Message #1: The Meaning Of A Thankful Heart Series

Scripture:

Colossians 3:15-17-And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. 17 And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.

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

INTRODUCTION: This morning, I am beginning a three-part sermon series on A THANKFUL HEART. Today, I will focus in this first message on THE MEANING OF A THANKFUL HEART. In other words, I want us to focus our hearts and minds on the thought of having a thankful heart and in these verses that we are going to examine this morning we are going to talk about what it means to have a thankful heart. They tell us where a thankful heart comes from, what it can accomplish in us personally, and what it can accomplish for the kingdom of God. As we deal with these verses, ask yourself, “I controlled by a thankful heart? And even if the answer is yes, have I told anybody about my thanks lately?” By the time that we get done today, I hope that your motivation for being thankful and giving thanks will have been increased to the point that you will make it the predominant pattern in your life.

Pastor David Jeremiah once said, “It’s possible to be thankful wherever you find yourself.”

Dwight L. Moody encouraged the church to “Be careful for nothing, prayerful for everything, thankful for anything.”

1. A thankful heart is a heart where Christ’s peace is in control.

Colossians 3:15-And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.

“peace of Christ” – the peace that Christ controls; the peace that Christ had [in the midst of his troubles & in the midst of those who disagreed with Him]; the peace that Christ commands.

Mark 9:50-"Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his saltness, wherewith will ye season it? Have salt in yourselves and have peace one with another.”

“rule” – the word which is used here for rule is not the kind of word that would speak of a king or an elected official. The idea is more of a judge or an umpire. Both a judge and an umpire take the information that is available to them, and based on that information, they make a call as to what course of action is going to be followed. One or all parties may not like what the judge has to say, but they have obligated themselves to do whatever the judge says. He is in control.

Some persons allow pleasure to control them. Whatever it takes to get more pleasure – sexual pleasure, social media or tv pleasure, food pleasure – I’m going after it no matter if I have to put myself in debt to get it, no matter if I break God’s laws to achieve it, no matter how big the consequences are going to be, no matter if I hurt my wife and kids . . . Others allow the desire for control to control them. My way or the highway. My way or no way. Even if you convinced me that your way was the best way, I wouldn’t go that way because then I would no longer be in control.

None of these things that I have listed, nor any other thing is supposed to control the decision-making process in my mind. It is the peace of Christ that is supposed to control me. So, when my bills pile up, it is not my bills that control my actions or my attitude; it is Christ’s peace. When my health goes bad, it is not my body that controls my spirit or my relationship to other people; it is Christ’s peace. When I have a disagreement with someone, it is not my emotions that control my thoughts or my actions; it is Christ’s peace. Christ’s peace decides how I’m going to respond to the events and people of my life.

This “peace of Christ” shows itself in three different areas.

First, there’s the internal peace – “ . . . in your hearts . . .” That’s the peace that allows you to deal with your world. It’s the peace that prevents you from caving in on yourself when your world is caving in all around you. It’s the peace that enables you to look at who you are, where you are, and what’s going on in your life and be satisfied with what God has done and is doing.