A Thankful Heart

11-20-2016

A Thankful Heart

Forsyth UMC 11-20-2016

Originally from Broadview Evangelical

Probably from Thanksgiving 1986

Soon we will be celebrating Thanksgiving Day, a day our country sets aside to give thanks to God for the blessings we have received.

The first Thanksgiving was celebrated in 1621 by the Pilgrims. During the Revolutionary War the Continental Congress proclaimed a Thanksgiving nearly every year. George Washington made Thanksgiving Day proclamations in 1789 and in 1795 and later in 1815 President Madison did the same. In 1863, during the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed the 4th Thursday in November a national holiday. In 1939 President Franklin D. Roosevelt tried to move it to the 3rd Thursday in November but many states refused to recognize the change and in 1941 Congress established the 4th Thursday in November for Thanksgiving and made it a national holiday.

Canada has a similar day in October.1

As we can see our country has a long history of giving thanks to God for our blessings. The Bible also teaches us to be thankful saying,

“And be thankful.” – Colossians 3:15 NIV

“Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.” – Colossians 4:2 NIV

“Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken,let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, …” – Hebrews 12:28 NIV

”give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”– 1 Thess. 5:18 NIV

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” – Philippians 4:6 NIV

Psalms 107, 118, and 136 all begin with these word, “Give thanks to theLord,for he is good;
his love endures forever.” –NIV

The Bible clearly teaches us to be thankful.

God Deserves to be Thanked

We need to be thankful because God deserves to be thanked. God is the Creator of the Universe, of all things visible and invisible. He gave us this planet as our home. Revelation 4:11 says, “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.”

He determines the rise and fall of nations and appoints their leaders for his own purposes. God causes the flowers to bloom in the spring and the snows to come in the winter. He provides all good things for us to enjoy. He created us as King David said, “You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!
Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.” –Psalm 139:13-14- NLT

God is the one who draws a man and woman together as husband and wife which is why Jesus said,“Since they are no longer two but one, let no one split apart what God has joined together.” – Matthew 19:6- NLT

God is the one who send children as a blessing to us making us families. God provides our daily food, beverage, clothes, shelter and all of the prosperity we enjoy and all the beauty and wonder of the earth, the sky and the sea.

With all these things God has provided for us he certainly deserved to be thanked. Many of the people in our nation recognize that and so we set aside the 4th Thursday of November for that day nationally.

Thanks for Salvation

As Christians we have even greater reasons to be thankful as Hebrews 12:28 says, “we are receiving a Kingdom that is unshakable,…” -NLT

No other religion in the world has a God who came and died for the sins of mankind. Other religions try to develop some formula where we can make ourselves right with God.

No other religion in the world has a Savior who after he died in our place rose again from the dead and then ascended into heaven having been given all authority in heaven and on the earth.

Some religions may claim their founder was raised from death and ascended into heaven, but no other religion has a Savior who was seen alive by the very people who watched him die and left us an empty grave that is easy to find for everyone to see.

No other religion has the kind of eyewitness accounts, because it didn’t happen to anyone but Jesus, our Lord and Savior.

So as Christians we are also thankful for:

A sure foundation for our faith – the Bible.
For a home heaven.
For forgiveness of our sins.
For a risen Lord and Savior.

When we see all the things God has done, we see how much he loves us and deserves to be thanked. The command, “give thanks in all circumstances” is not a burden but a joy.

Giving Thanks Reminds us of what God has done.

The chief danger of prosperity is not that we will lose our prosperity but that we will forget the One who gave us that prosperity.

In Deuteronomy 8:11 God warned the Israelites about this saying,“But that is the time to be careful! Beware that in your plenty you do not forget theLordyour God and disobey his commands, regulations, and decrees that I am giving you today.”-NLT.

In his warning to them and to us given in vv. 10-20, God warned that them might forget him and become proud in heart. He warned them if they ever got to the point where they forgot all about him and worshipped other gods he would destroy them.

A thankful heart reminds us that God has provided all of these things and keeps us from becoming proud and from losing our salvation.

Imagine receiving a gift from a loved one and not giving thanks for it. That’s just rude. So wouldn’t it be rude to not thank God for all that he has given to us. When I was a child and received gifts at Christmas I always had to write a “Thank You” note to the people who sent the gift because it is the polite and right thing to do.

Giving Thanks Brings Joy from Heaven

If you are thankful, you focus on the good things God has given you. Psychologically, if you want to depress yourself you think about everything you don’t have or all of the bad things in life. I call that “stinking thinking”. Here is the Apostle Paul’s cure for “stinking thinking” fromPhilippians 4:4-6 in the NLT:

4Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again—rejoice! 5Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do. Remember, the Lord is coming soon.

6Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.

When we do this there is a promise that comes stated in v. 7, “Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.”–NIV.

This peace from God is something that the world cannot take away.

We have seen this truth in our brothers and sisters in Liberia. Liberia had a life-style somewhat like the United States, but then came 14 years of civil war. The country and the economy were destroyed. Yet I heard over and over again how the Christians in that country were extremely joyful in their salvation. In the midst of their suffering, death and poverty they were joyful and thankful in Christ. Certainly, we who have so much both materially and spiritually should be much more thankful and joyful.

Conclusion

When we are thankful to God for all the things he has blessed us with then we will have a peace from God that passes all understanding. For we thank God for he deserves it above everyone and everything else. We thank God to remind ourselves that every good and perfect gift physical and spiritual comes from God our Father. Finally when we thank God it brings us internal and eternal joy that the world cannot take away.

Paul tells us in Philippians 4:8-9, “And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.9Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.”

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