Thankfulness

Pastor Paddick Van Zyl

24-10-2021

Thankfulness

Sermon Outline

Scripture Reference: Psalm 100 AMP

1 Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all you lands!

2 Serve the Lord with gladness! Come before His presence with singing!

3 Know (perceive, recognize, and understand with approval) that the Lord is God! It is He Who has made us, not we ourselves [and we are His]! We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.

4 Enter into His gates with thanksgiving and a thank offering and into His courts with praise! Be thankful and say so to Him, bless and affectionately praise His name!

5 For the Lord is good; His mercy and loving-kindness are everlasting, His faithfulness and truth endure to all generations.

Key verse :

4 Enter into His gates with thanksgiving and a thank offering and into His courts with praise! Be thankful and say so to Him, bless and affectionately praise His name!

Theme: Being thankful

Introduction:

So many times we are stuck in traffic, complaining and forget that we are blessed to have transportation. The saying goes: “ Attitude determines altitude” But I’d rather say: Thankfulness determines altitude in life…

How often do we give thanks for the little things in life? Our health, our family, the roof over our head, our transportation, and employment I can go on and on…

And of course, our salvation. Do we ever give thought to the price Jesus paid for us to be saved? Are we thankful that He died in our place?

Recently, God has been dealing with me and teaching me to be thankful for the little things, the things I take for granted: the value of a loaf of bread, a liter (gallon) of petrol (gas) a cup of sugar… We are so use to our groceries just being in our cupboards and yet for some people, this is a luxury, a blessing… So often we are impatient

with a beggar or we walk the other way when we see someone coming asking for something… I know I am guilty …But thank God for His amazing grace each and every day!

Sermon message:

1 Thessalonians 5 NKJV

16 Rejoice always,

17 pray without ceasing,

18 in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Why do we complain? We often complain because we want a life without obstacles. We want self-parenting children, we want a marriage without work, we want our cappuccino without waiting…we want an obstacle-free life. But God works through obstacles as a way of maturing his people. God didn’t transport the Israelites across the Red Sea; he walked them through the miracle of divided waters and dead Egyptians.

*In the book of Exodus chapter 16 we find Moses being instructed by God regarding the feeding of the Israelites with manna & quails and specific instructions around the gathering of the food God provided. God provided their daily food and yet they still complain and longed back to their life of bondage in Egypt. They did not comprehend that God was feeding them angel's food, as God calls it in Psalm 78:25, the best possible diet they could get in their circumstance. Would we expect God to supply anything less than the best for the situation? Because He is a God of love, He will always do the best for us in every circumstance – not for our comfort but for His glory and our growth

*In contrast to the complaining Israelites, we find Hanna, the wife of Elkana, king David, Daniel and Paul And Silas as prime examples of individuals that took the practice of thanksgiving seriously:

*In 1st Samuel chapter 2 Hannah made a promise to God to give her son Samuel back to God for His service when she could not conceive a child and she kept her promise with thanksgiving

*No matter in what season he found himself, King David always had the perspective and attitude of praise and thanksgiving

*Daniel gave thanks to God for protecting him from the mouths of lions and for giving him wisdom and great influence

*Paul & Silas, while in prison [in pain from being beaten], did not complain about the unfair circumstances or treatment [no human rights here] but rather sang hymns and gave thanks to God and they were delivered.

Now think of this: when you are in pain and suffering, the last thing that you want to do is sing songs of praise and give thanks BUT Paul & Silas knew the power that gets released in praising God. Paul lived Philippians 4:6-7 way before he actually wrote it down years later:

Philippians 4:6-7

6 Do not be anxious or worried about anything, but in everything [every circumstance and situation] by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, continue to make your [specific] requests known to God.