Participants: Calton P. Byrd
Series Code: BOL
Program Code: BOL000539A
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00:02 BREATH OF LIFE MINISTRIES
00:09 PRESENTS SERMON 539 GIVE HIM THANKS 00:14 BREATH OF LIFE THEME Music 00:20 PB: Psalm 95, verse number 1. The Word of God says, 00:28 "O come, let us sing unto the LORD: 00:32 let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. 00:38 Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, 00:43 and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms. 00:49 For the LORD is a great God, and a great 00:53 King above all gods." Let me read that one more time. 00:59 Dr. Lindsey, you read verse 6 earlier today, so, 01:03 this is how the Lord works. You didn't know 01:05 I was going to do this, and I didn't know you 01:07 were going to do what you did, so, let me try 01:08 it one more time. "O come, let us sing unto the LORD: 01:10 let us make a joyful"--what, everybody? 01:13 Aud.: Noise. PB: Come on, a joyful what, everybody? 01:15 Aud.: Noise. PB: "To the rock of our"--what? 01:17 Aud.: Salvation. PB: "Let us come before his 01:20 presence with" what? Aud.: Thanksgiving. 01:22 PB: "And make a"--what kind of noise? 01:23 Aud.: Joyful noise. PB: "Unto him with psalms. 01:25 For the LORD is a great" what? Aud.: God. 01:27 PB: "And a great King above all" what? Gods. 01:31 Today we just came to thank God. Father, 01:34 in the name of Jesus, Lord we've come today by 01:38 the power of Your Holy Ghost just to lift You up. 01:42 And on this Thanksgiving Sabbath, thank You for 01:47 all You've done, for all You're doing, and in 01:51 advance for what You're going to do. So speak 01:56 through these lips this day, and we praise, 01:59 give You honor and glory for what You're going to do. 02:03 Father, I don't know how the appeal is going to turn out, 02:06 but I just want You to have Your way. Have Your way 02:08 in this place, we pray. Forgive me of my sins, 02:13 in the name of Jesus we pray. Let everyone say amen. 02:17 Aud.: Amen. PB: And amen. Now, Danielle, you did a good job. 02:26 [applause] PB: You have a good first name. 02:31 You did a good job, but you know you ended where 02:38 I want to start, all right? If that's all right, 02:42 that's how the Lord's working. Dr. Lindsey gave you 02:45 some Psalm 95, and you ended where I want to start. 02:50 Because I want to say, after eating all done--beans, 02:53 greens, potatoes, tomatoes. Beans, greens, potatoes, 02:56 tomatoes. Beans, greens, potatoes, tomatoes. Beans, 02:58 greens, potatoes, tomatoes. Beans, greens; beans, greens; 03:01 beans, greens, beans, beans, beans! You name it! Ha, ha, ha, ha. 03:11 [Aud. reaction] PB: Older folks, you don't know 03:14 what that's all about, but go to the Internet after Sabbath. 03:16 Come on, say amen. [Aud. reaction] 03:19 PB: After eating all the beans, greens, potatoes, 03:24 tomatoes, lamb, ram--that's not us, that's what the 03:33 song says--halls, balls, chicken, turkey, rabbit. 03:36 You name it! Ha, ha, ha. After eating all of that, 03:42 come back now. Come back, come back. Your mind should 03:48 now be ready to focus in on thanksgiving. 03:52 Everybody say "thanksgiving." Aud.: Thanksgiving. 03:54 PB: And thanksgiving should get you to thinking, 03:58 because when you start thinking about all God has 04:02 done for you, you start thanking Him for all He's done. 04:05 Do I have a witness in this place? [Aud. reaction] 04:09 PB: Thinking should get you to thanking. 04:12 Now, when I start thinking about thanking, 04:18 I start thinking about biblical examples of thanksgiving. 04:21 From one end of the Bible to the other end, we are 04:23 commanded to be thankful. Commanded to be what, everybody? 04:26 Aud.: Thankful. PB: Now, I'm thinking about the man in Mark, 04:29 chapter 5. He was known to us as Legion. This man was 04:33 possessed with demons, but, and before he met Jesus, 04:36 he lived among the tombs. He was chained up, but no chain 04:38 was strong enough to subdue the man. The man cried out 04:42 day and night, cutting himself with stones, not because 04:47 of some chemical imbalance but because of some demonic 04:50 spirit that was living in him. Jesus comes. Jesus has 04:54 a conversation, if you will, with this demonic spirit, 04:58 and sends the spirit into a herd of pigs. The pigs run 05:02 off a cliff and then run in the lake and they drown, 05:04 because pigs can't swim. The man is then himself again- 05:10 -cool, calm, collected. The eyewitnesses are blown away. 05:13 They ask Jesus, "Jesus, leave." But the man feels the opposite, 05:17 he wants to stick to Jesus like glue. Why? Because he's 05:20 thankful for what Jesus has done. Jesus encourages the brother. 