A Thankful God

Intro:

· Apologies

o If someone already preached on this topic.

o If I don’t remember your names

o If I preach to long

o If I talk about my amazing wife too much.

· For this sermon you get a peek into how my mind works. For this sermon I have two trains of through that will come together and hopefully be something good and not a train wreck. Today I am trying to answer the question, “what makes God Thankful”.

Stop 1

· Train 1 – Sheep

o Sheep are dumb, loyal, trusting, useful

o In the bible there are plenty of mentions of sheep.

§ Shepheard like David

§ Jesus is a shepherd and we are his seep

§ Used for sacrifices

§ Jesus is the lamb of God which takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29)

· Train 2 – Thanksgiving

o Great month

§ Sports

§ Thankfulness

§ Food

§ Birthday

o What food do you have to have at Thanksgiving

§ Turkey, mash potatoes, rolls, pumpkin pie

Stop 2

· Parable of lost sheep - Luke 15:3-7

o There is rejoicing, I would guess that means God is Thankful.

o First God does rejoice over those who do not need to repent, just rejoices more

o When we first accept Christ and repent that causes a celebration.

o I also thing that even after we have accepted Jesus, and we repent of a sin that causes God to be thankful.

o Examples

§ Stop getting drunk

§ Stop looking at pornography

§ Stop being envious of what others have (social media does not help)

§ Stop being around a person, place, or website that leads you into sin.

§ Start listening to the Holy Spirit’s convictions.

· Obedience, not sacrifice – 1 Samuel 15:22-23

· What would God want at His thanksgiving meal? Obedience

o King Saul said he disobeyed God to he could offer God a good sacrifice.

§ Saul may have thought he was doing something for God, but he was being arrogant and rebellious.

§ We need to make sure we are doing what God wants not what we think or want God to want.

§ God may rejoice over repentance, but he prefers obedience in the first place.

Stop 3

· What’s repentance?

o Not an apology

§ My apologies at the beginning were not

§ It’s more than I’m sorry

o What is repenting? 4 Greet words translated as repent

§ To be sorry, pity, or rue (rue is a fun word not used enough)

§ To turn back

§ To regret

§ To reconsider ß

o To reconsider is a willful intellectual act. It is deciding another way is better.

o It’s not saying I’m sorry what I did was wrong, to regret doing in and would go back and undo it if possible, and trying to never doing it again.

o It is changing yourself into a person who does not even want that sin anymore.

o Psalms 51:9-19

§ David showing true repentance

· What is obedience?

o Asked friends and family and I was surprised by the answers I got.

§ My first thoughts were the greatest commandments and the 10 commandments.

§ Common thoughts were: telling others, hospitality, following the Spirit’s leading, tithing, accountability, church attendance (Heb 10:24-25)

§ Another preacher’s thoughts: Jesus being obedient to death

§ Most unique was: wrestling with God, trying to understand what and maybe why to obey.

o To obey it has to go from our heads, to our hearts to our hands (James 1:21-22)

Stop 4

· The two trains meet in Jesus

· Obedience

o Jesus was always obedient – Matthew 4

o Jesus was obedient even to death Philippians 2:5-8

§ Jesus gave up everything (life with the Father, life on earth) to be obedient

· Repentance

o Jesus is the good shepherd that searches for us to bring us to repentance.

o Jesus paid the price so we could repent.