Today I'm going to preach on the depths
of gratitude and the theme is be thankful.
The first thing I'd like to say off
the bat before we pray is that it
does not help to go up to people
and say I'm very very thankful for what
you've been to me and what you've done
for me in my life and then smack
them in the face.
Now that would be a lot of fun,
I'd love to do that, to walk up
to you and say thank you so much
and then smack you, but it wouldn't be
gratitude.
You gratitude is not just saying the words
I thank you, but being grateful and in
my life I love when I read Spurgeon,
I cry sometimes reading many of his sermons
and one of the things that makes me
cry is not what he says, which is
great answers to spiritual problems in people's lives,
but what makes me cry is his honesty
because he often starts sermons on depression or
sermons on fear or sermons on other topics
and says this is a sermon I need
for myself because I fail in this area
and the answers I'm giving you are answers
for me that I have to apply daily
in my life and I'm not perfect and
so I'd just like to say from the
start if I look at the sermon and
there's times I've said thank you to people
and I have not shown that gratitude as
I should and sometimes I've been pretty nasty
so this is a sermon for Roy Daniel.
This morning like I mentioned we're going to
look at the depths of gratitude and I
asked you to open up your bibles to
2 Timothy 3 verse 1 and 2 and
many of you will know that those this
portion of scripture is talking about the end
times and it says that these end times
are perilous times in other words they are
very dangerous times there in verse 1 2
Timothy 3 verse 1 this know also that
in the last days perilous times shall come
very very dangerous times will come and then
it goes on to tell us why these
times are very dangerous and something that might
be surprising to some people out there is
it does not mention ISIS it doesn't mention
anything of that nature that makes many people
out there say that we are living in
dangerous times it mentions spiritual things and it
says for men shall be lovers of their
own selves covetous and boasters I don't like
it when politicians say look what I've done
proud blasphemous disobedient to parents and this is
like never before we're living in a time
when young people and older people are disobedient
and dishonoring to their parents and in these
words unthankful and unholy and so it goes
on and I'd like to hone in on
one word of these many things that make
the end times very dangerous spiritually and the
one word I'd like to hone in on
is the word unthankful because we are living
in a time before Jesus Christ comes that
is probably the most unthankful time in history
and God says this not me the end
times will be perilous and people will be
unthankful now I'd like to look at man's
gratitude before we go over to what God
expects of us in the area of thankfulness
because you've got to understand there was a
guy in South Africa his name was Mr.
Finneymore he brought my great great great something
granny to the Lord he started 13 churches
at the same time he loved the word
he used to shake with excitement at over
the age of 90 years old when he
got a chance to witness to a soul
and I loved him before he died and
he used to say that man can get
from one to six but he can't get
to because seven is the number of perfection
and this is in the area of salvation
you can either be a drunkard and you
can be sleeping around and you can be
looking at pornography and killing people and that's
one or you can really climb up the
ladder of what man can do without God
and you can become very good and give
all your money to church and attend every
prayer meeting and sing all the hymns and
at the end of the day you've only
reached number six without Christ and you fall
short of the glory of God and you'd
land up in hell for eternity if you
died like that but it's the same in
the area of thankfulness there is the lowest
thankfulness of man without Christ and there's the
highest we can reach of thanking or being
thankful and being grateful without Christ and yet
it's not reaching what God wants for us
as Christians and I'd like to look at
this let's first look at the lowest thankfulness
in Luke chapter 18 verse 11 we find
this this is a false gratitude that is
thankful for what I am compared to other
people morally who are more sinful in our
eyes and we read there in Luke chapter
18 verse 11 the Pharisee stood and prayed
thus with himself God I thank thee that
I am not as other men are extortionists
unjust adulterers or even as this publican I
thank you that I'm not as bad as
him that's the lowest form of thankfulness that
we can have outside of Christ the thankfulness
that looks down on others and thinks I'm
good and thank you God that I'm not
as bad as he is it's a bit
like uh I don't know if let's think
brother Roy he's a good looking person um
he got a good name too let's just
say he went to the mirror and he
was looking in the mirror and he said
thank you God that I am not as
bad looking as the other people at this
camp that would be an example of that
the lowest form of man's thankfulness but the
highest form of man's thankfulness is actually what
many Christians consider the highest form of thankfulness
they think this is what thankfulness is in
God's eyes and that's when we are grateful
compared to the less fortunate when we are
grateful compared to those who are less fortunate
than us and all of you know the
old saying it's a very famous saying in
fact that I was I complained about not
having shoes until I saw someone without feet
and that's what I'm talking about you're grateful
in light of what other people have that
are less fortunate than you and this is
the highest form of gratitude but the highest
form of gratitude outside of Christ as I've
mentioned already falls way short of what God
expects of us as Christians and I just
like to before we get into that look
at a few examples of the highest form
of gratitude outside of Christ and we'll start
with a Christian family now in South Africa
in April this year there was a lady
and this lady was 38 years old and
she was on heroin and she that's drugs
heavy drugs and she had a little nine
-year-old child and this nine-year-old
child a boy was abused and so on
so a social worker came I think that's
a welfare worker in America I don't like
them and she came in that there was
a law case and she took that child
away from its mother and basically held it
in safety at her own house but the
mother was allowed under the law to visit
her child and so she went to her
child and while the social worker wasn't looking
she took a syringe and in that syringe
that needle syringe thing she put half of
it filled with a heroin and half of
it was filled with ant poison and she
put it under the child's cushion and she
said to that child listen I'm going to
go and kill myself and I know that
you hate the fact that you've taken away
from me and that was true that child
loved its mother in spite of the abuse
