Gratitude Part 4 I Pastor Joshua Gay

[SPEAKER_00]: High Praise Podcasts.

[SPEAKER_00]: Hey everybody, this is Pastor Josh.

[SPEAKER_00]: We'll leave Pastor here at High Praise and I want to thank you for downloading today's podcast.

[SPEAKER_00]: We know that this message is going to encourage and bless you.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I want you to open up your heart and receive with the Lord as for you today.

[SPEAKER_00]: How many of something God has done for you in the past?

[SPEAKER_00]: Amen?

[SPEAKER_00]: How many of something God is doing for you right now in this moment?

[SPEAKER_00]: How many of you have God to do something good for you in the future?

[SPEAKER_00]: Then we have something to be grateful and thankful for in this season.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're going to read this out of Mark.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I know this might seem really obscure and strange for the Sunday before Thanksgiving when we start reading it.

[SPEAKER_00]: But I want you to just hang with me.

[SPEAKER_00]: I want to take you on a little bit of a journey this morning and talk about living in gratitude on the other side.

[SPEAKER_00]: living in gratitude on the other side, Mark chapter 5, verse 1, it says, then they came Jesus and His disciples to the other side of the sea, to the country of the gatherings.

Mark 5:1

[SPEAKER_00]: And when He had come out of the boat, immediately they're met Him out of the tombs, a man with an unclean spirit who had His dwelling among the tombs, and no one could bind Him, not even with chains, because He had often been bound with shackles and chains, and the chains have been pulled apart by Him,

[SPEAKER_00]: and the shackles broken in pieces, neither could anyone tame him.

[SPEAKER_00]: And always, night and day, he was in the mountains and in the tombs, crying out and cutting himself with stones.

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, this is not a good condition to be in.

[SPEAKER_00]: This guy is not in a healthy place.

[SPEAKER_00]: He is not in a healthy emotional state.

[SPEAKER_00]: He is not in a healthy physical state.

[SPEAKER_00]: He is not in a healthy spiritual state.

[SPEAKER_00]: Everything about this guy is, as we would say, is jacked up, verse six.

[SPEAKER_00]: But when he saw Jesus from afar, get this.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is so fascinating to me.

[SPEAKER_00]: When he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and he worshiped him.

[SPEAKER_00]: And he cried out with a loud voice saying, what have I to do with you Jesus, some of the most I God?

[SPEAKER_00]: I implore you by God that you do not torment me.

[SPEAKER_00]: for he said to him, come out of the man unclean spirit, then he asked him, what is your name?

[SPEAKER_00]: And he answers, saying, my name is Legion, for we are many.

[SPEAKER_00]: Also, he begged him earnestly, that he would not sin them out of the country.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now, a large herd of swine was feeding near the mountain, so all the demons begged him to say, send us to the swine that we may enter them.

[SPEAKER_00]: And at once, Jesus gave them permission.

[SPEAKER_00]: Then the unclean spirits went out and entered the swine, which were also unclean by Jewish law, that were about, and they were about 2000.

[SPEAKER_00]: And the herd ran violently down the steep place into the sea and drowned in the sea's 14.

[SPEAKER_00]: So those who fed the swine fled, and they told it in the city and in the country, and they went out to see what that had happened.

[SPEAKER_00]: Then they came to Jesus and saw the one who had been demon possessed and had legion sitting and clothed in his right mind and they were afraid.

[SPEAKER_00]: And those who saw it told them how it happened to him who had been demon possessed and about the swine.

[SPEAKER_00]: I love that.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's so, it's such an interesting thing because what, what is he go?

[SPEAKER_00]: The people that are feeding the swine are told and they come and they see the man in his right mind, but they also see what had happened to the pigs.

[SPEAKER_00]: Then they began to plead with him to depart from their region.

[SPEAKER_00]: And when he got into the boat, he would be demon possessed, begged him that he might be with him.

[SPEAKER_00]: However, get this, once again, Jesus did not permit him.

[SPEAKER_00]: But said to him, go home to your friends and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you and how he had compassion on you.

[SPEAKER_00]: And he departed and began to proclaim into capitalists, all that Jesus had done for him, get this.

[SPEAKER_00]: And all say all,

[SPEAKER_00]: say, oh, one more time, and all marveled.

