For Granted Or Gratitude?

FOR GRANTED OR GRATITUDE?

I Thess. 5:18 “Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ

Jesus.”

INTRO.- It’s Thanksgiving time!

ILL.- Someone said, “Thanksgiving is when millions of Americans get together to drink, talk, eat, and go

home again. It’s known as the four G’s: giggle, gabble, gobble, and git!”

ILL.- Someone else said, “On Thanksgiving Day all over America, families sit down to dinner at the same

moment - HALF-TIME.”

ILL.- One grandmother said, “As our family was enjoying a delicious Thanksgiving dinner, my

four-year-old granddaughter stopped chomping on her drumstick long enough to look at her mother,

smile, and say, “I REALLY LIKE TURKEY ON THE COB.”

Brethren, for many people, Thanksgiving is merely T-time, that is, Turkey-time!

ILL.- DID YOU KNOW? Listen to these facts about turkeys.

- Did you know that turkeys can run up to 25 mph? And they can fly for short distances up to 55 mph!

- Did you know that male turkeys love to strut their stuff in order to attract a little turkette? According

to Encyclopedia Brittanica, the male turkey “spreads his tail, droops his wings and shakes the quills

audibly, retracts his head, struts about, and utters rapid gobbling sounds.”

And some girls say, “Hey, that’s the guy I went out with last week!”

- Did you know that we Americans eat 535 millions pounds of turkey at Thanksgiving?

- Did you know that 3,500 feathers have to be plucked before the turkey can hit the table?

- Did you know that fleshy growth on the base of the beak that’s very long on male turkeys is called

“the snood”? And that the reddish-pink fleshy covering of the throat and neck is called “the wattle”?

I always thought the “wattle” was what we did at high school dances!

ILL.- A couple of years ago a woman called the Butterball Turkey Talk-line (yes, they really have one!)

with a minor emergency. Her little Chihuahua dog jumped into the bird’s cavity (you know, where the

stuffing goes) and he couldn’t get out!

The woman tried pulling on the dog and then shaking the bird upside down, but nothing worked, that

is, until the Talk-line suggested carefully cutting the opening a bit wider. It worked, and Fido was

freed! What a dilemma!

Brethren, turkey is good on Thanksgiving, BUT BEING THANKFUL IS BETTER! Being a thankful person

365 days a year is better than having turkey any time!

I Thess. 5:18 “Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ

Jesus.”

Many people want to know what God’s will is for their life. well, His will is that we become thankful

people!

ILL.- Someone said, “An ingrate is neither ‘in’ nor ‘great.’” Amen to that! An ungrateful person is

certainly not a “great” person in God’s eyes.

ILL.- Someone else said, “Giving thanks is a course from which we never graduate.”

We Christians should always live a life of gratitude! We should always be thankful! Every day and for

every blessing, small or large!

ILL.- Another person said, “If you have nothing to be thankful for, make up your mind that there is

something wrong with you.”

No matter how little we have, we still have something to be thankful for.

ILL- A certain business man said, “People are ingrates. It took me 61 years to find out. I have 175

employees, men and women. At Thanksgiving, I sent them 175 choice turkeys. Only four people

thanked me. Two thanked me by sending a note and two verbally said, ‘thank you’ when they

happened to meet me in the hallway. Because of their thanklessness, I’ve decided never to go

out of my way to be nice again.”

Brethren, that man may have been right in what he said about his employees, BUT HE WAS NOT RIGHT

IN WHAT HE DECIDED TO DO! According to Romans 12:21 we overcome evil by doing good. We are

not to repay “evil for evil.”

Of course, I can understand something of how that man felt. If you just keep on dishing out and

dishing out to people and you never hear a “thank you” or “God bless you for sharing” or whatever,

then you would be inclined to stop dishing out good stuff!

BRETHREN, HOW DO YOU THINK GOD FEELS ABOUT US? What if He never heard a “thank you” from

us? In any form or at any time? Do you suppose He might stop dishing out His good stuff? It’s

possible.

For granted or gratitude? Are we taking our blessings from God for granted? Or do we express

gratitude to God for His blessings?

PROP.- In this message I want us to think about these two thoughts.

1- Blessings - taken for granted. OR:

2- Blessings - taken with gratitude.