Participants: Dwight K Nelson
Series Code: NP
Program Code: NP171118A
|
00:00 ♪♪
00:09 >> ♪ Oh come, let us sing to the Lord ♪ 00:14 >> ♪ Come, let us everyone ♪ 00:19 ♪ A joyful noise make to the rock of our salvation ♪ ♪ Let us before his presence 00:33 come with praise and thankful voice ♪ ♪ Let us sing songs of grace to 00:43 him and make a joyful noise ♪ >> Please stand for the responsive reading, which is 00:56 found on page 8 of your bulletins. "The Call to Joy," taken from 01:02 Psalm 100. Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands. 01:11 Serve the Lord with gladness. Come before his presence with singing. 01:17 Know that the Lord -- he is God. It is he who has made us and not we ourselves. 01:24 We are his people and the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with 01:30 thanksgiving and enter his courts with praise. Be thankful to him and bless his 01:36 name, for the Lord is good, his mercy is everlasting, and his truth endures to all 01:44 generations. 14:30 >> ♪ Dear Christians, one and all, rejoice ♪ ♪ With exultation springing ♪ 14:40 ♪ And with united heart and voice ♪ ♪ And holy rapture singing ♪ 14:50 ♪ Proclaim the wonders God has done ♪ ♪ How His right arm the victory 15:00 won ♪ ♪ What price the ransom cost Him ♪ 15:09 ♪ But God had seen my wretched state ♪ ♪ Before the world's 15:17 foundation ♪ ♪ And mindful of His mercies great ♪ 15:25 ♪ He planned for my salvation ♪ ♪ He turned to me our Father's heart ♪ 15:36 ♪ He did not choose the easy part ♪ ♪ But gave his dearest 15:44 treasure ♪ 15:56 ♪ Grant peace, we pray, in mercy, Lord ♪ ♪ Peace in our time, oh, send 16:10 us ♪ ♪ For there is none on Earth but you ♪ 16:24 ♪ None other to defend us ♪ 16:38 ♪ You only, Lord, can fight for us ♪ ♪ Amen ♪ 17:03 ♪ Grant peace, we pray, in mercy, Lord ♪ ♪ Peace in our time, oh, send 17:18 us ♪ ♪ For there is none on Earth but you ♪ 17:33 ♪ None other to defend us ♪ 17:50 ♪ You only, Lord, can fight for us ♪ ♪ Amen ♪ 18:32 ♪ O Lord, we praise Thee, bless Thee, and adore Thee ♪ ♪ In thanksgiving, 18:40 bow before Thee ♪ ♪ Thou with Thy body and Thy blood didst nourish ♪ 18:50 ♪ Our weak souls that they may flourish ♪ ♪ O Lord, have mercy ♪ 19:05 ♪ May Thy body, Lord, born of Mary ♪ ♪ That our sins and sorrows did 19:17 carry ♪ ♪ And Thy blood for us plead ♪ ♪ In all trial, fear, and need ♪ 19:36 ♪ O Lord, have mercy ♪ 19:49 >> Thank you, Choir. Beautiful. We needed that. 500 years old, those hymns. 19:54 500 years old. So, the title of our Thanksgiving homily today, "You 19:59 Turned My Mourning Into Dancing: The Habitude of Gratitude." 20:05 You know what the habitude of gratitude is? 20:07 Let me read to you a first-person account from a 20:12 gentleman named Scott Macaulay. Here it is. 20:16 "When I was 24, my folks decided to get divorced. 20:20 I was taught that, to be a good son, I needed to be supportive 20:23 and loving to each parent and to my siblings, but nobody was 20:26 talking to anybody. 20:28 If you were nice to one parent, the other one would get mad at you. 20:31 And, so, when October came, I thought, 'What's going to happen at Thanksgiving?' 20:36 And I just did not like the thought of being home alone -- or anywhere alone -- on 20:40 Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is not about gifts or fireworks or hoopla. 20:43 It's a meal around a table where you give thanks for the blessings you have. 20:47 And you really can't do that by yourself and have much fun. So I decided to put an ad in the 20:51 local paper. If people thought they would find themselves alone, they 20:55 could give me a call, and I would make a Thanksgiving dinner. 20:59 That first year, a few people came, and they had a good time. I was nervous about making a 21:03 mess out of the food and disappointing the people, but the food was okay, and I didn't 21:07 burn anything. I've held the dinner every year since 1985. 21:17 Last Thanksgiving, 84 people showed up. Sometimes, they're new to town. 21:23 Sometimes, they're recently divorced or widowed. I've had people who were new to 21:26 the country and didn't speak any English, but they enjoyed my Thanksgiving dinner. 