"If We Remain Thankful, We'll Never Go Wrong By Brother Parrish Lee November 16th,
2014
Remain
standing, if you would,
please. Let’s bow
our heads in a word of
prayer, please. God,
we just thank You
this morning for Your Word; we thank You for Your Truth, and, God, for
Your
love. We just thank
You, God, for this
time of thanks, because there’s so many things throughout the year, God… we concentrate this month
on this particular
theme, but we just wanted, Lord God, to have that same mind throughout
the
year, God. We want
to continue to love
You, and worship You, and do what Your Word says to do, God. We ask for the message
right now, God, that I
would get out of the way, Lord God, that Your message would be
delivered, God. That
we would preach sound doctrine, God,
that we would live sound doctrine, and that we would uphold what You
would have
us to uphold, and that we would be that testimony, God, that You would
have us
to be. I ask all
these things in Jesus’
name, and the church said, amen. Thank
you; you may be seated. I
just got word, and I know, Parrish, you had
mentioned about several passings of family members of people that we
know,
people that are dear to our hearts…
Brother
Ed K had just spoke to me and a lot of us know Chris Labissiere, one of
our
brothers in the faith in Virginia.
Actually,
he was up here a couple of months ago.
His
sister was killed in a car accident this morning.
I don’t know where that happened…
Let’s keep him in prayer.
I’m going to ask, again, if we could bow our
heads and have a prayer on his behalf. God,
we know that this life is
short, God, and we know that these things come along and test our
faith, God. We pray
right now a special prayer for Chris
and his family, God, and that You would comfort them, God, and there
will be a
time of grieving, God, there will be a time of mourning, God, and that
is
appropriate. That’s
what we need to do,
God, but we pray that You’d wrap Your arms around him, God, in a loving
way,
God, in a Fatherly way, God. We
just
thank You, God, for being able to call upon You, God.
We just pray, God, that we’re able to support
him as best we can, but we know that You’re the one God that,
ultimately,
You’re the Comforter, God. We
just want
to ask this in Your name, Jesus. Amen. We’ve
been using the Scripture: 2 Corinthians 2:14
Now
thanks
be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh
manifest
the savour of his knowledge by us in every place. Thanksgiving
is fast approaching. It
certainly got cold quick, and I know,
well, I suppose that a lot of us do like to talk about the weather, or
hear
about it, but that’s not going to be the focus today.
I know that this is the time of year,
especially as we get close to the new year, and I think Parrish
mentioned this
a couple of weeks ago, we have the time to kind of reflect, to kind of
look
back, and to kind of recharge our batteries.
I know that the sermon you preached a couple of
weeks ago, you mentioned
that we have a lot of those times; it’s appropriate to have those
memorials of
remembrance, but we also need to live in the here and now. We also need to realize
those blessings that
God has for us today. Jesse,
you talked
about being thankful in hard times.
That’s
not easy; that takes an effort. I
know
that you said sometimes that complaining spirit comes upon you; well,
it comes
upon all of us, and I appreciate you using yourself as an example. You said when it does rear
its head, you’ve
just got to stop and just thank God.
Especially
at a time like this, where—Parrish, you mentioned, many people, many of
those
of you who have lost loved ones here recently.
That’s not an easy thing.
That’s
something that, you know, I know the Bible says, “Precious in the sight
of the
Lord is the death of His saints,” but it’s still—we’re human beings. It’s an emotion that’s—the
Bible talks about
we can be fragile at times. It’s
something where we’ve got to be able to deal with it, and I’m not
trying to be
lighthearted, or just trying to say, “Oh, well, just get over it,”
because
that’s not what God is even saying.
We
have to understand that is part of the process of life.
It’s something about being ready to know God,
ready to meet God, because that’s what a lot of this is all about. The Bible talks about,
“Fear God and keep his
commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.
For God shall bring every work into judgment,
with every secret thing…” (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14)
So, we’ve got to understand that even those
secret things, those times when we’re alone, or maybe nobody knows
about, that
we’ve got to come clean before God.
