Hallelujah! How many of us remember or know what day today is? The first Sunday in the new month of February 2025, it’s a new month, let us appreciate the Lord Almighty; it’s a new month of February, praise the living Jesus!
But before we go on, I would like to address a certain question that some of us may be asking already; for those of us who work Monday to Friday, we know that on Saturday is a resting day; for those of us who come to church, when you sleep on Saturday, wake up on Sunday, you know you are coming to church on Sunday morning; for those of us who are members of this assembly, on a Thanksgiving Sunday when it is time like this, you know that you will see our father in the Lord, Pastor Tunde Netufo, so some of you must be asking questions right now; so our father in the Lord, the APICR Region 11, Pastor Tunde Netufo is on vacation, let’s appreciate the Lord Almighty, I think it’s a well deserved vacation, praise the living Jesus!
But I’m sure he’s here with us online in this service and he sends his greetings, and he says I should tell you (I’ll try to quote as much as I can), that by the grace of God, everything that you have lost in the past, that you will recover this month in the mighty name of Jesus. He says that you will overrun your enemies in the mighty name of Jesus; he says that from this day, victory shall be yours, rejoicing shall be yours, celebration shall be your lot in the mighty name of Jesus; and prophetically, he has declared that this month of February 2025 is our month of Divine Acceleration, and to that, he said you will not just walk, you will fly; in the name of Jesus, everything that you have lost in the past, you will recover, you will move forward you, you will grow faster, you will fulfill your destiny, you will be who God wants you to be, in the name of Jesus.
The Bible text for that is 1st Kings 18: 46, “And the hand of the Lord was on Elijah (so your name now); and he girded up his loins, and ran ahead of my enemies and I got there before them”; you will get there before them, you will reach your goals in the name of Jesus, amen! And so from that we know that it’s glorious already, praise the living Jesus! God has graciously and gloriously taken us through the first month of the year and brought us here in February, let somebody appreciate God!
And Philippians 1: 6, the Bible says anything that God starts, He finishes it; He has started the journey of this year with us already, by His grace and grace alone He will finish it and you will end well, but brethren, I hope we know that is not everyone who was here or elsewhere that said ‘Happy New Year’ on January 1st that is here today, we are not laughing at them, we are just saying ‘God, we thank You that You count us worthy to be part of these days’; so is somebody here today who would like to say ‘thank You because You count me worthy to be part of this day’; we are here (as our father would say) for only one business today, thanksgiving, just to dance.
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To you and every one of us, it is a month of double – double in the mighty name of Jesus, praise the Lord!
Very briefly we’ll go into the message now, but as we know today is the first Sunday, Thanksgiving Sunday of the month, in between this service, our father in the Lord, the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye will be ministering at the national headquarters, so at a point in time we will link up with him, so wherever we are at the time he comes on, we will stop the service, but we will start now, praise the living Jesus!
Please turn with me to the Book of Psalms 92: 1 – 15 (NLT), “It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to the Most High. 2It is good to proclaim the unfailing love in the morning, your faithfulness in the evening, 3accompanied by ten-stringed instrument, a harp, and the melody of a lyre. 4You thrill me, Lord, with all you have done for me! I sing for joy because of me what you have done. 5Oh Lord, what great works you do! And how deep are your thoughts. 6Only a simpleton would not know, and only a fool would not understand this: 7Though the wicked sprout like weeds and evildoers flourish, they will be destroyed forever.
8But you, O Lord, will be exalted forever. 9Your enemies, Lord, will surely perish, all evildoers will be scattered. 10But you have made me as strong as a wild ox. You have anointed me with the finest oil. 11My eyes have seen the downfall of my enemies; my ears have heard the defeat of my wicked opponents, 12But the godly will flourish like palm trees and grow strong like the cedars of Lebanon. 13For they are transplanted to the Lord’s own house. They flourish in the courts of our God. 14Even in old age they will still produce fruit; they will remain vital and green. 15They will declare, “The Lord is just! He is my rock! There is no evil in Him!” Praise the Lord!
Do we know who the Bible is referring to here? The person who starts from verse one, ‘I will give thanks to the Lord’, the one who gives thanks is the one God is talking about here.
This morning by the grace of God, I want us to look very briefly at a message titled “Your Gratitude Determines Your Altitude”; when we talk about gratitude brethren, is the quality of being thankful, the readiness to show appreciation for the things done to us, and to return kindness. It is a strong feeling of appreciation to someone or for something that somebody has done for you. Gratitude is a habit of thankfulness.
