Psalm 100 lesson

 Psalm 100  gratitude attitude,

King James Version

1. Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands.

2 Serve the Lord with gladness: come before his presence with singing.

3 Know ye that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

4 Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.

5 For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.

   Someone once asked a question, Why I call people Saints and they say you you can't call us Saints because we're not perfect. No Saint is perfect. The Bible refers to believers or followers of Jesus as Saints to the Saints at this church, to the Saints at this house. It simply means we've been saved. You know in in the in the Catholic culture or religion or way of understanding the Bible, you have to do some tremendous outstanding achievements to to gain. Sainthood. They work for sainthood, but I praise God for us. Jesus paid it all. All to him I owe.   there's another thing that they do once you pass away. No one can pray your soul from one place to another. It It doesn't work that way. Amen. That's why within the Catholic religion, you find that a lot of the mobsters, you know, really supported the church because they believed they could gang bang and kill all these people and do all the stuff that normally you go to hell for, but they leave a certain amount of money to be given to the church. so that the priests would pray their souls out of purgatory and and get them into heaven. But the problem is there's no purgatory. wonderful lesson for our approach to this season. Our gratitude attitude. Let's pray. Father in the name of Jesus let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight oh Lord my strength and my redeemer in the name of Jesus we pray amen. Gratitude, attitude.

 The Sunday school lesson today " A gratitude attitude," is from the 100th Psalm, you know, which we perhaps all know by heart."enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him, bless His name. Look at those things again. First of all, enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and bless his name. The one thing that that I read about in preparation for the lesson that that mean after all these years, I just never knew it. I just never focused on it. But when it says enter his gates. It talks about coming through the gates to Jerusalem. And when it says enter his courts with praise, it's the temple. Remember, the Jews, they they actually pray towards Jerusalem, you know Jerusalem is that city, never mind, that's the holy city. That's where Jesus is going to come down, you know, during the millennial reign and sit on the throne of David physically! You know, a lot of people miss that. Jesus is going to sit on David's throne physically for 1,000 years. During that time, Satan is going to be locked up in a bottomless pit. A strong angel is going to lock him there and stand there and keep him there until the thousand year reign is up. You find that in the book of Revelation. And it's amazing because once the devil is locked up, people's lives begin to stretch out again, and and a man is a child at 100. Can you imagine that? Someone calling you a child and you're 100 years old.

   Now look at Methuselah, 969 years.  But when it came to Enoch, he only got 300 years. Why? Enoch was perhaps one of the best out of all of them because Enoch walked with God and he was not because God took him. That was the first evidence I said last week of the rapture. God, Enoch and God was walking and talking and God, what my teacher said that that the fellowship got so good. Amen. It got so good and he and Enoch were talking and before Enoch realized it, he wasn't even on earth anymore. God said, ohh I'm not letting you go back there. You too good for that, you coming with me. And God just took Enoch. And so this this gratitude,attitude that we ought to have is based upon what we know about God. See the problem with a lot of people not being grateful is that they don't really realize, What God has done for them. If you ever take time to sit down and I would encourage you, get your little journal and and think about your life. Look back over the last five years. Try to go to 10 years. Try to go to 20 years back. If you can go 40 years back,look at it. and tell me the next, you won't even wait for church. Yeah I was down in my basement the other day just praising God, listening to to praise music, worship, because I started thinking about how good God was to me.

  I started thinking about the fact that when I was in my 20s, I went to the club on a Saturday night with my cousins because I hadn't seen them all my life. And now wherever they went, I was just hanging with my cousins and we went to the club. And we did what people do in the club and I'm going to get on the road and leave them at 2:00 or 3:00 AM because look, I have to be in Sunday school in Detroit on Sunday morning. So no, that's the one thing I look back and think of. No matter what I did, there was something inside planted when I was a child. My mother made me go to Sunday school, train up a child in the way they ought to go and when they're old, they won't depart from it. And and no matter what I did with them, I never lost sight of. You know, I got to get to church. I got to get to Sunday school. I was a Sunday school adult in in Detroit, MI when I left New York to go work there for General Electric. And I was on the highway. I was in a hurry to get there because I left a little late. I had to go home and change into my suit and get out of my club clothes and get into my my church clothes. You know, folk. I said, look, I know what people do because I've done it. Amen, somebody. And so I'm doing. At least 80 miles an hour. Nobody's on the highway. 80 miles an hour. Not a car, a truck in sight. I'm flying. Not a trooper. You know, nobody's bothering me. It was February. I had the heat on and the windows up tight. It was nice and cozy in the car. And God had mercy. I fell asleep. I didn't doze. I didn't. My eyes didn't blink. I fell asleep ! I was out for I don't know how many moments or seconds. And I want you to imagine, let's see, from that wall yeah to to the end of the pulpit, that's a guardrail. From that wall to the end of the pulpit, that whole length of highway for maybe 30 miles had no other guardrail. In the middle was a deep ravine! Ooh, 80 miles an hour, bounced off the only guardrail on that highway. Front first, tail first, front. It woke me up, threw me against the window. I grabbed the steering wheel, pulled myself back in the seat, got control of the car. Pulled over on the side of the road, got out in that February weather. God, thank you. And I heard God say, now get your foot out the club and stay in the church. And that was it for me! 

