What I
want to speak on this morning are three
words that the vast majority of Christians confuse
and those words are thanksgiving, praise and worship.
I would say that my guess is that
99.9% of Christians, of believers, would
not be able to tell you what is
the difference between thanksgiving, praise and worship.
It's like a big mixture.
Now, nothing's wrong in it.
If you mix chicken curry with ice cream
and pickle and eat all together, it's okay.
It goes into your stomach.
But it's tastier if you eat it separately.
That's all I say.
You don't get sick if you don't know
the difference between thanksgiving, praise and worship.
But when you put it separately, you may
discover something about yourself which will help you
to be more Christ-like.
So, Psalm 138, the first three sentences, notice
David says, I will give you thanks, I
will sing praises, I will bow down.
Thanksgiving, praise and worship.
They are three different things and though we
may not know the difference, provided we are
doing all three, we are okay.
Definition is not as important as practice.
If your digestive system is working okay, it
doesn't matter if you can't explain it.
But here it's a little more than that
because these are three things that don't come
naturally to us.
Prayer comes naturally to us.
I think for 30 years, we have tried
to teach people to learn to praise God
and I think very few have learned it.
What I mean is, you do some homework
when you are at home.
Try to spend one minute, it's not a
lot of homework, right?
60 seconds?
Try to spend one minute praying to God
and asking for nothing.
Only thanking and praising.
You'll find one minute so difficult.
I mean, you'll find it here on Sunday
morning.
On Sunday morning, we tell people, let's praise
God.
People are saying, bless this meeting.
Bless this meeting is a prayer.
There's nothing wrong in it.
As I said, you can mix the ice
cream with the pickle, it's okay.
There's nothing wrong in it.
And there's nothing wrong in praying on Sunday
morning.
There's no rule that you must worship on
Sunday morning.
The only reason is, because we don't have
the habit of giving thanks or praise to
God, we are losing a tremendous lot in
our Christian life and we're not even knowing
it.
I believe many, many problems in our life
is because we have not learned to thank
God or to praise Him or worship Him.
We think everything is going to be done
by prayer.
No.
So I want to share something with you
along this line.
Let me show you another verse in the
New Testament.
In Revelation chapter 4, remember what we read
in Psalm 138.
I will give thanks, I will praise, I
will worship.
It's a very good threefold decision for all
of you to take this morning.
Say to the Lord, say it many times
in the coming days.
I will give thanks to the Lord, I
will praise Him, I will worship Him.
I will give thanks to the Lord, I
will praise Him, I will worship Him.
Just keep saying that this week and say,
Lord, I want to practice it.
As you understand these three things, you'll find
it makes a big difference.
Now, Revelation chapter 4 and verse 9, it
says here, when the living creatures give glory,
that's worship, honor, that's praise, and thanks to
Him who sits on the throne.
So what do they give to God who
sits on the throne?
Worship, praise, and thanksgiving.
Good for us to learn all three because
we're going to join that crowd one day
in heaven where we are going to give
worship, praise, and thanksgiving to God.
I want to say one more thing, and
that is, when we learn to give thanks
to God, it becomes a habit in our
life, we also learn to give thanks to
men.
We need to be grateful to men.
It's not only a Christian, even a gentleman
will learn to give thanks.
We teach our little children to say, thank
you.
Somebody gives them a gift, we say, thank
you, uncle, thank you, auntie.
Why do we teach them that?
Because it doesn't come naturally.
You don't have to tell your child, grab
that.
No, that comes naturally.
Grab it out of the other fellow's hand.
But you've got to teach them what doesn't
come naturally.
Say, thank you.
Say, sorry.
Those are things that don't come naturally.
And we teach our children that, but you
know we adults need to learn that ourselves.
We haven't learned to say thank you to
all the people who do things for us.
In fact, thanksgiving is, we are such fantastic
misers, M-I-S-E-R, misers, when
it comes to saying thank you to somebody
who's done something for us.
We say thank you to a doctor, but
we take so much for granted, particularly in
the church.
We know how to give thanks to strangers,
doctors, government officials who help us, but in
the church, everything's taken for granted.
My dear brothers and sisters, that is why
you don't grow spiritually.
That's why you don't get victory over sin.
Because God sees that you treat some of
those hidden people, some strangers, better than you
treat your own brothers and sisters.
It's like that wife who told her husband,
if you will talk to me just as
kindly as you talk to the strangers who
come to the door, that's enough for me.
We take so much for granted when it
comes to people we call our loved ones.
We love other people more than we love
our loved ones.
That's the tragedy.
So, thanksgiving is something we give to God
and to men.
I want to surprise you.
Praise is also something that we give to
God and to men.
It's only when it comes to worship that
we give that only to God.
He alone is worthy of worship.
So, let's look at these three words.
Let me give you an example of a
very godly man in the Old Testament who
had a habit.
We read off in Daniel chapter 6 and
verse 10.
He had a habit here, it says, of
giving thanks to God three times every day.
What a wonderful habit to have, to give
thanks to God three times every day.
