Thankful In All Things Part 2- Salvation Series

Thankful in all things

Part 2

Salvation

November 2018

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

16 Always be joyful. 17 Never stop praying. 18 Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.

Today we are going to begin a short series on thankfulness

November is the month of the year when the bulk of the American people stop to give thanks for al they have received

Unfortunately

Thanksgiving

A day set apart

To give thanks, honor and glory to God

Has become just as commonly called

Turkey Day

A day to gorge on delicious food

A day to sit and watch game after game on the boob tube

Or a day to begin the insane sport of combat Christmas shopping as the retailers host unusually low prices

In an effort to get back to the basics of Thanksgiving

In this series which will run the entire month of November

We will look at various scriptures on thanks

We have so much to be thankful for

In fact, everything we have

Everything we will ever have

Comes from God

The Blood in our veins

The air in our lungs

The life in our bodies

Are a gift from God?

Who created us

Loves us

And has shown mercy on us

I encourage each of you over the next month

To consider your blessings

To reflect on God’s kindness

And to remember to give him the thanks he deservers

As I told you last week

In an effort to mold this series into a manageable offering

I have chosen through prayer and study to focus on 4 areas of Thanks that we should all have and have in common

The first area that we looked at last week was thankfulness for God’s love and mercy and grace

We saw how all of God’s creation is a recipient of God’s love mercy and grace

Although those that have not accepted Christ as savior are receiving Temporary Mercy and Grace

But as long as there is still life in our bodies we have the chance to receive

Eternal mercy and Grace through Jesus

The next area we will study is thankfulness for our salvation

That is the topic for today

Next is thankfulness for deliverance

And the last week we will look at thankfulness in blessings primarily in the people God places in our lives

With that being said

I am deviating from my normal operating procedures

And have asked specific people to give a testimony that directly relates to each topic of thankfulness

As you listen to these true stories

Let the Love of God wash over you

And remember what he has done for you

And give thanks

Sissy Green Testimony

I asked Sissy to speak to you today

Because she understands grace

As you heard she was once lost

Living apart from the God who created us

And let me tell you a secret

So was I and so were you

Jesus came to earth on the greatest rescue mission in the history of the world

And He

Gave his life to buy us back from Satan

To buy us back from our sin

To pay the penalty for our sin

So that when God

Looks at us

He sees his son

Jesus

And on top of that he assures us that we cannot lose the gift he gave us

It is ours for eternity

I was asked a question this week about God’s inability to be in the presence of sin

You see

God cannot be in the presence of sin

So

When we sin

And we all do

We could not

Can not

Approach a Holy God

On our own that is

You see sin separates us from God

But

One we have accepted the free gift of salvation

When God looks at us he no longer sees our sin

Or better stated, he no longer sees our sin as a cause for condemnation

He sees that the debt has been paid

So, the question was

How can someone claim to be saved?

And continue to live in sin

Unfortunately, that is the human condition

We are all sinners

Saved only by grace

And when we take our focus off of God

When we give into our own desires

Or the temptations of the Devil

We can easily

Begin living a life that is not pleasing to God

Or easily go back to the sin of our pre- saved selves

Listen to me

The question was specifically concerning a Christian who struggles with Homosexuality

And returns to that lifestyle

I need you to hear me and hear me well on this

There are levels of sin in man’s eyes

We have a tendency to categorize sin in groups

Place them in neat little boxes