[SPEAKER_00]: It doesn't say one or two, it doesn't say a few, it doesn't say half of them, it doesn't say the majority of them.

[SPEAKER_00]: It says they all marveled.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now, I wanna take you on a journey a little bit through this text today, because I do think, what's again, this is one of those stories and accounts of Jesus,

[SPEAKER_00]: that if you were raised in church, you probably heard and you probably heard it a hundred times and you've had the picture of Jesus and the man who runs out, who's cutting himself and once again, even the way we, even the way that we envision this half the time, we envision the man running out of the tomb to attack Jesus, but that's not what the scripture says.

[SPEAKER_00]: says they ran out to worship Him, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: And then you see the pigs running off the cliff and you see all of these images in your head if you were raised in church.

[SPEAKER_00]: But I want to take you on a journey through this scripture a little bit and see how what Jesus is doing is he is bringing freedom and deliverance to a man and then on the other side saying, I didn't just do this for you.

[SPEAKER_00]: But I did this for all your friends too.

[SPEAKER_00]: I did it for you, but it's more than just you.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's for the places that you're gonna go that I did it as well.

[SPEAKER_00]: So whenever we land here in Mark chapter five, before Jesus arrives, the man is living in a graveyard of hopelessness.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's dwelling among the dead.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's surrounded by tombs.

[SPEAKER_00]: Everything around him is a picture of despair, of destruction, of dryness, of death.

[SPEAKER_00]: It is an absolute picture of what a life overwhelmed by death and darkness and the hand of the enemy looks like.

[SPEAKER_00]: There is no life.

[SPEAKER_00]: whenever you are under the oppression of the enemy, it is all going to turn up death and destruction at the end.

[SPEAKER_00]: What might even feel like it is something that is good for your flesh will ultimately end up in death and destruction.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is why scripture is very clear.

[SPEAKER_00]: It says that the wages of sin is death.

[SPEAKER_00]: The wages of sin is death.

[SPEAKER_00]: There is no life to be found living outside of the manner which God has called you to live.

[SPEAKER_00]: And He has called you to live in life and life more abundantly.

[SPEAKER_00]: He has called you to live in righteousness.

[SPEAKER_00]: He has called you to live in a holy manner.

[SPEAKER_00]: He has not called you to live the way that you want to live.

[SPEAKER_00]: Come on somebody, because when we say the way that I want to live, what we're really talking about is being led by our flesh, which is why Paul is constantly compelling us to crucify and to mortify the deeds of the flesh, because you don't get to live the way you just want to live.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is one of the biggest lies we even believe in the American church, because we are so saturated by you can do what you want to do.

[SPEAKER_00]: Bless God, your free.

[SPEAKER_00]: Your freedom means you can do what you want to do.

[SPEAKER_00]: That is not what liberty in Christ means.

[SPEAKER_00]: Liberty in Christ doesn't mean you get to do what you want to do.

[SPEAKER_00]: Liberty in Christ means I've been bought with the price.

[SPEAKER_00]: Therefore I'm going to glorify God with my body and I'm going to live for him.

[SPEAKER_00]: And anything other than that ends up in death and destruction.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is why we have people that feel church-pues.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's a lot of their lives are still filled with death because once they're living it, it's not the righteousness of God.

[SPEAKER_00]: But it is sinful destruction of their flesh.

[SPEAKER_00]: People go, well, bless God.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're all human.

[SPEAKER_00]: So we're just going to sin because we're human.

[SPEAKER_00]: Your humanity is not what makes you sin.

[SPEAKER_00]: Your humanity is not what makes you sin.

[SPEAKER_00]: We've had bad theological teaching about this, to be human means that you sinning makes you inhuman.

[SPEAKER_00]: It makes you less than human when you sin.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because whenever God created man, he didn't create him to sin.

[SPEAKER_00]: And if God didn't create him to sin, then what happens is the enemy brings the sin into your life in what in a method and in a way to dehumanize you.

[SPEAKER_00]: But we've bought this idea, well, you know, we just weren't just human beings.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we're going to send bless God.

[SPEAKER_00]: I heard a preacher say this one time.

[SPEAKER_00]: We were told, going up, we are having to send a little bit every day.

[SPEAKER_00]: And if we were going to send a little bit every day, we were going to make it count.

[SPEAKER_00]: He was not saying that in a farming way, by the way.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right, but that's what some of us have been taught that.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, you're going to send a little bit every day.

