back to index2018-18-11 Thanksgiving is about Rejoicing
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So, if you can turn your Bibles to 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, we're going to be taking a break 00:00:11.000 |
from Romans for this week and then we'll pick it back up next week. 00:00:14.240 |
But 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, I'll be reading from verse 16 all the way down to verse 22. 00:00:22.560 |
And reading out of the NASB, "Rejoice always, pray without ceasing. 00:00:27.280 |
In everything give thanks, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. 00:00:31.560 |
Do not quench the spirit, do not despise prophetic utterances, but examine everything carefully. 00:00:44.280 |
Heavenly Father, we pray as we have gathered here together to worship you, more than just 00:00:53.720 |
the time that we spend, more than just hearing of sermon, I pray that you would stir our 00:00:59.040 |
hearts that there would be a greater sensitivity to your presence. 00:01:04.720 |
We pray, Father God, for your word to do its work. 00:01:08.220 |
As you have ordained it, as you have breathed your very breath in it, help us, Lord God, 00:01:12.520 |
to meet with you, that we would hear your Son's voice and follow Him and Him alone. 00:01:18.240 |
Bless us this morning in Jesus' name we pray, amen. 00:01:21.280 |
Well, as you guys know, this week is Thanksgiving. 00:01:25.720 |
Outside of the church, I don't even know if you ever even hear it. 00:01:29.640 |
I've been saying this for years, maybe more than 10 years, that it seems like every year 00:01:35.640 |
the holiday of Thanksgiving is less and less mentioned. 00:01:39.920 |
In fact, now, as soon as Halloween is over and all the candy stuff and children are done, 00:01:44.840 |
it's like Christmas lights go up and they're ready for Christmas. 00:01:49.840 |
I don't know about you, but I just don't see it. 00:01:54.560 |
It just seems like the world just doesn't know what to do with it. 00:01:57.520 |
It makes sense that it's been a while that they've been trying to take Christ out of 00:02:03.000 |
So just to kind of like the way that they're dealing with or the world is dealing with 00:02:06.560 |
Thanksgiving is like, "What is this day for?" 00:02:10.280 |
And so instead of fighting against it, they're just kind of nullifying it. 00:02:13.440 |
And so now Thanksgiving is just a day before Black Friday. 00:02:17.360 |
That's how kind of everybody's gearing up for what are the deals and we're looking for 00:02:21.640 |
And there's nothing wrong with wanting to find deals. 00:02:24.440 |
But again, this specific day of Thanksgiving, it's not ordained necessarily in Scripture 00:02:30.160 |
to be once a year that we set aside a day that we're going to celebrate this Thanksgiving. 00:02:35.000 |
But as it has been designated and we are taking time off, I want to make sure that we don't 00:02:45.040 |
Thanksgiving at the core of it, not just once a year, but at the core of what Thanksgiving 00:02:53.920 |
Romans chapter one says, "In summary of man's rebellion," he says that, "man refused to 00:02:59.320 |
give glory to God and rather than to give thanks to his own creation." 00:03:05.840 |
And so the summation of man's rebellion is ingratitude toward God. 00:03:12.480 |
So the whole point of salvation was to restore where God ought to have been. 00:03:17.960 |
Instead of seeking our own glory in our own life and giving credit to ourselves is to 00:03:25.260 |
So God forgave our sons, restored so that we can place him back where he ought to be, 00:03:30.520 |
the King of Kings and Lord of Lords over our lives. 00:03:35.440 |
But the question is, we're commanded to be thankful. 00:03:40.520 |
I know that many of you may have had a very difficult year, whether it was job, it was 00:03:45.720 |
health, or family issues, whatever it may have been, financial. 00:03:56.320 |
Do we just pretend like it's not there and just ignore the hardship in our lives? 00:04:03.320 |
This is a...I think this will help us to understand why Paul, and through the Holy Spirit, is 00:04:14.480 |
Imagine if your boss came into your work and you've had this job and you really love this 00:04:18.600 |
