The Source of Our Blessings
The Heart of Thanksgiving • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Sermon illustration about the parrot and the old Christian lady.
Today, we will start a 4 week series called “The Heart of Thanksgiving”
Each week will will look at a topic that is meant for you to really look at Thanksgiving in a different light.
I have always said that Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. It is a time that I get to spend with dani and the girls. Just us, some food, the parade on TV, some food, decorations going up for Christmas, some food, football, did I mention the food.
Honestly, it is or at least should be a time of reflection on what God has given us or helped through the past year.
This is what these messages are meant to do, to explore the true meaning of thanksgiving and the gratitude we should have.
Open your bibles to Psalm 147: 7-14
Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving;
play the lyre to our God,
who covers the sky with clouds,
prepares rain for the earth,
and causes grass to grow on the hills.
He provides the animals with their food,
and the young ravens what they cry for.
He is not impressed by the strength of a horse;
he does not value the power of a warrior.
The Lord values those who fear him,
those who put their hope in his faithful love.
Exalt the Lord, Jerusalem;
praise your God, Zion!
For he strengthens the bars of your city gates
and blesses your children within you.
He endows your territory with prosperity;
he satisfies you with the finest wheat.
Let’s pray.
In these verse there is a good three point message. So let see where we are going with them today
The Source of Our Blessings
God As The Provider and Sustainer
God’s Focus On The Faithful
God’s Care For His People
Let’s start by understanding who, why and when Psalms 147 was written.
This is a psalm of restoration and praise to God. It was written by either Haggai or Zechariah.
It was written when the Israelites returned to Jerusalem after the Babylonian exile.
I say this because you maybe sitting there saying, “I really do not have much to be thankful for”
These people came back to a decimated Jerusalem. Scholars believed that there would have been very little left to the city.
Yet, here is the psalmist praising God with Thanksgiving.
They were thanking
God As The Provider and Sustainer
Let’s look at Psalm 147:7-9
Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving;
play the lyre to our God,
who covers the sky with clouds,
prepares rain for the earth,
and causes grass to grow on the hills.
He provides the animals with their food,
and the young ravens what they cry for.
The Psalmist says here that God provides for the Earth by coving it with the clouds, bringing the rain, giving grass to the hills. He sustains the cattle and the ravens.
Think about this, if He does this for the things around us, how much more does He do for His children.
Happy is the one whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the Lord his God,
the Maker of heaven and earth,
the sea and everything in them.
He remains faithful forever,
executing justice for the exploited
and giving food to the hungry.
The Lord frees prisoners.
The Lord opens the eyes of the blind.
The Lord raises up those who are oppressed.
The Lord loves the righteous.
The Lord protects resident aliens
and helps the fatherless and the widow,
but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.
When we see God as our Source of our blessings, we see Him as the provider and the sustainer of all in our lives through His Son.
And my God will supply all your needs according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
2. God’s Focus On The Faithful
God is not impressed by the strength of our military or the weapons we have. His pleasure is in the ones who put their hope in His unfailing love.
He is not impressed by the strength of a horse;
he does not value the power of a warrior.
The Lord values those who fear him,
those who put their hope in his faithful love.
Even King David expressed this in His psalm to the Creator
The horse is a false hope for safety;
it provides no escape by its great power.
But look, the Lord keeps his eye on those who fear him—
those who depend on his faithful love
The fallacy that we need to breakthrough today is that we are gods. That anything we have is because of us. The devil has whispered in our ears stating, “You did that. Are you not proud of yourself.”
That is when we start to think higher than ourselves.
Is it ok to be proud of something...absolutely, the issue arises when we start to think we did it and not God.
So he answered me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by strength or by might, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord of Armies.
Illustration of a glove.
3. God’s Care For His People
The psalmist is calling for us to sing praises unto the Lord for He has given us protection and care.
Exalt the Lord, Jerusalem;
praise your God, Zion!
For he strengthens the bars of your city gates
and blesses your children within you.
He endows your territory with prosperity;
he satisfies you with the finest wheat.
We will never know the amount of harm that the Lord has stopped in our lives till we get to heaven. Why? Because we do not see the spiritual realm. We know that it is there but we do not see the chaos the Lord protects us from.
I love the way the psalmist puts it in
A song of ascents.
I lift my eyes toward the mountains.
Where will my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
He will not allow your foot to slip;
your Protector will not slumber.
Indeed, the Protector of Israel
does not slumber or sleep.
The Lord protects you;
the Lord is a shelter right by your side.
The sun will not strike you by day
or the moon by night.
The Lord will protect you from all harm;
he will protect your life.
The Lord will protect your coming and going
both now and forever.