[SPEAKER_00]: No, you don't have to send every day.

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, you know, just as long as we're here, this energy going to be problems, and I'm about to, no.

[SPEAKER_00]: I've been made the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: Come on somebody, do we really believe that's what, by the way, that's not first pastor Joshua, that's what the Scripture says.

[SPEAKER_00]: I've been made the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't have to live and sin any longer.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is this picture, the man's bound with shackles on the outside, but they're not keeping him, he's bound by demons on the inside.

[SPEAKER_00]: And no one could tame him or keep him.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right?

[SPEAKER_00]: They tried to just maintain his behavior by putting him in chains.

[SPEAKER_00]: He broke out of him.

[SPEAKER_00]: They tried to separate him from the rest of the city because he was a problem.

[SPEAKER_00]: And he breaks out of the chains and keeps coming back.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let me just say, there are some things that there are no human solutions for.

[SPEAKER_00]: And once again, I want to make sure I'm clear, I'm not against doctors or therapy or anything like that.

[SPEAKER_00]: Those are all well and good and have their place.

[SPEAKER_00]: But there are some things that there is no human solution for.

[SPEAKER_00]: There are some things that people reach the end of what they can do.

[SPEAKER_00]: And the only solution is for Jesus to step out of the boat.

[SPEAKER_00]: and to step into your life because he is the way he is the truth, he is the life, he is the answer to every problem, he is the solution for every situation, and no matter what you have going on in your life, even if you try all the human solutions, even though they might can help, if you don't get Jesus to show up, you're just going to keep having the same problem again and again and again.

[SPEAKER_00]: Until you let Jesus actually come into your situation and you throw yourself at his feet and you say, I'm done being in the kind of cave I'm done being in this cycle where I hate my this man's not harming himself because he's just trying to put on a show He's harming himself because he hates his current condition and his life Some of you use other things

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't I don't I'm not like that.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not in a cave naked cutting myself.

[SPEAKER_00]: No, but you talk bad about yourself all the time No, but you cope without the haul and drugs and sex and everything else Come on somebody you find other things to numb the pain and

[SPEAKER_00]: And at the end of the day, until we allow Jesus even to come into those situations.

[SPEAKER_00]: And once again, I believe we have an awesome program that we have here at the church called Celebrate Recovery.

[SPEAKER_00]: And you know, one of the reasons C.R.

[SPEAKER_00]: works because it invites Jesus in.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because we believe in a higher power that has the ability to break every chain and that higher power has a name and his name is Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: There are some things that you can't just

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm just going to get through it, I'm just going to wake up and I'm just going to be like, yeah, today's the young people tried that before, it didn't work, you know why?

[SPEAKER_00]: Because you tried to do it.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it's not by your mind and it's not by your power, but it's by his that you get victory.

[SPEAKER_00]: I got to keep going, you know, women, night and day he cries out misery, cutting himself with stones.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is the enemy's always his desire when people are hurting when we're in these cycles

[SPEAKER_00]: isolate.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is why when people start having issues in their lives, the enemy wants to get in their ear and tell everybody knows what's going on in your life.

[SPEAKER_00]: Everybody knows what you're doing.

[SPEAKER_00]: They saw it.

[SPEAKER_00]: They saw that Facebook post.

[SPEAKER_00]: They saw that Instagram.

[SPEAKER_00]: They saw that TikTok.

[SPEAKER_00]: Everybody knows what you're doing and they're all judging you for it.

[SPEAKER_00]: And the enemy will do that to try to isolate you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because there's no healing in isolation.

[SPEAKER_00]: Healing is found in community.

[SPEAKER_00]: Healing is found in Christ.

[SPEAKER_00]: Healing is found in the body.

[SPEAKER_00]: Are you with me?

[SPEAKER_00]: What's really interesting about this whole thing is, we read this in a vacuum, Mark 5.

[SPEAKER_00]: The scripture I just read Mark 5.

[SPEAKER_00]: We read that in a vacuum and we ignore everything else.

[SPEAKER_00]: But if you actually just rewind to the previous chapter,

[SPEAKER_00]: What leads up to this is actually another very famous Jesus story that we all know.

[SPEAKER_00]: And what Jesus does is he's teaching parables to the disciples and mark four.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then he goes, hey guys, let's go to the other side.

