Give thanks to the Lord for He is Good
Sing - Cannons
Scott Pray
Slide
Good morning. You can be seated. This week in this country we come to the time when we formally celebrate Thanksgiving. We will gather together as families and enjoy each other’s presence, and be grateful for the good things.
There are times in our lives, when our circumstances are pretty tough, that it becomes difficult to see the things we should be thankful for.
We need to realize, however, that even in the midst of difficult circumstances, there is much to be thankful for and recognizing those things and giving thanks for them glorifies the Lord and is what He wants us to do.
The Lord tells us through Paul in his letter to the Thessalonians to
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“16Be joyful always; 17pray continually; 18give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)
What is it that we should we be giving thanks and praise for?
Well, we read in Psalm 105 that we are to
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Psalm 105:1-2
Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name;
make known among the nations what he has done.
2 Sing to him, sing praise to him;
tell of all his wonderful acts.
We see here that we should give thanks and praise him for his wonderful acts, for the things he has done.
Maybe you are here today are not sure that God has been at work. Well today we are going to take time to reflect on what God has been doing and give Him thanks and praise and live out the verses we read in Psalm 105.
We are going to sing to Him, sing praise to him
We are going to tell of his wonderful deeds.
We are going to remember and tell the things he has done in this church.
And there will be opportunity for you to tell of his wonderful deeds in your own life over this past year and praise him and give him glory for his mighty works.
But first, we are going to sing praises to Him as we continue to worship Him in song, so stand with us again and let’s worship the King who is worthy to be praised.
Sing - Holy is the Lord
Sing - I can only imagine
Sing - I will rise
Slide
Praise Him for what He has done
Praise the Lord. God is good.
Even in the midst of difficult circumstances, we need to always keep our focus on the hope of eternal life that we have been given through the sacrifice of Jesus for our sins.
But even we do have difficult circumstances, God has still poured out blessing in our life that we can give him praise for beyond our eternal life. Too often we just forget them or overlook them.
In the Old Testament, the Israelites faced this same issue.
They would often forget what God had done in their history and it would detrimentally affect their life going forward.
This is why it is so important that we remember and think about and give thanks and praise to the Lord and remember and tell of His wonderful acts.
Psalm 105 goes on to recap the history of God’s work through Israel listing out God’s mighty works.
God’s mighty works in Israel
From the Abrahamic covenant to Joseph being sold into slavery in Egypt so Joseph could be exalted to second in command and Israel would come and live there and be protected during the famine.
Then even after they were made slaves in Egypt, God came to rescue them in a miraculous way by sending 10 plagues upon those who enslaved His people.
He led them out to the Promised Land, and even when they disobeyed, He fed them and provided for them until He eventually led the next generation into the land He had promised to give His people.
God sends people to remind them that even in tough times, God is at work and we are to sing praises, and remember and give praise for His wonderful acts.
And the reason that God does all these wonderful acts and the reason we need to remember God’s acts are because of what it says at the end of Psalm 105, “that they might keep his precepts and observe his laws.” (Psalm 105:45)
Slide
We need to remember
to help us know that God is at work and
to help us continue to follow Him in obedience.
If we don’t remember, if we are not reminded, we tend to forget and we are in danger of not walking forward in faith, but in our own wisdom and own strength.
So today, as we prepare to celebrate thanksgiving as a country, I thought it would be good to worship the Lord through remembering and telling of His wonderful acts in this church and in our lives, so that we can continue to be walking by faith as we go forward.
So I want us to remember the work God has done in this little church.
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Back in 2005, just 5 years ago, this church did not have a lot of space, we did not have a lot of tools and we did not have a lot of people.
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God, however does not need a lot of people to do great works.
God has chosen to use people who have a heart for Him, and the people that were here had a heart for God and what they desired to do was Love God, Love people and Live it out.
Now the people that were here were just ordinary people with an extraordinary God.
The pastor was not some phenomenal communicator.
Our worship team, while talented, was quite small and we had once to rely on the pastor to lead worship with a DVD.
Our ministries were not the talk of the community. In fact, even though we sat right on this busy road, many people did not even know there was a church here.
