What Do Say? Thank You…
The Life – part 7
Today is the one year anniversary of an incredible day at Central. The Sunday before Thanksgiving last year was the day of our miracle offering. It was an awesome day… After almost a year of planning we as a body brought our cash offering and our 3 year commitments for our building expansion…
I will never forget the energy in the room that day… So many people making huge sacrifices in order to bring a cash gift… (things sold, vacations not taken) AND - many families cut back or did not buy any gifts at all last Christmas. Preferring instead like the wise men to lay their gifts at the feet of the King…
A treasure chest was placed up front – with the words “Where you treasure is there is your heart also…” FIRST – our kids lined up and dumped in their change… They gave over a thousand dollar in pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters… THEN – as we played – the song, “I Will Not Forget You” – the rest of Central came up here and placed in that treasure box our gifts/our hearts…
LISTEN - November 18th was a day when the faith in this placed shined. It was a day when we stepped into the valley and faced a giant that was much bigger than any of us – (1.3 million dollars, that’s a fairly good size giant) – it was a day when we as a church said that we would enter the promise land… it was a day when we boldly declared that we would not let the giants in the land hold us back – even though compared to 1.3 million dollars we did seem a little like grasshoppers…
QUESTION – why was there so much confidence in this room that day? Because we knew that God wanted us to go forward – and because we knew that we needed a new building in order to grow His kingdom, in order to change more lives…
AND – on that day Central had her biggest one time offering in her history – about $75,000 was given on that day and another $197,000 was pledged in 3 year commitments…. NOW - that’s a lot of money. AND – the reason why people gave, was because of their love for God and their belief in what He was doing and would continue to do in this place…
WELL – a lot has happened since then – a lot of work has taken place… UNDERSTAND – even though there is nothing right now construction wise above ground level… I can tell you that much work has been done by many people… (meetings to design the building and fine tune the plans, crunching all kinds of financial numbers, moving dirt). YES – a lot of work has been done – it just hasn’t been the real visible stuff yet.
BUT LISTEN – in 2003 we will see rather quickly, the fruits of the work that has been done… Sometime in May – we will have our first worship service in our new building…. Yeah God!
YES – a lot of work has gone on in this place in the year 2002… AND as I said, not all of it has been real visible, but in 2003, much of it will rise to the surface and beyond… AND LISTEN – I am not just talking about the physical construction – the pouring of concrete, hammering of nails, painting of walls… YOU SEE - there has also been in 2002; a lot of work (though mostly unseen) going on in the lives of many people in this place… LISTEN…
There is a growing army of people talking about spending time in God’s word, about journaling about quiet times…
I have had a bunch of people talk to me about how to have time with God…
People are getting up early in the morning to meet with God – they are using the ACTS of prayer card, and they are choosing each day to rejoice…
Many others are choosing even now to seize this moment and embrace spiritual disciplines… They are learning how to hoist their sails to catch the wind of God to change.
40+ people have attended the S.A.L.T. classes that we started in October… AND – the energy and excitement in those meetings is contagious.
The Bearean class is talking about sharing their faith…a burden for the lost is growing
LISTEN - people are beginning to BOTH, get a glimpse of and a desire for, what Central can and should be – an Acts 2 church…
During the Thanksgiving banquets as people shared – it is obvious that many are letting God move in their lives… (Fridays banquet went into OT)…. LISTEN – it is obvious that a majority of people at Central – BOTH - believe in, and are experiencing what God is doing in this church…
YES – a lot of stuff is happening spiritually in the lives of the people at Central – a lot of important stuff, though mostly underground for now… BUT LISTEN - in 2003 like our physical building, we as a people, are going above ground in our faith…. AND – I for one cannot wait to see it happen… What a difference one year can make when the Lord is in it… There is no place I’d rather be then here. We have much to praise God and thank Him for…
I thought today was a good day to give a brief update of the past year… (BFL – cards)
This week our entire nation will celebrate Thanksgiving. AND - the irony of it is that very little thanks to God will get done. YOU SEE -- we get so busy preparing, cooking, entertaining, watching football, eating, that about the only real thanks that gets done on Thanksgiving is done in a single prayer – possibly – before the big meal. And it’s done by one person. AND THEREFORE – most people miss the whole point of the holiday, to give thanks to God for what He’s done in our lives.
UNDERSTAND – thanksgiving is not something that a bunch of Pilgrims from the mayflower thought up; thanksgiving is not a concept born in America. LISTEN – thanksgiving and giving thanks – is an idea born in the hearts of God’s people – and giving thanks is all over the bible from Genesis to Revelation (the word is used 28 times in the book of Psalms alone) .
