Always Thankful

Good morning everyone…I hope you are all having a great morning this morning. Good morning kiddos, now is the time you get to go back and meet with your teacher who will tell you some pretty amazing truths about Scripture in a way you will understand…I am so happy you have that opportunity to learn in a way that makes sense to you. good morning and welcome to those of you that are joining us online this morning. Whether this is your first time joining us, or your 100th time joining us we are grateful that you have chosen to be a part of our extended Spiritual family. Hey, we would love to pray for you individually so if you are joining us online, please send us a message or comment and let us know how you are doing and if there is anything we can lift up for you. Listen, that goes for us here in person this morning as well. We have our connect cards in the back and we would love to have you fill that out and let us know how we can best be praying for you and your situation. Whether it is personal, or a friend…spiritual or physical health, we would be honored to be able to lift you up and thank the Lord for you and how he is going to provide for your situation.

I also want to give a couple of quick reminders…first of all the ladies party is a potluck meal, so ladies bring your best most amazing grub for next week…also, the parade that is coming up is another opportunity to be a blessing to the community around us, so be prepared to come and build the float, as well as be there the day of the parade and have a great time…

This past week was Thanksgiving and I trust you all had amazing meals. Originally we were going to have Beths sister and family join us, but they are got really sick so there was much less people joining us, but we still made most of the same food. That means that we have plenty of leftovers for me to go home and eat today…:) We did have Beths dad join us though, so that was really nice and we were able to chill a little as a family, so that was pretty cool also. We actually had turkey and brisket this year, and we had a plenty of leftovers for me to eat today. I read a little story this week, and I wonder if you have ever felt the way this young boy felt when looking at your meal.

A little boy was asked by his father to say grace at the table. While the rest of the family waited, the little guy eyed every dish of food his mother had prepared. After the examination, he bowed his head and honestly prayed, “Lord, I don’t like the looks of it, but I thank you for it, and I’ll eat it anyway. Amen.”

I don’t know about you, but when I look down at a plate of brussel sprouts of leaves and sticks…Beth calls it lettuce, but it looks like leaves and sticks to me, anyway, when I see that on the table…that is pretty much how I feel. I don’t like the looks of it…but I thank you for it and Ill eat it anyway. :)

All that said, I hope you were blessed and experienced gratitude in the Lord this week as well. I mean, its easy to be thankful on Thanksgiving, isn’t it. But what about other days? How easy, or hard is it to be thankful in other times of life? Well I would say it can be pretty hard to be thankful in various times. For instance…when I busted my ankle back in 2016, I do not recall being thankful for that event. When I almost broke my neck in high school playing football…I don’t recall being thankful then either. You know…thanksgiving if more than just being thankful when everything is going great though isn’t it. I mean, is it possible that the act of giving thanks is actually a fruit of the spirit…which means that it may not be something that comes overly natural to us at all times. Actually, I might go so far as to say that the act of giving thanks is somewhat unnatural. Author Jerry Bridges would agree with that. He said,

Thanksgiving is not a natural virtue; it is a fruit of the Spirit, given by him. — Jerry Bridges

I mean, this is one of those things people see and wonder what is wrong with you. They wonder what is wrong with you becuase why on earth would you give thanks for having such loss, or for a bad experience…For instance, Im going to mention someone and I haven’t talked to them, so Im not going to name names becuase I don’t 100% know how they feel. Anyway know a family who purchased a house last year. After living in the house for a few months they learned that the house had some pretty severe issues. These issues were so bad that the only option they had was to completely gut the house all the way down to the exterior walls....Now, I don’t know about you, but that does not seem to be something to be naturally thankful for. I mean, all of your income is being spent to pay for a mortgage, and now you have to pay for the mortgage and basically new construction. I mean…come one…that stinks…maybe it doesn’t seem fair…maybe it seems like some sort of punishment, or if you are not a follower of Christ you might say something like that was some seriously bad karma, right. Well, since giving thanks is not natural, it must come from somewhere. If you are a believer there are a couple of things that we know about being thankful, and that is what I want to talk about briefly this morning. This morning before we get into our Christmas series next week, let’s look at....

When to give thanks

This really may seem like an easy question for you, or it could seem like a complicated question for you this morning. I know that I talk to people all week long that are dealing with various levels of trials. You may be joining us online, or here in person and you would say that you are dealing with all kinds of family trials right now, or maybe you are dealing with some financial struggles at the moment. I actually know there are a number of people that are working through the loss of a loved one right now and this potentially being the first Thanksgiving you had without that loved one. I know that is the case for me. This past Thursday is the first thanksgiving I have not had the opportunity to connect with my dad…and that can be hard, right. So when we are dealing with all of these things when do we give thanks, and how do we give thanks. What if we don’t feel like giving thanks...This morning we are going to look at a passage that will easily answer all of these questions for us, and then later we are going to hear from someone that has has lived it this year…I think it will be encouraging to see that it is not always easy, but that God is always faithful…Now, I typically like to let you know a little about the passage we are going to read so that you know this is not just some magic words, but that there is a little context to what we are reading. One goal as beleivers should be to see Scripture in the context that it was written and learn from that how it applies to our lives.

