Thankful In All Things Part 1- Mercy, Grace And Love Series

Thankful in All Things

November 2018 sermon series on Thanks

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

16 Always be joyful. 17 Never stop praying. 18 Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.

Today we are going to begin a short series on thankfulness

November is the month of the year when the bulk of the American people stop to give thanks for al they have received

Unfortunately

Thanksgiving

A day set apart

To give thanks, honor and glory to God

Has become just as commonly called

Turkey Day

A day to gorge on delicious food

A day to sit and watch game after game on the boob tube

Or a day to begin the insane sport of combat Christmas shopping as the retailers host unusually low prices

In an effort to get back to the basics of Thanks giving

Over the next 4 weeks we will be looking at various scriptures on thanks

We have so much to be thankful for

In fact, everything we have

Everything we will ever have

Comes from God

The very breath in our lungs

The life in our bodies

Are a gift from God?

Who loves us

And has shown mercy on us

I encourage each of you over the next month

To consider your blessings

To reflect on God’s kindness

And to remember to give him the thanks he deservers

To mold this series into a manageable offering

I have chosen through prayer and study to focus on 4 areas of Thanks that we should all have and have in common

The first area that we will look at today id thankfulness for God’s love and mercy

The next area we will study is thankfulness for our salvation

Next is thankfulness for deliverance

And the last week we will look at thankfulness in blessings primarily in the people God places in our lives

With that being said

I am deviating from my normal operating procedures

And have asked specific people to give a testimony that directly relates to each topic of thankfulness

As you listen to these true stories

Let the Love of God wash over you

And remember what he has done for you

And give thanks

Linda Monk Testimony

I asked Linda to share her story with each of you this morning

Because

Although her story could easily fit into all 4 weeks lessons

Their story is a story of

The Love

The Grace

And the mercy of God

And it is God who gets the glory

The theme for the series is 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

16 Always be joyful. 17 Never stop praying. 18 Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.

But the lesson today comes from

Psalm 100

The author of this psalm in unknown

And even though we don’t know his name

And can’t see his face

We hear the praise in his words

And if we apply then to our lives

They can easily become

Our praise

Our words

Psalm 100

1 Shout with joy to the LORD, all the earth!

2 Worship the LORD with gladness.

Come before him, singing with joy.

3 Acknowledge that the LORD is God!

He made us, and we are his.[a]

We are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving;

go into his courts with praise.

Give thanks to him and praise his name.

5 For the LORD is good.

His unfailing love continues forever,

and his faithfulness continues to each generation.

Verse 1

Shout with Joy

God wants us to holler out his mercy and his grace

Many people

Will yell and scream at a football game

Or Rodeo

And never utter a peep in church

Or worse never share the joy they have in words of any type

God wants us to shout his praises

He has shown us mercy

We are all sinners

All of us

Some saved by grace

Others still lost

But all have received mercy

How so, you may ask

Listen to me

We are all sinners

And the penalty for sin is death

Apart from Jesus we must pay the penalty ourselves

Yeah, I get that preacher

If I know Jesus I have received his mercy

But you said

All

Saved and unsaved have received mercy

Listen to me

If the penalty for sin is death

And we are all sinners

Some saved

Some lost

And we sinned

And we are still here

That is God’s mercy

God would be well within his rights

Well within his character

To punish sin immediately

One sin

And zap

Your out of here

One sin and you set your eternity

And it begins now

But

God

In his mercy

Does not want any to be lost