In the gospels we see Jesus giving thanks to the Father 15 times… And we are told in Scripture that we are to; “be overflowing with thankfulness” “To always give thanks to God” “to give thanks in all circumstances” and “to present all our requests to God with thanksgiving..”
LISTEN – it obvious from Scripture that we as Christians are to be a thankful people, AND as Tammi Adams shared at the Thanksgiving Banquet on Wednesday night – especially we as American Christians ought to be a thankful people.
QUESTION – are you a thankful person? How do you know whether or not you are?
OKAY - let me give you some help in answering that;
Which do you tend to talk about more – your blessings, or your disappointments?
Are you a complainer, always grumbling, always finding fault with your circumstances?
Are you content with what you have, or always dissatisfied and wanting more?
Do you find it easier to count your blessings, or is it easier to count your problems?
Do you express thanks to others when they help you, or do you just take it as your due?
Would others say that you are a thankful person?
NOW – I don’t know about you but I am not as thankful as I should be – and I am most definitely not as thankful as God wants me to be…
LET – me tell you how may thinking has gone, this week – with this Thursday being thanksgiving I wanted to talk about thankfulness… BECAUSE - it’s an important topic because the words thank you, and the spirit of gratitude, seems to be pretty rare these days…
AND - another reason why, I feel that it was important to do this, is because – Thanksgiving kicks off the holiday season – a time that should be an exciting time of year for all Christians – but tragically - satan has stolen this time of the year - and he uses it to kick off a season of major depression even among believers, by getting them to focus on what they don’t have rather than focusing on what God has already given them…(and he has given each & every Christian a lot)…
AND – once I decided that I needed to talk about Thanksgiving, I thought I would have to leave the series, The Life, that we have been in now for 7 weeks… and come back to it next week… BUT LISTEN - the more I thought about it – the more I concluded that Thankfulness is a spiritual discipline… DO YOU REMEMBER – the 3 definitions for spiritual disciplines I gave you?
Spiritual disciplines are things, are activities that you and I can do by direct effort that will enable us to catch the wind of God to change.
Spiritual disciplines are routines by which we stay alive and focused on God, At first we choose them and carry them out; after a while they become a part of who we are. And they carry us.
Spiritual disciplines are the things that you can do, to plant, cultivate and water the soil of our spiritual life – so that God can bring about growth….
QUESTION – would giving thanks help you grow in your walk?
would giving thanks place you in a place where God could do his work in you?
would it allow God to use you more?
LISTEN – I don’t think it is an accident that the 2 guys in the bible who were the masters at giving thanks to God – were also the ones that God used the most (King David/Paul)
PRAYER…..
What Do Say? Thank You…
The first point in your outline is;
What We Have To Be Thankful For…
NOW UNDERSTAND – if we were to list all the reasons that we as God’s people have to be thankful we would be here until 3:00 pm today…at least. Do you remember this song from the movie The Sound of Music – “These are a few of my favorite things… WELL - this morning what I want to share with you “are a few of my favorite things I thank God for.” AND LISTEN – if you are a Christian – you have every reason to thank God for these things as well.
I’m Thankful For:
The Grace God’s Shown Me
WHAT is grace? Grace means getting what I don’t deserve. CHECKOUT – what Paul writes in the second chapter of his letter to the church in Ephesus….
Read Ephesians 2:1-8 (NCV)
Read Romans 5:6-11 (NCV)
QUESTION - aren’t you glad that God doesn’t give you what you deserve? Aren’t you thankful that God gives you what you need (a savior, salvation freedom)? LISTEN – IF your heart doesn’t explode with gratitude when you think about the grace of God, THEN - you have obviously forgotten how bad off you were before you met Christ.
Let me summarize it for you in one word – You were hopeless. You had no meaning, you had no purpose in your life. All you had was guilt, fear, bitterness, worry, regrets. AND – there was nothing you could do to get rid of them. BEFORE GRACE - you were headed for hell not heaven. There was nothing you could do about it. You could never be good enough to earn your salvation. But then grace came riding in on a donkey, and later hanging on a cross…
CHECKOUT – these words from the message bible;
“But don’t take any of this for granted. It was only yesterday that you outsiders to God’s ways had no idea of any of this, didn’t know the first thing about the way God works, hadn’t the faintest idea of Christ. You knew nothing of that rich history of God’s covenant and promises to Israel, hadn’t a clue about what God was doing in the world at large. Now because of Christ – dying that death, shedding that blood – you who were once out of it altogether are in on everything..” Eph 2:11,12 (msg)
Now because of Christ – dying that death, shedding that blood – Steve who was once out of it altogether is in on everything
I am thankful to God for the grace that He has shown me. And 2nd I am thankful for;
The Relationship That God Wants To Have With Me
I love those last words I read from Romans 5, Paul after talking about how God’s grace has saved us from his anger says; “And not only that, but now we are also very happy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through Him we are now God’s friends again.”
