Sermon Tone Analysis

What if there was a super-weapon that could defeat the enemy that surrounded your town?

Think of the destruction of your family and friends.

What if you cold stop it?

What if it was a song?

Would you sing it?

How often?

The Problem: Deception and darkness

It is dangerous to blow past Thanksgiving and into the “Holidays.”

Which leads to a lack of power over problems

Deception and darkness leads to uncontrolled words.

Deception and darkness leads to depression and anxiety

It is dangerous to blow right past Thanksgiving and into the “Holidays.”

Danger: Blow right past thanksgiving

In the stores, Christmas season begins this week!

The depression of the season.

Where does this come from?

Seasonal

Chemical

Spiritual-from the father of lies

Satan wants to destroy your faith.

Satan wants to destroy your faith.

He does not play fair-he attacks when you and I are the most vulnerable, when we are already struggling.

Our own sinful nature is our enemy too.

It sympathizes with Satan to help destroy us.

Deception and darkness lead to a lack of prayer.

Which leads to a lack of power over problems

Deception and darkness leads to uncontrolled words.

Deception and darkness leads to depression and anxiety

We need a weapon to combat Satan and our sinful selves.

So what I would like to do in this message is persuade you from Scripture that God has appointed gratitude as the one of the essential guardians of your soul, and to kindle in you a deep feeling of thankfulness to the Lord as we approach this Thanksgiving holiday.

Thanksgiving is essentially a Christian holiday because gratitude is not a natural human instinct.

Deception and darkness lead to a lack of prayer.

,

Which leads to a lack of power over problems

Deception and darkness leads to uncontrolled words.

Deception and darkness leads to depression and anxiety

The Solution: Thankful hearts

Paul is writing this from prison, yet he is thankful for other believers.

If anyone had cause to be dark, anxious or depressed, it was Paul.

Paul wants us to live our lives “in Him” (christ).

Which means to live our lives in the manner Christ lived his…overflowing with thanksgiving.

Paul wants us to live our lives “in Him” (christ).

Which means to live our lives in the manner Christ lived his…overflowing with thanksgiving.

Paul is writing this from prison, yet he is thankful for other believers.

WARNING: It is possible to be encouraged and not thankful.

WARNING: It is possible to be encouraged and not thankful.

All of us have had that experience: something good happens to us and we feel a new hope and joy, but we don't even give a thought to the Source of the encouragement, to thank him.

All of us have had that experience: something good happens to us and we feel a new hope and joy, but we don't even give a thought to the Source of the encouragement, to thank him.

I once heard a person say something like, “I love Thanksgiving!

It’s a time to focus on the three effs!

Food, family and football!”

;

I once heard a person say something like, “I love Thanksgiving!

It’s a time to focus on the three effs!

Food, family and football!”

You may even hear someone say something like that.

If you do, don’t judge them, get on your knees and pray for them.

Because they are acting like all humans without Christ: Taking the benefits God gives without acknowledging Him as the source of these benefits.

And when Christ-followers fail to be thankful, they are guilty of ingratitude as well.

The reason for this series on thanksgiving is to help us focus.

Not on the holiday and all that Thursday, November 23rd entails: food, family and football [and black Friday deals] but on the act, the heart attitude-gratitude to God.

In this passage in Colossians (2:1-8) we find that thankfulness guards our souls from deception, darkness and depression.

Thanksgiving is my weapon against:

Thanksgiving is my weapon against:

My lack of prayer.

My lack of prayer.

Notice the connection between watchfulness and gratitude.

Paul is telling us that the way we remain vigilant and alert in prayer is by being thankful to God.

The more we thank him, the more we will pray.

Think about it: if we are regularly thanking him for who he is and what he has done, wont be more likely to go to him in prayer sooner rather than later?

When Satan attack us, he focuses on our prayer life by distraction and disillusionment.

We must be watchful over our prayer time-and thanksgiving is how we stay alert in prayer.

My uncontrolled words.

How do we guard against becoming critical, bitter, blaming, defensiveness, resentment, sarcasm and disrespect?

We fill our mouths with thanksgiving.

When we get together with a group and the first people to speak, speak words of gratitude, the conversation seldom degenerates into gossip and muck-raking.

The group is guarded from sin with thanksgiving.

My depression and anxiety

My anxiety.

Did you know that depression and anxiety disorders now out number any other causes of high school and college drop-out rates?

According to studies conducted in 2016 by the Department of Medicine at New York University in NYC, anxiety, depression and suicide are at all time highs in america, affecting more than 8.3 million adults or 3.4% of the US population.

The previous rate was less than 3%.

Causes are attributed, to the economic downturn in 2008, Obamacare, wars, and lack of education opportunities.

As Christ-followers we know that prayer is the powerful weapon used to combat these disorders.

But prayer is empowered by gratitude, among other things.

With thanksgiving, peace will guard our hearts and minds against the spiraling darkness of depression and anxiety.

We are also encouraged by the testimonies of others.

Take this with you...

Thanksgiving testimonies encourage us because they remind us of God’s goodness and power.

Thanksgiving testimonies encourage others because they display God’s goodness and power.

Share your thanksgiving testimonies on video this holiday season by signing up in the lobby to film yours.