Thank you for downloading this sermon brought to you by the Preaching Ministry of Liberty Baptist Church of Las Vegas, Nevada, Dr. David Tice. For more sermons in both audio and video format, we encourage you to visit experienceliberty.com. Also, for a word of encouragement, insight, and biblical inspiration, follow Pastor David Tice's blog at davidtice.com. So without further ado, let's open our hearts to the Word of God. Let's open them up to the book of 2 Corinthians, chapter number 12. I'm so glad that you're here. And we're going to take a look at what we're going to title today's message, The Perfect Father's Day Gift. It's a hard thing to find something for dad, isn't it? Yeah, that's why we made a devotional. Dad wrote this book so that on your way out, you would have something to read for the next 30 days. If you're a dad, we got a small gift for you to just say thank you for being with us today. And we're so glad that you're here. Perfect, the perfect. Father's Day gift, that's a hard thing to find, isn't it? You know, I don't know a whole lot about a number of different things, but I know this, finding the right thing for my dad is a challenging thing to do, because the man is a hero, he's somebody that you wanna be like, and you don't know exactly what you wanna do or what you wanna do to get him. The last three days I spent in Pennsylvania with him, and Luke and I flew out there with a few of our nephews, a few of my nephews, and my mom and dad, and we spent just a wonderful time. I'm thankful for fathers, and I'm thankful for Father's Day. And I was thinking about how did we get to this place where we have a day called Father's Day? And so I thought I would study it. And as I was searching for today's message, I was looking and found out that Mother's Day is a pretty contemporary a holiday. It's something that's pretty new into our social calendars. People had observed days of honoring in the 1860s after the Civil War. There was a lot of focus and a lot of attention on widows and moms who lost sons during that conflict between the states. And so in that Civil War, there were different places and regions that would honor Mother's Day, but it wasn't until 1914 when Woodrow Wilson instituted a national day of recognition. Woodrow Wilson probably wasn't the best of our presidents, but he did this good. He recognized mom and said, moms should have their own day. And so that was in 1914. This fascinated me. How many years do you think it was before we had a national Father's Day? When Father's Day became an officially recognized holiday in the United States of America? Think about it for a second. Tell the person beside you, give it best guess. In fact, best guess, whoever gets the closest guess, between you and your friends or the person beside you, they have to buy you a coffee. or a soda, or a necktie, you know, whatever it is today. Okay, just think about it. What year was it? All right, look around. Did you make your guess? Tell the person beside you. Okay, did you tell? Brenda, you tell them. All right. All right, I want you to tell me all together. What is the year that you think that Father's Day? Just say it out loud. I have to count to three. One, two, three. Ah, you're close. You're close. The actual day was 1972. 1972s. You ever wonder why did it take, why did it take 58 years between moms to get their day in 1914 and dads? And it was finally Richard Nixon who's like, I am not a crook. I honor my father. So in 1972, in the middle of a re-election campaign, there was this movement to get Father's Day started. So we're actually on the 50th anniversary of Father's Day. Now there would be people who observed it all around the nations. There was a lady up in Washington that started it around the turn of the century. But Father's Day is a pretty contemporary event, especially for our country. But on 1972, that started the idea of bad gifts for dads. And of course, the number one bad gift for dad is these neckties. Here, dad, here's a necktie. Wear it and feel uncomfortable. It's your day. And then there's this. Here's another bad gift. Here's a free book of Coupons for a free hug. Anytime you want a free hug, dad, here's a coupon. I saw one dad be like, oh yeah, I got that before. A coupon book of free hugs. This one always fascinated me. Why would somebody give the gift of, here's a car wash kit. It's your special day. Go wash the car. There's just certain things that are just awkward and weird to do on Father's Day. But this is what we do for Dad. When did it start? Well, it started just a few years ago. But this idea of honoring the fathers is something that is biblical. But how do you give the right gift? During the 20s and 30s, there was a whole lot of emphasis, people saying, let's get this momentum, or let's have this special day. But men in the 1930s specifically balked against having a national recognition of Father's Day. This is a quote I found at history.com. It says this, men scoffed at the holidays in the early 30s. Sentimental attempts to domesticate manliness with flowers and gift giving, or they derided the proliferation of such holidays as commercial gimmicks to sell more products, often paid for by the father himself. I just thought that was so funny. Because I remember asking Dad, hey Dad, can I have 10 bucks? What do you need 10 bucks? Could be 20, depends how nice of a gift you want, right? That idea of this is Father's Day and so why do we honor fathers and why do we take time to honor dads and we give them gifts? This truly is an obstacle, especially for those of us who know Christ as our Savior. For those of us who have a relationship with God. When we come to a relationship with God, Father's Day has a little bit more of a meaning and it has a broader sense because we don't just recognize and honor our earthly fathers and the men that God has given into our life, but we have a special obligation to remember that we have a Heavenly Father. and that God loves us and that we should demonstrate our love to God. And just as it is difficult to give gifts of love towards a dad, like, dad, what do I get dad? Another tie. What do I get dad? Some more chocolate. What do I, do I, do I make a brisket for him? What do I do for dad on Father's Day to make, Kyle's like, oh, I'll take that. What do I do for dad? What do I do for God on Father's Day? There's a very real principle about this problem in scripture, and it's found in 2 Corinthians chapter number 12. To set up this passage of scripture, let me just share with you what's happening. In 2 Corinthians chapter 12, the book of Corinthians is written to a church in Corinth. These were people who had very little historic religious tradition in their life. They were from a city that had a lot of pagan worship. It was very trancy in and out. And so in this city of Corinth, whenever Paul arrives and brings them the gospel, they latch onto it. You mean that there's a God in heaven that loves us enough to become a man in the person of Jesus Christ, he died to pay for our sins? And he didn't just die, they buried him? But then he rose again from the dead? This is a God that we want to know. And so the Church of Corinth is a group of young Christians without a lot of historic religious tradition that are learning about God. They loved Paul. The apostle Paul, who was a missionary there, and brought them the truth of Jesus Christ, they almost looked at him like a dad. Like, this is the guy. This guy. Paul, you're like a father to us. You brought to us Jesus. You let us learn about Jesus. And so they had a great admiration and appreciation for it. Paul did not spend his entire life in Corinth. Paul, for the last 18 years or so of his life, would travel from city to city to city. In fact, he traveled almost 10,000 miles before it was all said and done, in boats, on foot, on the horse of a back. The horse of a back. Yeah, he did that. It was crazy. First century, things were so much different then. So he traveled almost 10,000 miles and he would go from location to location. The people of Corinth were a very wealthy city. There was a lot of money going in and out of Corinth. There was a lot of trade, there was a lot of commerce, a whole lot of stuff was going on. So whenever Paul was saying, it's time for me to go to the next place, the people of Corinth said, we're gonna give you some money. Let's take up an offering. In fact, by the time you come back next time, we're gonna have a really big offering, so that this big offering will be able to take care of all of the problems. When you go to Galatia, and Philippi, and Thessalonica, and when you go into Greece, and Macedonia, and maybe even all the way go over to Rome, we're gonna have an offering for you. But these young, immature Christians, they made a promise, and then they kind of forgot about it. I'll do the dishes, honey. and they kind of forgot about it. Make sure the house is clean by the time I get back, kids. Oh my goodness, mom's on her way home. They were well-intentioned. They were going to do it, but it just didn't really happen. And so the apostle Paul, in 2 Corinthians chapter 12, saying, guys, I made all of these plans because you said you were going to do this. And it's important that you do this because all these people are counting on you. Now, I don't need this. I don't want, I'm not trying to take anything from you. In fact, I'm trying to be a blessing to you and through you to all these other folks. And that's the setting for 2 Corinthians chapter 12 and verse 14, where the Bible says this, behold, the third time I'm ready to come to you. And I will not be burdensome to you, for I seek not yours, but you. I'm not trying to get the stuff that you have. I'm trying to be a help. I'm trying to be a benefit to you. Why? For the children ought not to lay up for