Thank You Jesus!

Intro

John 3:16 ESV

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Happy Thanksgiving!

God deserves our praise. He deserves our worship. He deserves our lives. We can all agree on that. I have spent a lifetime hearing sermons every year about living a life of praise or being more thankful or more generous. Or whatever. Az lifetime. 35 years of sermons and I am still struggling to live in a place of thanksgiving.

My heart set out to write a simple thanksgiving sermon to help motivate us to try a little harder to be more thankful this week. To varying degrees we can pull off a thankful attitude and heart. for a little while at least.

But you see church. we don’t need a challenging sermon, we need a life changing message from the living God.

You see thanking Jesus should go beyond mere words. or it is surely short lived. It needs to well up from within our souls. If we want to live a true life of thanksgiving we must learn the heart of our king.

Do not Appear Grateful. Be Grateful!

2 Timothy 3:1–5 NIV

But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God—having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.

Evidently being ungrateful is as wrong to God as this list of horrible Traits. They Look Godly, but are not. Avoid Such People

Why do we struggle with being grateful?

Because we get distracted with the world.

WE take our eyes off Christ

WE entertain ourselves with negative thinking and thoughts.

WE end up feed ourselves with poison as opposed to the Hope of God.

Proverbs 4:23 NIV

Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.

Perhaps we struggle with ingratitude because we are not guarding our hearts more. What are we watching? What are we listening to? WHat are we reading? I challenge you and I this week. Turn off the news. Turn off the politics, and see what God does. I’m serious. this week let us fast media so that we can praise God more.

Gratitude in the Lord is Powerful

Psalm 100:1–5 NIV

Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.

When you and I begin to truly live a life of Praise people begin to take notice.

Thank you Jesus!

Psalm 136:1–2 NIV

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His love endures forever. Give thanks to the God of gods. His love endures forever.

So How can you and I this week begin to live a life that truly and deeply praise God?

1-Get rid of the Noise. Turn off the News. Even if the worst thing happens while we aren’t watching? What are we really going to do about it? One week off will make zero difference. Join me in shutting out the lies and the noise this week so that we can hear the voice of God and praise Him more clearly.

2-Abide in the word this week. Reflect on God goodness and His faithfulness.

3— Praise God aloud. Silent praise isn’t good enough. If we were excited about a game we would share it. If we are excited about Jesus we should share it.