Praise the Lord! If you believe that God can do all things, let’s go to Him this morning and just acknowledge His might, acknowledge His power, acknowledge Him as the King of kings, as the Lord of lords even as we sing this song [Music]
Brethren, just take time to thank God; take time to worship Him, to exalt Him, to magnify Him; say Father, thank You for my life; thank You for Your faithfulness towards me; thank You for all the good things You have done; thank You Lord God for life; thank You for salvation of my soul; thank You for family; thank You for children; thank You for my career; thank You for my job; thank You Lord God for CTL; thank You Lord God for this congregation; thank You for every good thing You have done; You have been faithful to me, You have been kind, You have been just, even in tough times You’ve seen me through, hence I am here; Father Lord God we thank You.
Worship Him, exalt Him; say Father, You are good, You are gracious, You are awesome in all your ways, You are faithful; thank You Jesus. Father as a church we say thank You; as individual, we say thank You; as families, we say thank You, be magnified, be exalted, in Jesus name we give Him thanks, amen.
Praise the Lord! Hallelujah! Today is the finale of the training weekend, praise the Lord! We are members of the training department within RCCG and we want to give God thanks for His faithfulness towards us over the last year. I want to thank the pastorate for the opportunity to represent my brothers and sisters and to share the word that has come from the center; the topic for today is “Gratefulness: an Act of a Teachable Heart”.
We’ll take our text from Luke 17: 12-19; “And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off: and they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master have mercy on us. And when he saw them, he said unto them, go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed.
And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan. And Jesus answering said, were there not then cleansed? But where are the nine? There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger. And he said unto him, arise, go thy way: thy faith has made thee whole.”
Our topic once again is Gratefulness: an Act of a Teachable Heart; now, we’ve been asked to guard our hearts with all diligence, for out of our heart are the issues of life; it’s from your heart that you alter whatever you alter, so our hearts are very important, praise the Lord!
An unteachable heart is blind: our hearts becomes blind when it becomes ignorant; it is lacking proper knowledge and doesn’t have understanding. The blinded heart cannot see because it’s blind of course, so there’s no perception; it is usually negative and doesn’t see light even when there’s so much light around that person, praise the Lord! And as the word comes forth, my prayer today is that we will begin to open our hearts so that the Spirit of God will help us to appreciate what we have in the Lord Jesus Christ, praise the Lord!
So the unteachable heart is therefore thoughtless and it’s ungrateful because it doesn’t learn from the things God has given him or her to learn, praise the Lord!
So gratefulness therefore is only consistent and abundant in a heart that is filled with the Spirit of God, because without the Spirit, one becomes like a yo-yo, praise the Lord! You are tossed to and fro; when bad things happen, you curse; good things happen, you rejoice; so you are moved by circumstances; but when you know the Lord, He says My peace are given to you, not as man giveth, because that peace cannot be understood and is independent of circumstances and happenings because it is grounded on the Rock of Ages, praise the Lord!
So let’s go to our scripture we read; I will just pick out a few key lessons around gratefulness: ten lepers healed as they were going in obedience to the word of our Lord Jesus Christ to go to the temple to see the priests; now what made one of them turn around? Because if you think about it, those that didn’t turn around were still in obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ, praise the Lord! They were still going to the temple going to see the priests, so they were religious, praise the Lord!
I was speaking to a young convert the other day and I was encouraging her to do believer’s class, and she said I can’t do believer’s class. I said why, she said because when I want to come to church I want to complete the service, from the choir ministration all through the end; and I said okay, you must do everything; she said I must, if I miss any part, then I haven’t come to service. I said do you come late to church at all? She said I come, but when I come I know I’m in church. I said so the one you missed what happened? Praise the Lord!
This was a very religious person apparently by upbringing but he or she would have gained more in the believer’s class because there they break it down and the person grows, but because of religion we are not grateful. I asked the question (also to her) so if you’re coming to church and you see somebody in need, would you help the person? She struggled, because it’s contrary to that religious upbringing.
The first thing that you pick out here is you know religion is nothing when it comes to gratefulness, you must realize that all you are and all you will ever be revolves around the Lord Jesus Christ, praise the Lord!
And then this man saw that he was healed; he was careful enough to recognize that he was healed. Is it possible the other nine were waiting to see the priests to recognize their healing? I’m asking questions, you know I don’t have all the answers, but for us to meditate and think about it.
Are you waiting for that big promotion? Are you waiting for when you have the four children because you have one now, you say God hasn’t done it all? Are you waiting for that big contract that you take for granted, the one that gives you food today? We are talking about gratefulness, we are talking about the heart that is teachable; are you waiting to see the priests before you recognize you’ve been healed?
