Creating Space for Thanks Living
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Creating space is so important. We only have one life and it’s easy to allow clutter to dictate how we live our life.
Last week I started off the Blank Space series by mentioning doubt, fear, worry, loving and pursuing the things of this world so the seed can not grow up and produce fruit.
If we are going to live the fruitful life that only God can produce, we need to eliminate those things that clutter our mind and our desires that choke out the seed.
Thanksgiving Day is coming up and we are ready to feast.
As believers we must be marked by thanks living and it’s not just on day out of the year but it’s every day.
Creating space for thanks living is so important. This should be easy because God has giving us so many things to be thankful for.
God’s Word talks a lot about giving thanks so if it’s important to God it aught to be important to us as well.
Psalm 100:1–5 (ESV)
1 Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! 2 Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing! 3 Know that the Lord, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! 5 For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.
PRAY
If we are going to create space for thanks living we must set our minds on the right things.
Know our source of Joy.
Know our source of Joy.
1 Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth!
We make noises but Joy is a noise that is very obvious, very unique and one of the best sound you can hear.
Baby’s make all kinds of noises, they cry, they scream, they grunt and sometimes trying to figure out what those noises mean can be tricky since babies can’t use words.
It’s usually 3 things: they are hungry, or tired, or they need a diaper change.
It’s up to the parent to figure that out but once the problem is fixed the baby is happy.
We know what a joyful noise is and we hear this noise from a baby it’s the best!
However, as we get older joy isn’t quite as simple. We start looking to other things, temporary things to bring us joy.
Psalm 100:1–2 (ESV)
1 Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! 2 Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into HIS presence with singing!
Serving the Lord makes us glad. We will find lasting joy in our life by serving the Lord.
Jesus talks a lot about abiding in HIM which really means serving the Lord.
10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11 These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.
When we serve the Lord, when we abide in Jesus we will have perfect, complete, and everlasting joy. When serving the Lord we recognize that our Joy is not in this world but our Joy is in the Lord.
Our joy is not our self, not man, not or boss, not this world… real joy comes when serving Jesus where HE makes our joy complete.
That’s why when we are serving the Lord we do it with all of our heart even in the things that are mundane and lame.
23 Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.
Our bad attitude can suck the joy out of our life. It’s easy to allow circumstances to rob us of our joy. When we hang out with people with bad attitudes it’s easy for us to have a bad attitude.
When our attitude stinks that’s when we stop focusing on Jesus as our source of joy.
But having an attitude of faith we have the power to help others look to Jesus as our source of joy.
When our Joy is in Jesus, that means that it’s not based on how much money we have or don’t have… our life… our job… our marriage or singleness… our family situations.
We can always make a joyful noise unto the Lord because we know our source of Joy and that is Jesus.
16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
It’s not about giving yourself a pep talk or working yourself up to be more positive or just ignoring or becoming numb, or disconnected from reality.
We can rejoice always as we pray continually, and as we give thanks in ALL circumstances by accepting and recognizing who God is.
We must know our source of Joy
Know that the Lord is your God
Know that the Lord is your God
We cannot create space for Thanks Living without knowing the Lord.
Psalm 100:3 (ESV)
3 Know that the Lord, HE is God! It is HE who made us, and we are HIS; we are HIS people, and the sheep of HIS pasture.
Know that the Lord is God.
Faith begins with our head before it can change our heart. We have to know who God is before we can experience a transformed heart and life. We have to continue to know the Lord and believe that God truly is who HE says HE is.
We are not God but the Lord is God. HE is God… HE made us… we are HIS, HIS people, the people of HIS pasture.
Stop trying to control others, or situations… stop trying to manipulate people emotionally, physically, or financially. The Lord is God, you are not.
Sometimes we need a reminder that we are not God… know that the Lord, HE is God, HE is on HIS throne and HE has good plans for us ahead.
When we know God we know that God created us to have a relationship with HIM.
That gives our life eternal purpose when we surrender everything to the truth that God made us, we are His, and we do not belong to ourselves.
