The Gates of Thanksgiving
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Well Happy Thanksgiving week everyone! I want to take this time to encourage you to truly express your thankfulness this Thanksgiving.
Prayer
Read Philippians 4:4-9
4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.
It’s funny to me how excited people get that the Holiday’s are coming. Especially Christmas, and our coffee shops, grocery stores and big box stores are all ready for the spending spree that is about to come. Seriously, walking through Lowes on Friday this week hearing the sounds of Christmas music. It’s like, they the scarecrows, ghosts and demons are gone now out pops Rudolph and snowflakes… ‘Oops, did I just swear?”
I feel like I’m watching the movie “Elf” with Will Ferrel when he hears that Santa is coming, “Santa!!!”
But before we get to far, we can’t skip what I believe to be one of the most important seasons of the year…and no I’m not talking about hunting season.
The season where we celebrate the harvest. Our society today with its endless grocery stores and 2 day delivery on anything you could ever imagine doesn’t understand the season of the harvest anymore.
But we need Thanksgiving. We need to learn how to properly celebrate what God is up to in our lives. We need to learn how to develop an Attitude of Gratitude because without it, we can easily become a bunch of self-centered, consumeristic, cry-babies who throw a fit when something doesn’t go our way.
HOW IS IT THAT HALLOWEEN HAS BECOME OUR MOST COMMUNITY ORIENTED HOLIDAY?
And if we are not out their trying to spread light in the darkness, what does that say about our evangelistic integrity? But that’s a different message for a different day.
READ THIS:
Two psychologists, Dr. Robert A. Emmons of the University of California, and Dr. Michael E. McCullough of the University of Miami, have done much of the research on gratitude. In one study, they asked all participants to write a few sentences each week, focusing on particular topics.
One group wrote about things they were grateful for that had occurred during the week. A second group wrote about daily irritations or things that had displeased them, and the third wrote about events that had affected them (with no emphasis on them being positive or negative). After 10 weeks, those who wrote about gratitude were more optimistic and felt better about their lives. Surprisingly, they also exercised more and had fewer visits to physicians than those who focused on sources of aggravation.
Because being thankful means you are grateful for someone or something. You have been given something that you don’t deserve.
It’s the very root of the word Gratitude:
Gratitude: gratia = grace in Latin
Gratitude is a thankful appreciation for what an individual receives, whether tangible or intangible.
Grace is receiving love that we do not deserve.
Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound. That saved a wretch like me.
Expressing grace. Expressing gratitude is being thankful to someone for something, and it will change our lives when we start living lives of being Thankful… Full of Thanks.
The Apostle Paul in finishing his letter to the Philippians, writes all about giving thanks, expressing thanks and finding joy and peace in the Father.
8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.
Think about such things that are admirable, excellent, praiseworthy. -
Potter County Stars:
We truly live in one of the most amazing places to experience the stars. Well 5 years ago, on a crisp October night, I left Erie to go to my brothers house so I could go archery hunting that weekend. Now we had been living in Erie a little over a year at that time, but I got to my brothers house up in Coudersport and It just so happened that one of my brother’s goats had kids that night so I had the chance to video call the girls and they got to see the baby goats as well. Technology really can be an amazing gift if we let it be. After we left the barn, my brother needed help moving a washer and dryer out of his apartment house so he could store it back at his house. So my dad, my brother and one of his best friends went over to his apartment house to move these appliances… I don’t know what made me do it, but because it was pretty late, and there were no lights around, I looked up…what I saw was nothing short of amazing. Before I knew it, the guys were asking me if I was ok…
I wasn’t ok. I had forgotten what it was like to see the night sky, the millions of stars, and the milky way galaxy with my bare eyes.
I had simply forgotten...
And I think that’s just what happens to us in life. We get so preoccupied with life, with kids, with jobs, with to do lists, with day to day that we forget to stop, and just take it all in. The rest of the night, I couldn’t help but take a moment here and a moment there and just gaze at how truly majestic this creation we live in is.
That night reminded me of an important lesson…
We often can’t see the grander of God until we get ourselves into a place to see Him.
We often can’t see the grander of God until we get ourselves into a place to see Him.
A psalm. For giving grateful praise. 1 Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. 2 Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. 3 Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. 4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. 5 For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.
I will enter his gates with thanksgiving, enter courts with praise.
SING: I will enter his gates with thanksgiving in my heart, I will enter his courts with praise. I will say this is the day that the Lord has made, I will rejoice for he has made me glad. He has made me glad, he has made me glad. I will rejoice for he has made me glad.
Well that got me thinking...
What is a gate?
What is a gate?
A gate is a portal. It’s an entry way.
