TITLE: IN EVERYTHING GIVE THANKS
SCRIPTURE: I THESSALONIANS 5:18
(bishop@perfectedpraisewc.org)
In just a few short days we will gather in this sanctuary and then around the family table in celebration of THANKSGIVING DAY. I have noticed an INTERESTING and DISTURBING trend the past few years, people have begun to refer to Thanksgiving by another name, Hear those around us give another greeting of - HAPPY TURKEY DAY. I have always found this name a bit peculiar. There's a reason—a tragic reason—for the name change. When people sit down before the great feast on Thanksgiving Day, they still sense that they ought to bow their heads and give thanks.
• Yet people today would rather forget God as the Benefactor of their thanks
• They would like to suppress the feeling on Thanksgiving that God deserves their gratitude
• So, they are trying to discard the name Thanksgiving and to forsake the traditions on this holiday which kept God at the center
I can remember raising our children with some of the same principles as my parents raised me and my siblings. Whenever we were out and family or friends would give the kids a piece of candy, we would look at the children and ask them - WHAT DO YOU SAY? They look up and they know the proper response should be to say THANK-YOU. We had to teach our children THANKFULNESS. Most in this room have learned to say thank you to people who helped us along the way - but we have NOT LEARNED THE SECRET OF THANKFULNESS TO GOD.
For me, giving thanks is an acknowledgment that I am not the center of the universe. That certainly is true when I give thanks to God, but it is also true when I am genuinely grateful to another human being or to a group of human beings. To give thanks is to acknowledge that I HAVE RECEIVED SOMETHING I VALUE - and when I thank another person, I recognize that person as being significant. Therefore, I am not the self-sufficient, solitary center of the universe, a realization that seems to escape some people in our contemporary culture.
Why are so many ungrateful to God for His blessings? The fundamental reason is that we are too prosperous. This is not a new issue. Remember with me, after the exodus from Egypt, God told the nation of Israel that He was leading them to a desirable land already prepared for their habitation. It would be a land overflowing with milk and honey - a land filled with strong cities that others had built - and with vineyards and with olive groves that others had planted. So, after occupying the land, they could expect a life of prosperity.
• But God warned them that with prosperity would come the danger of forgetting God
• They would be tempted to look around at their wealth and say to themselves, "By our hands, by our labor, we have achieved this, we have built a good life for ourselves."
• They would take credit for what God had given them
The same mentality exists in America today. Even in the midst of a Recession - We enjoy unprecedented prosperity - and yet we fail to recognize that its source is God.
• We take our wealth for granted
• We feel we deserve it
• We imagine that we created it
• It is a funny thing about human beings we are more thankful when we are suffering poverty than when we are enjoying plenty
Can I say this next thing brothers? -- Thanksgiving is so much more than FOOD and FOOTBALL. Even though thanksgiving is a national holiday originally sanctioned by the federal government; it was set aside to offer thanks to God. I believe our lifestyle and relative comfort has a chilling effect on our Love of God and our gratitude for his blessings.
In everything give thanks. One reason we fail to thank God for blessings is that WE FORGET THEM. What did God do for you YESTERDAY – LAST WEEK – YEAR AGO? Do you even remember? If you do not, how can you be properly thankful? Most of us give God a LAUNDRY LIST OF REQUESTS in the morning. Then, as we go through the day, we more or less forget God and FAIL TO NOTICE how His answers are working themselves out in events. So, when we return to Him the next morning, we just give Him another laundry list of the same kind, consisting of requests without remembering thanksgiving. What is the remedy for this problem?
When we pray – emphasize spiritual requests. Pray for Souls – for their Salvation if they do not know God – for their Growth to Spiritual Maturity if they do know and have a relationship with God. KEEP A RECORD OF GOD’S BLESSINGS. When He does something extraordinary or miraculous, do not pass over it quickly, keeping only a dim memory somewhere in the recesses of your mind. Write it down somewhere, in a notebook perhaps. After you have compiled several stories of His working, these will be very helpful and encouraging to read at difficult moments in your life.
• Count your many Blessings
• Name them One by One
• Count your many Blessings See What God Has Done
Thanking God is one way we show that we love Him. I JOHN 4:20 - “IF A MAN SAY, I LOVE GOD, AND HATETH HIS BROTHER, HE IS A LIAR: FOR HE THAT LOVETH NOT HIS BROTHER WHOM HE HATH SEEN, HOW CAN HE LOVE GOD WHOM HE HATH NOT SEEN?" We might also say, "If a man say, I am grateful to God, and is ungrateful to his brother, he is a liar: for he that gives not thanks to his brother whom he hath seen, how can he give thanks to God whom he hath not seen?"