because that was his only security in life
at nine years old and he said I'm
going to go home and I'm going to
kill myself and I'm going to go to
heaven and I want you to kill yourself
take that syringe poke yourself when I'm gone
and you'll go to heaven and you'll be
with me and so that mother went home
and she syringed herself and she almost died
but she survived and that little boy thinking
that he was going to heaven to be
with his mother for eternity took that syringe
stuck himself and died you know when I
when I when I see stories like this
is a true story in South Africa I
just think of that song the very first
time I ever came to America I remember
in New York there was a song the
the the Christians sang at this one conference
I thank you God for a Christian family
because compared to families like that in their
millions out there oh how wondrous that we
have a father and mother or even people
in our life that want to teach us
the bible that want to live for God
though they fail at times in South Africa
and you might have heard this before but
they are child prostitutes at the age of
two months old two months old they sell
little baby boys to to become prostitutes and
they start off by French kissing full-grown
women for money they are little boys at
five years old not just one case but
I've seen this before you can hang them
up like this and they like like jelly
and there's nothing wrong with them they can't
talk at the age of five they've got
no muscle structure their bones are hardly a
maid and and you can hang them up
like this and there's nothing genetically wrong with
them there's no disease that they have the
only thing that's wrong with them is that
their parents put them through so much stress
that their body started to eat itself and
they became jelly at the age of five
I thank you God for a Christian family
I often ask myself the question and I
take it as a dead serious question it's
not one of those hypothetical nice things to
say because I'm a why was I not
born in India in some hill where they'd
never heard the name of Jesus Christ and
I have met people like that and they
grow and many of them never hear the
name of Jesus and they die and they
go to hell and they never have a
conference like this and they never have a
church to go to and they never have
a Bible why did God let me be
born in Keith Daniel's family where I got
spankings when I was wrong why was he
so kind to me why did I hear
the Bible as a child and my dad
sang me to sleep with hymns why why
why nothing good in me trust me it
was God's mercy just to be alive is
a gift in South Africa in our mission
we've got 55 million people in our country
and and each district has of five ten
million people has a family and sometimes a
family under them and a few single workers
that that go out and preach all over
and one of these people years back he
was a lovely Christian and he was known
as they call him the Israelite and whom
is no guile like Nathaniel because he was
transparent he was what he was and he
lived for God and he lived to preach
and he was married to a lovely godly
woman and I can guarantee you in South
Africa there are plenty of sinners they're witch
doctors there are churches of three million people
where every single pastor of that so-called
church is a witch doctor in disguise the
Zionist church ZCC's and yet in this country
full of sinners there was a man who
came out of a prison and after being
years in prison he said to the prison
warden you're never going to see me alive
again because he was going out to kill
himself and at the same time kill somebody
and so he drove down the road and
went as fast as he could and in
our country which has so many witch doctors
and so many sinners the highest rape capital
rape per capita country in the world and
he found this person out of that 55
million people and he slammed into him and
he killed let me ask a simple question
why are you alive why am I alive
is because I'm a good missionary because I'm
going out and souls need to be saved
it's because there aren't other sinners that could
be killed it's God's mercy I have a
friend I went to Bible college with he
was a lovely guy he used to he
came out of the world was sleeping around
doing a whole lot of stuff but he
got wonderfully saved he became a wonderful preacher
had a wonderful wife and he used to
preach his heart out and cried tears for
Christ and then one day they struggled actually
to have a children and afterwards he'd left
our mission he became a pastor of a
church he left that he went into secular
work and I met him at a wedding
and he had his child his first child
that God gave him and he looked at
me with bitterness in his eyes because it
was a down syndrome child and he said
to me all these years I've struggled to
have children and eventually God gives me a
child and he gave me this a while
later I met him again he sat in
front of me he said Roy you know
God's done something in my heart God's done
something in my heart he's taken this child
that I despised and I was so cross
with God for giving it to me and
he's given me love for this child it's
my pride it's my joy it's what I
live for for Christ and then through Christ
this child wasn't that wonderful do you know
a very short time after that he was
in a car accident with his wife and
he was like Michael Schumacher out in a
coma for several months and then he died
he never got to see the next child
which was a perfect child and I asked
myself the question why would God after this
guy give him love for the child so
he can be there for his child and
then straight after God gave him that love
God kills him let me ask you a
simple question why are you alive because you're
there for other people because you deserve it
it's God's mercy it's God's mercy but you
see even though this is very touching and
it's the truth we should be grateful compared
to those who are less fortunate there is
a limitation there are in fact limitations in
the height and weaknesses in the height of
man's thankfulness being thankful for those that are
less fortunate and I'd like to look at
three of them first of all first of
all if our thanks is compared only to
those who are less fortunate out there then
there must be someone out there who is
the least fortunate of all men who doesn't
have to be thankful that's the first thing
if our thanks is only compared to those
who are less fortunate to us then there
must be someone out there who's the least
fortunate of all people on earth who doesn't
have to be thankful because there's no one
less fortunate than him secondly this thankfulness is
by degrees if I must be thankful compared
to people who are less fortunate than me
then he who is less fortunate than me
um has can be or should be less
thankful than me and so some people should
be more thankful than other people which is
not the truth lastly number three if we
measure thankfulness only by people that are less
fortunate than us then the more we achieve
the more we achieve without God obviously intervening