Morning, afternoon, evening.
It's like the doctor gives you a prescription
and says, take this tablet three times a
day.
We don't forget it because we want to
be healed.
I mean, uneducated, illiterate people forget when they
are told to take a tablet three times
a day.
But we who are educated and literate think
of a time when a doctor gave you
a prescription to take a tablet three times
a day.
Did you forget it?
Maybe once in a while, but most of
the time we don't forget it because we
are so keen on being healed.
If you are told to give a tablet
three times a day to your child, you
will not forget it.
But we say, what are we going to
get out of giving thanks to God three
times a day?
You'll get what Daniel got.
I'll tell you, he got a lot more
than most of us.
There is so much we are missing.
But apart from that, do we give thanks
only because we want to get something?
When are we going to get out of
this selfishness where our whole life revolves around,
what will I get if I start giving
thanks?
Well, I'm going to tell you, supposing you
get nothing, will you still give thanks?
I want to give thanks because it's godly
to give thanks.
We don't give thanks because we want to
get something.
Well, we do get something, but that's a
byproduct.
But it's a very, very good habit to
develop.
Think of it like a debt.
I think most of us, I hope all
of us will develop that habit of clearing
our debt.
The Bible says, owe no man anything.
Supposing a person has done something for you,
and you have not thanked him, you're in
debt.
It's like you borrowed a thousand rupees from
somebody, and you never returned it.
You taught your little child to say thank
you for some five rupee gift, and we
don't give thanks to people for what they
do for us, much more to God.
It's a debt.
And until you see it as a debt,
you're not going to take it seriously that
this is something I have to do.
I mean, think if you were in debt,
and every day you're getting into debt, more
debt, more debt.
You know that that's not a Christian habit.
When we don't give thanks to God, we
are in debt.
Please remember that.
When we don't give thanks to men, where
we need to, we are in debt.
So if we look at it as a
debt, we'll say, yeah, I need to give
thanks.
And Daniel just, he was under the old
covenant.
It wasn't a law.
There was no law in the Old Testament
saying, you must give thanks to God three
times a day.
He just did it.
He was a spiritual man.
It's one mark of a spiritual man.
He learns to give thanks to God.
I want to show you Romans chapter one.
It's a passage we have often referred to.
In Romans chapter one, when it speaks about
the decline of man into the depths of
sin.
Some of those depths of sin are described
in the last two or three verses.
Verse 30, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant,
boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, and
so on and on and on and on.
All types of sins.
And do you know where it all begins?
It all begins in verse 21, where it
says, even though they knew God, they did
not give thanks.
That's the first step.
When you think of this downward progression to
evil, what was the first step downward?
They knew God.
They did not honor Him as God or
give thanks.
They did not worship.
They did not praise Him.
They did not give thanks to Him.
You may not sink to the depths of
verse 31, but when you've missed out the
first step, when you've gone down that first
step of not giving thanks or praise and
worship, you're already going downwards.
Even if you don't go all the way
down to the bottom, you'll go down somewhat.
You wonder why you're going down in your
Christian life?
Here's the answer.
You're not giving thanks.
You're in debt.
You need to clear your debt.
Now, you know, you can hear a message
like this and do something today and forget
all about it tomorrow.
You've got a better memory.
Maybe you'll forget it only next week.
Some things which we have not developed as
a habit, we have to practice until it
becomes a habit.
It's like teaching your children to brush their
teeth.
It becomes a habit after a while.
Now, many of you need to be reminded
to brush your teeth in the morning.
Hope not.
But when you were small, and all of
us were small, somebody had to teach us
that.
There are many good habits that you may
have.
You were taught it.
If you had good parents, they taught you
those good habits.
To keep yourself clean, to wear clean clothes
and things like that.
Why is it the people and children in
the slums don't do it?
Probably because they don't have clean clothes.
That may be.
But even if they do, some people are
just filthy.
They have no interest in cleanliness because their
parents never taught them to keep things clean.
Well, that's not so serious.
I mean, physical uncleanness is not as serious
as spiritual uncleanness.
So, don't get discouraged if you don't develop
this habit overnight.
Work at it.
And say, Lord, like David said, I will.
It's an exercise of your will.
I will give thanks.
I will praise.
I will worship.
So, I want you to turn now to
Psalm 118.
You know, many times in the Psalms you
read this phrase, Oh, give thanks unto the
Lord.
And very often it's coupled with a reason.
It's not meaningless.
It's not, you know, a ritual.
Okay, I'm supposed to give thanks.
Okay, thank you, Lord.
What for?
Supposing you say thank you, Lord, and the
Lord asks you, what for?
Oh, I didn't think of that.
I was just told on Sunday morning to
just say thank you.
That's a ritual.
Oh, give thanks unto the Lord, for he
is good.
Okay, let's turn to Psalm 118.
Psalm 118 we read, first of all, thank
God.
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is
good.
That's a very good reason to give thanks.
God is a good God.
We have understanding that lots of people don't
have, that our God is a good God.
