Giving Series: Thanks-Living

Thank the Lord for all that he has given to us. All that he has given to us. Tonight we begin a series and I'll let you be seated in just a moment. We'll begin a series on on giving. And we're going to scripturally explore in the next few Wednesday nights the concept of giving. God wants us to catch that vision and that concept of giving versus getting only. He don't mind when we get, but he wants us also to be givers. And so we begin tonight to talk about giving to the Lord. And that song talked about our giving to him.

And what a blessing to be able to give. And when we give, we are blessed back. Amen. We are blessed back and you may be seated. The concept of giving is providing or sharing of our resources, our time, our support, allowing the resources to leave our hands because of the spirit that is in our heart. When the heart is set and when the heart is right, the hands will do the right thing when it comes to giving. Now, giving is not selfish. It's not self preserving. It's not self- concern only.

And when you're talking about giving, you're talking about generosity, unselfishness, sharing, benevolence, having that open hand. And so through the next few Wednesday nights, we're going to address this concept of giving. Tonight, giving thanks. Another week, we'll be giving to others. Another week will be giving generously or abundantly. All of these things the scripture talks about giving to the kingdom and giving praise. And tonight's topic is giving thanks.

And I've changed it just a little bit because to properly give thanks, we must practice a life and a mindset of thanksgiving. So the official title tonight is giving thanks and the subtitle is thanks living. Living a life that lives out thanks. The definition of thanks very simply is an expression of gratitude or appreciation. In other words, a recognition. Doesn't it feel good when somebody offers thanks? And it feels good when we offer thanks to somebody else.

An appreciation or an acknowledgment of some kind of concern or some kind of kindness or generosity that somebody has given or has expressed. Uh thanksgiving is the opposite of discontent. To be thankful puts us in a position of being contented with what we have received and thankful then for for that. You know it's it's easy to become disgruntled with the various factors in our life. I read what one man said and he gave us several good options. Uh he wanted to be thankful.

He said, 'I'm thankful for the lawn that needs mowing and the windows that need cleaning and the gutters that need fixing because it means I have a home, a house. I'm thankful for the weariness at the end of the day because that means I was able to work both physically and then financially able to receive. Now, this one may be questionable a little bit. He was thankful for the clothes that fit a little too snug. Well, if you're being thankful, just be thankful for it all.

He was thankful because he had clothes that were snug and also that it meant he had enough to eat and maybe too much. He said it was thankful for this parking spot that he found at the far end of the parking lot because it meant that he was capable of being able to walk from that far parking spot to the entry door of wherever he was headed. And it meant he had and was blessed with transportation. Both giving and thanks, both of those words that we're exploring are others oriented. To give thanks really takes the focus off of us and puts it on the giver.

It puts the focus off of just receiving only. and we are thankful to receive, but it puts the focus on the giftgiver, the one that gives the gift. So tonight, we're going to look in scripture as to how to live with thanksgiving. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 and beginning at verse 16. Verse 16, rejoice evermore. In other words, consistently rejoice in good and bad times. 17. Pray without ceasing. One translation said, "Pray without intermission." And I really like this definition. Pray without allowing prayerless gaps.

So, I got to thinking about prayerless gaps. Well, we've just been praising and praying already tonight, so it's the gap is pretty small. And uh then we'll probably pray again later in the service and that's a small gap and then hopefully that last prayer that we pray tonight in conclusion um there won't be a large gap pro probably many of you will say something to the Lord before you lay down to to sleep tonight and then u first thing in the morning some of you will talk to the Lord. The the lesson is don't let there be long gaps.

In fact, the recommendation is don't let there be as long as a 24-hour gap. But make sure we pray without ceasing. And pray consistently is what he's talking about. And here's a little question to tuck in. How wide is the gap between your prayers? and verse 18, in everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

Now that word this there are that phrase this is the will of God refers not just to in everything give thanks but all three things that we just talked about verse 16 rejoice evermore praying in verse 17 and then in everything giving thanks. He said that's the will of God for us to rejoice consistently and for us to pray consistently and for us to give thanks consistently in everything. Give thanks even in what seems adverse.

And after I typed that, I said, "Or is it really adverse?" Because Romans 8 says, "And we know that all things work together for good." So what is a physical or natural adversity to us could be working a spiritual good for us as well. That's one of the reasons Paul writes and instructs in everything give thanks. And there is a difference uh and you've probably talked about this before. There's a difference of in everything and for everything. We don't thank the Lord for everything.