I
want to share a few things; I’m
just kind of visiting here, for a moment.
Many of you remember Pastor Wilson.
He got married yesterday, and it was something that
they had been
engaged for a while; I don’t exactly know the amount of time. It’s something that we
celebrate. I know
that his wife—myself and Ed H. were
down there back in April, and, those of
you that were at the conference got to meet her—his wife name is Sonia. She’s very active in the
church, and it was
one of those things where—really, I know that, because a lot of us
remember
him, and a lot of us know him on a very personal level, I wanted to
share that. I had
mentioned it to Parrish, and he said,
“Yeah, why don’t you mention that,” so…
I feel like that’s something that, to be aware of,
to celebrate, to
rejoice with them, and be well-wishers. I
want to share one other
thing: Who brought
in these flowers this
morning? Kathy? I’ve got to say, “Thank
you,” because it
really brightens up the place. I
know
that—yeah, give the Lord a praise.
It’s
a small thing, but I want you to know it’s a big thing…
Something like that, especially in a rented
building, it’s kind of nice to personalize things a little bit. I’m going to share
something: A few
years back, when Mike and Norma were
hosting Bible studies, and, it was about this time of year, but, I
remember
going over there on a Wednesday night and Norma had really done a nice
job
decorating, and with the colors of October and Thanksgiving—and, yeah,
I’m
bragging on her a little bit, and Mike—but, I’ve just got to say, it’s
little
images, and, I think, snapshots in time that we have, that’s worth
remembering. Things
to be thankful for. A
lot of times, they are memories. A
lot of times they are—we’re going to get
into that a little more, here, later. I’m
going to jump right in. I’m
going to jump right in, and get started
on the first point. The
first point
today is that being thankful is not a sign of weakness.
Now, let me explain that.
If we have the fruit of the Spirit, and, Andy,
I like how you mentioned that, the other night, at the Wednesday night
study. Andy, and,
actually, I’ve got to say, all
this time, I had always thought, “It’s fruits of the Spirit,” because
there’s
about, maybe ten or twelve characteristics of fruit of the Spirit that
are
listed. I would
have said, “Oh, it’s
fruits of the Spirit.” I
appreciate that
insight. Along with fruit of the
Spirit of being
thankful, is longsuffering. It’s
not an
easy fruit of the Spirit to have, but it’s something that’s needful. If we are longsuffering,
then there are times
when we are going to do just that, put up with nonsense or garbage of
the world. Especially
the things that we don’t have any
control over… It
could be politics, it
could be the economy. I
mean, that’s
something that has taken a front seat for a long time, and, you know,
I’ve got
to say, and this has nothing to do with politics, because that’s one
thing I
stay away from, but, I believe looking at something like that that
affects us
so personally, there’s trouble. It’s
not
a matter of looking at it like, okay, God’s in control…
The Bible says, “And we know that all things
work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the
called
according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28)
So this isn’t a scare tactic, or to say, vote this
way or vote that way;
it’s not that at all. But,
you know,
there are plenty of people who refuse to be thankful and can’t even
comprehend
why anyone would be thankful in the first place.
“After all,” they say, “what’s there to be
thankful for?” Just
because we
Christians aren’t engaged in every single battle or conflict
imaginable, but we
continue to be thankful in the midst of a crooked and corrupt world. The Bible talks about that. I mean, this isn’t
something new, this has
been going on for generations and hundreds of thousands of years. There’s a verse that we’re
going to touch on later,
but, this is something that we’re all going to have to come to grips
with: The Bible
says that men loved darkness rather
than light (John 3:19). If
we take
ourselves out of the equation of being a Christian, if we allow
ourselves to be
tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine (Ephesians 4:14),
thinking that
any old lifestyle—just thinking that anything goes, we’re going to love
darkness rather than light. That’s
a
fact. That’s
something where it’s like,
“Oh, well, I’m exempt from that,” or, “I think I can finagle my way
around
it.” No, you can’t. You can’t because,
eventually, it’s going to
catch up to you. We’re
going to look at
a verse here in Luke chapter 6, but I do believe in arming myself, and
I said
that—I know that’s not blowing anybody away—but I would say, there was
an
expression that one of the presidents from probably about a hundred
years ago
used, Teddy Roosevelt, he said, “Speak softly and carry a big stick.” This is the big stick that
I’m talking about
(holding up a Bible). I’m
not talking
about bats or weapons of mass destruction or anything else. That, right there, that’s
going to protect
us, that’s going to keep us, that’s going to give us the light that we
need to
live, that we need to survive. Luke 6:35-36
But
love ye your enemies, and do good, and
lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye
shall be
the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to
the evil. Be ye
therefore merciful, as your Father also
is merciful. Ever
hear someone bad mouth
God? Use the Lord’s
name in vain, talk
about how they don’t believe in him?