[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, okay.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you say so, Jesus, and they get in the boat and they start going to the other side, and Jesus goes to sleep.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then what happens is they encounter this raging storm.

[SPEAKER_00]: And the disciples are freaking out thinking they're gonna die.

[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus gets up and goes, hey, peace be still.

[SPEAKER_00]: Why y'all?

[SPEAKER_00]: Don't have no faith.

[SPEAKER_00]: And he goes back to sleep.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then it brings this to Mark chapter five.

[SPEAKER_00]: I want you, there is one reason Jesus got into that boat and went to the other side.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it's this man.

[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus got in the boat and went to the other side.

[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus silenced the storm for one man.

[SPEAKER_00]: We think so often, this goes to that thing, I'll say in a minute ago, we talk about it ourselves.

[SPEAKER_00]: We convince ourselves that Jesus is not interested in our freedom and our deliverance in our issues, because everything that's going on in Jesus is too busy and all this is going on.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we have this story here where Jesus pauses in the middle of teaching His disciples and goes through a storm to bring healing and deliverance to one man.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then he gets back in the boat and goes back to the other side.

[SPEAKER_00]: One person, I want you to hear me, I don't care what you're going through.

[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus will go through the storm for you.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't care what your life looks right now.

[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus went through the storm for you.

[SPEAKER_00]: That the word became flesh and dwelt among us, that he was condemned by Pilate, that he was crucified and he died, and then he rose again, and you know why he did it for you.

[SPEAKER_00]: for the situation that you are in right now, for whatever you are facing right now, for whatever feels so overwhelming right now, for whatever habit, whatever hang up, whatever addiction, whatever issue, whether it's public or nobody knows.

[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus came through the storm just for you to bring you freedom.

[SPEAKER_00]: And to bring you deliverance, so you don't have to keep messing with the same stuff for the rest of your life.

[SPEAKER_00]: Don't buy into the lie that what you're dealing with right now has to be your final state.

[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus wants to bring you freedom and deliverance.

[SPEAKER_00]: You don't have to live in the same cycles.

[SPEAKER_00]: No storm, hear me, no storm.

[SPEAKER_00]: Can't stop Jesus from getting to you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Nothing you've done can stop Jesus from getting to you.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is really the perfect description of nothing can separate us from his love.

[SPEAKER_00]: No height, no depth.

[SPEAKER_00]: Nothing can separate us from the love of God.

[SPEAKER_00]: You might feel like you're trapped in a dark place.

[SPEAKER_00]: You may have been trapped in a dark place, but Jesus is still willing to walk into your graveyard.

[SPEAKER_00]: He is still coming to seek and save that which was lost.

[SPEAKER_00]: No matter how hopeless the situation may seem, there's no chain he can't break, there's no demon he can't drive out, there's no wrong that he can't write.

[SPEAKER_00]: At the sight of Jesus, first of all, keep walking through this, the sight of Jesus, these demonic powers panicked, the man ran in worship Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: Hit hear me.

[SPEAKER_00]: Even the demonic powers,

[SPEAKER_00]: couldn't keep him from running and worshiping Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: The man ran and worshiped Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's power in the presence of God that draws even a tormented soul to worship.

[SPEAKER_00]: The demon possessed man Christ said, what I have to do with you, Jesus, son of the most high God?

[SPEAKER_00]: He knew who he was.

[SPEAKER_00]: And by the way, the devil's knew immediately,

[SPEAKER_00]: And the reason they knew is they knew that Jesus had authority over them.

[SPEAKER_00]: I've said this before, I'm going to say it's real quick, that there are sometimes we have this idea of the Big Bad Devil and the little weak Jesus, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: The Big Bad, like the enemy looks like the rock, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Just giant.

[SPEAKER_00]: And Jesus is this small,

[SPEAKER_00]: broken person.

[SPEAKER_00]: And because of our understanding of power, then the way we look at that is like the enemy is more powerful than Christ, and He is not.

[SPEAKER_00]: First of all, in His brokenness was all power.

[SPEAKER_00]: In His body broken, the enemy was defeated.

[SPEAKER_00]: But the devil is not some big, bad,

[SPEAKER_00]: That's not who he is.

[SPEAKER_00]: Scripture even says that in an age to come, they'll look at him and say, is this the one who deceives the nations?

[SPEAKER_00]: Why?

