Come On In

Have you ever forgotten your keys to your house or to your car?

Has anyone here forgotten the keys to their suitcase and found that out once they arrived to their destination?

If you’re OG, maybe you forgot the combination to the lock on your locker at school

Or for you techie people out there - You forgot your password & can’t reset it for some reason.

Today, I want to share with you one of the most important keys that you can possibly have on your spiritual keychain

The Key to a Joy-filled life!:

Psalm 16:11 NKJV

11 You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

Fullness of joy is ONLY found in His presence!

The question is - how do I get into His presence?

Psalm 100:4 NKJV

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

The Key to fullness of joy is Thankfulness

Being full of thanks leads to Thanksgiving

When you don’t have enough thanks, it’s hard to give thanks!

The Power of Thanksgiving:

Luke 17:11–19 NKJV

11 Now it happened as He went to Jerusalem that He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. 12 Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off. 13 And they lifted up their voices and said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” 14 So when He saw them, He said to them, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed. 15 And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, 16 and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan. 17 So Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? 18 Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?” 19 And He said to him, “Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well.”

The leper was already looking for his healing before he got to the priest (probably because he believed that he would be healed by the time he got to the priest because Jesus told him so) .

What are you looking for & what are you looking at?

Philippians 4:11–13 NKJV

11 Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: 12 I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. 13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

The word content has the idea of erecting barriers

& Jesus encourages that

Matthew 7:13–14 NKJV

13 “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

Dictionary of Bible Themes

narrowness:

A state in which something is confined and restricted, lacking in breadth. It usually has pejorative implications, but Jesus Christ described the way of salvation in terms of narrowness.

Professional athletes, & goal oriented people are narrow - they realize that they have limits so they much choose to do THIS & not THAT.

Olympic athletes know the exact date & time of the event they will compete in 4 years in advance & they time it to be at their “PEAK” at that precise moment

Sending a rocket to the moon involves a lot more than just shooting a rocket up into the sky.

Narrowness is not a negative style of living, it is Living On Purpose

It would greatly benefit every one of us to learn to erect barriers in our thought life & to become more “narrow minded.”

The only thing open to everything is a trash can!

Let’s come back to this unique 1:10 leper -

The Leper wasn’t made whole yet - he simply realized that he had been healed.

The leper didn’t finish going to the priest, but turned around (extending the time of his journey & not waiting until it was convenient to say thanks)

The leper didn’t wait to be made whole before he expressed his thankfulness.

Thankfulness Leads to Wholeness

*Isn’t it interesting that it’s not the other way around?

When I have ___________ then I’ll be satisfied (thankful).

What are you waiting for to be thankful & to express thankfulness?

We love and serve a God who is unmatched in His ability and goodness.

Ephesians 3:20 AMP

20 Now to Him Who, by (in consequence of) the [action of His] power that is at work within us, is able to [carry out His purpose and] do superabundantly, far over and above all that we [dare] ask or think [infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, hopes, or dreams]—

but...

Don’t wait to see all of your wildest desires met before you give thanks.

In fact, faith sees the outcome & receives the promise before it ever shows up.

In order to do this, we will need to think narrowly & make a conscientious choice about what we are going to look at at see.

Here’s what the Bible says to do:

Philippians 4:8 NKJV

8 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.

Thankfulness is the key that opens access to God’s presence & to full-joy.

Just One Thing:

Choose to narrowly look at the “Whatsoever Things” & express your thankfulness so you can enter into a life filled with Joy.

December Thankfulness Challenge:

Find at least 3 things every day in the month of December that you will verbally express thankfulness about to someone and/or to Jesus

Discussion Questions:

What are some of the best vacations you’ve had?

What stood out and/or impacted you most about this sermon?

Please read Philippians 4:11-13 and Matthew 7:13-14 and share about what erecting barriers & living a narrow life means to you.

On a scale from 0-10 (0=Empty ; 10=Full) how would you rate your level of thankfulness? Have you commited to the December Thankfulness Challenge - Why or Why not?