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Is Something Missing from Your Thanksgiving? (Psalm 116)
56 Plays3 years ago
Is Something Missing from Your Thanksgiving? (Psalm 116)
Growing in Grace Devotions and Inspirations
Hosted by Pastor Victor Morrison
First Baptist Church
1700 Milam Street
Columbus, TX, USA 78934
http://fbccolumbustx.org/
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Transcript
Introduction to 'Growing in Grace' Ministry
00:00:08
Speaker
Welcome to Growing in Grace with Pastor Victor Morrison. This is a ministry of First Baptist Church located at 1700 Milam Street, Columbus, Texas. We are praying that God will bless you as you listen to this message. If you would like additional information on worship times and ministries at FBC Columbus, you can find out more at our website, FBCColumbusTX.org.
The 'Sacrifice of Thanksgiving' in Scripture
00:00:32
Speaker
And now take your copy of God's timeless word as Pastor Victor gives today's message.
00:00:43
Speaker
Welcome to Growing Grace. Hey, I've got an exciting topic today, giving thanks. What is the sacrifice of Thanksgiving? You know, that term sacrifice of Thanksgiving was first mentioned in Leviticus chapter 7 verses 11 through 15. It was actually a peace offering motivated by Thanksgiving.
00:01:05
Speaker
And I thought it was interesting because it was totally a voluntary offering. It was not required by God. It's just someone so happy of how God has blessed them that they don't feel obligated. They just want to offer it.
Lessons from the Thankful Leper
00:01:19
Speaker
Well, in Psalm 116, David says, I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of the Lord. This is exciting. So I want us to look at that Psalm together.
00:01:34
Speaker
And I want you to think about how you're going to celebrate Thanksgiving. We're coming up on that time of the year. But you know, really, we are to live in Thanksgiving every day. So no matter when you're listening to this podcast, I pray that this day you would want to live in Thanksgiving. But sometimes Thanksgiving is missing.
00:01:55
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You know, in Luke 17 verses 11 through 19, there were 10 lepers who were healed, and yet only one of them came back. So something was missing in the other nine. But that one man returned to offer thanks to the Lord.
00:02:12
Speaker
You know, sometimes I feel like we're so focused on all the delicious food and rightfully so. We enjoy the blessings that we have here in our country. We enjoy celebrating Thanksgiving. Sometimes we are able to have extended family over. So we have a great time there. Those of us that
00:02:32
Speaker
enjoy college football. Well, we're going to be watching some of the games. Kids are out of school. Some men like to go deer hunting. Some women or men both want to go shopping on Black Friday. And nothing wrong with all these things. It's just that if you got all those things,
00:02:52
Speaker
and yet you're missing offering up thanksgiving to God, then I would submit to you that something's missing.
King Hezekiah's Prayer for Healing
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Speaker
So the historical background on this Psalm 116 is in the personal experience of a man named Hezekiah. He was a king, king of Judah.
00:03:11
Speaker
If you wanted to listen to this in surround sound, then you could listen to it in 2 Kings 20, verses 1-11, 2 Chronicles 32, verses 24-26, Isaiah 38, or right here in Psalm 116.
00:03:33
Speaker
But what happened, this man Hezekiah was diagnosed with a terminal illness. And so the prophet Isaiah went to visit him and said, you better set your house in order because you're about to die. These were shocking words to this king because he was one of the good guys. This guy was actually really a good king. And so it's like, how can this happen?
00:03:56
Speaker
Well, that's what we're going to be looking at today in Psalm 116. We're going to follow in his footsteps as he takes us to the altar and he offers up to God this sacrifice of thanksgiving. Let me read it and then I'll break it down for us. He says, I love the Lord because he has heard my voice and my pleas for mercy because he inclined his ear to me. Therefore,
00:04:24
Speaker
I'll call on Him as long as I live. The snares of death encompass me. The pangs of Sheol laid hold on me. I suffered distress and anguish. Then I called on the name of the Lord. Oh Lord, I pray deliver my soul.
00:04:43
Speaker
Gracious is the Lord and righteous. Our God is merciful. The Lord preserves the simple. When I was brought low, He saved me. Return all my soul to your rest, for the Lord is dealt bountifully with you. For you have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling. I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living.