to help the less thankful we'll be in
that area because we will think deep down
I did some of the work and I'd
like to illustrate that so that you understand
it if you have a little baby and
this baby is dying and you come together
a few Christians and you pray for this
child and you call out to God and
God does a miracle and that little child
does not die then the natural response will
be I'm grateful God it's obvious that you
intervene that you did this and you're the
one that we should be thankful to but
let's just say we don't have a baby
dying we have a field like that in
the old days and you're going to be
a farmer and you decide to buy that
field and to make it a farm and
you find that there's stones in the ground
and for years you take your hands and
your hours in that sun that's out there
and you take the stones out of the
ground day by day hour by hour and
eventually you get to the point of you've
laid out irrigation and got water there that
your little plants are growing there will be
something in you less gratitude or less full
of gratitude naturally in the heart of mankind
when you have done what you consider most
of the work it's just natural and God
warned against this God in scripture knew that
this is the natural tendency of man's sinful
heart and so he warned against it again
and again we find one of these instances
in Deuteronomy 8 verse 12 to 14 and
verse 17 where Moses looking forward to when
the people of Israel would be in Canaan
he said lest when thou has eaten and
art full and has built goodly houses and
dwelt therein verse 13 thy herds and thy
flocks multiply and thy silver and thy gold
is multiplied verse 14 then thy heart be
lifted up and now forget the Lord thy
God which brought thee forth out of the
land of Egypt from the house of bondage
and then verse 17 these tragic words and
now say in thine heart my power and
mine might of mine hand hath gotten me
of this wealth my power and the might
of mine hand hath gotten me of this
wealth so you've got houses and you got
lands and you got riches and you remember
the fact that you were the one who
plowed the field and you were the one
who watered the ground and you were the
one who put the seed in the ground
and therefore you get to the point we
said it was my hands that did this
and God says that's wrong without me no
matter how much effort you put in it
was my gift 1 Samuel 30 verse 23
we see that David understood this principle when
it came to Ziklag and he'd come back
and seen that the that the city where
his wife and his wives of those people
and possession were and it was burnt to
the ground he obviously went after them i'm
not going to tell you the whole story
and eventually he got them back he had
to fight with his fight with 400 of
his men 200 or so stayed behind but
this is the the point some of them
when they came back to the brook where
of the men had stayed because they were
too tired they said we shouldn't share all
the spoil with these people they didn't do
anything and David answered you should not do
so my brethren with that which the Lord
listen to these words hath given us David
had to take his own feet and his
own tired legs and some of them couldn't
even make it and go after these people
David had to take his own spear his
own sword and his own shield and fight
these people and yet after all the fighting
and all the walking he recognized it wasn't
me no matter what I've done it's God
no matter how much effort you put into
anything in life you cannot take one ounce
or one drop of the glory and you've
got to be thankful but I'd like to
in light of this a dig a little
deeper a little deeper than just be thankful
compared to people that are less fortunate than
you and the first and this isn't the
depths of gratitude by the way we're just
going to dig a little deeper first let's
just go deeper than that though the height
of man's thankfulness outside of Jesus Christ being
thankful compared to the less fortunate and let's
start with hell you see every single sinner
and every Christian outside of the righteousness of
Christ and outside of the merit of Christ
nothing to do with us we deserve hell
that's what we deserve we deserve nothing but
hell and so every single thing in life
that we have is a gift of God
we don't deserve it and it's God's gift
and therefore we should be thankful of it
for it even if there are people who
are more fortunate or less fortunate us that
is not the issue every single thing that
we have in life we should be thankful
for because in light of deserving hell we
deserve nothing and therefore everything is a gift
Ecclesiastes 12 verse 6 says whatever the silver
cord be loosed Fanny Crosby wrote the song
at one day the silver cord will break
to a sinner to a sinner to breathe
is a gift of God the fact that
you as a sinner can breathe is God's
gift you don't deserve it you should be
in the flames of hell for eternity and
yet God lets you live we read this
or shall we say um in Jonathan Edwards
uh sermon famous sermon hands of an angry
God he talked of that thin thread of
grace called life whereby God holds us over
hell and at any moment it's in his
hands he can cut that cord and if
you don't know Jesus Christ you will fall
into the flames of hell for eternity Jonathan
Edwards talked of a thin layer of ground
over which we tread daily and underneath this
this thin crust there is hell for eternity
and in one moment God can open it
up and you can die and go to
hell for eternity the fact that you breathe
is a gift of God but I'd like
to go a little deeper than that let's
dig very deep let's dig very deep yes
it's true that every single one of us
outside of Christ deserves hell that nothing of
our own merit can deserve heaven that every
single thing in life is a gift in
light of that but let's go back in
time a little bit to to a time
when there was no sin when people did
not deserve hell and let's ask the question
why did people have to be grateful then
Satan and Adam before they both fell did
not have people that were usually less fortunate
than them yes they were the crown of
God's creation in many ways as Adam was
but it's not like there were people walking
around without feet and they could say look
I have no shoes but he's got no
feet I must be grateful neither could they
look around them and say well you know
and look at themselves and say I deserve
hell because they weren't sinners yet and in
light of the fact that I deserve hell
and I deserve nothing but hell I must
be very grateful for anything that I have
why did they have to be grateful there
was no sins disease suffering or death that
they can compare themselves to less fortunate people
in that way there was no hell that
they deserved why did they have to be
grateful Satan in Ezekiel 28 we read in
verse 2 every precious stone was thy covering
tablets and like pipes were prepared in the
end the day that thou was created that
was the anointed cherub that covereth it talks
of his beauty and his brightness he talks
of him being wise being beautiful like precious
