This is the manuscript of the Thanksgiving week sermon.
Scripture Reading:
Psalms 107:1-9 NIV Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord tell their story— those he redeemed from the hand of the foe, those he gathered from the lands, from east and west, from north and south. Some wandered in desert wastelands, finding no way to a city where they could settle. They were hungry and thirsty, and their lives ebbed away. Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. He led them by a straight way to a city where they could settle. Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for mankind, for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.
Text:
Psalms 107:1 NIV Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.
It has been a difficult two years and some people may be struggling with the idea of being thankful. The Covid-19 pandemic, political division, social and racial issues, mask/no mask, vaccinations/no vaccinations, vaccine mandates/no mandates, financial uncertainty, and now extremely high inflation. Not to mention personal health, and other issues. All of this has reaped havoc on the lives of many and has affected everyone.
Everyone has been touched in some way and yet I still say and remind you that we all have a reason to be thankful. It is not just because you may not have gotten COVID it or recovered from it; not because you kept your job or found a new one if you lost it due to the pandemic; not because we are still able to maintain our lives in some fashion despite everything that has happened.
No, our being thankful goes deeper than just being thankful for overcoming difficult circumstances in our lives. What I am talking about this morning is the thankfulness that is reserved for God and Him alone. Giving thanks to God is a major part of our worshipping Him because through it we yield to Him and recognize what He is doing in our lives.
We stop, we remember, and we are grateful and that comes out in our praise and thanksgiving.
Giving thanks to God comes from a place within us where we remember where we could be without Him – not just in the world we live in physically, but where we will spend eternity because He sent His Son to die for us.
Repenting of sin is even easy when we remember why we are thankful. Think about it. If we are walking in a place where we are grateful for what God has done for us, our being grateful is a state of thankfulness and it is our being thankful that causes us to want to spend time in the presence of God.
I know that we understand what it means to give thanks, but I want to share a story with you to get your minds focused. I read a story about a minister who entered a crowded restaurant and sat down across from a man who was already eating. The minister paused to ask the blessing and give thanks before he started to eat as he was accustomed to doing which perplexed his fellow diner. His fellow diner asked him if he had a headache or if something was wrong with his food. The minister explained that he had given thanks to God for his food. The man responded “One of those, huh? Well, I work hard for my food and earn it by the sweat of my brow, so I never thank anyone else for it. I don’t have to thank anyone for it; I just dig in!”
There are many people in the world that believe the way this man does.
People who believe that God has nothing to do with what they have achieved in this life.
People who believe that they are a “self-made” man or woman.
People who believe that they pulled themselves up by their own bootstraps so they should get the credit for who they are and what they have accomplished.
In Psalm 107, which Jean read part of this morning, the psalmist says “Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for mankind,” four times. He says it in verses 8,15,21,31,
I want us to go to a familiar psalm let's go to
Psalms 100:1-4 NIV Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.
The writer of this psalm says we are to make a joyful noise and enter into our Father’s presence with thanksgiving and praise.
What the writer doesn’t say is this: we are to do this just when everything in our lives is going right. He doesn’t say we are to do this when all our bills are paid, when no one is sick or hurting. No he is saying joyful praise is to be our lifestyle.
We are to make a joyful noise when we are having a bad day.
We are to enter our Father’s presence with thanksgiving when we have more month left than money.
We are to praise Him when we are sick, when we are in pain – when we don’t feel like it.
There is nothing worse than doing something for someone and they don’t even say “Thank you.”
How do you feel when you help someone, and they refuse to acknowledge that you had gone out of your way to help them. Doesn’t it make you feel that they didn't appreciate you or what you had done for them?
Now think back over your life about the many times you probably did that to God. Imagine how many times we might have not thanked Him when He sent someone to help us.
When God sent Jesus to die for us, He didn’t have a backup plan. He gave us His absolute best. As I said three weeks ago God made a commitment to us.
Knowing that He gave us His absolute best should be reason enough for us to continually shower our Father with praise and thanksgiving.
Giving thanks with a grateful heart is like jumping up and down when you get the present you always wanted.