He never, never, never, never does anything evil
to us.
Never.
Even if you're evil, he will not do
evil to you.
He may punish you in eternity.
That's another thing.
But he won't do evil to you.
He makes the sun to rise on good
and evil people.
He sends rain on the righteous and the
unrighteous.
He does not do evil, because that's not
his nature.
He's not even tempted to evil, the Bible
says in James 1.
God is a good God.
Every single thing that he does, even when
he disciplines you, it is for your good.
It's your own lack of humility and your
arrogance and your pride which prevents you from
seeing it.
But everything God does is good.
No doubt about it.
Oh, give thanks to the Lord, first of
all, because he is good.
And then it says in verse 21, I'll
give thanks to you because you have answered
me.
That's another reason to give thanks.
The Lord has answered our prayers.
Think of the thousands and thousands of prayers
that you prayed in your life, which you,
God, answered.
You thought it was a coincidence.
No, it was not a coincidence.
It was something wonderful that God did, but
he didn't manifest himself.
It's like an anonymous gift.
You thought, well, who was that?
That was God.
There are no coincidences.
God answered a prayer.
Learn to give thanks to him for it.
Don't say, oh, that new antibiotic healed me.
No.
There are many other people who take that
new antibiotic who die.
How did you get healed?
Oh, it was that specialist doctor who treated
me.
There are patients under that same specialist doctor
who died.
Give thanks to God.
God was the one who healed you.
You prayed, there's nothing wrong in taking the
antibiotic and going to the doctor or hospital,
but give thanks to God.
It's humility.
When we eat our food, Jesus had the
habit of always giving thanks before he ate
food, because he recognized this is a gift
from my Father.
It's humility.
The arrogant person, oh no, I worked and
I went into the shop and bought it
with my own money.
Okay.
I'd like to see how long he continues
like that.
Learn to give thanks to God for everything.
I mean, giving thanks for food is such
a small little thing.
Do it everywhere.
Do it publicly in restaurants and everywhere.
Don't be ashamed.
I remember a man who went to a
restaurant.
I don't know whether I should tell you
the story.
When he went to pay the bill, I
mean, he ate quite a lot with his
friends and all that.
The manager at the counter said, it's free.
I said, it's free?
Why?
He said, when I established the restaurant, I'm
a child of God, I'm a Christian, I
decided that the first person who I see
bowing down and giving thanks for his food,
I'll give him his food free.
Now, there are not many believers who run
restaurants in Bangalore, so you may not get
that in Bangalore.
But think of that.
A lot of people don't give thanks in
public.
They're ashamed.
Anybody see me?
Imagine, I'll never forget what Charles Finney, who
was, before he was converted, he was a
lawyer and God spoke to him one day
for salvation and he left his law office
and went into the woods.
And he wanted to pray all alone where
nobody would see him.
He was a respected lawyer.
He doesn't want anybody to see him praying
for salvation or something like that.
So he got all alone in the woods
and he knelt down and suddenly he heard
some rustling of the leaves.
He got up.
There was nobody there.
And suddenly it hit him, the pride of
his heart, that he was ashamed to be
seen kneeling down before his creator.
And he repented of that pride.
Oh God, I am ashamed to be seen
kneeling down before you, my creator, by some
other fellow creature.
Forgive me.
He was converted.
He was baptized in the Holy Spirit the
same day.
There's a lot of pride that prevents us
from giving thanks in public.
Learn to give thanks for the answers to
prayer.
And then verse 28.
First of all, I said we give thanks
to God because he's good.
Verse 21, because he's answered our prayer.
And verse 28, because you are my God.
That's all.
I give you thanks because you are my
God.
I don't need any other reason.
You are my God.
See what we progress from God is good,
because he's answered our prayer, finally because God
is God.
So that's the position from which we learn
to give thanks.
David also said in Psalm 139, I was
saying this to the young people the other
day, we need to learn to give thanks
for the way he created us.
I want to emphasize that because a lot
of people have complaints against God for something
that he did in their body which they
felt was not right.
Psalm 139, verse 14, I will give you
thanks for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
I mean, you formed my inward parts in
my mother's womb, verse 13.
And I was telling the young people you
need to give thanks to God for the
way he made you.
The color of your skin, the shape of
your nose and your eyes and everything else.
It was he who made you.
And it will make a tremendous difference in
your life when you learn to give thanks.
Learn to give thanks for health.
A lot of people think of their wonderful
creation only when something goes wrong.
It's a very good habit to give thanks,
Lord I thank you for a healthy body.
If you studied a little bit about the
functioning of the human body, I'll tell you,
I read a little bit about it.
It's an absolute miracle that we are alive
even for one day.
So many things have to be in such
delicate balance.
There must be so much of iodine, a
fraction of a milligram, a fraction of a
gram of potassium, various things like that.
Otherwise you'll go crazy.
You'll say stupid things.
We have to learn to give thanks for
so many amazing things in this body and
so many things.
It's a wonderful habit to develop.
