Thanksgiving

Open services with testimonies of thanksgiving:

1 Thessalonians 5:18

18 In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

Pray:

If you are concerned about living in the will of God. Then according to this verse. Then a life in which we give thanks to the Lord Jesus Christ is the will of God. Giving thanks isn’t just a once a year thing. But rather it is the will of God that we give thanks daily.

In 1 Chronicles 16:4

4 And he appointed certain of the Levites to minister before the ark of the Lord, and to record, and to thank and praise the Lord God of Israel:

Living a life of thanksgiving means to be praising the Lord. He inhabits the praises of his people. He longs for and loves for us to praise him. Being a thankful person and living a thankful life means praising God.

If we complain about our lives, then we are not praising him. As I have said before praising God and giving thanks empowers us to his service.

None of us are without reasons to give thanks to God for his goodness.

Psalm 69:30

30 I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving.

We talked about the importance of our song in praise just a few weeks ago. So, you know that lifting up Christ in song is important. Our song is a form of thanksgiving. Having a heart filled with joy and song is a form of giving thanks to the Lord Jesus Christ.

So, living a life of thanksgiving means singing and praising.

2 Chronicles 29:31

31 Then Hezekiah answered and said, Now ye have consecrated yourselves unto the Lord, come near and bring sacrifices and thank offerings into the house of the Lord. And the congregation brought in sacrifices and thank offerings; and as many as were of a free heart burnt offerings.

A life of thanksgiving includes bringing our offerings to the Lord. I am not a big fan of preaching about giving. And this marks two weeks in a row I have done so anyway. But we cannot talk about giving thanks without talking about giving to the house of God. If we fail to give our tithes and offerings to the Lord, we are failing to give thanks. All blessings flow from God. And a free heart is free from rebellion. A free heart is a thankful heart.

Psalm 50:14

14 Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the Most High:

Living a thankful life means to honor our commitments. When we give God our word we must follow through. Good remembers our pledges and commitments.

Psalm 95:2

2 Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms.

That is what I do. I cannot sing. But I do not care. God says to make a joyful noise. Anyone can make a joyful noise. Now it may not sound as joyful to those around us. But what is important is that our song is joyful and that pleases the Lord.

Psalm 100:4

4 Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.

So, when we enter the church, we should ALWAYS come into the service with a thankful heart. Too many people come into church services wanting to “get something” out of it. I have heard it said out loud more than once. I didn’t get anything out of today’s service. To that I say. What did you put into it? Did you come into the service with thanksgiving? Did you come into the service with a giving heart? Did you come into the service making a joyful noise? Never make other people responsible for what you get out of church. You are responsible for giving thanks every time you come to Gods house.

Never forget. We are not here to be served. We are here to serve. And that starts with a thankful heart.

If you walk into Gods house with a bad attitude. With your arms crossed and a frown on your face saying I dare you to bless me. Then you aren’t going to receive a blessing.

I can confess to you that I would love to remodel this building and paint the outside of the church. And I can’t wait to redo the landscaping and put in that prayer garden when the weather is right for it. Having said that. When I come here every Sunday, I should be thankful for this beautiful auditorium that God has blessed us with. And none of us should EVER expect God to do more for us when we fail to be thankful for what God has already blessed us with.

And I believe that as a church we are very thankful for this beautiful building. And that is why I believe that God will bless us with the ability to make it even nicer.

So, when you open that front door and walk into Gods house on Sunday morning or Sunday evening. Always come with a thankful heart. It would be nice to have a sign in the front that says. Enter this place with a thankful heart.

I can share with you that I am very grateful for all of you. For the love we show towards one another. For the way we give to those who are in need. For the way we all pick on one another in a loving way. You ladies know us guys struggle with showing love. So, instead we pick at one another. I might call Danny porkchop or pick at brother Don because he can’t hear me talking about him. Or I might pick on Virgil for pounding his Sunday school desk. That is just how us guys express love. And boy do we love one another here. And I am SO grateful to see the look on everyone’s face when they show up here Sunday morning.

I spend most of my week looking forward to Sunday morning. When I get to spend time with the people I love. And I am thankful for “MOST” of you.

When we approach the Lord in prayer we should do so with a thankful heart. Sure, we have needs. Certainly, we have burdens. But we should NEVER forget to be thankful for what we do have and for what God has done.