05:23 He says, "Go back home." The man does, but he can't stop 05:26 telling people about Jesus and what Jesus has done for him. 05:32 The man is thankful. The man is what, everybody? 05:34 Aud.: Thankful. PB: But then, who can forget the 05:36 woman in Luke chapter 7? This woman is known as sinful. 05:41 She anointed Jesus' feet. This woman, who's known more 05:45 by what she does than her real name, just lavishes 05:48 love on Jesus. Onlookers squirm; church members whisper. 05:53 She cries so much that she takes her tears of thanks and 05:57 she wipes Jesus' feet. She dries them with her hair. 06:01 She kisses his feet and pours perfume on them. 06:05 She's responding to Jesus', as a holy person's, 06:09 acceptance of her, a not-so-holy person. This response 06:13 is loving but the response is also thankful. She doesn't 06:18 care about what anybody else says. She doesn't care about 06:21 what anybody else thinks. She speaks no words, sings no songs, 06:27 writes no psalms. The woman lets her actions proclaim her thankfulness. 06:34 But then I'm going to stay in the book of Luke, and I'm going 06:38 to go now to Luke chapter 17, and we know the story. 06:40 Ten lepers encounter Jesus. All 10 seem to believe that Jesus 06:46 was pretty much who He claimed to be, and so they cried out 06:49 to Him in healing: "Master, have pity on us." Jesus asks them 06:54 to visit the priest, and on their way to the priest they were 06:57 made whole. No more leprosy. But only one, the Bible says, 07:02 came back and responded with a spirit of thankfulness. 07:05 It was a Samaritan. He threw himself at Jesus' feet 07:09 and thanked Jesus. Even Jesus seemed surprised that there 07:13 weren't a few more of the former lepers who came back to 07:16 say thank you. But Jesus asks, "Were not all 10 cleansed? 07:19 Where are the other nine?" But it was this one leper who 07:26 came back to show his thankfulness. It reminds me that 07:31 those you help the most appreciate it the least. 07:34 But then, who can forget Brother David? David composed songs, 07:40 psalms. How can anyone else compete with David when it 07:44 comes to thankfulness? Not all of his psalms are thanksgiving 07:47 hymns or songs, but when it comes to clear expressions 07:50 of thanksgiving, that are obvious and clear, David leads 07:53 the way. What's obvious is that David has an unprecedented 07:57 awareness of God's blessing, protection and presence in his life. 08:01 If David defeated a giant, it was because of God. 08:05 If his armies were victorious, it was because of God. 08:09 If his nation enjoyed peace, it was because of God. 08:13 This kind of natural awareness will lead to thanksgiving 08:17 more often than not. Are you hearing what I'm saying? 08:20 And so it's from David that I've decided today that 08:24 we use our text. Psalm 95: This is not just an 08:27 exhortation to worship, but within it is a directive 08:31 to give thanks. "O come, let us sing unto the LORD: 08:36 let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. 08:42 Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, 08:45 and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms. 08:47 For the LORD is a great God, and a great King 08:51 above all gods." But I want to concentrate on verse number 2. 08:53 Look at it. Psalm 95, verse 2, that's what I'm going to 08:55 concentrate on. "Let us come before his presence with"- 08:59 -everybody say "thanksgiving." Aud.: Thanksgiving. 09:02 PB: Come on, "Let us come before his presence with"--what, everybody? 09:04 Aud.: Thanksgiving. PB: Now, that means, when we enter 09:08 into God's presence we ought to come with thanksgiving. 