Thanksgiving. Give Thanks

Sermon- Thanksgiving day 2019

- As part of our Thanksgiving Day service, I want to begin with asking,

Q- What are you most thankful for?

- We often answer that question with family, our living status, our life, our abilities,

but the thing to be most thankful for, is often forgotten.

- Wednesday night, in studying the fall of Northern Israel I said, I don’t

understand why this whole nation was so set to forget God.

- Kings were corrupt, Priests we’re corrupt, Prophets were corrupt, but there

wasn’t an uprising, or even a spat that these people were being misled.

- So, back to my question,

Q- What are you most thankful for?

- Let’s read what’s most important.

Philippians 2:6-11

6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:

7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:

8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:

10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;

11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

- Jesus Christ is Lord!

- He came but as a small babe

- The World didn’t acknowledge Him

- He is the Sacrifice, His is the Savior/Redeemer.

- He is King, Seated in Authority by the right hand of God the Father.

- The Angels bow to Him, the elements answer to Him, His are foes placed beneath

His feet, & we are joined to Him as we honor & bow to Him that was slain.

Prayer

- We are showing our thankfulness this morning as we acknowledge that, because of

Him, we live.

- John wrote of being called up into Heaven Through an open door.

- He saw four beasts that encircled Christ’s Throne, & they continually shouted,

“Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.”.

- Then John saw the 24 elders of the church, Listen,

Revelation 4:10-11

10 The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying,

11 Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.

- The elders gave praise to Christ, for He is Worthy!

- Our whole idea of thanksgiving is looking back on what has been done for us.

- We give thanks.

- In this moment the elders bow, remembering what has been done for them, those

who were at one time an enemy of God.

Isaiah 53:5

5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

Q- How could we repay Him for what He’s done?

- The price was too high.

- The cost too deep!

- There is nothing that we could do to pay the price, & there is nothing in which

we could give to repay, but we give You ourself.

- This is the ultimate form of thanksgiving, because we see what truly has

been done to save us.

1 Thessalonians 5:18

18 In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

- Life has a way of making us forget to be thankful, nothing will ever take this salvation

from you, or the fact that He who saved you also created you.

- As an act of Thanksgiving, cast your crown at the feet of Christ.

- The crown stands for the works that Christ does through us.

- When the elders cast their crowns off. They were giving God the only form of

praise worthy of Him.

- Our Own works are not worthy.

Isaiah 64:6

6 But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.

- The moment we allow God to walk down the path of growing our abilities, talents, or

gifts.

- Well, that’s the moment we are prostrate forward, thanking God, because we are

casting our crown before the creator/the Divine Architect.

* There’s a second part to the atmosphere of thanksgiving, it’s the cheer in the air.