the parents. There's a principle in life and God reaffirms it. A child doesn't live his life so that he can give something for his parents. I'm living my life to give something for my parents. I'm living my life to give something to my parents. That's not the way nature goes. It flows down. I don't live so that I can give something to my parents. The Bible says this, verse 14, but the parents for the children. Why is it so hard to get your dad something good on Father's Day? Because the natural flow, and the biblical foundation is found here, is that it comes down. I take, my parents take care of me, I take care of my children, my children take care of their children. They're not there to lay up or to bring gifts or bring responsibilities to me. It's an amazing principle found in scripture here, and it reminds us about our relationship with God. When you come to a day like Father's Day, and if you're in church today, you obviously have a desire in your heart to be a blessing or to serve God the Father. And as you desire to serve God the Father, there's an understanding like, what am I going to give? What am I going to bring to God? Well, first of all, you have to be in the family of God. There's an important principle to know about God, that God is a good God. But not everyone is in his family. From time to time we'll hear somebody passing and we'll say, oh, they're in a better place, or God is the father of us all. But the Bible teaches us that that principle is not necessarily true. In fact, the scripture says this. that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten what? That whosoever believeth in him should not perish but will have everlasting life. There's a principle of scripture that you and I are separated from a holy God. Because you've sinned and because I've sinned, we don't naturally have this relationship with God. We don't automatically get to be in God's family. In fact, the Bible teaches us that there is a separation between you and I and God. So, Jesus became a man. The Bible tells us that God became a man in the person of Jesus Christ. He lived here on this earth and he died on a cross to pay for the sins of you and for me. He was buried. And three days later, he rose from the dead, proving that he was God, and that everything he said was true. And the Bible tells us that if I put my faith and trust in him, he forgives me of my sin. But in a second sense, the Bible tells us not only do I have my sins forgiven, but the Bible says in John chapter one, in verse number 12, but as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God. even to them that believe on his name. At the moment when I recognize my sin, and I recognize that Jesus paid for my sin, and I receive the free gift that Jesus gave me through his death, his burial, and his resurrection, I am transformed, I'm adopted, it's a Bible word, I'm adopted into the family of God. My sins are forgiven. My destination is set for heaven instead of hell. And now I have a purpose to live here on this earth. Now with all of that wonder and all of that beauty, knowing the good and wonderful and great hand of God in my life, there should be some recognition. There should be some love. There should be a desire to show him appreciation for all that he's done. But this is what's amazing about God. The Bible tells us that the parents don't lay up The children don't lay up for the parents, but the parents lay up for their children. They're the ones who give to their kids. And when we look at God, religion teaches us, oh, you need to do this, you need to do that. You wanna make God happy? You need to do this. You wanna make God happy? You better do this. How much money you got? Give some of that to God. You wanna do this? No, you're a little too happy. Be miserable, makes God happy. Do all of these different things, and religion teaches us you gotta do and do, but check this out. You can't please God with what you have. That's an amazing thought. I like sports. And from time to time, you'll see this big, beefy athlete, and he signs a contract, first round draft pick for whatever team. And his mom, who was with him all those years, he signs multi-million dollar pick, and he's featured on SportsCenter, and you see this big, beefy athlete beside this little mom, and she's crying, ooh, ooh, ooh, because he bought her a house. Oh, I can't believe my baby. You're such a cute baby. I love you. I can't believe you. Look, I bought my mom a house. I like those kind of stories. I think that's really special and it's really sweet. But you know, you can't buy God a house. You know, the Bible tells us that there are useless things to God. In 2 Chronicles chapter two and verse number six, the wisest man who ever lived wrote these words. Who is able to build him, God, a house? Seeing the heaven and the heaven of the heavens cannot contain him. Well, you know what I'm gonna do with my life? I'm gonna