So,
they’ll bad-mouth Him, and then turn around and say, “But I don’t
believe in
Him.” Why? I mean, why bad-mouth
somebody that you don’t
even believe in? That’s
pretty
contradictory, but, the Bible says, “Why do the heathen rage, and the
people
imagine a vain thing?” (Psalms 2:1) Or, they’ll say, “If God were real,
how could
all these bad things happen?” or “Christians are weak-minded people
because
they have to trust in someone they can’t even see.”
And on and on and on and on it goes, or the
accusations fly. Those
of us that know
Him, when we think about how incredible, and powerful, omniscient,
omnipresent,
whatever adjective you could use to describe how awesome God is, God
even gave
us that ability and that vocabulary to be able to even comprehend that. Then it’s a matter of
looking at it like, you
know what? “For in him we live, and move, and have our being…” (Acts
17:28) Every breath
is from God, and
that’s not a weak thing, and that’s not something where—yes, there’s a
degree
of vulnerability about that, but, when we trust in God—the Bible says,
“Trust
in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own
understanding.”
(Proverbs 3:5) We
realize that we’re
putting our trust in the Creator of the universe, the Creator of all
history. It’s
something where—I’m blown away by the
creation of God more and more every day.
And I want to be that way.
Sometimes
I just think—a lot of you remember Tom Hansen, he’s heading up our
fellowship
in Everett, Washington, now. He
and I
used to do a lot of walking out in the forest preserves in the county,
McHenry,
and the areas, but, there were times when we’d walk, and, you know,
there were
times when you could see—and I know this isn’t a mountainous area, but
you
could see some good distances sometimes that we’d be out there, and we
thought,
“You know, if it was just this area, that we can see, and if we
figured, if
just that were the creation, that’s a lot.”
I mean, just look around, and this is kind of a
small room in the big
picture, that’s something; I didn’t create any of it.
God gave us the wherewithal and the ability
to be able to create, to be able to build, to be able to construct, and
God is
without beginning and without end.
We
look at something like that—my point, in this verse, here, God is kind
to the
unthankful and to the evil… Now,
I
think, if somebody is evil or unthankful, I’m thinking, “I’m never
giving them
anything again. I’m
not going to treat
them well; I’m going to avoid them like the plague…”
And, I mean, something like that, where I
think it’s like a normal state of mind.
But,
that’s not God. But,
hear me, now, this
isn’t to say that everybody’s getting away with everything, and they’re
going
to get to the end, and God’s going to say, “Well done!
You mouthed off, you bad-mouthed Me, you used
My name in vain, you didn’t tell people about Me, you cursed me out,
but come
on in to Heaven.” It doesn’t work like that.
It’s going to be more like, “You know what? I gave you time and chance
and opportunity
after time and chance and opportunity.”