[SPEAKER_00]: Because he's weak.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's powerless.

[SPEAKER_00]: He is not God's opposite.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's not the bad version of God.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's not his doppelganger, but just when evil has a go-toe where his God doesn't.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's not who the enemy is.

[SPEAKER_00]: He is without power.

[SPEAKER_00]: The only power that he has is what we give him in our lives.

[SPEAKER_00]: And what you don't give him, he doesn't have authority to take.

[SPEAKER_00]: Evil might attempt to oppress, but it is no match for the authority of Christ.

[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus says a simple command, come out of the man, unclean spirit.

[SPEAKER_00]: Hear me, hear me, one word from Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: Can do what years and years and years of human effort were unable to do.

[SPEAKER_00]: One word from Jesus did what years and years of human effort were unable to do, and immediately the man is set free.

[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus asked for a name, he says, my name is Legion, Roman Legion was thousands of soldiers.

[SPEAKER_00]: This means severely oppressed, but no number of demons, no number of demonic power can overpower one word.

[SPEAKER_00]: The enemy might throw his best shot at you, but one word.

[SPEAKER_00]: is more powerful than legions of demonic powers.

[SPEAKER_00]: One word from Jesus is better than decades of sin cycles and problems and oppression.

[SPEAKER_00]: One word from Jesus is bigger than your broken family.

[SPEAKER_00]: One word from Jesus is bigger than your diagnosis.

[SPEAKER_00]: One word from Jesus is bigger than your past.

[SPEAKER_00]: One word from Jesus is better than anything else.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know what happens to the demons, beg to enter the pigs, the demons run in the pigs.

[SPEAKER_00]: And what's really fascinating is you have to understand this.

[SPEAKER_00]: When ever God does something in your life, not everybody is going to be psyched about it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Just for you, E.J.

[SPEAKER_00]: When God does something in your life, not everybody is going to be psyched about it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Not everybody's going to be fired up.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because once again, you need to read this really closely.

[SPEAKER_00]: What happens if you read it is in the go-to,

[SPEAKER_00]: 14 those who fed the swine fled and they told it in the city and in the country and they went out to see what had happened These people go out and they flee because they're mad They're freaked out but they're also mad because they're money Came from the pigs those pigs I just had a problem That's the truth There's some people that you may have run within the past

[SPEAKER_00]: And once again, when the people show up, they see what had happened to the man, and what had happened to the pigs.

[SPEAKER_00]: Who cares about the pigs right now?

[SPEAKER_00]: This is the man who is bound and was self-harming and was oppressed in all of these things, who cares about the pigs over the soul of the man.

[SPEAKER_00]: Not an airbiz can, but some people go mad, they ask Jesus to leave.

[SPEAKER_00]: Why do they ask Jesus to leave?

[SPEAKER_00]: They ask Jesus to leave because he sent a man free and also he heard their pocketbooks a little bit.

[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, come on somebody.

[SPEAKER_00]: Listen, you may have been wrapped up with some people that when you get free, they may not be fired up and they might have tried to tell you this and who you really are and they might try to tell you, you don't need any of that stuff.

[SPEAKER_00]: But listen, you have to shut out the voices who are against your freedom, who are against your liberty and you have to embrace the voice that comes to speak freedom over you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now, this is where I want to get to.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now that we're almost out of time.

[SPEAKER_00]: What happens is the man who's clothed and he's in his right mind.

[SPEAKER_00]: He goes from them, trying to put him in chains to being totally free.

[SPEAKER_00]: Years of human fixes couldn't take care of this, but Jesus did in a moment.

[SPEAKER_00]: Greatful on the other side of deliverance, the man begins to step into his purpose.

[SPEAKER_00]: And as Jesus begins to depart, the man begs him to go with him.

[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus, I want to go with you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus, you've done this for me.

[SPEAKER_00]: I want to be right by your side.

[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus, you've done this.

[SPEAKER_00]: I just need to stay in worship 24, 7, 3, 65.

[SPEAKER_00]: I just need to be in constant communion with you.

[SPEAKER_00]: And what your Bible tells you is this, and says it's very specifically, Jesus did not permit Him.

[SPEAKER_00]: In other words, Jesus told the man,

[SPEAKER_00]: And why can't he go with him because there were people that needed to hear what Jesus had done for him?

