How to Have a Grateful Heart
Jared Schroeder
October 8, 2006
Thanksgiving Sunday
Mission Heights Church
2005 Predictions…
In 2005, there will be 256 million turkeys raised in the United States.
There will be 649 million pounds of cranberries produced.
There will be 1.6 billion pounds of sweet potatoes produced.
There will be 998 million pounds of pumpkin products produced.
The average American will consume 13.7 pounds of turkey this year.
Source: www.census.gov
A little history…
Thanksgiving tradition…In 1621, the Plymouth Colonists and the Wampanoag Indians shared an autumn harvest feast which in now known as the first Thanksgiving.
No turkey – Venison, wild fowl, and deer
No mashed potatoes and gravy and no forks!
3 day celebration – not a religious event
Not much veggies and no pumpkin pie
Not a repeated event – did start as a yearly tradition
1817 – New York State adopted Thanksgiving Day as an annual custom.
In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln appointed a Day of Thanksgiving.
It is a day to acknowledge the goodness of God:
James 1:17 – “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”
“How to have a Grateful Heart”
This morning, we will look at a few Roadblocks to Thankfulness,
and a few “springboards” to Thankfulness
Roadblocks to Thankfulness
1. Pride
We all struggle with pride. It’s a part of who we are.
Proverbs 16:18 – “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall”
PRIDE FOCUSSING ON SELF
Pride will be expressed in several ways…
Selfishness – “I’ve worked so hard lately, I deserve to indulge myself. And if I don’t get what I want, then God doesn’t really care for me.”
Other side of the coin – Self-pity
Self-pity- “Look at what I’ve gone through. I deserve to be comforted, even if I know it’s not the right way to get comfort”
We see that in the book of Ecclesiastes, the author, often thought to be King Solomon, is nearing the end of his life. He is reflecting on man’s pursuits, mostly driven by selfishness and pride.
Turn with me to Ecc. 2
Ecc. 2:1-11 – The pursuits of man
- laughter
- wine
- great projects
- houses
- vineyards
- gardens and parks
- slaves
- cattle
- silver and gold
- entertainment
- DENIED MYSELF NOTHING
- REFUSED MY HEART NO PLEASURE! – Shouldn’t that produce a grateful heart?
- NO – “Everything meaningless” – It left him empty!
- 2:17 – “He hated life!”
- 2:25 - “Without God, who can find enjoyment?”
-
Pride prevents us to see the blessings we already have.
Another Roadblock to Thankfulness, to a Grateful heart is…
2. Ignorance
We live in a country of extreme abundance, and yet for many of us, we are still hoping and dreaming of more and more.
And yet, the majority of the world lives in poverty.
We are in a Spiritual battle – Satan doesn’t want us to think too much about the hurting and lost world. That’s why it seems so easy to get focused on our own busy lives, putting all our time, energy and thoughts in our own little bubble of our lives.
Ignorance is a tool used by the enemy! Let’s shatter this tool. Let’s unveil the world that we are a part of.
James 1:17 – “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”
Orphans, widows, - those in need – the poor, sick, the lost.
Put things into perspective with regards to poverty and population…
World Population – 6, 548, 087, 222 – 6.5 Billion
US – 300,000,000 – 300 million
Canada – 32, 647, 657 - 32 and a half million.
Consider the following poverty statistics
1. Half the world — nearly three billion people — live on less than two dollars a day. source 1
2. 20% of the population in the developed nations, consume 86% of the world’s goods.
3. A mere 12 percent of the world’s population uses 85 percent of its water, and these 12 percent do not live in the Third World.
4. 35,000 children under five die in the developing world every day. The great majority of these deaths are preventable by adequate food and basic medical care. (Almost 60% of these deaths are from three diseases: pneumonia, diarrhea and measles, all of which could be prevented or cured by adequate food and medical care.
That is about 245,000 children each week, or just under 13 million children under five years of age, each year. source 19
5. A few hundred millionaires now own as much wealth as the world’s poorest 2.5 billion people.
( DON’T READ ALL, JUST MAKE THEM AWARE) #13
Thirteen Statistics Regarding Child Slavery
(Compiled by Action International Ministries)
1. There are around 3000 enslaved Albanian children used for begging and cleaning windows and cars without payment in Italy and Greece. (CRCA, The Vicious Circle, 2000)
2. An estimated 496,000 children are in slavery in Bangladesh. (Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, Report on National Sample Survey of Child Labour in Bangladesh, October 1996)
3. Over 10-20 million people are subjected to debt bondage largely in India, Bolivia, Brazil, Peru and Philippines. (Debt Bondage: The Challenge for the Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery, submission to the UN Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery, June 1996)
4. Of 20 million bonded labourers in Pakistan 7.5 million are children. (ILO-IPEC, Mainstreaming Gender in IPEC Activities, 1999)
5. Of 35 million soccer balls stitched in Pakistan, children produce one quarter of the balls, most of them as bonded servants. (Mary E. Williams, Child Labour and Sweat Shops, 1999, citing Sydney Schanberg, Life, 1 June 1996)
6. Nearly 500,000 minors work in virtual slavery conditions in Senegal. (Jorge Pi–a, "Italy to Help Vulnerable Children in Senegal," IPS World News, Rome, 29 May 2000)
7. "Restavek" the practice of sending children to serve as unpaid domestic labour for more affluent city dwellers exist in the country of Haiti. UNICEF estimated that 25,000 to 300,000 children, 85% of them girls, are victims of this practice. (US Dept of State, Human Rights Report, 1999)
8. Information gathered by the British charity, Christian Aid, and reported by Reuters, indicates that up to 10,000 children between ages 6 and 14 are enslaved in brothels in Sri Lanka. (CATW, Child Sex Tourism is Flourishing in Sri Lanka, Coalition Report, 1997)
9. There are no universally accepted figures for the number of bonded child labourers in India. However, in the carpet industry alone, human rights organisations estimate that there may be as many as 300,000 children working, many of them under conditions that amount to bonded labour. (US Dept of State, Human Rights Report, 1999)
10. Some NGOs estimate that the number of bonded labourers in India is 5 million persons. However, in a report released during the year, Human Rights Watch estimated that 40 million persons, including 15 million children, are bonded labourers. The report notes that the majority of bonded labourers are Dalits, and that bondage is passed from one generation to the next. (US Dept of State, Human Rights Report, 1999)
11. 90% of the 100,000 women in prostitution in Bombay, India, are indentured slaves. (CATW Fact Book, citing Robert I. Friedman, "India’s Shame: Sexual Slavery and Political Corruption are Leading to an AIDS Catastrophe," The Nation, 8 April 1996)
12. Persons sometimes are sold into virtual slavery. Many boys from India, some of whom are as young as 4 years, end up as riders in camel races in West Asia and the Gulf States, especially to the United Arab Emirates, or begging during the Haj. Girls and women end up either as domestic workers or sex workers. (US Dept of State, Human Rights Report, 1999)