The Bible talks about, “For the grace of God that
bringeth salvation
hath appeared to all men,” (Titus 2:11)
So, everybody has a chance, even if they say, “I
didn’t have a
chance! I didn’t
know about it!” You
had a chance. You
had a chance. Everybody
gets that chance. It
might be right now. It
might have been last week; it might be
coming. But,
everybody is going to have
a chance to hear the truth, to hear the truth of God, being born again,
baptized in Jesus’ name, living a righteous life, a godly life, a
balanced life. This
isn’t talking about just a one-time
experience, it’s talking about a life, but, that’s not intended to
scare anybody,
because it’s a great life! There
isn’t
any other way I’d want to live, and when I look back, at the time I’ve
been a
Christian, yeah, there’ve been times when it’s been hard, there’ve been
times
when there’ve been sadness, there’ve been times when there’ve been
tragedies,
but, you know what? I
keep coming to
God, and I keep trusting God, and, you know what? there’s nobody else
I’d
rather put my trust in. Again,
it’s not
like we’re not being—the Bible says that, “…God is not unrighteous to
forget
your work and labor of love…” (Hebrews 6:10) and there is a day of
vengeance
against those that curse God, against those that oppose God, against
those that
speak evil. Even
though God allows it
for a period of time, it’s one of those things where nobody gets away
with it
forever. On
the thankful side of this, did
you ever hear, or did you ever talk to somebody, or did you ever read
about
somebody that was in a catastrophic disaster, I mean, a tornado just
destroyed
everything they had, or a fire, or a hurricane, and they were like,
“Thank God
we survived! Thank
God we’re alive!” You
know, I’m not saying—obviously, everybody
doesn’t survive. There’s
so many times,
and that’s on the news, that to me, I think is a little slanted in the
wrong
direction, but, when they highlight something like that, I just look at
it
like, “Wow!” That,
to me, is something
to thank God for. I
know we had a fire
in our house when I was 14—and it wasn’t my fault—it was actually me
and a
couple of friends, all of us, working together.
It was an accident, obviously, but, what I have to
say is that it caused
$50,000 worth of damage (which, back then was—well, it still is kind of
a lot
of money). Thank
God we had insurance. We
had to move to relocate for about 5 months,
and it was kind of drudgery. It
was kind
of like—I remember on my paper route at the time, and riding by and
seeing it
as they were rebuilding, and residing, and putting a garage on. It wasn’t really a
pleasant time. I
mean, my dad had lost his job just a few months
prior to that, so it was real domino-effect type of things that had
happened
that year. But he
got another job; they
rebuilt the house, and, as painful and unfortunate as that was, we were
all
thankful that we survived. I’m
not
saying that we were Christians at the time.
We weren’t; I wasn’t.
I think
sometimes it takes things like that sometimes to galvanize us, to make
us
really what is really important. I
know a lot of us do like the
NFL, here, but, sometimes you hear these guys say, you know, when they
have
done a very good job—and I think in all pro sports—of highlighting
veterans. For those
of you who are veterans here today,
and those of you that are currently serving, thank you.
And, a lot of times these athletes will say,
“It is just a game.” It’s
one of those
things where it's like, you look at real life and death, you look at
real
circumstances of what really matters, and that’s a good perspective to
have. It is just a
game, but, real life, we’re
talking about Judgment Day, we’re talking about what does God expect
from
us? How does God
want us to live? I’m
going to share a verse, here;
it’s a very short verse, but I think it encapsulates a lot of what we
have to
have, a lot of the way we need to think, a lot of the way we need to be. I’m talking about a
mentality, and a
direction going forward. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
Rejoice
evermore. Pray
without
ceasing. In every
thing give thanks: for
this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. We’re
all pretty well aware that Thanksgiving
is something that we revisit every year.
It’s a national holiday; there’s a lot of history in
it, here in America. I
know that, personally, I have a lot of good
memories of Thanksgiving, you know, gathering of family, getting to
watch some
football, enjoying a great meal, or just getting the day off—a little
time to
unwind. And I know
that, if the Lord
tarries His coming, next year we’re going to have a time to give
thanks, we’re
going to have a time of thanksgiving, and we’re going to have a
celebration,
and remembrance, and memorial. But
you
know what? This is
my second point: Being
thankful never gets old. God
is telling
us right here to give thanks in everything and that this is the will of
God for
us to do, and we shouldn’t let being thankful ever get old. If
we remain thankful, things will
go wrong, but we will never go wrong.