  So, I think about the times that that I could have been out of here. And I think all of you may have have had something like that happen in your life where, you know, if it had not been for the Lord that was on your side, if somebody had not prayed for you. Sometimes we didn't even pray for ourselves, but somebody was praying for us. It gives me cause to tell God thank you. That's why some folks said that when they look back over their life,think things over, I can surely say I've been blessed. And I have a testimony. It gives us an attitude of of gratitude or this gratitude attitude. The problem with 21st century saints even is that some people just take things for granted. Think that that we're doing God a favor by showing up on a Sunday morning. No, you're doing yourself a favor. I think we are so blessed that you have freedom and blessed. That's right. So we have both of them, and so we forget to be grateful because of that; in the past the black church had Jim Crow to deal with. They had slavery deal with, so they were thankful. Now that we are more free, we are less thankful. Yes. Isn't that a strange dynamic? The more God blesses some people, the less grateful they become. Why do you think that is? The more God blesses some people, the less grateful they seem to be. What causes that?  

  Look, we are the sheep of his pasture. He has made us and not we ourselves. But again, it it shows you this modern day idea that that people feel like they don't need God. You know It's almost like they really believe that God needs them. And listen, God doesn't need us. Remember, we were created for what?God's pleasure, it pleased God to make us. We better thank God we're still here, yes. Well, watch this. Fret not yourself because of evildoers, nor delight yourself in their ways. I used to, in in my quiet conversation with  God, say, I'm working hard, I'm doing this, I'm doing this. They're ripping people off, they're lying, they're stealing, they're ganging. How come they got so much?And I can quietly hear God saying,That's all they're ever going to have if they don't get saved. So So look at look at the goodness of God. He lets the rain fall on the just and unjust, and He lets the sun shine on the just as well as the unjust. Goodness is one of God's characteristics. He's good. We had an interesting discussion yesterday and our minister, a Poet,said something that that had me kind of maybe rethinking or clarifying. I know that I said at some point in time that there's none good but God. So when people say are you good?I don't say I'm good anymore. However, she drew a very clear line between God's perfect goodness and and things just going good for us. Because God is good to us And he and and one of the the characteristics of the believer when you when you look at Paul's writings is is goodness. Goodness is in there. Goodness and not the same as good. All right. You have good. God is good. We can have goodness. We can act like God. Right? We can be good like God.

  God hates sin, He is just,And when we sin, when we fracture the fellowship by sin, And the more we sin, the wider that gap gets between us and God. The devil is so busy, I don't need God to take any time to close the gap. I mean, he's always present, I'm just saying this in in a way that humans think. I need to be close to God. I need God to keep me close so that the enemy can't even begin to think he can put me through anything. And so so our gratitude comes from, as I said earlier, understanding God's character, understanding just how good God has been to us and how good God is to us. Listen, every time you wake up,God is good. You know why ?A whole lot of folk that laid down last night somewhere in this world did not wake up. But God allowed. I'm saying like the Saints used to, the oldest Saints used to say he allowed our golden moments to run on a little further. And look, I thank God for that. I have. I always have an attitude. of gratitude. I I can't think about God without being grateful. I can't think about my relationship with God without being grateful. 