job and he says, "I have good news and bad news. 00:04:22.040 |
So you're thinking through, "Okay, you know, I don't know what he's about to say." 00:04:38.600 |
And all of a sudden, he says, "You're fired and you're thinking through all of these things. 00:04:42.840 |
I just bought a house, you know, and you have all of these concerns." 00:04:47.960 |
And all of a sudden, he's like, "What is wrong with this guy? 00:04:52.440 |
And then he says, "Well, here's the good news. 00:04:56.120 |
And the good news is the reason why I fired you is because our company won the lottery. 00:05:01.560 |
Remember, we've been paying $5 every week and the biggest lottery happened, $1.5 billion. 00:05:16.200 |
So all of a sudden, this good news turned into... 00:05:19.880 |
This good news supersedes all the other bad news. 00:05:22.000 |
Not only the bad news of you getting fired, but whatever bad news that you heard prior 00:05:27.360 |
to that, this good news supersedes all of that. 00:05:32.480 |
The gospel itself, in Greek, euangelion, the literal understanding of it is good news. 00:05:39.720 |
And that's what we received and that's what we are to proclaim, this good news. 00:05:44.000 |
And this good news of the gospel supersedes any other bad news. 00:05:48.240 |
Because all of a sudden, it gives perspective that whatever bad things, whatever horrible 00:05:52.200 |
things that has happened, it's only temporary. 00:05:56.280 |
And in fact, even the bad things that happened, God uses that to ultimately give us greater 00:06:03.400 |
And so whatever bad news that you may have brought into this room, if you genuinely believe 00:06:09.440 |
the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ, this good news supersedes any other bad news. 00:06:18.480 |
It can only solve your financial problems, but it doesn't solve the problem of health, 00:06:26.480 |
But this good news of the gospel affects every aspect of our life. 00:06:31.320 |
And whatever bad news may have ruined your day, this good news reverses that curse of 00:06:38.240 |
Paul commands the church and God commands us, commands us to rejoice, to pray without 00:06:46.720 |
ceasing, to in all circumstances give thanks. 00:06:49.720 |
He's able to command us because these things are not related to our present circumstance, 00:06:58.120 |
If you're not a believer, this will make absolutely no sense. 00:07:02.280 |
If you don't believe in the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ, you can't fake it. 00:07:08.240 |
You can fake fellowship, you can fake being nice, but you can't fake rejoicing. 00:07:12.600 |
And a lot of times Christians walk around thinking like, "Well, the Bible says to rejoice, 00:07:20.400 |
Internally that's not what's going on, but externally you all say, "Everything's good. 00:07:28.920 |
What I want to do this morning is look at the three imperatives of Paul, which in a 00:07:37.640 |
This is what happens to a Christian when his eyes are open to the gospel of Jesus Christ. 00:07:45.080 |
It is not something that if you work hard and discipline that somehow you can get. 00:07:49.200 |
If you believe that you are the recipients of this good news, this is what happens. 00:07:57.480 |
First thing that he says, he says to rejoice always, to rejoice. 00:08:06.960 |
Jesus himself, when the angels declared the incarnation of Christ, when he was coming 00:08:12.360 |
as a child, the angels said in Luke 1.14, "You will have joy and gladness and many will 00:08:21.640 |
He says his incarnation is going to produce much joy to many people. 00:08:25.960 |
In fact, Jesus himself, he's talking about his death and resurrection. 00:08:30.040 |
This is how he describes it to his disciples. 00:08:32.280 |
Truly John 16.20, "Truly, truly I say to you that you will weep and lament," he's referring 00:08:40.500 |
You will grieve, but your grief will be turned into joy." 00:08:44.080 |
In other words, the byproduct of his death and resurrection is going to produce in you 00:08:50.400 |
a joy, a joy that the world is not going to be able to understand. 00:08:54.520 |
A joy that can only be produced if you genuinely believe that this good news is for you. 00:08:59.760 |
Again, in John 16.22, "Therefore you too have grief now, but I will see you again and your 00:09:05.760 |
