A teaching on Giving Thanks

 

The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities-his eternal power and divine nature-have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.  Romans 1:18-23 NIV

 

All almighty God, the creator of heaven and earth, has made His presence and His character known to us. When we look at His handiwork, we see where He has been and what He has done. Nothing we see in the world around us, nothing we have and use in our daily life, just appeared from nowhere. None of these things materialized independently. Somewhere, someone had an idea, someone formed a plan, someone gathered the necessary materials, and someone worked to make or build that thing. Just as an architect draws a plan and a builder follows the plan to build a building, so this universe and all that is in it was invented and created by God. He is the planner and the executor of His creation, which includes you and me.

 

It is a slap in God’s face to deny His existence and to worship the creation instead of the Creator. We must glorify Him by acknowledging His presence and His handiwork and by giving Him thanks.

 

Everything we have belongs to Him and was offered freely to us. Therefore we are exceedingly selfish and ungrateful if we do not acknowledge Him or give Him thanks for it all – for creating us and for so graciously allowing us to freely enjoy the blessings of all of creation.

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.  Hebrews 11:6 NIV

 

We must recognize God for who He really is, not just for who we think He is or is not – otherwise we believe a lie. God exists, whether man believes it or not. He does not exist just because we believe He exists, He just IS! He even called Himself “I AM” when Moses asked for His name. Gravity exists whether you believe in it or not. It exerts an influence over your body no matter how much you deny it. Just try to jump off a high tower without a parachute and you’ll know that gravity is real and it worked for you! God exists. We need to get the revelation!

 

God wants us to know that He is real and at the same time He wants us to know Him and to know how He feels about us. He is a rewarder by nature, not a destroyer. People who think that God is out to destroy them cannot have the relationship with God that they could and should. We need to know that God made us, and everything around us, and that He loves us. We need to give thanks and be thankful and grateful to Him!

Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth. Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.  Psalms 100:1-5 NIV

 

Rejoice and be thankful! God made you and He loves you. He is eternally faithful and He will never let you down. He is deserving of all your love and praise. Be joyful, be glad, shout for joy and praise Him. You have a reason to thank and praise Him. He is good and His love, kindness and mercy will never cease or fail. You can praise him because you can always count on Him – no matter what. What a great God we serve! He is truly worthy of all our praise and thanksgiving.

 

 

The Holy Spirit

BOLDNESS TO BE A WITNESS

On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave
Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” Acts 1:4-5 NIV

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in
Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Acts 1:8 NIV

Jesus instructed the disciples to wait in Jerusalem for the Holy Spirit –- the gift, the promise — that the Father had promised them. They had no idea what they were waiting for exactly or how it would come, but they knew that the Holy Spirit would baptize them in God’s power. The Holy Spirit would come upon them and fill them and change them — turning them into bold witnesses who would preach the Gospel unto the uttermost parts of the earth with signs and wonders following! They did as Jesus said and on the day of Pentecost the wind of the Holy Spirit blew on them and changed the course of history. The Spirit of God changed them into new creatures that had never existed before (1 Corinthians 5:17) and filled them with the power to change the eternal destinies of billions of people.

When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. Acts 2:1-4 NIV

When the power of God fell on the disciples, they spoke in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. The fire of God was seen on them and they were so loud that people outside the room heard them. People heard them speak in their own languages, telling of the mighty and wonderful works of God! Some people were amazed and some mocked them, calling them drunks, but Peter, who had only weeks before denied the Lord, stood up boldly and proclaimed the Gospel to all the people resulting in three thousand conversions that first day!

Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. These men are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: “‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. I will show wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ Acts 2:14-21 NIV

“Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.” When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off– for all whom the Lord our God will call.” Acts 2:36-39 NIV

When you get filled with the Spirit of God, you will be filled with boldness to preach the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ to all men – those who want to hear and those who don’t. Stephen, who was full of the Holy Spirit, wisdom, faith and power, boldly proclaimed the Gospel in Acts 7 to a hostile audience and was martyred in the process. He was so filled with the power of God that he did not care what they did to him as long as he did what the Lord required of him. When we get filled with the power of God, we will not even be afraid of death, because we are so conscious of God’s presence that we choose to please Him and not man. We do not need to fear man, who can only kill our body — we need to have respect for God, who is in charge of our eternal destiny (Matthew 10:28)! The Holy Spirit gives you the power to please God, not man, and to do great things for God.