• In other words, I will more readily thank God for His benefits if I customarily show gratitude to the people around me
• A sincere "Thank you" should always be on my lips
• I should say it to a brother, a sister, a spouse, a parent, a child, a neighbor, a clerk at the store, a person on the street
• Then, because I have set gratitude at the core of my character, I will remember to give a heartfelt "Thank you" to God
• I will recognize His hand throughout all the activities each and every day
As we learn the HABIT OF THANKING PEOPLE and acknowledging our dependence on them, we will develop a KEENER SENSE OF OUR DEPENDENCE ON GOD. He is our creator, the giver of life both in this world and in the world to come. Through Him life has meaning and purpose.
• The past holds no enduring shadows
• The future shines with hope
It is He who COVERS OUR SINS WITH A ROBE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS - HE WHO MAKES OUR FAILURES A TRAINING GROUND FOR SPIRITUAL SUCCESS.
• He who equips and improves us until we can serve night and day in His temple forever
• He is the One who will erase all our pain and dry all our tears and give us a new body to serve as a tabernacle for the soul
• There is nothing good that does not come from God
• There is nothing bad in anything He does or in anything He designs
• Stopped by to tell you – in everything give thanks
So, as we come to Thanksgiving, let us indeed give thanks—let us give thanks to the great BENEFACTOR whose goodness many people on that day will ignore and resent. Let us not be among them. Let us prove ourselves to be God's children by giving Him the praise He is due.
Perhaps you aren’t feeling too blessed this morning. Maybe you can’t see the gifts that God has given you. Maybe the pain of life has overwhelmed you to the point where you don’t see anymore how blessed you truly are. Like so many people today, maybe you have been so blessed, that even those blessings don’t look all that good anymore.
How, then, can we OVERCOME OUR MINDSET OF APATHY and move towards a TRUE SPIRIT OF THANKSGIVING in a culture that teaches us to enter into the rat-race and compete for status with a world of un-thankful people. Well, I don’t pretend to have all of the answers, but I do think we need to recognize God’s blessing in all of their many manifestations and give thanks to him even when it seems impossible to do so.
• Make an effort today to recognize the blessings you’ve come to take for granted
• Focus on what you have rather than on what you don’t have, and see if it doesn’t improve your attitude
• If you have food in the Refrigerator, clothes on you back, a roof over your head and a place to sleep – you are richer than 75% of the world
• If you have money in the bank, cash in your wallet or even spare change in a dish someplace – you are among the top 8% of the Earth’s wealthiest people
• If you woke up this morning with more health than illness – you are more fortunate than the million people who will not survive the week
Thankfulness is so much more than a comparison of our own situation to someone else’s. Thankfulness is so much more than having enough food to eat, a nice, warm home to live in, good health, or financial security, because each of those circumstances can be taken from us in an instant. Thankfulness, then, is a state of being and a way of life, and we usually fail to live in a state of thankfulness because we take it for granted.
Does your life represent a spirit of thankfulness? I can think of people and I’m sure that you each know people who have an EXPRESSION – ATTITUDE – AURA - that exudes happiness and thankfulness for life. Are you one of those people who exude thankfulness or are you more like those, whose thankfulness is based on comparison?
• Being thankful is so much more than a comparison of circumstances
• Being thankful is so much more than a private prayer or public proclamation
• Being thankful is expressed through your attitude in living life
When you are thankful, your vision improves.
• Not your sight! - but your vision improves
• Not your eyes - but your outlook
• To be thankful will help you have an optimistic and hopeful outlook on life
• You will see the donut and not the hole
• You will see the glass half full and not half empty
• You will see the potential and not the problem
• You will see the opportunity and not the opposition
Make an effort today to recognize the blessings you’ve come to take for granted. FOCUS ON WHAT YOU HAVE RATHER THAN ON WHAT YOU DON’T HAVE - see if it doesn’t improve your attitude.
• Be thankful that you don’t already have everything you want - If you did, what would there be to look forward to?
• Be thankful when you don’t know something - this gives you the opportunity to learn
• Be thankful for the difficult times - During those times you grow
• Be thankful for your limitations - Because they give you opportunities for improvement
• Be thankful for each new challenge - Because it will build strength and character
• Be thankful for your mistakes - They will teach you valuable lessons
• Be thankful when you’re tired and weary - Because it means you’ve made a difference
It’s easy to be thankful for the good things. But, a life of true fulfillment can come to those who are also thankful for the setbacks. As hard as it may be:
--Find a way to be thankful for your troubles, and they can become your blessings
--Find a way to be thankful for your Aches and Pains – and they can become your blessings
--Find a way to be thankful for your Trials – and they can become your blessings
--In everything give thanks
--Thank You Lord for the Sunshine and the Rain
--Thank You Lord for the Good times and the Bad
--Thank You Lord for the Mountains and the Hurdles you brought me through
--In everything give thanks
