving others and protecting the principles we believe in!

It’s not the noisy-protesters, or “bleacher critics” that are the jewels of America’s progress- It’s the unselfish , generous, compassionate and purpose driven people of our nation who go above and beyond what is required of them to make our communities safer… our churches stronger… our children smarter…and our lives better! These are the jewels of our nation… firemen, police officers, pastors, doctors, nurses, school teachers, foster parents, factory workers, landscapers, military personnel, those in the service industry, truck drivers, and so forth. Average, ordinary people who everyday go about the task of making and keeping this nation great!

A few years ago a group called Alabama sang a song that went like this…

“There are people in this country who work hard every day
Not for fame or fortune do they strive
But the fruits of their labor are worth more than their pay
And it’s time a few of them were recognized

Hello Detroit auto worker, let me thank you for your time
You work a forty hour week for a livin’, just to send it on down the line
Hello Pittsburgh steel mill worker, let me thank you for your time
You work a forty hour week for a livin’, just to send it on down the line

This is for the one who swings the hammer, driving home the nail
For the one behind the counter, ringing up the sales
For the one who fights the fires, the one who brings the mail
For everyone who works behind the scenes

You can see them every morning in the factories and the fields
In the city streets and the quiet country towns
Working together like spokes inside a wheel
They keep this country turning around

Hello Kansas wheat field farmer, let me thank you for your time
You work a forty hour week for a livin’, just to send it on down the line
Hello West Virginia coal miner, let me thank you for your time
You work a forty hour week for a livin’, just to send it on down the line

This is for the one who drives the big rig, up and down the road
For the one out in the warehouse, bringing in the load
For the waitress, the mechanic, the policeman on patrol
For everyone who works behind the scenes

With a spirit you can’t replace with no machine
Hello America let me thank you for your time”

C.  A STRONG WORK ETHIC

The Bible teaches us that it’s our spiritual and moral obligation to help the poor and needy. We are commanded to feed the hungry and clothe the naked, but the bible also teaches that if a man doesn’t work he should not eat. In other words, while we are told to help the poor, we are also told to elevate them and teach them how to better their lives, not just empower them to barely survive in poverty and lack.

There seems to be an “anti-establishment” spirit in America and some other nations of the world. Many that speak out for the humane treatment of the poor and underprivileged seem to also have a bias and even hatred towards those who through hard work, perseverance and ingenuity become successful or rich. IT IS AS THOUGH THEY HAVE COMMITTED SOME GREAT INJUSTICE! There are people who make themselves rich bashing those who have become rich. I think of one such big mouth, Michael Moore, maybe the biggest hypocrite of all. Or these Hollywood stars that campaign for causes that they want imposed on others, but not them!

Any spirit that is Anti-establishment… boycotts success… as a means of achieving social justice is promoting injustice.

EXAMPLE: I counseled a person how admitted to me that they were jealous of my daughters because I love them so much. This person came from a terrible family background and resented the closeness I have with my girls! 

There seems to be an entitlement mentality that says, “If others have it, I deserve it!” I say it to help you beware and ask you to applaud hard work… pray for and encourage those who work with diligence… don’t support government initiatives and laws that penalize ambition, a strong work ethic, prosperity… while rewarding the opposite!

Others protest and celebrate when “big business” suffers economic hardship. Sure there is economic injustice, and there will always be a need for reform because of greed. But the solution is not to destroy business, or stick it to someone else. We must lift the poor – not pull down the rich! America is the land of opportunity—-let’s encourage people to work hard, get a good education, learn to prosper and succeed in life. We need to make it honorable and noble to be financially secure and self-sufficient instead of being dependent on the rest of society to carry them.

Let’s be on the side of promoting and encouraging our nation to create incentives for people to start businesses, live out their dreams, and enjoy the fruits of their labor. Let’s return to a quality work ethic believing that our best days are not behind us but ahead!  

“The lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.” Genesis 2:15

We were never intended to merely exist… lay around… like a dog… we’re created like God for ingenuity, creativity… to not work is contrary to God’s purpose for us.