heart will rejoice and no one will take your joy away from you." 00:09:10.080 |
That this is not a joy that is affected by persecution. 00:09:13.360 |
This is not a joy that is affected by our circumstance. 00:09:18.560 |
And so that's how Jesus describes his death and resurrection. 00:09:23.960 |
So when he says in John 10.10, "I have come to bring life and to bring this life abundantly." 00:09:32.360 |
What do you mean when you see somebody who is filled with life? 00:09:36.800 |
We say, "Wow, that guy is so filled with life." 00:09:44.880 |
I know plenty of people who are active and bitter and angry. 00:09:48.680 |
We don't say, "Well, that guy's filled with life." 00:09:51.920 |
Actually when we say, "That guy's filled with life," we're talking about there's joy in 00:09:59.320 |
That's exactly what Jesus means in John 10.10. 00:10:01.920 |
He doesn't mean that I have come to extend your biological life for eternity, which would 00:10:12.200 |
Chris, your experience of physical life is so hard. 00:10:21.040 |
If you're having a miserable time in this fallen world, why wouldn't you want your life 00:10:28.360 |
When he says to give life, he's talking about Zoe, to be made alive in Christ. 00:10:34.840 |
So in other words, the description of salvation is to restore joy into a life of a Christian, 00:10:44.000 |
joy that was suffocated when we were separated from the author of life. 00:10:48.560 |
And so our whole salvation is described at restoring life back into people who are dead 00:10:59.240 |
But this joy, this life is not based upon our circumstance. 00:11:02.640 |
And typically, every Thanksgiving we'll say, "Well, what are you thankful for?" 00:11:07.340 |
And we'll say, "Well, I'm thankful for my friends, thankful for my health, thankful for 00:11:11.120 |
my children, thankful for this new job, thankful for our business, thankful for the economy." 00:11:16.880 |
We're thankful for various things, and all of these things are great indicators that 00:11:25.560 |
But the thankfulness, the joy that Paul is talking about here is not based upon our external 00:11:33.280 |
In Hebrews 11, verse 1, it says, "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the 00:11:39.440 |
So faith is the assurance of this hope, this strong conviction of things that I can't see. 00:11:46.200 |
That's what faith is, and that's what connects us to God. 00:11:49.080 |
In Romans 12, it says, "To rejoice in," what? 00:11:54.800 |
So, our rejoicing is directly related to hope, and hope is what we have because we have faith. 00:12:04.320 |
So if you do the math, basically, faith leads to joy. 00:12:14.700 |
Faith leads to rejoicing because of hope, and this hope is not something that is based 00:12:22.000 |
Even if everything in this external world comes crashing down around us, he said that 00:12:31.640 |
See, when he says to rejoice always, how can you rejoice always when things are falling 00:12:39.160 |
apart, when things aren't happening the way you want, when your children are not the way 00:12:43.960 |
that you desire, or your marriage, or your work, or whatever it may be? 00:12:50.560 |
He can't possibly command us to rejoice always if our rejoicing is circumstantial. 00:13:00.360 |
What he is talking about, he's talking about a rejoicing that is beyond our circumstance. 00:13:05.960 |
Paul is not commanding this to the Thessalonian church because they didn't have any problems. 00:13:10.860 |
He started this letter for Thessalonians because they were a model church. 00:13:14.640 |
He was basically chased out of the city because the persecution was so intense, and that's 00:13:19.280 |
how they end up going to Berea where we happened. 00:13:23.880 |
But the reason why he got to Berea is because the persecution was so intense. 00:13:28.540 |
He was only there for a short period of time, and he bore a lot of fruit, and he had to 00:13:35.040 |
And then so he was writing this letter concerned that Satan might have come back in and ruined 00:13:42.640 |
And then Timothy comes back and with this great news that this church is thriving, but 00:13:46.400 |
it's not because they didn't have problems, because in this letter he writes concerning 00:13:51.200 |