And when we come into the New Testament,
notice what it says in the New Testament.
This is just Old Testament we've been looking
at.
We read in Luke chapter 17, I think,
verse 11 about these ten lepers who were
cleansed.
The thing I notice in this story is
verse 13, they raised their voices, all ten
of them.
They shouted out, Jesus Master have mercy on
us.
That's prayer.
It's good to raise our voice in prayer.
But when they were healed, verse 15, one
of them, when he saw that he had
been healed, turned back again with a loud
voice.
He didn't lower his voice.
The same loud voice with which he prayed,
with the same loud voice he gave thanks.
Boy, you've understood something when you know how
to pray with a loud voice and then
give thanks with a loud voice.
But it's only one out of ten.
I think the proportion is about one in
a hundred today.
One out of ten in that day.
And was that serious?
No.
I mean it was serious because Jesus said,
weren't there ten who were cleansed?
Where are the nine?
And as the Lord looks down from heaven
today, he says, didn't I forgive so many
people?
Why only so few come back to give
thanks?
Didn't I answer a million prayers?
Why only ten people come back and say
thank you to me?
Does the Lord observe it?
This verse teaches us he certainly does.
He certainly does observe when you've got something
and you didn't come back to give thanks
to him.
He notices that because he sees there is
one more ungrateful wretch who calls himself my
child.
Sad.
You know, when this chap came back to
give thanks, he got something more.
He said, stand up, go, your faith has
saved you.
I think it meant not only that his
body was healed, but he probably got salvation.
Salvation is much more than healing.
I mean those other nine lepers may have
gone to hell, even if they lived 20
years without leprosy after they got healed.
Do you know that there are many people
whom Jesus healed who are in hell today?
Thousands.
There are places where it says Jesus healed
all of them.
There must have been thousands in Israel who
got healed, but only 120 waited for the
Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost.
Most people who were healed even in Jesus'
time never came back to him for salvation.
They were happy.
We got what we wanted.
You know, the person who comes back in
humility and says, Lord, I'm deeply thankful for
what you've done for me, he gets something
more.
And when you come back to God and
give thanks, you get something more.
And that's what you've missed for so many
years.
But not too late to correct it today.
1 Thessalonians 5, verse 18 says, there are
many, many areas where we don't know the
will of God.
Many areas.
We say, Lord, I wish I knew your
will.
But I'll tell you one area where you
have no doubt about God's will.
1 Thessalonians 5, verse 18.
This is God's will for you.
Give thanks in everything.
That's it.
You've understood God's will at least in one
area.
In everything, give thanks.
In Ephesians 5, verse 20, it goes a
little further and says, always
and in everything, all times, all situations.
And in 1 Timothy 2, it goes one
step even further.
All things, all times.
1 Timothy 2, it says, give thanks for
all people.
That's a little more difficult, right?
Some of these fellows, you don't feel like
giving thanks.
But you know that if you're a child
of God and you're wholehearted and your life
is completely surrendered to Christ, there is absolutely
no one on the earth who can harm
you.
I hope you believe that.
Romans 8, verse 28 says, all things work
together for good for those who love God.
Now, if you don't love God, you're not
living according to His purpose, then of course
you're going to have a lot of problems.
I'm talking to those who love God and
who only want to live for God's will
on earth.
For such people, I can give you a
promise.
For whom?
You love God.
You don't love money and earthly things.
You love God.
And your only aim in life is to
do His will.
Here's a promise for you.
Every single thing, yes, I mean every single
thing, Romans 8, verse 28, will work for
your very best.
Even if it doesn't look like that right
now, it will ultimately work for your very
best.
Now, if Romans 8, verse 28 had said
99% of things work for our very
best, then I would say 99% of
things I give thanks.
I don't give thanks for things that are
working for my harm.
No.
Why do I give thanks for everything?
Because everything works for my good.
Because I love God and I'm only interested
in doing His will.
And therefore, I can give thanks for all
people.
Some of those people whom you can't stand,
who've done you harm, the problem is not
with them.
You need to get your eyes open to
Romans 8, verse 28.
It changed my life completely when I discovered
nobody in the world can harm me.
Their words cannot harm me, their actions cannot
harm me, their attitude cannot harm me.
They can destroy themselves with their attitude and
their words and actions against me, but they
can't touch me.
Ah, sorry, you can't touch me.
I'm the apple of God's eye.
There's a wall of fire round about me.
And around you also, if you believe it.
But if you've got private ambitions in your
life to get on in the world and
be somebody, then I don't know.
But if your aim in life is to
live for the glory of God and you
only want to do His will, I tell
you, nobody can harm you.
Absolutely not.
Not a human being.
And I don't need any black cat commanders
around me to protect me.
The angels are much better than them.
Do you believe that?
I hope so.
All things, all people, all times, that God
is on my side against the devil.
It's a wonderful life, the Christian life.
Absolutely wonderful to live like this, give thanks
for everything.
You know, it even helps us.
I was seeing today, you know, many people
say, how to get up out of this?
