Sermon – “The Keys to Giving Thanks”

Make a joyful shout to the LORD, all you lands! 2 Serve the LORD with gladness; Come before His presence with singing. 3 Know that the LORD, He is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. 4 Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. 5 For the LORD is good; His mercy is everlasting, And His truth endures to all generations.

You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

“Inasmuch as these people draw near with their mouths And honor Me with their lips, But have removed their hearts far from Me, And their fear toward Me is taught by the commandment of men,

Nevertheless He did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good, gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.”

They shall come with weeping, And with supplications I will lead them. I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters, In a straight way in which they shall not stumble; For I am a Father to Israel, And Ephraim is My firstborn. ¹⁰ “Hear the word of the Lord, O nations,

And declare it in the isles afar off, and say, ‘He who scattered Israel will gather him, And keep him as a shepherd does his flock.’

Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out! 34 “For who has known the mind of the LORD? Or who has become His counselor?” 35 “Or who has first given to Him And it shall be repaid to him?” 36 For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.

For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; 10 that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; 12 giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. 13 He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, 14 in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. 15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. 17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. 18 And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence. 19 For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, 20 and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.

This morning. My message out titled The key to giving thanks are going to be a little congregational interaction here the small orning. What do you think of when you think of Thanksgiving when you think of the Thanksgiving season. What do you think about. Let’s go to church. Going to church. Think about family coming here yes. You think about the history about that Thanksgiving. Yes. Basin arm. Turkey think you all right. Somebody. Yes yes. Not all because I’m I think about her food and bought my wife for the test that that’s my favorite meal is turkey mashed potatoes and gravy and dressing probably my favorite meal of all I would have that over a steak dinner anybody else. Thank you for this country we think of our country. You know that’s that’s that what most people think about you know. Think of eating well think of that nice big wonderful dinner that feast will have some think of football because there’s football games on some think of a long weekend when I get a four day weekend. Some think of shopping day after Thanksgiving where they think about Black Friday getting out and going shopping. Some think of the history. And family. Yes many do think of family because for many families and probably all around the nation their children or grandchildren a moved away but Thanksgiving is a time where they all come together. So yes they’re going to thank a fan because they love they might only get to see their family a couple times a year so it’s a. Wonderful time but Thanksgiving is this and much more it’s not just about the food and football on the family and of the fourth Thursday of every November. For God’s people every single day ought to be a day of Thanksgiving. Amen amen every single day the dictionary or dictionary dot com gives this description for Thanksgiving. The act of giving thanks grateful acknowledgment of benefits or favors especially to God. Amen. Especially to God so ought it not be every single day or you’re not grateful and thankful every morning because he gives you the air that you breathe gives you the strength. Gives you life Amen. In seventeen eighty nine George Washington made a public proclamation saying that it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God. To obey his will to be grateful for his benefits and humbly to implore his protection and favor. Washington recommended and assign Thursday the twenty sixth day of November seventeenth eighty nine to be a day of thanksgiving and yes most of us know the story of the pilgrims and how they had the feast. And the after the harvest season with the end the ins and they celebrated God’s many blessings and we know that to happen in sixteen twenty one but you know long before George Washington’s proclamation long before the pilgrims people offered up thanks to God. In the Old Testament we find a song of Thanksgiving in Psalms one hundred it is subtitled A song with Thanksgiving is an invitation to join together to acknowledge the great things that God has done for us. Not only to songs one hundred call us to praise the Lord with thankfulness. But it also does. Dr Show us the nature of Thanksgiving. So I’m going to we’re going to do some a little different a small thing I’m going to ask if you would if you’re able to stand. And it will be on the screen and on my ass. So we join together in reading this. It’s only five short bursts. So we have another scripture read together this morning. Make a joint or shout to the