Give Thanks to the Lord

We're going to start up here on the screen with this verse. Ephesians five twenty. Giving thanks always for all things, for all things unto God and the father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Dear Lord, thank you for your word today.

The privilege and opportunity to preach it, to hear it, to study it, to pray that it would do a mighty work in our heart by your spirit. Lord, thank you for your word. Thank you for our church family. Thank you for Jesus Christ, our savior. And Lord, I pray that Thanksgiving would be on our lips toward you and others far more than it is.

Lord, you deserve. You deserve our gratitude not only on our lips but from our heart. For all that you have done for us, remind us of that important ministry that we have today and that important area of worship that we have today. May it bring you all the honor and glory as we lift up your name, as we lift up your word today. In Jesus name, amen.

If you haven't noticed, more and more we live in a very ungrateful world. What we have is never what? Enough. Never enough. Always just need a little bit more.

Always gotta have the newest things whether we need it or can afford it. Most of us today have credit cards and many of us today live on debt. Most of the young people today don't don't know what it means to save money and buy stuff after they've saved it because they buy it and then pay for it later. That is the world in which we live in. What we see, we want, what we want, we get.

And are not always very thankful. We live in a society which is angry. If you've noticed that, angry about everything, always looking for someone to blame or something to blame for all their problems. We cry racism, homophobia. It's the rich.

It's the government. It's mistreatment. We come up with new terms today. Microaggressions. Have you ever heard the term microaggression before a couple years ago?

You know what microaggressions are? Insults. Maybe. If it goes to that to that measure. We come up with new words to to blame all of our problems on anyone but who?

Anyone but ourselves. We are ready at the drop of a hat to file a lawsuit, so everyone has to have liability insurance. We all walk on eggshells around each other, afraid that we're going to say what? The wrong thing. Sad, isn't it?

It is. We live in an angry society. We live in a society that's more and more entitled to everything and responsible for nothing. Entitled to everything but responsible for nothing. And like a spoiled little child grateful for nothing, after all, why would we be grateful when everything is our right to have?

Well, it's my right to have that. It's my right to have this. It's my right for life to treat me this way, for everybody to treat me that way, for nobody to ever say anything mean, always be nice. That's not reality. And it is not our right It is our duty to be nice.

It is our duty to be kind. It is our duty to lift up others. It is not our right to have everything handed to us on a silver platter. And what's sad is, even when it is, there is little one, little gratitude for what is provided, what what is given, whether it be from another person, or whether it be from the government, or whether it be from God himself. Christian, we must remember that we are not of this world and our father in heaven both deserves and expects better of us.

He deserves and specs expects better of those who are his children and besides, if you know Jesus, you have so much to be grateful for. And we're reminded of that in Psalm 136 today. I know there are struggles that you're struggling with. There are things that you may be lacking. There are trials that have entered your life.

There are bad things that have happened to you. All of those things come with life. And sometimes those things overwhelm us but it is good to be reminded by God that we are to give thanks unto the Lord because despite everything that's going on around us, despite of what other people are doing, despite of the trials and the struggles, that his mercy endureth forever. He is a good God and he deserves our thanks and our gratitude. So, just a few things from Psalm 136 and from a few other verses today.

Number one, the imperative. Psalm 136 starts out with this, oh give thanks unto the Lord for he is good. Oh, give thanks. What is that? That is an imperative.

That is a, what is an imperative? It is a command. It is a command. God commands us and he indeed has every right to and deserves it. He commands us to give thanks.

Oh, give thanks. It is not optional. It is not our right or prerogative to withhold. To do so, would be what? Would be sin.

For God has commanded us to give thanks. And if we refuse to him that knoweth to do good and to do it not, it is what? Sin. It is sin. To do so, to refuse a sin.