But when it comes our way, we can still thank the Lord in the midst of whatever that was. One translation puts it this way, be thankful in all circumstances of life, for this is God's will. It's the way God intends for us to live life or approach life. It's the mindset he intends for us to have. In other words, always finding something to be thankful about. A man by the name of John Krighic wrote an article and he started the article with a note of thanks that he had written to a Starbucks uh server.

Knowing that you had to work on thanksgiving of all days, I thought I'd express my gratitude that you have taken the time and made the effort to learn my name and greet me each day in a way that makes me feel like a person instead of a number. It's a small thing, but on any given day, it can make all the difference. Thank you. He said he gave that card to a young lady by the name of Kimber. When I went in the next day, she told me, nearly breaking down, that my note made her realize what she did really counted.

It was my 260th thank you of 2008, the year I vowed to send one to a different person every day. I succeeded though it took more than 365 days. I embarked on the endeavor at a time when I felt anything but thankful. And maybe some of us are in that position tonight, not feeling all that thankful because of conditions. But John pressed on through. And Apostle Paul said, "Press on through." He said, "On New Year's Day of 2008, I went for a hike feeling at an all-time low. Here's some of the reasons." He said, "I was overweight.

I owned a law practice, but it was losing money. I was entangled in a divorce. I lived in a depressing apartment. The woman I'd been dating had recently ended our relationship. On my hike, I sensed a voice, an inner voice, and it said, "Don't focus on what you want or what you have lost, but be grateful for what you have." The idea of a year of thank yous popped into my head. That project transformed my life. I saw how much I had been blessed by so many people in different ways.

You know, if we just take the time to think about it and acknowledging their blessings seemed to make them multiply. After I thanked colleagues for directing cases to me, they referred more. When I expressed gratitude to clients for paying promptly, they began doing so even more quickly. Something more subtle occurred as well. With my thank you notes, I was trying to tell people how much their kindness meant to me. And as they responded to those, the same message reflected back. It was like a boomerang effect.

He wrote a book a couple of years later, a simple act of gratitude. A few days after its release, he said, "I got my first thank you from a reader." The next week, I received a few more. And then eventually, my publisher sent a whole box of thank yous. My readers showed me how the effects of gratitude continue to ripple out. A nursing home patient who was paralyzed on her right side said she was grateful that she was born left-handed and had written notes to the staff.

One woman went in person to deliver her message to a former teacher who read that note and she wept. The teacher did. She'd been working for 23 years and to her testimony, no one had ever done what this previous student did by coming back and giving her a note of thanks. Don Kley goes on to finish the article this way. My circumstances have improved immeasurably since that New Year's Day hike. I'm now in great shape. I ran a marathon to benefit leukemia research.

I found a small but lovely house versus the depressing apartment and I was appointed to my dream job superior court judge. Having written my 860th note, I can say I keep learning that gratitude is a path to peace we all seek. Recently, a friend who supported and led me to write my book passed away. On my desk is a thank you note from him, and I pray that the heartfelt note I had sent to him did not go unread. At sad times like those, I return to the practice that turned my life around. I sit and think about the people to whom I owe so much.

Then I take out my pen and write. We have so much to be thankful for. We are have so much to be thankful for. The attitude. Thanksgiving means having an attitude of gratitude. An attitude of gratitude. The unthankful heart and mind seems to see no blessing, no positive, no mercies. But the thankful heart is like a magnet. It'll just sweep through a day and it'll pick up blessings and gifts and good things that would have been overlooked before. Because thankfulness is focusing on what you have rather than what you don't have.

Somebody asked this question. What if you woke up today with only the things you thank God for yesterday? Causes pause to think, doesn't it? One one minister said, "God won't bless you with more than you can thank him for." That makes you want to get to thanking him. I can hear the Bronx brogue in this little uh poem. It was a fellow who grew up in a family who didn't have very much and he wrote this. He was a New Yorker. The rich eat ham and turkey. He's writing this around Thanksgiving time. The rich eat ham and turkey. The poor eat tuna.

Doesn't take as long to cook, so we eat suna. You can always find something. You can always find something. Hey everybody, we can always find something to be thankful for. You can't keep an unthankful person propped up and you can't keep a thankful person down. And our main aim and source is being thankful to God. And we've lived that out already tonight. And I'm glad that we do. We have praise and worship in our worship services. And it doesn't stop there. Thanksgiving has been laced in your life throughout this entire week.