After Israel had been scattered and put in captivity, and Jerusalem destroyed back during the Babylonian captivity by King Nebukenzzer, the city was in shambles. The walls around the city and temple had been destroyed.
You know this morning we finished our time that that we were spending in Nehemiah, the cupbearer turned governer who rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem, rebuilt the defenses for the city, and rehung the gates…
And each gate had a name, that was given due to it’s purpose.
Gate examples: each gate had a particular purpose…sheep gate…fish gate…inspection gate…dung gate…water gate…
But you entered into Jerusalem through a gate. Through a portal.
And if you tried to enter some other way, it wouldn’t go well for you.
This Psalm is telling us that in order to enter into God’s presence…to get though the gates, we need to have an attitude of thankfulness.
God is sitting on His throne in the Kingdom of Heaven and in order to enter the King’s presence you first have to get past the gates of defenses. These gates are impenetrable without first giving thanks.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving. - In order to enter into His kingdom we need to express thankfulness to Him for not just what he has given us, or done for us, but first, for Who He Is.
Enter his courts with praise. - Adoration
Thanksgiving and Adoration (Praise) are the passwords to get you into the very presence of God.
Do you ever wonder why God feels so distant sometime until we take time to praise and worship him. To thank him for all he has already done? And then before you know it, your in a completely different place mentally, emotionally and sometimes even physically, just because you took the time to enter his gates with thanksgiving and enter his courts with praise.
In the Old Testament, God’s presence was made known (manifest presence) in the temple. Not just in the temple, but in the holy of holies. The inner part of the temple, where the ark of the covenant was held.
But that wasn’t the only place that God was present. See we believe God is omnipresent
All present, everywhere at all times. So what’s the difference between omni-presence and manifest presence?
YOU… Your awareness is the only difference.
See when Jesus came…he destroyed the old testament view of the temple being the place where we encounter God’s presence. His death on the cross tore the veil from top to bottom. The veil that separated the holy of holies from the people.
50 And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. 51 At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split
We don’t know exactly how large the veil was, but it was somewhere in the neighborhood of 60 feet tall and 4 inches thick. At that tore in half from top to bottom. From Heaven to Earth.
Jesus tore the barrier that separated God’s manifest presence from His people, and He himself became the ultimate sacrifice.
19 Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body,
We can now boldly enter the manifest presence of the Father because of the sacrifice of the son.
His blood paving the way for us to enter into God’s presence.
Jesus’ blood became the gate for us to enter into God’s presence and of course that should lead us to being thankful and praising Him.
But Jesus didn’t leave us there, he gave us the Holy Spirit so that we could now carry the presence of God with us at all times.
18 Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body. 19 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.
He gave us his very presence to live inside us.
Psalm 22:3 NASB- He sits enthroned on the praises of Israel
3 Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One; you are the one Israel praises.
Now, God’s power and authority does not change based on how much we worship Him. He does not gain strength from our praise. Although our worship does not enthrone God in heaven, it does enthrone Him in our lives—giving Him a place to inhabit. True worship gives God an open door to reign and act in our lives. Through worship, we create for Him a throne that He can come and sit upon.
Is Jesus the Lord of your life? Not just savior. Have you allowed Him to be your king?
I think many of us unknowingly treat God as our all-powerful corporate secretary. I don’t have a lot of time to talk to you but here is my list of things I need you to take care of and ok thanks, talk to you later.
What we don’t realize is that God’s presence is available to us at all times. But we are not putting ourselves in places where we can see it, or realize that it’s there.
We often can’t see the grander of God until we get ourselves into a place to see Him.
That veil was torn so that we could have direct access to the Father and His Spirit can live in us.
So how does all this relate to the passage that Paul is talking about…
Philippians 4:8-9…THE MESSAGE
Celebrate God all day, every day. I mean, revel in him! Make it as clear as you can to all you meet that you’re on their side, working with them and not against them. Help them see that the Master is about to arrive. He could show up any minute!
6-7Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.
8-9Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies.
Finally brothers…
What are you allowing through your gates?
Your ear gates, your eye gates?
Jesus said, in Matthew 15:18-20
18 But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them. 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. 20 These are what defile a person; but eating with unwashed hands does not defile them.”
And if your anything like me, the things you let in your ears and eyes, what you listen to and what you see are the things you think about…
If we are to think about things that are excellent and praise worthy then we need to be listening to and looking for things that are praise worthy.
If we are going to think about things that are pure, we need to be listening to and looking for things that are pure.
If we are going to think about things that are lovely, then we need to be listening to and looking for things that are lovely.
Be careful what you let pass through your gates.
PRAYER