First Thessalonians five sixteen through 18. Paul writes, rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In everything, give thanks. For this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

I've studied this passage in the past several times to try to figure out what he means when he says, for this is the will of God. What is the will of God that he's talking about? And it seems pretty clear when you study the passage in-depth that the will of God he's talking about are the three things that he stated here in this passage. What is God's will for us? It is that we do what?

We rejoice. Christian, you have every reason to rejoice in Jesus Christ, your savior and it is our privilege and God's will that we open our mouth and praise and that we rejoice in our heart. For everything that we have in Christ. It is God's will that we pray, that we pray without ceasing, that we don't stop praying, that we always be in an attitude of prayer, and that every day we spend time with our God. On our quiet place.

In prayer with him. Rejoicing in what he has done, praying, and bringing request before him, knowing that he has invited us to come boldly before the throne of grace. It is God's will that you rejoice. It's God's will that you pray and it's also God's will that we do what? That we give thanks.

It is also his will that we give thanks and we have every reason to do so. Thanksgiving, gratitude to the Christian should be a spirit and attitude that is present every day with us, natural to us, and expressed regularly. An attitude that is present every day with us. Whether you're you're saying the words, your heart is expressing, is feeling gratitude for your Lord and for other things in life. Is present every day with us.

It's natural to us. It's not natural to the carnal flesh, old nature, that is selfish, that only thinks of who? It only thinks of self, that doesn't appreciate the Lord and others but it should be natural to the spirit that dwells inside of our heart as Christians. It should be natural to us. And it should be expressed regularly.

Reminds me of the Samaritan leper. There were 10 lepers that came to Jesus and they were crying out to him to cleanse them, to heal them from their leprosy and he said to them, now, here's what I want you to do. You turn and you go to show yourself to the priest. So they did. Now, he didn't heal them before he told them that.

He just told them to go, show themself the priest. The priest was like the doctor who would confirm if they had leprosy or if they didn't have leprosy and would allow them back into society and to worship. And so they turned in faith to go to the priest believing that when they got there, the priest would tell them they were no longer what? Lepers. And as they went, on their way there, it happened.

Their leprosy fell away. They were cleansed and they recognized it as they went. But only one of them stopped in his tracks and turned around and ran back to Christ and said, thank you. For what God had done for him. The other nine went on their way but not the one, the one did what all 10 should have done.

Which was to come and to bow before their Messiah and Lord and savior. To confess their faith and their gratitude. For what he had done for them. We need to be more like the one and less like what? The nine.

I am thankful I have another little side job that I do during the week. I'm a crossing guard at my kid's school. I do that in the morning and the afternoon. I enjoy it, except when I'm out there in the middle of a hurricane, or a tropical storm, like I was one day this week. But one of the reasons that I like it is it encourages me.

And how does it encourage me? It encourages me to hear every day dozens and dozens of good mornings and thank yous as kids and parents cross the street to take their kids in. We live in a world where we don't often hear that nearly as much as we should today. And it does my heart good to hear and to be able to respond with my pleasure. You're welcome.

Good morning. Have a great day in response to them. Because we all need to hear that. Amen. But others need to hear that from us and God needs to hear that and deserves to hear that from us as well.

The word translated Thanksgiving or giving of thanks comes from a root word, the root word for grace. It is the Christian's prerogative to acknowledge and appreciate the grace that has been shown to him. Grace for by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Our salvation is a gift of God's grace for which we should be thankful and it is not the only gift of grace that God has given to us. He gives us grace every day.

He gives us many gifts. Every day by his grace. He gives us strength. He gives us victory. He gives us wisdom.

He gives us breath. He gives us life. They are all the gifts of God's grace and his graciousness to us. Same root as our word in Greek for Thanksgiving. It is more than an emotion over which we do not have control but should be a deep seated appreciation which grows every day for what we have in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Which brings us to the object. The object of this command, oh give thanks unto who? Unto the Lord. Oh, give thanks unto the Lord. Colossians three seventeen and whatsoever you do in word or in deed, do all in name of the Lord Jesus giving thanks to God and the father by him.

