Receive Miracles When You Give Thanks

30 October 2016 (2.30pm service, New Creation Church at Star Vista)

- Sermon delivered by Pastor Lim Lian Neo

 

I.           Hi Dear!

Pastor Lian started the service by asking us to say “Hi Dear!” to someone beside us.

Some people were embarrassed to say “Hi Dear!”.

Pastor then explained that DEAR stands for “Drop Everything And Rest” and “Jesus has Done Everything And Restored”.

Thus, we should Drop Every Anxiety/worry and Rest in Jesus’s arms.

 

II.        Receive miracles when you give thanks

Pastor started the sermon by pointing us to the passage of scripture about feeding of the 5000 with five loaves of bread and two fish.

John 6:1-14

After these things Jesus went over the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. Then a great multitude followed Him, because they saw His signs which He performed on those who were diseased. And Jesus went up on the mountain, and there He sat with His disciples. Now the Passover, a feast of the Jews, was near. Then Jesus lifted up His eyes, and seeing a great multitude coming toward Him, He said to Philip, "Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?" But this He said to test him, for He Himself knew what He would do. Philip answered Him, "Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may have a little." One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to Him, "There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many?" Then Jesus said, "Make the people sit down." Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand. And Jesus took the loaves, and when He had given thanks He distributed them to the disciples, and the disciples to those sitting down; and likewise of the fish, as much as they wanted.  So when they were filled, He said to His disciples, "Gather up the fragments that remain, so that nothing is lost." Therefore they gathered them up, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten. Then those men, when they had seen the sign that Jesus did, said, "This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world."

“As much as they wanted” (John 6:11)—

The five barley loaves fed more than 5000, as the figure did not include women and children.

This miracle is very significant as all the four gospels recorded it.

It is a significant passage of scripture— Jesus showed himself as the bread of life, which means that if we are hungry today, we are hungry for more of God. Today, Jesus is our supply, source, everything.

After this passage, a few verses down, John referred back to this incident again.

What John highlighted was— what is in God’s heart.

John tells us what is really important

Thus, what did he highlight?

John 6:23
however, other boats came from Tiberias, near the place where they ate bread after the Lord had given thanks—

Tiberias was near the place the people were given bread after the Lord had given thanks.

If you need an increase in multiplication or favour in our life, this is the key.

There is a correlation between thanksgiving and increase.
 

III.      Thanksgiving

Why do we have to give thanks to God?

Our idea of giving God thanks is a bit like— a child wants the balloon, and the parents ask the child to say “thank you” before he can get it. The child may not even get the balloon after saying “thank you” if he is not loud enough…

But, God is not like that.

Then, why does God want us to thank him?

This is an analogy put forth by Pastor:

We may encounter situations where it is hard to buy someone a present as the person is very blessed with almost everything already. Thus, to buy the person a present that the person really appreciates is very difficult.

Pastor has encountered such a person before. She has been buying presents for this person, but felt that the person did not really love what was given. However, one year, the person actually came to Pastor face-to-face and thanked her for the present. Pastor felt very happy that this person has finally truly loved the present she gave.

If the person you care for thank you for the present you give, you will feel very happy. Thanksgiving is the fruit of a relationship.

God loves thanksgiving. It’s alike the situation where you love a person, you would want the person to love the present, and when the person has a genuine liking for your present, you are happy. God’s heart is like that.

He loves us. That’s the heart of thanksgiving.

Psalm 100:4

Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.

God wants to tell you that when you go to His house (enter into His gates), you could go with thanksgiving. By doing so, you are telling God that you have been enjoying His love, and that’s why He enjoys blessing you, enjoys loving you, and being in a relationship with you.

When Jesus took the five loaves and two fish, He looked up and thanked God.

There are two common Greek words for thanksgiving

i. Eulogeo

eu-good

logos-speak,

Meaning: To speak well of, to bless, to praise

Interestingly, “eulogeo” was used by Matthew mark, Luke when they wrote about thanksgiving by Jesus as he took the five loaves and two fish.

ii. Eucharisteo

When John mentioned about Jesus looking up and giving thanks, he used “eucharisteo”

Eu-good

Charis-grace

Meaning: To be grateful i.e. (actively) to express gratitude (towards); (give) thank (-ful, -s)

Jesus looked up and saw the grace of God pouring down on Him. His response was “Thank you”.

When Jesus was on earth, he moved as the son of man. He has uninterrupted fellowship with the father.

Jesus was the son of God and yet he gave thanks. John saw that and said “wow!”

John saw it fit to record this instance when Jesus looked up and saw grace pouring down.

We should look up and see the grace of God, and say thank you. When we do that, miracles happen. We look up, and stop worrying about difficult situations in life, as grace pours down and we receive the miracle.

Philippians 4:6-7
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

“Be anxious for nothing”— you don’t have to be anxious for anything.

In every situation, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, we will see grace of God pouring to us.

Pastor recalled a testimony from a sister from USA. Her husband is a man of God (a pastor of a church). The sister would like to have a swimming pool in her house. She asked her husband for a swimming pool, the man of God said no. She did not look to her husband but she looked to God. She looked up to God, and understood that – you don’t have to be anxious, you don’t have to be angry. She understood that by supplication, by thanksgiving, by receiving grace from God, she could let her requests be made known to God (Philippians 4:6-7).

Thus, she was not angry with her husband who rejected her request. When your eyes are on man, you will be angry. More than a year later, a couple from another State went to their church. They are builders of swimming pools. They told them that they were led to build a swimming pool for them.

Her eyes were never on her husband, but she has often been giving thanksgiving by looking up to God.  Thus, she was not anxious. In fact, she has been planning for the pool by measuring her garden for the pool before the visit by the couple!

We can trust God of our requests. We look up and see grace of God coming down on us.

Why is Pastor preaching the message “thanks giving”?

Past few weeks, Pastor found herself complaining. She found that she has not been giving thanks, and has given voice to her flesh and started complaining.

When Pastor was a new believer, she has been applying the ACT formula:
A: Adoration— admiration of Christ
C: Confess- Who I am in Christ
T: Thanksgiving

However, if we stop to see the grace coming down and stop to give thanks, we start complaining.

Why is thanksgiving so important?

Deuteronomy 8:7-16

For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, that flow out of valleys and hills; a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey; a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing; a land whose stones are iron and out of whose hills you can dig copper. When you have eaten and are full, then you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land which He has given you. "Beware that you do not forget the Lord your God by not keeping His commandments, His judgments, and His statutes which I command you today, lest--when you have eaten and are full, and have built beautiful houses and dwell in them; and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and your gold are multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied; when your heart is lifted up, and you forget the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage; who led you through that great and terrible wilderness, in which were fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty land where there was no water; who brought water for you out of the flinty rock; who fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your fathers did not know, that He might humble you and that He might test you, to do you good in the end--

God wants us to know he has blessed us.

“Beware that you do not forget the Lord your God…”—
God wants us to know that He is good to us.

Deuteronomy 8:17-18

then you say in your heart, 'My power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth.' And you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day.

God doesn’t want us to think that we are the ones who are responsible for our own blessings. If we start to think so, it’s our cursed life.

Jeremiah 17:5-8

Thus says the Lord: "Cursed is the man who trusts in man And makes flesh his strength, Whose heart departs from the Lord. For he shall be like a shrub in the desert, And shall not see when good comes, But shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, In a salt land which is not inhabited. "Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, And whose hope is the Lord. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, Which spreads out its roots by the river, And will not fear when heat comes; But its leaf will be green, And will not be anxious in the year of drought, Nor will cease from yielding fruit.

If we trust in ourselves, there is no one to help us.

The Lord wants us to know that grace comes into our difficult situations.

If you trust in yourself, you are like the parched land in the wilderness.

We have a God who loves us, and not against us.

We can receive from grace, and should not demand from people.

If there is any good in us, it’s because of the grace of God.

And when we have trust in the Lord, we “will not be anxious in the year of drought”.

 

IV.       Conclusion

The Lord wants us to know this-
A simple message: We have a God who is good, whom we can just look up every day.

We look up to God with hands up. This is a simple gesture that a baby can do.

A baby just stretches out his hands, and the mummy will feed him and love him.

Similarly, our part is to just to stretch out our hands, and say, “Daddy God”.

We will receive wave upon wave upon wave of the goodness of God when we look up. We will receive multitude of blessing that comes from Jesus.

Look up, so that we will be blessed. He HAS supplied it all. He HAS done it all. At the cross, He proclaimed “Finished!” All the curses and punishment are over, and there are only blessings for us.