Give Thanks2
Give Thanks
1Thes 5:16-18
16 Rejoice evermore.
17 Pray without ceasing.
18 In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. (KJV)
Rejoice Ye Pure in Heart
What A Wonderful Saviour
The Bible says Rejoice evermore, Pray without ceasing, In everything give thanks. For this is the will of God in Christ.
It’s a good thing to be reminded at least once a year that there are reasons to be thankful. I believe as Christians we can always and should always be thankful.
The Bible says that this is the will of God. The Lord wants us as His people to be mindful, to be encouraged that He is working always for our good.
We make the mistake as Christians at times believing that God's blessings always come in the form of progress and growth and happiness.
When things are at their best is when we are blessed. That is the belief of some Christians. Isn't that right?
Now Thank We All Our God
It was the worst of times. In the first half of the 17th century, Germany was in the midst of wars and famine and pestilence. In the city of Eilenburg lived a pastor by the name of Martin Rinkart.
During one especially oppressive period, Rinkart conducted up to 50 funerals a day as a plague swept through the town and as the Thirty Years’ War wreaked its own terror on the people. Among those whom Rinkart buried were members of his own family.
Yet during those years of darkness and despair, when death and destruction greeted each new day, Pastor Rinkart wrote 66 sacred songs and hymns. Among them was the song “Now Thank We All Our God.” As sorrow crouched all around him, Rinkart wrote:
Now thank we all our God
With hearts and hands and voice,
Who wondrous things hath done,
In whom His world rejoices;
Who, from our mothers’ arms,
Hath blessed us on our way
With countless gifts of love,
And still is ours today.
Rinkart demonstrated a valuable lesson for us all: Thankfulness does not have to wait for prosperity and peace. It’s always a good time to praise God for the “wondrous things” He has done.
JDB, Our Daily Bread, October 12, 1998
[1]
If we really know the Lord then we should be always be aware of His faithfulness to us on our behalf. We should be aware of His loving kindness and grace towards because we are the recipients of His love.
Ps 92:1 It is a good thing to give thanks unto the LORD, and to sing praises unto thy name, O most High: (KJV)
Ps 18:49 Therefore will I give thanks unto thee, O LORD, among the heathen, and sing praises unto thy name. (KJV)
I fear though because we Christians go through hard times some may interpret their experience in the wrong way.
There are sometimes you feel like saying Lord what is going on! But that is the time when we need to realize the working of the Lord.
"Could Christians realize how many times the Lord has ordered their way, that the purposes of the enemy concerning them might not be accomplished, they would not stumble along complainingly." (PK p.576). . .
Forgive Me When I Whine
Forgive Me When I Whine
Today upon a bus, I saw a lovely maid with golden hair;
I envied her—she seemed so gay, and how, I wished I were so fair;
When suddenly she rose to leave, I saw her hobble down the aisle;
She had one foot and wore a crutch, but as she passed, a smile.
Oh God, forgive me when I whine, I have two feet—the world is mine.
And when I stopped to buy some sweets, the lad who served me had such charm;
He seemed to radiate good cheer, his manner was so kind and warm;
I said, “It’s nice to deal with you, such courtesy I seldom find”;
He turned and said, “Oh, thank you sir.” And then I saw that he was blind.
Oh, God, forgive me when I whine, I have two eyes, the world is mine.
Then, when walking down the street, I saw a child with eyes of blue;
He stood and watched the others play, it seemed he knew not what to do;
I stopped a moment, then I said, “Why don’t you join the others, dear?”
He looked ahead without a word, and then I knew he could not hear.
Oh God, forgive me when I whine, I have two ears, the world is mine.
With feet to take me where I’d go; with eyes to see the sunsets glow,
With ears to hear what I would know. I am blessed indeed.
The world is mine; oh, God, forgive me when I whine.
Source unknown
[2]
In fact in the book PK she says
"God has a purpose in sending trial to His children. He never leads them otherwise than they would choose to be led if they could see the end from the beginning, and discern the glory of the purpose that they are fulfilling." (PK p. 578)
But there are some who still consider that there is nothing to be thankful for.