09:12 In God's presence, we ought to come thanking God for 09:16 what God has done. And when you could come into a house 09:20 of God, when you come into the presence of God, 09:23 you've got to come correct. I don't care what's 09:26 happening in your life. But when you enter into His house, 09:29 you've got to enter with thanksgiving, because I don't 09:33 care how bad your situation is, you've got to be thankful 09:38 for something. Are you hearing what I'm saying? Your car 09:40 may be barely running, but thank God you're not walking. 09:44 You may not have the house you want, but praise God you've 09:48 got a roof over your head. You may not have any money 09:51 in your pocket, but at least you've got some food on your table. 09:55 You've had some good days; you've had some bad days. 09:59 You've had some hills to climb, but when you look around 10:03 and think things over, all of your good days outweigh 10:07 your bad days. Stop complaining. Aud.: All right! 10:11 PB: When you walk into God's house, stop complaining. 10:15 Start giving God thanks when you walk in His house. 10:18 Start praising God when you walk in this house. 10:21 Start worshipping God when you walk in His house. 10:24 David said in Psalm 100, "Enter into his gates with"- 10:27 -what, everybody? Aud.: Thanksgiving. 10:28 PB: "Into his courts with"--what? Aud.: Praise. 10:31 PB: And be what unto Him? Thankful unto Him. 10:32 [Aud. reaction] PB: But this is where I want to 10:36 focus today, 'cause I can get you shouting on that. 10:38 But let me just say, I want to remind you that 10:42 God today has not just called us to thank Him for 10:46 the big things, but we've got to learn how to thank 10:49 God for the little things, too. That means, 10:52 healthy children, the good parking spots--ha, 10:58 ha--the avoided car accidents. I'm here to let 11:04 you know, anything we call luck, it wasn't luck. 11:08 It all happened according to God's sovereign will. 11:13 [Aud. reaction] PB: So Paul says, in the New Testament, 11:15 in Ephesians chapter 5:20, "Giving thanks always for 11:19 all things unto God and the Father in the name of our 11:23 Lord Jesus Christ." He continues in First Thessalonians 5:18, 11:26 it says, "In everything"--in what kind of things? 11:29 Aud.: Everything. PB: Give what, everybody? Thanks. 11:31 "For this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you." 11:34 Which means, be thankful for little things. Be thankful for big things. 11:41 Be thankful for all things. But too often we only want to 11:47 thank God for the big stuff: the new job, the new house, 11:52 the new car, the healing over cancer, the saving of your marriage, 11:59 the money for tuition. We praise God in the big things- 12:06 -and praise God for the big things, praise Him for the 12:08 big miracle--but what about the other things? 12:10 What about the daily, regular, standard, ordinary, 12:13 customary, habitual, expected things? The little things 12:17 that nobody knows but us that we so often take for granted. 12:21 You see, when our power is shut off, we suddenly become 12:27 thankful for electricity. Do I have a witness in this place? 12:29 When our garbage is not picked up--you know they have a 12:32 holiday during the week and sometimes the garbage is not 12:34 picked up on the garbage day--we suddenly become thankful 12:37 the for garbage collector's weekly stop. 12:40 When I was in Flint earlier this year, water had become 12:44 too polluted to drink. Suddenly the people began to 12:47 appreciate good water. You don't know what you have 12:51 'till it's gone. A story is told of a young man whose father 12:55 had to undergo radiation treatment for throat cancer, 12:58 but the therapy damaged his taste buds so much that the 13:02 man couldn't taste his food. His inability to enjoy a meal 13:05 made eating a dreaded duty. So the doctors told him that look, 13:10 your taste might return after the treatments are finished, 13:14 but we can't guarantee that. Weeks passed; months passed. 13:18 Every meal was like forced feeding to keep the man alive. 13:23 After eating flavorless food for over a year, the man sat 13:28 down for dinner one evening, and reluctantly he forced his 13:32 fork inside his mouth, and he discovered that his taste had 13:37 returned. What most people would call a bland dinner became 13:44 the best meal the man had ever eaten in his life. Y'all 13:48 don't hear what I'm saying. Through losing his taste and then 13:52 regaining it, the man began to relish each bite as never before. 