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THANKSGIVING: The Outward Expression of an Inward Reality - The proclamation of gratitude 11-17-24
THANKSGIVING: The Outward Expression of an Inward Reality - The proclamation of gratitude 11-17-24
INTRODUCTION
A young salesman lands a job selling new windows door to door. On his first day of the job he comes across this sweet older lady who agrees to purchase a beautiful new window in her living room. A few days after the job was completed the salesmen gets a call from the lady informing him that she is not happy with the view from her new window.
Wanting to make a good impression at his new job the young salesmen works with the lady and replaces the window with a much larger one at no additional cost.
A few days pass and he once again gets a call from the lady saying that she is not happy with the view from her window; once again the salesman doubles the size of the window at no additional cost.
As predicted a few days pass and the lady calls him again letting him know that she is not happy with the view from her new window. The young salesman explains to the woman that he has just installed the newest, most efficient, largest window that the company sells and asks her what the problem is with the window.
The lady responds that every time she looks out the large new window she can still see the ugly old oak tree in her front yard.
Bill Love, Sermon Central, July 29, 2009.
We need to act grateful.
“And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”
Colossians 3:17 NIV
John Henry Jowett said, “Gratitude is a vaccine, an antitoxin, and an antiseptic.”
“Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others.”
Cicero
“What shall I return to the Lord for all his goodness to me? I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord. I will fulfill my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people.”
Psalm 116:12-14 NIV
I. RECOGNIZING GOD’S GOODNESS TO YOU
“Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 NIV
A. Count your blessings
What is your second greatest blessing? How many blessings were in the running?
B. How has God been good to you?
In a sense, gratitude is an expression of modesty. In Hebrew, the word for gratitude - hoda’ah - is the same as the word for confession. To offer thanks is to confess dependence, to acknowledgment that others have the power to benefit you, to admit that your life is better because of their efforts. That frame of mind is indispensable to civilized society.
Jeff Jacoby, "The Power of Giving Thanks,” Boston Globe Staff, 11/23/2000.
C. God’s blessings in Jesus
A lady was on a lake steamer when her little girl fell overboard, and the woman was almost frantic. A gentleman on the boat had a large Newfoundland dog. The dog was directed to leap into the water and save the child. He did so and swam ashore with the little girl, part of her dress in his mouth, I suppose. The mother seized her saved child, and kissed her again and again. Then turning to the dog, she hugged and kissed that dog, with a heart full of gratitude to the animal.
That’s more than some people have ever done for Jesus Christ, although He hung on the cross to save them from sin and hell.
William Moses Tidwell, "Pointed Illustrations."
II. CALLING ON THE NAME OF THE LORD
"If Jesus Christ be God and died for me," said the great British athlete C. T. Studd, "then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for him."
Norman Grubb, C. T. Studd, Cricketer and Pioneer, p. 141.
A. Verbal proclamation
Too often our gratitude is dependent upon the circumstances of life. A beautiful hymn was written by Martin Rinkart during the thirty-year war to help us look beyond our circumstances and see the hand of God. Rinkart was a pastor in Saxony, Germany as the turbulent years of the war dragged on. For a time he was the only pastor in his town. His pastoral duties caused him to preside at nearly 4500 burials in 1637 alone. In the context of this sad situation and these unfavorable circumstances he penned the words to Now Thank We All Our God. It is a hymn of unconditional gratitude to God.
Now thank we all our God
With Heart, hands, and voices
Who wondrous things has done
In whom his world rejoices
Thankful people don’t have to have everything going their way to rejoice.
John Roy, Sermon Central, January 19, 2001.
“I will give thanks to the Lord because of his righteousness; I will sing the praises of the name of the Lord Most High.”
Psalms 7:17 NIV
B. Speaking to God
Fanny Crosby was only six weeks old when she developed a minor eye inflammation. It was a simple thing to treat even in 1820, the year she was born. All the doctor had to do was apply some poultices to her eyes with a little medication. Only the doctor that treated Fanny Crosby was careless. He put too much medication in the poultices, and she went totally and permanently blind.
Later in life, she said of the doctor, "If I could meet him now, I would say 'thank you' over and over again for making me blind." That’s because she saw her blindness as a gift from God. It’s what helped her see Jesus in ways others seldom saw Him, for her blindness had given her spiritual insight few ever had. (Bible Illustrator #500-502, 10/1988.19)
C. Philip Green,Sermon Central, “The Blind See,” 10/28/2009.
C. The name of the Lord
“I will praise God’s name in song and glorify him with thanksgiving. This will please the Lord more than an ox, more than a bull with its horns and hooves.”
