THANK full Part 2

INTRO: Review

We are in week 2 of. Series entitled “Thank Full”.

This isn’t a concept that we give entire sermons to very often.

We tend to approach it as though it’s just an understood byproduct.

Last week we talked about the one man out of ten who was healed and came back to Jesus to say thank you.

There was an added blessing available to him because of his heart of gratitude.

God has some blessings that can only be accessed with a thank you

There are postures that we learned from him that make gratefulness more achievable.

Remembering where we’re from (Our History)

Remembering who we are (Our Issues)

Remembering who Jesus is (His Holiness)

All of these facts within the context of God’s grace drive us to a lifestyle of being grateful.

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INTRO: Story: Start at the beginning (furniture)

Tonight I want to talk to you about how to maintain a perspective that chooses thankfulness.

Keeping a view of our lives and our world that keeps us grateful.

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START AT THE BEGINNING

I’m not the most constructive individual.

I worked construction for a little while early in our marriage.

I was terrible at it!

That lack of ability is made evident every time we buy a new product from Ikea, Target, or even when we buy the boys a lego set.

Those products have detailed instructions with them.

They even have pictures.

It’s so frustrating when you put in the time and effort and get to the end only to discover that you didn’t put it together right.

There have been times that I’ve wanted to throw the thing across the room.

The flawed finished product is a result of not taking it step by step.

When I try to complete step 5 before I complete step 1…I am setting myself up for failure!

IT”S VITALLY IMPORTANT TO START AT THE BEGINNING.

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WHAT’S MY PURPOSE

One of the greatest questions that keeps young people like yourselves up at night is; What is my purpose?

When we live life from the Christian perspective our question is “What is God’s Will for my life.

We often place this massive weight on the concept of God’s Will

We romanticize it to the point of using concepts like “destiny”

These terms make us think of massive accomplishments.

It’s my destiny to be in the NBA

It’s my destiny to discover the cure for cancer

It’s my destiny to reach the nations!

While some of these things may very well be in God’s plan for your life, HIs plan for your life is not something that is intended to seem like a far distant dream.

God’s plan is structured in such a way that it can be enacted and experienced tonight!

1 Thessalonians 5:18 (NKJV)

18 in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

A THANKFUL PERSON IS NOT SOMEONE YOU BECOME, IT’S SOMEONE YOU CHOOSE TO BE.

It’s hard to keep a proper perspective in 2020. Tonight I want to give you three things to remember in order to keep a perspective of thankfulness.

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1. I WILL REMEMBER THAT EVERY GOOD THING I HAVE COMES FROM GOD.

James 1:17 (NKJV)

17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.

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WE TAKE THE CREDIT BUT NOT THE BLAME

It’s so interesting to me that we love to take credit for everything good in our life but shovel off blame for everything bad.

When something good comes into our lives we like to present the case for how we deserve that.

I worked hard

I saved up

I waited patiently

But when bad things happen we rarely focus on the wrong choices we have made to get ourselves into the situation.

How could God have allowed this to happen?

Why wouldn’t God fix this situation for me?

We have this scenario entirely backwards.

Everything good comes directly from God and everything bad is a direct result of the actions of man.

The reason for bad things; sickness, death, lack, etc…is the entrance of sin into the world.

The actions of man are what brought sin in the first place.

The things we still have that were present from the beginning are direct results of God’s creative gift-giving nature.

Love

Joy

Ingenuity

Creativity

All the things about us that make us lovable creatures are gifts from God.

Every single day make it a practice to identify the good things in your life

Once you identify them, remind yourself that they are a gift from God.

(A) Identify the good things in your life…Family, Friends, An amazing Student Pastor, Video Games.

(B) Remind yourself God is who gave them to you.

I WILL REMEMBER THAT EVERY GOOD THING IS A GIFT FROM GOD

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2. I will not let what I WANT rob me of what I HAVE.

Ecclesiastes 6:9 (NLT)

9 Enjoy what you have rather than desiring what you don’t have. Just dreaming about nice things is meaningless—like chasing the wind.

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SOMEDAY ITUS

If you’re not careful you will become a victim of “Somedayitus”

The belief that happiness and fulfillment are wrapped up in a someday experience.

The day you get the scholarship

The day you get the relationship

The day you get our of School

The day you make the team.

You let your focus on these future based events make you miserable in the season you are in currently.

If you’re not careful you will wake up one day and realize you have squandered an entire season of your life wishing you could be in the next one.

I hated high school

Half way through my junior year I thought “this will never end."

The first year I was in college I remember thinking man I wish I could go back.

I’m not saying not to be ambitious or to take steps to try and secure a better future for yourself.

But don’t get so caught up in where you’re headed that you miss the value in where you are.

There is purpose in your present.

There are things that God wants to do in your life that are most accessible in this season of your life.

1 Timothy 4:12 (NLT)

12 Don’t let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity.

When you discover the value in now and you find contentment in what you’ve been given it changes your life.

Because as you begin to walk in thankfulness something amazing happens.

The misery that constantly wanting more gives you starts to fade.

Gratitude turns what we HAVE into ENOUGH

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3. I Will turn every BLESSING I have into PRAISE

IMAGINE LOSING AND REGAINING

Imagine with me for just a second that you lost everything you had.

You lost your house

You lost your car

You lost your backpack

You lost your favorite pair of shoes

All your friends.

I mean fully go their in your mind

How terrible would that be?

You don’t have a house

You don’t have a car

You don’t have those shoes!

Now imagine getting all of those things back!

How great would you feel?

The little glimpse of disappointment and sadness that we feel when we imagine that level of loss followed by the joy of realizing we still have it is what it feels like not to take things for granted.

As we realize that we have so much, we should let it birth in us a deep praise for God.

We have plenty to praise Him for.

Life

Love

Peace

Church

Salvation

You can look all throughout scripture…as we PRAISE God for what we HAVE he releases more of what we WANT

ENDING

I know that a sermon like this isn’t the most exciting thing in the world to hear.

We like to hear sermons about what God can change…give…release…move…etc..

This sermon is not about God inserting anything, changing anything, or offering anything

It’s about us changing the way we look at our lives.

As we realize that even on our worst days we have been given so much our entire outlook changes.

Psalms 63:4-5 (NLT)

4 I will praise you as long as I live,

lifting up my hands to you in prayer.

5 You satisfy me more than the richest feast.