21:30 I've had poor people, people who come from AA, old people. Also not counted within that 21:35 number -- I always feed the police. The firefighters and EMTs are in 21:39 buildings with kitchens and can have their own Thanksgiving dinner among themselves, but the 21:44 police officers are in their cars, driving around town on call. 21:48 Two years ago, a woman with Parkinson's disease came, and she was not good on her feet. 21:53 She had been in a nursing home for seven years and had never been out. 22:01 Somebody told her about the dinner, and she hired an ambulance to bring her, at $200, 22:08 plus mileage. She had a great time and she cried when the ambulance 22:14 returned to get her. She didn't want to go home. Most of the people who come 22:22 don't know who I am. They know there's some skinny guy in the kitchen, but they 22:26 don't know my name. I think the theme of my life and everything I do could be summed 22:30 up with the name of an old hymn called 'Brighten the Corner Where You Are.' 22:37 >> ♪ Brighten the corner where you are ♪ ♪ Brighten the corner 22:44 where you are ♪ >> Beautiful. Beautiful. >> ♪ Someone far from harbor 22:48 You may guide across the bar ♪ ♪ Brighten the corner where you are ♪ 22:57 >> Bravo! They got me by surprise. They got me. That's beautiful. 23:02 Yeah, it's just a glorious, glorious hymn. "So, I hope my legacy will be 23:08 that I came into the world, I brightened a corner, and then I quietly left the world 23:15 unnoticed." Isn't that beautiful? That's the habitude of 23:19 gratitude. That word "habitude" -- that's not a new word. 23:22 That goes back to the old Middle English. That would be the mid-1500s. 23:26 And it meant and means "an act or an attitude that becomes a habit." 23:31 So, we have Scott, who takes this attitude of gratitude and says, "1985." 23:37 It's become a habit for him. Question is -- is it a habit for you? 23:42 Is it a habit for me? Let's make it one. Let's go. Come on. 23:47 Blow the dust off of that ancient chapter in your Bible, Jeremiah 31. 23:51 When was the last time you've even been to Jeremiah, let alone Jeremiah 31? 23:55 But let's go. Let's go. The habitude of gratitude. See if you can spot it right 24:01 here. Jeremiah 31. All right? Pick it up from Verse 3. 24:06 "And the Lord appeared to us in the past, saying, 'I have loved you with an everlasting love. 24:13 I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.'" Ooh, I love that. 24:17 That's the language of the cross. It's beautiful. 24:21 "'I loved you forever.'" Verse 4. "'I will build you up again, and 24:26 you, virgin Israel, will be rebuilt. Again, you will take up your 24:31 timbrels and go out to dance with the joyful.'" Do you know what a timbrel is? 24:38 A timbrel -- This is my surprise to you. [ Laughter ] 24:43 A timbrel is this. This is what? This is a tambourine. 24:49 In fact, I love the way the New Revised Standard renders 24:52 this line. Let's put it on the screen. 24:53 "You shall take your tambourines and go forth in the dance of the 24:58 merrymakers." 25:01 And, by the way, you can't play the tambourine when you're sad. "Oh, I'm so sad." 25:10 Are you kidding? When Miriam and the women on the other side of the Red Sea -- 25:14 when they break out into song, what did they pull out? They started dancing. Oops. 25:20 [ Laughter ] And that's just what we read. "The Dance of the Merrymakers." 25:26 Now, it's not over. Go to Verse 13. 25:28 "'Then young women will dance and be glad. 25:33 Young men and old, as well --" NRSV says -- "shall be 25:37 merrymakers. And I --" Here it comes again. 25:41 "I will turn their mourning into gladness." 25:44 But does that sound familiar? We were just on Psalm 30 last 25:47 week. It's almost a verbatim. 25:49 "I will turn their mourning into gladness and I will give them 25:52 comfort and joy, instead of sorrow." 25:56 ♪ You turned my mourning into dancing again ♪ ♪ You lifted my sorr...♪ 26:03 I guess I'm the only one that knows that one. All right. 