build God a house. You can't build God a house. It's gonna be in Summerlin. Oh, that's good. It doesn't matter. The Bible tells us that God is such a powerful God. God the Father is so big that the heaven, that's the sky above us, just right here, the atmosphere. But the heaven of the heavens, I have a boy going into third grade, and from time to time, his classes are a little bit more advanced than me. The other day he asked me a question, he said, Dad, what is the largest planet in our solar system? I knew that one, it's Jupiter. He said, Dad, what are the rings around Saturn made of? And I said gas, but I think I was just full of a lot of hot air, because I don't know. That was a dad joke for all of you on that day, okay? That's your dad joke for the day. I don't know what the, but our solar system's just like a little speck. Just a little speck. We got eight planets, used to have nine, poor Pluto. Just a little speck, but the heavens of the heavens cannot contain our God. God cannot be stuck in our solar system or in our galaxy, the Milky Way galaxy, or in our universe. I'm going to do something noble, I'm gonna do something great, I'm going to give God a house. God doesn't need your house. He's majestic, so majestic that Jupiter can't contain Him. Our entire universe can't contain Him. Let the awe of looking into the night sky just rapture your attention to a place that your God is bigger than all of that. Somebody might say, well, for God, I'm gonna get Him a nice meal. I'm gonna do something really good. I have a friend who's here today. He makes great meatballs. Got an Italian, he's an Italian family and he makes great, go to his house, you eat his meatballs, you will be happy you're alive. I had around Christmas time, a man give me a filet mignon. What's the piece where it's all the big and it's got the back and the filet mignon and New York strip and all that? Is it broil? You're like a butcher, you're supposed to know this stuff. What's it called? Porterhouse, give me the big old Porterhouse. I'm like, oh, that's awesome, we cook that thing up. He actually knows what he's doing over there. He's the smart guy, yeah. He trained you, not very well. You see. Got me a porterhouse. Oh, we cooked that thing up, and for New Year's Eve dinner, we ate that porterhouse. Oh, that was so good. And from time to time, people have given me wonderful meals. Well, I'm gonna give God a house. God doesn't need your house. Well, I'm gonna give God a meal. Look at what God says about eating and eating well. The Bible says, every beast of the forest is mine. If it's a deer, if it's a turtle, it's an antelope, and the cattle upon how many hills? Now that word thousand, it's metaphorically being used there, like every single one. A thousand upon, cattle upon a thousand hill. I know all the fowls of the mountain. I know chicken, I know geese, I know everything. I know them all. The wild grouse, the quail, I know them all. And the wild beasts of the field are mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell thee. Look at what God says. If I were hungry, you think I'm gonna come be like, hey bro, can we go to Chick-fil-A? God's not coming you to get food. Why? You've got nothing. This is what's amazing. You've got nothing to offer him. If I were hungry, I would not tell thee, for the world is mine and the fullness thereof. I spent the last three days with three eight-year-old boys. When they were hungry, they would tell us. About every seven minutes. I'm hungry, I'm hungry, I'm hungry, I'm hungry, I'm hungry, I'm hungry, I'm hungry. You feed them and they're hungry. As soon as they just ate, they're hungry. They wake up, they're hungry. Go to sleep, they're hungry. Wake up in the middle of the night, I'm hungry. Always wanting food. Do you know that God never asks you for one meal? Isn't that an amazing thought? I want you to think about the grandeur of God. He doesn't need your house. He doesn't need our meals. He doesn't need our wealth. You know, I'm investing in cryptocurrency. I just want you to know I've got some stock in Exxon. I'm doing really good these days. Keep going higher. God doesn't need your wealth. It doesn't matter how much wealth you have. Well, I have a million dollar portfolio. I have a 10 million dollar portfolio. I have whatever. I have a portfolio that would rival, look what the Bible says about wealth. Thou shalt remember the Lord thy God, for it is he that giveth thee what? Power to get wealth. Jeff Bezos is rich because there's a God. Bill Gates has money because of God. Elon Musk, with Tesla and SpaceX and Twitter, how does he make his money? It is God that gives the power to make wealth. Whether you make $50,000 a year or $500,000 a year, there is no power to get wealth in and of yourself. Do you know your heart could stop just like that, it's over. You could have a brain aneurysm. You won't even know what hits you when you're