Psalm 105:1

105 O give thanks unto the Lord; call upon his name: make known his deeds among the people.

Thanksgiving means sharing the blessings of God with others. When God does something for you. Do you share it with those around you? Your testimony of thanksgiving is a demonstration of Gods power and Gods love working in your life. And it is something God wants us to share.

Psalm 107:22

22 And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare his works with rejoicing.

Real thanksgiving comes with sacrifice

Psalm 116:17

17 I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the Lord.

The world is concerned with self. The narcists’ in our modern society are the direct result of a Godless culture. People who are just out for themselves are not thankful for friends or family or what they have. They feel that it is owed to them because they are attractive or smart or whatever reason they can come up with to justify taking advantage of those around them.

That attitude has no place in the house of God. That attitude has no place among brothers and sisters in Christ. The proper attitude for those of us who serve God is a willingness and a duty to sacrifice for those we care about and to sacrifice even for those who we don’t even know in order to demonstrate Gods love to them.

The spirit of sacrifice is the appropriate spirit for servants. To be willing to do without so that you can do for others is a big part of what it means to be Christ-like.

Jesus demonstrated to us the greatest love of all. By becoming flesh, living as a man in the world he created. And then going to the cross of calvary and sacrificing himself for us.

Sacrifice is what it means to be Christ-Like.

Jesus explained this sacrifice to us in Matthew 25:35

35 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:

36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.

37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?

38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?

39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?

40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

We know that salvation itself comes by grace through faith and that our works do not help. You have often heard me quote Ephesians 2:8

8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.

10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

Now we Baptists love the first part of that verse. We know that salvation is a gift and that we don’t have to earn it. We know that all of our righteousness is as filthy rags in the site of God.

But do we know that we were given the gift of salvation in order to do good works?

Thanksgiving is having a heart of gratitude towards God for salvation. And a desire to share that gift with others.

The word thanksgiving in the Greek means: To give freely. So, this week we celebrate “give freely day.”

Giving thanks means to freely give to people in need. Giving thanks means to freely give to family in need. Giving thanks means to freely give to our neighbors in need. Giving thanks means to freely give to our friends in need. Giving thanks means to freely give to strangers in need. It is give freely day.

Thanksgiving is an action. It is an offering and freely giving of ourselves in a sacrificial manner.

This is why Jesus said. I was in prison, and you came to visit me. I was hungry and you fed me. I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was naked and you gave me clothes. I was a stranger, and you took me in. When we do for those in need, we are doing things for Jesus Christ.

We cannot do anything for God. God isn’t in need of our charity. God says if you want to sacrifice for me. Take care of the less fortunate among you and by doing so, you are giving to me.

Here is something we need to GET. When Paul was on the road to Damascus Jesus said to him. Why do you persecute me? Paul wasn’t persecuting Jesus he was persecuting the church. What this means to us is when we do good for one another we are honoring Jesus Christ. When we do good for the church we are honoring Jesus Christ.

But when we do bad things to each other we are persecuting Jesus Christ.

Husbands when you are mean to your wife. You are persecuting Christ. Wives when you are mean to your husband, you are persecuting Christ.

Church members. When you are mean to one another or bad mouthing each other. You are persecuting Jesus Christ.

When Church members fight over things and the church ends up in a split. Guess what? We who take part in this are persecuting the same Jesus who we claim to love.

How you treat other people matters to God.

Good works are the things we do for other people.

We are the workmanship of a loving God. For we are HIS workmanship, created unto good works.

Saying thanks is empty without giving thanks. And giving thanks is sacrificing for others.

Let me say this. This is my first year pastoring a church. I have been a member of a number of churches of the years. But I have never in my life met people so willing to sacrifice and to give.

When we started our youth outreach, we started with VBS. And the church got behind it and worked in the hot sun on the hottest day of the year. Out there in the heat for hours inviting people and their families to church.

Then we decided to do some type of outreach every month for the youth. That started with bowling a couple of times. And the turnout and the support for that was amazing.

Then a few of us got together and decided to have a fall festival. The church voted to approve it. And the next thing I know almost every single member of the church is showing up for the meetings. EVERYONE did something to make that outreach an overwhelming success.

Now I don’t want to make the same mistake David did and count people. But I did overhear someone say that we had roughly 30 visitors for our kids fall festival and the next day we had 10 kids in our Sunday school. Which turned out to be the first kids Sunday school class that this church has had in years.