  The lesson is broken down by by the writers of this book in three ways. They look at verses one to two, they look at verse three, and they look at verses four to five. In verses one to two, they call it admirable praise as you approach. The The Jewish people as they were approaching the gates, right? As they were approaching Jerusalem, they began to to think about God. Listen when you come to church on a Sunday morning, you know what will help your experience?Start praising God before you get to the gates. Amen. Praise God when you wake up on Sunday morning. Listen, our parents, grandparents are like that. On Sunday morning, as a matter of fact, back it up, Saturday night, do I have any witnesses here? Our grandparents and some of our parents started getting ready for worship on Saturday night. There was no cooking on Sunday. The whole Sunday meal was prepared by Saturday night because they had this belief. We're not supposed to do anything on Sunday but give ourselves totally to God. Now we can talk about them and say, does it really take all of that? But look at how God blessed them. Look,look at what God did for them with with less education than we had the the post, the direct post slavery time they they got, they started their churches, they started worshipping God,praising God, paying the tithes and offerings. And God used those people to build black colleges. The HBC US. it matters. 

   Listen, Our attitudes about God, our attitudes about worship, and our attitudes about praise really matters to God. And And I think that's a message maybe that that the younger generation is not getting, but but those of us who are not part of that younger generation, we are accountable for it. And we've got to make sure that that the young people that we're around understand. I heard this that this young this this young preacher preaching on TikTok and he was talking about the changes That have taken place in the church and and and the church that he sees now is not his mother's church or his grandmother's church. And he said we came into the church back in the day. No, we would we would talk in in whispered tones. We wouldn't we wouldn't be all loud and talk. We would talk in whispered tones because we we were in the presence of the Lord and we had a different kind of respect for his house. There was a different kind of respect for the church 50 years ago. 100 years ago than we see now. And it's because of what I believe is is a breakdown in teaching. Those of us who know are supposed to pass on what we know. And it's not just up to the pulpit because the pulpit don't see everything going on in the pews. So there are people that God has in the pews that sees things. Now watch this. Always when you talk to people, it's not what you say, it's how you say it. Amen. We can say anything to correct people.But it's how we say it that's important. So, to God, our attitude about him and what he has done,you know, is important to him. And a house can flourish or decrease based upon the mindset of the people who are worshiping God in that area  Remember, when you've been taught something, it guides your behavior. You know My My mother said certain things to us, and and the importance of what she said was when we weren't around her, it still bothered us because we could hear that voice in our head, and we did not want to cross our mother because she could swing that belt in a figure eight like Zorro she could do a Z, and pip, pip, pop, pop, pop, and we got it. 

  Yes. The people are me with their mouths, but their hearts are far from me. Their heart. Listen, God searches our heart and our approach to him. And he knows when you're just putting on and when you are real. He He knows when you're being authentic and when you're being fake. God sees it. It's all through his churches. You know,some people make scence to be seen, right? But God looks at the heart. Listen, the the Bible says that they that worship God must worship Him in spirit and in truth. Now watch this part, for God seeks such to worship Him. God is searching for people that would just Recognize what he has done and worship him because he deserves worship. Does God deserve our praise? Give me some reasons God deserves your praise. Woke you up this morning. Able to dress yourself. That's a big one. Praise God for long life, yes.If you are no homeless. Amen. Amen. Inhale and exhale. Listen, God has fought battles for us that we did not even know were being fought on our behalf because there's another realm out there, all right?The The devil goes about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. But I praise God after reading Job's account that the devil can't do any more to you Than God allows him to do, and he must get God's approval first before he even touches you. Isn't that something God?Look, God loves us. So when I think about the love of God, the kindness of God, the keeping of God, God's. Power, what do those psalmists say? Once have I heard this and twice have I heard this, that power belongs to God. There is no reason for a child of God to be afraid of the devil or the presidency or anything else. God is in charge. I don't care who's in the White House. I heard a preacher say this morning, a president can only do what a president can do, but can't do what God can do. And God is still in control. 

   When I think of what God has done and who he is and how he saved me, watch this. God walked by millions of people to get to you. Everybody around you didn't get saved like you. Even in the church, everyone who cries Lord, Lord is not going to be saved. It's not because your salvation is not authentic, but God knows when people are playing in his face. I get him saying, boy, don't play in God's face, you know, make sure you're real. See, either be real, listen, God, you know, Jesus said, look, I wish you were hot or cold, I respect that, but when you're lukewarm, I spew you, I spit you out of my mouth, I don't want nothing to do with you. God would rather you be a heathen and know your heathen, be a saint and know your saint, rather than being on the fence. Because see, he can't do nothing for you when you're on the fence because you're double-minded. Let not a double-minded man think he shall receive anything from God. Isn't that something? Yes. Right. And that's that's why the false prophets come. 