Lord all your lands serve the Lord with gladness come before it’s presence with singing know that the Lord He is God It is He who made us and not we ourselves we are his people and the sheep and his pasture. ANEURIN to me again with thanksgiving and into its course with praise be thankful to him. Bless his name for the Lord is good is hard to see in your it is true then the doors to all and ration Eric and I call you that prayer. Word. Perhaps when you use your voice. You know you were able to see. The man like Harry in this song. You may be seen. In this song. There are five key words that the scribe the essence of Thanksgiving. The first word being joy joy but it’s joyful make a joyful shout to the Lord. All you lands that was in the very first were there. The first verse you know most of us have no problem shouting it our favorite sporting event. You know I can think back to whenever Jennifer my daughter was a cheerleader for the Rams and we would go course we go to support our cheerleader and everyone else for their sport of football players there was a woman in the stands. That was there every week that you could hear her above everybody else in the stands. I don’t care. And I think the people in Cumberland could hear her. This isn’t Ridgeley. I mean she was not afraid to shout. She was cheering on her little boy or girl because there was a girl played football to see was cheering or her child and none of us has a problem cheer and shout and cheering on our child doing a man we shouldn’t. So we have no problem shouting when our favor team scores a touchdown. We have no problems shouting when our favorite driver wins the race or our favorite player scores the goal. No problem but you know it’s not real often that we raise our voices to a shouting church as it may wish to be out in coming here shouting Yes My God is good. My God is strong. My God is victorious. Maybe we ought to be a menace out mood this morning. Maybe we ought to be going out on our porches and shouting to the neighborhood. Mark God is great. How Ahluwalia I men. They’re going to think we’re not split hey they’ll get over it. We should be shouting to for the Lord Amen. He deserves it. He is worthy of our praise. The Hebrew word for just for a boil enjoy. Coffman Koehler states in the Jewish Encyclopedia that no language has as many words for joy and rejoicing as does the Hebrew language in the Old Testament thirteen Hebrew were roots founded. In twenty seven different words are used primarily for some aspect of joy or joyful participation in a religious worship Hebrew religious ritual demonstrates God as a source of joy in contrast to the rituals of other face of the face of the east Koehler says that Israelite worship was essentially a joyous proclamation and celebration the faithful is a relight regarded the act of thanking God as the supreme joy of his life. What an example for us. Pure joy is joy in God as both the source of our joy and the object of our joy. Amen. Some sixteen eleven says Thou hast does show me the path of life in the high presence there is fullness of joy. In the right hand or pleasures for ever more. In God’s presence is fullness of joy. Back in the 1980’s. There was a Dale talk a commercial in which a group of office workers trudged off to lunch in a monotone voice saying. Same old place same old thing. Same old place. Same old thing every day there was no excitement in their lunch because they were going to have the same old thing day in day out. Do we find ourselves sometimes coming to worship the same oh Church same old pew same old boring message same old boring songs. I hope not. I hope it’s not the way we approach worship. I hope that we had benefit with a psalm a Sue says in the presence of almighty God is fullness of joy that we come into this house expecting to experience joy to experience the gladness in our hearts. I hope we don’t face church like one would face. A bowl of old plain old oatmeal without any flavorings or cinnamon or anything like that and we know we just ate it because it’s good force not because it tastes good. I hope it’s not the way we come to church. Just because we know that we have to. Because it’s good for us. I hope we come because it brings us joy and we want to bring joy to others and we want to experience God’s joy. We don’t want to come to church because we feel that it’s an obligation that we have to do several prophets address the subject of obligate to we worship perhaps none more than Isaiah in Isaiah twenty nine thirteen said The Lord says these people come near me with their mouth and they honor me with their lips but their hearts are far from me. Their warship of me is based on mere human rules that they have been taught. Do you experience joy or or are you just going through the motions coming to church. I pray that your experience in joy is not about the entertainment but I hope you get true joy joy from being in God’s presence here in your heart. The second word in our passage is gladness. Serve the Lord with gladness come before his presence with singing was our second verse in our reading serve him with gladness for answers a great difference between gladness and sadness when we come before the Lord we are to do with gladness in our arts and not sadness. You know there’s over the years I’ve seen some people enter into worship service look like they’re going to a funeral service instead of a worship service. I mean they don’t some look mean they look grown by they look