September 8, 2025 • 42 mins
Thankfulness is a central characteristic of the believer; is it evident in your life? Pastor Lance teaches from 1 Thessalonians and other Scripture that a thankful heart reveals my conversion to Christ and my commitment to the will of God.
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You know, the model life is a life that's built around
thankfulness, not just joyfulness, and not just
prayerfulness, but thankfulness.The trilogy of commands in First
Thessalonians, chapter 5, verse 1617 and 18 exemplify the life
of adoration, the life that truly adores God and worships
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God. And it's always marked by
joyfulness, prayerfulness, and thankfulness.
Over the last several weeks we have spent time looking at what
it means to rejoice always, verse 16, what it means to pray
without ceasing, verse #17 today, what it means to give
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thanks in everything. For this is God's will in Christ
Jesus concerning you. The will of God is not just to
be thankful. The will of God encompasses the
trilogy of commands. God's design and God's desire
for you is that you be joyful, you be prayerful, and that you
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be thankful. If you want to understand the
will of God for your life, that's where it begins.
If you're looking for God to guide you into a, a new job or
or guide you into the person youare to marry or, or to guide you
and making the right decision. And yet you have a a bad
attitude and are ungrateful and you don't pray always and you
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have a sad heart and not a joyful heart.
Guess what? You're not going to have any
direction whatsoever because God's will for you is that you
be joyful, you be prayerful and you be thankful all the time in
everything. This was guy's not designed for
us. This only one's for his
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children. So incredibly important every
year at at Thanksgiving, which is about 12 weeks away, just in
case you didn't know it's it's right around the corner.
I always tell you that that Thanksgiving is not a holiday
vacation. It's a holy vocation.
We look at Thanksgiving is a time to get away, a vacation
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time, a holiday. You look at it for the wrong
reason. It's a holy vocation.
We've been called by God to givethanks.
Listen to what the psalmist saysin in Psalm 100, very familiar
Psalm to most of us. Shout joyfully to the Lord, all
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the earth. In other words, be joyful.
Serve the Lord with gladness, come before Him with joyful
singing. Know that the Lord himself is
God. It is He who made us in, not we
ourselves. We are His people and the sheep
of His pasture. We've been formed by God.
We've been made by God. We are His people.
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Therefore, enter His gates with Thanksgiving and His courts with
praise. Give thanks to Him.
Bless His name, for the Lord is good, His loving kindness is
everlasting, and His faithfulness to all generations.
Come into His presence with Thanksgiving.
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Enter His courts with praise. When you come to worship the
Lord, you come with a thankful heart, a heart filled with joy
and praise to God. Did you come to church today,
Grumpy? Did you come to church today
with a bad attitude? Did you come to church today
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because things weren't going your way in the car on the way
over? So many times we we get off
kilter by by looking at all the negative circumstances instead
of realizing all the things thatGod has done.
I love what the psalmist says over in Psalm 116.
He says in verse #12 what shouldI render to the Lord for all of
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his benefits toward me? So someone was to ask you a
question and say, OK, what will you render to the Lord?
What will you give to the Lord for all the benefits that he's
bestowed upon you? What would you say?
Psalmist answers. He says, I shall lift up the cup
of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord.
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Because of all the things the Lord has done for me, I will be
#1 prayerful #2 I shall pay my vows to the Lord.
O may it be in the presence of His people.
I will pay my vows. I will be responsible.
Not only will I be prayerful, but I will be dutiful to to
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fulfill my responsibility. And then he says, precious in
the sight of the Lord is the death of his godly ones.
I will be hopeful for 16. Oh Lord, surely I am your
servant. I am your servant, the son of
your handmaid. You have loosed my bonds because
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I'm your servant. I will not just be prayerful,
not just be dutiful, not just behopeful, but I will be useful
because I am your servant and I will be used by you for your
glory. And then he says this to you.
I shall offer a sacrifice of Thanksgiving and call upon the
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name of the Lord. I will be thankful.
I will be thankful. Let me ask you a question.
Does that characterize you today?
William Law, an 18th century writer and preacher, wrote a
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book entitled A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life.
In that book he says this. Would you know who is the
greatest St. in all the world? It is not he who prays most.
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It is not he who fasts most, it is not he who gives most alms or
is most imminent for temperance,chastity, or justice.
But it is he who is always thankful to God, who wills
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everything that God willeth, whoreceives everything as an
instance of God's goodness, and has a heart always ready to
praise God for it. The greatest St. in all the
world is a St. that gives thanksunceasingly to God.
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I wonder if you do that? Paul says we're to give thanks
in everything. In everything in Ephesians 5, he
says we're to give thanks for everything.
So when you think about that andyou think, OK, I'm to give
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thanks for everything, yes, that's what it says.