Sometimes I speak bad words or jokes that
come out of my mouth which I don't
like.
You know, it says here in Ephesians 5,
earlier on in verse 4, there must be
no filthiness, no silly talk, no coarse jesting.
What's it?
No filthiness in your conversation, no silly talk,
no coarse jesting.
The very fact that it says coarse jesting
means that good jesting is okay.
I believe in humor.
Abhijit had a sense of humor.
Humor is such a wonderful thing, it's impossible
for the devil to have created it.
Nobody laughs in hell, I hope you know
that.
Coarse jesting, that's what it says, not all
jesting.
Coarse jesting, that means filthy jokes or jokes
to make other people feel small, that's coarse.
I mean, if you tell a joke, tell
it on yourself, that's okay.
Some stupid thing you did, not some stupid
thing your little child did or your son
or daughter did when they were small or
some other person did.
No, that's evil, that's coarse jesting.
To get rid of all this, the way
is, it says in the same verse, start
giving thanks.
Did you know that?
In other words, when you drive out the
demon, if you don't want seven more demons
to come in, fill the house.
So this demon of coarse jesting and silly
talk and filthiness, you drive it out, but
why do they come back in with worse
demons?
Because you don't fill the house with thanksgiving.
Here's the little secret.
Start giving thanks and you'll overcome bad speech.
You'll probably overcome anger.
Anger, oh, that's it.
You want to get rid of it?
Many of you are trying to get rid
of it.
Why not start giving thanks from today?
Just develop the habit and see how anger
gradually, it won't disappear by tomorrow, but gradually
disappears.
Wonderful.
Christian life is so practical.
We give thanks to God.
Now let's tell you another verse before I
move on and that is Philippians 4, 6
says, if you, whenever you pray to God,
also give thanks, you'll get rid of anxiety.
Isn't that great?
Like filthy talk, anxiety is another problem that
a lot of people have.
How to get rid of it?
Learn to give thanks along with your prayer.
Now, it's not only to God.
As I said, we've got to learn to
give thanks for men, to men.
Jesus said, if you give one of my
children a cup of cold water, now that's
the cheapest thing in the world.
It doesn't cost you anything to give somebody
a cup of cold water.
Jesus said, you'll get a reward.
And I thought of that.
I said, in the day of judgment, Jesus
called somebody.
What did this guy do for the Lord?
Absolutely nothing.
But one day he gave a cup of
cold water to one of my children.
Here's your reward.
I'm not saying he'll go to heaven because
of that.
He may get his reward and go to
hell.
That's another thing, if he's not born again.
But my point is that Jesus recognizes even
a cup of cold water.
And I say, Lord, I want to be
like you.
I want to recognize and never forget that
somebody, one day when I was thirsty, gave
me a cup of cold water.
I tell you, you look around and you'll
see people around you who've done a lot
more for you than give you a cup
of cold water.
Sure, they may even have left the Church
today and gone away, but I'll be thankful
to them.
People who did something good for me, did
something good for my family, maybe 20 years
ago.
I won't forget it.
That's being Christ-like.
Never forget it.
And I'll have an attitude of gratitude towards
them all my life, even if I disagree
with them in 101 other areas.
I'll say, well, I may disagree with you
in 101 areas, but I'll never forget what
you did for me here, and I'm very
thankful.
I tell you, it'll make your Christian life
glorious.
We are such misers when it comes to
expressing thanks.
Okay, now let's go on to the subject
of praising God.
We thank God, as I told you, for
all these things.
We praise God for who He is, even
if He did nothing.
We praise God because He's Almighty.
It says in Psalm 22 and verse 3
that when we praise God, we prepare a
throne for Him.
Psalm 22 and verse 3, Thou art holy,
O you who are enthroned upon the praises
of Israel.
The praises of God's people make a throne.
God is not a cheap king to sit
on a throne of gold.
No, no, no.
Gold is cheap.
They walk on it in heaven.
The streets are made of gold.
And to make a throne of gold for
God is like taking tar.
In the world, tar, the streets are tarred.
To make a throne out of tar, it's
all very sticky.
God's not going to sit on a throne
like that.
You know what's the only worthy throne for
God?
If you really say, you're my king.
If God is your king, there will be
a throne in your life for Him.
And that throne is the spirit of praise.
Lord, I praise you for who you are.
I praise you that you defeated Satan on
the cross.
I know a hundred prayers of mine are
not answered yet.
It doesn't matter.
I still praise you.
So what if my prayers are not answered?
God is still on the throne.
Does that make any difference?
Just because your prayers are not answered, does
it mean God vacated His throne?
No, He didn't.
Does it mean Satan is not defeated?
Of course he's defeated.
Long ago he was defeated.
So to praise God is for who He
is, irrespective of whether He did something for
us or not, or answered our prayer or
not.
He is still God.
He is the creator of this universe, and
we need to recognize Him as God.
And we make a throne for Him when
we praise Him.
And the Bible says in Isaiah 61 in
verse 3, that one of the things that
Jesus came to do for us, many people
know in the New Covenant that Jesus was
anointed to deliver us from our sins.