  So let let me get into these scriptures before before time leaves me. Let's look at verses one and two. Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands. Now, he's not just talking to the Jewish people. He said, all ye lands. The whole earth should be making a joyful noise to God because we see, we should see,What God has done and provided. Serve the Lord with gladness. Come before his presence with singing. Why all the singing in the church?Why do we have to have a song here and a song here? Listen,the whole church should be singing. You know that there's nothing more powerful than a congregational song. where all the folk know the words or or all the people have access to the words and know the tune and can sing it. Some on key, some little off key, some above key, some under key, but but still making a joyful noise. Listen, a person who's off key and joyful is still acceptable to God. God knows what he gave you. He knows when you can't sing and when you can't sing. And when you're trying, God says, All right, my servant, I see you, my child. I wasn't even thinking about you. Well, see that that's the these are. These are little points of of deeper study and sometimes you can read into a text and you and you have to think, you know, if if they were all singing, would Jesus be singing with them? And I do it this way. If they were all eating, would Jesus be eating with them If they were all breaking bread would Jesus be breaking bread with them?And there's a strong possibility that you could put up a good argument that Jesus sang now We know Jesus can sing. He's God and I'm certain he would have given himself the best voice Yes Amen amen That's rightI want to now watch this. I'm gonna save that for the second one. All right, so so watch this. Serve the Lord with gladness. Some people actually feel some kind of way about knowing they're supposed to be in church and being driven to go just because they don't want to feel guilty. So that's that's not gladness. 

  But you ought to be like the psalmist said, I was glad when they said unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord. Here's your question. Why was the psalmist glad when they said, let us go into the house of the Lord? What made the psalmist glad?  Yes. Past experience, okay. Gratitude? Ah Because God's presence is there. See to them, God's presence was in the temple. You know, in our day and time we know that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit if He dwells in us. So we are the temple, we are the church, and wherever we are, we are in the presence of God. But there is, however,A special presence when God's people come together and what has been dedicated as God's house and the dedicatorial prayer in Solomon's day. When Solomon built the temple, they called it Solomon's Temple, the first temple. God said he responded to the prayer and he said my eyes are in this place to see all that goes on in this place. My ears are in this place to hear every prayer made. in this place, right? And so we're to serve the Lord with gladness and see that first word in verse two is important, serve. How do we serve God? By worshiping house. Following his commands, okay. How do we serve God?Loving one another, that serves his purpose, right? How many of you see coming to church as serving God. OK, and why is coming to church serving God? All right, now I didn't say this is all of it now, but it is a part of it. He commands us to come together and when you come to the Lord's house, Is there a possibility that people outside the church or from your community or your neighborhood see you coming to church?So God is glorified and God is made, God's presence has to be acknowledged to them and and through your life. So coming to church and worshiping God is part of serving Him, amen. When I hear about when I think about serving God, I think about serving His purpose, remember. We are made, amen, to worship God. God created humans to worship him. He has a right to because he has given us so much, all right?

  Yes. Amen. There's nothing more powerful than seeing a a family come as a unit to church. What is happening in our present day, and and I can now see why the future is going to be the way the Lord has has prophesied is going to be, is that parents are not putting either the fear of God or the knowledge of God in their children. They're not teaching their children in the way they should go so that when they're old they will not depart from it. And the children's lack of knowledge of God  fosters a lack of appreciation of who God is, which fosters a lack of gratitude and a bad attitude towards God's church.  People don't realize how we treat the church matters to God. How important, let's go on the side here for a second. How important do you think the church is to God? How is it important? It's the bride of Christ. What did Jesus say about the church? Right. When I come back to the earth, will I find faith on the earth? Luke 18:8 I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth? King James Version. When the Lord asked that question, I'm thinking to myself, wait a minute, where's faith going? 