26:06 [ Laughter ] Anyway, could it be, though, that our problem is -- we've 26:13 learned the wrong song? We're singing the wrong song. You say, "What are you talking 26:19 about, Dwight?" Okay. Ever heard of a group called the 26:22 Twenty One Pilots? Yeah. If you're young, you have. They released a song back in 26:30 2015. That year, it climbed up to number 2 in Billboard's Top 100, 26:36 all right? That song is titled "Stressed Out." 26:43 It is a YouTube video. I'm not gonna tell you if I've watched it. 26:46 It is a YouTube music-video hit that has now accumulated 1.134 billion views. 26:57 Apparently, people around the world are identifying with their words. 27:03 It's the story of two brothers who grow up. They're in their 20s, but they 27:07 wish they were kids again. They're riding these big wheels down a suburban street in 27:14 Columbus, Ohio. They're sipping Capri Suns with straws. 27:18 And then they start singing. ♪ We used to play pretend, give each other different names ♪ 27:23 ♪ We used to build a rocket ship and then we'd fly it far away ♪ ♪ Used to dream of outer space, 27:26 but now they're laughin' at our face ♪ ♪ Saying, "Wake up, you need to 27:29 make money!", yeah ♪ ♪ We wish we could turn back time to the good old days ♪ 27:35 ♪ When our mama sang us to sleep, but now we're stressed out ♪ 27:38 ♪ We're stressed out ♪ And that goes on for 5 minutes. [ Laughter ] 27:46 The psychologist and writer Jean Twenge, in her new book, "iGen" -- And we referenced that 27:51 book last week. "iGen" -- a very careful analysis of a new generation now 27:56 being born between 1995 and 2012. You just do the arithmetic. 28:02 It's the average college student, because it starts at 22 and then it goes to 21, then to 28:08 20, 19, and 18. It's the slice called "college students." 28:12 And she's calling them iGenners. And I think the moniker's gonna stick. 28:16 She writes about this song. The words are on the screen. 28:20 "The song 'Stressed Out' captures this possible link 28:23 between growing up slowly and mental-health issues." 28:26 IGenners don't get their driver's licenses as soon as 28:30 Millennials did. They're not leaving the house as 28:32 soon as Millennials. They're not dating as soon as 28:34 Millennials. She's saying, "Is there a 28:35 connection between this slow maturation and mental-health 28:38 issues. Now, she goes on. 28:40 "As Asbury University student Alyssa Driscoll wrote, "The song 28:45 'Stressed Out' has exactly what we're thinking written in it. 28:50 It really GETS US.'" Those are her caps. 28:53 And what is it about iGenners that sets them apart? 28:56 Twenge again on the screen. "IGen is on the verge of the 28:59 most severe mental-health crisis for young people in decades. 29:03 On the surface, though, everything is fine." 29:06 Take Laura. She looked at Laura's 29:09 social-media account photos. Try to guess her age. 29:14 Twenge on the screen again, quoting Laura. 29:17 "In Laura's profile picture, she's a girl with wavy brown 29:20 hair who looks no more than 16." Probably 20, 21. 29:23 "Her site is titled 'A Depressed-Person life.' 29:26 Her pain is starkly evident in her posts, which include --" 29:30 Here's one post. "'That's how depression hits. 29:33 You wake up one morning afraid that you're gonna live." 29:37 Here's another one. "I don't know why I'm so stupid. 29:40 I don't know why I'm so sad." And here comes the third one. 29:44 "They all look so expletive happy to me. 29:46 Why couldn't I look like that?" Twenge goes on. 29:49 "The web page's title appeared as one apt word -- 'broken.'" 29:57 "Wish we could turn back time to the good old days," but, of course, none of us can -- not 30:01 iGenners, not Millennials, not Gen Xers, not Boomers, not senior citizens. 30:07 Nobody can turn time back. "We're stressed out," the Twenty One Pilots sang. 30:14 "We're broken," as Laura recorded in her web page. So, here's the question. 30:21 What's the antidote for this generational darkness that seems to hold us? 30:25 I've got to read those words again. "I have loved you with an 30:31 everlasting love. I've loved you forever. I have drawn you with unfailing 30:35 kindness. I'll build you up again, you, virgin Israel. 