That
also happens to be the title of today’s message.
Greg, if you’re paying attention back there. Greg shared—I’m just going
to share a
personal part of my testimony, just for a moment, here.
This was about twenty years ago, and just,
one night, jut driving down the road—and I believe that God will speak
to us,
in His small, still voice; I’m not talking about magic, or hocus-pocus. I’m just talking about God. How many believe God
speaks to us? This
one particular night—I don’t even
remember who I was with—I just remember driving down the road, and I
believe
that small, still voice spoke to me, and said, “If you remain thankful,
you’ll
never go wrong.” It
wasn’t something
where it was like, “Let me write that down,” but, it was one of those
things
where it's like, it got my attention.
And,
it was one of those things where it was like, “No doubt about it,
that’s the
voice of God.” I’m
not smart enough to
just make up something like that on my own.
But, you could see something like that, that’s
backed up in the
Scriptures… You
know what? things will
go wrong; there will be problems, there will be sadness, there will be
misfortune, oppression, tragedies, deaths…
But if we remain thankful we will never go wrong. There is a difference
there. I’d
like to take a few minutes,
now, and I’m not really looking for, in particular, for anybody to
share a
lengthy testimony, but I’d like to hear your hearts.
I’d like to actually give some time to
people; I’d like to hear what they have to say.
You know, it could be just a one-word statement
about what you are
thankful for. It
could be a short couple
of sentences. I’d
like to open it up
right now; I know that everybody’s kind of looking at me, but it’s
something
that, hopefully—if you’re a little afraid to,, that’s fine, but I’d
like to
hear some people, and you could just, you know… Ed K:
Forgiveness and
grace. Brent:
Just
growing in God and having confidence.
It
takes a long time to gain confidence.
Everybody
has gotten in trouble, but, the way God deals with it, it’s not just
God. Odell:
Just
ability. The reason
why I say ability,
is because when you have the ability, speech, walk, touch, feel… You do all the things that
God asks you to do
with ability. Donna: Two
things: Freedom to
worship, and the
ministry, that we can have a safety in our sisters and brothers, and a
closeness, and that we can depend on each other. Amen. That’s huge; that’s
fellowship. Beverly:
My salvation. Barb:
A
made-up mind. Mark:
I’m
thankful to have friends, because, if you don’t have friends, you don’t
have
anything. I
agree; I agree, you have to. Stephanie:
I’m
thankful to be here. Amen. It’s good to have you, too. Sonia:
I’m
thankful for a lot of things, but, today, and lately, I have been
thankful for
the desire that God has given me to continue to fight through this
journey. Amen. Mike H:
I’m
thankful to God for working through people, like Mr. and Mrs. Finch(?),
so I
can know the truth. Alex:
God
is patient with us. Pat:
God’s
love and truth. Lena:
My
marriage and family. Ed H:
What
I like about God is He’s my helper.
He’s
here to help me in every situation. Mike H:
I
want to thank God for working with Terry to baptize me. Amen. That’s huge.
Small
things do make a difference;
they stand out. Several
years ago, and some of you
may remember this, and some of you may not, but our general pastor,
Pastor
Paine preached a sermon titled “Attitude of Gratitude.”
