Thanksgiving is coming this Thursday!
The word “thank” in its various forms is used over 130 times in the Bible. Thankfulness is a recurring theme!
Thank offerings
Fellowship offerings of thanksgiving
Thankfulness for the righteous acts of others
Levites assigned the ministry of thanking and praising the Lord
Thanks for national deliverance
Thanking the Lord in worship
Thanks for God’s unfailing love
Thanks for God’s goodness
Thanks for God’s salvation
Thanks to God for wisdom
Thanks to the Lord for food
Thanks to the Lord for healing
Thanks to the Lord for fellow believers
Thanks to God for the deliverance from slavery to sin
Thankfulness for God’s grace to others
Thankfulness for the body and blood of Jesus
Thankfulness for answers to prayers
Thankfulness that God uses us to “spread the aroma of the knowledge of Jesus everywhere”
Thankfulness that God puts burdens on our hearts
Thankfulness for the ministries of others
Thankfulness for God’s indescribable gift (Jesus)
Thankfulness for the body of Christ - fellow believers
Thankfulness for everything
Thankfulness for those who come to know Jesus as Savior
Thankfulness that we are part of a kingdom that cannot be shaken
Jesus thanked the Father for food; for provision!
Matthew 15:35-37a,
“[Jesus] told the crowd to sit down on the ground. Then He took the seven loaves and the fish, and when He had given thanks, He broke them and gave them to the disciples, and they in turn to the people. They all ate and were satisfied.”
Jesus thanked the Father for food:
Before He fed the five thousand
Before He broke bread with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus
The disciples recognized the way He gave thanks for the food
Jesus knew Who had provided the rain and soil and seed for the flour from which the bread was made.
Jesus knew who had planted and raised the trees from which the wood came to bake the bread.
Jesus had created the water in which the fish lived and even created the fish itself and He gave thanks.
Luke 24:30-31
“When [Jesus] was at the table with them, He took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized Him, and He disappeared from their sight.”
Jesus was thankful that the Father heard His prayers!
We know that Jesus prayed a lot! Luke 5:16 says,
“Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.”
And, John 11:41b we see that Jesus was thankful for that!
“Jesus looked up and said, ‘Father, I thank You that You have heard Me.’”
Jesus had confidence in prayer.
Why would Jesus pray, He is God.
The persons of the Trinity are always in communion with each other.
Prayer is our communion and communication with God.
We should not only give thanks in prayer but we should give thanks FOR prayer.
Jesus even gave thanks in the face of impending torture and death!
Luke 22:14-20
“When the hour came, Jesus and His apostles reclined at the table. And He said to them, ‘I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God.’
“After taking the cup, He gave thanks and said, ‘Take this and divide it among you. For I tell you I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.’
“And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is My body given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.’ In the same way, after the supper He took the cup, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is poured out for you.’”
Jesus knew that the time had come for Him, who was without sin, to take upon Himself the sin of the world and to bear it on the cross for us and He’s still giving thanks!
So, we see from God’s holy Word and the example of the Messiah that giving thanks is major focus in the life of a person who is a child of God.
Thanksgiving or giving thanks is a foundational bedrock of life for a Christian, or, at least, it should be …
As with most things in the life of serving Jesus as Lord there is a spectrum.
First we have a life of thanksgiving, a life filled with thanks to the Lord for all He has done, all He is doing, all He will do and Who He is!
Psalm 9:1-2
“I will give thanks to You, Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all Your wonderful deeds. I will be glad and rejoice in You; I will sing the praises of Your name, O Most High.”
1 Corinthians 1:4-5
“I always thank my God for you because of His grace given you in Christ Jesus. For in Him you have been enriched in every way - with all kinds of speech and with all knowledge.”
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Then there are people who pretty much ignore God. They go on with their lives as if He does not exist.
Luke 17:12-19
“As Jesus entered a village, ten leprous men who stood at a distance met Him; and they raised their voices, saying, ‘Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!’ When He saw them, He said to them, ‘Go and show yourselves to the priests.’
“And as they were going, they were cleansed. Now one of them, when he saw that he had been healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice, and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving thanks to Him. And he was a Samaritan.
“Then Jesus answered and said, ‘Were there not ten cleansed? But the nine - where are they? Was no one found who returned to give glory to God, except this foreigner?’ And He said to him, ‘Stand up and go; your faith has made you well.’”
The one leper, where did he fall along this spectrum?
The other nine, what about them?
There are Christians who never give glory to God! Is that even possible?
Is it possible to keep your salvation and your Savior secret?
Is neglecting to tell of such a great testimony is that like the nine lepers who did not return to give glory to God?
This is a place where many Christians exist. Limbo ...
Romans 10:9-10 (NLT)
“If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
“For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved.”
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Then on the far end of the spectrum are the grumblers and complainers. These people don’t live lives of thanksgiving and they don’t live lives of indifference or neglect but they live lives of complaining!
Philippians 2:14-16a
“Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, ‘children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.’ Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life.”
2 Corinthians 12:20b
“I fear that there may be discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, slander, gossip, arrogance and disorder.”
Illustration:
In regions of Mexico hot springs and cold springs are found side by side, and because of the convenience of this natural phenomenon the women often bring their laundry, boil their clothes in the hot springs, and then rinse them in the cold springs.
A tourist watching this procedure commented to his Mexican guide: "They must think God is generous to freely supply such ample, clean hot and cold water."
The guide replied, "No senor, there is much grumbling because He supplies no soap."
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A thankful spirit and an ungrateful spirit cannot co-exist in the same person!
Here’s a question that we need to ask ourselves: Can a person be truly saved and NOT be thankful? Am I thankful?
They are like matter and antimatter - one annihilates the other!
So, if we are a closet Christian or if we are an ungrateful Christian what can we do to be transformed into a thankful, grateful Christian?
How do we change from being complainers to thanksgivers?
Be born again - transformed into a new creation
If I am born again and I am still a complainer instead of a thanksgiver
Recognize that grumbling, complaining and griping as a way of life is a sin
Whenever it comes out of your mouth confess the sin and ask forgiveness
from God and the one whom you were complaining against
Ask the Lord to show you the proper way you should have handled the
situation
Do it!
Then someone tells you. Jesus! Jesus is the answer! It’s a simple as that. Jesus!
Acts 4:12
“Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”
John 3:18
“Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”
But you don’t know what my life is like …
[GRATITUDE] While on a short-term missions trip, Pastor Jack Hinton was leading worship at a leper colony on the island of Tobago. A woman who had been facing away from the pulpit turned around.
"It was the most hideous face I had ever seen," Hinton said. "The woman's nose and ears were entirely gone. She lifted a fingerless hand in the air and asked, ‘Can we sing Count Your Many Blessings?'"
Overcome with emotion, Hinton left the service. He was followed by a team member who said, "I guess you'll never be able to sing that song again." "Yes I will," he replied, "but I'll never sing it the same way."
There, in Christ alone, is the source of true, eternal thankfulness!
My fellow believers … we have the keys to the Kingdom!!! Faith in Jesus Christ!
When we get a full grasp on the truth of this miraculous truth Thanksgiving will NOT be a once a year event but it will be a transformation of life starting now and going on through eternity!
Thank you Jesus!!!
Open for Testimonies …