Giving thanks to God and the father by him by Jesus Christ, the son, and our savior. Giving thanks for every opportunity that God has given to us to bring glory to his name and every word and deed, in every opportunity. We need to remember who has given this, us this opportunity, who has given us this life, who has given us this day, who's given us this breath that we might praise him, that we might speak his word, who has given us this hands and his feet that we might go and help others. It is all to the glory of God. It is all a gift from him and he deserves our gratitude and often sadly, however, it is our God who is the one that is left out.

It was to give thanks to God that pilgrims held the first Thanksgiving not only gratitude for their native friends. Friends with whom they wish to share the Lord's bounty and no doubt the good news of the gospel for which they were very thankful as well. Most of those pilgrims who held that first Thanksgiving in North America were Christians. Who wanted to give thanks to the Lord as well as to their neighbors and share the goodness of God with them. That should be our desire also.

This Thanksgiving. How many times have we seen our prayers answered? And for God to give praise to the one who heard and answered our prayers. We prayed for a safe trip and God gave us one. I I have put a lot of miles on my car.

We, since Kate and I have gotten married, been married, we have lived many states from our parents, hers in Ohio, mine in Virginia. Every year, we put a bunch of miles all at one time driving up to Virginia and sometimes all the way to Ohio. We always pray and before we leave and on our trip for the Lord to keep us safe and sometimes, I'm afraid we forget to thank him when we get there. To thank the Lord for provision that he provides that we we mentioned Cheryl mentioned in Sunday school today that Lisa Dullenmayer that her mother Theresa's having open heart surgery. So, if you might want to pray for her especially if you know Lisa but Lisa and Steve were members of our church years ago in the past and we needed a car.

Our vehicle was anyway in in disrepair and it was old and so we needed another vehicle and we prayed and we look for a vehicle that didn't cost much money but wouldn't fall apart in the next year or two. That's kind of a fine line there and well, low and behold, Steve came to me and said, you know, my dad wants to get rid of his grand marquee. It's was like 15 years old or more but it didn't have many miles on it like 30 some thousand or forty, zero miles. It had been in a garage. It was in great shape.

And so it worked out. We were able to purchase that for very little money and it served us for like eight years or or longer. I don't know but a long time. This year, well, the the front end when you went over a bump, you heard the you know, and I'd been taking it to the garage every now and then said, You got to get that fixed sometime. You got to get that fixed.

This time, he said, You better get that fixed or something's going to fall apart up there. Well, it was going to cost too much money to fix it. So, we needed to find another vehicle. We needed to do something with the Grand Marquis. So, lo and behold, looking online, some guy in Tampa was selling another 2,007 Grand Marquis.

And that may sound like old to you, but that's like new to us. And the one we had was a 1995, okay? And so so anyway, he already had a buyer. He thought and I wasn't going to be able to see it and so it wasn't going to work out and didn't quite have the money for it and well, as it turns out, the guy who wanted it didn't show up. He was still looking for a buyer.

The money came to us through a couple different means and we were able to purchase a a what twelve year newer car than the old one we had and we are enjoying it but there was one other thing and that is we had to get rid of the old grandma. Well, nobody wants a twenty five year old car that the front end has to be replaced in it. So, I thought, well, I'll call up the I'll call up the what do you call it? Junkyard. LLKQ and because they buy cars now from from you.

The junkyard does and so, I'll call em up and see what they're giving. If they'll give me like $500 for it, I'll take it and I thought, no, they'll never give me $500 They gave me $515 for my car. And I went to get the new registration and stuff for the new car. You know how much it was? $516 I actually had to put out a dollar.

You know, now, you might say, well, that's all coincidence. I don't think so. If you're a child of God, God's a part of your life. All things work together for good which means, you know, he knows what's going on and he and especially if you pray and you seek your faith, he's going to answer. It may seem like a small thing but it was a big thing to us and a reason to thank the Lord.