Giving thanks with a grateful heart is a heart choice. We give our Father our thanks because we love Him. He’s our Father and He takes care of us. Our lives should be lived with an attitude of thankfulness.
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 NIV Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
Sometimes some of us misunderstand rejoicing and think it is to be done only when something good happens to us. The same is true for prayer. Some believe we should pray only when we need God to do something for us or for someone else.
This may be a challenge for some people because they think, `` Why should I be thankful during hardships? That doesn’t make sense to me.
This is how the Apostle Paul dealt with hardship.
Philippians 4:11-13 NIV I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength.
Like Paul, we can live above our circumstances. We can rejoice and give thanks for everything because through everything God is still God!
When my bills need paying, God is still God so I can give thanks!
When all my bills are paid, God is still God and I can give thanks!
When my friends leave me; God is still God and I can give thanks!
When I get new friends that stick closer than a brother, God is still God and I can give thanks!
Like Paul says, can rejoice in everything because God is still God in good times; bad time; happy times; and sad times.
In your best circumstances you can rejoice and give thanks.
In your worst circumstances you can rejoice and give thanks.
You can do this because God is God and your security rests with Him and He does not change.
Your willingness to give thanks is a testimony of what you know about God and His relationship with you. This understanding comes through trials and a lot of errors. We are not perfect in our thanksgiving.
It is not about God and what He is doing; it is about us and our response to Him in the midst of what He is doing.
Before we do anything, before we ask God for anything, we should thank Him for what He has already done.
Psalms 50:14-15 NIV “Sacrifice thank offerings to God, fulfill your vows to the Most High, and call on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me.”
We offer thanksgiving to God as part of our praise and worship to Him. We do that first, not after He has done something for us, but before He has answers our prayers.
It is easy to give God thanks for things we know that He has done, but more difficult to thank and praise Him for things we are waiting for Him to do. God is constantly doing things for you that you know nothing about!
It is more difficult to praise and thank God for what He has done that we don’t realize that He did. Our hearts should be one of praising Him for what we know He can do versus waiting to see Him do it and then thanking Him afterwards.
Look again at
Psalms 50:14-15 NIV “Sacrifice thank offerings to God, fulfill your vows to the Most High, and call on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me.”
In verse fifteen God makes a promise. He says that we should call on Him in the day of trouble and He will deliver.
If our mindset is that of being thankful first – and not after – we have no problem understanding that God is going to come to our aid. When we get to this point, we can begin to give God thanks for what He has done and for what He is going to do.
The last part of verse fifteen says that after God has answered our prayer, then we will not only thank Him, we will honor Him.
Think about this, our praise and thanksgiving to God is more valuable to Him than any sacrifice that we could offer. Why? Because our praise and thanksgiving comes from the heart, a heart that is grateful for what God has done for us.
Psalms 51:16-17 NIV You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.
When you turn on the news there is always some report of something bad happening. With all of these things constantly bombarding our minds it is easy to wonder if we have a reason to give God thanks.
Philippians 4:6 NIV Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
We worry if something will or will not happen. If it will happen, we worry how it will happen. If it will not happen, we worry about why it will not happen. We worry about any and everything.
Do you know that it is difficult to be thankful when you are worried?
It is difficult to feel blessed when you are worried
It is difficult to give God true praise when you are worried.
It is difficult to remember and reflect on the things God has already done when you are worried.
Understand this if you do not understand anything else: Satan wants us to constantly operate in a state of worry because when we are worried, we are not giving thanks and praise to God. Most times when we worry;
We are focusing on the problem, not the answer.
We are focusing on the failure, not the promise of victory.
We are focusing on the giants, not the rock and the sling shot.
We are focusing on the loss, not the gain.
So Paul urges us to not worry and then he gives us the reason why. He said that with everything we face we should take it to God with thanksgiving. We can go to God with thanksgiving;
Because of the promise!
Because we have the guarantee!
Because God has never failed us before!
Because everything we have and will have comes through the grace of God.
For every reason we can find to doubt and worry, we can find another reason to give thanks for things God has already done for us and what He continues to do for us! Be thankful this Thanksgiving and every day after that.
Sermon Audio
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