Because you and I do not wait to get to the house of God to thank God, but we thank him throughout our day. Many times we just say, "Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus." And we mean it. We mean it because of his blessing and his gift. There's no doubt as to who deserves the greatest thanks, who deserves the most thanks. I declare tonight it is God. It is God. Follow with me if you would in Psalm 136. Oh, give thanks unto the Lord. Verse one. For he is good, for his mercy endureth forever.

Oh, give thanks unto the God of gods, for his mercy endureth forever. What are you doing, Psalmist? You're saying it over and over again. Yeah, it's worth saying over and over again. Oh, give thanks to the Lord of Lords, for his mercy endureth forever. And then as the psalm unfolds and the writer writes with anointing, he's just not trying to fill up p the pages. He's not trying to fill up verses for us to have to teach from when he repeats, "For his mercy endureth forever." He was feeling that from his heart. And I'm feeling it right now.

The psalmist keeps saying and eight times in the next 14 verses he says our thanks belongs to him. Watch this verse four to him who alone does great wonders or miracles for his mercy endureth forever. To him verse five says who made the heavens. To him stretch out. He's want us to get it. We He deserves all the glory. This service ought to revolve around him. This Bible lesson ought to revolve around him. Our hearts, our lives, our existence revolves around him, to him that made great lights.

And then in verse 10, he starts about the fluctuations and changes of our human life, our human affairs to him that smokeote Egypt in their firstborn. While they were in Egypt and in the trial, they thanked the Lord. To him who divided the sea, thanks for helping escape the trial. And to him that led his people, verse 16, through the wilderness. Thousands of people were in that wilderness. And God was leading them along with Moses and Joshua, pillar of cloud, and a pillar of fire to him that led his people through the wilderness.

And I'm telling you, he's leading his church through this wilderness. We're not in a physical wilderness tonight. But I I think you'd agree, we're in a cultural wilderness. We're in a wilderness of morality. But God is still God. And he's LEADING US, FOLKS. WE'RE not lost. WE'RE NOT LOST. WE'RE NOT AIMLESS. He knows where we're going, and he's leading us. Thanks be unto the Lord. Oh, you talk about reasons to praise him. Verse 17, to him which smokeote great kings.

Throughout scripture, especially in the Psalms, it seems like we're instructed to give him thanks. If you would on your devices or in your Bible, and it'll be up here, Psalm 92 and verse one. It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord and to sing. We've been doing good stuff in here tonight, singing praises unto his name who is the most high. And then he instructs us and this is an important instruction as we be thankful. He said as we enter his presence and come before him.

probably the most familiar verse that holds that concept and literally those words. Psalm 100 and verse4, enter into his gates with help me here, thanksgiving. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise. And here it comes again. Be thankful unto him and bless his name. You know why? We didn't read verse three, but here's why all that's happening. Because it says we are his people. We are the sheep of his pasture. Because we belong to God. You belong to your family. You belong to this church.

You belong are a part of the employment that you are a part of. But first of all, we belong to God. You and I belong to him. Uh and so he the psalmist said, "That's why I'm coming in. I'm not waiting to get warmed up. I'm entering his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise and a little practice that I'm not saying you got to practice this, but this helps me as I begin pre-ervice prayer. Every time I'm here, I start it with I praise you, Lord, and I thank you.

I thank you for all of your goodness and I praise you because there's nobody else like you. Psalm 95 and2. Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms or singing. When we enter or start our prayer, start it with thanksgiving. I'm talking about anytime we pray, start it with thanksgiving. When we enter, start a service, start it with thanksgiving. When we enter, start our worship, whether singing or speaking words of praise or lifting our hands or clapping our hands, do it with thankfulness.

Let thankfulness marinate our songs. I I need to check myself. Did I sing those songs tonight with thankfulness? Isn't it easy after we've been around a while, we can just sing them because we know them and and we sing them and we sometimes don't think about the words or think about the meaning. Think about but God help us to sing because we're thankful. Not singing because of my voice whether it's good or bad. I'm singing because you're good and I'm singing to give you thanks. You see, it's not about the sacrif when we bring the sacrifices of praise.

They brought bulocks, they brought lambs, they brought goats, they brought meal, they brought all of those things, but it wasn't about the meal or the animal. It was about the spirit and the heart of the offerer. God was he said in one place, he said, "I don't need the cattle. I don't need the bulocks. I own it all." I he said, 'I wouldn't ask you. I wouldn't ask you for that because I needed it, but offer it with thanksgiving.