fornication, because they were just a few months ago, they were idol worshippers. 00:13:58.240 |
So they had sexual immorality that was also in the church. 00:14:01.000 |
They had habitual laziness because some of them took the grace of God and said, "Well, 00:14:05.080 |
if God is gracious and he's going to come and save us, then why do we need to work?" 00:14:08.500 |
So he had to address certain people who were lazy. 00:14:13.760 |
Satanic teaching that was coming in and saying, "Resurrection already happened, so there is 00:14:25.600 |
The rich were staying with the rich, and poor were staying with the poor. 00:14:28.220 |
So these are problems that we would think a lot of churches have, and it wasn't because 00:14:38.160 |
He was reminding this church in the context of intense persecution, relational issues, 00:14:43.920 |
doctrinal errors, sexual immorality, that in the context of all of this, he says, "Rejoice." 00:14:52.380 |
Not because all your problems are taken care of, but because the hope that we have in Christ 00:15:01.000 |
Every single one of us, when we were born, the moment that we were born, we were born 00:15:11.120 |
Again, when the doctor gives your first child to you, it's amazing how the baby comes out 00:15:22.560 |
You weren't born and sent you to a class and showed you a video and said, "This is how 00:15:26.760 |
And you just start puckering and start sucking, and then that's how you get the milk, and 00:15:33.480 |
You put pressure, and then you poo, and then you do that repeatedly over and over again, 00:15:42.360 |
We were born, and the moment that we were born, we were born with the instinct to live, 00:15:48.200 |
to eat, to poo, to sleep, to rest, whatever it is. 00:15:52.600 |
So that natural instinct to live is the distinction between a Christian and a non-Christian, because 00:16:03.840 |
They find joy, and they find purpose and meaning in the world. 00:16:08.200 |
So a Christian, once his eyes became open, saw that life is in Christ and Christ alone. 00:16:18.580 |
And so therefore, we became followers of Jesus Christ. 00:16:23.420 |
Our life is not found in this world, and that's the difference between a Christian and a non-Christian. 00:16:28.240 |
A Christian and a non-Christian is somebody who decided to come to church and read the 00:16:33.920 |
I know plenty of PhDs who studied the Bible and very antagonistic toward the things of 00:16:40.720 |
There's a lot of people who spend a lot more time meditating and praying than Christians. 00:16:51.040 |
The distinction between a Christian and a non-Christian is that he finds life in Christ, 00:16:55.520 |
and that's why he says he commands us to rejoice. 00:16:59.720 |
In Romans 8.18, Paul says, "I consider that the suffering of this present time are not 00:17:04.640 |
worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us." 00:17:11.400 |
In comparison to the glory, everything else doesn't seem that bad. 00:17:20.360 |
If you don't believe this, if you don't truly believe that you are recipients of this good 00:17:28.680 |
news, not just the theory, not just that you went to church, not just that you grew up 00:17:33.400 |
in the church, but you genuinely believe that you are the recipient of this greatest spiritual 00:17:39.360 |
lottery, then all of this stuff is theory, and you could force yourself to be joyful. 00:17:48.920 |
I should be attracted to Christ, but I just am not because it's just a theory. 00:17:55.080 |
The prerequisite of all of this is that you actually believe, and you've actually seen 00:18:04.680 |
In Romans 8.31-35, and this is a passage that, again, I've quoted many times. 00:18:12.840 |
It's probably one of the many favorite verses in Romans, where Paul says, "What then shall 00:18:22.880 |
He who did not spare his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how will he not also with 00:18:29.120 |
Again, why would you be concerned about the affairs of this world when you know that if 00:18:34.120 |
God loved you enough to send his only begotten son, why would he withhold any good thing? 00:18:41.280 |
If finances is what's best for you, why would he withhold that from you? 00:18:45.820 |
If friendship is the primary thing that you need, why would a God who is willing to send 00:18:50.560 |