So, the passage we are going to look at this morning was written by Paul…you know the same guy who wrote half the New Testament. Now, Paul wrote this letter to a church in a place called Thessalonica. Thessalonica was a Greek city that had Gentile beleivers. Gentile meaning non-Jewish believers. These believers had alot of questions about their new faith. One of the things that Paul writes this group of believers about is the hope of the Christs return. You see, these believers evidently were watching their culture really struggle all around them. I can imagine that would be a hard thing to watch as a believer, can’t you…Well, I guess we don’t really have to imagine much do we. Well, Paul is encouraging these believers to to help each other and to work hard together…to love each other, and in the midst of evil…to reject that evil. Then, Paul tells them to rejoice and be thankful no matter what they experience. You see, this group of believers were eager to see Jesus. Actually, they were so eager to see Jesus that it was easy to look around at their culture they lived in and be a little ungrateful for what God had already given to them. So, with that in mind, turn with me over to

1 Thessalonians 5:16–18 (ESV)

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

OK, what does this mean? This is only 1 sentence from this letter that Paul wrote, so how can we look at only this and get anything out of it? Well, let’s look together…There are really 3 parts of this sentence, so let’s look at each part and see how it all works together. In the first part, Paul says to...

Rejoice always

Yeah, that is a pretty straightforward command right there isn’t it. Now, rejoice means to have joy. To have joy, in this context, means to acknowledge all that God has done in the midst of your current situation. It is a type of thanksgiving that we offer back to God in appreciation for what he has done in our lives, and in our situation. How can we rejoice though…especially if we are in the midst of some trial? Well, we do that because we are able to see who God is in the midst of our situation. You see…God does not change depending on what we are going through. Therefore, if I know that something is true about God…then that thing is always true about God? For instance, God is just. Now, if something that I consider to be unfair is happening to me, does that change God’s character? No…absolutely not. God is still just, so I can rejoice in or have joy in the fact that God is just even if I am experiencing something that I perceive as bad. In the second part, Paul says to

Pray without ceasing

Again…this is a pretty straight forward command right here. Yet…even though this is a pretty straight forward command, it is also an often misunderstood command. You see, to pray without ceasing does not mean that your mouth or mind will never stop moving and you will continually be in the act of prayer. No, that would be impossible, wouldn’t it? Why would Paul command something that is clearly impossible? OK, so it has to mean something else. Actually I love the way Pastor and author Warren Wiersbe says it here,

“Pray without ceasing” does not mean we must always be mumbling prayers. The word means “constantly recurring,” not continuously occurring. — Warren W. Wiersbe

So, what we have here is an open ended conversation. You see, sometimes we have an ongoing conversation with people over text messages or emails or something like that. Well, this is kind of the same thing…to pray without ceasing means to have a heart of prayer. In other words, you don’t hang up the phone…you leave the phone off the hook so that the other person can still say something if they want, and you can still listen to what is being said. You see, God knows the desires of our hearts, and he can respond to those desires even if we are unable to voice those desires…or even when your voice goes silent. Actually I have found that I can hear God alot better when I finally shut up…So to pray without ceasing means that I have a heart of prayer…a heart of open communication with God at all times. Thats not the end of what Paul said though. The last thing Paul told us to do in this sentence is to

Give thanks in all circumstance

Now this is where it might start to get a little harder, right? You see, if I am going to give thanks in all circumstances, that means that I have to give thanks in the circumstance when i busted my ankle…I don’t really want to do that though do I? I mean…not if Im being honest. To give thanks in all circumstances means to give thanks when my car broke down and I don’t really want to do that…I mean, that did not make be very thankful if Im honest…Here’s the deal though…We don’t want to necessarily give thanks in those hard times because we are focused on ourselves…William Gurnall says,

Thanksgiving is an act of self-denial. — William Gurnall

You see, when I am focused on myself, then it is difficult to give thanks in the hard times…However, when I am focused on the Lord, then these hard times seem significantly less important. When I realize that my circumstance is just momentary, and is being used by God to grow me into the person that God has designed me to be, then I can start to realize that my suffering is worth it.

The deal is…if I can have that big picture, eternal perspective then I can start to give thanks in everything because I will start to see how God is using these circumstances in my life and in the lives of others to grow me as a believer. You see…when our perspective is informed by His Word, giving thanks in everything makes perfect sense. When I am able to rejoice in God’s promises and have a heart of prayer, then it becomes increasingly easy to give thanks in all circumstances.

Listen, this morning I had a bit of a special treat for us. We have someone within our fellowship that has been through alot in their life. However, ever since I have known this person, granted its only been a little more than 3 years, but ever since Ive known this person, they have shared about some of the things that have been experienced and this person has constantly praised the Lord for everything that has been experienced. This morning I had planned to invite Jim and Cheryl Campbell to share about how God has moved and worked over the last year as Jim has experienced some healing as well as physical restoration. However, that isn’t all. You see, Jim has shared with me over and over again how blessed he is by God. Jim has shared with me the way he has been challanged and experienced some difficult times. However, in time Jim came to rely on God and see God’s sovereign provision

And isn’t it encouraging to know that God is still good even in the midst of hardship? I mean, isn’t it encouraging to know that God is still in control, even in the hard times of life? Isn’t it a little freeing to be able to rely on the promises of the Lord and to have a heart of conversation with the Lord, and isn’t it truly amazing to be able to actually give thanks in all circumstances...

Listen, if you are here or joining us online and you are a bit unsure about how someone can actually experience some of the things that Jim has experienced and still feel confident in the Lord’s promises…then let me invite you to reach out this morning. Let’s have a conversation about the goodness of the Lord and how God is actually working in the midst of your circumstances, maybe without you even paying attention. Let’s have a conversation about what it means to actually rely on the Lord in the midst of your circumstance…to be able to rejoice even while you are struggling with life. Listen, if you are here or joining us online and you want to discover what a life with Christ actually looks like then let me invite you to fill out a connect card, or message me and lets have that conversation. However, for this morning…let me invite everyone here to simply pray with me right now...

Prayer