And it may not seem like very much to you the praise that you've offered tonight or you will offer at other times at home or in this service, but offer it with thanks. It means the world to him. I say it means the world to to him as we lace our entry with praise and our sacrifices with praise. Our total relationship with him should be characterized. I'd say start your day with praise and thanksgiving. Thank you, Lord. You gave me rest last night, at least most of the night. Be thankful for what you got. Thank him when you start the job.

Thank him when you start the trip. Thank him when you start the project. He said, "Enter with thanks." He wasn't just talking about when we come to church. He's talking about any entry. Enter with thanksgiving. Our relationship should be characterized by thanks to him. You know, thankfulness is a trademark of a believer. Thankfulness. People can tell the difference when we are thankful. It makes an impact. I'm not going to stay on this long, but there's enough negativity in the world.

Some people are so negative, I think both posts on their car battery are negative. There's a lot out there, but it's not everywhere and it's not everybody. I said it's not everywhere and it's not everybody. There is a thankful people and it's a trademark of the believers. And notice this, he said in the end time, one of the signs of the people of the the ungodly that he's describing in second Timothy are being unthankful. not thankful. The spirit of entitlement I you owe me more. Give me more. I deserve more.

That's a trademark of the end time and the ungodly that he talks about in 2 Timothy 3. He said they will be unthankful. But thankfulness is a trademark of the godly. It's a thread in every area of a godly life because they live a life of thanksgiving. Psalm 107 and verse 21. Oh, and I I hear the the plea in this verse. Oh, that men God was anointing this psalmist to express some things that were in God's heart. Oh, that humanity would praise. And that word there is thank the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men.

And verse 22, and let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving and declare his works with rejoicing. He wants us to praise or to thank him for his goodness. And you could transfer into that the words kindness or mercy or favor and many other synonyms for goodness. Oh, thank the Lord for his goodness and thank him for his wonderful works. You know that the root word of that phrase means too hard or too difficult.

meaning thank him for that wonderful work that would be too hard or too difficult for you and I to replicate but he can do anything and so we thank him. How how many of you would testify God worked something out that you had tried to work out and it didn't work out but God worked it out. Some of you have a situation I feel the spirit of faith right now. I feel a spirit of faith here. God is working on something for you and he's going to do a wonderful miracle and a wonderful work.

Uh, and we may have tried and I think we should try at times, but there's a God who is still a miracle worker. And you know what that clapped hands is? That's a praise to the Lord. Thank you, Lord. In verse 22, he talked about the sacrifices of thanksgiving. Sometimes it'll be a sacrifice to be thankful. We won't feel like it is what that means. We won't feel like it. It won't look like we ought to praise him. And if somebody saw us praising God, it might raise a question in their mind. How can they praise God right now with what they're going through?

But sometimes thanksgiving is a sacrifice. It's beyond what we feel. Sometimes we won't like the circumstances, but there will always be something to praise him for. And then in verse 22, he wraps that verse up by saying, "Declare his works. Tell about it. Testify." I just want to drop this in somebody's heart. This isn't in the notes, but you've got something that the Lord's done for you, and there are some listening ears that are waiting to hear that test. Testify. Testify. Tell about his works with rejoicing. Will you tell about it?

Let there be an excitement. Let there be an enthusiasm. Thank you, pastor, for giving us those victory reports that you give. And thank you for giving them with rejoicing and enthusiasm. I don't want to let that ever grow old here in a victory report. about the touch of God and the power of God. I've been raised in this all my life. I've heard thousands of praise reports, but I'm ready for the next one. How about you? I'm ready for the next one because God is great and his glory is great and he deserves the glory.

We can tell it like you ought to experience this and you can experience it and he can do it for you just like he did it for me. Psalm 147. We talked already talked about how we sung a while ago, but there can be thanksgiving in our music and in our singing. And not only the words, but the spirit that is in it. Psalm 147 and verse 7. Sing unto the Lord. I just had this thought of trying to sing that verse. I'm not. That was only a thought. That wasn't God.

I don't think it was John Maxwell talks about being in this service and there was a man who got up to sing and it was awful. But the man had prefaced his song by saying, "The Lord gave me this voice and the Lord gave me this song." And Mr. Maxwell sitting back there behind him as pastor saying, "You gave him that. Sing unto the Lord." I think we ought to sing as right as we can, as on key as we can. And if you can't get on key, get out of the microphone. Bless your heart. I've not heard anybody sing off key in a long time.

