"Be Ye Thankful" By Brother Parrish Lee November 8th,
2015
Wow. Amen. Our
God is what? greater, our God is stronger, our God is higher than any
other. Don’t get me started. Coming from a person who used to speak the
name Allah, and call him great, for many years, to the Name who is above every
name, and the miraculous things that He has done, and that man says that man
says, “Hallelujah.” What a beautiful time of praise
and worship, amen? Amen? Giving honor to God, the
beneficent, the merciful, the compassionate, our healer, our redeemer, our
savior, our bridge over troubled waters, our light in the dark places, and,
some of us know, our keeper on the roads, our food on the table, and our job
five or six days a week. Giving honor to
Him, who is the preserver and the giver of all good and perfect gifts. And, giving honor to those who have before us,
in this ministry, in this pulpit, from our founding pastor, he and his family,
to our pastor, he and his family. And,
to all of those who have stood in the gap, to make up the hedge in
between. And, giving honor to all of
y’all that come to present yourselves to honor the most high God, that He might
supplement and supply your every need.
Giving honor to you, that God would do exactly what He said He’d do. We’ve taken this month, as Brother
Andy said, we’ve taken this month, and it’s easy to see, it’s simple to see,
it’s altogether appropriate to see the month of November as the month of
thanksgiving, the month of giving thanks, putting ourselves in
remembrance. The Scripture theme for the
month is: Ezra 3:11 And they sang together by course in praising
and giving thanks unto the LORD; [they sang together by course] because he is good, for his mercy endureth
for ever toward Israel. And all the
people shouted with a great shout, when they praised the LORD, because the
foundation of the house of the LORD was laid. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 In every thing
give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. “In every thing give thanks: for
this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” If we could just bow our heads for
just a moment. Lord, we do come and we thank
You for all Your wonderful, Your incredible, Your good and perfect gifts that
You have given to us, God. The things
that we can’t even call to mind. We
thank You for an awesome day, that we were able to get up and walk across the
floor, be clothed, in our right mind, to come, and present ourselves to the God
who is the God over all. And, as You
have blessed us intently, Lord, we ask that You do the same with your Word, as
we go over Your Word this morning, and that it would do exactly as Your
Scripture says, as Your Word says, that it would not return unto You void, but
truly go out to do that which You sent it, that all the people might thereby be
nourished, fed, and edified. And this we
do come, pray, and claim in Jesus’ name, and everyone said, amen. Amen. What a wonderful day, what a
wonderful time, and what a wonderful an awesome—just the ability to be in the
presence of God. Pastor Ullysse was here
last week, and what a wonderful time. He
and his wife had brought so much, but he wanted to make sure that Andy and I
would communicate how much he enjoyed himself here. He was thankful for the fellowship, he was
thankful for the worship, and he was very thankful for the love offering that
the congregation gave to him. He was
very thankful for that, and he is already planning another visit. “I had such a good time, I just don’t want
to—I’m going to go back, we’re going to put in on the calendar, we’re going to
talk about it, and I’m going to make sure that it’s not just Pastor Paine and
Brother Rod coming up here to enjoy that blessing.” Amen, amen.
What a wonderful time. The title of today’s message is
simply, “Be Ye Thankful,” and we’re going to get right into it. We’re going to go to part one: Part 1: Thankfulness Is Part
of Our Praise Now, everybody don’t praise God
the same way, at the same time, all the time.
There’s individuals, and God’s given us such an avenue of individuality
in God. Well, the Jews, the Jews, as
they were praising God—they were a people known to praise God—they had over a
hundred and seventy-five ways where they praised God. Over a hundred and seventy-five. But they had seven main ways that they praised God.