LISTEN – God did not just save me so that I would not go to hell – he also saved me so that my relationship with Him, could be restored…. So that I could be his friend, his child… yeah God!
QUESTION - are you thankful for the personal relationship that you can have with God? Are you thankful that the One True God, the Creator of the Universe, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords ... are you thankful that God reached down from his heavenly throne and has given you an opportunity to have a personal relationship with Him?
UNDERSTAND -- your God is not a far off distant deity BUT rather an up close and personal father!, A father who desires to walk with you, take care of you, be with you...
A third reason I am thankful is because of;
The Purpose God Gives Me
LISTEN – so many people live their lives without any purpose, without any direction…. They have no idea why they are here, where they are going OR what they are supposed to be doing. I used to live like that… BUT not any more… YOU SEE - God has a purpose and a plan for my life and I am so thankful for that… About 7 years ago I discovered the following verse in the book of Jeremiah…
“I know the plans I have for you,” Declares the Lord, “Plans to prosper you and to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future…” Jer 29:11
UNDERSTAND - life is not an accident. You were made for a reason. You were made for a purpose. God has a plan for your life. Your parents may not have planned you but God did. No baby is ever born by accident. There are illegitimate parents but there are no illegitimate babies. If you’re alive and you’re breathing, IF your heart and pulse are going, THEN - God has a plan for your life. Isn’t that awesome? Doesn’t that give you hope?
AND – let me tell you something that I am just beginning discover, YOU SEE – for a long time I have been asking the wrong question, I’ve been asking, “God’s what is your will for my life?”
BUT – I now realize that this is the wrong question for me to ask – the question I need to ask is; “Lord, how can I live my life, to fulfill your will, to fulfill your purpose?” (Do you see the difference?)
QUESTION – Do you understand that opportunity you’ve been given? An opportunity to partner with God in the greatest, in the most (significant, important, vital and meaningful) work of all time - Helping people get right with God – saving them from a Christ-less eternity AND not only that but bringing them freedom and fullness of life now….
THINK ABOUT IT - we get to bring people to God and then we get to watch him do his God thing!!!! I am so thankful for the purpose, the meaning & eternal significance… God has given to my life
4th I am thankful for;
The Future God Has Planned For Me
Read – John 14:1-6
Jesus is preparing a place for me… AND – heaven is going to be unbelievable. I will get a new body that will never die – a body that will never know pain, sickness or heartache. I will be reunited with all my loved ones who have died in the Lord, I will see them again…
LISTEN – if Ephesians 3:20 – if God doing immeasurably more than we could ever ask or imagine applies to anything - it certainly applies to heaven…
CHECKOUT what John says about heaven in His Revelation;
Revelation 21:1-5,
“Heaven will be a wonderful place for all that isn’t there. BUT – our hearts yearn for heaven because of what IS there. There will be saints of old in heaven: Abraham, Isaac, Peter, James and John. Oh, the conversations we will have!
Moreover, there are many loved ones there. Wives will be reunited with husbands. Granted, the nature of their relationship will change, but how sweet it will be. Fathers will see children who died in their cribs. Grandparents will introduce themselves to grandchildren who only knew them through pictures and stories. As sweet as this reunion will be, however that’s not why we want to go there.
There will be wealth that is unimaginable. John describes the city of vast proportions with boggling wealth. Even the asphalt will be 24 karat gold!… The new earth will surely put this one to shame (and God didn’t do half bad on this one!). None will lack food. Everyone is a prince and princess in the kingdom. However, that not why we want to go there.
We will have new bodies. No more arthritis, no more physical limitations, no more looking in the mirror and asking, “why?” We will have energy to work and play, time to rest and worship. As wonderful as this sounds, this is not why we want to go there.
We want to go there because HE is there. This one we have talked about, sung to, read of, written for. He is waiting with outstretched arms and these words ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your reward.’
YET – I can’t help but think that one glimpse of His person will make all our words irrelevant. He is so much grander than we have described, much more glorious than we imagined. Our impulse will not be to embrace him as buddy, but to fall down at his feet awed, fearful, convulsing in the majesty of the moment. I suspect that it will ONLY BE His immense love that draws us to our feet to receive his embrace.
Heaven is better than you think, and it is sooner than you think. Jesus says, ‘behold I am coming soon, the time is near…” - Mark Moore, Dodging the Dragon
Doesn’t that get your heart beating a little faster….?
5th I’m thankful for;
The Changes God Is Making In Me
YOU KNOW - I am so thankful that back in December of 1979 when I came to Christ that God because of His great love for me accepted me just as I was (and I wasn’t so good)… BUT – do you know what? I am just as thankful that because of his great love for me – that God did not leave me like the way I was….
I am so grateful that I am not the same person I used to be. AND - I am so thankful that I am not yet the person I can & will become. LISTEN - God is helping me make changes in my life that I could never have made on my own. YOU SEE - the moment you became a believer God the master potter enrolled you in His personal improvement program. In December 1979 – God took a 19 year kid in the Navy named Steve Malone saved him from his sin, gave him a living hope and then he began chipping away at my life, molding me, shaping me, changing me, making me different…and praise the Lord – he is not through with me yet… I can be more, I can be better…. I can become all that God desires and wants for me…
LET – me share a few verses – with you that speak to this change God brings about in us….
“God began doing a good work in you, and I am sure he will continue it until it is finished when Christ comes again…” Phil 1:6 (NCV)
“And as the Spirit of the Lord works within us, we become more and more like Him.” 2 Cor 3:18 (NLT)
LISTEN - many of you have seen radical transformation in your life, changes that no one else could have ever made, no human being, no program, no therapy could have done it. Changes in your marriage, changes in your relationships, changes in your attitudes, changes in your life.
QUESTION – are you thankful for the changes that God has made and will continue to make in your life?
Practicing The Discipline Of Thankfulness
SINCE – we are not by nature a thankful people (that’s why God tells us that we have to be ) – we will have to work at it. Here are some things that will help you practice the discipline of giving thanks…
Understand – How God Feels About Giving Thanks
LISTEN - giving thanks pleases God and it attracts his presence… There is a powerful illustration of this in 2 Chronicles chapter 5; Solomon had completed the construction of the Temple… They had just put the ark of the Lord into the Holy Place. It was a big day, an exciting day for God’s people – they were pumped;
2 Chronicles 5:11-14
QUESTION – what came before God’s glory filling the Temple? The praise and thanks of His people… LISTEN – God dwells in the praise and thanksgiving of his people….
AVIOD – Complaining At All Costs
“Do everything without complaining or arguing…” Phil 2:14
UNDERSTAND - a huge barrier to us being a thankful people is grumbling & complaining… We live in a very blessed and rich country, but these blessings have produced a society of complainers.
We complain when our remote control is lost or doesn’t work and we have to change channels manually.
We complain about having to clean our big house
We complain when there is more than 1 person in line ahead of us at Kroger, the bank or Wal Mart.
We complain when we can’t find that 1 pair of shoes among 20.
I heard someone say one time, that if Americans were at the feeding of the 5,000 they would have complained to Jesus and the disciples about not getting lemon for the fish or honey butter for the bread.
LISTEN - grumbling & complaining are a serious problem, and it is really a sign of ingratitude, it is as if we are saying that life has somehow short changed us, when it reality we have been abundantly blessed. And grumbling is not just isolated to our society, but it is found within the Lord’s church. And whenever or wherever it occurs - it is not a positive thing.
UNDERSTAND – to have grumbling and complaining spirit is a serious sin; I know some may think that it isn’t that bad, not when we compared to things like; murder, adultery and drug abuse. BUT if we are not careful grumbling can become the leading characteristic of our lives.
Grumbling; erodes our joy - harms our influence and insults the goodness of God. Avoid it at all cost – because if left unchecked it will spread and it will incur God’s wrath… CHECKOUT – this severe warning in 1 Cor 10;
“Do not grumble as some of them did – and were killed by the destroying angel” (10:10) (Numbers 16 – 15,000 people killed by a plague)
CHOOSE – To Be Thankful
In 1 Thessalonians 5:18 – God says be, “thankful in all circumstances…”
CIRCLE – “all circumstances…”
YOU SEE – one of the reasons that we think being thankful is hard or unrealistic is that – in this life stuff happens… AND – a lot of stuff is not so good… BUT – notice Paul does not say be thankful ‘for’ all circumstances but rather be thankful ‘in’ all circumstances – and UNDERSTAND there is a big difference between those two words.