Well, I take that back, you know, and I enjoy those songs that have the word thank or thanks. I would you help me just a minute? I want you to shoot out some songs that come to your mind with with thanks. My favorite song is my thanks to him. One of my favorite songs. What else? Thank God for the blood. Hallelujah. Come on. Come on. You unthankful lot. Give me some blood. What? We give thanks to you, oh Lord. Thank you, Jesus, for the blood applied. Thank you, Jesus. It's washed me white. Thank you, Lord, for saving my soul.

Thank you, Lord, for making me whole. Thank you, Lord, for giving to me this great salvation so full and free. It's all over the place, folks. Hallelujah. We got something to sing about it. He said, "Put it in your songs." 2 Coronicles chapter 5 verse 13. It came even to pass as the trumpeters, this is when the glory came in, they couldn't even stand to minister. The trumpeters and singers were as one to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the Lord.

And when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets, you know, when we sing in congregational sing, lift your voice. I've already made some of you uncomfortable talking about singing off key. Sorry, I wasn't trying to discourage singing, but lift your voice. This isn't a funeral home. Hallelujah. You're singing with a loud voice and a loud noise to give glory to God. And there's thanksgiving laced into that song. Lift up your voice with the trumpets and symbols and instruments of music. They praise the Lord saying, "For he is good." There it is again.

His mercy endureth forever. It's only by the mercy of the Lord we're here. And then watch this. You talk about some powerful services. And then I can feel his presence right now. It may be what it felt like that day in the temple. Then the house was filled with a cloud. Even the house of the Lord so that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud. for the glory of the Lord. Not the beauty of the music or the beauty of the song. And I thank God for all of that. But it was the glory of the Lord that filled the house.

Congregation, singers, musicians, keep thankfulness in your music, in your singing, in your talent, everything that you do. There can even be thanksgiving and thankfulness in prayer. Philippians 4 and verse 6 be careful the word there is anxious worried be worried about or for nothing to where it overwhelms you but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be known unto the Lord. I just interpret that to say instead of whining worship, let your request be made known with thanksgiving.

We can give thanks for the unseen and give thanks for the unknown blessings that are already on their way. We can thank the Lord ahead of time. There's some great results of thanksgiving. An online article entitled the benefits of being grateful that you may not know about. Quote, "Expressing appreciation and being thankful can reduce depression." This this is from medical journals. reduce depression, lower blood pressure. I take amloopene, but I might not have to take as much if I get more thankful.

You know, it's hard to worry and be thankful at the same time. It increases energy and happiness and even prolongs your life. Gratitude also increases the feel-good neurotransmitters, dopamine and serotonin, and helps deflect negative thoughts. And there's other research and other things that's just natural, physical, emotional. And you know what? God put this body together. That could be one of the reason I believe it is one of the reasons he talks about living a life of thanksgiving.

There would be less worry, less anxiety, less care as we give thanks to the Lord. It magnifies God. Psalm 69:30, I will praise the name of the Lord with a song and will magnify him with thanksgiving. The results of thankfulness are magnifying God, exalting God. It brings deliverance. Jonah's down there in the belly of that whale. And the scripture says, "I will sacrifice unto thee with a voice of thanksgiving." You talk about in a bad spot, but he thanks God from that whale's belly. He makes a commitment and he has a great faith in God.

It will bring us peace. You know the first time the word thanks or thanksgiving is mentioned in scripture is Leviticus chapter 7 and verse 12 through f 15 and it talks about the peace offering and the offer expressing thankfulness for the peace that he has with God. God wants to give us peace tonight in this service. He wants to bring peace to this service. offer it for a thanksgiving, that sacrifice of thanksgiving. And he tells all the things that could be offered. I just encourage you tonight. Give God thanks. Let's get real practical here.

Name some specific, some common, some small things to give him thanks for and then renew a commitment in your life. The aim of this lesson is not to say we haven't been thanking God, but it's to amplify that praise and to renew that commitment to give him thanks and reaffirm the thankfulness. Pray that thankfulness is a trademark of your life and make a personal determination you're going to live a life of thanks living and then expect and believe the results. Would you stand with me, please?

When you make a request, make it with thanksgiving to the Lord. That's what he said to do. Thank you, Lord, for what you've already done. Thank you, Lord, for what I know that you are able to do. He's a great God. He's a great God. Would you just lift up hands and lift up your voice? And I want us just to thank him. Use your voice. And I Lord, I want to use my heart mainly to give you thanks. I don't want it to be just ritual or tradition at any time, including tonight. But we do owe you so much. Just APC itself, just our blessings that we have here.

I want to thank you, oh Lord. I want to thank you, Jesus. I want to thank you, oh Lord. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.