   Look, faith comes by hearing. Hearing by the word of God. So if the word of God is not going into the community like it once did. Faith in the world is going to decrease. If the word of God is not being taught properly in God's churches, the faith of the people will also diminish. If people's lifestyles don't line up with the word, faith without works is dead and the works is how you live your life in alignment with God's word.The parents and grandparents and great-great-grandparents before us, you didn't have a choice as a child about going to church. And And the fruit of that is in our lives as, you know, what what generation are we?Well, am I? I'll put it on me. Baby boomer, all right? The The baby boomer generation, we are still beneficiaries of the kind of training and learning received in the homes and in our churches where our parents made us go and and we are the fruit. The fruit of that is still blessing us, but we're not giving our children and grandchildren the same benefits as we receive. Because we have parents that grew up and said, I'm not going to make my children go to church like my parents made me go to church. So what you're saying is you're not going to position your children to be blessed like your parents positioned you to be blessed. Let me move on here now. Serve the Lord with gladness. come before His presence with singing. So that's in the sanctuary.

  Now verse 3, Know ye that the Lord He is God. Here comes the knowledge. Now remember knowledge is power. Know ye that the Lord He is God. When you see LORD in all capital letters like that, that's Yahweh, that's Jehovah, that's Elohim, that's that's God. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. When you see capital L and lowercase ORD, it's speaking about the Messiah, the Lord Jesus, all right?And for those who argue about us calling Jesus by the wrong name, we are not Hebrews. So we don't say Yeshua because we're not Hebrew. We're English speaking, so we say Jesus. And I found this out, whether you call Him Yeshua,When you call them Jesus,God knows who you're talking about. Amen. So they they can kill that argument about the Christian Church is calling on the wrong, the wrong person, and therefore our prayers are not being answered. Let me see the hands of every person that calls on the name of Jesus, and he hears you and has answered any of your prayers. All right, so y'all can go on with that Yeshua stuff all you want. I know who Yeshua is, and I know who Jesus is. All right, Jesus, Yeshua, Yeshua, Jesus, the same. Person all right so much for that now verse 3 Know ye that the Lord he is God It is it is he that has made us we said that earlier and not we ourselves

  We are his people and the sheep of his Pasture, right?This is where the writer says that that we are apprehending God's awesomeness that he Lord He is God. He made us. In the 139th Psalm, it talks about how God wove us together in the womb of our mothers. In a little book, all of our members are written there. God was so meticulous in how he put each one of us together. We walk like we walk because of how God constructed us. We speak like we speak. Because of how God constructed our vocal cords, you know, all of our heads are not the same shape because God created us to be. There's diversity among us,

  Amen, right !You know, that which is born of flesh is flesh, but that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Mother not, I say unto you, Nicodemus, you must be born again. And so, in God's awesomeness, it says here that that he's made us and not we ourselves. Which means now, if God has made me, right, and he's made you, do we have any right in God's economy to change ourselves? I'm not talking about adding eyelashes or adding some extra hair. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about from the core out, all right? Does a man have a right to change himself into a woman?Does a woman have a right to change herself into a man? There are people who hate me for teaching this, but it's all right. I've got to face God, so I've got to say what God says to say. If God made us, changing myself means I'm saying, God, you made a mistake. Remember, God made us. He created a He created a male and female. There is no in between, all right? And and and God created male and female. Everything God created was with purpose. There's no purpose other than human selfishness. or human in flesh pleasure for male with male or woman with women. There's no godly purpose in that. God created human beings on the opposite side of sex, if you will, for procreation to populate and fill the earth. That was God's purpose.

  But remember this, everything that God has done, the devil tries to Pervert. Thank you. You know, because people try to pervert the word of God. They try to pervert the gospel and try and see the devil is still working. Is that what God really said?Is that what God really means? Now, what is our attitude towards the LGBTQIA community? Love. respect,  fight for their civil rights, fight for justice for them!; But we cannot let them think that in God's kingdom, it's all right with God for them to do what they have done. They'll either come to you or they'll either leave you. Listen, and I will agree, sin is sin is sin. But there are some sins which are so egregious to God out all life on the planet. And if you've been following in Genesis, you'll find that when the Nephilim, all right, those angels who didn't keep their first place, came down and looked on the doors of men and and took wives of them, that such wickedness and such a level and depth of sin came in the world. God said, nah, I'm sorry, I made y'all.Noah, you're the best living one right now. You and your family, look, build this ark because I'm getting ready to wipe out everything that that inhales and exhales air. And God did it. So sin again is is a problem.

