Thanksgiving Special 2011.

Special Thanksgiving Service

Are we clear on what it is about us that glorifies God?

Noticing how gracious He is!
Rejoicing as He works in our lives to conform us to the image of Christ – the indescribable gift!

They did not honor Him as God…
And they did not give thanks.

Today, we are living in the age of the ungrateful.

Eph 1:3
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,

1 Cor 2:9
but just as it is written,
"THINGS WHICH EYE HAS NOT SEEN AND EAR HAS NOT HEARD,
AND which HAVE NOT ENTERED THE HEART OF MAN,

1 Cor 2:9
ALL THAT GOD HAS PREPARED FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM."

Believers in Christ
stand in the grace place.

What is our part in the grace place?

Gratitude. Thankfulness. Thanksgiving. Joy. Rejoicing. Praise.

At root, thanksgiving is simply joy directed towards God.

Gratitude is the only legitimate response to grace.

And God always calls a people to be the grateful ones.

In fact, the Hebrew word from which we get Jew and Judah means “to give praise” or “to give thanks”.

The tribe of the Lord is the tribe of Thanksgiving!

We give glory to God by being thankful to God.

Eph 5:4
And there must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks.

Eph 5:20
always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father;

So you ask, what is God’s will for my life?

When we thank God for God,
we glorify God.

2 Cor 4:15
For all things are for your sakes, so that the grace which is spreading to more and more people may cause the giving of thanks to abound to the glory of God.

1 Chron 29:13
“Now therefore, our God, we thank You, and praise Your glorious name.”

Rom 1:21
For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

“It is not because things are good that we are to thank the Lord, but because HE is good.”

Hannah Whitall Smith

We are not wise enough to judge as to things, whether they are really, in their essence, joys or sorrows.
 

 
But we always know that the Lord is good.

A traveler is lost at sea.
Joy or sorrow?

A child is kidnapped. Good or evil?

A newborn is taken from his mother’s arms.
Good or evil?

A man goes blind. Joy or sorrow?

What if that traveler is Jonah?

What if the child is Joseph?

 
What if the newborn is Moses?

What if that man is Saul of Tarsus?

We are not wise enough to judge as to things, whether they are really, in their essence, joys or sorrows.
 

 
But we always know that the Lord is good.