in the presence of God. It is God that gives the power to make wealth. And from time to time, in our small minds, we think, well, I'm gonna give God this, or I'm gonna give God this, and I'm gonna give God this. And in that thinking, now God's going to be pleased with me. God will be happy because I gave, and you put how many zeros behind whatever number you want. And notice this, it's God who gives the power to make wealth. You didn't do that. You didn't do that. It was God working through you. Isn't that humbling? It should be. What about my time? A young person, a teenager might say, I'm gonna give my life to Christ. I'm 12 years old and I'll give my life to Christ. So for the next 70, 80, 90 years, anything Christ wants, he can have. An old person might say, I'm going to give God my retirement years. A person middle ages might say, our family, we're giving this time of our life to God. But notice what God says. He is the eternal God. The eternal God is thy refuge. That's a great thought. If you were to come to me and be like, hey, I got three tons of rocks. What kind of rocks? Desert rocks. Where'd you get them? Oh, out past 95 on the way to Indian Springs. I just got a truckload of it. Where would you like it? 95, about halfway to Indian Springs, that's where I'd like it. You know why? Because there's a whole lot of desert rocks around here. You guys are wealthy in desert rocks. Sand, debris, sagebrush, tumbleweeds. No one's like, ooh, tumbleweeds. Have you ever been with somebody from back east who visits Las Vegas and they're like, is that a real tumbleweed? It's funny, isn't it? Or you take them through the airport and they're like, that's a slot machine. They're everywhere here. What are all those flowers in the middle of the roads? Those are called traffic cones. Those are the state flower. They're here and they're popping up all over the time. They never go away. There's certain things that you are wealthy with that you just have an abundance of. You have a whole lot of it. You have hundreds of them. You have thousands of them. But you don't have that with time. You have a limited space of time. And if you were to say, well, I'm gonna give this time to God. I'm gonna give an hour a week to God. I'll go to church. I'm gonna give two hours a week. I'm going to give whatever you say and think, oh, well, this will please God because I'm giving him my time. Notice what God doesn't need. He doesn't need time. because the Bible says he's the eternal God. He's eternal. Well, if that's true, how am I supposed to please God? How am I supposed to bring favor into my life? How am I supposed to be a blessing to God, especially when I think about all that he's done for me? Notice what the scripture says. there is an opportunity to be blessing to God. How do I do that? The same passage of scripture that talks about there being a cattle on a thousand hills that the Lord has, and talks about the wealth that God has, Psalm chapter 50, he tells us how you can be, how you can give the perfect gift to God. What's the first one, number one? In Psalm 15 verse 14, he says, offer unto God thanksgiving. and pay thy vows unto the Most High. God wants you and I to be thankful. There's a great story in the New Testament where Jesus encounters 10 lepers. The disease of leprosy was a death sentence during that first century time. It ravaged the body. It would take away your limbs and your appendages and would leave you to just a stump of a person. It was a horrible, horrible disease. There was no known cure for it. The only way to... to take care of it was to isolate those. And so leper colonies would spring up where there was an outbreak or where there was a sickness, so that contagion would not go into the healthy population. And so lepers were oftentimes isolated with no one but themselves to hang out with, many times thinking about their own circumstances without any opportunity for a better future. 10 of them encountered Jesus. And when they encountered Jesus, Jesus says to them, go your way, show yourself to the priest. On their way, all 10 of them go and they're healed. The spots and the sores that had succumbed their body and was ravaging their health were all gone. The Bible tells us that of all 10 of those people, one of them walks back and he says to Jesus, thank you, thank you. And in a moment of candid speak, Jesus said, weren't there 10? Weren't there 10? Why is there only one? Go your way, your faith has made you whole. The Bible tells us that we are to offer unto God thanksgiving. We're a very critical society, have you ever noticed? If it bleeds, it leads. The talking heads of our media have an opinion about everything and oftentimes there's very little Thanksgiving being done. God desires for you to be a thankful person. I have a struggle with that sometimes. Don't you? Sometimes I tend to look at negative things and feel like I have been violated in