How many remember that? I
do, that happens to be one of my all-time
favorites because it’s not just about right now, or just for a certain
period
of time, it’s about all time. It’s
about
something that’s on-going. I
remember, a
few years ago, Ken A and a couple of us were talking, and Ken was like,
“You
know, one thing I like—“ we were just kind of talking about different
things,
and he said, “One thing that I really appreciate about Pastor Paine is
that he’s
thankful. He’s just
thankful.” To me,
that’s a great legacy to have. It’s
something, you know when you have a
leader like that, and I’m not just throwing him a bouquet of roses, and
this
message isn’t about him, it’ about Jesus Christ and our walk with God. But, I think that we can’t
hesitate to take
time out to tell people while they’re still here and offer some
support, and
show some appreciation. I’m
going to
share a verse that myself, and Parrish and Jesse, we were sitting down
for
fellowship a couple of weeks ago, and I was like, “Yeah, there’s this
verse…”
and then I draw a blank. Parrish
was
like, “Sure.” They
were sitting there
like, “Okay, come on, come on…” But
the
verse was, “Let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth; a
stranger,
and not thine own lips.” (Proverbs 27:2) It’s
really about—we’re not here to pat
ourselves on the back, but, you know what? I appreciate when people can
do nice
things for me. Just
last week, Laygoze
and Lorraine had a couple of us over, Ed H, and Mike H, and, you know. They really—we threw down. I mean, I gained six
pounds in one sitting; I
kid you not. Mark
L, he does a lot of
cooking, and he’s like, “Hey, I made some chorizo and egg.” He’s like, “What do you
think?” and I’m like,
“I’ll give you an eight, on a scale of one to ten.
This I like, this I like, this was great; I
would have used some refried beans…”
You
know, just little things like that, but, on the other end of the scale,
it’s
nice to be able to things for others, too.
It’s not about gaining acclaim, or, it’s not about,
“Well, you owe me
one, now,” strings attached… It’s
not,
“Oh, now I’ve got something to dangle over their head.”
Christianity is not about that.
It’s not about any strings attached at all. I
just want to share one more
thing about Pastor Paine, and his testimony, because I have a personal
story
that I want to go into a little bit.
A lot
of us remember him sharing about his mom; his mom had a cerebral
hemorrhage
when he was a young boy. I
think he was
about ten. He’d
shared this on a number
of occasions through all the years that we’ve known him. It wasn’t anything
where—he wasn’t asking for
sympathy, it was just a matter of it was something that happened; they
dealt
with it as a family. It
was a difficult
thing, and it was one of those things where it was like, not a pleasant
memory,
but it was a major event that impacted his life.
It helped to shape who he was. Getting
into the attitude of
gratitude, I’m going to touch on that in a minute, but I want to share
something that—I actually talked to my mom about this the other
day—this
happened, probably about thirty-five years ago, and it happened right
round
this time of year, right around Thanksgiving.
We were planning a trip to visit my mom’s parents
down in Delaware and
they were supposed to be home, this was probably three o’clock in the
afternoon. My mom
worked for a hospital; my dad, at the
time, he worked for Regal Beloit.
The
plan was for them to get home, we’ll get on the road, this was like
Tuesday, a
couple of days before Thanksgiving.
Well,
I’m ready to get on the road; I’ve always liked road-tripping—even
then, too. I
remember, three-thirty rolls around, and
now it just seems like it’s getting a little late.
Now it’s four o’clock, and I’m getting a
little worried. My
brother and I are
like, “Where do you think they went?”
We
called the hospital; they weren’t able to reach her.
My dad, I don’t know if he went to the
hospital… I was
asking my mom the other
day—it’s not like they were irresponsible, not at all.
They’re still together.
I feel like they raised us well; I feel like
we had a good upbringing. Thank
God for
that. Four-thirty,
and, at that time, my
father’s mother was still alive, my grandmother.
I called her on the phone; she came over. Between my brother, my
grandmother and myself,
just wondering, “What happened?” This
was before cell phones, of course.
We
were thinking maybe they were in an accident.
It was panic. I
felt like it was
just—I was crying, and my brother, and, “What happened?” and it was
like the
kind of thing where, now five o’clock rolls around, five-thirty. They finally get home. My grandmother kind of
gave them a little bit
of a tongue-lashing, and it was like—you know, we got over it. But it was one of those
things where it was
like a snapshot in time, where it was like, what would I have done? What would I have done if
they had have been
killed? [Editor’s
note: The following
sentence was in Chris’ original
notes, but didn’t make it into the actual sermon:
“My mom worked at the hospital so she ended
up getting delayed and my dad had gone there and waited for her.”] I
want to segue into, I know
there’s people here who lost a parent or both parents at a young age,
or people
that have suffered wrongs that aren’t easy to overcome, aren’t easy to
just, “I
forgive,” to get a healing from. A
lot
of times these memories mold us and shape us into what we become,
positively or
negatively. I would
say, getting back to
that attitude of gratitude. Again,
I
shared that about Pastor Paine and his mom; that always touched my
heart,
because it was like, I thought, “What if that would have happened to
me?” How would I
have dealt with that, you
know? We have a
death or a tragedy, and,
again, Parrish, you mentioned about so many passings, you know,
people’s
parents or siblings. I’ve
got to say
that I appreciated what you shared last week, Lena.
