Hallelujah, you've been faithful Lord, from the ages past.
That is why our name is forevermore.
You've been faithful, Lord, from the ages past.
That is why on it. The.
Yes.
Are you clapping or you are? Praise the Lord, May God richly
bless you. On this note, we want to invite
our resident minister in the person of Pastor Emmanuel Osaya
Cosa to deliver the weather. Shall we welcome him with a clap
of him? Praise the Lord, Hallelujah,
Amen. We thank God that we are
starting this local week and God has begun with us.
Oh, I didn't hear you say Amen. And today being the day one, we
are offering Thanksgiving on to the Lord and we are saying thank
him. Thank God that for all that He
has done for us, we are in our sixth year as an assembly and
God has been good unto us, so we need to be thankful unto Him.
Amen. Our theme for this week is
celebrating God's goodness, offering sacrifices or sacrifice
that honors God. So we are just opposing 2 things
out of our Thanksgiving, thanking God.
We are also expressing our thankfulness through sacrifice.
So the driving force behind what we do as we thank God is to
offer unto Him. During thanking God, we offer
many things. We offer praise as a sacrifice
unto God. We also offer our material
possessions as also sacrifice unto God.
And we also give ourselves, we offer ourselves our body as
living sacrifices unto God. And we also offer to those in
need as way of thanking God and giving back unto God.
So our sacrifice should be motivated by appreciating God
and thanking Him for what He has done for us.
Because through sacrifice we acknowledge that everything that
we have comes from God. If you are giving to God and you
don't give with that understanding that everything I
have is God who gave to me, so giving back to Him, I'm even
thankful to Him that He has counted me worthy to receive a
gift or a sacrifice from me. Because the earth is the loss
and the fullness, including you and I.
So you and I, now we belong to God.
So anything we are giving to God is like yay nary because they
are rightful. He is the owner of our lives, of
our breath, of our everything. So if at any point in time we
are given to Him, we need to even come before Him with
singing, dancing that God has counted as worthy to even give
unto Him. And if you check the texts that
we have attached this theme, you will see that when you read the
Psalm, Psalm 50, you appreciate that God called them together.
And it was telling them that it is not your, your bank offerings
and your booze and other things that I need, but just offer
sacrifice of Thanksgiving. So Thanksgiving, appreciating
God, celebrating God is also a sacrifice.
And it should come from a very thankful and a cheerful heart.
So this week begin to thank God, let us appreciate God, let us
offer from the fruit of our lives unto Him Thanksgiving that
is due him. And by that we'll be doing
things that God, it will honor God.
Hallelujah. Oh, I said Hallelujah.
So I will tackle them because we don't have so much time when you
come for and you sorry and you preach long, you will sleep on
you true of us true. So I guess we're giving you
points, point points and then we will end.
So the first thing I want us to know is that when it comes to
sacrificial giving of Thanksgiving, praise, honor,
material things, giving ourselves, be mindful that our
giving, our sacrifice is a representation before God.
I think I have said it here before.
Let me take some time and then look through them and we will
appreciate it. Our prayers and our giving,
their representation before God as memorials.
Any prayer, any act of sacrifice, whether by giving
physical cash, sacrificing your time, energy in the Kingdom of
God, they go up and they are before God as memorial.
Let's read some texts to buttress this.
When you read Psalm 50 verse 8, the Psalm 50 verse 8, let us try
and then read Psalm 50, verse 8 from the ESV.
Not for your sacrifice. Oh, it's OK, it's OK.
He says that OK. Not for your sacrifices do I
rebuke you. Your bent offerings are
continually before me. They are way continually before
me. The offerings are continually
before me. Continually before me.
Let me try and then read down a little bit for you.
I will not accept Abu from your house or goats from your food,
for every beast of the forest is mine.
The cattle on 1000 hills I know all the birds of the hills, and
all that moves in the field is mine.
If I were hungry, I will not tell you, for the world and its
fullness are mine. Do I eat the flesh of goose or
drink the blood of goats offered to God?
A sacrifice of what? Thanksgiving.
And perform your vows to to the Most High and call upon me in
the day of trouble. I will deliver you, and you
shall glorify me. Hallelujah, Oh Hallelujah.
Then let me take you to the last verse.
Let's move on to the verse 23, the verse 23, the one who offers
Thanksgiving as his sacrifice, that's what glorifies me.
To one who orders his way rightly, I will show the
salvation of God. So here what we are seeing is
that our sacrifices are continually before God and even
God, He doesn't eat them. He doesn't drink blood, He
doesn't eat M punchy no, no, as we do.
