How To Say Thanks

How to Say Thanks? Psalm 116:7-17

Introduction: Considering all the things that God had done for him in delivering him from the hands of death, the Psalmist asks the question “How can I repay the LORD for all the good He has done for me?” Perhaps this verse inspired Andre Crouch’s song, “My Tribute”. I would have you to look at several ways to say “thank You” to the Lord for all that he has done for you. But first consider a few of the things God has done for us.

I. Consider the Bountiful Blessings we have received from the Lord.

A. Psalms 68:19 Blessed be the Lord, Who daily loads us with benefits, The God of our salvation! Selah

B. Consider the daily material blessings we enjoy

1. Think of the blessings of your home.

a. Most of us live in warm homes that enjoy decent if not good insulation. Compare that with life that many of our ancestors lived in medieval Europe. In England, the peasant class lived in cruck houses which had a wooden frame onto which was plastered wattle and daub. This was a mixture of mud, straw and manure. The poorest people lived in one-room huts. Slightly better off peasants lived in huts with one or two rooms. There were no panes of glass in the windows only wooden shutters, which were closed at night. The floors were of hard earth sometimes covered in straw for warmth.

b. If we are too hot or too cold walk over to a central thermostat and turn up the furnace or turn on the air conditioning. In the middle of a peasant's hut was a fire used for cooking and heating. There was no chimney. Instead smoke escaped through a hole in the thatched roof. At night in summer and all day in winter the peasants shared their huts with their animals. Parts of it were screened off for the livestock. The body heat of the animals helped to keep the hut warm.

2. Think of the clothing you wear

a. Most of us take for granted the multiple changes of clothing that we own.

b. Peasants probably had only one set of clothing, two at most. Men wore coarse tunics, and long stockings or leggings. Women wore long dresses of coarse wool, and stockings. Some peasants may have worn linen undergarments to offset the uncomfortable wool clothing. The outer garments were almost never washed, though the undergarments were laundered regularly. Wood smoke permeated the clothes and acted as a kind of deodorant for peasants. The base for the cloth was usually a russet (brown), so most clothing was a fairly drab combination of browns, reds, and grays, with only small variations.

3. Think of the food you enjoy.

a. We complain about our grocery stores yet in medieval Europe poor people ate a simple and monotonous diet. For them meat was a luxury. If they were lucky they had rabbit or pork. They also ate lots of coarse, dark bread and cheese. They only had one cooked meal a day. In the evening the mother mixed grain with hot water. She added vegetables and, if available, meat or fish to make a kind of stew called pottage. In the autumn peasants gathered fruit and nuts.

b. Every year 15 million children die of hunger.

c. I Timothy 6:7-8 “For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content.

C. Consider the daily spiritual blessings

1. Ephesians 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.

2. Access to the Written Word of God

a. Statistics show in the past 10 years, 250 million copies of the Bible have been sold. The Harry Potter series, not counting the last book, has sold 325 million copies over 10 years

b. The Roman emperor Diocletion (303 A.D.) passed a law that made it illegal to possess a Bible.

c. The freedom we have to read the word of God in our own language was paid for with the price of sweat and blood. In 16th Century England having a Bible in English carried the death penalty.

d. Until 1870, it was illegal to possess a Bible in Italy

e. More than 90% of American households have at least one Bible, according to Zondervan, a publishing company based in Grand Rapids, Mich., that estimates many families are looking to buy more. Statistics, however, show a wide gap between owning and reading the Bible. About 20% of respondents read the Bible daily, according to a 2005 survey by Princeton Survey Research Associates International for Newsweek. - copied