That's written here too.
Isaiah 61, the spirit of the Lord is
upon me to proclaim liberty to the captives,
good news to the afflicted, to bind up
the brokenhearted.
We are all this.
Before we are converted, we are afflicted, brokenhearted
captives, prisoners.
And Jesus came to set us free, to
open our blind eyes.
And then, what does He do to us?
He gives us a garment of praise.
Verse 3, the last part, a garment of
praise.
In other words, He clothes me with praise.
Do you know that you are naked if
you don't have a spirit of praise?
When you are born again, God gives you
a dress, what's called a garment.
And that garment is the garment of praise.
We have a bunch of naked Christians running
around.
And why are they not embarrassed when they
run around naked?
Tell me, who's not embarrassed when they run
around naked?
You know the answer.
Who?
Little babies, right.
So what are you, when you don't have
a spirit of praise and you're not embarrassed
by it, and you run around all over
naked?
You're a baby, that's all.
Grown-up people are terribly embarrassed if they
go anywhere without clothes.
And a grown-up Christian is terribly embarrassed
if his spirit of praise goes away from
his life.
I say, I don't want to go anywhere
without a spirit of praise in my life.
No, nowhere.
I don't want to be seen anywhere, anywhere,
without clothes.
Okay?
At least from today, stop wearing clothes, all
the time.
A garment of praise for the spirit of
heaviness.
I mean, what a fool you are, when
God gives you good clothes for you to
wear those ragged beggar's clothes that you had
the devil gave you of heaviness.
You know, it says in Philippians chapter 2,
I love that phrase, that verse there, Philippians
2, it says, do everything, verse 14, without
grumbling, without disputing.
No murmuring or grumbling in everything we do.
Why?
That's what I want you to see.
Why?
Because that is the only way in which
you prove that you are a child of
God.
In the midst of a crooked world.
In the midst of a crooked and perverse
world where everybody is grumbling, complaining, murmuring.
Here is a person who is not grumbling,
murmuring, complaining.
Ah, he must be a child of God,
right?
But if you murmur and grumble and are
complaining all the time, you are just like
the world around you.
You know, this verse gives me a little
light on the virgins whose lamp died out.
They had a lamp in the beginning.
The five foolish virgins, their lamp died out
because they didn't have any extra oil.
It says here that this is the light
you hold up in the world, verse 15.
The world is full of darkness, but here
is the light that you hold up.
Where everybody is murmuring, grumbling, complaining, darkness, you
are giving thanks and praising God.
That's a light.
And when that light dies out, what are
you?
A foolish virgin.
You may be a virgin.
Oh, I don't sin.
I don't do these wrong things.
Maybe, but you are grumbling and complaining.
The light is gone.
You need a little oil.
You need the Holy Spirit's power.
And that's what it says here.
My brethren, verse 12, work out your salvation
from this murmuring and grumbling.
And God, verse 13, is at work inside
you to give you this desire.
Have you got a desire to give up
murmuring and grumbling permanently in your life?
God gave it to you.
And if God gave you that desire, He'll
also give you the power.
He'll work in you to will it and
to do it.
What?
Verse 14, being free from grumbling and complaining,
we have a spirit of praise, a garment
of praise all the time in our life.
Do you remember that place where Jesus said
in the Gospels once when He came into
the temple and all the children were shouting
praise to God?
And the long-faced Pharisee said, Lord, tell
these people, I mean, house of God is
not a place to shout and praise God.
Right?
That's what he told Jesus.
Lord, don't you understand?
House of God is a serious place.
You must sit like you're attending a funeral
and be serious.
And these fellows praising God and raising their
hands and shouting and saying hallelujah, stop them.
Children don't know anything.
That was about the one time Jesus was
really happy when He saw these children praising
God.
You know why?
Because Jesus came from heaven.
There was no long-faced angel sitting there
in any corner in heaven.
Everybody was so happy and praising God.
And He came to earth for 33 years.
He saw people miserable, grumbling, complaining, long-faced
people.
Suddenly He saw some children praising God.
Yay, that reminds me of heaven.
And He said in Matthew 21, He said,
haven't you heard this, verse 16?
When He heard the children praising, He said,
haven't you read it?
You guys should know the Bible.
Psalm 8, it says, out of the mouths
of infants, I have prepared praise for myself.
Yeah, Jesus said, if they keep quiet, even
the stones will start praising me.
Do you know when you keep quiet?
That's what the Lord says today.
You are more dead than the stones in
your building.
I don't want the Lord to say that
to me anytime.
That I am more dead than the stones
in the building.
You think we are alive just because we
come to the meetings?
No, sir.
You are alive because you come to the
meetings.
You know that the devil attends every meeting
in CFC?
How many of you know that?
I believe that with all my heart.
As long as there is any anointed man
standing on this pulpit, the devil will be
pretty sure to be there.
One of his demons anyway.
The more powerful the anointing, the stronger the
demons he sends to the meeting.