13:58 He became thankful for the ability to taste, because now he had 14:04 a reference point. He would never forget what it was like 14:08 to eat tasteless food. But you don't have to lose something 14:13 in order to be thankful. You can developed a taste for your 14:18 blessings by realizing what life would be without them. 14:21 If I must testify today, the older that I get--I mean, 14:27 we're about to go into 2017, I'll be 45 years old. 14:29 I can't believe that. I'm five years from 50, help me, Holy Ghost. 14:33 [Aud. reaction] PB: The older I get, the more I realize 14:41 that it's the little things in life. Oh, I wish I had 14:46 a witness in this place. [Aud. reaction] 14:48 PB: That makes a big difference in life. Somebody still 14:52 doesn't believe me. I've got a couple of illustrations. 14:54 Let me illustrate this way and then I'm going to sit down. 14:55 I travel a lot, you know I travel a lot. And because 14:59 I travel a lot, I see a lot. And because I see a lot, 15:01 I learn a lot. I wish I had somebody who know what 15:05 I was talking about. When I was younger, earlier in 15:08 my ministry--hard to believe, I've been doing this 22 15:11 years now--when I was younger, earlier in my ministry, 15:14 I remember speaking for an event and the host to that 15:18 event put me in a five-star hotel. Now, I was just 15:23 getting started in ministry. I was not where I am today. 15:30 I was just happy to get an invitation, does somebody know 15:33 what I'm talking about? But the host put me in this fine hotel. 15:38 Ocean view, doorman to open the door for you, bellhop to push 15:44 your elevator floor, Jacuzzi in the bathroom, television in 15:51 the bathroom window, La-Z-Boy recliner. You name it, 15:57 this hotel had it. On the last day of my stay in the hotel 16:02 I woke up, and I saw the bill underneath my door. And when 16:08 I saw how much my hosts had paid for the hotel--it was about 16:13 $200 per night back then--I said, woo-oo! I'm in high 16:19 cotton right now. [Aud. reaction] 16:22 PB: But when I saw the pastor, I told the pastor, 16:24 "Elder, that doesn't make any sense." I told him, I said, 16:30 "I could have stayed in a Days Inn, Motel 6, for $29.99. 16:37 Some of y'all are old enough to remember the Motel 6 signs- 16:40 -$29.99. But let the record reflect, I've gotten a 16:46 little older now. I don't do that anymore. 16:49 Do I have a witness in this place? But back then, 16:52 I said to myself, this is ridiculous! All I'm going 16:56 to do is lie down. Anywhere will do. A room is a room- 17:01 -until I got to that room. Now, it's true that 17:07 both were hotels. Both had beds. Both had ice buckets. 17:12 Both had showers. Both had restrooms. In fact, 17:17 they were similar. But it was the little things. 17:22 I had never noticed before that at the 17:25 Days Inn there were no big, fluffy towels to use. 17:29 [Aud. reaction] PB: That the towels were thin and drab. 17:35 Somebody knows what I'm talking about. 17:37 [Aud. reaction] PB: I never noticed at the Days Inn 17:39 that when you opened up the door, that you stepped 17:41 immediately outside with no hallway. I never noticed 17:45 that you had to carry your bags up and down the stairs 17:48 by yourself. I didn't notice anything about room service 17:53 or not having room service. I didn't notice that they 17:56 didn't put bottled water or anything like that in the room. 17:59 I didn't notice that they didn't have a coffee maker 18:02 that you could put water in to boil so you could make 18:05 some hot tea. Isn't it funny today, how the little things 18:11 define the difference between class and deprivation? 18:17 Between success and failure. It's always the little things, 18:23 and your specificity to detail to the little things will 18:28 determine how far you go in life. Listen to me good. 18:32 The difference between a poor manager and a good manager 18:34 is in the little things. The difference between a 20-dollar 18:38 room and a 200-dollar room is the little things. 