his only begotten son, sacrifice him for you, why would he withhold any good thing from 00:19:07.000 |
Who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. 00:19:10.480 |
Who will separate us from the love of Christ with tribulation, distress, or persecution, 00:19:18.200 |
I know this is not a passage that's new to many of you, but every year that I read and 00:19:24.080 |
meditate on this passage, it has more meaning. 00:19:27.760 |
The reason why it has more meaning is every year that I live, I am more and more aware 00:19:33.680 |
how fragile everything else is in this world. 00:19:37.840 |
Your friendship, even with your children, your marriage, your bank account, your health, 00:19:44.680 |
your life, your business, whatever it may be. 00:19:49.680 |
The longer I live, the more I am reminded just how fragile everything is in this fallen 00:19:55.880 |
And anything that you have put confidence in, if that's your greatest source of joy, 00:20:01.200 |
is anything outside of Christ, that which you made your greatest joy ends up becoming 00:20:11.400 |
Anything that you have placed above to make it your greatest joy, it may be your children, 00:20:16.220 |
it may be your wife, it may be your business, your bank account, whatever it may be, anything 00:20:20.440 |
that you have placed as your greatest joy in life eventually becomes your greatest source 00:20:27.840 |
If marriage is what you pursue as your greatest joy, that will become the source of your greatest 00:20:33.000 |
If your children is a source of your greatest joy, that will one day become the source of 00:20:41.560 |
That's the irony of the cruelty of this world. 00:20:45.880 |
And so when he says, "I command you to rejoice and to rejoice always," it's because our joy 00:20:52.280 |
is founded upon this hope, this hope in Christ, that no matter how difficult this circumstance 00:20:59.560 |
and no matter how ugly this year may have been physically, that this hope in Christ 00:21:04.840 |
can never be taken away because it's not based upon me, it's not based upon you, it's not 00:21:09.440 |
based upon your will, it's not based upon your discipline, it's not based upon your 00:21:20.120 |
He who did not spare his own son, why will he not along with him give us all things? 00:21:24.960 |
Along with that, he says, "Rejoice always, and if you find life in Christ and that's 00:21:30.320 |
where your rejoicing happens," he says, "then pray without ceasing." 00:21:35.760 |
The question that we have to ask ourselves, "What does pray without ceasing look like? 00:21:44.840 |
What about studying the Bible if we're praying without ceasing? 00:21:50.760 |
When does that happen if we're always praying? 00:21:53.440 |
You have to understand, again, in context, there are several words in the Bible that's 00:22:01.080 |
There's "euchomai," "erotaio," "deomai," and every one of these things are slightly nuanced 00:22:06.680 |
different, but in the end it just means to have desire. 00:22:10.080 |
To have desire, you beseech and you're asking, petitioning, and so it has similar meaning, 00:22:16.760 |
And translated slightly different from passage to passage. 00:22:19.320 |
But the primary word that has been translated for prayer in the New Testament is "prosechomai." 00:22:29.600 |
And that's the primary word that is used for prayer. 00:22:31.840 |
And again, helping understanding what this word is and the nuance behind it will help 00:22:36.040 |
us understand why he's saying, "Pray always." 00:22:39.800 |
The word is a compound word with "pros" as a preposition denoting closeness or going 00:22:50.080 |
"Euchai" is a Greek word that means to petition, to desire. 00:22:55.400 |
So to have these two words together, to pray means to recognize that our desire is met 00:23:06.440 |
So when you have this desire and when you are in need of something, that you draw near 00:23:13.920 |
So prayer isn't this religious activity of closing your eyes and having a list of prayer 00:23:17.960 |
concerns, and then we pray for Him, pray for Him, pray for this, pray for that, and then 00:23:22.960 |
Primary understanding of praying is that our longing is satisfied in Him. 00:23:31.880 |
What's interesting, again, the word, the primary word for worship is "proskenaio." 00:23:36.800 |