stones having musical instruments in his heart this
was Satan before he fell he was in
Eden and yet then we read the words
I will ascend above the heights of the
clouds as I 14 verse 14 I will
be like the most high you know what
Satan what happens here I'm not going to
go through his entire fall but I'll say
this instead of being grateful for what he
had he became proudly ungrateful for what he
did not have and did not deserve and
what what was not lawfully his to have
that's called covetousness when you desire that which
is not lawfully yours to have instead of
being grateful for what he had he became
ungrateful in light of what he did not
have and became covetous for that which legally
he may not have and he fell Adam
in Eden this is absolutely amazing I've I've
never seen anything like it in history imagine
for a moment that a very rich person
I don't know how many of you know
a very rich person but imagine a very
rich person came to you Donald Trump became
a Christian he was nice and he came
up to you and he said listen I'm
going to give you a little mansion down
here and you're going to have servants and
they're going to massage your feet I don't
know what that feels like too much but
they're going to massage your feet every day
give you breakfast in bed you're going to
have your own personal doctor they're going to
make sure there's no diseases in the whole
place they're going to scrub it clean every
single day you're going to have whatever food
you want at any time you want it
you'll have your own professional person who helps
you to exercise it's going to be awesome
we'll even I don't have a television at
home but we even turn the television on
for you so you don't even have to
press buttons now I don't know if there
was a person sitting out there who had
this happen to them I don't think that's
ever happened before but let's just say it
did imagine someone came up to you and
I know the argument is it's very bad
for you because to be lazy can hurt
you spiritually but let's just say someone came
up to you on a normal natural level
and he said to you listen the guy
who's done to this to you hates you
he's terrible terrible you should be ungrateful for
what he's done most sane people would say
get out I'm not leaving this place just
because you say he hates me you have
to give me some proof but that's exactly
what satan did to adam and eve he
came to people who were in paradise there
was no sin no sickness no disease no
suffering and he came to people who were
in perfection and he convinced them he convinced
them that god who had done this for
them was not good and that was his
argument in genesis 3 verse 1 yeah hath
god said you shall not eat of every
tree of the garden he was trying to
make god who had given them a paradise
look bad and for them to become ungrateful
towards him satan and adam fell through ungratitude
and they sinned but i have to ask
a question again why did they have to
be grateful why did they have to be
grateful they did not have people less fortunate
than them in a very great way who
were suffering in a terrifying way that they
could say hey i should be grateful compared
to that guy they did not deserve hell
and so uh they had to realize the
fact that in light of the fact they
deserve hell i should be grateful for everything
i have it's a gift of god why
did they have to be grateful you see
before sin and suffering men had to be
grateful for a very simple reason and it's
a reason that exists today still he is
the creator and i am the creation he
is the creator and i am the creation
and because he is the creator and i
am the creation he owns me and he
owns everything in creation and he can do
with me and what is in creation whatever
he wants to and he has that right
and everything I have in life before I
deserved hell before there were less fortunate people
than me was a gift of God because
it's not my property to do with as
I will we read this in Psalm 24
verse 1 the psalm of David the earth
is the Lord's and the fullness thereof you
read this in a few portions of scripture
and then his words and they that dwell
therein in other words us we were God's
property before Jesus died on the cross that's
why he can judge sinners because that he's
property he could have put us before there
was sin he could have put us on
a desert island and allow us to shrivel
up and die and he'd be righteous because
we are his property you can do with
us as he wants and therefore every single
good thing that is ever given to us
in life no matter what it is no
matter how much we work for it is
a gift of God and we need to
be grateful for it and glorify God through
this we are the Potter he is the
clay he owns us twice by right of
creator and by right of redemption he said
you're bought with a price therefore glorify God
in your body and your spirit which are
God's and we see this in the Old
Testament to that the firstborn when Jesus bought
them by the blood of the lamb on
the doorpost at Passover they were his property
not their own property Jeremiah 18 verse 6
behold as the clay is in the potter's
hand so are ye in my hand I'd
like to ask a few questions in light
of the fact that before sin came along
and we deserved hell before there were less
fortunate people than us God owned us and
he still owns us and can do with
us as you wish wishes and first question
do you have a nice voice to sing
somebody out there no matter how much time
you spend practicing to have to make your
voice nice and no matter how much better
you are than other people you don't own
that voice God says in Psalm 12 is
for we have said without tongue we will
prevail our lips our own who is Lord
over us God says your voice is not
your own property your very lips are God's
property you have a business oh you spend
years studying you got a degree how many
years did you not take an effort that
you take in planning and you sat down
with pieces of paper and advice from others
and and you've built up your business and
all the effort you put in I'm not
saying that it's wrong to not be lazy
but Habakkuk 1 verse 16 says this word
therefore they sacrifice unto their net and burn
insect unto their drag because by them their
portion is fat and their meat plenteous you
know what they are doing these people look
at their business they fishermen and they look
at their nets and instead of being thankful
to God you put the fish in the
sea and they gave them the ability and
the means to make a net and use
it to get fish they are thankful to
their business and many times to themselves for
making that business and they worship their nets
it's in the Bible and they're not thankful
to God who made and gave the fish
how many of you took part in building
the Suez Canal what's the one in between
South America that's not the Suez Canal that's
about Egypt Panama how many of you took
part in that nobody that's terrifying I know
a lot of people died many years back
when they built that but you know in
the Bible in Ezekiel 29 verse 3 God
takes exception with Pharaoh king of Egypt because