But he was recounting that a cattle on 1000 hill, they are
always everything, the fullness, everything belongs to him.
So what He needs from us is to offer Thanksgiving as sacrifice,
and that glorifies Him. So if you are thinking of
sacrifices other than thanking God today, I beg you to reorient
yourself and add Thanksgiving to it.
Celebrate God. We should be intentional about
recounting. Let us intentionally sit down
and list the things that God He has been doing for us and thank
Him for them. Thank Him, let us be intentional
and thank Him and praise Him because of what He has done for
us. So thanking God for who He is is
very key. We need to thank God for who He
is. We need to thank God for what He
has done for us. We do to thank God for what He
is doing and by faith for what He will do for us.
Those things, God really appreciate them.
Let us move on to Numbers 31, verse 54.
Numbers 31, verse 54, still from the ESV, Numbers 3154 and Moses
and Eliza. The priests received the gold
from the commanders of thousands and of hundreds and brought it
into the tent of meeting as a memorial.
As what? A memorial for the people of
Israel before the Lord. Even on earth they were placing
gold before God as what? A memorial offering them as
times and things they received from from war, things that they
gathered. They give some to God that oh
God want these things to be before God as memorial of the
people of Israel so that whenever God the cloud of glory
settles on the ACT, when it settles on the tent and God
looks down from heaven, He will see that this gold is a
representation. So anything sacrificing, doing
it in the Kingdom of God, giving it apart from thanking God, any
material things that you do, your strength, because these
things were acquired by their strength.
They fought before they got the gold and presented them before
God. So anything you have earned by
sweat, by hard work and you present them before God, God an
honest God. So do things that will bring
honor to God and part of it as we thank God from a very good
art. Let also let our material
possessions also follow because God, he's interested in them.
The third verse that I want us to look at is the story of the
Roman soldier Cornelius. Accident.
Accident from verse one Cornelius At Kaisera there was a
man named Cornelius, a centurion, a centurion of what
was known as the Italian cohort, A devout man who feared God with
all his household, gave alms generously to the people and
prayed continually to God. About the ninth hour of the day
he saw clearly in a vision an Angel of God come in and say to
him, Cornelius. And he stared at him in terror
and said, What is it Lord? And he said to him, Your prayers
and your arms have what ascended as memorial before God.
They want the ascent. So if you want things that can
transcend or be transported from the earthly realm into spiritual
realm, prayer is 1. And then you're giving your
sacrifice. So don't joke with these two
prayer, it goes to God that it could not mean something.
Prayer that is unhindered, prayer that that is devoid of
bitterness, prayer devoid of holding offenses, devoid of
holding grudges against each other.
Aquaderet and Iraq, no cave, no bend directly to God.
And it's a memorial because God, he's tossed the prayer of the
Saints. He has a bank where your prayers
are stored. So I don't know what is the
volume of your prayer in heaven? Is it 1 bottle or barrel or a
big tank? Some of our prayers in heaven is
a drop, just a drop. Cool, NASA, maybe pray more so
that we can accumulate much more prayer in heaven.
And the next point that the Angel told the money is that
you're giving of arms. You're giving.
Anything you do in the name of God, anything that God's name is
attached go to, he comes in. So anything you are given.
I am doing this because of the love I have for Jesus under the
dispensation of grace. Our giving is higher because we
have the excellent example for God so loved the world.
That he gave so God he gave his best.
So the stand up for the New Testament believer forgiving is
bigger than the old for our time.
We don't give because we are compelled.
We give because we love God. That is the the the spirit
behind our time of giving. I'm giving to God because He
first give to me. He first loved me.
So if everything I have comes from Him and He needs it, I can
give all to Him without looking back.
That is the understanding with which we must give.
Hallelujah. So anything short of this will
face a difficulty before God. What motivates you should be
loved to do everything she believed.
Because when you look at the cross and look at God giving his
Son, you cannot withhold yours. You must give, Oh truly.
Because if you look at God giving his one and only Son.
For God so loved the world that he gave us his one and only Son.
So God, if Jesus had not succeeded, he would have lost
big time. He would have lost his one and
only Son. That is why when Jesus was on
earth, He tried to do everything to please his Father.
Otherwise it will be as a So the standard for you and I to give
under the new dispense or under the new covenant is much more
stricter. To whom much is given, much is
what expected. In the end, because of the
grace, much more is expected of us.