For the salvation of loved ones for whom we pray. When they get saved, that is a great time To give praise and thanksgiving to the Lord. For healing from illness, for those we know with COVID or other illnesses or few years back, I laid flat in the bed of my back, a herniated disc. It took about a month for me to get back up and get going again and the insurance wouldn't pay for the shot I needed. They kept putting me off and putting me off and by time they finally got around okay in the shot, guess what?

My back was just starting to get better. Well, why did it get better? Because you, many of you were praying for me and because God is able and I've had a couple slight setbacks but this morning, I stand up here. I have no pain in my back. The Lord is good.

For finding something that you had lost. You ever lost something and you really needed it and your life was just going to fall apart? Over there in my computer is something called flash drives about that big. My whole life is on that flash drive. Every now and then, I back it up but about every bounce every six months.

So, six months of new stuff, about 500 documents I put on there in six months. And I have lost that thing like five times. I've lost it in my yard. I've lost it at the church. I lost it doing crossing guard twice.

One time I found it a few inches from the road four days after I had lost it. One day, I found it in the gravel parking lot and somehow, nobody had run over it two days after I had lost it. It still works. Praise the Lord and every time, God has helped me to find that silly flash drive. So, I think that's a reason to thank the Lord and there's so many things like that that go on every day in our life.

Reasons to praise and to thank the Lord. Sadly, we don't see that much today in our world and even in Christian homes like we should. In Romans chapter one, it tells of the terrible spiraling downward of society away from the Lord and it begins with this, Romans one twenty one, because that when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were what? Thankful. That became vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkened and it just slides quickly downhill from there.

Why is ours? How did our society get to where it is today with the violence and the immorality and how did how did that all happen? How is it that God has been kicked out of our schools and our public life for the most part? How how did we get here to where God doesn't mean anything to most people that you cross on the street? How did they, how did that start?

Right here. They weren't what? They weren't thankful. Those who knew God didn't testify, didn't didn't live for him in such a way as to bring him glory. Those who knew God didn't thank him.

They didn't thank him in their hearts. They didn't thank them in their homes. They didn't thank them in the public. And so God became a byword and in many cases, a curse word because the people that knew God didn't glorify him. The people that knew God didn't testify for him.

The people that knew God didn't live for him. The people that knew God didn't praise and thank him. Particularly before others. For what he had done. And so people started to forget about who?

God, about their creator, about their sustainer, about their provider, about their savior. It's the first step in the downhill slide of a society of way from God into gross sin. What is the first step? An attitude of in gratitude. Not recognizing and appreciating the goodness of God and boy, how that does describe our society today.

And I've noticed it happening in Christian homes and I've noticed it happening in Christian ministries and churches. I noticed the weakness and possibility and potential of it happening in in my life, in my home. If we don't keep before us, the Lord and we don't remind us regularly one another of what he has done for us. We get caught up in all the negative. We forget what he's done.

The next generation will thank him less and the next generation will thank him less and the next generation won't know him at all. So far have we fallen in our society from thanking God that many deny his very existence and most live like he isn't even there. That is except for their swearing and cursing of his name. Oh give thanks unto the Lord. To what extent?

This is point number three. To what extent? In all things. Always. Ephesians five twenty uses the word always.

Giving thanks always for all things. Giving thanks to God always for all things. Gratitude should be unconditional. An unconditional attitude which is always present in our hearts. No matter what we're going through.

If you know the Lord and you know who he is, gratitude should always be there. Not merely when things strike our fancy or when someone does something unexpected for us. But all the time so that when something does happen, the Thanksgiving just what? It just comes out because it's inside. You know, you are what comes out of this mouth.

Just like when you hit your thumbnail with a hammer and something else comes out. It came out because it was what? In here. The same thing is true with Thanksgiving. We should always be thankful.

Amen. Particularly as children of God. Thankful to God. Thankful to others. For what they do.