Now, the title of this part is, “Thankfulness Is Part of Our Praise.” “Thankfulness Is Part of Our Praise.” One way, if I could have Brother
Brent come up, one way that they would praise God is called the ‘Barak’
praise. The ‘Barak’ praise. (Brent kneels) And, when you ‘Barak’ God, you kneel or bow, you
give reverence to God as an act of adoration, it implies a continual conscious
giving place to God, to be atuned to him and his presence. So, our brother here today, is giving us an
example, an example we all should be familiar with, of ‘Baraking’ God. Another way of praising God, one
of the main ones that they had, is called a ‘Zamar’ praise, and, if Brother
Andy would come up… (Brent starts to get up)
No, no, stay there, bro. Another
way is the ‘Zamar’ praise. And ‘Zamar’
means to touch the strings or parts of a musical instrument, that is, to play
upon it, to make music with it, and it’s specifically a many-stringed
instrument, (Brother Andy begins strumming the guitar) accompanied by a voice,
to celebrate in song and music, giving praise, singing forth psalms unto God. Another praise that they had
before God is the ‘Yadah’ praise. If
Sister Alma would come and assist us in the ‘Yadah’ praise. And the Yadah praise is to use, or to hold up
the hand, to throw toward God, or to revere Him or worship Him with extended
hands, as a praise that is thankful, brought before God, or thanksgiving. Another praise is the ‘Tehillah’
praise. The ‘Tehillah’ praise. As Sister Sonya is here, to sing hallal, from
which we get the word, ‘hallelujah.’ So, the ‘Tehillah’ praise is to sing a song, a
hymn, to glorify God in song Another way to praise is the ‘Shabach’
praise. And, when you ‘Shabach’ God, you
bring a loud voice. It means to address
in a loud tone, a loud adoration, a shout, proclaiming with a loud voice,
unashamed, to glory, triumph, power, a testimony of praise. Another form of praise that we
bring unto God besides the Shabach, the Tehillah, the Yadah, the Zamar, and the
Barak, there is also the ‘Todah’ praise.
That ‘Todah’ praise. Simply, the
‘Todah’ praise is an extension of the hand, avowal, an adoration, a choir of
worshipers, confession, a sacrifice of praise, and thanksgiving. In the ‘Todah’ praise, you raise your hands
in thanks to God. You raise your hands
in thanksgiving, and give God a ‘Todah’ praise.
Thank you so much, thank you so
much. (The people illustrating different
forms of praise return to their seats)
So, being thankful is part, part, of our praise; from First
Thessalonians chapter five, as we’ve already read, “In every thing give thanks:
for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” “In every thing give thanks: for this is the
will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”
Yeah, you. Thankfulness is part
of our praise. Part 2: The Lesson of
Nebuchadnezzar To provide just a little
setting for this: Nebuchadnezzar was the
king of Babylon, and Babylon was a great nation. In fact, it was a nation of nations. It was what we would call today an empire. As we saw the Soviet Union, it had
several—that’s about the closest thing we could call today, or maybe even China
where they had several other nations inside of it. There were other countries, and yet it was
called by one name, USSR, or Soviet Union, back in the day. Babylon was similar to that, and it stretched
out upon the known regions. It was great;
it was really big, and Nebuchadnezzar was its king. And, it was so great that, one of the things
that they had, they had many, many things there—I’m not going to go into all of
it, but it’s a great thing to look at some time—but, one of the things that
they had, they had one of the seven wonders of the world, well, of the ancient
world, anyway. Of course, the only one
that’s remaining today is the pyramids in Egypt, but they also had the Colossus
of Rhodes, and other things, and they also had the Hanging Gardens of
Babylon. The Hanging Gardens. The historians haven’t been able to figure
out how it happened, what it looked like.
And they said, “Well, we kind of doubt if it really was there. Nobody can figure out what they did or how
they did it, so, maybe it didn’t really exist.
Maybe it was just a legend. Maybe
Babylon was so great, they just made it up.”
That’s what historians can do.
