Hallelujah Anyhow

[00:00:00] Speaker A: That's going to be Luke 17 11 19. Say amen when you're there. Alrighty. It says, and it came to pass as he went to Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. 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 voice and said, jesus, master, have mercy on us. And when he saw them, he said unto them, go show yourselves unto the priest. 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 goddesse. And he fell down on his face, at his feet, giving him thanks. And he was a samaritan. And Jesus answering said, were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? They are not found that return to give God glory. Save this stranger. And he said unto them, unto him, arise, go thy way. Thy faith hath made thee whole. I'd like to teach today on a thought of hallelujah. Anyhow. Jesus, I thank you, Lord, for what you're gonna do in this place this morning. [00:01:33] Speaker B: I thank you for your love, for your mercy, your grace, your tender kindness towards us. Oh, I thank you for the blood. [00:01:42] Speaker A: That you shed on Calvary's cross. [00:01:44] Speaker B: I pray that you have your will. [00:01:46] Speaker A: In this place today. [00:01:47] Speaker B: Have your way. Lord, use me as a humble vessel. Speak through me. Give me the words to say to edify your church today. [00:01:56] Speaker A: Move on us today. [00:01:58] Speaker B: I pray, in Jesus name, I thank you, Lord, to you, I give you the honor. To you I give you the glory. I praise your holy name. [00:02:06] Speaker A: I praise your holy name. [00:02:07] Speaker B: I thank you for in Jesus name, name. [00:02:10] Speaker A: In Jesus name, amen. Amen. You may be seated. Save this stranger going through this scripture verse. This is the classic verse that we go to turn to whenever looking for giving thanks unto God, right? Because it's always said, always acknowledged that the one that came back was the one that was made whole. But when I was going through the scripture yesterday, it kind of hit me something that some of you probably have acknowledged before, but I had never acknowledged because it was always ten came, you know, got cleansed, one got restored due to thankfulness. But that was, that was it. It was just ten lepers and the one and the nine. But when, when you slow down, turn the dial down a little bit, it says here in verse 16, at the end it says, and he was a samaritan. And then I. Jesus uses some interesting way of talking is that he says, there's not found any other to return to give glory unto God, save this stranger. So it brought into my mind a question of, could it be a possibility that the remaining nine were Jews? The Bible doesn't clarify that specifically, but it does raise a question of, okay, we've got ten lepers that cry out, Jesus says, show yourself to the priest. Which it's safe to assume that the nine that did not return to give glory unto God, give glory unto Jesus for the cleansing. More than likely, those nine ran to the high, you know, to the priest to show themselves so that they could be officially claimed clean, so that they could carry on as regular people. Right, but one took the time. But the nine possibility of them being jews, could it be assuming that they were Jews, why would they not take the time to come back and give God glory? We know that in Israel at this time, there was the pool of Bethesda. The pool of Bethesda was a place where you could go as a jew, if you had an ailment in your body. You go to the pool and you wait, and there's a time that an angel would pass over the water, trouble the water, and whoever stepped in first would be healed. Right? So if I was a leper, I'd be hanging out, if possible, by the pool of Bethesda to receive my healing. If I saw the water troubled, I would try to enter in. But almost in a way I'm questioning, could it be that as a hebrew child Jew, a healing, a miraculous anointing, could have become a norm to where they became, to the point of accepting of, I'm a jew. I'm entitled to a healing. So I cry out and say, master, have mercy on me, and I get my cleansing. I got what I came for, and I'm going to continue on with my life. But a Samaritan, the Samaritan, he didn't even have a right to approach really, a jew. So, I mean, he. Could it be. I'm theorizing a lot here, granted, right. This isn't written exactly in scripture. I'm going off of looking. But a samaritan has no right to be approaching a jewish rabbi. But yet he just got a cleansing. He just got a healing move on his body. Oh, and we know that all ten of them at least acknowledged that Jesus was some form of prophet that had power with God, if not acknowledging that he was God himself. Right. Because they cried out to him for a healing, they received their