Sunday 6 July 2014
Speaker: Pastor Austen Ukachi
Key Passages: Psalm 142:7;
“Bring my soul out of prison,
That I may praise Your name;
The righteous shall surround me,
For You shall deal bountifully with me“
“11. Now it happened as He went to Jerusalem that He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. 12 Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off. 13 And they lifted up their voices and said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”
14 So when He saw them, He said to them, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed.
15 And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, 16 and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan.
17 So Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine?18 Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?”19 And He said to him, “Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well.”
There is a saying “you praise God for who He is and thank Him for what he has done.”
Psalm 100:4 says, “Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise, be thankful to him, and bless His name.”
But you cannot enter into His gates with thanksgiving until God frees your spirit to render praises to Him. So, we must like the Psalmist ask God to free our spirits today so we may praise and thank Him. “Bring my spirit out of prison, that I may praise Your name..” (Psalm 142:7).
Note Psalm 100:4 says “Enter into His gates” not “gate”. In life, there are many spiritual gates we seek to enter. The gates of righteousness, the gate of favour, the gate of divine healing, the gate of revelation, the gate of fruitfulness, the gate of prosperity, the gate of victory, the gate of divine blessings, etc. We can only enter these gates with praise and thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving is a command, it is a duty we owe God. The following verses illustrate that fact:
Psalm 148:5-6 says, “Let them praise The name of the LORD,for He commanded and they were created. He also established them forever and ever; he made a decree which shall not pass away.”
“Let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare His works with rejoicing” (Psalm 107:22).
“Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name” ( Heb.13:15).
“Giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 5:20).
In Leviticus 7:12-13, the thanksgiving offering which is part of the Peace Offering, was brought to God as an obligation for all his mercies. No less is expected from us today.
WHAT SHOULD WE THANK GOD FOR TODAY? They are simply numerous.
On a day like this we are here to thank Him for seeing us through the first half of the year. Going through the first half of the year is a blessing and favour from God.
Also, We should thank Him for all the deliverances from troubles (Psalm 107:22)
We should thank Him for sparing our lives (Judges 8:18-19)
God has delivered us from death (Psalm 56:13; Psalm 144:10)
God has given us good health (Psalm 103:1-5; Psalm 116:16-17)
Thank God for healing you (Luke 17:11-19; Psalm 103:1-5)
Thank God for giving you sleep, some don’t have it (Psalm 4:8; Psalm 127:2)
We should thank Him for His provision and care (Psalm 104:27-29)
We should thank Him in anticipation of what He will yet do (Psalm 118:1-29)
Like we said earlier, we owe God praise and thanksgiving. That is why we are created. In Luke 17:11-19, Jesus healed ten lepers, but only one came back to thank Him. The others went their separate ways, probably they forgot. Let us not be like the nine. It more honourable to return to Him with thanksgiving. Let us joyfully and gladly do so today.
“You praise God for who He is and thank Him for what He has Done“