The word "pros" in the same word is "prosechomai." 00:23:40.640 |
And the word "proskenaio" means to draw near to God and be prostrated, to kiss Him in adoration 00:23:50.720 |
So the word for worship also has the idea of coming to Him. 00:24:01.680 |
That's why when Jesus comes, the first thing that He says to His disciples is what? 00:24:09.600 |
And this is something that God could not say to the Israelites in the Old Testament. 00:24:13.640 |
If you go to the Old Testament, He says to come, but He says, "When you come, make sure 00:24:19.520 |
And if you listen carefully to everything that God tells them to do in the book of Leviticus, 00:24:28.800 |
If you've been studying through us in the book of Leviticus, the end conclusion of the 00:24:35.000 |
The end conclusion of Leviticus is, "You better stay away, because if you don't do exactly, 00:24:41.280 |
exactly what I tell you to do, curse will be upon you." 00:24:47.440 |
So in one sense, He says to come and make sure you do all of this when you come, but 00:24:50.720 |
if you don't do it the way I tell you, you're going to die. 00:24:57.080 |
They couldn't come to Him by their own righteousness, and no animal ever washed away their sins. 00:25:03.980 |
It was only to point to the coming of Christ, where Christ was going to fulfill all of that. 00:25:07.800 |
So in the Old Testament, this holy God, in order to just even be in their presence, all 00:25:13.880 |
of that ritual, day after day, morning and night, had to be done. 00:25:19.440 |
Every single day, every single week, every single month, every single year, every decade, 00:25:24.900 |
Sacrifice, killing, over and over and over again. 00:25:29.560 |
He says, "Only that way you can come even close, and even then, you can't come all the 00:25:34.900 |
You can only come to a certain point, and that's it." 00:25:38.800 |
Yet when Christ comes, veiled, His glory veiled in His humanity, He comes and says, "Now come. 00:25:50.200 |
And so the disciples follow Him, and they go where He goes. 00:25:53.800 |
And then when He's crucified on the cross, the curtain is torn, and He says, "Now come." 00:26:01.060 |
And that's the whole point of salvation, that we couldn't get to Him. 00:26:05.200 |
And so Jesus says to come, and in the book of Hebrews it says, "Now you can come to the 00:26:13.880 |
That was the whole point of salvation, and that was the whole point of prayer. 00:26:20.760 |
We make prayer like the way that the Jews practice the Sabbath, that we say, "Well, 00:26:26.440 |
if we did all of these things, if we don't do all these things, then we kept the Sabbath." 00:26:30.080 |
And Jesus says, "Sabbath was made for man, not man for Sabbath. 00:26:33.560 |
The Sabbath wasn't meant so that you can work hard to keep it. 00:26:36.600 |
Sabbath was given to you so that you can rest. 00:26:43.040 |
And oftentimes, the way that we look at prayer is that prayer is another discipline of many 00:26:47.560 |
other disciplines that we need to do and make a list, and we need to do it, and then we're 00:26:51.320 |
so burdened by prayer, not realizing prayer is the primary gift of salvation. 00:27:00.760 |
But because of what He has done, He said, "Now come. 00:27:10.920 |
You couldn't come before because of what He has done, because of our own sins. 00:27:22.040 |
Oftentimes we hear teachings about how Jesus broke away from the crowd because He needed 00:27:26.000 |
to rejuvenate and really pray and depend on God to empower Him so that He can go and work, 00:27:37.320 |
We need to go like Jesus and be an example, and we need to be prayer warriors," and all 00:27:43.760 |
But you ever think that maybe Jesus went to pray with the Father because that's where 00:27:52.160 |
You ever think that Jesus broke away from the crowd because everybody wanted something 00:27:58.440 |
The only place where He really found rest was with the Father, where God was ministering 00:28:08.720 |
See, if we find life in this world, whenever we have issues and problems, we find human 00:28:26.440 |
I'm going to write down the pros and cons, and I'm going to use my intellect, my experience, 00:28:29.440 |
If our life and our value system is found in this world, that's what we turn to when 00:28:47.240 |