May we not feel God and may we give from the depths of our
hearts. So if these two are reps before
God, then we need to be serious in giving, we need to be serious
in praying. We need to be seen.
Because they go to God. They are reps before God and God
will look on it. So anyone who also gives you
move God and when you look at the Hall of Fame Hebrews 11 the
first name is there because of sacrifice by faith.
Abel what was following his sacrifice so sacrificing to God,
God is interested. Abraham did the same thing and
God was moved, he was moved, he was moved and he says that may
come on time we'll measure out. So God had to not disturb by
India. There was no any other one
greater than him. Look at Abel and all of them
sacrifice. So when we are celebrating God
and we are offering Thanksgiving, we need to also
give anything that has God's name attached to it.
So the poor widow, the poor widow who also give Jesus, he
went to church, he didn't get anywhere to focus that on the
bull. So when we come to church and we
look inside, Elmo, Sunni and Konta crying, Jesus not crying,
he looked inside, he looked inside.
So Jesus looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts in the
offering box. And he also saw a poor widow put
in two small copper coins. Hey, look, look there because
he's a doctor, he give very vivid the description.
Look, look when you look at how they they put in.
Mark also recalls it. So they all record that 2, the
woman law is 4. We do just say and she came to
church with copper coins, not just that, but 2, not just two,
but out of all the coins, the copper coins she brought, the
two which were the small. So Jesus is explaining to us
that's it was very small. It was very small.
And they say that a copper coin worth about 1 / 128 of a
Denarios, which was a day's wage for a Libra.
So if you pick minimum wage per day divided by 128, that was the
worth of a copper coin, very small, but that was what the
woman gave. And Jesus gives a perspective
that everybody who reads and reads again will be like hey,
what's your home would have would have said same Jesus would
be able Hey Jesus, let's go for they are giving big offerings
saying this woman took one 1 / 128 But Jesus comes with a
heavily perspective and he said truly I tell you this poor widow
has put in more than all of them.
Hey Jesus, the mocking scheme of heaven is different from what we
use on earth. Let us begin to look at how how
Jesus heaven assesses our offering.
So we have looked at thanks giving us a sacrifice that truly
honors God, and now we are looking at physical things as
when you're using the woman as example, the poor we do.
So why would Jesus now turn the whole thing upside down?
Then he says for they all contributed out of their
abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything
she had all she had to live on. Wow.
So God, when you are giving, he looks inside pound.
God cares so much about what we give and he's interested because
look at it, the poor widow, you see that the rich people, the
surplus at home is bigger than what they give.
So we have given the about and to the urban mind because this
woman has given all. So where do you give from?
Is it from your abundance or from your scarcity?
I come in my last affordable humble be that you will not
understand. I can't be lost.
What are you going there already?
I can't be lost if I drop it now, no hope my God is saying
yes, drop it. Have faith in me.
Drop it and the heavens are waiting for you to drop and
you're like hey, ready when I go go back.
I mean Ave. so the distance from your seat to the bow is like
from you to come and say because so long that you are battling
within you that is giving that honest God.
There should be a battle. You should feel uncomfortable.
It should do you. David says that I will not give
to God what will not cost me. That is it when you're going to
give to pay you some of us you give and the moment you sit
down, you're like but the moment he leaves your
hand, heaven acknowledge that your hand is empty.
So he would dispatch, hey, go and give it to him times 10,
give it back to him. Hallelujah.
So until something leaves your hands, nothing moves from heaven
in your account on your account. So the let's go share.
I had a mechanized Eva as a Dicken in Kumasi.
We had gone for inter officers retreat at Asafa.
If you know the in and out of Kumasi and yes Yeti book home
estates of that day. The word enter me and I decided
to give one of my Laura first out because I had to pick two
cars before I get home from Asafo to book home estate.
It's far and Sophia crackling. It's like from here to there
were then I gave it that day when we closed no lifts, so I
had to track and walk and I'm saying ask for this one.
I'll walk because I've given it that time.
I work from Asafo. I am checking some things at
town. Meanwhile was nights we close so
I linked up from Asafo, I went up to Liba, I climbed up to
Rumor Hill. I descended through Alaba, got
down to the doctor Mensa to try and see if I can get another car
to airport and link up home. It was lit.
He made in your car. But one last car came.
It came. That's one idiot.
And I gave God one. I said I got this one here.
I put it in my pocket. Maybe if I had had faith to give
all God would have taken me home directly.
I gave God 1 and I walked one time to we're doing farming,
raising, then we give an amount to say about you.