00:05:11
Speaker
I believed, even when I spoke, I'm greatly afflicted. I said in my alarm, all mankind are liars. What shall I render to the Lord for all His benefits to me? I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all His people. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints. O Lord,
00:05:41
Speaker
I am your servant. I am your servant, the son of your maidservant. You have loosed my bonds. I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all His people.
00:06:01
Speaker
in the courts of the house of the Lord, in your midst, O Jerusalem, praise the Lord." Isn't that a great Psalm? I just love that one. Well, let's dig into it. I want to share a few things because maybe you're thinking, well, that's great for him. He was one of the Bible superheroes. He never had any problems. Well, let's just wait a minute. Let's remember what he just told us in his personal testimony recorded here in Psalm 116.
00:06:31
Speaker
You see, he did have problems. I want you to notice first the adversity that was beneath his thanksgiving. There was adversity there. Remember, he had been told he was going to die. And so this was a very shocking thing for him. We can learn how serious his adversity was in verses 3 and 8.
00:06:54
Speaker
When he says, the pains of death surrounded me, and the pains of Sheol laid hold of me, for you have delivered my soul from death. See, this guy's going through painful adversity, physical adversity, even terminal adversity.
00:07:11
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But he feels pain. Have you ever read any books that talk about how pain is actually a gift from God? Do you know that some illnesses are silent? They're like silent killers. But do you know that God, most cases he's given us the gift of pain.
00:07:29
Speaker
And that pain calls our attention to something. You see, he's going through some emotional adversity here as he talks about his, you know, all he's feeling like his eyes are experiencing tears, he said. So he's definitely feeling the pain of it all. There's spiritual adversity too because he's talking about his soul.
00:07:51
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And there must have been social adversity because he said, I said in haste, all men are liars. He's probably talking about the Assyrians if this really was Hezekiah.
00:08:03
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But you know, what is it that we do whenever we have pain? I think that God is calling us to take our problems and our pain to Him in prayer. And so whenever you're experiencing adversity, let it be a call to go to the Lord in prayer. Hezekiah felt that all of his problems were a call to prayer.
00:08:30
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You know, does God choose to answer prayers for problems immediately, always with a yes, always and every time with a miracle?
Understanding God's Responses to Prayers
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No, he doesn't. You know, as a matter of fact, Hezekiah didn't know how this was gonna turn out. In 2 Chronicles 20, verses two and three, this godly king turned his face to the wall and he prayed to the Lord. And it says he wept bitterly.
00:08:59
Speaker
No wonder. I mean, this man's hurting. So what he does with his pain, what he does with his problem, what he does with this diagnosis was he takes it to God in prayer. I encourage you to do that. Even this season of thanksgiving, if you're hurting, take that to God. You see, I like it because it tells me
00:09:21
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when he came to attention that he needed to pray about something. It says then, I circled that word in my Bible. See, when adversity arose in his life, he said, you know what, now is the time for me to pray about this. What did he give his attention to? Did he give his attention to the Assyrians? Nope. Did he give his attention to a doctor, to his health?
00:09:49
Speaker
Nope. What about to his cabinet? I'm sure these were serious times with the Assyrians coming against Judah. No, he didn't give his attention to a counselor, even though he was under stress. What he says here is, then I called upon the name of the Lord. What a great choice.
00:10:11
Speaker
Who did he give his attention to? Well, he tells us, I gave my attention to the Lord. And how did he give his attention? Well, he says he implored. He implored the Lord, deliver my soul. Wow. You know, there are some times in life that you don't mind just getting rid of the formalities, getting rid of the platitudes, and you just out and out cry out to God.
00:10:36
Speaker
Man, it's a great way to do it. You know, Jesus gave us a promise in Matthew 6.6. He said, go into your room, shut the door, and you pray. And if you'll pray in secret, in private, then he said you'll be rewarded openly. God's listening whenever we pray. When we give our attention to pray, I want you to know he's listening. And so that's actually the third point that I wanted us to look at, answers to our prayers.
00:11:06
Speaker
You know, Hezekiah would have given Jesus an amen had he read those words in Matthew 6-6 about how God would reward us openly, because he discovered that attention to prayer leads to answers to prayer.
00:11:21
Speaker
You see, the big idea that's impossible to miss if you read through Psalm 116, no matter how many times you read through it, it's gonna be so obvious. You're gonna say, look at how God answered that man's prayers. That's incredible. I mean, remember me talking about listening to it in surround sound from the other three cross-references? Well, let's pretend that it's like on split screens.