Mark 4:14-20 (NKJ)14?The sower sows the word.God sows the seed of the word in our hearts. His word is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart (Hebrews 4:12 NKJ).

However, as powerful as the word is, it can not have any kind of positive effect in our lives unless we receive it into our hearts, keep it and act upon it. Rodney Howard Browne explains that  God determines the quality of the seed – you determine the quality of the ground! 15?And these are the ones by the wayside where the word is sown. When they hear, Satan comes immediately and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts. The word does not go very far into some people. It lands right beside them, not inside them. They allow the devil to steal it immediately. The moment they hear it, they have already forgotten it. “In one ear and out the other!” 16?These likewise are the ones sown on stony ground who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with gladness; 17?and they have no root in themselves, and so endure only for a time. Afterward, when tribulation or persecution arises for the word’s sake, immediately they stumble.

Rodney Howard Browne tells us that the “stony ground” people receive the word and allow it past their ears into their heart, but because the ground of their heart is hard, the word is not allowed to dig down and become rooted in them. The slightest bit of persecution or pressure that they encounter, the word goes right out the window and they are back to square one. 18?Now these are the ones sown among thorns; they are the ones who hear the word, 19?and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. Some “weedy” and “thorny” people hear the word, but because they allow worries, greed, lust and covetousness into their hearts, the word is choked right out of their hearts. You can’t have the weeds and the good seed of the word growing together. The nature of weeds is to overtake and destroy the good plants. You will have to weed your garden and root out all the bad attitudes if you want the word to produce in your life.

20?But these are the ones sown on good ground, those who hear the word, accept it, and bear fruit: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.” Your heart is good ground only if you hear the word, accept it and bear fruit. The word must be allowed to take root in you in a clean, soft patch of heart that is not being choked by the weeds. Rodney Howard Browne points out that each person’s fruit is going to be different – thirty, sixty or one hundred fold – depending on how good the soil is, how deep the roots go and how often it is watered. You cannot just be a hearer of the word you must be a doer too. James 1:23-25 (NKJ)

For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.

Luke 6:46-49 (NKJ)“But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do the things which I say? “Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like: “He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house, and could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock. “But he who heard and did nothing is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation, against which the stream beat vehemently; and immediately it fell. And the ruin of that house was great.”

Job 3:25 (NKJ)25 For the thing I greatly feared has come upon me, and what I dreaded has happened to me.

Job did not have problems because God is mean—Job had problems because he operated in fear. He sacrificed to God all the time for his children because he was fearful for them—that they would sin and disown God in their hearts.

God put a hedge of protection around Job, but his fear caused the hedge to come down and the devil was able to attack him. Later, Job repented for his attitude and for the wrong words he had spoken in his ignorance. Jeremiah 42:16 (NKJ)16 ‘then it shall be that the sword which you feared shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt; the famine of which you were afraid shall follow close after you there in Egypt; and there you shall die.

Do not to operate in fear, because you open the doors for that thing you fear to come upon you. For example, some people are terrified of cancer and yet they end up getting cancer. As Christians who fear God, we have God’s hand of protection upon our lives, but we can remove ourselves from that protection— by our fear. 2 Hebrews 2:14-15 (NKJ)14 Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil,15 and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

Fear of death brings bondage. Any kind of fear brings bondage—even if it is an unwarranted and unreasonable fear. Fear doesn’t have to be based on anything real to keep people in bondage. Most of the time, the fear that people have is totally unnecessary. It does not help them or make their situation better, but rather, worse. II Kings 17:38-39 (NKJ)38 “And the covenant that I have made with you, you shall not forget, nor shall you fear other gods.39 “But the LORD your God you shall fear; and He will deliver you from the hand of all your enemies.

