Thank-Full
Stand Alone • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 4 viewsIf we are honest with ourselves, we have varying degrees of gratitude for things in our lives. That which we value most will draw greater gratitude to us. When we consider God, we should be Thank-full not just thankfulish. This message challenges us to fix our minds upon God and how He has revealed Himself to us, that we may thank the Lord with our whole heart!
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Measures of Thankfulness
We are grateful for somethings more than others.
How we measure gratitude is often seen in much more than our reactions:
Long-term thoughts
Motivations
Excitement
Impact things have on our lives
What does our gratitude for Jesus look like in our lives?
1 Praise the Lord! I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart, in the company of the upright, in the congregation.
3 Reflections to fill our lives with gratitude to the Lord:
3 Reflections to fill our lives with gratitude to the Lord:
1) He is the God of All Grace!
1) He is the God of All Grace!
6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, 7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. 8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 9 Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. 10 And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. 11 To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.
Our Lord is the God of all grace!
While this text is being addressed to pastors and elders it still highlights the overwhelming attributes of God in that He is the God of all grace!
This means that His grace is perfect! It is complete! It is NOT lacking in any way!
We are in desperate need of this all gracious God!
You and I are messed up, jacked up, sinful and broken people who left to our own devices have nothing worthy of being even remotely good.
But the God of all grace is more than sufficient to see us in our mess, love us with a love that is overwhelming, and overcome our flesh and our sin through the selfless sacrifice of Jesus.
This is why any who will call upon the Lord shall be saved!
This same Jesus who calls us to His eternal glory transforms our lives!
His grace is transformational, not transactional!
We don’t earn His grace. He gives it freely to those who would willfully embrace His grace!
His grace is so amazing that when we embrace it, He transforms our lives!
He restores, confirms, strengthens, and establishes us…not by our own merit, but by His amazing grace!
If we want to be thank-full instead of thankfulish…we must dwell in, embrace, and be transformed by His grace!
2) He is the God of All Comfort!
2) He is the God of All Comfort!
1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To the church of God that is at Corinth, with all the saints who are in the whole of Achaia: 2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 5 For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.
God does not promise us an absence of tough times, but He does promise us that in the tough times He will hold us together!
When it comes to hardships there is a fun little saying that gives us a great reminder to hold fast to God and be comforted by Him.
“If God brings you to it, He will see you through it!”
God hold us together in the hard times, because He is the God of all comfort!
Some people fall for the false prosperity Gospel lie that Christians are supposed to always have sunny days with 70 degree weather. They’re supposed to have lives filled an abundance of stuff and never stub their toes again!
It’s no wonder that when life gets real, people will wonder if Jesus is real.
We need to stop trying to define God on our own terms and allow our lives to be shaped on His terms.
Let’s be honest: Real life is real messy.
Even as Christians, we are a work in progress who still live in a broken world, but we are not without hope.
The God of all grace is the God of all comfort!
He promises that in our weakness, His strength is made perfect.
With our lives fixed on Jesus, He will carry us through even the worst of messes.
Being the God of all comfort means that there is no hardship or suffering that is too great for Him to handle.
He can and will always bring greater comfort to us than the hardships we may endure.
“…so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.” (v. 5)
This is why even in the midst of chaos all around us we can still be Thank-full and not just kind of thankful.
3) He Simply is the God of All!
3) He Simply is the God of All!
1 I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
We will be Thank-full when we stop arguing with God and live “in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called.”
This is done with humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, and being eager to maintain unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
Our lives are so free and fruitful when we realize that there is one God and I’m not him!
There is great freedom in surrendering to God!
It seems so counter intuitive, but it’s not as hard as we make it out to be.
There is one body (Church; it’s not mine, it’s not your’s, it’s all His and it’s all for Him and His glory!)
There is one Spirit…one hope…one Lord…one faith…one baptism…one God and Father of all…who is over all and through all and in all.
This not a statement that promotes universalism (where all roads lead to God)
This is a statement of exclusive supremacy!
This is an open declaration that there is only one God but He is available to everyone.
All roads do not lead to heaven, but everyone is invited to the one road that does!
Anyone who says and agrees with, “I have my beliefs and you have yours…as long as we’re both sincere, we’ll end up together in the same place,” is absolutely right…but that mutual place is not in the eternal glory and presence of the One true God!
…for there is only one Body, one Spirit, one Hope, one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism, one God and Father of all!
…there is only One Way, One Truth, One Life and no one gets to the Father without going through Jesus!
We can be Thank-full that we have heard His Gospel, Embraced His Grace, and Receive His Comfort!
As we yield to Him and recognize that He alone is God, our lives shaped by gratitude for Him need to pour into others as well!
Because He is the God of all, we need to share His Good News with others so their lives can be Thank-full as well.
CLOSING
CLOSING
We can be Thank-full and join the Psalmist in declaring, “Praise the Lord! I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart…” when we reflect upon and dwell upon and let our lives be reshaped by the God of all Grace who is the God of all Comfort who simply is the God of all!
When you look at your own life this morning are you filled and overflowing with thanksgiving and gratitude for God?