And then he turned back and they came back to Jesus with a loud voice glorifying God. He was a leper for a long time (I believe), and then this time he was set free; he knew he had been healed, he did not restrict his praise, he did not hide it, he wasn’t ashamed. Many of us we come to church and we dance; in the office you can’t show that you are a Christian, you can’t show that you’re rejoicing, do you restrict your praise to a convenient spot where everybody is praising? Can you dance in the midst of unbelievers? Can you dance in the midst of your MD, and your CEO, CFO wherever they are? Can you be true to God in the midst of a corporate setting? I’m asking questions around gratefulness, are we grateful without regards to circumstance? Praise the Lord!
And then the Bible says ‘when he fell down on his face at His feet giving Him thanks for he was a Samaritan, he was a stranger’. Have we taken the grace of God, daddy G.O often say it that we’ve taken the grace of God for granted; the small gifts He has given us, the many big gifts – it depends on smallness or bigness, it’s a subjective thing, you define whether it’s big or not.
As our mummy who did (I think it was) in the workers training today and somebody contributed and said if you don’t want to take risk, don’t go to bed, praise the Lord! Because when you go to bed you lose control, praise the Lord!
So truly we take God for granted, we take His grace for granted, the biggest gift is salvation; do you basically wake up every morning and say in spite of the challenges, in spite of the subsidy removal, in spite of the fact that I spent ₦50,000 instead of ₦10,000 to fill my tank, yet will I praise the Lord, praise the Lord!
So let’s see Ephesians 4: 18, (looking at the unteachable heart); “Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of the heart.” May God remove every unteachable heart from our midst; we will learn of God, our hearts will be soften and ready to receive of God, every ignorance will be removed from us in Jesus name.
Now we’ll just take a few nuggets, a few pointers as to why we must be grateful and why it’s expedient that we are: first is, we ought to learn gratefulness from the beginning. Looking at the scriptures, looking at the things that God has taught us, because all scriptures is meant for us to learn, praise the Lord! It’s inspired of God.
The word of God is full of examples, teaching us thankfulness or gratefulness; let’s see Genesis 4: 3-8 quickly, we’ll read maybe one or two verses, this is Cain and Abel: Cain brought the fruit of the ground, (basically picked some fruit and brought to God) but Abel, the Bible says in verse 4,”And Abel, he also brought up the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel to his offering”.
We know that story, so I went and checked firstlings, what does it mean? It is the priority crop, the first crop, the first flock; he did not put God second in showing appreciation, he put Him first. How do you prioritize gratefulness, do you wait until you have thanked all the men and shared all the money and then remember oh by the way, this came from God? It says God had respect unto Abel and to his offering because he gave Him first priority. We should learn to put God first.
But let’s see the case of Noah in Genesis 8; we know the story; there was the ark Noah built; himself, his sons and his wife, and the son’s wives, they were about eight of them that entered the ark and they spent a long time in the ark; and when you imagine what they went through with animals for a long time in an ark, with all stench, all the hard work, every creeping thing, every funny animal they managed through the period in the ark; you could see how eager they were to get off the ark as they were opening the window, sending the dove, it brought a leaf, until the dove did not come back, then they knew they were settled. A long time with all funny animals, stinking and everything.
And then Genesis 8: 20; “And Noah builded an altar unto the Lord; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. (And then what happened?) And the Lord smelled a sweet savour; and the Lord said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground anymore for man’s sake; for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every living thing as I have done. While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.” Praise the Lord!
So of the scarce animals, remember he was asked to select some seven, some pair; he took of that scarce group of animals, the clean things to be offered to God, and then because he gave God choice animals as offering, it says God smelled the savour and He blessed man forever.
In the midst of difficulties, in the midst of a long wait in a foreign ark, with all the hard work, (you know this man and his family built this thing by themselves to God’s direct and distinct specification) stayed in this place with wild animals and horrible animals, he came out and he remembered to appreciate God. What have you gone through, how bad could it have been? God will speak to every one of us and teach us to have a teachable heart and a grateful heart in Jesus name.
Let’s see Solomon: 1st Kings 3: 4 & 5; “And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there; for that was the great high place: a thousand burnt offerings did Solomon offer upon that altar. In Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night: and God said, ask what I shall give thee.” Gratefulness opens doors; gratefulness will bring that thing that you were worried about, hence you were not grateful.
Solomon wasn’t instructed to give a thousand burnt offering, it was from a heart that appreciated what God had done. He was not the most qualified, he was the least of the children of David, the child of an adulteress, a nobody; and who are you by the way, where did you come from? I always tell people I’m a barracks boy; my dad was a mechanic, I know, so when I forget where I came from, then you’ll stop being grateful. And I remember there are times when people say you know somebody up there, have you connected? They come from your area; I said when I start doing that, then I’ll forget where I came from and who has brought me this far.
Let’s remember the story of Solomon; a thousand burnt offering did not just come, he just was appreciative of how God had taken him from nowhere, praise the Lord!
And then of course David; so many verses in the Psalms: the man was a worshiper he knew how to appreciate God and in Psalms 100: 4, he says “Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name”. [Music]
Another reason why we must have a teachable heart is that in the scriptures, God has commanded and demanded praise, He has demanded worship, He has demanded adoration, He has demanded that we testify to His goodness, are you doing these things? God has commanded them of you, praise the Lord!
Repeatedly God has said I desire praise, I love it; I like worship; He says come before Me with praise and thanksgiving.
Let’s see Philippians 4: 6; “Be careful for nothing: but in everything (good things, bad things, lofty things, low things) by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God”. Colossians 2: 7; “Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving”. You have to abound with thanksgiving in all your doings, in all your celebrations and all your growth in everything, you must abound with thanksgiving.
Psalm 92: 1, “It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord, and to sing praises unto thy name, O most High”. Psalm 69: 30; (I’m just recalling instances of the scriptures where He says you should give thanks, you should praise God, you should be grateful to Him, praise the Lord!) “I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify “Him with thanksgiving”. Daniel 2: 23; (This is after Daniel had received revelation) “I thank thee, and praise thee, O thou God of my fathers, who hast given me wisdom and might”.
I know many of us think we are wise because we went to school, wisdom comes from God. You can acquire knowledge, but if you can’t apply knowledge, of what purpose is it? There are many PhDs who are begging for bread; I need to get a PhD; no matter what school you go to, isn’t easy, if you buy it, ‘okay’ is in small letters, praise the Lord! But truly if you get a PhD, no matter the school you go through rigor, but some with all that, they have nothing; and yet many of us, first degree and we are made, how grateful must we be, praise the Lord!
It says “And hast made known unto me now what we desired of thee: for thou hast now made known unto us the king’s matter”. Remember the king had a dream and was asking for interpreters and nobody could, but God revealed it; and so Daniel took time to appreciate God, praise the Lord!
Now back to Noah in Genesis 9; you know we read Genesis 8 where there was an offering and God came and bind the offering and they blessed the earth, it’s all generic; Genesis 9: 1-3, “And God blessed Noah (this is specific). Now remember the earth had been destroyed basically, it was time for a new beginning; have you gone through difficult times in your life? Are there things you wish you could start all over again? Get into thanksgiving, be grateful to God for keeping you alive even until this stage, give Him offerings that will please Him.
“And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, be fruitful, and multiply (remember this in Genesis 1, God was reestablishing His covenant with man through Noah, and he repeated it) and replenish the earth”. Now is a new beginning, do you desire a new beginning? Be grateful. It says “And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, and upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hands are they delivered”. Remember there were no other men but he was still in charge. God gives you dominion as you remain grateful to Him, praise the Lord!
Now, this is just the benefit of gratefulness; the scripture we read in Luke 17: 19, at the end when this one leper came back and Christ was blessing him, “And he said unto him, arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.” You know there are sometimes you get some blessings and there are some question marks; wholeness comes from gratefulness; God’s blessings are without sorrow, and the way you’ll sustain those blessings is to be grateful to Him, there are no sorrow in His blessings, praise the Lord!
Now when we understand the essence and the purpose of gratefulness, it is enough to spur once life to make you begin to live a life of endless thanksgiving, perpetual praise. Our topic is Gratefulness: an act of a teachable heart; let us learn from these examples, that’s the whole essence and let’s begin to be doers of the word and not hearers only.
The other side of gratefulness; you know some of us are grateful today, we dance and we celebrate; the next day we are murmuring, we are complaining; the Bible says can sweet and bitter water come out of the same fountain? And that’s why I love Philippians 4: 8, the same heart, what do you meditate on? What do you have inside your heart? Things that are lovely, good, it’s beautiful if you read Philippians 4:8; if all those things dwell in you, there’s no bitterness, there’s no murmuring, praise the Lord! Remember we are talking about the heart – a teachable heart, a heart that is malleable, filled with the Spirit of God.
See what the Bible says about murmuring, complaining, that’s like what the wilderness church did; this same Israelites, we know this story, but just to remind us; these same guys were slaves in Egypt, suppressed, victimized, they were basically in prison; they left Egypt under the mighty hand of God, with gold and silver that they collected from these guys; protected by the cloud and fire of God, they went through the Red Sea, yet, in the wilderness they kept on murmuring. God gave them water from rocks, it wasn’t enough; He gave them quail, gave them Manna, wasn’t enough. Are you waiting for more to be grateful? What God has done for you, is that not enough to appreciate Him? Because when you begin to lift Him up, He will take you to height beyond your imagination, praise the Lord!
