Happy Thanksgiving!

INTRO:

Psalm 100 “A Psalm of Thanksgiving. Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands! Serve the Lord with gladness; Come before His presence with singing. Know that the Lord, He is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting, And His truth endures to all generations.”

PRAY!!!

Don’t be in the 90% group!

Luke 17:11–17 “Now it happened as He went to Jerusalem that He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off. And they lifted up their voices and said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” So when He saw them, He said to them, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan. So Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine?”

You belong to Jesus, that all that you have is a gift of God—then you’ll start to take a new perspective on thanksgiving. Your entire life becomes a testimony of gratitude to God.

Top 10 Irrefutable Facts About Thankfulness

Were talking about todah here, thankfulness toward God. He is the object of our praise. That is an intense, radical kind of thankfulness= Yadah: to revere or worship (with extended hands); intensively to bemoan (by wringing the hands)

For Paul, thankfulness takes its place along with faith and love as the proper and natural response to God’s gifts and His grace. God is glorified through the thanksgivings of His people.

Paul frequently employed thankfulness as one of the litmus tests of Christian health.

Richard R. Melick Jr.

2 Corinthians 4:15 “For all things are for your sakes, that grace, having spread through the many, may cause thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God.”

The Top 10 Irrefutable Truths About Thankfulness.

10. Being Thankful Is A Command of God

Colossians 3:15–17 “And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.”

9. Thankfulness Is The Will of God

1 Thessalonians 5:16–19 “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit.”

8. Thankfulness Is A Requirement for Answered prayers

We’re told to To enter His gates

Psalm 100:4–5 “Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting, And His truth endures to all generations.”

7. “The Peace of God’ Is Promised For You

Philippians 4:6–7 “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”

Generally a lack of peace results from self-seeking or dissatisfaction with things as they are. Thankfulness points one to the realization that all things are provided in Christ.

Richard R. Melick Jr.

6. It Is Our Duty To Acknowledge Him And Give Thanks

Cultivate the habit of thankfulness.

Ellen Gould White

Hebrews 13:15 “Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.”

5. Beware Of Ingratitude

Themes: Sin; Thankfulness

“In some ways, ingratitude is the worst of all sins. For it is selfishness sinning against the light of unselfishness.”

H. Wheeler Robinson

is listed among the sins of apostate humanity in the last days:

2 Timothy 3:2 “For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, and unholy,”

Romans 1:21 “because, 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.”

4. “Thankfulness” Is An Act Of Worship

Colossians 3:17 “And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.”

It’s an all day, everyday kind of worship

3. Thankfulness Should Abound In Our “Corporate Worship.”

Ephesians 5:17–20 “Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,”

The writer to the Hebrews urges gratitude for the certainty of “a kingdom that cannot be shaken,” and for this reason he exhorts his readers to worship God with reverence and awe (He. 12:28).

2. Thanksgiving should characterize the Christian’s life in all circumstances

Philippians 4:6 “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;”

Colossians 2:7 “rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.”

1 Thessalonians 2:13 “For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe.”

1 Thessalonians 5:18 “in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”

1. You Have An Inheritance

Folks, do you realize you have a mind numbing inheritance from God who owns literally everything!

1 Peter 1:4 “to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you,”

Matthew 5:12 “Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

Revelation 21:7–8 “He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son. But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”

Revelation 21:4 “And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.””

1 Corinthians 2:9 “But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”

Hebrews 12:28 “Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.”

James 1:12 “Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.”

IN CLOSING:

Gratitude is no longer just being thankful for all things. I am now thankful in all things. Now gratitude becomes a way of living. This is a way of living that always acknowledges God first. This is a way of living that will continually center upon the lordship of Jesus first. And this is a way of living that genuinely experiences comfort in doing that. I take great joy in knowing that my life and everything in it is in the hands of God because it belongs to God. I find comfort and peace of mind in living gratefully every day as a steward and caretaker of all that God has given. I am thankful every single day that God has lovingly extended his grace in a way that bought my salvation. And what an incredible privilege it is to respond to this every single day with a life of continual gratitude in all things, in every circumstance.

PRAY!