00:11:51
Speaker
You could look at 2 Kings 20, 2 Chronicles 32, Isaiah 38, or Psalm 116, and you know what you're gonna see on each one of those screens? God healed Hezekiah. God healed Hezekiah. God healed Hezekiah. God healed Hezekiah. Does he always choose to heal? Well, I'm not saying he always chooses to heal, but certainly when we get to heaven,
00:12:20
Speaker
There's no more sickness. There's no more pain. There's no more death. So if you look at ultimately, yes, he does always choose to heal his children. But in this life, on this earth, well, no, I don't think he always chooses to heal. But if we never talk to him, we'll never know whether he would have answered that prayer or not.
00:12:40
Speaker
So I want to give you just a few things about God's answers to prayer. The first thing I want you to notice is he says to us in verse 1 that God heard my prayer. That's what Hezekiah would go on record as saying. He says because he's heard my voice and my supplications. Wow.
00:13:02
Speaker
You know what's really sad? I used to serve as a missionary in Japan, and I would see people praying to statues or to trees or to rocks. And I thought to myself, those trees and rocks, they cannot hear those idols. They cannot hear.
00:13:21
Speaker
But whenever we pray to the true and the living God, He hears because He lives. And so what a wonderful thing it is that He would say, God heard my prayer. You know, as a matter of fact, I really believe that Psalm 116 is like a personal testimony.
00:13:41
Speaker
You know, there are 37 times he uses the personal pronoun, I, or my, or me. And so here we hear him saying, God heard my voice. He heard my supplications. Listen, friend, I want to tell you, God is going to listen
Trust and Gratitude in Prayer
00:14:00
Speaker
to you. When you bow your head, you bow your heart, and you open up your life to Him, God's going to hear you.
00:14:08
Speaker
But that's not all. The other thing I like is that verse 2 he says, because he has inclined his ear to me. You know what that word inclined means? In the Hebrew it meant to lean over, to bend down. Remember when your children were toddlers and you would kneel down, you would crouch down and look them right in the eye.
00:14:32
Speaker
and say, you know what? I just care about you. I just love you. You mean so much to me. Do you know that God is the Lord God Almighty created the heavens and the earth?
00:14:43
Speaker
But whenever we talk to him, whenever he answers us, I want you to know he comes down and he looks us in the eyes and he said, you know what? I love you so much, way more than you could ever know. No wonder he says in a place like 1 Peter 5.7, cast all your cares upon me. Why does he say we should cast all our cares upon him? Well, he goes on to say in 1 Peter 5.7, because
00:15:12
Speaker
He cares for you. That's a wonderful thing. God hears me. He cares for me. And then, of course, God answers me. He said, you've delivered my soul from death. Hezekiah, get this. Hezekiah was told, you're going to live 15 more years.
00:15:31
Speaker
Wow, what would you do with 15 more years if God gave you an answer to a prayer? Perhaps you were praying. Oh Lord, they're saying I won't make it. But what if you called upon him and he answered you? You know, sometimes he doesn't always answer like I was saying earlier with a yes answer. Sometimes his answer is no. But even when he says no,
00:15:56
Speaker
Trust him. His character, he loves you. His no is a loving no because it's not his best for us. Other times, it's neither yes nor no. You know what it is? Wait. It's wait. Yeah, I know what you're wanting, but it's not the right time. Not now. Other times, his answer is not yes and not no, and it's not even wait. You know what it is?
00:16:25
Speaker
Not that, but this. It's an answer, but he's saying, you're wanting this, but I've got something else for you right now. But then also, God gave more. God gave so much more than Hezekiah prayed. You know, did Hezekiah ask, oh Lord, give me one more day. Oh Lord, give me one more week, one more month, one more year.
00:16:49
Speaker
Give me five years? I don't know what he prayed, but all I know is when God answered, he gave him more than he prayed. He says, return to your rest, O my soul, for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you. So I don't know what you're praying for in your life right now, but all I can tell you is,
00:17:08
Speaker
If he can feed 5,000 people and there's 12 baskets full of fish and loaves of bread left over, all I know is that's the way our God is. He always does more. It's not always materially more or physically more, but I guarantee you, you're not gonna be short-changed, not with a God like this Lord that loves us so much.
