Through Giving Thanks! Sermon 12 Series

Transition: Video Testimonies from SOKM - Giving thanks through testimony for God’s faithfulness!

Series: Finding Joy in The Journey

Sermon 12: Finding Joy in the journey through Giving Thanks!

Thesis: This message explores how God's love is expressed to us in the context of our troubles in the journey of life and how those experiences should birth a heart of thanks, of praise and of joy in our hearts for God’s help. It also reminds us how God does intervene in our lives so we can tell others the stories of how the Lord has helped us so they too can be encouraged to ask Him for help.

Scripture:

Psalm 107:

NIV

1 Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.

2 Let the redeemed of the LORD say this—those he redeemed from the hand of the foe,

3 those he gathered from the lands, from east and west, from north and south.

CEV

1 Shout praises to the Lord! He is good to us, and his love never fails.

2 Everyone the Lord has rescued from trouble should praise him,

3 everyone he has brought from the east and the west, the north and the south.

Message

1 Oh, thank God—he’s so good! His love never runs out.

2 All of you set free by God, tell the world! Tell how he freed you from oppression,

3 Then rounded you up from all over the place, from the four winds, from the seven seas.

Introduction:

Psalm 107:1-3 - Encourages us to tell our Story of what God has done for us in the journey of life – it is a great way to “Give thanks to the Lord” and encouraged by this Psalm – Oh by the way - we call those stories testimonies!

The Bible reveals two mighty weapons in our arsenal against Satan's accusations: First is the, "the blood of the Lamb" and the second is "the word of their testimony" (Rev. 12:11).

For those of you who listened last year to my series on Revelation we discovered that , the blood of the Lamb is pretty straightforward and connected with The Covenant of the Law between God and Israel – it was a sacrificial system – a phrase in Leviticus stated “Life was in the blood.” A blood sacrifice was required to be made for sins – so the people would be forgiven. But in the New Testament Jesus became the one time sacrifice for sin for all of us – His sacrifice – A blood sacrifice was for your sin and my sin – The sacrifice of His life gives us the victory over sin, the fall and the Devil. The cross represents the ultimate sacrifice and extravagant bloodshed of Christ as a sin offering for us. This was God’s plan and order to remove our sins and cancel the records of wrongs that Satan uses to accuse us see (Col. 2:14). It is a mighty weapon to defeat the lies and attacks of the Devil on our identity-destiny and relationship with God – when we partake of being a part of this sacrifice by faith – by believing in Jesus’ sacrifice – His death and His resurrection we find the power to overcome the enemy of our soul.

What isn't as obvious to many today within and outside the church is how "Our personal testimony" is also used as a weapon against the Devil and his lies. A testimony is extremely effective to silence Satan in your life and to introduce the power of God into the lives of others. Did you hear that? Your testimony has the same power behind it that raised Jesus from the dead – same Holy Spirit!

Today I want us to understand that “Giving Thanks to God for His goodness and love is the best way to honor Jesus at Thanksgiving.” Sharing our story is giving public thanks to God for His faithfulness and His connection in us in the journey of life.

The following message is inspired and gleamed from https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/print?sermonId=210118 sermon: “God Will Fix It For You” - Contributed by Richard Tow on Jul 7, 2017

It is also taken from Kyle Winkler who equips people to live in victory. His mobile app, Shut Up, Devil!, is the #1 spiritual warfare app; and his recent book, Silence Satan, has helped thousands shut down the enemy's attacks, threats, lies and accusations.

In telling our story about how God helped us in times of trouble - we in essence attack and defeat Satan in at least three amazing ways:

Sharing your testimony connects you with others. (Note: This is one of our core values here at CHC Connecting with God and Connecting with others).

Do you want to connect with God and others – be willing to share your stories, the times God helped you answered a prayer – or even delivered you!