he says these words that the great dragon
that's Pharaoh said of the now there's my
river is mine own and I've made it
for myself and God looked down and said
no that river that's flying through your land
that gives you prosperity in farming and so
many other things it's not your property it's
my property and you better give glory to
me you don't claim it for yourself just
because you spend time irrigating the ground with
it you get promoted at work oh I
studied I got a degree other people didn't
spend three years getting a degree you know
Psalm 75 verse 6 and 7 says for
promotion cometh neither from the east nor from
the west nor from the south but God
is the judge he put it down one
and set it up another that's the Bible
I read you know I cried a few
days back in this one pastor's home when
my wife got her spousal permit to go
back to South Africa and be with me
when David I read last night was separated
from his two wives I only have one
luckily from his two wives there's it like
he held to the point that he couldn't
howl anymore there was no howling in him
that's what it says he he was extremely
emotional and I don't like the idea of
being split from my wife just because I
can't get a permit they haven't so that
because split people at the border you come
with your children lots of court cases you
arrive at the border they say you go
that way back in a plane you go
this way and they split you they almost
did that to us a few times but
I could say you know I had a
little bit to do with this I wasn't
lazy and sat at home I actually got
in the car and I drove all the
way to Chicago from Missouri and I went
to the embassy and I waited and I
sat in front of them I gave them
my paperwork in South Africa I spent a
lot of time going and getting police clearances
in America getting an FBI clearance and it's
a little process you have to go through
going to doctors going to getting tests for
TB and all these different things I went
through that process and eventually after a few
months of preparation I wrote Daniel got in
the car and I wrote Daniel drove up
to Chicago and I wrote Daniel went to
the center of town and I went up
these stairs and I stood in front of
that place God didn't send an angel down
to do it for me and I gave
that paperwork over and a few days back
I got my wife's spousal permit so she
can spend another two years with me it
was nothing to do with me though I
did that little work I've done more than
that in South Africa and been rejected and
had to leave the country on short notice
else they'd banned me ten years two to
ten years from my own country my wife
and had to on short notice find three
thousand dollars which I didn't have at the
time to fly my wife out of the
country I've been rejected when I did all
that before and I know with all my
heart that when it happens when actually these
officials give you that piece of paper it
was not it was not me it was
God I know that with all my heart
you know earlier this year I went through
about seven hours eventually ten hours of sitting
with a newborn baby a few days old
probably two days old and we were going
through this long queues very hot line sorry
we came to the front of home affairs
in South Africa got the government we needed
a birth certificate and we didn't get that
birth certificate we wouldn't be able to get
passports dual citizenship you name it to be
able to travel whole lot of things that
we had to do and you can only
get it in one place in South Africa
near where you born so I couldn't travel
in preach or anything and I came after
seven hours with my wife waiting through those
lines and I came to the front and
then look my wife in the face and
they said you are a criminal and they
were not kind they said we don't even
have time to you to work on this
we sat down for another three hours we
came to the front they gave us two
minutes and told her she's a criminal I
said what you mean she's a criminal she
said they said she never entered the country
this baby was never born yet we're not
giving any paperwork to me I remember three
weeks it took we found a lawyer we
did a whole lot of stuff because she
had done absolutely nothing wrong they when they
do wrong our government they blame you it's
a nice government it's a good test of
not getting bitter by the way but I'll
tell you one thing I am NOT a
perfect human being there's times my dad had
to say through the ten years yes there's
times people can be horrible to me and
I just love them but there's times I
feel like a failure emotionally not in getting
across to them but just thinking I can't
take it at that time I had about
ten things I had to face that I
had to get done and I had to
preach shortly after that about a thousand miles
away that I had to drive to with
my wife a new child and I had
to prepare for two conferences of hundreds and
hundreds of people 10 or 11 messages 13
messages and I'm not one of those guys
you can just arrive and preach I just
honest on that I looked at my wife
and I felt like a failure and I
cried eventually with all the things we had
to do through the hours and hours every
day of phoning and phoning that never answer
the phone for hours and hours and hours
going across wherever you could to get this
sort of I said I don't have time
for this I need to be preparing for
these messages and I failed and I even
got cross and I felt like the biggest
failure on earth I thought how can I
go and preach I remember I came to
those conferences and I looked to God for
mercy not because there's anything good in me
I was just one little failure because he's
merciful and God came in those conferences one
person stood up there was hundreds and they
packed out that place that thought no we're
coming because I was preaching they packed the
place out people who had struggled I'd seen
them at conferences for year after year after
year and they'd never met with God they
were just struggling and struggling they totally were
set free suicide case got totally set free
in front of my eyes many many people
were just radically meeting with God people were
talking about it for for months afterwards the
suicide case a condom me yesterday morning asking
me about Bible Christians on a so wonderful
that it met with God one person came
to me and said Roy there must have
been prayer for this conference it's just so
obvious that God came and the God was
working there must have been extreme amount of
prayer do I look at that and think
that I can preach I preach at the
same conference grounds a few months earlier and
people were making excuses for my sermons they
were saying he's English forgive him and then
I preached at the same conference of the
same type of people a few months later
and God came but it's a gift it's
God's mercy you know this year God gave
me a car seven seats a new car
I've been driving around I enjoyed very much
old car 30 years old 1983 if it
rains it gets this full of water we've
been trying for years spent hundreds and hundreds
and hundreds of dollars taken into places to
fix and when it rains it just pulls
