God's Perspective On Thanksgiving

Introduction

· This week Thursday, we once again will celebrate Thanksgiving.

· This is a time where we reflect on the goodness of God. This is a time that we count it all joy and thank God for the countless blessings He has bestowed upon us.

· This is a time we look to the Word of God and see the promises that God has given us.

· As Christians, we should have a greater appreciation for Thanksgiving because of what Jesus has done for us on the cross.

· This morning, let’s take a moment & thank God for what He has done for us. (Shout & clap for a moment)

· This Thanksgiving let us reflect on the joy, peace, happiness, health, spiritual growth and for our salvation in Christ Jesus.

· This morning we are going to take a look at a few scriptures as it relates to God’s perspective on Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving Day is a distinctive holiday. It doesn’t commemorate a battle or anyone’s birthday or anniversary. It is simply a day set aside to express our nations thanks to our nation’s God.

1. The foundation of our thanksgiving is found in the Word of God

(NKJV) Psalm 100 1 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.

a. We are to remember that we got here with God’s leading of His Holy Spirit, and that He is the provider of every blessing we have.

b. We should be thankful for more than just our material possessions. Our spiritual possessions are priceless.

(NKJV) Psalm 103 10 He has not dealt with us according to our sins, Nor punished us according to our iniquities.

i. I am thankful for His mercy that endures forever.

ii.I am thankful for the blood of Jesus that washed my sin & iniquities away.

2. Be thankful for what Christ Jesus has done for you.

(NKJV) Deuteronomy 8 7 For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, that flow out of valleys and hills; 8 a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey; 9 a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing; a land whose stones are iron and out of whose hills you can dig copper. 10 When you have eaten and are full, then you shall bless the LORD your God for the good land which He has given you.

a. God will not withhold any good thing from you.

b. God is a giver, not a taker.

c. Jesus has delivered us from the grips of Satan and Hell through His death and resurrection.

(NKJV) John 11 25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.

i. The resurrection of Jesus is the reason for our thanksgiving.

3. What is our Thanksgiving response to God?

a. Lord, thank you. I have committed my life to you, to be a vessel that you can pour through. USE ME!

b. The Word says…

(NKJV) 1 Thessalonians 5 16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

c. Rejoice + praying + giving thanks = God’s will for us.

Conclusion

(NKJV) Luke 5 27 After these things He went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, “Follow Me.” 28 So he left all, rose up, and followed Him. 29 Then Levi gave Him a great feast in his own house. And there were a great number of tax collectors and others who sat down with them. 30 And their scribes and the Pharisees complained against His disciples, saying, “Why do You eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” 31 Jesus answered and said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 32 I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”

· This Thanksgiving, we all have a lot to be thankful for. (health, finances, having a job, a roof over our head)