Psalms 69:30-31 NIV
D. Private or public?
III. PROCLAIMING GRATITUDE FOR GOD’S GOODNESS TO YOU
A. Say something that shows you are thankful.
B. Tell someone else that you are thankful to God.
C. Challenge others to proclaim gratitude to God.
“Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.”
Psalms 100:1-5 NIV
CONCLUSION
We must recognize God’s goodness to us. We must “call on the name of the Lord.” We must proclaim our gratitude for God’s goodness to us.
To illustrate how we often fail to give God the thanks he deserves, Chuck Swindoll told the following story of a man he visited in a dismal veterans hospital:
The day I arrived to visit, I saw a touching scene. This man had a young son, and during his confinement in the hospital, he had made a little wooden truck for his boy. Since the boy was not allowed to go into the ward and visit his father, an orderly had brought the gift down to the child, who was waiting in front of the hospital with his mother. The father was looking out of a fifth-floor window, watching his son unwrap the gift.
The little boy opened the package, and his eyes got wide when he saw that wonderful little truck. He hugged it to his chest.
Meanwhile, the father was walking back and forth waving his arms behind the windowpane, trying to get his son’s attention.
The little boy put the truck down and reached up and hugged the orderly and thanked him for the truck. And all the while the frustrated father was going through these dramatic gestures, trying to say, "It’s me, son. I made the truck for you. I gave that to you. Look up here!" I could almost read his lips.
Finally the mother and the orderly turned the boy’s attention up to that fifth-floor window. It was then the boy cried, "Daddy! Oh, thank you! I miss you, Daddy! Come home, Daddy. Thank you for my truck." And the father stood in the window with tears pouring down his cheeks.
How much like that child we are.
Neil Olcott, "Our Identity In Christ," 7/9/2009.
INVITATION
It is our custom to offer an "invitation" following the preaching of the Word. You may want to follow Jesus. You may want to proclaim your faith. You may want to repent (stop doing ungodly things and start doing Godly things). Perhaps you want to be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Possibly, if you have already responded to God’s call in these ways, you would like to become a member of Kenwood Church. If you have been moved by the Holy Spirit to make a decision in your life, you can come forward now. If you would like, I would be honored to speak with you following the service about what God is doing in your life.
Wednesday, November 13, 2024
Sunday, November 10, 2024
Saturday, November 9, 2024
THANKSGIVING: The Outward Expression of an Inward Reality - The cup of salvation 11-10-24
THANKSGIVING: The Outward Expression of an Inward Reality - The cup of salvation 11-10-24
INTRODUCTION
Thanksgiving - my reasons for giving thanks
Let's consider the first Thanksgiving in America. It was in the fall of 1621, one year after the Pilgrim’s landed. There was great affliction in their voyage. 102 Pilgrims the left Holland, stopped briefly in England before sailing to America. They were at sea for 66 days. There were fierce Atlantic storms, so severe that at the half-way point, the sailors debated whether or not to turn back to England. Their accommodations were very limited, with all 102 Pilgrims below deck in the ship’s hold which was smaller than a volleyball court! With the hatches closed to keep out the beating ocean, the air grew foul, making their sea-sick condition even worse. There were no fires, and little water. Two Pilgrims did not survive the journey, and two were born during the journey.
When they landed in Massachusetts, they had no place to go. There were no villages. No stores. No one to welcome them. No way to restock their ship. They lived on and off the ship, surviving basically on the ships provision through the first winter. They built one make-shift building, and lived in fear of the Natives who were not known. They were supposed to land somewhere north of current NYC on the Hudson river, but strong winds kept them from getting there. 47 of the 102 pilgrims died during the first winter!
Govenor William Bradford wrote concerning their faith, “God gave them health and strength in a good measure; and shewed them by experience ye truth of ye word, Deut. 8. 3. Yet man liveth not by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of ye mouth of ye Lord doth a man live.
Bradford, William (2011-03-17). Bradford’s History of ’Plimoth Plantation’ From the Original Manuscript. With a Report of the Proceedings Incident to the Return of the Manuscript to Massachusetts (p. 133). Kindle Edition.
“What shall I return to the Lord for all his goodness to me? I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord. I will fulfill my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people.”
Psalm 116:12-14 NIV
I. RECOGNIZING GOD’S GOODNESS TO YOU
A. Count your blessings
While on a short-term missions trip, Pastor Jack Hinton was leading worship at a leper colony on the island of Tobago. A woman who had been facing away from the pulpit turned around.
