Thankful in the sour times
Notes
Transcript
Thankful in the bad times
11-20-2022
Last week we talked about how you and I are to be thankful in the good times
If you will recall last week we centered around the idea of having to humble ourselves so that our initial thought is to thank God
even in those good times church
You may be here this morning and think why only in the good times
I am glad you asked that
18 in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
This particular verse calls us to be thankful in everything
Think on that for a minute
To be thankful in everything
Would mean you guessed it to be thankful in the good times
And of course in the difficult, bad, or sour times
We have all experienced bad times tough times or sour times
If you haven’t don’t worry they are coming
Some of you would argue that you have experienced enough sour times to share with everyone else in here
This isn’t a sermon to downgrade your difficult times or your tough times
Please hear me this morning
When we say that we are to be thankful during the sour times in life
It is not hey you need to be thankful for the difficulty in your life
See I think this is where the rubber meets the road in your faith and in my faith
It’s not being thankful you are down on your luck and super duper sick and struggling to make ends meet, and nothing seems to be going your way, and maybe you got fired from your job and cant find another one
It is not being thankful for that
That sort of thankful is dependent on the situation
Sort of the difference between happiness and joyful
You can be joy in some not so happy situations
You can be thankful in some not so good situations
Not thankful you are in them
That is why being thankful in the difficult or sour times is oh so important
If you will recall we left last week off with
5 For the Lord is good; His lovingkindness is everlasting And His faithfulness to all generations.
This is why can be thankful in the sour times church
Because God is good
Remember that is a trough we can stand on and that is solid
Praise the Lord when God says He will walk through the junk with us, He will walk through the junk with us
When God says He won’t leave us, praise the Lord He won’t leave
We can be thankful in the sour times of life because God is good and faithful
Because God is good and desires good for His children
This is not situational thankfulness
This is eternal thankfulness
1 Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, For His lovingkindness is everlasting. 2 Give thanks to the God of gods, For His lovingkindness is everlasting. 3 Give thanks to the Lord of lords, For His lovingkindness is everlasting.
Three times we see the Psalmist thanking God
Thanking the Lord for He is Good
Thanking the God of gods
Church there is only one God
Thanking God who is the Lord of lords
There is no other
So it is an eternal thankfulness because God is good
His love is everlasting
To be thankful in the sour times is more than just an attitude change
Church it is a heart change
It is to be thankful becasue of God even in the sour times
Not so much thankful for the sour times
But to be thankful for God who is bigger than the sour times
God is not situational but eternal
We have reason to be eternally thankful no matter the current situation
13 “But now I come to You; and these things I speak in the world so that they may have My joy made full in themselves. 14 “I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 15 “I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. 16 “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
As children of God you are not citizens of this place
You and I are not of this world
We are not of this world because of what Jesus on the cross for me and for you and for you and you and you and you
Because we are not of this world we are simply passing through
Not that we don’t have a job as we are passing though but this is not our home
When we became children of God we walked out of darkness and into light our citizenship changed and our home became heaven with Jesus forever
Church its that relationship with Jesus that allows us to thank God not so much for the sour times in life but to thank Him during those sour times
We have so much to thank Him for
16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
It’s because God sent His only son into this world to take on sin and deal with it so you and I don’t have to
It’s because of this church we can be thankful during those sour times
Because of Jesus we can have a pathway directly to God
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
We can be thankful no matter the situation because our eternity is sealed up
There is a world out there that is struggling when the situation changes because their eternal destination has not been decided
Because church they have not accepted the free gift of salvation through faith in Jesus and only Jesus
We can have a thankful heart and attitude during the sour times in life because Jesus in our savior
Moms and Dads, Grandparents I think as adults we complicate things
Most of you have heard what Lily said when I was in the hospital
I went into the Hospital and on the way home Emma asked if dad was going to die and Randi said she didn’t know
Lily said either way he will be good if he is physically healed he will come home and be good, and if he dies he will be good because he will be in heaven with Jesus
Because my eternity was decided when I was 7 some 30 years ago
Now don’t get me wrong it was still a sour time in our life but we can be thankful because God is good
Thankful is not dependent on the situation but on eternity
Church God is good and so loving that He went to the cross for you and this morning if you will only accept that
Repent from your sins you can have salvation from
As we move into this time of invitation
The band will come up and the invitation is for you to do business with God this morning
Maybe you don’t have a personal relationship with God and you are here this morning and God is calling you to being a relationship with Him this morning
I would invite you to the front to speak with someone who can show you through scripture how you can begin a personal relationship with Christ
Maybe you have a personal relationship with Christ and have struggled to be thankful
Because you have based being thankful on the situation instead of eternity
I would encourage you this morning to repent and run back to Jesus
Or maybe you just need to spend some time at the altar in prayer
The altar is open