And of course, we had another outreach late in the summer. We put up a booth and gave out cards and coffee cups and had a give-away of some very nice items made by one of our church members. And from that we were blessed to meet Matina Taylor and to be a part of her outreach to foster children.

Also, from that I was able to have a meeting with sister Janelle. She works with sister Matina. And what she does is, she goes into public schools and sets up bible study groups. And she finds churches for children and families looking for a church home. And she texted me this week to tell me that she would love to help us out with a Christmas outreach program.

When I look back at the last year and consider the number of blessings that God has given Westside Baptist, I am almost speechless.

This week on Wed we will be getting our new sign installed. And we will have lights and our sign will say Missionary Baptist once again.

So, how do we celebrate give freely day? I say that we continue to give freely. I vote that we continue our outreach to the children. I vote we continue to feed the poor. I vote that we continue to share the gospel. I vote that we move forward during this holiday season in the true spirit of giving and charity and kindness towards one another until it harelips the devil.

What say you?

Let me share this story with you from the word of God in 2 Samuel 24:18

18 And Gad came that day to David, and said unto him, Go up, rear an altar unto the Lord in the threshingfloor of Araunah the Jebusite.

19 And David, according to the saying of Gad, went up as the Lordcommanded.

20 And Araunah looked, and saw the king and his servants coming on toward him: and Araunah went out, and bowed himself before the king on his face upon the ground.

21 And Araunah said, Wherefore is my lord the king come to his servant? And David said, To buy the threshingfloor of thee, to build an altar unto the Lord, that the plague may be stayed from the people.

22 And Araunah said unto David, Let my lord the king take and offer up what seemeth good unto him: behold, here be oxen for burnt sacrifice, and threshing instruments and other instruments of the oxen for wood.

23 All these things did Araunah, as a king, give unto the king. And Araunah said unto the king, The Lord thy God accept thee.

24 And the king said unto Araunah, Nay; but I will surely buy it of thee at a price: neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the Lord my God of that which doth cost me nothing. So David bought the threshingfloor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.

Now listen carefully. David did what the prophet told him to do. And the man was filled with honor and humility that the King would be coming to him. And so Arunah says to David. You don’t have to buy this from me. Build your altar and make your sacrifice and I’ll just give the threeshingfloor to you.

And King David said no. I will pay you for it. I won’t make an offering to God that doesn’t cost me something.

I will not offer an offering to the Lord that costs me nothing.

Last week I talked about counting the cost of serving. Counting the cost of being a disciple.

And too many people offer as little of themselves as possible. Too many Christians offer so little of their time. So little of their resources. Too many Christians refuse to give thanks. Except for with their tongue. Folks if it doesn’t cost you to give then you aren’t sacrificing.

Thanksgiving living means a willingness to sacrifice. And of course, David paid fifty shekels of silver.

The more giving we become the more joyful we are: Listen to Isaiah 51:

Isaiah 51:3

3 For the Lord shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.

When I walk into Westside Baptist Church on Sunday morning. I look so forward to the joy and laughter I hear every Sunday. We are certainly a giving church.

And then finally:

Colossians 2:7

7 Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.

Abound with freely giving.

Our spiritual growth as a believer is rooted in giving. You cannot be selfish and expect to grow closer to Christ. It just cannot be done.

And in closing I want us to look at 2 Timothy 1:3

3 I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers with pure conscience, that without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day;

To be thankful to serve. Paul said. I am thankful that I can serve. And I am so thankful to serve beside the good people of Westside Baptist Church. And if the Lord tarries I look forward to serving with you another year.

I have read this poem a number of times this year. And I think it is only fitting that I read it once again today. By Charles Meigs.

Lord, help me live from day to day In such a self-forgetful way That even when I kneel to pray My prayer shall be for others.

o Refrain: Yes, others, Lord, yes, others, Let this my motto be; Help me to live for others, Help me to live for others, That I may live like Thee, That I may live like Thee.

Help me in all the work I do To ever be sincere and true, And know that all I’d do for You Must needs be done for others.Let “Self” be crucified and slain And buried deep: and all in vain May efforts be to rise again, Except to live for others.So when my work on earth is done, And my new work in heav’n’s begun, I’ll praise You for the crown I’ve won, But praise You more for others.

Pray: Alter call: