Thanksgiving 2019

Thanksgiving

2019

1 Thes 4:18 "In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you."

This is the time of year when everyone thinks to thank.

We gather around the Thanksgiving table with a turkey right in the middle of it and offer a prayer of thanks to God...

Or, if you're not a Christian, you go around the table and ask everyone there to share something they're thankful for.

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But this thankful attitude doesn't last long with most....

I think that most people are not all that thankful, because most ppl are not all that God conscious.

In fact, here in America we have become an entitlement culture.

There is a "You owe me" attitude rather than a "thank-you" attitude.

And when this is the prevailing attitude, you will not hear much thanks for anything!

If I'm entitled to everything, what do I have to be thankful for?

And have you noticed that we seem to have spawned a younger generation that is anything but thankful?

Let me be clear....I don't mean ALL of the younger generation, so if you don't fit in this category, then not to worry...

But of late we see on college campuses all over the country a breed of young people who think everything should be given to them...

The government should pay for their college tuition, pay for their health care....

That same government should cancel out all of their college debts, and take care of them until they find a job.

These things they DEMAND as their RIGHT!

Again, I'm not saying all are this way, but those that ARE this way have seized the attention of the news media and have been plastered all over America with their whiny, demanding, unthankful, and ungrateful hearts...

It is truly a shame.

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When we look at the Bible, we see anything but an "entitlement" attitude amongst the saints found within its pages.

Show me a godly man or woman in the Bible, and I'll show you a person who practiced thanksgiving toward God....without fail.

They are thankful for every single thing they had, and because they are thankful, they are also not miserable or unhappy over the things they don't have.

For instance, take David...

You can't go anywhere in the Psalms without encountering either the word "thank, thanks, thankful, or thanksgiving."

They are mentioned at least 31 times in the Psalms, and that doesn't include the constant encouragement to "praise, worship, or bless the Lord."

In Paul's letters to the churches those same four words "thank, thanks, thankful, or thanksgiving" are mentioned 23 times.

In the Bible as a whole we find the same four words 131 times.

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Thanksgiving is the language of heaven.

It is what the angels do around the clock.

It is the primary preoccupation of the holy Cherubim and Seraphim.

Paul commanded by the Holy Spirit that we, the church, should be thankful "IN" all things. Not "FOR" all things, but "IN" the midst of all things.

The writer of Hebrews said that we should offer thanks continually, calling it the "fruit of our lips." (13:5)

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As already mentioned, you can't get near the Apostle Paul without entering a praise zone where we find him continuously giving thanks to God.

He thanked God for victories (1 Cor. 15:57).

He thanked other people for their giving to his ministry (2 Cor. 1:11).

He thanked Jesus for causing him to always triumph (2 Cor. 2:14).

He thanked God for the unspeakable gift of Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 9:15).

He thanked God for all of his children in the faith (Eph. 1:16).

He commanded the church to get rid of dirty stories, foul talk, and nasty jokes, and replace them with a thankful tongue. (Eph. 5:4)

He noted in Romans 1 that an "unthankful" heart is one of the signs of a backsliding heart.

The continual appearance of thanksgiving is like a fine, golden thread that weaves its way throughout the pages of Scripture.

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Now, let me share some of my own thoughts about thanksgiving...

First, I see in Scripture and in life that...

A thankful person acknowledges his source...

The thankful person knows where his blessings have come from...

The Bible describes the Providential care of God over the entire creation:

The Psalmist wrote, "You open your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing" (Ps. 145:16).

Jesus acknowledged the same Providential care of the Heavenly Father...

"Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow (seed) nor reap (a harvest) nor gather (seed) into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them" (Matt. 6:26).

But conversely we see that....the wicked, the ungodly, the unbeliever...don't acknowledge God's provision, nor do they thank Him.

But they should, for Jesus said God is so good that He even provides for those who daily curse His name...

"Your Father in heaven...makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust" (Matt. 5:45).

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In the book of Romans where Paul the Apostle describes the pathway of destruction that ancient civilizations took when they walked away from God, he notes...

"Although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened" (1:21).

Notice, they knew God was there, but refused to give Him the glory due Him as God!

Essentially, they refused to acknowledge that all that they had, even down to their very existence, came from God!

But the thankful person ALWAYS and GLADLY acknowledges the source of all that he has...

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Second we see that,

II. A thankful person admits his limitations...

The thankful person realizes that without the help of God and others, he could never succeed alone.

You see, tucked away in an unthankful heart is a root of pride that refuses to give credit to anyone or anything else for what they have.

But any honest person need only look around at the people in their orbit to realize the contributions others have made in their life, including God.

We all stand on the shoulders of others!

You know, as I stand before you today, I am anything but a self-made man...

I stand on the shoulders of the man who gave me my first break at preaching the Word of God, and encouraged me to keep doing it.

I stand on the shoulders of a godly wife who has always encouraged me in the ministry through thick and thin.

I stand on the shoulders of the pastor who brought me into his office one day and told me he would pay for my remaining two years of college.....which he did.

I stand on the shoulders of every man God ever put me under to learn from...

When I preach, you're hearing echoes of Pastor Howard Conatser from whom I learned pulpit preaching...

And Billy Graham, whose style and gospel preaching I studied...

Not to mention the myriad great men and women of God from history who I've read about, learned from, been inspired by, and whose successes made me want to reach higher!

And most of all, I stand utterly and totally on the shoulders of the Lord Jesus Christ, without Whom I would be lost, ruined, and hopeless.

As Paul wrote, "But whatever I am now it is all because God poured out such kindness and grace upon me" (1 Cor. 15:10).

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So a thankful person acknowledges his source, a thankful person admits his limitations, and...

III. A thankful person accepts his lot in life...

I'm not saying here that you should not try to improve yourself, that you shouldn't seek for higher ground, bigger horizons, or greater accomplishments...

I'm a huge believer that you should do all you can to make the most of what God has given you!

What I AM saying is that each of us are born with certain gifts, abilities, and talents...

And this means we're also born WITHOUT some of those same things...

I can’t sing like Michael W. Smith, or preach like T.D. Jakes, or throw a football like Tom Brady...because I did not receive those gifts!

But I am thankful for what I HAVE received, and am content with that!

My goal is to use what I HAVE been given to glorify God with...

You see, here's the true key to happiness---THANKFUL people are CONTENT people...

They don't envy others, they aren't jealous of what someone else has because they are thankful for what they HAVE been given...

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ILLUS: Recently Cyndi and I were eating at a downtown restaurant and when we came out I noticed a truly spectacular car parked in the valet area.

Out of curiosity I looked it up on the internet and found out it cost over 200,000 dollars!

The valet guy told me a very young man was driving it, and proceeded to describe how he strutted when he got out with his girlfriend with everybody looking.

And I thought, “I wonder if he’s happy. Because this car will not make you happy for long. Happiness is an inside job. It comes from making peace with God through Jesus Christ.

I wondered if he had inner peace, or if all his sense of value came from this car.

Because you can have all the things he has and be totally unhappy...even miserable if you don't have peace with God.

So I thought how I wouldn't trade God's peace for Bill Gates’s money, a movie star's fame, an athlete's skill, or a genius's IQ!

If you have peace with God through Jesus Christ, you have all you need to be profoundly thankful!

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Thanksgiving is not a one time a year thing we do...

Thanksgiving is an attitude, it is a way of life where I regularly thank Him for 3 simple things...

I thank Him as my Source

I thank Him as my "Completer"

I thank Him for what I have