"It was the most hideous face I had ever seen," Hinton said. "The woman's nose and ears were entirely gone. She lifted a fingerless hand in the air and asked, 'Can we sing Count Your Many Blessings?'"
Overcome with emotion, Hinton left the service. He was followed by a team member who said, "I guess you’ll never be able to sing that song again."
"Yes, I will," he replied, "but I’ll never sing it the same way."
Guy McGraw, Sermon Central, February 16, 2012.
B. How has God been good to you?
C. God’s blessings in Jesus
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us.”
Ephesians 1:3-8a NIV
D. Jesus’ cup
“Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.””
Matthew 26:39 NIV
“Jesus commanded Peter, “Put your sword away! Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?””
John 18:11 NIV
“In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.”
Luke 22:20 NIV
II. LIFTING UP THE CUP OF SALVATION
“Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.””
Acts 4:12 NIV
A. The cup symbolizes something received.
B. The lifting up of the cup symbolizes an oath.
C. The cup of salvation is a reminder that salvation is a gift.
D. This act is an outward expression of an inward reality.
“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
After one of the terrible battles of the Civil War, a dying Confederate soldier asked to see the chaplain. When the chaplain arrived, he supposed the young man would wish him to ask God for his recovery; but it was very different.
First the soldier asked him to cut off a lock of his hair for is mother, and then he asked him to kneel down and thank God.
"What for?" asked the surprised chaplain.
"For giving me such a mother. Thank God that I am a Christian. And thank God for giving me grace to die with. And thank God for the home He has promised me over there."
And so the chaplain knelt down by the dying man, and in his prayer he had not a single petition to offer, but only praise and gratitude.
Bill Butsko, Sermon Central, May 9, 2008, from the Christian Herald.
III. DEMONSTRATING GRATITUDE FOR GOD’S GOODNESS TO YOU
Think of that little band of people who crossed the Atlantic in a boat that was 26 feet by 112 feet and landed on the New England coast during a bitter cold winter. At times that first year the daily ration of those who were well was only five grains of corn. In early New England, it was the custom at Thanksgiving time to place five kernels of corn at every plate as a reminder of those stern days in the first winter when the food of the Pilgrims was to depleted that only five kernels of corn were rationed to each individual at a time. The Pilgrim Fathers wanted their children to remember the sacrifice, sufferings, and hardships through which they had safely passed -- a fitting hardship that made possible the settlement of a free people in a free land. They wanted to keep alive the memory of that sixty-three-day trip taken in the tiny Mayflower. They desired to keep alive the thought of that stern and rock-bound coast, its inhospitable welcome, and the first terrible winter which took such a toll of lives.
They did not want their descendants to forget that on that day in which their rations was reduced to five kernels of corn, only seven healthy colonists remained to nurse the sick, and that nearly half their members lay in the windswept graveyard on the hill.
They worked seven years to repay London the loan for their trip. That was before the days of credit cards. After suffering every kind of hardship, they had a harvest of 21 acres of corn and in the fall of 1621, they immediately offered thanks to God for His blessings. This little group led by Gov. William Bradford marched triumphantly through the cornfields singing, "The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and they that dwell therein." Then they sat down to a meal in gladness and joy. They were giving thanks to God no matter what.
Gerald Steffy, Sermon Central, “Thankful No Matter What”, 10/14/2009
A. Do something that shows you are thankful.
B. Say something that shows you are thankful for your salvation.
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.”
1 Peter 1:3-5 NIV
C. Share your hope of salvation with someone else as an act of gratitude.
CONCLUSION
We must recognize God’s goodness to us. We must “lift up the cup of salvation.” We must demonstrate gratitude for God’s goodness to us.
In the 18th-century classic, A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life, William Law made the following statement:
“Would you know who is the greatest saint in the world? It is not he who prays most or fasts most; it is not he who gives most alms or is most eminent for temperance, chastity, or justice; but it is he who is always thankful to God, who wills everything that God wills, who receives everything as an instance of God’s goodness and has a heart always ready to praise God for it. Could you therefore work miracles, you could not do more for yourself than by this thankful spirit, for it turns all that it touches into happiness.”
“Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!”
2 Corinthians 9:15 NIV
INVITATION
It is our custom to offer an "invitation" following the preaching of the Word. You may want to follow Jesus. You may want to proclaim your faith. You may want to repent (stop doing ungodly things and start doing Godly things). Perhaps you want to be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Possibly, if you have already responded to God’s call in these ways, you would like to become a member of Kenwood Church. If you have been moved by the Holy Spirit to make a decision in your life, you can come forward now. If you would like, I would be honored to speak with you following the service about what God is doing in your life.
Sunday, November 3, 2024
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