up with water and we needed a new
car as someone at this conference and another
person somewhere else helped me and I got
a car and I remember a guy with
this car you know this car is an
air-conditioner so I can now go to
a desert place Namibia South Africa and I
can preach I couldn't do that before I
wanted to I long to go there but
you can't take a baby babies to a
country that has searing heat no air conditioner
and it's six hours between town sometimes and
I went to this Christian and I remember
coming to this Christian and I had this
car that we drove and this lady looked
at me lovely Christian and she said something
excuse me that I don't blame her for
but it's not the truth she said Roy
you deserve this car I didn't argue with
her but I went home and I can
tell you one thing I did not deserve
that car I know how I feel at
times I know how there's other missionaries who
right now there's a mission in South Africa
who've helped me so much through life spiritually
he has another car that works for four
months and he is way more godly than
I'll ever be it's God's gift nothing that
I can look at and say well I
have preached and I prepared and I drive
around therefore I deserve a car no it's
God's mercy you know what amazes me when
I fail and I can tell you about
many victories if I talk about my when
I was unsaved all my sin I didn't
ever sleep around or do drugs or anything
like that but if I talk about it
people think well is that all you ever
did because you emphasize it just be truthful
to people but I can also talk about
the tree houses we built in the soccer
balls we kicked and all the fun we
had you know and the and the windows
we smashed and the water balloons we threw
it was awesome but you know when I
fail emotionally especially when things just build up
you've been traveling traveling traveling and things build
up I remember things that just would amaze
me and it was to do with God's
mercy and there's two things that amazed me
I would sit my wife and I said
Jerusalem I failed and I am a failure
and I'd cry and I'd know that this
that this we need money at that time
for something that has to be paid we've
got monthly cost and I think why on
earth would God answer me I mean I
jolly well deserve not to get money for
the next ten years and I just come
to God's mercy often not expecting anything and
as I prayed failure though I was there
would be SMS a text message on my
phone and it was the exact amount that
I needed and I would weep because I
wasn't just saying thank you God you faithful
and thank you God you this no thank
you God you merciful merciful to a person
who fails and at that moment you showed
yourself true not just when I'm victorious like
many of the other times and there's other
times when I said to my wife I
wasn't cross with her I was just cross
that I got so tired and somehow I
don't know what to do this this this
I'm not an angry person by the way
they actually put me with other people who
are depressed because they say I'm always happy
but I got cross with my my jolly
or she call it keys you got so
tired at times going from country to country
to country and I just needed sleep I
said I feel like smacking this set of
keys and that's worse than Donald Trump it
must be and by the way I've been
through all I built these anger control management
whatever I know all the messages of S
and Davis you know but it's nothing to
do with that now I look at this
I said to my wife why would God
use me I feel like a failure and
then I come to a place and a
person if we yes has been in sin
God comes and he radically saves that person
so many times this happen is after I
failed and not just failed and probably said
it's nothing but I came to God for
mercy not deserving anything and then he uses
me mightily to bring a drunkard to the
law so many times the Bible says do
all to the glory of God verse that
I used to struggle with it as I
grew up what does it mean therefore whether
he eat or drink or whatsoever you do
do all to the glory of God when
I was a young Christian 12 years back
I read that and I honestly wondered what
does this mean and the reason I wondered
was because I you know I felt spirituals
when you pray spirituals when you sing him
spirituals when you're telling people about Jesus how
when you eating can you be glorifying God
do you have to sing hymns with your
mouthful I don't know what I have to
do and that's just being honest I had
no idea as a young Christian and I
didn't realize that to give glory is to
give thanks and to be thankful and it's
hard for some people to be thankful for
their food you know why because they went
to work so many hours a week 40
hours a week they have to work in
those 40 hours got a paycheck they went
to the shop and with their paycheck for
what they worked they bought food and therefore
that food on the table does not feel
like a baby that's dying and you cry
to God and God heals the baby no
it's my paycheck that did that but thank
you God anyway Oh brother to give thanks
to God to give glory to God is
no matter how much you work for it
you realize it's God that gave it Jesus
break and thank God we read this in
Ecclesiastes 3 verse 13 if that every man
should eat and drink and enjoy the good
of his labor it is the gift of
God God says food is his gift it's
not what we work for every good gift
James 1 verse 17 and every perfect gift
is from above and cometh down from the
Father of lights with whom is no variableness
near the shadow of turning that's easy to
be thankful in time of need but then
we forget what God has done in the
good times forget forget that's a theme in
the Bible Jesus asked the question in Luke
chapter 17 verse 17 when he healed ten
lepers he asked the question when only one
turned back knelt down and cried out in
thankfulness he asked the question where are the
nine he asked Adam who where art thou
after ingratitude for what he had he took
which was not rightfully his to take where
are the nine in verse 15 it said
he glorified God this one person verse 16
he thanked him you know how you can
glorify God is when you truly thankful not
just lip service to God but you realize
that everything is a gift even before you
deserve hell and therefore everything you have you
should be thankful for and show gratitude for
and that glorifies God no matter what you
have this morning I was thinking as I
was praying to God God it's a gift
that I can pray to you and I
was just so thankful Joseph in prison yet
within three days shall Pharaoh lift up thine
head but think of me when it is
well with thee and then it says these
words yet did not the chief butler remember
Joseph but forget him the children of Israel
judges 838 and the children of Israel remembered
not the Lord their God who had delivered
them Jewish the king killed the priest's son
Zachariah who had done him so good and
said these words he remembered not the kindness
which Jehoiada his father had done him but
slew his son that's a cry Israelites at
the Red Sea Psalm 106 verse 7 they
remembered not the multitude of his mercies but