00:17:34
Speaker
Well, what about this other one? You know, it's very important when it comes to prayer, what kind of attitude we have. What kind of attitude do you have? You know, I believe Hezekiah had the right kind of attitudes.
00:17:49
Speaker
You know, let me give you three attitude tips that will make your prayers appealing in God's sight. The first one is to go to Him and say, Lord, you know what? I'm going to trust your character. I'm going to trust your character. You know, whenever you read through this, like in verse five,
00:18:09
Speaker
He says, gracious is the Lord. Righteous, yes, our God is merciful. Do you hear what he's saying? He's saying, you know what, Lord? I know that you're gracious, you're righteous, you're merciful. So I don't know how you're gonna answer this, but that's what I know about you. Did you remember how he started this? He said, I love the Lord because he's healed me. You know what I read this week about that?
00:18:35
Speaker
I read that our love is always a consequent love. In other words, God does something for us, so that's why we say we love Him. But do you know that God's love, it's not a consequent love.
00:18:50
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God's love is a causeless love because it just comes from his character. It's just who he is. No matter how we are treating him and what we're like in our lives, God's saying, you know, I just love you so much. I want to give you the best. Trust me on this. So why don't you just say, Lord, no matter how you answer me, I'm going to trust your character.
00:19:14
Speaker
How about this one? I'll treasure your service, Lord. You remember in verse 16, Hezekiah said, oh, Lord, truly, I'm your servant. I'm your servant, the son of your maidservant. You have loosed my bonds. You know to say, okay, Lord, I'm going to trust you. You know, there are some people who walk away from serving God. They walk away from church. They walk away from the Bible because God didn't answer a certain prayer.
00:19:40
Speaker
How sad. We ought to say, Lord, no matter how you answer me, I'm gonna trust your character and I'm gonna be your servant. How about this one? I'm still gonna be thankful for the blessings that you've already given me. You know, verse 17 and 18 says, I'll offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving and will call upon the name of the Lord. I'll pay my vows to the Lord now in the presence of all his people. Man.
00:20:10
Speaker
You know, Hezekiah refers to his will. It's like a volitional decision, right? He says, I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving. It's not if I feel it. It's no, I'm going to will it. This is what I want to do. This is what I choose to do. So we have so many things we can thank God for that he's already given to us. But let me close this time that we have together today with one last thing. And that is,
00:20:39
Speaker
After, after he answers our prayer, what are we going to be like? What should I do for all the blessings that God has given to me? You know, Hezekiah asked something like that in verse 12. He said, what shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits toward me? What would you answer that?
00:21:00
Speaker
You know, he's given 15 more years to live, so now he's got to decide something. How will I live if God gives me 15 more years? So what he decides is that he's going to return to prayer. You know, some people, if they get an answer to prayer, that's the last time God will hear from them until the next crisis comes along. Isn't that sad?
00:21:25
Speaker
but not Hezekiah. Verse 2 says, "'Because he has inclined his ear to me, therefore I will call upon him as long as I live.'" You see, he's convinced that he just wants to hang out with God. He just wants to talk to him. I think that's what prayer is really all about.
Hezekiah's Fulfilled Promises and Acceptance
00:21:43
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So I just encourage you to say, Lord, if you give me an answer on this, or if you don't, I'm just gonna go ahead and return to prayer over and over throughout my life. The other thing he said is, I'm gonna go back to those promises that I've made to God.
00:21:59
Speaker
Remember what he said in those verses, I will pay my vows to the Lord now in the presence of all his people. I will pay my vows to the Lord now in the presence of all his people in the courts of the Lord's house. Wow. He must have made God some kind of promises. You know what he's doing? He's saying, you know what, Lord, I said, if you'll pull me out of this tight spot,
00:22:25
Speaker
then I promise I'll do this or I'll do that. So now, what's he doing? He's coming back and he's saying, Lord, I told you I'd do this, so I want you to know I'm going to follow through. I'm going to do that. I wonder if sometimes we forget. We kind of bargain with God and we say, oh, Lord, if you'll do this, I promise you I'll do this.
00:22:45
Speaker
But then after time goes by, God does something and we've totally forgotten it, not this guy. He said, I'm going to go back. I'm going to keep praying. I'm going to go back. I'm going to fulfill those promises. And the other thing I noticed is he said in verse 15, I'm going to go back with peace. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints is what he learned through this.
