Thanksgiving 2019

In society today, many people refuse to accept the fact they should be thankful.

I know people who would not say thank you if their life depended on it. They are to proud to say the words:

Thank you

I am sorry

Forgive me.

Can I help?

In my life as a Christian, I see more and more of this in our Christian brothers and sisters.

There is something about, - bowing our heads at a meal and saying thank you:

It helps us remember that we are not responsible for the blessing we have.

The Bible tells us as followers of Christ, we are to be thankful.

1 Corinthians 15:57 (CSB)

57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!

I) The Teachings of Thanksgiving

Being thankful is the result of being Spirit filled!

Colossians 3:15–16 (CSB)

15 And let the peace of Christ, to which you were also called in one body, rule your hearts. And be thankful.

16 Let the word of Christ dwell richly among you, in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another through psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.

If you are filled with the Spirit of Christ, you can’t help being thankful

Paul is the primary example of a thankful person as seen in his letters!

Being thankful results in living victorious lives

Paul is so thankful

People say they know they should be thankful

“but you don’t know what I have been through!”

VICTORIOUS living doesn;t mean living without problems

Paul was stoned

beaten

arrested

rejected

executed

That’s not how we live victorious

Romans 3:31 (CSB)

31 Do we then nullify the law through faith? Absolutely not! On the contrary, we uphold the law.

Fruit of the Spirit (Study Guide) Thanksgiving Results in Victorious Living

“This was Paul’s defiant, triumphant cry in the face of every trouble, and in the face of every contingency, and every conceivable trial or temptation, any and every emergency that might arise. He seems to challenge every force of the entire universe. He laughs at death. He defies principalities and powers. he hurls the gauntlet at things present and things to come. Though to be accounted as a sheep for the slaughter and be killed all the day long, yet victory shall be his. Neither tribulation, nor distress, nor persecution, nor famine, nor nakedness, nor peril, nor sword shall separate him from the love of Christ. There is no creature that shall ever separate Paul from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus the Lord. Not only will he conquer, but he will be more than conqueror.”

3. Being thankful is the result of living in the Word of Christ

Colossians 3:15–16 (CSB)

15 And let the peace of Christ, to which you were also called in one body, rule your hearts. And be thankful.

16 Let the word of Christ dwell richly among you, in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another through psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.

II) The Importance of Thanksgiving

Its not an option

God tells us throughout the OT He is a jealous God

Fruit of the Spirit (Study Guide) The Imperative of Thanksgiving

In the first chapter of Romans, when Paul is cataloguing the destruction of a culture, he says one of the evidences of the decadence of human society is that people become unthankful. In Timothy he gives as one of the evidences of the end times that people are unthankful.

b. The 10 Lepers!

1 Thessalonians 5:18 (CSB)

18 give thanks in everything; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

2. Not being thankful means you are out of peace with God!

Philippians 4:6–7 (CSB)

6 Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

III) The Healing of Thanksgiving

The man and therapy

Thanksgiving gives us new focus on the problems we face

REMEMBER THANKFULNESS MAKES US VICTORIOUS