healing. Man, this samaritan goes. Falls down at the feet of Jesus and worships him, and he is given a restoration power in our life. Cade touched on this a little bit Wednesday night. We need to make sure that I don't become so comfortable, so callous with the presence of the Lord, so entitled to his gifts that he has for me, that I come in almost as a spoiled child, saying, hey, dad, give me the keys. I want to go hang out with my friends, instead saying, father, I love you. May I? Now, the Bible says we are to be able to approach the throne boldly, right? Boldly approach the throne of God. Boldly request, boldly ask for things. But boldness and entitlement is two different things. I want to come boldly to the throne of God, but I want to come through humility also. Pastor, referring to the prodigal son, you've mentioned where the prodigal son comes, and he's expressing as a servant, no, no, you're the son. But could it be, you know, in that too, of, well, I'm the son, so I'm coming in. But no, he came in as a servant. And the father corrected him and said, no, you're not a servant. You are to be raised up to my son into that position. The next story I kind of like to look at quick, is two kings. 317 19. This is going to tie in a little bit with this last one. This here is King Joash and Elisha. Elisha, the prophet Elisha is at his last days. He is on his deathbed, and Elisha is giving him his instruction. And he says, open the window eastward. And he opened it, and Elisha said, shoot. And he shot. And he said, the arrow of the Lord's deliverance, and the arrow of the deliverance from Syria, for thou shalt smite the Syrians in Aphek till thou have consumed them. And he said, take the arrows. And he took them. And he said unto the king of Israel, smite upon the ground. And he smote thrice, and then stayed. He stopped, and the man of God was wroth with him and said, thou shouldest have smitten five or six times, then hadst thou smitten Syria till thou hadst consumed it, whereas now thou shalt smite Syria. But thrice, see, the Samaritan, the Samaritan leper, he followed all the way through. He got a cleansing. He recognized that he got something he didn't deserve, that he wasn't worthy. For he went back, and he went all the way through and worshiped the lord. King Joash stopped short of his blessing, stopped short of his miracle. And this affected the entire nation of Israel for today, today, really. And so I want to encourage us, giving thanks, giving praise when it's due, but don't do anything. Everything that we do unto the Lord, everything we do for the Lord, that we do it wholeheartedly, with our whole heart, with our whole body, with our whole mind, with our whole strength. Don't stop short. Don't stop short. We need to go all the way through Christ. Job. I'm going to move on to job. Job, on the other hand, we read, was a perfect and upright man that feared God and eschewed, which, you know, the meaning of eschewed is to deliberately avoid or abstain from evil. He eschewed evil. He was a righteous man. So you could say he attended every time the church doors were open. He was there when it was fast day. He was fasting every single day. He was praying every single day. He was reading his Bible. In fact, the Bible even says that he was putting up burnt offerings for his kids in case they sinned. So not only was he trying to make sure that he was right for God, but in essence, he was trying to get right for his kids. Now, we know I cannot be saved for you or, and you can't be saved from me, but at the same time, I can still pray for my prodigals. I can still pray for my lost loved ones, and I can pray for you guys. I know you're saved, but we go through trials, we go through struggles. So he's perfect, he's upright, so much so that we know that Satan comes to the lord and petitions saying, hey, have you considered your servant job? And he's everything but turn him over to me and I'll do a few things, and you'll see, he'll curse you at your face. We know that in the way the bible shows it. I mean, it happens back to back. I don't know, time frame, other than we know that it had to have been all in one day, but all in one moment. Job loses his ox, he loses his donkeys, his sheep, his camels, his servants, save the one left to bring bad news. Satan will always leave the messenger to make sure that you know where he's trying to put you, trying to get your mind game going. Then job is notified. Also, he's lost his children. Things that he has left remaining are some friends that want to give counsel. Not all counsel. Should we receive. We need to receive counsel prayerfully and considerably, and then a wife that tells them to curse God and die again. Sometimes we need to just be careful on the counsel we receive, even if it's from a