”The only person we are to fear is God and even then, it is not a scared fear, but a reverential fear.Deuteronomy 31:6 (NKJ)6 “Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the LORD your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you.” Joshua 10:25 (NKJ)25 Then Joshua said to them, “Do not be afraid, nor be dismayed; be strong and of good courage, for thus the LORD will do to all your enemies against whom you fight.”

God is on our side. He fights for us. He is always there for us. He never lets us down. No matter how great the enemy appears to be, God will defeat them on our behalf—if we will walk in faith— not fear— if we will have courage and trust completely in Him. I John 4:18 (NKJ)18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. When we operate in fear—we are tormented. When we have confidence in the great love that God for us, we can rest in the palm of His hand. His wings cover us. The Lord is our hiding place and His angels watch over us.

2 Timothy 1:7 (NIV)7 For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.Fear has no place in the life of a believer. When God places His Spirit in us, He gives us a spirit of power, love and self-discipline. Let the Spirit of God flood your heart and rise up big on the inside of you, and you will be filled with faith. Any thought of fear must leave. You will close the door to the devil and God’s hedge of protection will surround you and keep you.

2 Timothy 3:16-17 (NKJ)

16All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Reproof means: conviction of sin, punishment or refutation of error. Correction means: a straightening up again, a rectification or a reformation.

Instruction means: tutorage, education, training or disciplinary correction. It is translated in the KJV as chastening, chastisement, instruction or nurture.

Rodney Howard Browne teaches that the word of God is given to us to convict us (make us aware) of our sin. The word straightens us up, chastises, trains and corrects us. If we receive the word into our lives and hearts and if we allow it to do its work in us, we are wise and we will be even wiser. In other words it takes a measure of wisdom to have a heart open to instruction in the first place and as we allow the word into our hearts, it makes us even wiser. As you grow in God, you are continually learning from Him and being corrected and straightened up by Him.

Proverbs 10:17 (NKJ)
17He who keeps instruction is in the way of life, but he who refuses correction goes astray.

Pastor Rodney Howard Browne teaches that God’s instruction leads us into life and produces life. When we won’t hear God’s instruction, we go astray – we make mistakes, we make wrong decisions and we go in the wrong direction.

Proverbs 12:1 (KJV)
1Whoso loveth instruction loveth knowledge: but he that hateth reproof is brutish.

Brutish basically means stupid. Part of the meaning of the Hebrew word, translated brutish is – to be consumed by fire. When people refuse God’s wisdom in their lives, they will end up in the
Hot Place! I don’t know about you – but I don’t want to be stupid or hot! I think that I would rather receive God’s rebuke now, than His judgement later!

Proverbs 13:18 (NKJ)
18Poverty and shame will come to him who disdains correction, but he who regards a rebuke will be honored.

Proverbs 15:5-6 (NKJ)
A fool despises his father’s instruction, but he who receives correction is prudent. 6In the house of the righteous there is much treasure, but in the revenue of the wicked is trouble.

Proverbs 15:31-32 (NKJ)
31The ear that hears the rebukes of life will abide among the wise. 32He who disdains instruction despises his own soul, but he who heeds rebuke gets understanding.

Poverty, shame and trouble are the punishment of fools, who will not receive God’s instruction or the wise instruction and correction of their parents. Honor, wisdom, understanding and treasure are the reward of those who hear and obey God’s correction and instruction.

Proverbs 29:15 (NKJ)
15 The rod and rebuke give wisdom, but a child left to himself brings shame to his mother.

When we were children, our parent’s discipline and the spankings they administered controlled our flesh and carnal nature. Rodney Howard Browne instructs that as we grow up, we must allow the word of God to minister to us and thereby deal with the sin and foolishness in our carnal nature. We grow in wisdom as we allow the word to discipline and correct us.

Proverbs 17:10 (NKJ)
10 Rebuke is more effective for a wise man than a hundred blows on a fool.

It is a wise man or woman who will have a humble, teachable spirit and who will allow God’s word to reprove, correct and instruct them – even if it is painful to the flesh. A fool will not heed or obey God’s word. Not even a beating can straighten out a fool. Be a wise man/woman and receive God’s word as discipline and correction and instruction in your life and you will always be blessed in every area of your life.

Hebrews 12:11 (NKJ)
11Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.