some way. To think that I deserve more than I've actually gotten. And I know that in my life, I have a tendency not to be as thankful. Last night I got on an airplane and my airplane was delayed 10 minutes. You're laughing at me. But you get in line for your Starbucks and you get delayed 10 minutes, aren't you a little upset? Why? We're just unthankful people. Now, I know it's an epidemic of unthankfulness. We all experience it, and that's why it's good every once in a while to be reminded that God wants us to be thankful. Do you ever get frustrated with our government? Do you ever get frustrated with the overreach and the things that they do? Oh, I do. This last week, I was talking to a man, and he said, you know, for all the problems in our government, it's a wonderful thing that if somebody is receiving Medicare in hospice, they have to be assigned a chaplain. And I didn't know that about our federal government. We live in a wonderful country. So there's a friend of mine, he travels throughout the city and he meets people in their last stages of life, and the government pays him to give comfort and care and religious love to people in their last stages. And our federal government mandates that. You know, you say a lot of bad things about our country, but I'm thankful to be an American. I'm thankful for the government that we have. And there's times whenever personalities and positions, they frustrate the fire out of me. But you know what? I have to be reminded that God wants us to be thankful and to offer thanksgiving. That's a hard one for me. But if I wanna give the perfect gift to God on Father's Day, it starts with thanksgiving. Notice what else. This is a hard one for me to do as a man. God wants me to ask for help. I don't even like to look at my phone every once in a while for directions. I don't like to ask for help. If you were a parent, do you remember when your baby was toddling along at two or three years old, and they're toddling and they're just starting to take their first steps, and you reach down to grab their hands or to move them along a little bit quicker, and your baby will say, I do myself. I do myself! I do myself, and you see them struggling with something, trying to open something, or they're starting to eat with a utensil. You go, the mouth, the mouth is where we wanna go. Ear? No, mouth. And you wanna help them, and they're just, I do myself. that strong will inside of a human being. I do myself. I think sometimes before God, we demonstrate that same strong, obstinate will. Where he's like, do you need help with anything? I do myself. And we look as foolish as a kid putting their macaroni and cheese in their ear. The Bible says this. Call upon me in the day of trouble. Do you know what God wants you to do? Call upon him in the day of trouble. Call upon him in the day of trouble. Everyone has an annoying person in their life. If you have an annoying person in your life and you can think of their name right now, say yes. You're not very thankful. But that annoying person in your life is just like, and they're just like always, always there. And sometimes we think to God, well, I don't wanna annoy God. I'll just do myself. And this is what's fascinating. The thing that pleases God is when we say, God, will you help me? You're not annoying God. Why? Well, I don't wanna waste his time. You can't waste his time. Well, he's got a whole lot of other things that he's worried about with all his wealth. Oh, he has cattle on a thousand hills. He's good, and He cares about you. That baffles me. Well, I don't wanna waste the Lord's time. I don't wanna ask for too much. There's too many other things going on. He's gotta worry about famine and Ukraine and presidents on bicycles. He's gotta worry about 100 other things. He doesn't need to worry about me. And the Bible tells us, God delights in you asking for help. Isn't that an amazing thought? If I wanna please God, ask for help. Well, what if I've done it before? Then ask for help. What if I've been doing it for 20 years? Then ask for help. Just ask for help, because my God, this is the same passage, Psalm 50, that talks about him owning a cattle on a thousand hill. He will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me. When God helps you out of a situation, you're like, wow, thanks, God. Oh, there's the thanksgiving. Look at what God does. What does God do? Oh, that pleases me. That's the perfect gift. That's the perfect gift. Whenever God brings me out of a situation and he says, look at what you did. You ever been in a close call in an accident? If you've driven on the freeway here, you have. You ever been in a close call and you're like, ah! Thank you, God. That act pleases the Lord. Not the crazy person on meth, but the fact that you got out of it and you thanked God, that pleases the Lord. When you say, thank God, it pleases the Lord. That's an amazing thing. Well, what