13. It takes up to 15 years for girls held in prostitution via debt-bondage in India to purchase their freedom.
(Robert I. Friedman, "India’s Shame: Sexual Slavery and Political Corruption are Leading to an AIDS Catastrophe," The Nation, 8 April 1996)
Abortion stats - POSTER
James 1:17 – “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
We need to acknowledge and remove these roadblocks.
Our goal is a Grateful heart
A Grateful Heart
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 – “Be joyous always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
Corrie Ten Boom wrote a book.
When she was at the Nazi concentration camp, she stayed in Barracks number 28. And it was infested with fleas. It was almost unbearable. But one night, they read the same passage of scripture we’re looking at now: "Give thanks in all
circumstances." And Corrie’s sister said, "God wants us to thank him for the
fleas."
And Corrie said, "No way! That’s taking religion just a little bit too far!
I’m NOT going to thank God for these infernal fleas!"
After a while, the nightly Bible studies attracted more and more women. And
Corrie started wondering if they would get caught. And so she asked one of
the women, "Why don’t the Nazis ever come in and check on us?" And she said,
"It’s because of the fleas. They won’t come near this place for that
reason." And then Corrie remembered this Bible verse and said, "God, thank
you for the fleas!"
A Grateful heart sees the blessings.
We have been blessed living in this part of the world. Some of us might feel guilty about that. But we need to remember, God created us, and he chose for us to be born in this part of the country, and He has chosen us to live in the earthly abundance that is around us.
As Corrie Ten Boom and her sister thanked God for fleas, so we should offer prayers of Thanksgiving to God.
Springboards to a Grateful Heart
1. Prayers of Thanksgiving
We are directed to give thanks in all circumstances…
Consider an email I read this week.
"If you woke up this morning with more health than illness, you are more blessed than over one million people who will not survive the week.
If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of
imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation, you are
ahead of 500 million people in the world.
If you can attend a church service without fear of persecution, arrest,
torture or death, you are more blessed than 3 billion people in the world.
If you have food in the fridge, clothes on your 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, money in your wallet, and spare change in a
dish someplace, you are among the top 8% of the world’s wealthy."
That’s something to think about as we celebrate Thanksgiving.
We might be sad about our hardships. About things we don’t have anymore. But
we should never forget how much God has blessed us, either. And that things
could always be worse.
2 Corinthians 4:16-18 – “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
Heaven – what is unseen is eternal. The things of this world will pass away. The difficulties, the trials will not last forever. Neither will the comforts of this world last forever.
Can we say Thank-you today for all that God has blessed us with!
A Grateful Heart
Prayers of Thanksgiving
and
Secondly and lastly, we need to Pray for those in need.
2. Prayers for the Needy
Expand your intercessions to include prayers for the needy. How can we not gain a truer perspective on life when we pray for people whose sufferings are so much greater than ours?
I INDONESIA: Medical Update on Beheading Survivor
September 21, 2006
The sole survivor of a radical Muslim attack on four Christian high school girls has successfully undergone medical treatment. When Noviana Malewa and her three friends were walking home from school on October 29, 2005, they were assaulted by a group of jihadists wielding machetes. Three of the girls were decapitated by the assailants, yet Noviana survived a severe slash to her head and neck in an unsuccessful beheading attempt. Today, Noviana still deals with emotional and physical torment from the brutal attack.
Lot’s of surgery and complications
After her examination and surgery, Noviana will receive follow-up treatment. She must daily massage her face to stimulate nerve growth and expose her scarring to infra-red beam treatment for five minutes. Neuro-medicine therapy and skin salves must also be administered on a daily basis. The plastic surgeon was able to reduce much scarring, which boosted Noviana’s morale.
As vicious jihad attacks on Christians persist, VOMedical will help Indonesian Christians who continue to suffer as a result of their faith in Christ
Conclusion
A Grateful heart puts things into perspective.
Hebrews 12:28 – “Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.”
Phi. 4:4 – 7 - Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
Can you respond to this message?
Some of you already have!
Generous people, who bless those in need
- We have thankful people, who continually give thanks to God
- We have people that pray daily for the needs of poor and of the persecuted.
Here’s a few organizations that we can all support
- MCC
- World Vision and Compassion Child
- Voice of Martyrs
- Pro-life
- Micah Challenge
We can enjoy our Thanksgiving Turkey today. Let’s just not get to the point where we somehow feel that we “deserve all of this” and that we come to expect all of these blessings
Closing Prayer.