He's never missed a meeting in CFC as
far as I know.
What does that prove?
That you attended all the meetings.
So what?
If you don't have a spirit of praise,
you are more dead than the stones in
this building.
If they keep quiet, the stones will cry
out.
Now what I want you to see is,
whenever you read a verse in the New
Testament, quote it from the Old Testament, go
back to the Old Testament and see what
it says there.
It says in Psalm 8, this is what
it reads, the original.
God doesn't show this to lazy people.
Most Christians are lazy, they don't study the
Bible.
But when you go to the Old Testament,
it says, from the mouth of infants, he
doesn't use the word praise there.
Notice that.
That's why you get something from scripture.
From the mouth of infants, you have established
not praise, but strength.
Praise is strength.
Why?
Because of your adversaries to make the devil
quiet.
And to stop him from working.
Do you want to stop the devil from
working?
Psalm 8 verse 2, compare that with Matthew
21 verse 16.
Through praise, you stop the devil from working.
There was an old preacher, I forget his
name, not sure if it was Billy Bray
or one of these evangelists in England years
ago, one of these happy people, always praising
the Lord.
And somebody tried to tease him saying, what
will you do, Billy, if God finally sends
you to hell?
He said, I will just praise the Lord
over there until the devil will say, get
out of here, Billy, we don't want anybody
here.
You know, I tell you, the devil hates
praise.
You want to drive the devil out of
your home?
Just start praising God.
The devil can't stand before God's throne, you
know that.
Why does he get so much power in
your house, in your life?
Because you don't have a throne.
And the devil knows you don't have a
throne.
The infants praise God.
Jesus was delighted.
I want to show you two verses in
Hebrews before we go on.
Hebrews chapter 2 verse 12 and 13.
It's very interesting to see that Jesus is
the one who leads the praise in the
church.
Do you know who's the real song leader
in the church?
Hebrews chapter 2 verse 12.
In the midst of the church, I will
sing your praise.
This is referring to Jesus.
Jesus is the song leader in the midst
of the church.
And every person who leads songs, if he
recognizes the real song leader here is Jesus.
Now I'm just sort of an understudy to
him.
He can really read worship and praise to
God.
The other verse is Hebrews 13 and verse
15 where it says, God is very happy
with this type of sacrifice.
Verse 15.
Let us continually, continually offer to God a
sacrifice of praise, the fruit of our lips,
giving thanks to his name.
We can praise God in our hearts, but
the praise in our lips is a very,
very, very important habit that we have to
do constantly.
Continually.
How much should our light shine?
Continually.
I must have a spirit of praise all
the time in my life.
I must always be dressed with a garment
of praise all the time.
I never want to be naked.
And it says here, God is pleased, verse
16, with such sacrifices.
In Psalm 50, this is a lovely verse,
Psalm 50 and verse 23, it says, whoever
offers sacrifice of thanksgiving or praise honors me
and makes a way, this is a proper
translation of it, makes a way thereby for
me to show him my deliverance.
That means when you start praising God, you
open a way for him to deliver you
from that difficult situation.
We've seen before how when Jonah was in
the whale's belly in Jonah chapter 2, he
prayed for three days and nothing happened.
Then at the end of chapter 2, it
says he started praising God and as soon
as he started praising God and saying salvation
is from the Lord, the Lord told the
whale, vomit him out, spit him out.
For three days, he tried, tried every other
method, didn't work.
When he started praising God, the whale didn't
want him anymore.
The same thing with Paul and Silas when
they were in a prison.
Now when you're in a prison, we think
the first thing to do is to pray,
right?
Lord, get me out of here.
But they didn't pray.
They said hallelujah.
Well, we don't know, maybe there's some good
reason why we should be here.
Maybe God wants to have us a little
rest instead of running around all the time.
So we sit here and praise the Lord.
Of course, our legs are tied up so
we can't run away anywhere.
We just praise God and they praise, praise,
praise the Lord.
Hallelujah, Lord, you're on the throne.
The devil's been defeated.
God shook that whole prison.
And the wonderful thing is not just that
they escaped, but one jailer got converted with
his whole family.
Somebody went to heaven because he saw for
the first time in his life this experienced
jailer who had seen hundreds of prisoners.
He never saw anybody praising God.
And he said these people are different.
You know what makes a difference in your
life?
It's like in the midst of darkness when
you hold up a candle.
People say this guy's different.
Whenever I see him, the spirit of praise
rises.
You can bring people to Christ with the
spirit of praise.
That's all they did that brought conviction to
that jailer.
Now, I also said we need to praise
human beings.
Do you believe that?
We are such misers.
We may pop that person's poppy mouth and
we don't want him to get proud.
Well, you know, Jesus was not so bothered
about that like you are.
He would tell a Roman centurion, I have
never seen such faith in all of Israel.
What was that?
Was he thanking the Roman centurion or was
he praising him?
Tell me.
He was not thanking him.
He didn't do anything.
He was praising him, publicly appreciating him.