I don't say that day when you are going home, nobody there
brings you a question that will make you angry.
Especially there's small voice, see that you are very quiet and
thinking about yourself. But through them I've seen how
God has moved mightily. So don't be afraid to give to
God. Don't be afraid, don't be
afraid. I remember that my first year
snit loon at Tech Zealous. Hey, I'll give it out.
I give first you snit loon, I give thanks me to God.
When I finished university, 2 of them paid me guarantees, 2 they
paid it off Okra yechiacho. So the three of them two paid
and it was Levy. Another one, he had moved out of
Ghana then I think he was in Spain.
So they started deducting me. As soon as take your money, I
don't want it. And another thing that God did
by then on campus it was in out, out, out, out.
So it's only the first day you get home room to stay in.
So the first year I was assigned, I remember, I remember
all my room, room 17, Zuzongo Lane in this hall.
That was my first room. After that I never went out.
I I told God I want to sleep on campus.
I don't want off campus. I stayed in Unity Hall three
whole years. Not as someone petrol full bed.
I was even staying at a point in some of the flats.
Some of the flats flats has a bigger room.
That was where I was still enjoying.
Look at what God can do. I need a laptop at the
university. I got it free.
I didn't buy it. So when you give to God, it is
never in vain. You can tell the countless
number of examples and on and on and on and on.
So give to God. I know that you, you have them,
you have lots of examples. If I remember them, I'll try and
then be sharing them with you. So these are some of them.
So the woman gave out of her poverty and Jesus acknowledged
that she has given more than all.
May we give and may our given bring glory to heaven.
God rich to bless you as we appreciate God for the six years
is a very good state to thank God Six years in the life of a
looker. It's not a joke.
Look at the things we have here. Look at our home.
Some lookers have been in existence for 50 years.
They don't even have a space as nice as ours.
When you look here, you may think that you don't have
anything to thank God. Some lookers they don't have
microphones and even speakers, but some a general to me.
Did you know that one the club I don't know to me.
So if God has blessed us with all these things and look at the
the entire congregation the way God has blessed us with
beautiful ladies and handsome young people, we need to thank
God for the leadership. You need to thank God for
presiding order. You thank for God for elders,
the kings sicknesses. Brandon, look at your chair.
Look at it, look at it, escape it neatly woven there.
If you have been to the villages before bench, no crown, they
have a sugar. Before you sit down, we use You
need to be experiencing it, otherwise you fall down.
But they are thanking God when you go there and you see the
joy. So as far as we need to let
Thanksgiving overflow. So thank God.
Yeah, you have this nice face now, Gordo, let's thank God that
for God even to take care of us for six years.
Let us be thankful unto God shall be on our feet today.
One, thank God we don't ask anything, just thanking God when
God says that, yes, I came to thank you for all that you have
done. So begin to gather some reasons
in your mind where you need to be thankful to God.
I've just given you some few points as a local, but as an
individual you can recount the number of times sometimes we
were just one inch away from death, been told that we need to
a weapon. Yummy.
And you see that your heart, your soul left your body and
came back. You're like wow, this is God.
We have gone through all of them.
Sometimes we haven't sick and he thought that he would die, but
God brought you back. All these things.
Have we thank God enough? Do we even thank God for our
spouses? Don't thank God for your spouse.
You don't thank God for the children that God has given to
you. You don't thank God for the job.
For the job. You need to thank God some.
We need to even thank God that we can walk.
We need to thank God that we can even eat and have tastes.
I remember Once Upon a time I got sick and when I put food in
my mouth it was like gravels. Test vanished, no smell.
I couldn't smell food. Test graduate was far away.
It's like I'm more but I'm chewing, struggling to chew.
So tasting social cry, we need to thank God for this smell
everything church, count your blessings and name them one by
one and it will surprise you what the Lord has done this
evening. Quits by looking at what God is
here to do for you. Quit by saying the Lord.
We are fond of looking at what we are expecting God to do.
And we don't look at what God has done for you tonight.
Just be intentional and talk to God.
God, you have done so much for me.
I thank you. I thank you.
Mention them to God, talk to God, Thank God for everything.
Thank God, even if you are not employed, thank God because God
is up to something good. Let U.S.
Open our mouth and you know, thank God, Thank you, Lord,
thank the Lord. Today we are offering
Thanksgiving as a sacrifice that honors the Lord.
Thank you, Lord, thank the Lord. Oh Lord.
Father, in the name of Jesus, we thank you.
We thank you for escaping the English assembly.
We thank you, O Lord, for the presiding order.