loved one. Even if it's from a loved one. But in all this, with Job being in the place that he was, he loses everything. We see him in job 120 through 22, where he says, it says, job arose, rent his mantle, shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped and said, naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. In all this, Job sinned not nor charge God foolishly. I know Job has been preached and taught on over and over and over again, but it still impresses me that you could go through such a trial, such a struggle, so much to where you know that. And job does call this out in delegation with the Lord. He gets a little bit self righteous, but he says, hey, I don't deserve this. And God rebukes him and puts him back in his place. But at this point, I mean, I've been fasting, I've been praying, I've been serving God to the best of my ability, loving him with my whole heart, and yet I just lost everything. And all of the counsel that's coming to me is saying, curse God and die. Give it up. Maybe you sinned, you know. Oh, you got a secret sin that nobody knows about. Well, God just called you out in front of everybody, and you might as well give it up, hang it up. There's no relationship with God, but no, he falls down and worships the Lord. He gives thanks. He does a hallelujah anyhow. Says, hey, you know what? All the chips are down, so to speak. I'm in a losing place as it seems. But hey, I've still got a God. I'm still a God that I know I can trust. I don't understand why he gave and now he is taken away. But I still trust in the Lord. I'm still going to worship him with my whole heart. I'm still going to worship him in spirit and truth. I'm going to still love him. I'm going to still hold on to the fact that, hey, I'm still here. I'm still here. I'm going to keep on trugging. I'm going to keep on going. I'm going to keep pursuing because I know that the Lord doesn't do anything just out of whim. He has a plan. I don't know the plan. I can't see the plan. It's confusing. It's frustrating. But I know that if I hold through, if I stick true to God, if I stick true to what I know, I'm going to be blessed. Job did it. Job did it. And we see that he ends up with double of what all he had previously. And the Bible says that his daughters were the fairest in the land. If we hold true, God is going to bless us. He's going to bless us above and beyond. Now, Mandev, the valleys can be so, so low. My wife and I were discussing last night on what kind of personal trials do you have? Do I have? And it's acknowledgeable to say that every one of us will have our own trial. And every one of us, our own trials will be. Will vary. Right? God bless her. My wife has been through a lot in her life. She lost her daddy at nine and lost her husband at 19. So you go from a little girl without a dad to a single mom at a very young age. I have not gone through that. And your. Each one of us. Each one of us, your trials, even though they may not add up to, you know, say, oh, your trial was this or job's trial. I mean, that dude just lost everything. Don't compare. Your trial is your trial. My trial is my trial. But at the same time, it's no less real, no less difficult. But God will see you through it, whatever it may be. David. I'm going to move on to David. Now is. On the other hand, David had sinned against God. He was anointed king of Israel. He is known as God, a man after God's own heart. And in this instance, we see the reason that David is called a man after God's own heart. But David had sinned against God by laying with Bathsheba. And then he has Uriah, killed by the hands of the ammonites. And then Nathan the prophet comes and kind of calls him out and says, hey, you know, you did this. And he speaks some things into David's life. And David repents. And so he's like, okay, God's going to spare your life, but the child's going to die. And we see second Samuel 12 18 20 says, and it came to pass on the 7th day that the child died. And the servants of David feared to tell him that the child was dead. For they said, behold, while the child was yet alive, we spake unto him, and he would not hearken unto our voice. How will he then vex himself if we tell him that the child is dead? Now we see, I'm going to pause here, because we see that as soon as Nathan the prophet leaves, David goes. And he's sleeping on the ground all night. He's fasting. He's beseeching God on behalf of the child, praying and fasting, saying, God, please don't let this child die. And so here we see the child is dead. And the servants are worried, because every time that they would try to bring it up, David would shut it down. So for seven days, he has been praying and fasting and says, but when David saw that his servants whispered, David perceived that