does he need? Should I like pay a hundred bucks because he got me out of that car accident? You'd be broke. Some of you are the cause. You'd be broke, you can't. But you can thank God. You have an eternal well of gratitude that you can offer. Number three, give praise. The word praise is different than thanksgiving. Praise is whenever I speak well of something. Praise is whenever I look at Ken. Ken is one of my favorite people in the world. Do you see all the papers inside of your chair in front of you? If you see them, say yes. You see how those connection cards, and they have the pen, and it's sticking right just so perfectly, and then on the other side, there's another thing, and it's just, and the offering envelopes, and it's just stuck there perfectly. You see that? If you do, say yes. Aren't you glad that they're not like just, blah, all over the place? Pick up the offer, just give your money, God doesn't care how it gets there, just give it, put more in it. Aren't you glad that that looks nice? These two people over here, Ken and Sandy, every Saturday, they come in here, and they, and by the way, Sandy does it right. You don't put six offering envelopes in there. Oh, no, no. Sandy puts five in there. Am I right? Yeah, and you don't, you put six in there, you deal with the wrath of Mrs. Bone. That's what happens. Every Saturday, these people come in here. They take out your gum wrappers. They take out whatever was in your purse that you discarded. They take out water bottles. Every Saturday they come in here and they go through every single pew and they put five offering envelopes, connection cards, and they do that because they love Jesus. Man, I thank God for that. Nobody recognizes it. Nobody's like, yes, I am the offering envelope counter. There are amazing people that they do that. Now, I use them as an illustration because I just praised them. In fact, if I were to sit here and just start to think more about Ken and Sandy, I would think about the first time I met them. and I would think about the time I was in Sandy's home, and Ken had just trusted Christ as his Savior, and Sandy prayed to receive Christ as their Savior, and they told me all about their story, and I could tell you about the drywall repairs that they've put all around this building, and the places where they've invested, and they've shown love, and the more I think about Ken and Sandy, I think about how sweet they are, and how much time I like to spend with them, and how Ken comes in with prayer requests, and he asks me questions about the Bible, and I could just sit here, and for probably about the next 10 minutes, I could tell you about how wonderful Ken and Sandy Bone are. Because they're great people. And it starts with just thinking a nice thing about them. And that praise grows and grows and grows and grows. I could do that with a number of you. Some of you. but with a number of you, I could just sit and say, oh, those folks, let me tell you this story about them, and let me share with you about this, and let me talk to you about this, and I could praise you, and you could do that for each other. The Bible tells us that God delights in our praise. The Bible says in Psalm 50, whoso offereth praise, glorifyeth me. When you just say good things about God, it starts to trigger in your mind, oh, look at that good thing, and that good thing. And to say it out loud, oh, I wanna praise God. I wanna praise God. On the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, maybe my favorite service of the year, we sit in here and people, let's just praise the Lord, and it's contagious. oh, I wanna praise the Lord about this, and I wanna praise the Lord about this, and I praise the, and usually it's about a nine-year-old girl that stands up and starts the whole thing, and then it gets contagious, why? Because praise for the Lord is contagious, and it brings him glory. Well, I don't have $1,000, I don't have a million dollars, I don't have a house, I don't have a meal, I don't, but you know what you do have? You do have thanksgiving, you do have praise, you can ask for help, and you can be obedient. In 1 Samuel chapter 15, there's a king of Israel, his name is Saul. And God gave him a specific commandment to go and fight against a group of people called the Amalekites and wipe them out completely. Don't take any bounty, don't take any spoil, just leave it and leave it all. Wipe it out completely, don't take anything for yourself. Well, in the battle, Saul did that to the terms of like 90 plus percent. He had an A plus rating in his obedience, but there was some things that he kept beside. He looked at the sheep that the Amalekites had and he's like, whoa, those are nice looking sheep. Take a few of those and bring those home. And then he looked at the bulls that the Amalekites had. He's like, whoa, those are some nice bulls. Let's take those. And since the king was taking some of