18:40 The difference between a woman and a wife-- 18:43 [Aud. reaction] PB: --are the little things. 18:48 The difference between a man and a husband are the 18:52 little things. The difference between a pastor and 18:58 a preacher are the little things. Little things are important. 19:04 The difference between 5,000-dollar evening gown and 19:08 an $89.99 special from Tar-jay--ha. Somebody's sitting 19:16 there talking about "What is Tar-jay?" [Aud. reaction] 19:19 PB: Tar-jay is a fine name for Target. [Aud. reaction] 19:24 PB: If you can't spend the money, just change the name. 19:27 I wish I had a witness in this place. [applause] 19:29 PB: Tar-jay. [laughter] 19:33 PB: "Where did you get that?" "Dollar gen-a-ral." 19:36 [laughter] PB: Wal-a-mar, Swal-a-mar. Y'all laughing, 19:43 but don't knock Target! If you look good enough, 19:46 you'll find something. Are you hearing what I'm saying, somebody? 19:49 [Aud. reaction] PB: It's the little things that make the difference, 19:53 and we serve a God who's interested in the little things. 19:57 You're praying about big things. You want the big miracles. 20:02 You want to get up in Oakwood and testify about the big things. 20:05 But I'm here to let somebody know that you're also praying to 20:08 a God who specializes in little things, and before God can bless 20:14 you with big things, He has to be able to trust you with little things. 20:20 [Aud. reaction] PB: Now listen to my ___. Listen to me. 20:23 I don't care how smart I was. I don't care how good I was. 20:26 I don't care how talented I was. When I graduated from 20:35 Oakwood 22 years ago, I was not ready to pastor the Oakwood Church. 20:41 I may have thought I was, but I wasn't ready. Some of the people 20:49 in this church knew me back then, and they'll tell you the 20:51 same person who I am today is pretty much who I was 22 years ago. 20:56 But I'm very clear, and so are they, that 22 years ago I was 21:00 not ready to pastor this church. I needed to go to Soso, Mississippi. 21:06 I needed to go to Laurel, Mississippi. I needed to go to Tuscaloosa, Alabama. 21:12 I needed to go to Eutaw, Alabama--yes, there is a place called Eutaw, Alabama. 21:18 I needed to go to Brent, Alabama--why? I had to be trusted with little 21:24 things before I got to the big things. And I'm learning that 21:31 the little things take time. But we're raising a generation 21:37 of young people who want everything now. We want instant gratification, 21:46 instant success, instant grits. [Aud. reaction] 21:54 PB: Instant popcorn, instant fast food, instant husbands. 22:02 [Aud. reaction] PB: Instant wives. And we wonder 22:08 why things don't work. It's because we don't take the 22:10 time to go through the process of development. 22:13 People tell me, "Oh, you're at Oakwood now." 22:15 You don't know how I cried. You don't know how I labored. 22:17 You don't know how I would get to the church at 7 a.m. 22:20 everywhere I pastored and stayed there till 7 o'clock 22:23 at night, till the work of God was done. If you're going 22:26 to be in big things, you've got to be faithful in little things. 22:30 Speaking of grits. Most of our young people today 22:36 have never even tasted real grits. The stuff we eat today, 22:40 that ain't real grits. Come on, say amen. Anything you can 22:43 put in a bag and put in a microwave is not the real thing. 22:46 Does anybody know what I'm talking about? 22:48 [Aud. reaction] PB: Young folk don't know anything about 22:49 real biscuits. My momma Marie used to make real biscuits, 22:54 back in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She used to make a thing 22:58 we called tea cakes. Those were real biscuits, because if 23:03 you have to pop a biscuit on the side of a refrigerator to 23:06 get the can open, that's not a biscuit. [laughter] 23:10 PB: It might look like a biscuit, it might smell like 23:16 a biscuit, but it doesn't taste like a real biscuit. 23:21 A real biscuit has to be in a little flour, a little water, 23:25 a little oil. Somebody knows what I'm talking about. 23:29 But somebody knows that the key to real biscuits is not 23:32 in the ingredients, but it's in the handling of the dough. 23:36 So no one say it's not, they don't know what I'm talking about. 