the child was dead. Therefore, David said unto his servants, is the child dead? And they said, he is dead. Then David arose from the earth, washed himself, anointed himself, and changed his apparel, and came into the house of the Lord and worshipped. Then he came unto his own house, and when he required, they set bread before him, and he did eat. There is so much to learn in this instance, so much to learn. First of all, David sinned. He knew he sinned. And as tragic as it may be, the child did die. But David fasted and prayed for a week. Laying in the ground, laying in the dirt, a king of a nation, sleeping in the dirt, fasting, praying, going seven days without food. No matter what. However much we fast, it doesn't matter how much we pray, it doesn't matter how much we desire and beseech God. Our prayers, our fasting, will not get God to approve our sin. Also, it will not change the fact that we have to, a lot of times suffer the consequences of our sin. So David learned this lesson a hard way of. And the tragic part is that an innocent suffered a pain, too. You know, the child lost his life because of his father's sin. So what we do can also pass into generations. That's a humbling thought of what I do today might affect my kids tomorrow. Keep you in line. Keep you in line. And then, so David acknowledged his child has died. He raises up, he cleans himself, he anoints himself. He goes into the house of the Lord and worships, saying, God, you know what? I messed up. You didn't do what I wanted to do, but I'm going to worship you anyways. I'm going to lift you up anyways, man, in our lives, sometimes things aren't going our way. I've prayed. I fasted, saying, God, I want this God, I need this. God answers your prayer, just maybe not the way that we want him to answer the prayer, but the key is to give a hallelujah anyhow. The key is to say hey, you know what? I really wanted a promotion. I really wanted a raise. But Goddess kept me in check, said, hey, you're here in this time, in this place, hallelujah anyhow. And so David had sinned. Job was righteous. It doesn't matter where we are in life. It doesn't matter if I have sinned. It doesn't matter if I'm by any chance a perfect christian, which I know I'm not, but I need to give God the praise. The worship says, if I'm on the mountaintop, I'm gonna give a hallelujah anyhow. If I'm in the valley low, I'm gonna give a hallelujah anyhow. If I just got a new job, hallelujah anyhow. If I just lost my job, hallelujah anyhow. If my loved one that I'm praying for gets a healing, hallelujah anyhow. If my loved one that I'm praying for ends up passing away, hallelujah anyhow. No matter what your trial, no matter. [00:25:31] Speaker B: What your circumstance, we need to be. [00:25:33] Speaker A: Thankful unto God, praise him, exalt him, worship him, magnify him and glorify his holy name. Magnify him and glorify his holy name. We need to keep that thought. We need to keep that in mind. In first chronicles, I'm going to give us just a couple verses here, wrapping up. But first chronicles 16 says, o give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good and his mercy endureth forever. No matter. Again, I'm going to just keep on repeating, no matter where we're at, give thanks unto goddess. Don't become callous, don't become entitled. Give thanks unto God. Be humble, be submissive unto the Lord. First. Thessalonians 516 18 says, rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing in everything, give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. You know, when I was studying it, it was kind of curious to me that as I'm looking for being thankful to God, rejoice. Kept coming up. Rejoice in the Lord. Praise, worship and thankfulness, rejoicing. It's all tied together. It's not exactly the same, but it is all tied together. So if I'm going to be thankful unto goddess, I'm giving him praise. If I'm being thankful to God in the hard times is when it becomes true worship. When I don't feel like it, is when it becomes true worship. So rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing in everything. In everything, give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. I'm still thinking of that one morning that we had for pre service prayer and a spirit of thanksgiving moved in. Man. We just started giving thanks. Thank you, Lord, for your love, for your mercy. And the presence of the Lord moveth in so thick. So thick. Psalms 118 24 says, this is the day which the Lord hath made. I will rejoice and be glad in it. Today. It doesn't have to be thanksgiving. It doesn't have to be a special holiday to give God thanks, to give him honor, to give him glory for who he is, for what he has done for us. Oh, Jesus, I praise your holy name. I praise your holy name. Mmm, Jesus.