And in everything, absolutely. But the question comes, do we do
that? And for the most part, we don't.
But you have to realize that that that thankfulness is is
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what sets the Christian apart from everyone else in the world.
In fact, listen to what it says over in second Timothy chapter 3
verse #1 says. But realize this, that in the
last days, difficult times or perilous times will come.
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For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful,
arrogant vilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful.
The characteristic of perilous times and and the word for
perilous or or difficult times is the same word used in Mark's
gospel to talk about a man who was demon possessed.
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So he's talking about demonic times, the times that are
characterized by demons in times.
What is mostly characteristic isthat people will be not just
disobedient to parents, but they're going to be ungrateful.
In fact, Romans one says it thisway, Romans one verse #21 For
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even though they knew God, they did not honor him, ask God, or
give thanks to God. The characteristic of the
unbeliever is that he will not give thanks to God.
Not that he can't, but he won't.He just won't give thanks to
God. And yet the believer is
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characterized by a heart filled with Thanksgiving, filled with
gratitude, filled with gratefulness to their God.
So important. Turn in your Bible, if you
would, to Luke's gospel, the 17th chapter, Luke's gospel, the
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17th chapter. You know the story.
It's a very familiar story, saysin verse #11 when he was on the
way to Jerusalem, he was passingbetween Samaria and Galilee.
As he entered a village, 10 leprous men who stood at a
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distance met him and they raisedtheir voices saying, Jesus,
Master, have mercy on us. Now here are these 10 lepers.
They're in this in the outskirtsof this village, and they see
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Jesus coming. And the reputation of Jesus by
this time is, is all throughout the land of Israel.
Everybody knows who Jesus is. He's the miracle worker.
He takes the blind and causes them to see, takes the lame and
lets them walk, takes the dead and raises them up.
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So here comes Jesus. And so these men who are, who
are filled with leprosy, see this as an opportunity to ask
Jesus to plead with Jesus to have mercy upon them and heal
them. I mean, if it was you, would you
not do that? Of course you would.
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Here's the miracle worker. Here's the all powerful one.
Here's the one that can do what no one else has ever done.
Well, we, we need to ask him to have mercy upon us.
Look what happens next. When he saw them, he said to
them, go and show yourself to the priests in Luke 5, he he
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touched the man with leprosy. He doesn't touch these men.
He doesn't say be healed, don't do that either.
He he wants to to test the meagerness of their faith.
You see, they already believe that Jesus is a miracle worker.
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So they already believe in the power of Jesus.
They already believe in the reputation of Jesus.
So that's their faith. They, they, they believe in who
he is based on what he has done already.
And so he says to them, go and show yourself to the priest.
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Why would we say that? Because Christ came to fulfill
all the law. And the law in Leviticus 17 and
18 would meant that the priest who are the inspectors of those
who are leprous, would determinewhether or not they were healed
or not. And he wants them to go to the
priest, because 10 men who are filled with leprosy, who are
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healed is an overwhelming example of the power of God to
the priest of Israel that they would not be able to deny.
And so he says, go and show yourself to the priests.
And so they all get up and they make their way toward the temple
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in Jerusalem, so says. And as they were going, they
were cleansed. So uneventful, so low key, No
balloons, no whistles, no lights, no hoopla, nothing like
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that. Just as they were going, they
were cleansed. This is a remarkable
understatement in the Scriptures, but that's what the
the Lord wanted to say. And then it says this.
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Now one of them we saw that he had been healed.
Turn back, turn back, glorifyingGod with a loud voice and fell
on his face at his feet, giving thanks.
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He was a Samaritan. See, this man wanted physical
cleansing, but he knew he neededspiritual cleansing, and so he
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knew that. So he went back to the one who
cleansed him and glorified his name with a loud voice, No shame
praising his name, then falling down before him, because worship
is known by a thankful heart. Not only am I joyful and
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prayerful, but I am thankful. It's the model life of
adoration. So he here, here, he adores his
God. He falls before him and gives
thanks to him. He recognizes his deity, He
understands his iniquity, and hecries out for mercy.
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And Christ responds with three simple questions.
Were there not ten cleansed that, he says, but they're 9.
Where are they? Was no one found who returned to
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give glory to God except this foreigner, this Samaritan?
Was no one willing to to exalt God?
Was no one willing to adore God,to worship God except this one
person? You see, they're, they're
indicative of Israel. They, they want Jesus to do for
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them. When Jesus feeds them, they're
great. They love him.
When Jesus heals them, they are ecstatic.
But when Jesus preaches to them,they can't stand him.
They just love what Jesus does for them.
They were consumers, a lot like people today and in the church.
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They go to church for what the church can do for them.
They are called consumer Christians.