hateful. We should have gladness gladness in our hearts. I’m preaching to myself here. I need to have gladness on made them look forward to going to church and more supreme with the. Do. We need to enter into wars of service like we’re entering into resurrection service. Acts fourteen seventeen says nevertheless he did not leave himself without witness and that he did good gave us rain from heaven and fruitful in an fruitful season. Filling our hearts with food and gladness. Here’s the attitude that we should have my Lord has risen from the dead I need to celebrate that fact because you see I serve a risen Savior. He is in the world today know that he is living whatever men may say. See is hand a mercy. I hear his voice of cheer and just the time I need him he is always near he lives he lives Christ Jesus lives today. He walks with me. He talks with me along life’s narrow way he lives he lives salvation to impart. You ask me how I know he lives he lives with in my heart. Alan knew you. We need to come before the Lord with gladness not a feeling of obligation but with gladness he wants us to have a joyful heart glad heart. The third word is dependence verse three said. No that the Lord He is God It is He who has made us and not we ourselves we are his people and the sheep of his pasture. We are dependent upon him. It shows three rolls of God that He is God the God is the Lord. We are to make him the ruler of our lives. We are to make him the master of our lives we are to make him boss in our lives means Lord. God is God and we are not. We are not God told Moses I am who I. I am in Exodus three fourteen we have no more control over God than we do the weather because it. Karen had to control the weather it be eighty degrees and sunny every day. God is Creator. You know if you create something you are greater than that what you have created you make or build something you can suffer in creation of your hands. You have every right over that which you have made friends. God created us. He has every right over us. He is God and we are not it is. He who made us and that we are cells. God is Shepherd Jeremiah thirty one nine and ten says they shall come with weeping and with supplication I will lead them. I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a strait way in which they shall not stumble for I am a father to Israel and Efrem is my firstborn hear the word of the Lord of nations and declared in the isles of far off and say He who scatters Israel will gather him and keep him as a shepherd does his flock he is our shepherd. We are his people and the sheep of his pasture we read out in the third verse of our of Psalm one hundred God guides us to a place of security plenty of rest just as Shepherd does his sheep protects them. The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restored my soul some twenty three one through three. Someone has rightly said if we are created. He is the creator. If we are sheep. He is our shepherd. If we enter his courts. He is our king. If we serve Him He is our master wonderful saying I am dependent on God He created even the air that I breathe. He knows every hair on my head. He knows every beat of my heart I thank him for being God I am dependent on him that would make a wonderful plaque for us to have hanging on our walls wouldn’t it to remind us every day to remind us of just who he is and how dependent we are on him. The fourth word. Fourth key course is thankfulness. We cannot give thanks. Unless we are thankful people enter into his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise be thankful to him and bless his name. First for Psalm one hundred Thanksgiving is what flows out of a thankful heart. If there is not thankfulness in here is not going to come out. Our actions will not reveal it in Luke Chapter seventeen. There’s a very interesting story we’re Jesus entered into a village and he finds ten men who were lepers as he entered in of course as you know lepers were unclean they were not allowed to go and just congregate among the people of the city they had to stay off at a distance. So they’re off at a distance and again I’m in a shout mood today. So these ten lepers hollered out. Jesus Jesus have mercy on us or have mercy on May they shouted to Jesus heard them. He heard them and goes to them. And as I’m going to pause and go to a second story here I go to the story of name and I was probably heard the story of name and name and was a. A a leader a leader in the Army and he had leprosy. So he goes someone tells him about the prophet he goes to the prophet seeking healing from his leprosy. And when he goes a prophet didn’t even come to the door probably said to his servant tell him to go and dip in the Jordan seven times he goes off in a huff and is given you the brigade version. He goes off in a huff because he thought the Prophets come out and lays hands on him and pray over him that he might be healed. He said then he tells me to go don’t go dip into Jordan the dirty old Jordan it could have at least picked a cleaner better River for me to go in. So he goes off in a huff and a servant of his says Master. It’s not a great thing. He asked you to do listen to the servant. So he does and he goes dip seven times the seven time he come out of skins completely he completely restored. So I think of these ten lepers they didn’t go off in a huff. They didn’t have an expectation for Jesus to come over and lays hands on him and called call on God and healing all Jesus