[SPEAKER_00]: There were people that needed to hear the testimony of what God had done in His life.

[SPEAKER_00]: There were people that had seen Him in the chains.

[SPEAKER_00]: There were people that had seen Him cut Himself.

[SPEAKER_00]: There were people who had heard the stories of the man in the cave that they didn't just need to hear some whisper, hey, Jesus came and set that guy free.

[SPEAKER_00]: and then he went with him.

[SPEAKER_00]: What they needed to do was see this man in the flesh recounts the story of what Jesus had done for him.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let's go and we have a ministry school.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's all, we'll look at it.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we see this all the time.

[SPEAKER_00]: People get saved, they get set free.

[SPEAKER_00]: God delivers him and they're immediately like, I need to go to Bible school and I need, some of y'all don't need to do that.

[SPEAKER_00]: What you need to do is you need to go right back to your workplace around the people that you used to act the fool with and you used to act crazy with.

[SPEAKER_00]: And they need to see that you were once in change, but you're not in change any longer.

[SPEAKER_00]: That you need to hang around and maybe be around occasionally some of those people that maybe you drank with and you did drugs with and they need to see that you're not drinking and doing drugs anymore Maybe you need to be around some of your family that you used to talk bad about people around and say I don't do that anymore I'm speaking life and I'm speaking breakthrough.

[SPEAKER_00]: There is something

[SPEAKER_00]: in your life that other people need to see, that there is still power in the name of Jesus, to break chains, to bring liberty, and to bring freedom.

[SPEAKER_00]: Y'all didn't give you a testimony for you to be quiet about it, or for you to live at the altar 24, 7, 365, just living in a constant, a theory of state of worship.

[SPEAKER_00]: God did something in your life, so you could go tell somebody about it.

[SPEAKER_00]: He begs him, this man's hard is right.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I've loved and out of gratitude, Jesus, I want to be with you, I want to serve you.

[SPEAKER_00]: But Jesus had a mission for him.

[SPEAKER_00]: Go to your friends.

[SPEAKER_00]: Tell them what great things God has done for you.

[SPEAKER_00]: And by the way, he doesn't go to a specific place.

[SPEAKER_00]: The capital is what just ten cities.

[SPEAKER_00]: Which interestingly enough, interestingly enough, this is not where Jews lived.

[SPEAKER_00]: Gentiles lived here.

[SPEAKER_00]: These were people who were, this is like, these are Greek ethos states.

[SPEAKER_00]: These are people outside of Covenant.

[SPEAKER_00]: These are people that they need to hear there's a man that has power.

[SPEAKER_00]: He literally becomes one of the first evangelists to a Gentile country.

[SPEAKER_00]: The man who was once in chains and all of these issues becomes one of the first evangelist Jesus commissions to go tell people what I've done for you.

[SPEAKER_00]: You go tell them about my goodness.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I'm not excited.

[SPEAKER_00]: No, this is why if people tell you that the church wasn't as Jesus planned to begin with, which is Jew and Gentile,

[SPEAKER_00]: then just show them stories like this and places in the Old Testament even where God is using people who are outside of covenant the church was always God's plan from day one it was not option B because the Jews rejected Jesus the church was always the plan of God Jew and Gentile was always the plan of God so he sent him

[SPEAKER_00]: He went for money to leave everything and follow the Lord who sent him free to Jesus sinneding him.

[SPEAKER_00]: His assignment was to share his story, to turn his gratitude into a testimony.

[SPEAKER_00]: I want you to hear me.

[SPEAKER_00]: Gratitude must have a voice.

[SPEAKER_00]: When God's delivered, you can't stay silent.

[SPEAKER_00]: My Psalm 107 2 says, let the redeemed of the Lord say so.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you're redeemed, you need to say so.

[SPEAKER_00]: You need to say something.

[SPEAKER_00]: You need to begin to tell people about it.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is why you'll hear me, you'll hear dad, you'll hear other people who preach.

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, a lot of times whenever we preach, you will hear us tell testimonies and stories of what God has done for us for our family, in our situations, in our lives, because let the redeemed of the Lord say so.

[SPEAKER_00]: because gratitude has a voice, we don't tell you just to get you clapping, we tell you because if God has done something for me, I can't be quiet about it any longer.

[SPEAKER_00]: When God does something in my life, I've got to tell somebody.

[SPEAKER_00]: Why?