30:39 You'll be rebuilt. Again, you will take up your tambourines and go forth in the 30:45 dance of the merrymakers. The young women will dance and be glad. 30:49 The young men and old, as well, shall be merry, for I will turn your mourning into gladness. 30:56 I will give you comfort and joy, instead of sorrow." Wow. 31:02 A friend of mine gave me a book a few weeks ago. I read it. 31:08 One line -- there's only one line that I've memorized. And I have to share this line 31:12 with you. The book is written by the well-known author and pastor and 31:17 theologian Gregory Boyd, up in Minneapolis. The title of the book -- 31:21 "Present Perfect: Finding God in the Now." There's a fascinating premise 31:25 that he develops. Kind of like a philosopher, just kind of develops this all the 31:28 way through the book. And here's the premise. I need you to get it. 31:32 The premise is this. "Now -- now -- is the only moment of reality you possess. 31:39 Just now. The past is gone." Right? The past is gone. The future's not here. 31:44 "You only have now." This is the only moment God has to interface with you and 31:51 connect. He only has this moment right now, right now. 31:55 That's why he's called "The Great I Am." He's not "The Great I Was." 31:59 He's not "The Great I Will Be." He's "The Great I Am." "I'm in this moment with you. 32:04 I love you right now. I love you with an everlasting love, a forever kind of love. 32:08 I am drawing you. Forever, I'm drawing you, with unfailing kindness, to me. 32:13 I just want -- This is the only moment you and I have. I just want to connect with you 32:18 right now. I want to hear you talk, and I'll listen. 32:20 And then I want you to hear me talk, and you listen. I don't care where you are. 32:24 I don't care when it is. It doesn't matter to me who you may be. 32:29 I need this moment. This is the only moment we have together. 32:34 Look, look. When your depression hurts so bad, it feels like dying, let me 32:45 have that moment with you. I can turn your mourning into dancing again. 32:49 Let me feel your pain. When it seems your body cannot survive another day because of 32:58 all that nature has inflicted on you, I am with you. Let me have that moment. 33:05 Connect with me. Let me connect with you. Let me feel your fear and let me 33:12 turn your mourning into dancing." And then, to help us understand 33:17 that we can connect with God in the only moment we have, which is right now, Gregory Boyd 33:23 writes a line -- And this is the only line I remember from the book. 33:27 And the line has been so profound for me, I've been saying it again and again and 33:32 again. 33:34 And lookit -- they've already put it on the screen for us. 33:37 That's the line right there. "My life is Christ. 33:42 Nothing else really matters." 33:45 I have one moment to live, and it's right now. You say, "Dwight, how could I 33:50 live this moment right now, and God is talking to me?" I don't know, but it works. 33:54 He's talking to me right now while I'm talking to you. I have to just keep talking. 33:57 I can't stop to think of what he's saying. He's just saying, "Dwight, I'm 34:01 here. I'm here, boy. I'm with you. You're with me." 34:07 You may be driving down the road. He's talking to you. 34:10 You may be taking a final exam. He's talking to you. He won't be giving you the 34:13 answers, but he's talking to you. You may be in the middle of 34:17 performing surgery. He's talking to you. "That's the only moment, Doc. 34:20 That's the only moment you and I have. That's it -- now. 34:25 Let me have this moment with you." "My life is Christ." 34:28 Ooh, I love that. "Nothing else really matters." You say, "Oh, come on, Dwight. 34:33 How will that turn my mourning into dancing? How does that get me out of my 34:38 depression? What's that have to do with the habitude of gratitude?" 34:42 Everything. Watch this. I want to end with three emotional nuggets. 34:45 I'm going to share with you three emotional-health nuggets. Last week, we shared three 34:50 mental-health nuggets. These are three ways for you to connect with God immediately, 34:56 right now, so that Gregory Boyd's line can remain your line, as it is mine. 35:01 "My life is Christ. Nothing else really matters." So, here they are, from that 35:06 little classic, "Ministry of Healing." Boy, to just read the chapter 35:09 "Mind Cure," oh, there is so much that I have left out from that chapter. 