said was Go show yourself to the priest and I will commend all ten for this they all went. They all went in faith. Jesus said Go. They went they didn’t say well wait a minute. Lord don’t you need come. Don’t you need to get your oil out of your pocket in an annoying us or something. No he said go to the priest they went they were all under way to the priest. Everybody knows what happened. They were healed. All ten were healed of their leprosy on the way to see the priest. But here’s the difference and the ten one came back. One was so thankful. So grateful for the healing that he received. He ran back to Jesus felony’s face before Jesus worshipped him gave him things Jesus said were not all ten he’ll all ten were healed but only one gave thanks. Are you like the nine are you like the ten. Only you can answer that one had a thankful heart. I pray that you’re like the one that has a thankful heart. We need to be thankful to God thankful for what he has done but also thankful for who he is we have been cured of something greater than leprosy. Is called sin. We have much more to be grateful for much more to be thankful for. Because of the blood of Jesus and the resurrection we have eternal life. So if you think you don’t have anything to be thankful for you. Barry open your Bible back up and start reading again because we do because Jesus shed his blood on a cross the fifth word is gratitude for the Lord is good. His Mercy and or his mercy is everlasting and his truth indoors to all generations. Three reasons to be grateful. One is that the Lord is good. The Lord’s mercy is everlasting it never changes. It will never go away. God is the same yesterday today and forever more. The Lord’s truth indoors forever. The devil might try to convince people otherwise but his truth indoors for ever. It will never change and Romans Chapter eleven Paul expresses his gratitude and giving thanks and praise to God when he writes in chapter eleven verse thirty three through thirty six zero the depths of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out for who has known the mind of the Lord or who has become his counselor or who has given or who has first given to him and it shall be repaid to him for of him and through him and to him are all things to him be glory forever. Amen. Or praise or Thanksgiving or worship needs to be directed towards God we need to be a thankful people thankful for what he has done most of all thankful that he’s allowed his son to die that we might have life. Psalms one hundred and just those very short five verses refers to God Many times I want to read it again and I want you to listen to how many times it refers to the Lord or God or he or his Because it’s all reference to God In just five verses make a joyful shout to the Lord. All you lands serve the Lord with gladness come before his presence with singing. Know that the Lord He is God It is He who has made us not we are selves. We are his people and the people of his pasture enter into his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise be thankful to him and bless his name for the Lord is good. His Mercy is everlasting and his truth indoors to all generations that anybody can’t hear it fifteen good fifteen times in five little verses it refers to God so that doesn’t say that alone doesn’t speak to us who is the object of our worship who is the object of our thankfulness nothing does. Yes he is the object of our Thanksgiving. So this Thanksgiving with all the preparation with all the events with all the everything else that goes along with all the excitement of the sporting events and all the other excitements it is my prayer that we sincerely. Take time to thank God for who he is for what he’s done for his protection over us just for being God because He is the One True God I hope we do it with a dependent heart. Depending upon him. So not to break from tradition. Because of Qana had a standing tradition every Thanksgiving message. To have a time that we can share something that we’re thankful for. So there’s something particular that God has done in this past year that you are particularly thankful for. Yes. I man one where a man yes God provides. Yes Thank you Lord. Doug. Amen. And God is good chere. Month by month day by day. Yes. We had another good year. Yes And we have so much to be that we do. Yes Frank. Thank you. Yes I’m thankful for Fred to come into our congregation just been here for quite a while but you just became a member. I’m thankful for new members. Sang for free for you. Church. Thanks thanks thanks for your faithfulness. Buddy else that also helps in the drug problem. Flip the switch the lights came or turn a boss. One of them or didn’t get one yet. You know what we were there. You know I know I know what those are thanks for the neighbors. Surely we can be thankful for the good neighbors that are there force America. Thank you. And that you just start your day. Yeah. One thing that takes away. Just so I’ll thank your church. Thank you again one of your fine clothes were there. Yes people that were here. I think we’re thankful for this church’s hand helping what’s going on in both areas helping my Saussure whenever they’re not there yet nobody else out here. You know you’re like me go out. In this current I don’t go down the way she played we except a lot of that. May we be faithful as a congregation not just one person stand up there but they we the faith was a congregation to go work God you are God just like that.