Misers that human beings are, we are always
afraid.
Oh, we'll pop him up.
We'll pop him up.
We'll be artificial.
That's because you're a miser.
You're not like Jesus.
Jesus publicly appreciated people.
He turned to Nathanael, first time he's seen
him.
There's a man in whom there's no guile.
Imagine saying that to somebody.
Turning around to Peter and say, blessed are
you Simon, son of Jonah.
You didn't get that with your flesh and
blood understanding my father in heaven revealed to
you.
I tell you, I have never in my
life seen a person like Jesus.
All around me, I see even among believers,
misers, misers.
There are misers with money and there are
misers with praise.
I have decided to be different.
Oh, we can't praise young people.
What do you think Nathanael was?
Do you think he was 85 years old?
He was probably about 28.
Praising a 28 year old young man and
saying there's a fellow who's without guile.
You want to be like Jesus?
I don't believe we are serious about wanting
to be like Jesus.
How many times do you appreciate some good
thing your children do?
Ah, okay.
He did something you asked him to do
and say, ah.
Learn to be like Jesus.
Appreciate that.
Express words of appreciation publicly.
What about your wife?
Your husband?
Do you ever say thank you?
Do you ever appreciate?
When was the last time you appreciated your
wife?
Try and scratch your head and think about
that.
Or your husband?
You mean there's nothing good in that person?
Zero?
Absolute zero?
You mean he's exactly like the devil?
Devil I agree, he's absolute zero.
I heard of that guy who used to
find something good in everybody and somebody asked
him, what about the devil?
He's a hard worker he said.
He's a full time worker, 24 hours, he's
at his job.
He found something to appreciate in the devil.
It's all a question of the way you
look at things.
We are blind and I tell you the
saddest thing is young people in our midst
who should be the most wholehearted are some
of the biggest misers.
They have not learned to appreciate.
You know the Bible says you've got to
learn to appreciate your elders.
Have you read that verse in 1 Thessalonians
chapter 5 and verse 12?
We request you brothers, appreciate, appreciate those who
diligently labor among you and have charge over
you in the Lord.
And give you instruction.
1 Timothy 5 and verse 17 says give
them double honor.
All the honor you give to the president
of India, give double honor to the elders
in your church.
How many of you do that?
How many of you give more honor to
the elders in your church more than to
your boss in your office?
Christians are misers.
We're not like Jesus.
We think we are wholehearted.
Far from it.
Finally, worship.
You know the one book which gives us
a picture of heaven is Revelation.
And seven times in Revelation, chapter 4, chapter
5, chapter 7, chapter 11, chapter 14, 15
and 19.
In all these chapters, seven times you get
a picture of heaven and it's always worship.
Worship is more than thanksgiving.
It's more than praise.
It's bowing down.
It's surrendering totally before God and acknowledging He
is worthy.
I have known right over my life, it
says in Romans chapter 12 and verse 1,
that in the New Testament, the way to
worship is by presenting our body.
In the Old Testament, they worshiped God by
giving tithes.
Listen, you want to get a revelation?
In the Old Testament, they worshiped God by
giving 10% of their income.
Today, in the New Testament, God asks for
something more.
Your body.
The way you worship, it says, present your
body as a living sacrifice to God.
That is your spiritual service of worship.
How do you worship God?
When people bow down and fell down before
God.
What were they saying?
You know, it's like these people who bow
down before kings.
I am your abject slave.
All my body, everything is yours to command.
That's what worship means.
God.
I have no right over my eyes now
to read or look at anything which I
want.
It's yours.
I have no right with my hands to
do anything I want.
I have no right over my ears to
listen to what I want.
I have no right with my mind to
think what I want.
I have no right with this body to
do anything anymore but your will.
I worship thee, sweet will of God, and
all thy ways adore.
And every day I live, I long to
love you more and more.
So, that's worship, where we bow down and
present ourselves completely.
All our service for God is going to
be effective only if we worship.
Jesus said in Matthew 4.10 to the
devil, it is written, you shall worship and
then you shall serve.
You know why so much of service is
ineffective?
Because we don't worship.
Think of what Jesus told the Samaritan woman.
God is a spirit.
John 4.23-24.
The Father seeks for those who will worship
him in spirit and in truth.
In the Old Testament, they could only worship
in the soul.
Clap, shout, dance.
Good.
With the body or with the soul.
But in the New Covenant, we worship with
the deepest part of us, our spirit.
We worship with words.
We worship with speech.
And the highest form of worship, believe it
or not, is silence.
Father of Jesus, love's reward.
What rapture will it be?
Prostrate before thy throne to lie and gaze
and gaze on thee.
We can do that now.
Something we can do more in secret.
It's very difficult to worship God in public.
In secret, to gaze and gaze on God.
To pour out all that we have, like
the woman who poured out the ointment at
Jesus' feet.
Our love, our devotion, our life, our body,
our everything.
Dear brothers and sisters, ask God to show
that to you more and more.
We can begin with thanksgiving and move on
to praise and ultimately worship.