00:23:09
Speaker
You see, Hezekiah knew that God would not extend his life on this earth forever. Yeah, he's going to get 15 more years. But what happens after those 15 years? Does God have to continue to prove himself over and over again to us? Or would we ever say, Lord, if you don't answer my prayers anymore, I want you to know that now I know
00:23:33
Speaker
that whenever you call somebody home, it's precious in your sight. He learns something about God. God views life. God views death. God views it all as very precious. It's not worthless. As a matter of fact, do you know that scripture teaches that death is not accidental? No, it's appointed.
00:23:55
Speaker
In Psalm 139 verse 16, he says that all our days are written in his book before there's even one. Do you know in Job chapter 14 and verse 5, he says that the days and months for us have already been determined, and we cannot pass them. In Psalm 48 verse 14, he says the Lord will be our guide forever.
00:24:20
Speaker
And I love verse 19 because it tells us the last thing that Hezekiah says. The last thing he said was, praise the Lord. So how are you going to use the rest of your life Hezekiah? You got 15 years now. Hezekiah would say, you know what I'm going to do? I'm just going to praise God. I'm going to live for His glory. I'm going to try to bring Him praise. There's a group that I really like called Casting Crowns. They used to sing a song a few years ago called Life Song.
00:24:50
Speaker
May my life song sing to you. That's what I was thinking. Lord, my life, I wanna glorify God. I wanna give praise to God. He's already been so good to me.
00:25:03
Speaker
What about you? This Thanksgiving, is something missing? Maybe it's that you've not spent time, the time he's looking for from you to be in his presence. Just go for a walk. Just go and walk around your property. Go walk down the street. Go walking out of track somewhere. Go in a park and take a walk and just say, God, I haven't thanked you for all you've already given me. That could be what's missing from your Thanksgiving.
00:25:33
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Or maybe someone's listening to this podcast and you do not have a personal relationship with God the Father through his son, Jesus Christ.
Invitation to Trust in Jesus Christ
00:25:44
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I just want you to know that Jesus went to the cross for you.
00:25:49
Speaker
and he wants to be a part of your life. He really does. He loves you that much that he took all of the punishment for your sins, my sins, all the world's sins. He took it all upon himself so that we could be free. Wow, no wonder Paul wrote in Romans 8.1, there's now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.
00:26:13
Speaker
That can be you. It could be that that's what's missing. You don't have that peace that surpasses comprehension. So this Thanksgiving, why don't you say, I'm going to trust Jesus Christ. I'm going to surrender to Him. I'm going to follow Him until my last breath.
00:26:31
Speaker
You know, that's what Hezekiah did. Hezekiah said, Lord, for the rest of my life, my life belongs to you. I want to live it in praise. I want to offer to you a sacrifice of thanksgiving. I want to carry out those things that I've made promises to you.
00:26:49
Speaker
Well, I just want to pray for you that God will bless you and that you will just live in thanksgiving before him. So why don't we close in prayer today? Thank you so much for being with us. Lord, I just thank you for those that are listening today. Lord, I have no way of knowing who would be listening.
00:27:08
Speaker
But whoever they are and wherever they are, would you just touch them in a very special way today? Would you show them something fresh from your word today? Lord, would you let them know that you've already expressed your goodness to them? You've been gracious to them across the span of their lives? I'm not saying they haven't faced any hard times.
00:27:31
Speaker
Maybe they have, but through the hard times, you've been there. You've been right there with them. And I know that you're the one that's going to give them the courage and the strength that they need for all that they're facing today. And so God, help them to just identify some of those points where you've blessed them and to offer to you the thanks and the praise that you deserve.
00:27:56
Speaker
Because someday we're going to all gather there, those of us in Christ. We're going to gather around your throne. And what we're going to say is, you are worthy. You are worthy. You have been so gracious and merciful to us. So thank you so much.
00:28:11
Speaker
Lord, this Thanksgiving, I pray it would be one of the best that we would have a great time no matter what our circumstances are. May praise and thanksgiving not be what's missing, this Thanksgiving. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Well, thank you again for being with us. I pray that God will bless you. You have a great day.
00:28:39
Speaker
This is a ministry of First Baptist Church, located at 1700 Milam Street, Columbus, Texas.