But while the people could have thought about all the things we didn’t have, instead, they chose to focus on what they did have.
They had a God who was big and the people had hearts for God and for the people of this community. They had a building, however small, where they could meet and minster. And they chose to be faithful with the few resources they had been given and to glorify the Lord for those blessings.
So, we had service on Sunday where the people came to worship and learn about God who was powerful and could do all things! Even though the service was small, the people were faithful to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ.
The church sought to minister to the kids that were here. We had a nursery and one Sunday School class for kids from Kindergarten all the way to 8th grade.
Slide
It may not have been the typical growth model, but we need to remember, our job is not to grow the church, our job is to be faithful with what we have.
Jesus said, He will build his church (Matthew 16:18).
We can leave that to Him.
We want to be faithful with whatever it is that the Lord gives us.
It is the faithful who are given more and get to share in the master’s happiness.
In Matthew 25:21,
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the master says to the servants who are faithful, ’Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’
Teaching point
So often, in our society today, people don’t want to be faithful with a little. They want a lot right now. We need to learn to be faithful with what we have before we seek to be faithful with what we don’t have or what we want.
This doesn’t mean we don’t plan, but we can’t get so far ahead of ourselves, that we fail to be faithful with the few things.
What has the Lord given to you to be faithful with?
Your family?
Your money?
A ministry he has laid on your heart.
Your time to serve Him in some way.
It is only as the people of the church have been faithful to use their gifts and to be faithful with what the Lord has put in front of them, no matter how small, that the Lord has given more to be faithful with.
As the people of the church were faithful, the Lord brought more people and laid on their hearts new burdens to minister.
So even as the church was small, the Lord had brought a few people with kids and some with a heart for kids. In March of 2005, those people started a ministry called Impact for 4th – 8th graders.
Slide
4th – 8th grade ministry? Again, that is not your typical growth engine for a church.
It was not designed to be a growth engine. It was designed to help us be faithful with a few, ministering to kids that were here and proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ.
Melissa Doogan was helping work with our Jr. highers even back then and after 2 years of faithful ministry, the kids in Impact were growing up and the ministry grew.
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As the people of the church remained faithful, the church grew and ministries grew, and God led people to begin new ministries.
In the fall of 2007, Jill Kraiss had been coming to Hickory and the Lord laid on her heart to start an AWANA Ministry for K-6thand we did.
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We did not have our new facility yet and we started it in our old sanctuary with about 40 kids.
That same year, in the fall of 2007, Impact became 6th – 8th and TBD started up for the first time.
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We kicked it off with a special band coming in to lead our Impact and TBD in worship.
As people of the church were faithful with following the leading of the Lord with the “little things” he laid on their hearts, He used those ministries to bring glory to Him.
Through our Awana, Impact and TBD ministries, we have seen youth come to Christ, grow in their knowledge of God’s word, and take steps of obedience by being used to lead Bible studies, share their faith, and glorify the Lord in their actions.
As the church has been faithful with the little things, the Lord has brought more to be faithful with. From ministering to less than 15 kids in our midweek ministry in 2005, we now minister to more than 150 kids a week, with our AWANA averaging around 80 to 90 kids each week, and TBD ministering to around 40 or so kids and our Jr. High Impact ministry ministering to 20 to 25 kids each week.
For those of you who don’t get to see what goes on here during the week, I want to show you what our midweek ministries look like today as the people of the church continue to be faithful with where the Lord is leading.
After this video, we are going to have a time where you can give testimony and praise to the Lord for what He has been doing in your life, so think about that as we see what God is currently doing in our midweek ministries.
Awana – Impact – TBD video (4 minutes, 23 secs)
Slide after video
So that is some of what God has done and How he has worked over these past 5 ½ years at Hickory Creek as a church.
Praise Him for what He is doing
Now, each of us as individuals have much to be thankful for.
I want to open up a time for we the people to be able to give praise and thanks to God for what he has been doing in your life. Uhsers will come around with a microphone so others can hear you and praise the Lord along with you.
What are you thankful for?