I suggest to you, today If we consider the value of life-----our lives as individuals we will have something to be thankful for. If we consider life itself just being alive is a miracle. How each of us were conceived
Our existence began with the mating of our parents. In a woman of child bearing age the ability to conceive only happens ONCE A MONTH, when a ripened egg burst free from an ovary and enters the nearby Fallopian tube where it awaits fertilization from a male spermatozoa.
We know that one female egg and one male sperm cell together starts the maturation process of a new baby.
In a female, the egg which embarks to the fallopian tube to be fertilized it was there before she was born (even though it is undeveloped).
At birth the an average female ovary has two million of these cells most don't live long, at puberty about 300,000 remain and of that number only about 400 will ever mature and break free. And those on a strict schedule.
Once the mating process takes place then the question of whether there will be life is answered against barriers of time and distance.
Sperm cells after copulation number in the millions, It is estimated 100 million cells are present they live only 48 hours, their goal -- to reach a ripened egg in the Fallopian tube. The ripened egg itself dies within 18 hours if it is not fertilized.
And although the distance from the female genitalia to the farthest reaches of the fallopian tube is only a few inches, it takes a single celled sperm an hour and a half to reach its destination.
And the journey is not easy a sperm cell makes its way upstream in the female genital tract fighting against currents of mucus and other fluids in the body to fulfill its mission.
Of the 3 million sperm cells the vast majority drop out along the way only a few thousand get as far as the uterus and of that only a few hundred make there way to the inner section of the Fallopian tube.
And the sperm cells that do reach the egg (which number in the hundreds) surround it besiege it butting their heads against the surface in a furious attempt to fertilize the egg and only one will succeed
The size of these partners are enormously mismatched. If the egg were to be magnified to the size of a dime then in comparison the sperm would be the size of a period in a sentence on a typed paged. Yet both carry equivalent burdens of hereditary information to their union.
Which union was not easy, we didn't mention a number of things that could happen.
Disease, sickness, damaged cells, and a 9 month period of incubation before birth.
Now if you didn't understand a word of what I said tonight listen to this it takes one female egg and one male sperm to make a baby.
From 2 million female eggs in your mothers ovaries at her birth
to the 100 million sperm cells that begin the journey to the Fallopian tube that houses the infertilized egg.
2 million - 100 million
What are the possibilities of you being born?
We are not here by chance! Even the so called illegitimate baby God has guided the life of every precious soul that has been born.
And even though we might believe we have problems and everything seems tough and hard and nothing in sight to be thankful about, but as Christians we have plenty to be thankful about we can always be thankful because its a miracle that we are alive and the fact that we are alive means we are recipients of God's grace!
You may believe this morning that there is no reward in life, there is no sense existing, there is no happiness in living. But the fact that you made it and your alive is good news honey because God has got good plans for you!
1 Timothy 2:3-4 3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; 4 Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. (KJV)
Despite trials, temptation, annoyances, bills, troubles we still can be thankful. We might have trouble in homes, or on the job, or at school. We may have health problems, money problems, relationship problems we still can be thankful if we belong to Christ!!
What in the world can we be thankful about if we are down and out.
Just the fact that we’re alive means that God has been good to you and God has us on His mind. He wants you and I to be where He is and He’s making plans all the time for that to happen. He wants us to know that this live here is just a traveling road. This place is not our home and if we pass by hard times while traveling Jesus brings to each heart comforting news about God’s plan. . . We are alive for a reason the fact where are here means Jesus’ call is for us and for that we can be thankful.
John 14:1-3
1 Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.
2 In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.
(KJV)
Paul learned along time ago that Jesus never crossed the vast sphere of universes for nothing. He learned that nothing or no one on or off this planet can stop us from doing what God has planned for us . . . being saved
1Thes 5:16-18
16 Rejoice evermore.
17 Pray without ceasing.
18 In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. (KJV)
Paul learned despite hardships we can always be thankful.
1 Cor 15:57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (KJV)
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[1]10,000 sermon illustrations. 2000 (electronic ed.). Dallas: Biblical Studies Press.
[2]10,000 sermon illustrations. 2000 (electronic ed.). Dallas: Biblical Studies Press.