“If we can’t figure it out, well, maybe it didn’t exist at all.” But, Nebuchadnezzar was the ruler of this great
region, this great nation. He would have
been the Putin of today. Actually, he
would have been bigger, because we have other great nations. He would have been even bigger than Putin. So, the thing that he’s
interpreting is a dream. A dream that
Nebuchadnezzar had, where he dreamed about this great big tree, that reached
all the way up into Heaven. It was big,
and wide, and the fowls, and the birds would nest themselves in there, and the
beasts, the beasts of the field would come under it, and they would have
shelter, and there was food, they would get provisions under it, and he saw
that this great big tree had its branches cut off and cut down, and he asked
all the people of the land, “What’s going on?” all the wise people. “What’s going on? Somebody tell me the interpretation of this
dream,” and nobody could. All the wise
men came, and they couldn’t, until they got to Daniel. And Daniel came to tell him the
interpretation of this dream, and here it is: So, the dream—Daniel told
him, “You are that tree, great King. You
are the tree.” And, yes, I’m getting to
a specific point, here. “You are that
tree, but, the interpretation is, you are going to be dwelling out there with
the beasts of the field, and this tree is going to be cut down, but the stump
remains, meaning God will restore you after seven times, meaning seven years,
you’re going to be restored.” And he
said, “But, King, please,” in verse twenty-seven, “Let my counsel be accept
unto you, and break off your sins, by righteousness, and your iniquities by
showing mercy to the poor, that it may be a lengthening of your tranquility, a
lengthening of your peace.” And, all of
this was what Daniel told the king. Daniel 4:29 At the end of twelve months [twelve
months! Nebuchadnezzar took twelve
months to think about this] he walked in
the palace of the kingdom of Babylon. Now, you’ve got to remember,
Babylon was the nation, and he was the ruler.
There was nobody higher on the planet at that time! Other nations were under him, and, now,
Daniel has told him, “Look, you don’t rule.
The Heavens rule, and the Most High is the one in charge!” After twelve months, he’s walking in his
palace, and, after twelve months, he said: He’s looking around, going,
“Are you telling me that something is greater than me? Look at what I’ve got! Look at what I do! And something’s greater than me?” And they call this—they said
this is extremely rare, you know, when you’re trying to explain things of God,
you come up with some pretty crazy explanations. And, the medical people, and the scientists,
they said, “Well, what really happened to Nebuchadnezzar was extremely
rare. He had a disease, and this disease
came upon him, and it’s like a lycanthropic disease, and it’s kind of like when
a person starts thinking they’re an animal, they start acting like that. It’s extremely rare!” They tried to explain it, when I looked it
up, and it’s extremely rare, because God put His finger down, and said,
“Boom! Now you got it.” And so it’s rare that that judgment gets
passed, but when that judgment gets passed, y’all try to explain it; no, it was
God that did this thing. And, it was
that way for seven years. Daniel 4:34 And at the end of the days I Nebuchadnezzar
lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me [after
seven years, God gave him back his mind],
and I blessed the most High, and I praised and honoured him that liveth for
ever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from
generation to generation: Now, there’s a reason why this had
to happen to Nebuchadnezzar. Because
everybody knew who Nebuchadnezzar was.
If it had happened to Leroy or James down the street, it wouldn’t have
been no big deal. “He’s out of his mind;
he’s crazy.” But, it happened to the
Emperor! It happened to who was the king
of kings at the time. Now, everybody,
all the nations, “You heard? Something
has come upon Nebuchadnezzar, the great king!
Something has happened to him.
Something really bad has happened to him! Apparently, he had a dream. Apparently, Daniel told him something. And, apparently, just as he said, it has come
upon him!” “Why?” “Well, apparently, what Daniel told him was,
‘You’ve got to give thanks to God for what he gave you! You’ve got to thank Him! You’ve got to praise Him, because He’s the
One in control!’” “Really? Then what happened?” “Well, apparently, Nebuchadnezzar didn’t want
to do that. And, apparently, he fell a
little.” And everybody throughout the
land knows that it happened to the great one, and if it could happen to him, it
could happen to anybody. “If he can’t
stop it, then nobody can stop it, even with access to the best medical people,
he had access to the best sorcerer, he had access to the best foods; he can get
anything he wants. So, if he couldn’t
stop it, and he has to lit up the name of the Most High, that means all the
rest of us in Babylon need to be lifting up the name of the Most High.” That’s why it had to happen to the great
king. And the reason it was written down
is that it puts all those who read this later on, in remembrance, in remembrance
that we, too, have that obligation to praise and thank God for the things that
he gives us, because it is not we who have given us these things, it is He in
us that has given us these things. Part 3: Thankfulness Is a
Choice Being thankful is a choice. Yesterday, after Men's fellowship,
I got a phone call, and it was from Brother Jesse G. Brother Jesse, a real humble man, called me to
tell me, he said, “Brother Parrish, I just called to let you know what things
has happened. I was in surgery for over
11 hours.” He said, “I was on the table,
and out, for over 11 hours.” I was like,
“Wow!” And, as I was trying to think of
some things to help comfort my brother, he went from, “I was in surgery for
over 11 hours, and, you know what? God
has been good to me.” He said, “God kept
me the whole time. I woke up; I’m in my
right mind, brother.” He said, “I’ve got
feeling going on where I wasn’t having so much feeling before.” He said, “All I can do right now is just
praise Him. That’s all I can do is
praise Him.” And he went on; he said,
“God has been good to me for a long time.
I can’t help it. I can’t help
it.” As he was sharing with me, I
thought, “You know, trying to encourage this brother, when he is this sold out
to praising and thanking God for the things that he has done. He’s way past that little bit of
encouragement that I had. He’s already
pouring encouragement back the other way.
All I could do was starting thanking and blessing God. I could feel a witness as he started praising
and thanking God. And he actually—there
he was in I.C.U. and he got a little happy! He got happy in I.C.U.! He couldn’t get out of bed; he couldn’t walk,
or anything like that… He got happy! He said, “God’s good to me. If you could bring me anything when they
come, just one of them little phone cords?”
And so, we talked to some people to see if we could get him a phone
cord, but he said, “That’s all, because God’s got my back on everything
else. Brother, I can’t tell you how good
He’s been to me!” He said, in the
hospital, “He’s good to me! You know, I
had something to eat today! He’s good to
me! I woke up; He’s good to me!” That went on and on, and my heart was about
to bust. He took away all the
complaining about this and about that.
He took all of that away. The
witness of somebody who chooses to be thankful.
The witness of somebody who chooses to be thankful. So, well, is it a wrong not to be
thankful? Is it a wrong thing not to be
thankful? Romans 1:21 Because that, when they knew God, they
glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their
imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. So, to be NOT thankful is to deny
the source of whatever your blessing or benefit is. To deny the source of whatever your benefit
and blessing is. It is also to not
acknowledge that something was done for you that you did not do yourself. To NOT be thankful is to not acknowledge that
something was done for you that you didn’t do yourself. And, lastly, to NOT be thankful is to say
that whatever did that for you is not worthy of your praise, not worthy of your
praise. So, is it wrong to not be thankful? As it says here, “…when they knew God, they
glorified him not as God, neither were thankful…” And, therefore, they became vain. Does it matter how thankful we
should be? Does it matter what magnitude
of thankfulness we should have? Because
that, too, is a choice. That, too, is a
choice. We’re just going to read one verse;
to go over the story: It is where the
Pharisee was preparing a meal for the Lord Jesus, and, as he did all the
preps—Andy and Bob stole that part of the message, so go back and review
that—as he prepared the steps for the Lord coming over to his house, and you
can imagine the things that he had gone through and done. He might have, maybe, outside, things that
you see very, very clean. But, the
message, in Luke chapter seven, goes on to say that there was a woman who
appeared. This woman that appeared, it
says that she was a sinner. She was a
sinner, but she came to Him, and she was on the floor, and she cried on the
feet of the Lord; she washed His feet with her tears. She dried His feet with her hair, and she
kissed His feet. And the Pharisee said—and
I’m sure he had his idea of what would be the perfect setting for Jesus to be
there. I’m sure he did. And, in his mind, he said, “If this man
really were a prophet, He would know what manner of woman this is.” And the Lord let him think that thought, and,
as he completed thinking it, the Lord brought to him a situation, and He told
him, “I have somewhat to say unto you, Simon.
A certain Lord had two debtors.
Of the two, one owed five hundred, and one owed fifty, but he forgave
them both. Who would be the more thankful? Who would love him more?” He said, “I suppose the one who was forgiven
more.” And He told him, “You have well
said.” And then He went on to share
about the woman that Simon didn’t believe belonged there in the presence of the
prophet, the Lord Jesus. He said, “When
I came in, your house might have been great, but you gave Me nothing for My
feet, but look at what she has done. You
gave Me no water, but she washed them with her own tears. And you gave Me nothing to dry them, but she
dries them with her hair. You gave Me no
kiss, but she has not stopped kissing.
Therefore…” in verse 47 Luke 7:47 Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which
are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the
same loveth little. You notice that he didn’t say
anything about Simon’s sins, because, He said He did not come to destroy
people. He came to forgive, and restore
people. In other words, “Simon, you have
a chance. You still have a chance.” Now, to whom much is forgiven the same loveth
much; somewhere along the line, we all, in our minds, think, “well, I’ve been
forgiven of a lot, and I have a certain amount to attest to. Everybody does. I’m not as bad as some people. I’m not good, I’m not perfect, but, I’m somewhere
in the middle. I’m probably closer to
the good side.” That’s a common thought
that people have, but that kind of stops love from just breaking forth. And, if you if you want to say, “You know, I would
really love to love the Lord more. I would
love to love the Lord more.” If you want
to have a greater love for God, recognize more of the things that He has done
for you. Be more thankful. Start counting your blessings. Go backwards; count them for the long time;
people that you never thought would live for God. Count your blessings and be real specific
about it. And part four; our final part: Part 4: There Is A Benefit
Of Being Thankful. Being thankful is a gateway; it’s
a gateway to our blessings. It is a gateway to Him pouring Himself into us,
being thankful is. We've talked about the acknowledgement of Him doing
something we couldn't do ourselves, but let’s look at: Psalms 22:3 But Thou art holy, 0 Thou that inhabitest
the praises of Israel. And, so, if we could say this
properly, there’s a benefit to being thankful.
If we could say this properly, what we would say is, back in the time of
Moses, he built the tabernacle—yeah, Bob and Andy stole that whole part of the
message; you’re lucky, I don’t have to preach that—so, in the time of Moses,
they had the tabernacle in the wilderness, and God gave them specifics on how
they were to set it up. And then, in
David’s time, he built the Temple—well, David didn’t build it, but his son did;
he was to prepare for it. And there was
a Temple built. The Tabernacle, and then
the Temple, and, to say this properly, they were given instructions on what to
do. They were given clearances, they
were given lengths, they were given qualities, and the people, the people were
instructed how they were to come
before Him. And when the people came—yes,
Andy. Yes, Bob—when the people came
before God, when they came before the Tabernacle, and when they came before the
Temple, when the Priests had done what they were supposed to do, when they had
taken care of their offerings, and they had washed right, and they had dressed
right, when they had cleaned it and made it…
When the musicians and the singers, yeah, when they had done what they
were supposed to do. They had practiced;
they had honed themselves, they had gotten their hearts straight, they had
gotten their minds straight... When the
people came and they gave willingly, when they had spent their time preparing
to come before the Lord, God, Almighty, when they did these things in their
preparation, and they made themselves ready, the Bible says: 2 Chronicles 5:13 It came
even to pass, as the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to
be heard in praising and thanking the LORD; and when they lifted up their voice
with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of musick, and praised the LORD,
saying, For he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever: that then the house
was filled with a cloud, even the house of the LORD; When they came, and had everything
as God had asked them to do, when they did that, and presented themselves, and
worshipped wholly, the Bible says that God would come down in a cloud and fill
the place. If we were to read on, we’d
see that He’d fill it, and the priests that were in there had to get out,
because no flesh was going to be able to stand in the presence of that much
God. The flesh had to leave. So, God’s people were of one mind, praising,
lifting up their voices, thanking God for His goodness, thanking Him for His
mercy; God filled the house, and God filled the Temple. 1 Corinthians 6:19 What?
know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you,
which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? 2 Corinthians 6:16 And what
agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the
living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I
will be their God, and they shall be my people. Dwell in us, and walk in us, and be
our God, and be my God, and be your God. And all in part starts with thanks, thanking
God for what he does for us. Our last Scripture: Psalms 100:4 Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and
into His courts with praise: be thankful unto Him, and bless His name. Psalms 100:5 For the LORD is good; his mercy is
everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations. He’s good, His mercy, and His
truth. Amen. Can we give the Lord a praise?
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