It was very strengthening, because she’d lost
her sister, and their mom lost her daughter, down in South Carolina. It was one of those things
where it was like
Jesse, you asked her to share right at the beginning of service; it
really set
the tone. It was
one of those things
where it's like there’s plenty of emotions that we’re going to deal
with that
are like a roller-coaster; they can be challenging.
But I think the one question we’re going to
ask ourselves is “Why me? Why
do I have
to endure this illness, this tragedy, this sadness?”
Even then we can’t stop being thankful. And we can’t think that
our situation is so
isolated either, that we begin to grow a root of bitterness, because
the Bible
talks about that. It
says, “…a root of
bitterness…and thereby many be defiled…” (Hebrews 12:15) Being thankful never gets
old unless we allow
it to get old, but it also gives us strength to keep ourselves going. I
have one last point, but it’s a
brief one, so I’m going to call this a ½ point.
Kind of have a little fun putting that in there, but… It has to do with, what
we’re thankful about
is just about always something we’ve experienced or something in the
past, but
it could also be right now. I
want to
expound on that a little. Nothing
wrong
with that, it’s just a fact. I
know that
right now I’m thankful that gas prices are down.
I know it might not seem like it’s a big
thing, but, guess what, when I’ve got to whip these out (holding up his
wallet), and it’s like cha-ching, cha-ching, cha-ching…
$4.25 a gallon or whatever.
In Chicago it’s always high; I go up to
Kenosha. I know
some of you live up
there, so you’re blessed. I
know that
last week Ed H and myself cleaned out the gutters of the apartment
building, and
to some that might not seem very significant but, it’s good to get it
done;
it’s good just to have the ability to just do something like that. Get it done, and let it
get cold. And I’m
thankful that last winter finally
ended, but guess what, here it comes again.
While we’re there, for just a moment here, Parrish
has shared this many
times, so I’m going to reshare it, because I’m not sure that he really
understands the kind of power that he has with God in his prayers. He prayed, last winter,
for a cold, cold
winter to kill off all the mosquitoes, and all the gnats, and all the
flies…
Well, it killed everything, rodents, whatever, I don’t know; were there
any
deer left, Brent? We’re
going to red one
last verse, and then I’m going to make some closing points. This is going to be our
main Scripture for
the day. But, as I
was saying, a lot of
what we’re thankful for is in the past, or it can be current, but, you
know, we
do have something to look forward to:
We
might not have a promise of tomorrow but that promise of eternal life
is
absolutely something to strive for. John 3:14-21
And as
Moses lifted up the serpent in the
wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:
That whosoever believeth in him should not
perish, but have eternal life. For
God
so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son
into the world to
condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him
is not condemned:
but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not
believed in
the name of the only begotten Son of God.
And this is the condemnation, that light is come
into the world, and men
loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth
evil hateth the
light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth
cometh to the light,
that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. So,
this is probably one of the
most famous passages and sometimes might even get watered down a little
because
of its popularity. People
might think, “Oh,
I’ve heard that one.” You
know, back in
the Seventies there was a guy, he wore a rainbow afro.
A white guy, actually.