Looking for the good. Looking for things to be thankful for. Instead of looking for the bad and the negative. Oh, I wish society could grab a hold of that today. Oh, they're grabbing a hold.

All they're grabbing a hold of is the bad things, the negative and yes, they're out there but there's good things. Especially in Jesus Christ and there's good people. If only they could see it but to see it, they need to see who. They need to see Jesus and what he's done for them and we as Christians should show them that. It is how can we be thankful for all things, always?

Because God is with us. Because he will never what? Leave us because all things work together for good to them that love the Lord. To those who are the call according to his purpose. God knows what he's doing.

Count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations, trials. Why? Because even the things that are bad can work together to produce what? Good in the life of God's child. If we'll just trust him and look for the good.

And not waller in self pity. In the negative. In everything, give thanks. Back to first Thessalonians five eighteen. In everything, give thanks.

For the Christian gratitude is possible even the bleakest of circumstances. Not for the bad itself, the sin, the disaster, the death. No, but for our God and his deliverance, his sustenance, his strength, his comfort, his companionship, and all of these things. In everything, give thanks. Doesn't say here for everything but in everything.

Why? Because we are in Christ. Christ is in us and in everything we can give thanks. You may have heard of Johnny Erickson, Johnny Erickson Tada, several years ago when I was a kid. She had a movie, a book written about her.

She's still alive, still ministering. She's about my age. About ten years older than me. It's a quadriplegic. She, as a teenager, jumped, dove into a pool or somewhere and she hit her head and broke her neck and her life changed forever.

But if you've ever listened or to her speeches or listened to her songs or or checked out on her ministry, you don't find a despondent person wallowing in self pity but a person who would say they are what? Thankful in everything including the wheelchair. There's a young man that I went to school with. I didn't know him ahead of, I didn't know him a couple years before when he came to college. He came to college and he was a a sports figure and he was a jock and and he everybody liked him, you know, and everything was going great.

He did the same thing. He jumped in a pool or something and he broke his neck. He came back college a couple years later when I was there in a wheelchair. He couldn't move his hands. He could move his arms.

So, he had a wheelchair like like Steve's that had that control on it and he could kind of move himself around a little bit and he had a thing that attached to his hand with a pencil so he could so he could write and he gave a testimony at our graduation and he thanked the Lord for what God had done in his life and putting him in that wheelchair. For he had seen a new a new life and now he was going into the ministry whereas before he was living for himself. How can you do that? Well, because in everything, give thanks because God doesn't make mistakes and God has his reasons. Oh give thanks unto the Lord for he is what?

For he is good. For his mercy endures what? Forever. Forever. Give thanks unto the Lord.

I hope as we head into Thanksgiving but I hope every Sunday, every week, every day, we will be encouraged to open our mouth in praise, to testify the goodness of our God, to thank him in prayer, to grow in love with the one who loved us when we were unlovable, and to give thanks unto the Lord. For his mercy endureth forever. And I do pray if you're here today and you've never received that mercy and you've never received that gift of grace, God's offer of salvation through his son who gave his life on Calvary for you. I pray that you would come as we give this hymn of invitation. I pray that you would make that decision today.

I pray that you would consider how much he loves you and what he's done for you and you would not turn away his mercy and grace today. But trust in him and be saved. Let's pray. Dear Lord, thank you for your goodness to us. Thank you for your love and your mercy.

Thank you Lord for the good things and the things that seem bad to us. Lord, help us to to trust in you with all our heart, to lean not into our own understanding, all our ways acknowledge you, for you will direct our paths. Lord, you are faithful. You are trustworthy and Lord, if we will keep our eyes fixed on you, you will give us an heart of gratitude and love and thanksgiving. Towards you and towards others, help us to take our eyes off of ourselves and look unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.

Lord, thank you and Lord, help us to ever have before us the mercy and the love of God that has brought us out of the darkness of sin into your marvelous light. In Jesus name, amen.