See, but when He says to pray without ceasing, it means that the door has been opened. 00:28:59.320 |
A couple of weeks ago, Pastor James Yim gave a powerful sermon about adoption. 00:29:03.760 |
He says, "The point of salvation is now we're adopted children of God, co-heirs with Christ." 00:29:10.480 |
In other words, he's saying, "You have my ear. 00:29:19.440 |
Why would you run to the world when you have my ear?" 00:29:24.080 |
So the greatest benefit of salvation is that the door to the throne of grace has been opened. 00:29:37.920 |
This is something that happens because you believe. 00:29:43.800 |
If you believe, life is found in Christ, and that's where you find your greatest joy. 00:29:50.480 |
See, if church is simply an obligation, if Bible study is simply an obligation that a 00:29:57.160 |
Christian does, eventually, eventually you will follow wherever you find the greatest 00:30:04.480 |
You find the greatest joy in the world, that's where you go. 00:30:06.880 |
You'll pretend in the church, but you'll pursue the world outside of the church. 00:30:14.640 |
Because we're naturally, instinctively, God created us to live. 00:30:24.960 |
I mean, physically, we've become masters at eating. 00:30:28.960 |
But spiritually, like where do you find food? 00:30:34.740 |
If you find that in this world, you can pretend and put on a good face at church, but as soon 00:30:44.840 |
You're in the TV, you're in Netflix, you're in traveling, you're in whatever it is that 00:30:54.360 |
That's why he says to pray, when he says to pray unceasingly, that's what he means. 00:31:02.200 |
That the longing that God has placed in your heart, that you would find it in Christ, in 00:31:07.480 |
To continue to come to him, not just Sunday, not only during prayer time, not only Bible 00:31:13.040 |
study and discussion time, but all of our life. 00:31:16.240 |
Just like you pursue, if you like surfing, if you like eating, if you like traveling, 00:31:21.960 |
just like you go to that because it feels good. 00:31:27.160 |
That you find greater life when you're in Christ, and so that causes you to be a pursuer 00:31:34.720 |
You can see how easily we can be deceived in the church. 00:31:39.000 |
Because we are in the church, we're in Bible study, we're studying, we're leading, and 00:31:43.560 |
then we pretend like we find life in Christ, we sing about life in Christ, but is it really 00:32:10.040 |
Do you rejoice more over your vacations and where you are capable of going or not going? 00:32:18.460 |
Or is your life in Christ first and foremost? 00:32:22.640 |
That's what it means to pray unceasingly, to come to him. 00:32:25.360 |
And as a result of that, you give thanks to all things. 00:32:30.280 |
If our Thanksgiving is circumstantial, some of you guys have a lot to be thankful for, 00:32:34.400 |
some of you guys don't have much to be thankful for this year. 00:32:39.040 |
Maybe the year after that would be better, if it's circumstantial. 00:32:43.520 |
But he's commanding us to be thankful in all circumstance because it doesn't hinge upon 00:32:53.040 |
Christian thankfulness and Christian rejoicing and Christian prayer and drawing to him is 00:32:57.280 |
not circumstantial because it's based upon and hinged upon the firm rock of Jesus Christ. 00:33:05.080 |
That's why he's in Habakkuk, chapter 3, verse 17, 18, it says, "Though the fig tree should 00:33:10.940 |
not blossom and there be no fruit on the vines, though the yield of the olives should fail 00:33:15.880 |
and the fields produce no food, though the flock should be cut off from the fold and 00:33:20.240 |
there be no cattle in the stalls, yet I will exult in the Lord. 00:33:27.740 |
Is my worship, is my walk with God circumstantial? 00:33:34.360 |
So I want to ask you, when you examine your life, how much of your rejoicing is based 00:33:47.680 |
How much of your rejoicing is based upon your family? 00:33:52.280 |
How much of your rejoicing is based upon circumstance? 00:33:57.000 |
How much of your rejoicing is based upon how loved you feel by your friends? 00:34:07.040 |
Has the good news of Jesus Christ superseded any other bad news? 00:34:10.880 |
That's why he says, after he says all that, I think he commands him to be thankful in 00:34:14.180 |
