Attitude of Gratitude
Psalm 100
Introduction-
This morning I want to look at having an attitude of gratitude.
Being thankful this Thanksgiving.
I want us to take our text from the man after God’s own heart, King David as he offers up thanksgiving to God.
Psalm 100
That is exalting the Lord.
That is worshipping from the holy mountain of God.
That is singing a new song. That is acknowledging God for our salvation.
Psalm 92-
“It is good to praise the Lord, and make music to your name, O most high, but you O Lord are exalted forever.”
With all my heart, I believe we are a blessed people. We live in a blessed nation. But at the same time, I believe we are the most ungrateful people, and as a nation have forgotten what God has done for us and is doing for us.
We have gone from entering His gates with thanksgiving to complaining and walking away from God. We complain more of what we don’t have than thanking Him for what we do have.
Thanksgiving day was set up to be a day of Thanksgiving.
Reflecting and remembering what God has done for our nation, and for us one of us.
In 1789, George Washington said, “It is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly implore His protection and favor.”
Psalm 100 was written to remind us of our need to be thankful and to maintain gratitude for our God and creator.
The average person spends more time watching T.V. in one day, then they spend in all spiritual pursuits combined for the whole week.
Most have a Bible, but don’t know what is in it.
We call ourselves Christians, but we are not living according to biblical Christianity.
Our greatest enemy in the western world is materialism, spiritual pride, complacency, and self-sufficiency.
Illustration-
I told you about the lady that gave a little boy a orange. His mother said to the boy, what do you say? Peel it!
We have lost the attitude of saying thank you. Being grateful for what we have, more than complaining about what we do not have.
It does not take us long to realize that Israel needed a reminder, and sad to say that we need one too.
Illustration-
Medical missionary has developed a treatment which stopped progressive blindness. So people came to him and he performed the treatment. They realized that without the treatment , they would have gone blind. He said that they never said thank you. It was not in their language. Instead they spoke a word that meant “I will tell your name.” wherever they went, they would tell people the name of the missionary who cured their blindness. They had received something so special that they wanted to proclaim it.
That is what King David is teaching us here.
You realize that God has been so good to you that you can’t keep it inside. You have to shout your joy unto the Lord and others.
This Thursday is Thanksgiving. One day we are to set aside and give thanks. But if we are going to live a life of Thanksgiving, it will be everyday.
When King David or Apostle Paul talk about thanksgiving, the word praise is not to far behind. It will always have in its sentence the words praise, thanksgiving, always, continually, in all circumstances.
Israel grumbled because they had no food, God miraculously provided manna
(bread from heaven). All they had to do was pick it up daily. They grumbled because it was the same thing everyday.
10 leapers are healed by Jesus, only one of the 10 came back to thank Jesus for the healing. The rest quickly forgot where their healing came from.
A baby is ungrateful! I know, you don’t want to hear that about your precious one. You walk that baby with colic all night long. They won’t say thank you. They just crash from exhaustion, or keep crying!
A child has to be taught to be thankful.
They have to be taught to share.
They have to learn that everything they see does not belong to them or that they have a right to have it.
Not only does thanksgiving have to be expressed, but it has to be learned.
3 things to learn here-
I. Express our thanksgiving.
II. Commit to Thanksgiving
III. Thanksgiving is Thanksliving
I. Expressing our thanksgiving
I want to say thank you to all of you that has made this month of pastor appreciation special. I am very grateful for all your support and kindness. Your expressions of thankfulness.
Ever wonder why you park on a drive way, and drive on a parkway?
It is because our words a lot of times don’t express what is happening. They are words that have a different meaning depending on how you used the word in a sentence. You have to figure out how the word was used.
Try this, this week-
Tell someone close to you thank you! Be very direct, don’t make them quess what you are doing. Tell them, show them, show your appreciation.
Bible says “serve the Lord with gladness”
Each time you feed the hungry, you do the work of the Lord.
Show a random act of kindness, we are serving the Lord. We are expressing thankfulness.
“In as much as you have done it unto one of the least of these, you have done it unto me.”
II. Commitment to being Thankful
1 Thess. 5:18- “Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
We cannot only thank God when we have everything going our way.”
Dr. Robbins says: “I used to think people complained because they had a lot of problems, but I have come to realize that they have problems because they complain.”
Heard one preacher say:
We have it so good
We enjoy it too much
We express it so little
1 Timothy 6:17-
“Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.”
Someone said:
“Your momma is so poor, she goes to Kentucky fried Chicken to lick other people’s fingers.”
How poor were you as a child? Most of us, not all of us, grew up with less than we have today.
We have lived the American dream.
That is to give our kids more than we had. But if we are not careful, we cross over the line and go where we do not want to go.
We are rich in stuff! We are rich in junk!
Have you counted your blessing lately? Have you named them one by one.
Then you would realize how much stuff God has allowed you to have.
There are people in other countries that work all year long for what you make in a week or two. The average salary in the Philippines is 1000 dollars a year.
James 1:17- “Every good and perfect gift is from God… but let’s not forget God in the process.
We live our lives like a buffet. We do not eat to live, we live to see how much we can eat. To get the most from our money.
Commit today to be thankful, know when enough is enough…because too much of a good thing can kill you also.
The last one
III. Thanksgiving is thanksliving
Our text (4) “Enter his gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him and praise His name. For the Lord is good and His love endures forever, his faithfulness continues through all generations.”
Being thankful to God can and will change your life!
Thankfulness will increase your personal happiness (guaranteed)
Your happiness is not based upon what you have or what you are going through, it is based on your attitude as you are going through it.
Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice.
Paul wrote that verse while being chained to a guard while in prison.
He learned to be content where God had him, because he knew God was in it.
Thankfulness will enhance your relationship with God and with others around you.
Husbands, how much would your marriage improve if you told your wife how much you appreciate her. Be careful, you could give her a heart attack.
Wifes, how much would your marriage improve if you told your husband what he means to you and show him respect.
How much would your prayer life increase if you began by thanking God for what He has done for you and not by what you need Him to do.
All these relationships would be energized.
The enemy of thanksgiving is complaining.
They have a hard time co-existing in the same heart.
If you have food in your refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof over your head, 20.00 dollars in your pocket. You are richer than 75 % of the people in the world.
Closing
Here is how I will close this morning. As you prepare for Thanksgiving this week:
Think about all the things you have to be thankful for. I guarantee they will outweigh the other. Thank god for salvation.
Thank God for His Word that directs you (maybe you need to go their more)
Thank him for His grace that forgives you.
Thank Him for His mercy that preserves you.
His arms that embrace you as you go through your day.
Whatever else comes to mind, Thank God for it from your heart.
“Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, His love endures forever.”
Altar Call
