"Enter Into His Gates With Thanksgiving…” (Psalms 100:4)

As I preach this message I would like to show you why it is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord.

We usually think of being thankful as being connected with good manners.

Illus: A man gave a little child a piece of candy. The mother was embarrassed, because the child immediately stuck the candy in his mouth and ate it, and did not say thanks.

• The Mother immediately said, “What do you say to the nice man who gave you a piece of candy?”

• The little boy seemed somewhat puzzled as to what she was wanting him to say, but suddenly a smile came on his face, as if he finally realized what she wanted him to say, and he said, “Can I have more!”

The way this little child reacted to the kindness of the man, seems to be a reaction today that we often see in our society.

We live in a society that is truly ungrateful.

Illus: It seems that there use to be a time when PARENTS use to stress the importance of good manners to their children from the time they were very young.

• They taught them how to properly address adults.

• They taught them how to show respect for each other and for adults.

• They taught them to express their thankfulness when anyone was kind to them or gave something to them.

These were some basic things just about ALL PARENTS used to teach their children.

Then the PUBLIC SCHOOLS reinforced those good teachings at school. Along with teaching reading, writing, and arithmetic, they taught such things as:

• Kindness

• Courteous

• Cooperation

• Gratitude

• Friendliness

• Patience

They considered these things to be as important as teaching reading, writing, and arithmetic.

It is a sad day in our country now because it seems that MANY PARENTS and MANY SCHOOLS no longer place emphasis on good manners as they once did.

We have raised a generation of ungrateful individuals. They spend much time griping and grumbling.

What a contrast to the way things used to be.

For example,

• There was a time when store clerks would thank customers for their patronage. They recognized they would not have a job if it were not for the customers. You could feel the appreciation as you went through the cashier’s line. Often today one is made to feel that he needs to apologize for disturbing cashiers, or for imposing on their time, to get them to wait on them.

• There used to be a time when you could drive into a service station and an attendant, with a big smile, would greet you and ask how he could help you. Now you pull up and all you see are the signs that instruct you how to pump your own gas.

We are in the middle of an AGE OF INGRATITUDE.

That is, we have many in this society who are holding out their hands, and they will take anything and everything that you will put in them.

The least they could do is on “Thanksgiving Day” send all the hard working taxpayers a THANK YOU NOTE.

But this is something we taxpayers will never receive.

We live in a society that fails to show gratitude.

Illus: Some time back people read a newspaper report of a ship that sank in Lake Michigan. One young man braved the cold waters, swimming to the sinking ship and bringing someone back to shore with him over nineteen times. He actually saved 19 lives! He later reported that not one of those people came to him to so much as say, “Thank You!”

Ingratitude is certainly a problem today, but it seems that in the day of Christ it was also prevalent.

Illus: Remember the ten lepers that Christ healed? Only one came back to thank Him. Christ noticed their lack of gratitude.

He asked the one who came back to thank Him where the other nine were.

The bright side of this is that in this age of ingratitude Christians have an excellent opportunity to express their gratitude for the many blessings God has bestowed upon us.

• A light can be best seen in darkness.

• Gratitude can best be seen in a world of ungrateful people.

The psalmist shows us why we should have a THANKFUL HEART.

He shows us...

I. IT IS A GOOD THING TO DO.

In Psalm 92:1 we read, “It is a good thing to give thanks unto the LORD, and to sing praises unto thy name, O most High:”

One of the most worthwhile things you and I can do is take time to give thanks to the Lord.

We could never thank Him enough for what He has done.

• Every day we live on this earth is a gift from God and we should thank Him. Because some did not wake up this morning!