all situations, he says, "Not to quench the spirit. 00:34:26.520 |
Because God has already given us the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit came to convict 00:34:31.280 |
the world of sin, which he did for us, and to remind us of everything that he has said 00:34:41.480 |
And so he said the Holy Spirit has been implanted in us, given to us, in order to remind us 00:34:52.700 |
And that's why he says, "Do not quench the Holy Spirit." 00:34:56.380 |
Because the Holy Spirit is already praying on our behalf, interceding on our behalf with 00:35:03.320 |
groanings that our words cannot express, so that we can constantly recognize and to what? 00:35:16.000 |
Let me conclude with this, because our primary struggle isn't necessarily theology. 00:35:24.460 |
I would assume majority of you, I'm sure it's not 100%, but majority of you are here because 00:35:31.600 |
you confessed faith in Christ, you believed him. 00:35:38.560 |
But within that confession, there are some of you who don't really believe. 00:35:42.980 |
You confess it, it's more of kind of a security blanket, like, "If God is real, I don't want 00:35:47.940 |
So it's nothing more than that, it's a security blanket. 00:35:50.620 |
And if you can find that security blanket in the temple, in Buddhists, and maybe one 00:36:00.420 |
And then there are some of us who profess faith and you genuinely believe. 00:36:10.020 |
But you haven't experienced life in Christ in a long time. 00:36:17.220 |
You've been pursuing the world and you've been distracted and all the principles and 00:36:21.060 |
the lures of this world has tempted you and gripped your mind and your heart and you're 00:36:26.260 |
When you hear good sermons or Bible study, you're like, "Yes!" 00:36:29.380 |
And then as soon as it's over, you're seeking the world. 00:36:34.460 |
John Piper says this in his book, A Hunger for God, a book of fasting. 00:36:41.980 |
The greatest enemy of hunger for God is not poison but apple pie. 00:36:45.980 |
It is not the banquet of the wicked that dulls our appetite for heaven, but endless nibbling 00:36:54.300 |
It is not the X-rated video, but the prime time dribble of triviality we drink in every 00:37:05.140 |
That's where the rubber meets the road for most of us. 00:37:09.940 |
We're so distracted and so filled with the things of this world that we don't bring an 00:37:16.620 |
appetite for the things of Christ when we come. 00:37:23.500 |
But in our heart, in our spirit, there's very little room. 00:37:27.340 |
So he says, "For all the ill that Satan can do, when God describes what keeps us from 00:37:34.660 |
the banquet table of his love, it is a piece of land, a yoke of oxen, and a wife." 00:37:42.420 |
He's talking about the parable in Luke chapter 14. 00:37:48.780 |
We can talk about how we want to be great for the kingdom of God and how we want to 00:37:52.460 |
evangelize and want to do all these great things for our lives. 00:37:56.140 |
We dedicate our lives, we follow the earth of Christ. 00:37:58.660 |
But if we do not address the nibbling that we do on a daily basis in this world, which 00:38:06.780 |
quenches the spirit, there is no appetite for things of God. 00:38:12.580 |
And that might be the reason why you haven't rejoiced in him in a long time. 00:38:17.220 |
And that's why, that might be the reason why you don't go to him when you are squeezed. 00:38:22.620 |
And that's why your thankfulness, you can only think of physical circumstance. 00:38:31.260 |
So as we celebrate Thanksgiving, let's be mindful and deliberate that we don't celebrate 00:38:36.860 |
and go down the path like the rest of the world, that we practice joy and prayer and 00:38:55.620 |
What are you doing that's distracting you from things of God? 00:38:58.660 |
Maybe take some time to fast away from that and ask the Lord to restore a hungering and 00:39:04.500 |
thirsting for him that you had at one point so that our natural desire would be him above 00:39:12.380 |
To ask ourselves this week this question, what causes you to rejoice? 00:39:18.300 |
What causes you to come to him and what are you thankful for? 00:39:22.940 |
Let's take some time to pray as we welcome our worship team to come back.