NJ - Honouring God
Honour is a choice • Sermon • Submitted
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Honouring God
Opening:
Thank you to all who have joined us today it is great to have you in one of our services. We would love for you to comment in the chat area below. Today we will continue on the theme: Honour is a Choice. With the focus of today being on: Honouring God.
Open in prayer: Father I Pray that as I Preach your word today, Your Holy Spirit will bring revelation to our lives and we will have a better understanding of being thankful. Amen
Honouring God is a recognition that God in His goodness and faithfulness has provided for and cares for us, both physically and spiritually. It is recognition that we are totally dependent upon Him; that all that we are and have comes from God and He deserve all of our honour and praise today.
The bible tells us in the book of Psalm 69:29-30
But I am poor and sorrowful; let Your salvation, O God, set me up on high. I will praise the name of God with a song, And will magnify Him with thanksgiving and honour.
29 But I am poor and sorrowful; Let Your salvation, O God, set me up on high.
30 I will praise the name of God with a song, And will magnify Him with thanksgiving.
Point 1
We are to Honour God:
To fail to be thankful to God is most grievous. When Paul recounts the tragic moral downfall of mankind in Romans 1, he begins with the statement in verse 21: “Although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.”
To glorify God is to acknowledge the majesty and dignity of His person. To thank God is to acknowledge the bountifulness of His hand in providing and caring for us.
And when mankind in their pride failed to give God the glory & thanks due to Him, God gave them up to ever-increasing immorality and wickedness. God’s judgment came because man failed to honour Him and to thank Him. If failure to give thanks is such grievousness, then, it would befit us to cultivate a spirit of thankfulness that permeates our entire lives.
The bible tells us in the book of Acts 12:21-23
So on a set day Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat on his throne and gave an oration to them. And the people kept shouting, "The voice of a god and not of a man!" Then immediately an angel of the Lord struck him, because he did not give glory to God. And he was eaten by worms and died.
21 So on a set day Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat on his throne and gave an oration to them.
22 And the people kept shouting, “The voice of a god and not of a man!”
23 Then immediately an angel of the Lord struck him, because he did not give glory to God. And he was eaten by worms and died.
We can see in the life of Daniel how important it was that he being a man of God put on giving thanks. I can recall the story of Daniel in the lions’ den, but do you remember how he got there? King Darius was persuaded by certain officials who were jealous of Daniel’s position to issue a decree that for thirty days, anyone who prayed to any god or man other than King Darius would be thrown into the lions’ den. When Daniel knew that the decree had been published, he went to his room and three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before.
Daniel 6:10 – “Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went home. And in his upper room, with his windows open toward Jerusalem, he knelt down on his knees three times that day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days.”
If we put ourselves in this situation how do you think that we would pray? I think we would probably hide and pray in our closets were no body would see us and I don’t think our prayers would be of thankfulness in fact I think we would be praying and pleading with God for His deliverance. No doubt Daniel did pray for deliverance; but he also gave thanks. Our situation is never so desperate that it is not fitting to give thanks to God. Paul in Philippians 4:6 teaches us this principle when he says,
Philippians 4:6 “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” (NIV)
Point 2
The Purpose of being Thankful:
What is the purpose of being thankful? The primary purpose of giving thanks to God is to acknowledge His goodness and to honour Him.
God says in Psalm 50:23 – But giving thanks is a sacrifice that truly honors me. If you keep to my path, I will reveal to you the salvation of God.” (NLT)
Psalm 106:1-2 says, “Praise the Lord. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever. Who can proclaim the mighty acts of the Lord or fully declare his praise?” (NIV)
When we give thanks to the Lord we proclaim His mighty acts; we acknowledge His goodness.
God is infinite in goodness to all His creatures. “He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust”; and “He has compassion on all He has made” (Matthew 5:45, Psalm 145:9).
He is most worthy of our praise and thanksgiving
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,
Thanksgiving also stimulates our faith.
Remembering God’s previous mercies encourages us to trust Him for mercies we need today.
Finally, being thankful promotes contentment.
It will promote contentment about possessions, position, and providence by focusing our thoughts on the blessings God has already given,
This forcing us to stop spending our time yearning for thins we do not have. Contentment and thankfulness to God strengthen us.
Point 3
We have to Cultivate a thankful Heart:
The foundation of an attitude of thankfulness is a life lived in fellowship with Christ.
As Colossians 2:6-7 suggests, thankfulness is the overflow of being rooted and built up in Christ. As we abide in Him, as we see His power at work in us and through us, as we call upon Him for our needs and experience His provision, our response will be with a heart of honour and being thankful.
But though an attitude of thankfulness is the work of the Holy Spirit, it also comes as a result of personal effort on our part. We must cultivate the habit of always giving thanks for everything
20 giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
We should try to begin and end the day with a time of honour and giving thanks.
Thanksgiving should also be included as a regular part of our prayer time. Paul seemed to always do this. He makes frequent statements in his letters such as, “We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you” (Colossians 1:3).
Later in that letter he instructs the Colossians, “Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving” (Colossians 4:2).
When we pray without giving thanks we impoverish our own souls and render our prayers ineffective.
Conclusion:
In concluding today we have covered the following points:
We are to Honour God – We need to Honour God in all that we do just as Daniel did.
The Purpose of being Thankful – The primary purpose of giving thanks to God is to acknowledge His goodness and honour Him.
We have to Cultivate a thankful Heart – When we pray without giving thanks we impoverish our own souls and render our prayers ineffective.
I will finish today with a short reading from Derek Prince’s book Thanksgiving, Praise and Worship. Pages 13 and 14