Let’s pray for our legislators, business and civic leaders, and educators. Let’s ask God to raise up the right leaders; men and women of honesty and integrity who will be considerate of the people they lead.  CEO’s, managers, executives and business owners who will not be driven by greed but by the desire to present a quality product or service at a fair price and to appropriately compensate those who help them do it on a daily basis. Let’s pray for workers and union leaders to be sensible and reasonable in their dealings with business leaders so that both can co-exist and provide for those they represent. And, let’s pray for governmental leadership that will find the proper balance of regulation that will remove the unnecessary red-tape and taxation that burdens businesses as well as providing sufficient opportunity for workers to prosper, make a good wage and live well. This is what made us great and what will return us to greatness once again!

D. QUALITY EDUCATION

We should salute, applaud and appreciate the parents, and educators who help raise positive children in what is a less than positive world! Although Education has strayed from its origin and Christian roots we must persist in our endeavor to blend education with God’s word, God’s purpose and plan for our life!

Harvard, in its rules and precepts in1636 says “Let every student be plainly instructed, and earnestly pressed to consider well, the main end of his life and studies, to know God and Jesus Christ which is Eternal Life (John 17:3) and therefore lay Christ at the bottom, as the only foundation of all sound Knowledge and learning” 

3.      Our Stability…A return to our commitment to God’s plan for the family.

²³ “The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives. ²⁴ Though they stumble, they will never fall, for the Lord holds them by the hand.” Psalm 37:23-24

A. Strong families are at the heart of all that is good about America. Even as the church is what has made America strong, it is families that keep the church strong and perpetuate the legacy of this great nation. A commitment to love, honor and stand by your man/woman in sickness, health… in confusion and frustration… that kind of commitment may seem old fashioned but it’s a part of our National Treasure! 

B.     It is our job as parents to raise positive kids -Don’t leave it to someone else to raise your children. Look for teachable moments to instruct them and educate them with real life principles. There are plenty of people waiting to influence your children and mess up their life… (on internet… at the school…in neighborhood…) don’t allow it. Turn off the TV, take some time… sit down with your children… listen to them, talk to them… it’s not someone else’s job to raise your children… We don’t need a community to raise a child…we need a mother and a father committed to training and teaching their children in the ways of the Lord.

Teach them to honor adults, respect women, work hard, keep their word, finish what they start, pay their bills, value education, and reverence the House of the Lord. Model service, kindness, generosity and loyalty for them. Make them productive, self-staining, members of society! You owe it to them, to the nation and to God!

A nation can only be as healthy as its homes, because this is where tomorrow’s citizens and leaders are shaped.

 You see, there have always been people who refuse to be limited or contained by boundaries. Pio­neers like the people who led the Reformation. If they had stayed in their box, we would still be counting beads, burning candies and doing penance. But some­body paid the price and made the sacrifice.

Every generation has had: a Moses, a Joshua, a Columbus, a Martin Luther, a Saint Patrick, a Winston Churchill, a Charles Finney, a Rosa Parks, a JFK, a Martin Luther King, a Billy Graham, or a Ronald Reagan. Who will be the next one?

How about you? What about your children? Are you willing to go against the mainstream and pursue you potential? If not for yourself how about for them?

Who is going to reach this city? Is another generation going to be lost to drugs, alcohol, and poverty? Or is there someone who has the courage to jump out of the box and invade the darkness with the light of the glorious gospel until the city of Cleveland knows that there is still a balm in Gilead? Who will it be? How about you?

There must be some God-fearing mothers and fathers who stand for righteous and guard our National Treasure by passing on their spiritual heritage to their children. Bring them to church, teach them to pray, show them how to study the Bible. Get them involved in serving the community; show them that the world is bigger than their video game and i-pad. Let’s not allow a generation to come up on our watch who is unlearned in regards to their heritage, and forsakes the landmarks of their fathers!

Note…special thanks to Pastor Kevin Gerald for the original outline and inspiration for this message.