MFM H/Q Sermons

December 31st, 2023.

Topic: THE TRAGEDY OF INGRATITUDE
Text: Psalm 103:2, 116:12, Luke 17:11–19, Romans 1:21, 2 Timothy 3:1–5, 7-9, Lamentations 3:22
Minister: Dr. Shade Olukoya (Mummy G.O., MFM Worldwide)

Very briefly, I want to take us through the scriptures.
Psalms 103:2 (KJV) “Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:”

In that scripture, we can see what ingratitude means: forgetting the benefits of the Lord, forgetting what the Lord has done, and taking for granted the benefits that God has done for you.

Those benefits were not actually worked for; they have been settled by the shed blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. That is why we thank God for everything every time. “….forget not all his benefits,” meaning you can forget.

And when you forget, it is a pain in God’s heart. We see the psalmist making this declaration in Psalms 116:12: “What shall I render unto the LORD for all his benefits toward me?”

Our praise, thankfulness, and appreciation from a thankful heart are like burning incense and making sacrifices to our God, and it goes up into His nostrils, and then it triggers Him to do even more.

We see that in the case of a man here in Luke 17, the Samaritan.
Luke 17:11–13 (KJV): “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 voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. Immediately they said “Jesus, Master”, control, authority and power had been taken away from the sickness that held them bound. Jesus is the Master over every situation and circumstances.”

Luke 17:14-16 (KJV): “And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. 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 God, And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan.”

He did not take what he received for granted; he went back and gave Jesus thanks. You know, the Bible made emphasis on the fact that the man was a Samaritan, not a Jew, not someone in the promised plan, someone we can describe as an outsider, having little knowledge about the saviour. But here we are, a Samaritan, an outsider, a passerby, coming back.

Luke 17:17–19 (KJV): “And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger.
And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.”

Remember, in the first, they were just cleansed. But then he thanked God, he appreciated the Saviour, he went after the testimony pastor at the testimony stand, he went to show, to talk about, and to narrate to the Lord. He glorified the Saviour. You know what he got on top? Wholeness.

Meaning the nine that went away cleansed did not receive that special top-up. So it was like this man was filled to the top, and he got a lid to close it so it did not run over. The other nine did not receive it.

It is always good to give thanks to God, and it is good to appreciate whatever He has done for us. It is evil if you have a list of things that God did not do for you; what about the gift of life? You are breathing; there are some who will need oxygen to breathe. You are walking; you are seeing; thank Him for the gift of sleeping and waking up. Thank Him that you can eat, your body can process your food, and you can visit the washroom.

Some people will eat and still need something else to push it out. There are so many things to thank God for and to dwell richly in His blessings.

Part of the last day’s disease is ingratitude. Part of the people that will show up in the last days are the ingrates. When you do something, they say, “Are you the only one? Other people did more.” What are we saying?

They take everything for granted. Let us see the list of people who are thankful and ingrates. Let us also see the group they belong to, and it is really scary. You may say, “But I did not rob the bank or steal, just because I forgot to give thanks to God.” Yes, let us see.

Romans 1:21-23 (KJV): “Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.”

I just want you to see where ingrates belong and how they are going to share the same judgement with others in that group:

2 Timothy 3:1-5 (KJV): “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.”

The Bible says we should turn away from people who refuse to thank God after He has done something for them. They have a disease.

2 Timothy 3:7-9 (KJV): “Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith. But they shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be manifest unto all men, as their’s also was.”

Lamentations 3:22 (KJV): “It is of the LORD’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.”

This is why we have to be thankful to God, because His compassion does not fail. It is by His mercies that we achieve what we achieve; we sleep and wake, and we are who we are.

So when you think of the horrible things that have been mentioned among this group of people that the unthankful belong to, repent. Start thinking in your heart. You cannot say God has not done anything; He has done so much.

It is just the darkened heart that will not let you remember. Even if you cannot remember, listen to this song, which says:

When I think of the goodness of Jesus,
And all He has done for me
My very soul shall shout hallelujah.
Praise God for saving me.

So we miss a lot when we do not thank Him for something He has done before. Those nine lepers missed an opportunity to be made whole, which means permanent healing and a permanent blessing that will not fizzle out. But that Samaritan got a top-up from Jesus that meant “you will not experience that sickness anymore, your enemy will not prevail over you anymore, you will be the head and not the tail, and you will crush the heads of your enemies; you remain master over them.” That is what the nine lepers missed.

When you see people coming forward to share testimonies here, do you think it is easy to walk through the crowd and face the crowd to say something? Some of us are crowd shy, but we come out to share testimonies, and as we do so, heavens abandons every other thing they are doing and listens that somebody somewhere is testifying to the goodness of God, that somebody somewhere is being sincere about what the Lord has done for him or her.

Take for instance, that your testimony is tied to some other destinies, maybe up to 20, 400, or 5,000 people across the world, and you refuse to testify. The blood of those people will be on your neck.

You deprived them of receiving that strength they need through you to make themselves ready to receive their own testimonies are well. You see, all these things are interconnected. No man is an island on his own. You get something wrong; other people suffer.

You fail to do something; other people are deprived of something because that thing must have started from you but you did not do it.

So let us understand all this as we go into the new year. On a final note, 1 Thessalonians 5:18 (KJV) says: “In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”

I pray that the spirit of gratitude will enter us and the spirit of ingratitude and ungratefulness will die! In the name of Jesus.

So, not doing the will of God, which is giving thanks, is remaining an ingrate. Therefore, repent from that horrible sin that makes people miss the wholeness, the completeness, that horrible sin that groups people along with those that will be crushed, destroyed, and cleared out of God’s presence. So, when people have done you good, go after them and say, “Thank you.”

“Thank you” is a powerful thing. When you say thank you to God, automatically all the other things on your list will also be answered.

You block your blessings when you do not thank the Lord. There are layers and layers of things that He has done that you have not thanked Him for, yet you want one more.

God is a good banker. He understands all these things better than we do. He keeps His own part of the contract; you are left to keep your own part of the contract by appreciating and thanking Him.

I pray that the good Lord will touch your heart, open your understanding, and help you to see what you have never seen that He has done for you.

You will see the mysteries of a God who cherishes the praises of His people. You cannot build Him a house or an estate; what you can build Him is a habitation through your praise. He inhabits the praises of His people. So start thanking the Lord and appreciating Him for today. Let us be thankful to the giver of all.

PRAYER POINTS.

(Say, Lord, I am sorry for not thanking you enough, for taking you for granted, and for being wise in my own eyes. From now on, take all the glory.)

1. Every power attacking me with forgetfulness and making me an ingrate to God, be bound and release my life now! In the name of Jesus.
2. Spirit of thankfulness, come upon me; fill my heart! In the name of Jesus.
3. Every power that steals from me, that has vowed that my joy will not be full, be buried now! In the name of Jesus.
   (Raise a song of praise to God in your heart and sing to the Lord.)

MFM H/Q Sermons
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