35:12 But let's go. Emotional health -- And, by the way, you have a study guide, and 35:16 this is all in your study guide. You will have to fill a few words in, if the quotation means 35:19 anything to you. Here we go. Emotional-health nugget 35:22 number 1. 35:23 "When you open your eyes in the morning, thank God that he has 35:28 kept you through the night." Isn't that beautiful? 35:31 First thing you think of, you thank God. 35:33 "Thank him for his peace in your heart. 35:35 Morning, noon, and night, let gratitude --" There's your 35:39 habitude of gratitude. "Let gratitude, as a sweet 35:42 perfume, ascend to heaven." Hey, listen, guys, when we wake 35:45 up in the morning, if the first thought is, "God, thank you. 35:49 I'm here." That starts "My life is Christ. 35:54 Nothing else really matters. The day starts. 35:58 Here comes emotional-health nugget number 2. 36:00 Also from "Ministry of Healing." "One of the surest --" This is 36:04 vital for some of you. "One of the surest hindrances to 36:07 the recovery of the sick --" And that would be physically sick or 36:10 emotionally sick. "One of the surest hindrances is 36:13 the centering of attention upon themselves," upon yourself. 36:18 "Many invalids feel that everyone should give them 36:21 sympathy and help when what the sick person -- mentally or 36:24 emotionally or physically -- "what that individual needs is 36:28 to have her attention turned away from herself, to thank of 36:33 and care for others." That's a big deal. 36:36 Look at Scott. Remember Scott? His parents divorce, blue funk. 36:40 "What am I gonna do? I'll open my home up." 36:44 He seized the moment and said, "I've got to take the spotlight 36:48 off of me. I want to think of others." 36:52 Habitude of gratitude -- he found it. 36:55 And -- oh, by the way -- when you do that -- whew! -- there's 36:58 a bonus in it for you. Just a few sentences later. 37:01 Put it on the screen for you. "Good deeds --" that you do -- 37:04 "are twice a blessing, benefiting both the giver and 37:08 the receiver of the kindness." A double blessing. 37:11 You're blessing them and you're blessing yourself. 37:14 Keep reading. "The consciousness of 37:15 right-doing is one of the best medicines for diseased bodies 37:18 and minds." Keep reading. 37:20 "When the mind is free and happy, from a sense of duty well 37:23 done and the satisfaction of giving happiness --" to whom? 37:27 To whom? To others, not to yourself. 37:29 It's not about me. It's about you. 37:31 "Giving happiness to others, the cheering, uplifting influence 37:36 brings new life to your whole being." 37:40 "My life is Christ. Nothing else really matters." And, Jesus, you just love 37:46 people, 'cause you love me. So I'm gonna love people just like you. 37:51 Yep. You and me. We'll just move through this space, this campus, this 37:55 community, this world. We'll just move through, looking for people to love. 37:59 And I'll love them for you. Wow. You know what you've got to do, don't you? 38:08 Well, you're gonna need emotional-health nugget number 3. 38:14 Here's what you can do. 38:16 "Let praise and thanksgiving be expressed in song. 38:21 When tempted, instead of giving utterance to our feelings, let 38:24 us, by faith, lift up a song of --" What? 38:26 A song of what? A song of thanksgiving. 38:28 It's not a one day of the year. It's not a one week of the year. 38:31 It's not a one month of the year. 38:33 It's 24/7, a song of thanksgiving. 38:39 The habitude of gratitude. Don't let your feelings let you 38:41 down. Don't let your feelings put you 38:43 down. Push those feelings -- Remember 38:45 last week -- feelings have to follow behavior, and singing is 38:48 a behavior. If you start singing, I don't 38:50 care how you sing or whether you can carry a tune in a bucket, 38:53 nobody cares. You just start singing to 38:55 yourself, and that will push those feelings back. 38:57 And now you assert, "My life is Christ. 