Know that the Lord is God and because of that reality, HE loves us, HE knows us, and HE has good plans for us.
That means that…
We are made for more.
WE are made for more then just working, doing, suffering and struggling. WE are HIS we are not ourselves but we belong to the Lord.
Paul writes, in reference to sexual immorality, to the church in Corinth…
19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
WE have to know who we are in Christ. Know that God created us for more. That we were bought with a price.
When we know God we can live pure and holy because we want to honor the Lord with our bodies.
We need to constantly surrender to the reality that we belong to the Lord.
We are a part of the Lord’s family.
We are God’s chosen people, the sheep of HIS pasture.
God’s Word often calls HIS people sheep and HE is the Good Shepherd and HE takes care of HIS sheep.
Psalm 23 (ESV)
1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. 3 He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. 5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
We are HIS people, the sheep of HIS pasture. It’s the Good Shepherd who takes care of us, who protects us from our enemies, who leads us to green pastures where HE feeds us, provides for us, and takes us to quiet waters so we can drink.
It’s the good shepherd who blesses us as HIS sheep because HE’s good and HE’s merciful all the days of my life. That blessings comes as we dwell in the house of the Lord.
Know and put your faith in the fact that the LORD is YOUR God!
Know how you enter into God’s presence
Know how you enter into God’s presence
Psalm 100:4 (ESV)
4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name!
How do we enter into God’s presence? Thanksgiving and Praise
We have so much to be thankful for! God has been so good to us! But so often we are consumed by the negative that we cannot be thankful. We cannot enter HIS gates because we are not seeing the goodness of God. We are consumed with our worldly sorrows instead of abiding in the vine, our source of joy. We are overwhelmed by the circumstances of life instead of drawing closer to the prince of peace. We are overcome with pain instead of going to our healer.
Thanksgiving is how we enter into God’s presence.
God thank you for… life, another day, your mercies, your goodness, my family, my job, my marriage, my church, my friends, my car,
God thank you for… making a way for me to know you, giving me salvation, healing my body, my mind, my emotions… thank you for your peace, your joy, your goodness, your love.
Enter HIS gates with thanksgiving and HIS courts with praise.
When we step in from the gates to the courts, that’s when God removes those things that bound us. When we go from the outside, though the gates and then into the courts of God’s presence that’s real freedom.
Most of us are on the outside because we’re not willing to let go of those things that distract us. The circumstances that we can’t control. Let those things go and determine to be thankful and stay in HIS presence HIS courts and exalt, praise, magnify the LORD.
18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
We can only enter into God’s presence through HIS gate. The key is thanksgiving and praise.
Know that God is always good and faithful to all generations
Know that God is always good and faithful to all generations
We may not always see it everyday but know that God is always faithful and good.
Psalm 100:5 (ESV)
5 For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.
Thanksgiving is the key into the presence of the Lord and in HIS presence we can know God’s love, goodness and faithfulness to all generations.
When we are bombarded by the things of this world, it’s hard to see victory and to see that God has a good plan, that HE love us and HE is faithful.
But God wants to be our shelter and that only happen when we choose to be in the presence of the LORD.
This is a choice, thanksgiving is a choice, praise is a choice.
God not only wants to bless us but to bless the next generation as we live in the goodness of God, the love of God, and the faithfulness of God.
Thanksgiving is a choice, praise is a choice, serving the Lord is a choice.
14 “Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. 15 And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
It is a choice we must choose every day… know the Lord, serve the Lord, rejoice in the Lord, be thankful, praise the Lord, to be in the house of the Lord…
Our choice begins as we seek to know and believe that God is good and faithful through all generations.
Thanksgiving is not just a day, it’s a life, and it’s a choice we must make everyday.
Take Away:
Where is our source of joy?
Have we created space for us to know the Lord?
How do we enter into God’s presence? Do we enter whenever there is a crisis, or do we enter with a heart full of thanksgiving?
Are we creating space in our life so that the goodness, love and faithfulness of God can be demonstrated to all generations?