provoked him at the sea people forget what
God has done when times are going good
and they're not thankful and we do this
to people too there's a person in South
Africa there's a person in South Africa his
name is Peter Schultz he's in his 80s
and when he preaches this guy now in
South Africa we don't have much homeschooling we
have public schools 99% of the public
school is when I was a public school
got drunk every weekend and slept around that
was it and I remember getting a whole
group of these public schoolers together who did
not have a long concentration span and this
preacher my dad knows him very well when
he preaches God comes so often and he
would stand up in front of those public
schoolers and they would weep they would cry
as he broke open the word and kindness
and tenderness and love to them he's the
reason with my dad and especially God that
I am in full-time service their lives
but there was a Baptist minister and this
Baptist minister for 20 years he had not
met Peter Schultz and he was walking along
a beach believe it or of all places
and he saw this old 80-something year
old preacher walking towards him he thought but
that's Peter Schultz and so he walked up
to him and he was weeping that's not
Peter Schultz he was weeping the Baptist minister
and he said listen I want to tell
you something 20 years back your ministry touched
my life it changed me and this old
preacher who had been used of God for
so many years in so many places so
many souls have been saved he wept because
somebody bothered to be thankful because somebody bothered
to say thank you Jesus asked us to
remember he says in 1 Corinthians 11 verse
25 concerning the Lord's table this do as
oft as you drink it in remembrance of
me and he took the cup and gave
thanks you know this is not a ritual
this is a remembrance not just that we
remember oh dear father I remember that Jesus
died and that his blood was shed and
the body was broken no it's a remembrance
in the sense that you not just saying
thank you but you being grateful for what
for the fact that Jesus died for what
God did you know so many people have
gotten over being saved so many people sit
in churches and they're not on fire anymore
and they're not excited about the Word of
God and they don't want to give our
tracks unless it's just you know us versus
them this whole evangelism story and I have
Christ he doesn't the Muslims are evil let's
go and try evangelism and make them like
us no it's I'm a sinner saved by
grace I was a sinner and God saved
me by grace and I don't deserve anything
and I'm coming to these sinners and I
want them to have what I have out
of gratitude to the Savior who saved me
not us versus them Calvary I'd like to
ask a question as we come to the
end of the sermon why do we do
projects for God why do we witness those
of us who truly Christians not just doing
it very synthetically so the people can see
us or traditionally or because we don't want
to go to hell why do we witness
to people why do we study our Bible
read it and stand up for truth you
know many people used to do that after
they got saved and then slowly they do
less and they're less excited about it I'll
tell you why number one because life has
become busy that's probably the number one especially
in America where we have to concentrate our
entire life on living a more comfortable life
being there for our family and just basically
getting through life surviving and doing a little
bit better every day and it just fills
up our life projects have failed number two
you start something for God and after a
while when you expected a thousand souls to
get saved it doesn't happen overnight and you
start to get less excited about doing things
for God people aren't so excited at the
beginning they look at things you're doing they
say well brother that's absolutely wonderful because of
what they saying you excited because they excited
and therefore it's easier for you to feed
off the excitement and then great men who
made you excited about their projects failed you
there are people across America now pastors leaders
of organizations who have greatly failed and they
used to be excited about their projects and
you used to get excited because of their
projects for God and then they failed they
sinned and now you think why should I
be excited about projects that guy was excited
and he was a sinner and then you
failed there's some failure you have in life
and because of that you feel what's the
use of being on fire for God and
there's a simple little question I have to
ask for every person like that has lost
his fire why were you on fire in
the first place I'll tell you why I
was on fire when I got saved there
was a despised little hill in history little
hill where Jesus died and I got saved
at that hill I got forgiven for my
sins and because of grace and because I
was saved I was thankful I would do
anything for God that's why I read my
Bible that's why I witnessed it wasn't because
there were people that told me my projects
were wonderful it wasn't because I had time
you made time when you're grateful it wasn't
because all Christians out there never failed it
was because of that little cross where Jesus
died where I found mercy and I was
grateful 1 John 4 verse 9 we love
him because he first loved us Luke 7
verse 47 that sinner who came to Jesus
her sins she had an alabaster box she
she she wept and she used her hair
to wipe his feet and he says her
sins which are many are forgiven for she
loved much but to him little is forgiven
the same love it little one man stood
up in front of me once and he
said Roy and to us as a group
I slept around and he wept I got
drunk I did terrifying things he killed people
when Jesus saved me I I was forgiven
much therefore I loved much said you religious
people you don't love much I said rubbish
if you as a religious person growing up
in a conservative Christian home compare yourself to
God and know what it is your sin
is as a religious person how evil it
is then when you get saved you will
love much because you have been forgiven much
and if you didn't love much you weren't
saved you see so many people and this
is the culmination of this sermon so many
people compare themselves to others they've never got
to the point where they see themselves deserving
nothing but hell compared to who God is
because there's something in them of comparing themselves
to others but they read in the Bible
that it says you're going to hell and
they don't really see that they deserve it
but they see the Bible says it and
they don't want to go to hell so
they want to take it to heaven so
they say a prayer and I did this
a few times in my life before I
truly got saved almost at the age of
19 20 I said a prayer I don't
want to go to hell the Bible says
I'm going to hell or Jesus died that's
wonderful so Jesus please come into my life
as a ticket to get to heaven and
there was no fruit no fruit you know
it makes me afraid it makes me fearful
to think of how many hundreds and hundreds
thousands of people across the world sitting in
churches all over they've done this they've said
a prayer oh well let me think there's
many reasons you can come to God and
have a false foundation you're not really coming
to God you just want a ticket to
get to heaven you want God to take
your troubles away you don't want to feel
out when everybody else is seeking God you
wanted to fill that void in your heart
that you feel empty you want God for
every reason but the reason he came which
is to save you from your sins and
then you say a prayer and you place
yourself on a false foundation and guess what
whatever's around you you think well I better
become so if you're in a liberal church
now that you're on this false foundation without
fruit we allowed a sin and party that's
wonderful praise the Lord I'm a Christian if
you're in a conservative church where they preach
the Word of God they are so many
young people and older people who are they
put themselves on a false foundation and there's
no fruit they take it to heaven they've
got they said a prayer and what do
they do they become like the people around
them oh they're conservative or to fill in
at this place I better do conservative things
old hymns might even go and hand out
a tract or two but there's no fruit
you're in a experiential church where they have
lots of experiences well I'd better have these
experiences so after your false foundation you start
to have experiences emotional you have all the
emotions but there's no fruit let me just
say this you're not saved by thanks you're
not saved by thanks the onset to this
problem is not to start saying okay now
I'm gonna thank God thank you God for
this thank you God for that thank you
for the church I'm in thank you God
for everything on it thanks doesn't save you
neither after you say by thanking God are
you gonna experience God through the things you
thank God for there's an era out there
pushed across the world millions of books sold
on those topics there's a cross where Jesus
died and a person who died he rose
again that person saves you and when you
say you experience God through the same thing
that saved you Jesus Christ he rose again
as a Christian and because he saved you
and because you experience God through his time
you thankful and you thank God for that
I'd like to end up with a song
my grandfather was called my grandfather was my
dad's side used to drink a lot before
he got saved some said he was a
drunkard but Jesus saved them when Jesus saved
me smashed every bottle his name was Jack
Daniel and I read a little song thinking
about that I'm not gonna sing it because
I want you to be thankful for the
message it goes like this I once was
a drunkard who thought he was good I
sent my family through hell on earth my
pride kept me back from the foot of
the cross but Jesus was seeking his sheep
that was lost how could a king die
for a slave how can creation deserve what
he paid all of grace salvation so free
but offered with pierced hands to me all
of grace salvation so free but over the
cost offered with pierced hands for me and
my appeal is simple I'm not going to
ask you to come to the front or
anything like that but I'd like to make
a twofold appeal to your hearts for this
camp number one you might be one of
those people who does not have the fruit
that the Bible speaks about will explain that
a bit more later in this camp and
you have got your ticket to heaven you
think by accepting Jesus Christ because you didn't
want to get to hell but you never
understood that you deserve nothing but hell you
didn't come at understanding that you came with
something of your own goodness not understanding that
you're evil deserving hell for eternity and so
it wasn't the greatest gift when you received
Jesus Christ into your life you stood into
a false foundation you added liberalism experientialism or
conservatism or emotionalism and there's no fruit and
you became like the people around you in
many ways you spoke the same language the
answer is simple there's an old rugged cross
and you will flee to that if you
understand that you deserve nothing else but hell
and the only hope is the merit of
Christ I remember that day when I got
saved there was nothing else I could turn
to but that old rugged cross in Jesus
but secondly there might be many of you
and some of you have lost your fire
it has got busy life you do worry
about what people think and the fact that
they're not excited there are people who have
failed in your faith yourself perhaps let me
tell you the answer let's get back to
that thing that helped you in the first
place the thing that made you thankful in
the first place get back to that cross
and make right with God be restored in
Jesus Christ based on what he did at
Calvary as a Christian and then be thankful
and show your thanks let us pray father
I know that this is the second message
of this conference my dad preached last night
I believe in soul winning and thank you
for that message and there are many messages
to come and we do ask that you'll
be there in every single one and speak
to our hearts but God I ask for
today that you would help that in this
busy life where the seed of God's Word
can be plucked away by Satan so easily
even in Christians lives when our focus should
be totally and utterly on the end when
you say something we should respond to it
because we love you so easily Satan plucks
away the word I ask you to help
us to remember this truth that that the
lowest form of thanks is to compare ourselves
to others and feel we good the highest
form of things outside of Jesus Christ is
to compare ourselves to those are less fortunate
and be thankful but we don't need a
Bible for that or even to be a
Christian help us to realize that no matter
how fortunate or unfortunate we are even if
we were the least fortunate person on earth
to breathe is a gift of God but
everything we have in light of hell we
deserve nothing but hell and everything is a
gift but even before that because you the
Creator and we the creation everything that we
have is a gift and we should be
grateful and show our gratitude towards you and
then thank you for that thing which should
make us ultimately the greatest gratitude that we
could ever have is that God gave to
those who deserve nothing but hell he gave
his son to die we deserve the opposite
and yet you gave your most precious possession
to your enemies and help us to be
grateful for this and never get over being
saved if we saved if we not saved
to come not compared to other people for
a ticket to heaven but to come to
that old rugged cross in Jesus Christ realizing
we deserve nothing but hell fleeing from our
life of sin and feeling fleeing to Jesus
our only hope and in one moment getting
something to be ultimately thankful for the rest
of our lives for when we need God
through Jesus Christ and I ask all this
that you will not let us go until
we find thee if we unsaved to be
saved if there are those who need to
be restored that they will not let this
go but that they will seek thy face
in Jesus Christ