39:02 Nothing else matters, not even this that I'm going through." It does not ultimately matter, 39:08 because I have Jesus. I have Jesus." So, when we were with our kids 39:13 and our granddaughter Ella this summer, out in Oregon, I did something I didn't tell anybody 39:21 in the family about. One day, when I was alone -- Papa was alone with Ella. 39:24 She just turned 4 a couple weeks ago. I taught her a song that she had 39:29 never learned before. I said, "Elle, Papa's gonna teach you a song." 39:34 ♪ I have decided to follow Jesus ♪ ♪ I have decided ♪ 39:41 Yeah, you know the song. It's a beautiful song. And Elle -- she picked it up. 39:46 She just picked -- ♪ No turning back ♪ ♪ No turning back ♪ 39:49 She got it down. So, we went to watch Fourth of July fireworks. 39:51 So, we're coming back late at night. Kirk and Chelsea are up front. 39:54 Kirk's driving. And Karen and I are packed in the back with Ella's car seat 39:57 between us. And I thought, "Man, it's dark. I'm just gonna try to --" So, I 40:01 leaned over to Ella and I said, "Ella... ♪ I have decided...♪ 40:08 And God bless her little heart. She picked up on that cue at the top of her lungs. 40:13 I tell you the truth. She starts singing out... ♪ I have decided 40:20 to follow Jesus! ♪ That's how she calls Jesus. I hope he doesn't mind. 40:24 "Jeeesus!" Her mother is so startled. Chelsea whirls around. 40:29 "What is happening?" And then she realizes. Ella's just singing away. 40:35 So, stifling a smile, she grabs her cellphone and she's taking a picture of the whole thing. 40:40 By the time little Ella -- No kidding. By the time little Ella was 40:43 through, the whole car is smiling. "I have decided to follow Jesus. 40:49 No turning back. No turning back." You know what? 40:52 I have a feeling that's the way it is with our Father in Heaven. When you and I, in spite of the 40:58 depression we are mourning our way through, in spite of the joy we are dancing our way through, 41:04 when you and I throw back our little shoulders, raise our little heads to him, and, in our 41:10 little voices, we sing out the praise of Jesus, I have a feeling the Father's face just 41:17 beams in a smile. You can't hear that kind of singing and not everybody in the 41:21 car will be smiling. Everybody in Heaven, yeah. "My life is Christ." 41:27 I wish he'd put this one to song. "My life is Christ. 41:32 Nothing else really matters." Ladies and gentlemen, put that to song, just your own little 41:39 song, and it will be this new habitude of gratitude. 41:45 It will make all the difference in this frenetic holiday season 41:51 that begins right now -- "My life is Christ. 41:56 Nothing else really matters." Amen. 42:01 >> All: Amen. >> Amen. 56:25 >> And now may the God of Grace, who has granted you every blessing through the love of 56:29 Christ, his son, in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, empower you to live with the 56:35 habitude of gratitude -- not only for a day or for a week, but for a lifetime of 56:41 thanksgiving. Now to Him be the glory, to all generations, world without end. 56:48 Let all God's people say... >> All: Amen. >> Amen. 56:53 ♪♪ >> ♪ Now thank, we all, our God ♪ 57:18 >> We've been really blessed by the financial support that comes 57:20 from our viewers, and we've made a conscious decision not to 57:23 continually appeal to you for that support. 57:25 The fact is, as everyone in the industry will tell you, we're 57:29 needing to make constant upgrades to our technology. 57:31 So if God has blessed you and you'd like to further the work 57:34 of this ministry, we invite you to partner with us. 57:37 Not a single penny of your donation will go to me. 57:40 Every bit of your gift goes to the mission, of blessing your 57:43 community and our world. You can donate on our website, 57:46 newperceptions.tv, or call the number. 57:49 You know the number -- 877-HIS-WILL. 57:51 Again, that number is 877-HIS-WILL. 57:56 And may the God who has blessed you continue to pour into your 58:00 life the gifts of his joy and his hope. 58:02 Thank you. And I'm looking forward to 58:04 seeing you right here again next time. 58:09 ♪♪ |
Revised 2017-11-22