I remember some time back, our father in the Lord preached a message on ‘Applied Gratitude’, and there he told us that gratitude must become a habit, something that we do every day and that’s where it will become a part of us. What about altitude? Altitude is a vertical elevation (height) of an object above the surface; for example, where I’m standing now, I’m at a certain altitude above the level where you are, so altitude is talking about height. But for the purpose of this message, let us also include as part of definition of altitude that to be able to go far or to be able to achieve or to be able to succeed in the things that we do.
So when we say that your gratitude determines your altitude, we are saying the more or the ability that you have to appreciate first, God, and people for what they do or for the good things around you, the higher you will go, or the further you will go, or the more you’ll be able to achieve, praise the living Jesus!
Our attitude of gratitude will take us places; we are going to look at this message in a few segments, the first one is I want to be able to establish to us that indeed your gratitude determines your altitude; remember, in this case, altitude is not just the height, it also means how far you can go, or how much you can have or the success you will achieve.
In Luke 17: 11-19, here is a story that many of us know so I’ll just go through it quickly; 10 lepers went to Jesus Christ and they said Master, please have mercy on us, heal us, and He told them, go, on your way out, announce to the priests, show yourselves; and on their way as they were going, they discovered that the leprosy had disappeared, hallelujah! And by the grace of God, anything that represents leprosy in the life of any one of you here will disappear in the name of Jesus.
They discovered that leprosy had disappeared, then what did they do? Lepers used to be outside the city, they have not been home for some time; for many of them, the natural thing would be to just run home and say look at me, I am clean; look at me, I can join you again, but one of them did not go home, one of them went to Jesus Christ and said Master, You said I will be clean and I’ve been made whole, I’ve been cleaned, thank You, I have come to say thank You.
Now something happened, because he went back to say thank You, Jesus Christ said but there were 10 of you, where are the other nine people? He couldn’t answer, they are celebrating, they holding parties already; Jesus Christ said, because you have come back, you will be made whole. What is the difference? They were healed of leprosy, nine, one was made whole, so if he had a headache it had gone; if there was poverty in the equation, it had gone; if he didn’t have a house, where to sleep, it had gone; if there was anything that was worrying him, that also had gone, now who has gotten more? The one who came back to give thanks or the one who went to celebrate? The one who came back to give thanks.
One of the things you will also find in that story is that the Bible says those nine that did not come back were Jews, and the only one that came back was a Samaritan, a stranger; so you find the one who didn’t deny that didn’t come and say is He not Jesus Christ, is it not His work, is He not to heal the sick and to raise the dead? Ehn, He has done His work nau, I have seen it all. The people who are saying it is my right, the people who feel entitled, they take the blessings and they go, but the one who is an outsider came back to say thank You, and this is not only for these people.
I remember some time back, there were two ladies who went to visit an uncle, one is a friend of the other; after eating, after everything and when they were leaving, the uncle gave the friend his own sister ₦5,000, and for the sister he transferred ₦50,000 to her account, the visitor kept saying ‘Uncle thank you’, even the next day she called to say thank you, the sister did not say any Uncle bye-bye, how many of us are like that that we’ll receive the blessings of God and we’ll say He’s my Uncle, He’s my God, He’s my Father, that is what He’s there for.
Brethren, the one who give thanks will go further, hallelujah! I’ll give two more examples before we go further, what about Samson? The Bible tells us that the birth of Samson was announced by an angel, Judges 13, and when he was born he was born a Nazarite, and from 14, Samson began to do mysterious things. One day he was going with his parents, a lion came, the Bible says he tore the lion as one will tear a kid.
Another day the Philistines came, they said where is that Samson? Deliver him to us let us roast him, and somewhere he was able to find the jaw bone of an ass and with that jaw bone of an ass, the Bible says he slew a thousand of the Philistines, and after that he was thirsty, almost to death, and he was just saying God will you give me all this deliverance and make me die? And God made water to come out of the cleft of that ass bone and he drank and he just went away. If you look at the account of Samson there was never a time that Samson came to God and said thank You, so little would one wonder that Samson died mysteriously, he died shamefully, he died before his time because he was not a thankful person.
Brethren, when you give God gratitude He will do more for you, praise the living Jesus! Time will not permit me to share more, but I hope with little point of mine I have been able to convince you and not confuse you that your gratitude will determine your altitude, do I have a witness in the house? Hallelujah!
