Why Should I Be Thankful

Sermon Text: Col 1:3-8 We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, 4 since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of your love for all the saints; 5 because of the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel, 6 which has come to you, as it has also in all the world, and is bringing forth fruit, as it is also among you since the day you heard and knew the grace of God in truth; 7 as you also learned from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf, 8 who also declared to us your love in the Spirit. NKJV

Rom 8:38-39 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. NKJV

Intro: It seems that in the last few years that life has thrown us a curve. It has not been easy to face the difficulties in living so we may ask the question why I should be thankful this Thanksgiving. I am sure that there were some of the early day pilgrims felt the same way. After coming through a hard winter, loss of many families and friends, lack of provisions they had to have been down on giving thanks.

The Book of Ezra records the defeat of the Babylonians by the Persian King Cyrus who allowed the Jewish exiles to return home after a century of captivity. They found that their homeland in distress and the temple in Jerusalem destroyed. However, in 520 B.C.E. the governor of Judah helped to rebuild the Temple after their exile. The rebuilding of the Temple was completed in 515 B.C.E.

Ezra 3:10-11 When the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, the priests stood in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise the Lord, according to the ordinance of David king of Israel. 11 And they sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the Lord: "For He is good, For His mercy endures forever toward Israel." Then all the people shouted with a great shout, when they praised the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. NKJV

Today I want us to not dwell on what has happened in the past to discourage us from giving thanks but to rejoice on what we have in Christ Jesus today. Satan will do anything to discourage us from thanking God for all our spiritual blessing.

Illustration: William Carey, the father of the modern missionary movement, arrived in India in 1793 with a burden to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ to those who had never heard the name. For seven years he proclaimed the gospel message faithfully week after week, month after month, with not a single native of India converted to Christ. Through years of struggle and doubt, Carey was often discouraged but never defeated. To his sisters back home in England he wrote:

"I feel as a farmer does about his crop: sometimes I think the seed is springing, and thus I hope; a little blast all, and my hopes are gone like a cloud. They were only weeds which appeared; or if a little corn sprung up, it quickly dies, being either chocked with weeds, or parched up by the sun of persecution. Yet I still hope in God, and will go forth in his strength, and make mention of his righteousness, even of his only." (From a sermon by David Moore, The Parable of the Soils, 6/9/2010)

In this life our only hope is not in the things of this world but in the spiritual life we have in Christ. Today I want you to consider these three things when it comes to giving thanks. 1st “Give Thanks for Our Faith” 2nd “Give Thanks for Our Christian Love,” and 3rd “Give Thanks for Our Eternal Security.”

1st Give Thanks for Our Faith- Col 1:3 We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, 4 since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of your love for all the saints.

Hebrews 11 records the name of those “heroes of the faith.” The names of recorded face the same troubles and heartache we have faced in today’s living and kept on trusting God for their eternal security. With all King David faced, his ups and downs he kept the faith, Job suffered more than most, but he refused to reject praising God, Paul wrote in