the spoils, some of the other people took some of the spoils as well. And so in a place where they completely obeyed God almost, they took just a little bit for themselves and they came back. When they returned, the prophet Samuel confronted them. Samuel said to Saul, Did you do the commandment of the Lord, Saul? Oh, everything that God said to do, I have fulfilled the commandment of God. And Samuel says, what meaneth the bleeding of the oxen in my ear? That cow has an accent. Has an Amalekite accent, and those aren't Jewish sheep. They are not kosher. And though I joke, God found nothing funny in their disobedience. In fact, Saul said, oh, oh, oh, we brought those cows and those sheep back so that we could sacrifice them to God. Because if we give those to God, wouldn't God, that would just be a way, we will give all of that to God. And this is what God says through Samuel. Hath the Lord great delight in burnt offerings? Think about it for a second. Does God sit in the celestial heavens and say, ooh, another cow has died? Oh yes, more sheep to sacrifice. This is my favorite part. Think about how weird that is. It's just as weird as us saying, oh God, I will give you this. Oh good, I've got their tithe. Oh, good, I have there whatever. Do you see, God's not in heaven looking and saying, ooh, I got Chris's whatever Chris has. There's nothing there. So have God great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord. Behold, to obey is better than what? And to hearken than the fat of rams. The idea is there to listen to God is better than giving the biggest, grandest, most wonderful, magnificent gift ever. To obey is better than sacrifice. You might not be able to offer a house, a wonderful meal, take God to a steakhouse, but you can give him praise. You can ask him for help. You can be a person who is thankful and every single one of us can be obedient to God. And that's what pleases God the most. When I was growing up, I'd say to my dad or my brothers and sisters would say to my dad, what do you want for your birthday? Or what do you want for Christmas? Or what do you want for Father's Day? And my dad would always say the same thing. I just want obedient children. Can we do something else? In fact, if you were to ask my parents and my brothers and sisters, we had a tradition every Christmas. There was two of my siblings that would get spanked every single Christmas. It was like a Christmas tradition. Let's wake up, read the Christmas story, open presents, eat lunch, watch them get spanked, move on to a miracle on 34th Street. You know, this is what you do every Christmas. And it was like, I remember the first year that they did it gets faked. It was like there's a little something missing out of Christmas. Christmas just wasn't the same. I don't know what it was. Can we beat them just because? And my parents would say, but my parents would say often, we don't want, we just want obedient children. Don't you think that that echoes the sentiments of God? I just want you to be obedient. Just, well, God, look, look, I did this. Don't look at that part. I did this. I don't necessarily care about all this. Just be obedient. Just be obedient. And in obedience, we bring pleasure to God. You see, God's not looking for us to find this wonderful position. We are already in Him. When God looks at you as a child of his who's received Jesus as his savior, he sees you through the lens of his son Jesus. You're his child. You're already favored. You're already loved. You're already blessed. You're already accepted. He loves you. Well then what can I do? What can I do? Do I need to make this much money? Do I need to offer this over here? Do I need to accomplish this stature? Do I need to get this promotion? No. Just be thankful. Just be obedient. Just give him praise and ask him for help. And in doing so, we give God the perfect Father's Day gift. It doesn't have to be noble, doesn't have to be mighty, doesn't have to be grand. It's just full of thanks. Asking him for help. Giving him praise. And in doing so, we're being obedient to him. Father, I thank you that you're not a God who requires nobility and stature and fame and wealth. I'm thankful that you are the God who's in control of all things. And Lord, today we just want to honor you. And so in the best way we know how, we pray that you'd burden us about our need to be thankful, about our need to be dependent, asking you for help. to give praise and be obedient. And if there's someone here today who doesn't know you as their savior, I pray today they put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ. We hope that message was an encouragement to your heart. Now, for weekly updates and for information about Liberty Baptist Church, be sure to follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook at LBC of Las Vegas. Well, that's it for today. Thanks again for listening. Until next time, God bless.