Psalm 57: 7 says, “My heart is fixed, oh God, my heart is fixed: I will sing and give praise.” We need your heart to be fixed on praise this morning, your heart must be fixed; it shouldn’t be wavering, don’t be like the reed that wavers with the wind; let your heart be fixed, no matter what I will praise the Lord; in good times and in hard times. Hard times will come, trials will come, but when heart is fixed, He is there with you, He will see you through, praise the Lord!
[Music]
I sing that song because for many of us who has had a heart of stone, who has been ungrateful, His mercies are just forever; He’s able to restore us; He’s able to give us a teachable heart; He’s able to give you that heart where you’ll begin to see yourself rejoice even when tough things happen, praise the Lord!
Now it’s a dangerous thing to harbor ungratefulness in our heart; it’s a dangerous thing; let’s see Numbers 14: 21-24 (I’m talking about Israelites now), the Bible describes what happened to the wilderness church (the Israelites in the wilderness); “But I truly as I live, (this is God declaring) all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord”.
Even today, there is the glory of the Lord, but do you see it? “Because all these men which have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, (God was counting) and have not hearkened to my voice. Surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it:” That is not our portion in Jesus name. And that’s why it’s good to appreciate God ten times; and those ten times, it’s like when they ask for stuff, God helps them, it comes through and they kept doing it until they got God to a point where He says you guys don’t deserve the Promised Land; that was the promise from the beginning, that was why they left Egypt; we will all fulfill destiny in Jesus name, amen.
And then as we begin to begin to conclude, it’s important to remember that a teachable heart is one that’s always grateful; a teachable heart is a wise heart because you know the source of who you are, the source of where you can ever be, because promotions come from the Lord, He is the Source of peace, in Him we live, in Him we move, in Him we have our being. A teachable heart is a thoughtful heart and an illuminated heart, no darkness can dwell in the light of a teachable heart, praise the Lord! While the blinded heart is one that is ungrateful, thoughtless, selfish. An ungrateful heart is a murmuring heart, he’s a complainer; you know there are some people you don’t want to be in their presence because they dampen your spirit, I hope there’s none of us that’s like that.
A heart that’s not grateful it’s one that continues to speak ill of others, you always find fault. When the Bible says my glory shall fill the earth; there are so much good even in Nigeria; the Bible says you will eat the good of this land, there is good in Nigeria; whether subsidy likes, disappear, I don’t care, there is good in Nigeria.
You know some economists will tell you money doesn’t disappear, it goes from one bank account to another bank account; you say there’s no money, there is money, praise the Lord! It’s just not with the person that’s speaking. So the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness, so why don’t you go to Him and just appreciate Him, praise the Lord!
Now for folks who are here who wonder how do I get this teachable heart, the scripture we read in Ephesians 4:18 says “Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of the heart.” It is because they haven’t received Jesus; a darkened heart is one that has not received the Lord Jesus Christ; He says I am the light of the world; if you are here, you haven’t received Christ as Lord and Savior, you are postponing that day wherein you have joy that’s not dependent on how you woke up, it only comes from having Christ at the center of your life.
Now you might say oh I give thanks sometimes, but if you’re not born again all that is an abomination unto God. Our ministers will pray with you and the Spirit of God will come into your life and you will begin to understand how to be joyful even in tough times; if you want to give your life to Christ, please just come forward, and let’s stand up as a church, let’s just begin to thank God for all His many benefits, make it personal; you know what God has done for you, see what He has done for you, see all that God has done for you, can you see that you are healed? Can you see that He has been merciful unto you? Can you see that in spite of those inadequacies He has been faithful to you? Take this time to say Father thank You, Father thank you for all the many benefits, Father thank You; and say Father please, give me a teachable heart, remove a heart of stone and give me heart of flesh to learn from You, to learn of You dear Holy Spirit; teach me to be grateful; just pray that prayer, show me how to be grateful Lord, show me how to be grateful; thank You Lord, thank you Lord, thank you Jesus.
[Music]
And Father we as a church, as Your church, we are saying thank You; thank You for Your goodness; thank You for salvation; thank You for all the many benefits we cannot name them all, but most importantly thank You for Jesus Christ; thank You for the Holy Spirit who You have given us as a companion, as a friend, as a helper, thank You for everything.
Father thank You for the heart of gratefulness, we have received it, we will manifest it and nothing will hinder us anymore in Jesus name we have prayed, amen!
