Thanksgiving, Praise and Worship - Part 4

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. I'm sorry, you can't touch me. I'm the apple of God's eye. There's a wall of fire around about me and around you also if you believe it. But if you've got private ambitions in your life to get out 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 that. Do you believe that? I hope so. All things, all people, all times, because 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 filth, 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. I believe Jesus 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 a little secret. Start giving thanks and you'll overcome bad speech. You'll probably overcome anger. Anger. Oh, that's bad. 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 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 got to learn to give thanks 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 101 areas, but I'll never forget what you did for me here. And I'm very thankful. I tell you, it'd 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? You really say, you're my king. If God is your king, there'll 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's 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 and 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. It's 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 in the spirit of praise. He 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, start wearing clothes all the time. A garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. I mean, what a fool you are. And God gives you good clothes for you to wear those ragged beggar's clothes that you had. The devil gave you of heaviness. And you know, it says in, where is that? 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?