He was at sports events, that, he would hold
up a “John3:16” sign, and it was like, you’d see him at the Superbowl,
or you’d
see him at, you know, the World Series, and it was like… Back then, I didn’t even
know what it was; I
didn’t even know it was a Bible verse, which tells you, you know, we
weren’t
really raised religiously. That
verse
shouldn’t have any less of an impact, just because it is kind of
popular; just
because it is well known. I’m going to share this in closing. About 10 years ago, I worked for a company, Grainger; I started working for them about 1998. This was 2006, so, I got a different opportunity; I got a job up in Milwaukee. I left on good terms. I would have to say that I was really worn out, you know? I was really at my wit end; I mean, the job that I had had at the time, it was just relentless pace, and it was just tiring… I took this other job, and I remember, maybe a couple of months into it, I think we had a men’s fellowship hat George H had coordinated, I think it was at the planetarium, down in Chicago… So, we went down there, and I remember just, during the course of the day—and, again, like I mentioned before about that still small voice of God; it’s not one of those things that I’d ever take lightly, or just, “Oh, God spoke to me just now…” “God spoke to me just now…” “God spoke to me just now…” because, when you hear that sometimes, from some people, it’s like, “Oh, yeah, they’re the mouthpiece of God!” They kind of act like anything they do or say in anointed—that’s not the case. But, I don’t want to fail to give credit to God, and say, “Oh, I just thought of that myself.” I’m going to give credit to God in all things. So, this one particular day, and I believe it was God, just said, “You’ve got a lot more things to be thankful for than things to worry about.” So, little did I know what the next couple of days would hold in store, but, I remember the very next day, which was a Sunday, sitting in a church service, and I remember just looking around and thinking—you know, I had this real sort of depression, where it was like “Why did I take this job?” I mean, now I’m having, like, buyer’s remorse, or regrets, or second thoughts. I’m thinking, “Well, I’ve just got to tough it out and just do it.” Well, I go up there, the very next day—this was about eight o’clock in the morning—the owner said, “Can I talk to you for a minute?” I said, “No!” No, I said yes. So, I go into his office, and he’s like, “It’s not working out.” I mean, it was like, I’m just sitting there, thinking to myself, “I can’t believe that you offered and gave me this job; I left another company that I had worked for, for almost ten years, and, two months into it, you’re going to say, ‘It’s not working out?’” I felt like, you know… I felt like doing a few things on my way out, but I wasn’t armed, so, you know, and I was a Christian, too, so I’m not going to flip out on the guy, or egg the guy’s building, you know. I collected my belongings. Out of a job after leaving this other company. I’ve got say, I remember telling people, here at the church, and I’m going to share something that Ed K did that I’m still thankful for, that really ministered. I remember telling him, “Oh, yeah, I lost my job,” and Ed’s reaction on his face, sad for my sake, and just like, “I can’t believe that…” and I appreciate that ministering. You can’t imagine how much, still to this day; as I was putting this together last night, it was like, things like that, like I said, you’re thankful for things that happened, and, yes, we’re thankful for right now, and, yes, we’re thankful for the promise of eternal life, but I think that things like that help to mold us and shape us and make us who we are. So, anyway, I contacted my former boss and he said, “I don’t have anything right now. They had back-filled the position, I’m afraid.” Well, about a month later, he did—he said he would contact me on this day, and he did. He said, “I think we can get you back in.” To this day, I’m like—I’m still with that company to this day. That’s now eight years later. It was pretty devastating and I know of people here who have been in that boat and it’s not comfortable. I had to get on unemployment for a while… I’m like, tightening the belt, and rethinking finances. Malcolm, I appreciate what you shared, just in the last few weeks, you said that you had some struggles, but you said that every bill that you had was paid for. I mean, it’s things like that you’ve got to be thankful for, because, if you’re not, you may end up getting bitter about it, or maybe even indifferent. It’s a matter of, just because we’re not thankful, and we’re not bitter, being indifferent isn’t what God wants us to think like, either. That is a fact. Thank God I did eventually get back with that company, but, you know what? What really changed more than anything was my perspective of just being thankful. You know that being thankful does take an effort; it’s not like we just naturally have that thinking all the time, but if we remain thankful, we’ll never go wrong. I’d like to thank you for your time, thank you for your attention, and thank you for your participation. God bless you.
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