We thank you, O Lord, for his life and his family, Lord, We
thank you, O Lord, for the elders of escaping English.
Thank you for the Dickens and dicknesses.
Thank you for this solid team you have blessed your chat with.
Lord, thank you. Thank you so much.
Thank you for the members of this church.
Thank you for the young and the old.
Thank you for the children of this church.
Thank you for the old people. Thank you for the infrastructure
it is. You have blessed us with them.
Lord, thank you. Lord, we thank you for our
spouses, for the children you have given unto us.
Even if you have not given yet our children, we thank you.
We thank you for the children and our influence.
We thank you for the job that we do.
We thank you, O Lord, for the families we have.
Thank you, O Lord, for the gifts of life, to breathe and to walk
and to even eat. Lord, we thank you.
Thank you.
Lord, Lord, we thank you. Lord, Lord, we thank you.
Oh Lord, we thank you. Thank you.
Thank you, Lord. Lord, thank you.
The. Oh.
I don't know what you are grateful to God for, but today
we want to just thank the Lord. We have come to thank him, not
to ask him of anything, but to thank him, to thank him.
Count your blessings and name them one by one.
Talk to the Lord, talk to thank him.
Lord, I thank you. Lord, we thank you.
We thank you. Father, we are great, what shall
we wait unto thee, Lord, that to say?
Thank you Jesus. Thank you, Jesus, thank.
You. Jesus, Thank you, Jesus.
Thank. You, Jesus, thank you.
Jesus. From the death of our hearts.
Lord, that's unto you. Lord, Father, we say thank you,
glory be unto your. Holy grace be unto.
Your holy day, or shall we be? Unto you, Lord, to.
Give our hearts of grace that we give our hearts of.
Thank you Jesus. Jesus, thank you, thank you,
thank you, thank you. Jesus, thank you.
Jesus, thank. You thank.
You thank you for thank you for your.
Thank you for your thank you for your thank you Lord for your
love. Thank you Lord, for your
sacrifice. Glory be unto your holy name.
Lord, we thank you. Jesus to say.
What shall I say? What shall we say?
All we have to say. Is thank you.
Sing that song with meaning. What shall?
We say, oh, sing that song. With understanding.
Left the house and sing Thank you, thank.
You. Lord and the Lord.
Thank you, Lord. All we have to say, oh, is thank
you. Thank you Jesus.
Thank. You thank you, Jesus.
Thank you all. We have to say please.
Thank you. Thank you, Lord Jesus.
Thank you. Thank you, Jesus.
Thank you Lord. All we have to say thank.
You thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord.
Thank you. Thank you.
Lord, thank you, Lord. Thank you.
Lord, thank you, Lord. In the atmosphere of praise and
Thanksgiving, it opens door for possibilities and miracles.
So as you have thanked the Lord, we are thanking God.
May doors begin to open. May the Lord perform the
impossible in your life. Every prophetic word concerning
your life, as we thank God and we praise him, may it be
fulfilled, may be fulfilled in the name of Jesus.
In the name of. Jesus, Name of Jesus.
Name of. Jesus, name of Jesus as we
celebrate God. Goodness, Jesus name.
Thank you, Jesus, Thank you. Jesus, Thank you, Jesus.
Thank you Jesus. Thank you Jesus.
All we have to say this even is thank you, Lord, thank you for
your compassion, Thank you for your love.
Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord.
Thank you.
Lord. Please let us sit down.
Let us visit us. Thank you, Lord.
Thank you Lord all.
We have to say. Is.
Thank you, Lord. Lord, from a grateful heart we
pour our hearts of Thanksgiving unto you, our sacrifice of
Thanksgiving. Lord, thank you.
Father, in the name of Jesus, we thank you.
We thank you for your Son. Jesus, we thank you for the
salvation that you have. Pictures you have given to us
free by grace. Thank you for your mighty hand
that has kept us. Lord, we will not forget what
you have done for us. We thank you.
Lord, we thank you for all that you have done and all that you
are doing and all they are going to do.
We say, Father, in the name of Jesus, thank you.
Lord Jesus, thank you for for your love, for your mess and
your grace, the Holy Spirit thank you for the fellowship and
your abiding presence. Jesus, thank you for your
intercession, interceding on our behalf.
Thank you, our advocates. King Jesus, we love you, Lord,
and we bless your name. We praise your name for all that
you have done for us. Not unto us, O Lord, but unto
your name be all the honor, Thanksgiving, adoration, wisdom,
forever and ever. Amen.