Geoff Moore sings a song in which, at the beginning of a new day, he says,
Well, I wonder what today will see.
Will I find my dreams OR stare in the face of tragedy?
Whatever may come, whatever may be, of this I am SURE,
I’m forgiven and free and I will live like I believe -
It’s good to be alive...
To feel the wind in my face, see the blue in the sky.
It’s days like this, I realize what a gift it is - It’s good to be alive.
NO – we do not know what any day will bring (some days we do find our dreams and others we stare at the face of tragedy) – but regardless of the circumstances we can choose to be thankful? BECAUSE – we know that in every circumstance God causes all things to work together for the good of those who love him and are called according to His purpose…(Rm 8:28)
Reflect Daily On Your Spiritual Blessings
“Praise be to the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ…” Eph 1:3
LISTEN – we have some awesome blessings in Christ – like the 5 I mentioned earlier reflect on these daily….
RECALL – What You Brought Into The World
It’s the same thing you wear when you take a shower…
LISTEN – Pride can really get in the way of our giving thanks to God, because we begin to think that we have all that we do because of our own efforts…We say, "I’ve worked hard to get that job. I raised my kids to be good people. I studied for those grades. I earned that award."
I heard of a bumper sticker that says; "I couldn’t have done it without me." And in our pride, we don’t even think to thank God. RATHER - we give ourselves a pat on the back, forgetting that it is God who has blessed us.
CHECKOUT – these scriptures….
“For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it.”
1 Tim 6:7
“Every good and perfect is from God…” James 1:17
“Everything has come from you and everything belongs to you…” 1 Chron 29:16 (NCV)
CIRCLE - “Everything has come from you..” Everything – my abilities, my mind, my skills, my opportunities….
RECALL – what you brought into the world – NOTHING – then thank God for everything else…
“Everything has come from you and everything belongs to you…” 1 Chron 29:16 (NCV)
DON’T -- Wait Until It’s Gone
LISTEN – there is so much that we have in this life that we take for granted… There is so much that comes our way that we don’t even notice… QUESTION – if the stars only came once a year – would you go out on that night to look at them…?
UNDERSTAND – you have many people and relationships in your life that if they were gone – THEN you would notice… Don’t wait until they’re gone – be thankful for those people now…
AND LISTEN – there are also all kinds of things in life that we should be thankful for BUT – we don’t notice them until they are gone… Turn off your water for a day; turn off your heat – Then you’d notice be thankful now…
An experiment was done in New York’s Central Park where an advertising firm dressed a man up as a blind man and gave him a cup to collect money. One day they put a sign around his neck that read, "I’m Blind." On that day he collected about $4.00. The next day they dressed him the same way, placed him in the same place but changed the sign to read, "It’s Spring and I’m Blind." That day he collected nearly $40.00. That day, those people realized & NOTICED, how blessed they were by the beautiful flowers, birds, the sunrise and sunset.
EXPRESS – Thanks Now
AND LISTEN – this is very important because -- “gratitude unexpressed is really ingratitude....”
FIRST – we need to express thanks now to people…
· Your family members (thanks for dinner, helping around the house..)
· People at central who serve
· People at work
· Your friends
· People who doors open for you, wait on you at a restaurant
LOOK for opportunities everyday to express thanks – through your words, cards, e-mails, notes..etc
SECOND – we need to express thanks now to God… (Let me suggest several ways you can do that….now I’m going to hit these rather quickly, they’re not anything new, you’ve probably heard them before – they are all biblically based…BUT they are often not done, and remember gratitude unexpressed is…?)
OKAY – here are some ways you should express your thanks to God;
q Make the T – in the acts of prayer special…
q Be More Like Christ Then The World
q Spend Time With God every day
q Praise and Worship Him Publicly
q Forgive people as God forgave you
q Share Your Testimony
q Reach Out To The Hurting
q Serve in His Church
q Give God the Best of your treasure
q Deny yourself and live for him.
They had no hope, they were outcasts, no one wanted them around, no one would even get near them , so they traveled around, living on scraps of food, sleeping in caves and under tree.. Their life was heading nowhere, they had few if any reason to go on. Luke records their story in;
LUKE 17
Only one came back to thank him.... Only one came back and threw himself at the feet of Jesus and submitted his life to Jesus... The others took their cleansing and ran. Maybe they thought, "that sure was nice of Jesus and sometime when it is convenient I am going to send him a card or give him a call and say thank you"... But that sometime never came.