[SPEAKER_00]: Because there might be somebody who's going through that same situation right now.

[SPEAKER_00]: And they need to hear from somebody else.

[SPEAKER_00]: There is hope in your life.

[SPEAKER_00]: There is still a God who still delivers in sets free.

[SPEAKER_00]: There is a God who still resurrects the dead.

[SPEAKER_00]: There is a God who still delivers the addict.

[SPEAKER_00]: There is a God who still puts marriages back together.

[SPEAKER_00]: There is a God who still brings prodigal soul.

[SPEAKER_00]: There is a God who still saves and still heals and still delivers.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I've got to tell somebody about it.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's like a fire shut up in your bones.

[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus entrusted this man with a great work to testify, to Gentile cities about Him.

[SPEAKER_00]: And by the way, gratitude will also produce immediate obedience.

[SPEAKER_00]: You see, immediately, does what Jesus says.

[SPEAKER_00]: Don't tell me you're thankful for what Jesus did.

[SPEAKER_00]: And you're not willing to do what Jesus says.

[SPEAKER_00]: Hold on to the message.

[SPEAKER_00]: My question for you today is we kind of wrap up is have you told your friends what God's done for you?

[SPEAKER_00]: If you told your family what God has done for you, there's somebody who needs to hear your story of deliverance.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's somebody who needs to hear your story of breakthrough.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's somebody who needs to hear the story of how God brought you out.

[SPEAKER_00]: And by the way on on Thursday some of you may be sitting at tables with those people.

[SPEAKER_00]: On Thursday, some of you may be sitting at tables with those people.

[SPEAKER_00]: Don't allow, well, this might get awkward.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's Thanksgiving with family anyways.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's probably going to be awkward.

[SPEAKER_00]: Probably going to be awkward.

[SPEAKER_00]: Who cares if it's awkward or not?

[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus is too good to be quiet about what he's done for me in my life.

[SPEAKER_00]: I know where I could be and I know where I am.

[SPEAKER_00]: Why would I be quiet?

[SPEAKER_00]: I know some of you and I know your life.

[SPEAKER_00]: I know where you were.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I know where you are.

[SPEAKER_00]: How can you be anything other than grateful?

[SPEAKER_00]: And if you're really grateful, gratitude has a voice.

[SPEAKER_00]: Gratitude has a voice.

[SPEAKER_00]: On the other side, it has a voice.

[SPEAKER_00]: Gratitude is not just a feeling we hide, but it's a fire that we share.

[SPEAKER_00]: Such as some feeling you have once again, sitting Thursday night, halfway in a coma from Turkey

[SPEAKER_00]: With the glow of the TV and the Christmas tree hitting your face, you're like, I'm just so thankful.

[SPEAKER_00]: Gratitude is a fire in you.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's a fire inside of you that can't be quilched, that can't be put out, and fire spreads.

[SPEAKER_00]: And whenever you begin to share from the fire of gratitude, somebody else's life begins to be ignited.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then they begin to share with other people.

[SPEAKER_00]: If we really want to see what we call revival, you don't want to the best ways we can do that.

[SPEAKER_00]: Don't be quiet about what God has done for you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, that's personal.

[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus didn't do it just for you.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think that, I don't have time.

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, let me just say this real quick.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think one of the biggest mistakes we sometimes make is we make what God does for a so personal.

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, God did it for me.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, he did it for you, but it wasn't just for you.

[SPEAKER_00]: He did it for you to tell somebody.

[SPEAKER_00]: He did it as a testimony of what he did in your life.

[SPEAKER_00]: So somebody else could be encouraged.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm so thankful we have people in this room right now that are CR leaders that have been, some of them have been clean for six years and 14 years and all of a sudden, and you know one of the things that they do in CR constantly is tell their story.

[SPEAKER_00]: Why?

[SPEAKER_00]: Because there's people in there that are two weeks clean,

[SPEAKER_00]: that they need to know that six years clean and 14 years clean is doable by the power that Jesus brings you in life.

[SPEAKER_00]: There are people in the stream that their marriage is might be on the brink right now and your marriage might have been on the brink a few years ago.

[SPEAKER_00]: They need to hear your story to know that they're still a God who puts it back together.

[SPEAKER_00]: Your kids may have been far from God and they came home.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's people in this room right now that their kids probably are from far from God and they need to hear from you to know that God still doesn't.

