Wk 48
I Am Thankful: Acting On His Word and Spirit • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Generosity and Obedience
The Bible teaches that Christian giving should be done in accordance with our means.
Paul is quite clear on this:
12 Whatever you give is acceptable if you give it eagerly. And give according to what you have, not what you don’t have.
Put another way, Paul is saying you should give in proportion to what God has given you.
He said it this way in
2 On the first day of each week, you should each put aside a portion of the money you have earned. Don’t wait until I get there and then try to collect it all at once.
We can take two things from this:
Since we are all supposed to give proportionately, those who have more money are expected to give more (we who are particularly blessed materially must remember this), and
The Lord never asks us to give what we do not have or contribute beyond our means.
THE QUESTION IS...Are you giving in proportion to your means?
UPDATE
Outreach OPS, S’more at Creek Forest! TODAY Nov. 23rd, 4pm
cooker, lawn chairs, benches, smiles and hands to serve!
No Fire Pit MidWeek service
Be Thankful.
OBD- OUR DAILY BREAD is an easy way to share encouragement.
Holiday Meal at CF
Sunday Dec. 7th
I got the TurkeyHoliday Outreach OPS
Saturday Dec. 6th
Chicken legs, corn on the cob (can corn for non-cob eaters), Mac n Cheese, and smiles! plus gift sack for children.
CURRENT SERIES: I Am Thankful- Acting on His Word and Spirit
LESSON:I AM THANKFUL!
Example: Pour cups of water
Love can be absolutely exhausting.
Don’t let anyone fool you.
The kind of love that really makes a difference in this world will zap everything out of you.
Sometimes you just don’t feel like you have any more love to give.
Maybe you’re in a people-intensive job, such as teaching, sales, or customer service.
you come home and think, “I just can’t face another need, another problem, or another heartache.”
So you shut down.
Or you need to show love to a particular person who is demanding, acts selfishly, and never returns your love.
And you just think to yourself, “I’m done. No more.”
While that’s a perfectly natural and entirely human response, it’s not the standard of love God calls us to in the Bible.
The Bible says,
7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.
How can you have that kind of persistent love for another person?
You need to get refueled!
EXAMPLE:
When I was a kid, I remember taking long trips as a family to Colorado and California. 10 or 24 hours in the car… Bro!
as I got older dad would let me sit in the front seat and be his co-pilot — mostly to keep him awake.
I would start watching his speed and most importantly the amount of gas in the tank.
driving across Nevada or New Mexico, gas stations are spars on I-40 back then.
I knew if we didn’t refuel soon we would be on the side of the road, out of gas.
NOT A GOOD THING, but much better than running out of fuel in an airplane!!
Have you seen how they hook up a tanker plane to a jet in flight and refuel. WOW. They make it look so easy in the movies.
Can you imagine someone flying a jet saying, “I don’t need to refuel”?
The jet would crash and burn. On a long-distance flight, a jet has to refuel.
Do we do that sometimes?
RUN OUT OF LOVE IN OUR TANK AND TRY TO GO THE DISTANCE ON EMPTY?
To give the kind of persistent love that God wants you to give, you have to refuel your tank.
When we look around at our society, you’ll see it’s littered with debris from relationships that have crashed and burned because people
didn’t learn how to love,
don’t know how to refuel, or
are clueless where true love comes from.
THINK ABOUT IT:
One out of two marriages end in divorce? — Well, FORBES MAG SURVEY REPORTS…
the famous statistic that half of all marriages end in divorce is an exaggeration
When it comes to first marriages, only 43% dissolve their marriage.
Second and third marriages actually fail at a far higher rate,
60% of second marriages and
73% of third marriages ending in divorce
43%
How many more relationships crash and burn everyday —
leaving behind hurt feelings,
wounded souls, and
mental apathy not to trust another relationship?
How do you refuel your tank or do you just try to bounce back on your own and try again?
How To Refuel Your Love Tank God’s Way
You start by
#1. Letting God love you.
19 We love each other because he loved us first.
When you’re worn out, tired, and unable to imagine showing love to anyone else, remember...
16 “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
He sent his Son to die for you.
Now that’s real fuel. That’s what keeps you going when you want to quit.
#2. We begin loving ourself like God loves us.
Our thought life is directly related to our confession.
FORBES also reported...
Couples who have friends who divorce have a 75% increase in the risk of their marriage ending. It’s CONTAGIOUS!
2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.
This verse emphasizes the importance of renewing our minds to align with God's will.
3 You will keep in perfect peace
all who trust in you,
all whose thoughts are fixed on you!
This verse speaks to the peace that comes from focusing our thoughts on God.
5 We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ.
This verse highlights the need to actively manage our thoughts and align them with Christ's teachings.
#3. Giving thanks moistens our heart.
Being thankful moves us off-center of our selfishness
It’s like a potterer moistening his clay before he can shape it.
8 And yet, O Lord, you are our Father.
We are the clay, and you are the potter.
We all are formed by your hand.
READ FROM TEXT:
1 The Lord gave another message to Jeremiah. He said, 2 “Go down to the potter’s shop, and I will speak to you there.” 3 So I did as he told me and found the potter working at his wheel. 4 But the jar he was making did not turn out as he had hoped, so he crushed it into a lump of clay again and started over.
5 Then the Lord gave me this message: 6 “O Israel, can I not do to you as this potter has done to his clay? As the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand.
Speaking words of thanks changes the track we have been running.
A thankful heart puts us on God’s potter’s wheel where he can shape us— not break us!
6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.
Demonstrating thanks will actually put a smile on your face and make you see again why God has put you on the earth.
#4. Meditating on God’s Word
Definition:
Meditation is a practice that involves techniques to train attention and awareness, promoting mental clarity, emotional calmness, and overall well-being. (Wikipedia)
In some meditation practices, it’s about emptying your mind.
THE BIBLE SAYS...
8 Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do.
it’s hard to meditate if you don’t put anything in to meditate on.
The mind just replays the events.
TRUSTING ON GOD’S WORD AND MEDITATING ON IT FLUSHES OUT THE DEBRIS OF LIFE AND ESTABLISHES NEW LIFE FOUNDED ON GOD.
How do you put God’s Word in you?
read it, confess it, sing it, listen to it and talk it.
YouVersion makes it easy!
technology for choosing the worship music you want to hear, listening to the Bible you want to listen to, and then you can talk to God what’s on your mind.
SO WE HAVE SAID...
Let God Love You
Love yourself like God loves you
Be filled with a thankful heart “I Am Thankful”
Meditating to replenish God’s Thoughts in your soul… and lastly:
#5. Most importantly— repeat 1-4
It our biggest dig from others is to be “hypocritical”
being a Christ follower isn’t being perfect, but always being perfected.
5 And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.
1 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever.
God’s love never runs out so we can draw on it everyday.
The question is do you want to draw on His love — or do you kinda live for the drama.
Thinking It Over
Thinking It Over
What choices could you make this week that would help you refuel and love others better?
What characteristics of God’s love can you grab ahold of and demonstrate?
If you’ve lost faith in or given up on someone, how can you show love to that person today?
It might be hard, but there is hope.
Why? Because “God’s Steadfast Love Endures Forever”
Let’s Pray
what do we need today?
can God change our lives
“Call out to God and He will answer.”
amen!