So now that we know that, what are the things that we must be thankful for? What are the things that we must thank God for? I have a few, not in any particular order, if we want to take this topic till eternity we won’t finish about the things we need to thank God for, but let’s just take a few: we must thank God for the gift of life; we are alive today because God kept us, we are alive today, according to our Open Heavens this morning, the One who kept us is God, while you were sleeping, while I was sleeping, I had no power over anything that was happening over me, who knows if the enemy had tried to take life out of me and God says no, and it’s because God says ‘no’ that we are here, praise the living Jesus!
In Genesis 2:7, the Bible says after God molded man from the clay, before man became a living soul, before he became someone that could move, the Bible says God put His breath into man and without that breath there’s nothing that we’ll call man, so if God chooses to take that breath what can we say? When I was growing up there was this common saying, eni ti moto ba gba ko lo maa mu number, the meaning is if somebody was involved in an accident, it’s not that person that will take the number and say I’m going to the police station to report because the person will be fighting for life, in the same way, is it the person who God takes life from that will say God why did You take it? There is nobody, so we should thank God that we still have the life in us, hallelujah!
You know one of the reasons why we should thank God because we still have life in us? It does not matter where we are today, it does not matter how badly things are today, your tomorrow will be all right. Ecclesiastes 9:4, for to him that is joined to all the living there is hope: for the living dog is better than a dead lion.
There was a man in the Bible, 2nd Samuel 9, Mephibosheth, he was a prince, and under some unexpected circumstances he became lame, not only did he become lame because his father and grandfather had died, they had to find a way to keep him so that at least he would have life, but he was living an obscure life, like a nobody; a prince was living like a nobody, then one day the new king, David said is there anybody left in the House of Jonathan that I may show him mercy? They said what do you want to do with that lame boy, he’s nothing, he said go and bring him for me, before the end of the day he was before David and when David was talking to him, he said ah, why are you worrying yourself about me, this lame boy like a lame dog; he considered himself a lame dog, but God saw a prince in him and before the end of that day David restored him into his position as a prince; he said you will live in this Palace, you will dine everyday in this Palace, everything that you had that was taken will be restored unto you.
Brethren we must thank God for life, you do not know what will happen the next minute, if you are already thinking that you are a lame dog, please can you assure yourself that you are not a lame dog, I’m not a lame dog, I’m a prince, I’m a child of God, because a living dog is better than a dead lion, praise the living Jesus!
Another thing that we should be grateful for, brethren, is that we must be grateful for what you are, who you are, what you have and what you don’t have. We must be grateful for who you are, what you have, what you don’t have, where you are in life; there is nothing that anybody has that was not given to him or her, 1st Corinthians 4:7, for who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? Now if you have received it, why do you glory in it, as if you have not received it? It’s saying there’s nothing that anybody has that he has not been given, and the God who gives, James 1:17, the Bible says every good and perfect gift is from God, the Father of light; so the God who gives is still alive, if He gives Mr A, surely He will not forget you, so we must thank God and appreciate Him for what we have.
But you know the problem with many of us is we tend to compare ourselves; we remember the Parable of the Talent in Matthew 25: three people, their master called them and gave them gifts, the Bible says according to their various abilities, but the one who got one was saying ehn see, he doesn’t like me, I have always known it, he gave that one five, he gave that one two, why is my own one? He was comparing, and because he was comparing, where the others were seeking the face of God and say Father what should I do, this is my addition now, he was on one side he didn’t join them, so when God gave them the idea of what to do and multiply the money he didn’t get anything, what ended him, the end was that the one he had was given to the one.
Many times what we do brethren, is that we compare ourselves – this one has just built a house, hey see my neighbor has just bought a new car, God when is my own? Do you know that God has a plan for you? The Bible says the thoughts that I think towards you, they’re thoughts of good and not of evil, to bring you to an expected end, praise the living Jesus!
Brethren, I want to tell us there is no one other person that is like you, I need you to know that, God did not create two of you, so when you begin to compare yourself with another person we are making mistakes, the script for that person – you know there were some wicked lecturers in University those days, they will set three set of questions, three people will sit on the chair, set A, set B, set C, so the man there will say number one, what is it, A, you will write A, he’s answering A to number two whereas is my own number 10, what will he score? He will fail the exam, that’s what happens to many people, you are looking at another man’s script, God has a plan for every one of us, so we must thank God for who we are, for where we are in life, for what we have and for what we do not have because He that keepeth us does not sleep, He does not slumber, He remembers us, your time is coming.
And I want you to know because there is no one other person like you, it therefore means that you are unique, so don’t bow your head when you see some other people, stand firm, if somebody look at this short man, say it is you that is too tall; if somebody says uh-uh see how fat you are, you will say you are too thin, go and eat; look at life from your own perspective, there’s no two persons like you and God didn’t make mistake creating you, so for our ladies who God has made you in my complexion and then you want to be light at all cost, who are you looking at? God did not create two of you, so stop comparing yourself with another person.