  We are to serve the Lord with gladness and come before his presence with singing. We're to know that the Lord his God, he has made us and we have not made ourselves. We are the sheep, his people and the sheep of his pasture. What is the significance of being the sheep of God's pasture? He shepherds us. We follow the shepherd. We belong in him. That's it. God is known as the good shepherd. And the good shepherd will give his life for the sheep.That's how God takes care of us. So part of my my gratitude attitude is recognizing that that God is taking care of me, even when I foolishly fail to take care of myself. You know, God's better to us than we've been to Him. Amen. And God is better to us than we've been to ourselves, right?The last two verses, enter into His gates with thanksgiving,  and into His courts with praise, be thankful unto Him. Didn't say how you ask you how you feel. Be thankful. It's not that God doesn't care. It's not that God is not compassionate, but he's trying to show us how to approach him so that you get something out of worship, how to approach him so that your time is not wasted in his courts. All right, we're in the gates now, but now once you come to the gates, you're in God's courts. Worship him the way he wants to be worshiped. And how is that? thinking about what God has done, how good God has been, and giving Him praise. God is worthy of our praise because of all that He has done, all that He is doing, and all that we know He will do. We were born in sin and shaped in iniquity, destined for hell with no hope, and God sent His only begotten Son to die for our sins, to be beat for us, to be slapped for us, spat upon for us, nailed to a cross for us and then laid in a tomb and got up from the grave on a third day! , and we have a problem praising God!

  Once a week at least on a Sunday morning in his house. We owe God praise. The Church of God during worship should never be silent. I know that people say no in this church you got to be got to be quiet. No because when I think of the goodness of Jesus And all that he's done for me. I can't stop my soul from crying out. Hallelujah. I thank God for saving me and what what happens in my soul is gonna happen in in in my body and I'm my hands are gonna go up. I'm gonna praise God. I'm gonna wave my hands. I'm gonna clap my hands. When I keep thinking about how good God has been, I'm gonna get louder and louder and louder. Sometimes the wells of my soul flow and come out my eyes. I just can't stop laughing. Sometimes I praise. God all that the devil tries to do. I got a ha ha ha kind of spirit. I just laugh at him because I know that my shepherd, the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. Amen. Even in the presence of my enemies. He anoints my head with all my cup runs over. Surely God. Goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. I will dwell in the House of the Lord forever.

   I got a gratitude attitude. I have a reason to praise him. You got a reason to praise God. Every time you wake up, it ought to be. Thank you time my eyes open up. Thank you, Jesus, you know, and I thank God. Listen, I'm grateful. because I look back and see what God has brought me from. See, ever so often, you should just take a moment when you when you feel like complaining, look at how far God has brought you. Some of us remember what things used to be like before we got to where we are. Some Some of us act like we've always been, nah,   I remember, you know, eating steak with a first name, Chuck. I remember the block of cheese and the powdered eggs and and all, I remember that stuff. And ever so often, and I don't know what it is about about Thanksgiving, it makes me stop back and remember family, to remember what the house was like, to remember what God provided for us, even when we couldn't see how God was doing it. God's hand is moving even when you can't see it. My God, we owe God some thanks. The church of God ought to be the happiest place on the planet, on a Sunday morning, because we know we understand how good God has been. Enter His gates with thanksgiving. Just tell God, thank you. Amen.  Don't forget to tell God, thank you. Even when you can't think of what He's done. If I were to ask you, what did God do for you today? You might be, uh, uh, uh, I don't...?   Just say thank you anyway. Because, listen, the fact that you are here breathing, God did something. The fact that you're in your right mind right now, means God did something. The fact that you were able, as Sister Bell said, to dress yourself. Do you realize how big that is? To be able to dress yourself?  You won't realize it until you've come through something where you couldn't dress yourself!

   You have no idea how many times the devil has tried to get approval from God to touch you. You know, he he keeps on trying. And God said, no. God just won't let the devil. Listen, there is a hedge around us. How How would I have known?See, listen, when people suffer, when God allows things to happen to other people, he's also trying to teach some people, right?We would not know, we would not have known that God has a hedge around us unless Job suffered. Unless the devil was allowed to get to Job, the devil even knew there was a hedge around Job. He said, yeah, I would I would get to him, but you got a hedge around him. God said, the hedge is gone. God had enough faith in his servant Job, and he had examined Job's heart and mind and knew that Job had a gratitude attitude. And God knew that no matter what Job went through, that Job would not sin against him with his mouth.