[SPEAKER_00]: gratitude has a voice.

[SPEAKER_00]: Come on with.

[SPEAKER_00]: Listen, I believe this as we're wrapping up gratitude on the other side is where God is calling us today.

[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe you're the one who's still in the storm, or maybe you're the one who's among the tombs.

[SPEAKER_00]: But I believe we're in a season where Jesus is taking you through to the other side.

[SPEAKER_00]: You may be in the tomb, but you don't have to stay in the tomb.

[SPEAKER_00]: Hear me, you may be in the tomb, but you don't have to stay

[SPEAKER_00]: There's a bully that will bring you out and bring you freedom and deliverance.

[SPEAKER_00]: And in those situations, what you have to do is trust God and thank Him in advance.

[SPEAKER_00]: The man did not wait for Jesus to say unclean spirit come out of Him for Him to worship.

[SPEAKER_00]: He worshiped before deliverance was ever there.

[SPEAKER_00]: He worshiped before he was free.

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, I'ma whenever God takes this away, then I'll praise him.

[SPEAKER_00]: What if you start appraising him now and that opened up the door for his voice to come in your life?

[SPEAKER_00]: It's, by the way, it's really interesting.

[SPEAKER_00]: In this account, we don't get any backstory on how the demons got in the man, how the oppression happened, because none of that really matters.

[SPEAKER_00]: Which by the way, Jesus is always doing this.

[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus is like this, because his mom says, oh, cares!

[SPEAKER_00]: Doesn't matter.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm here to bring freedom.

[SPEAKER_00]: We need to quit arguing in debating all, where was the door open?

[SPEAKER_00]: And where, who cares?

[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus came to bring freedom.

[SPEAKER_00]: Or maybe you're the person.

[SPEAKER_00]: And you can think back on what God's already brought you through.

[SPEAKER_00]: And you're not in the grave yard anymore.

[SPEAKER_00]: If he's delivered you, and if he's clothed you in his love, then you have a reason to praise, and you have a story to tell.

[SPEAKER_00]: A story of gratitude, a story of how he's brought you through.

[SPEAKER_00]: Some of you in this room, you should be dead right now.

[SPEAKER_00]: All accounts, you should be dead.

[SPEAKER_00]: I've got a son who's in kid's church that they said he was still born.

[SPEAKER_00]: I was like, ain't kids church.

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, serving over there this morning.

[SPEAKER_00]: Serving is 16 years old.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't have time to go to the story right now.

[SPEAKER_00]: But when he was born, we were told he was still born.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then he'd be small.

[SPEAKER_00]: And he'd be the runt of the litter.

[SPEAKER_00]: And he'd always be the smallest person in the room.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's 16 years old.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's healthy.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's taller than me, nothing.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's like a big thing.

[SPEAKER_00]: The kid wears a size 13 shoe.

[SPEAKER_00]: I've got a story to tell.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's been too good to me.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's done too much for me, for me to be quiet and in this season, listen, in this season of Thanksgiving, whenever you're around the table and you're recounting, what do you thankful for this year?

[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe it should be more than I'm thankful that I have AC when it's 85 degrees outside.

[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe it should be a little bit deeper than I'm thankful for the food that's on the table.

[SPEAKER_00]: Though we're thankful for all those things, but maybe you need to reach down into the depths of your soul.

[SPEAKER_00]: You need to reach down into the depths of your life.

[SPEAKER_00]: And what is God brought you out of?

[SPEAKER_00]: When everybody else is saying, I'm thankful that I don't know, I'm thankful my stock is up this week.

[SPEAKER_00]: And you go, I'm thankful that I was once bound in oppression.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm thankful that my marriage was on the rocks but God brought it out.

[SPEAKER_00]: But people look at you a little bit funny, they might, but there also may be somebody sitting at that table that needs to hear that story that you don't even know about.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's been too good for us to be quiet.

[SPEAKER_00]: Grater tube has a voice, thank you, Pete.

[SPEAKER_00]: Make sure you subscribe so you never miss a message here from High Braise.

[SPEAKER_00]: Also, you can follow us on social media, on Facebook and on Instagram, and don't forget to go subscribe to our YouTube channel.

[SPEAKER_00]: We'll be back soon with another incredible message.

[SPEAKER_00]: God bless you and have a great week.