You can imagine for some people who last year sold their resources, they sold everything to get just visiting visa to go to America, you know what is happening today; those who got visiting visa and they wanted to use it to stay long by hook or croak and they sold everything and there will be a brother who will say haha God, why did they not approve my own visa, that brother today will be saying thank You God because I didn’t sell my house, I didn’t resign from my job, I didn’t lose my family, hallelujah! There are no two people like you, you are unique.
Number three, we must be thankful to God, because we have freedom. Brethren, freedom is the ability to go about as you like, when you like, in what mode that you like so long as it is not illegal and it does not affect another person’s life, praise God!
The way God created us, He didn’t create us to be in one place for a long time, that’s why when you want to punish somebody they say put him in house arrest, that person will call mommy please, I won’t do it again, and that’s why when you see people who misbehave in the society they will say go and put them in the prison, praise the living Jesus! When you wanted to come out this morning, did anybody ask you where are you going, if they ask you is for good, they are not asking you for restriction, you have freedom, why don’t you thank God for freedom, praise that living Jesus!
And you know freedom is like a form of prison, but sometimes we look at it only in the form of prison; in some homes, there are women who are in prison so to speak, because their husbands are like a terror in the house. I want to appeal to our brothers, our fathers, our daddies here, please let us make the home habitable for our spouses; and on the other way, there are some women who are like pepper – red pepper, when the man finishes from work and he’s going home, his eyes will be like should I go, should I not go, so sometimes they will go until night when she would have slept and they will sneak in because they don’t want wahala, please let us make the home habitable, hallelujah!
And there are people who are under bondage, they don’t have freedom because their minds are corrupt, I pray that the Lord Almighty will reach out to you and free your minds in the mighty name of Jesus.
Still on the subject of freedom, brethren, we are here this day, we are in church, if you look around there’s nobody disturbing us, you can serve God freely, it’s something to thank God for, hallelujah! I read a book many times ago, the title is Church Shift, it was written by somebody who was a student in one of the communist countries, so when he was a student, he said if they saw you read the Bible they will go and report you to the authorities and probably maybe they will deport you as a student, so to read the Bible when he was in a train, he would tear a sheet of the Bible and put it in his book, it will be as if he’s studying his book, anytime anybody is coming he would quickly close it; in the night in the room, to read the Bible he would have to cover himself with the sheet and turn off the light, and he would be reading the Bible inside the sheet because they must not find him, but you here, many of us have 20 Bibles, one is big in your car; another one, two big ones for your pillow; another one in your pocket, you have the Bible everywhere but the only thing is that we don’t even read these Bibles, how many of us are like that?
There was an American evangelist who went to one of the Asian countries, so he thought he was going to be schooling them and when he got there the people were the ones schooling him because he thought they didn’t have access to the scripture, so he was wowed, but I can’t see Bible, how did you learn it? They said any opportunity they have to get a Bible, they read it quickly and memorize it, they cram it because they will take it and destroy it, so without the Bible they could read chapters. There are many of us, with your 10 Bibles you can’t quote John 3:16, you cannot quote Genesis 1:1 and you have 20 Bibles, and someone who does not have a Bible can read chapters; brethren let us thank God for freedom that we can call on Him anytime, anyhow, nobody is asking us what we are doing, it’s worthy of thanksgiving, Father we thank You.
Just before I go, so that it doesn’t look as if it’s only happening abroad, even in Nigeria, there are places where people cannot go to church easily – freely; there are places where to go to church you have to carry AK-47. Some two years ago, we heard about a church in Abuja where pastor had AK-47 in the church; imagine if you all came here this morning and you see AK47 here, what will happen? We thank God that we don’t have to do that, let us appreciate the Lord Almighty that we have freedom to serve Him, freedom to come to His presence, nobody is restricting us, we must thank God.
For everything else we must be grateful, Psalm 103: 1- 5; I shared a testimony this morning with the workers; Psalm 103: 1 – 5, the Bible says bless the Lord, oh my soul, and forget not all His benefits – the word ‘all His benefits’, how many of us can actually recount all the benefits of God? How many of us know the number of things God has done for us? If you can number it here I will look for $10,000 and give you, how many of us?
Praise the Lord! Praise the living Jesus! So I understand that we have to stop at the moment because our father in the Lord will appear anytime soon, so we’ll come after and take our thanksgiving, God bless you!