Open Testimony time (4 -7 minutes)
Transition from testimony time
We do have much to be thankful for.
God works in and through us as we follow in obedience to Him.
Baptisms
Last week we had the opportunity to see 8 people take steps of obedience to the Lord in Baptism. It was awesome to see.
Here is a video recap of last weeks baptisms if you missed them.
Baptism video (4 minutes, 9 secs)
Slide after video
Maybe you are here and heard last week’s message on baptism and saw as those who followed the Lord were baptized and want to take that step.
Come and talk with me or the elders and we can make arrangements to do that in the coming weeks.
Transition
Well we have praised God for what He has done and what he is doing in our church and in our lives.
But the point of us remembering and praising Him is to continue following Him and knowing that He can work things out greatly when we obey.
Last week, I spoke about the Great Commission.
Matthew 28:19-20
19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
As long as we are here on this earth, we are not done.
Even though we have been experiencing rapid growth, and our parking lot is full, does not mean we are finished with being faithful, as if we have done our part and are finished. No, we need to continue working to reach the people of this community.
We need to continue to pray and give and be faithful so that we can continue to reach people and make disciples and baptize them and teach them.
Thank Offering
Even as we have been faithful to worship him by telling of the “wonderful acts he has done” and we have worshiped Him in song, we are going to also be faithful to worship Him through sacrifice.
Slide
Ps 107:21-22 - 21Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men. 22Let them sacrifice thank offerings and tell of his works with songs of joy.
Worship team come up
I am going to invite our worship team back up to sing God of the City as we have this time to offer sacrifices to the Lord through giving back to Him the resources He has blessed us with.
Giving is an act of trust and obedience to the Lord. When we give, God works in us to help us be more reliant on Him and less reliant on money.
He also takes those resources and uses them through the church to reach the world. Without the faithful and sacrificial giving of the people, this church would not be experiencing the joy of seeing God’s work like we have seen it.
And the people who have given and sacrificed would have missed out on the work God has done in them through those acts of worship.
So as the ushers come forward and take our offering, we invite you to worship the Lord by sacrificing in thanks to the Lord for what He has done.
Sing - God of the City
Slide after song
We need to remember that the God of this Church is also the God of this City, this community and he wants to do even greater things in this community through this church than He has already done.
How do we do that?
How does God do that through us?
Well, the leadership has been meeting and praying, recognizing that there really is no god like our God.
He has done amazing things in this community through this church and wants to continue.
We are in the midst of praying and seeking the Lord’s leading
In regards to our next staff hire,
in regards to expansion of parking and other facilities and
in regards to what our next steps are in continuing to make disciples, baptizing them and teaching them, all while keeping that family feel of Hickory Creek that is one of the hallmarks of what God has used here to expand his Kingdom through this church.
And while we know that God is not finished, we know that he wants to use everyone here in mighty ways to accomplish His purposes.
Maybe you are sitting here today and wondering if you are able to be used by God. Maybe you feel you just don’t have the talents or gifts to be used by God.
As we have looked back on what God has been doing here over the years, it wasn’t unbelievable gifted people he has used. It was people with willing hearts to do whatever the Lord wanted.
Do you have a willing heart?
Even as we have seen people taking steps of obedience in baptism, there are some whom the Lord has been laying on their heart the need for them to serve in some way.
Maybe you don’t know where.
I would argue that it doesn’t matter so much where, as much as it is your willingness to serve the Lord. He will guide you from wherever it is you step into.
We are going to need a couple of parking lot attendants for the second service.
We are going to need a couple of shuttle drivers to shuttle some people between here and the Harris Bank parking lot.
We need a few more people to help out with Impact, especially if you are in your 20’s and have a love for the Lord and desire to walk in obedience.
You don’t need skills, you need heart.
We can train skills and the Lord will give gifts, you just need to step out in trust of Him.
And you need to realize that it won’t be you who does the work. It will be Christ through you.
It is only through Christ that anything can be done.
Through Christ alone
In Christ alone
We are going to close worshiping in song, just like we started.
Won’t you stand with us and worship the Lord as we sing
In Christ Alone