  Now, remember now, Job had some questions and Job was starting to slip and God said, wait a minute. Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Listen, don't forget who you are now. I'm not even going to let you go where I see you going. Isn't that something?God will stop you from wrecking yourself. Why? Because he's compassionate. He's loving. He's caring. He really does care about the way you take. Amen. God really cares. So ahead. All right. Amen. Be Be careful about talking. Someone said to me that when you talk to God, you shouldn't say a whole lot. Just be to the point because you don't want to you don't want to mince words with God. Just Just tell God what you need. Tell God what you want. Give him some praise. Give him some glory and keep it moving. Amen. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise. Give thanks to Him. Bless His name. So God's name is blessed when we praise Him. God's glory is magnified when we praise Him in worship. What do I say? Oh,magnify. Make Him bigger than people see Him as. Oh, magnify the Lord with me. Let us exalt His name together. We ought to have a gratitude attitude. Why should we do this? Verse 5 is it now. For the Lord is good. His steadfast love endures forever. and his faithfulness to all generations. The psalmist here is saying why we should have such gratitude towards God. And I want to leave this with you as I close. I'm going to read the first to the 12th verse, and if this is not shouting ground for you, I don't know what to say. Watch this.:

139 

1. O Lord, You have searched me and known me.

2 You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off.

3 You comprehend my path and my lying down, And are acquainted with all my ways.

4 For there is not a word on my tongue, But behold, O Lord, You know it altogether.

5 You have hedged me behind and before, And laid Your hand upon me.

6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is high, I cannot attain it.

7 Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?

8 If I ascend into heaven, You are there If I make my bed in  hell, behold, You are there.

9 If I take the wings of the morning, And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,

10 Even there Your hand shall lead me, And Your right hand shall hold me.

11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall fall on me,” Even the night shall be light about me;

12 Indeed, the darkness [e]shall not hide from You, But the night shines as the day; The darkness and the light are both alike to You.  

  You can't pull  anything on God. He knows what you're going to think before you're going to think. Watch this ! Two Sundays from today, God already knows what you're going to be thinking at 10 a.m. He knows we're going to be thinking at 11:30 a.m. He He knows our thoughts are far off. I don't know about you, but have you ever stopped when when certain things enter your mind and say to God, Where did that come from?  No !  I'm the only one!?  Some thoughts happen and I say, Father, where these thoughts come from?But see, remember, the devil is working in your mind too, alright?God can send you thoughts, the devil can also try to send you All right, and so he says you understand my thought of for you comprehend my path my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways Amen For there's not a word on my tongue But behold Oh Lord, you know it all together. You haven't even spoken yet and God knows what you're going to say That's why you don't have to pray long prayers. God already knows what you need before you open your mouth.

   Look at God working in your life. This is talking about you and me. He's hedged us before and behind and laid his hand on us. Listen, when God's hand is on you, the devil can't touch you. There's no way God is going to let the devil touch you when his hand is on you. That's not going to work. Verse 6,he says, Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It is high, I cannot attain it. Where can I go from your spirit?Or where can I flee from your presence? Watch this. If I ascend into heaven, you're there. If I make my bed in hell, behold, you're there. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the utmost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall fall on me, even the night Shall be light about me. Indeed, the darkness shall not hide me hide from you, but the night shines as day. The darkness and light are both alike to you. Amen. The gratitude attitude. Why we should be so thankful to God. Why we should praise God at all times. Listen, praise God at all times. His praise shall continually be upon your lips. Why?Because my mind is always working, even sometimes in my sleep. I have a dream when I'm praising God in a dream. And when that happens, I say, praise God, my my spirit is all right. Listen, when when you're asleep. And in your dreams, you praising God and thanking God in your dream. That's you. That's the real you working. Amen. You're not putting on because there's nobody to impress. Just Just God. God wants us to know who he is, recognize what he's done, and give him the glory and praise and worship he is due. Every believer who knows the worth of God ought to have a gratitude attitude. God bless you. Doors to the church open now. Thank you, everybody.

LINKS:

full lesson at - 

https://rumble.com/v5tu795-a-gratitude-attitude-from-psalm-100.html?e9s=src_v1_mfp

https://www.facebook.com/gethsemane.baptistchurchbx/videos/1337077190998807

Lesson taught by - Rev. Dr.Torrence Robinson Pastor of Gethsemane Missionary Baptist Church

Shawn Sligh blog creator/moderator/writer/editor