23:39 The dough must be handled as little as possible or you will 23:42 have tough biscuits, do you know what I'm talking about? 23:46 This stuff we're eating, they ain't real biscuits. 23:48 Most young people don't understand that. They don't 23:51 understand it takes time. I'm learning. It takes time to 23:56 be a great preacher. Just because you know some Scriptures, 24:00 that doesn't make you a great preacher. It takes time to be 24:04 a great pastor. Just because you have a church doesn't make 24:07 you a great pastor. It takes time to be a great husband. 24:12 Just because you're a male doesn't make you a great man, 24:15 because a man is always a male but a male is not always a man. 24:18 You're a male by birth but a man by choice. 24:21 [Aud. reaction] PB: It takes time to be a good wife. 24:26 Just because you buy a wedding dress doesn't make 24:29 you a great wife. It may make you a great bride but it 24:32 doesn't make you a great wife. Are you hearing what I'm saying? 24:35 That in order to be blessed with big things, you've got to 24:39 be faithful in little things. Let me further illustrate- 24:43 -last illustration. Whenever I'm making an assessment about 24:47 the quality and integrity of a person I'm going to talk to, 24:51 do business with or deal with--'cause we all have to deal 24:56 with business--I never evaluate them on how they treat me. 25:01 Listen to me. I never evaluate them based on how they treat me, 25:06 because they will look at me and treat me a different way because 25:10 I'm the pastor, than how they treat somebody else. Why? 25:14 Because they need something from me. So, when I look at you, 25:20 and I'm talking to you, I don't necessarily go by how you treat me, 25:25 I go by how you treat somebody else. Never judge a person by 25:31 how they treat somebody they think they need. Always watch 25:35 how they treat somebody they don't need. 25:37 I'm doing the best I can. Did they tip the skycap at the airport? 25:46 Were they nice to your secretary? Were they nice to the house people? 25:55 Did they leave a tip for the waitress or waiter? How do they 26:01 speak to the waitress or the waiter? I'm not really evaluating 26:06 how you talk to me, but when you turned your head and you 26:10 talked to him or her, how did you speak? Because it tells 26:15 me that as soon as you get used to me, you're going to treat 26:19 me the same way you've treated him and you've treated her. 26:24 Do I have a witness in this place? 26:26 Don't despise little things. Don't play down little things. 26:33 Don't despise what you perceived to be little people, 26:37 because big things come in small packages. 26:41 Aud.: Amen. PB: Why else, when faced with a giant 26:45 like Goliath would God step past all those soldiers 26:49 who had been in training? Why would God pass up mighty 26:53 gladiating soldiers of Israel and say, "I don't want you." 26:59 And then go get a little shepherd boy, who was out in the 27:04 field taking care of sheep. But God sends him out to 27:11 fight a giant. You've got a boy over here, 27:16 and a giant over there. The boy is winding up his slingshot. 27:22 He doesn't even have a sword in his hand. He's got a rock 27:27 in his hand, and he says, "I come at you in the name of the Lord." 27:34 The giant laughed at first, until he found out about the power 27:40 of a little things; that big things do come in small packages. 27:46 You're saying, "Lord, I don't have but a little bit." 27:50 But God says, "All I need is a little bit. I'm going to use 27:54 the little things." All Gideon needed was 300 men. 27:59 All the little boy needed were two fish and five loaves of bread. 28:02 All David needed were five smooth stones. You'd better tell 28:07 somebody that God can use little things. I should warn you today 28:12 about looking over little things. I should warn you about 28:16 stepping over what you think are little things. 28:18 Thank you for joining us for another exciting 28:19 Breath of Life television broadcast. 28:21 Tune in next week at the same time, 28:23 as Dr. Byrd will deliver another dynamic message from the Lord, 28:26 just for you. Until next time, may God bless you. |
Revised 2016-12-02