Can the church do this for me? Can the church do that for me?
Can the church meet this need? Can the church meet that need?
That's the way the Israel was with with with Jesus.
Do this for me. Jesus He did because he's a God
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of grace, mercy, compassion, andlove.
Were there not ten? There were cleansed.
Where are the other nine? Where'd they go?
How come they're not with you? Do they not want to recognize
God and give glory to his name? He said to him, Stand up and go.
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Your faith has made you well. The word for well is sodzo, most
common word for salvation in theTestament.
Your faith has saved you. See, the unbeliever doesn't care
to give thanks. There's a want to give thanks.
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The believer cannot help but give thanks.
That's the difference. And that's why the model life is
filled with with adoration. And yet, yet we find it's such a
hard thing to be thankful in everything.
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Turn with me in your Bible to another passage.
Again, another familiar one, butalways good to be reminded.
And that's the passage in the book of Philippians, Philippians
chapter 2. So we are to give thanks in
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everything. First Thessalonians 518 we're to
give thanks for everything or for all things.
Ephesians 520 so Paul is going to turn that around and say
these words in Philippians 214 do all things, all things, all
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things without what grumbling and disputing.
So in all things, give thanks, give thanks for all things, so
that in all things you do not grumble or complain.
The word for dispute is a is a word to question.
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Do all things without questioning.
That's very hard for us, isn't it?
We always want to know the answer.
Why? Why?
Why do I have to do this? Why do I have to obey that
command? Why do I have to forget that
person? Why?
And God just give commands. He doesn't give suggestions and
he doesn't OfferUp an opinion. He just gives you commands.
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And the word for grumbling is a is a word for complaining.
Complaining. Now maybe that's not you today,
but people have all kinds of things to complain about.
They complain because we have bagels and not doughnuts in
between services. Figure that.
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Figure that they complain because there's not air
conditioning in the foyer. But there's a method to our
madness. It gets you into the auditorium
quicker where it is air conditioned.
But we complain there's no air conditioning in the foyer.
We complain about how long it takes to sign in our children to
take in the class. We complain about where we have
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to park in the middle of someoneon the outskirts of someone on
the other side of the auditorium.
We, there are so many things that we complain about.
We don't even think about it. If Paul says, I want you to do
all things without complaining, as a mother, I, I want you to,
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to care for your children without complaining, without
grumbling, right? You ask the Lord for children.
The Lord gives you a gift, and then you complain about how much
time it takes to take care of the children.
Why would you do that? There are gifts from God.
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If we find ways to complain and grumble, we complain because I
no longer can do the things I used to do when I didn't have
children, but now that I have children, I can't do those
things anymore. So I complain about not having
time to do those things and I begin to grumble and mumble.
You see, we find so many things to to complain and moan and and
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groan about. And Paul says just the reverse
of Ephesians 520 and 1st. That's why it's 518 and
everything that you do, don't complain and do not grumble.
Do not question. So that what you will prove
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yourselves to be blameless, innocent children of God above
reproach, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation,
among whom you appear as lights in the world, in order to prove
that you are different than the world, in order to prove that
you are a light in the world, inorder to prove that you are a
child of God. It comes because you do not
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complain and you do not question.
I love the words of Thomas Watson, that great Puritan
preacher and writer, when he said this.
By praise a Christian excels allthe infernal spirits.
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Do you talk of God? So does the devil.
He brought scripture to Christ. Do you profess religion?
So can the devil. He transforms himself into an
Angel of light. Do you fast?
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The devil never eats. Do you believe the devils have a
faith of ascent? They believe, and yet they
tremble. But as Moses worked such a
miracle as none of the magicianscould reproduce, so here is a
work Christians may be doing which no or none of the devils
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can do, and that is the work of Thanksgiving.
Devils can't do that. Only the Christian can.
The world grumbles and Mumbles and moans and groans and
disputes, right? But the Christian, no, he, he
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proves himself different than the world.
He's he's completely the opposite.
He's given thanks in all things and for all things.
I love the story that Spurgeon tells when he says I once heard
a a touchy story about a poor woman with two children who had
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no bed for them to sleep in, andscarcely any clothes to cover
them. In the depth of winter.
They were nearly frozen, and themother took the door of a cellar
off the hinges and set it up before the corner where they
crouched to sleep, that some of the draft and cold might be kept
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from them. One of the children whispered to
her when the mother complained. Mother, what do those dear
little children do who have no cellar door to put up in front
of them, hmm? Spurgeon says.
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Even there you see the little heart found cause for
thankfulness. Thankful for a cellar door that
just blocks some of the cold. Not all the cold, but just some
of the cold. And what do those children do
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who have no cellar door to blockthe cold for them?
A heart of thankfulness. Now I know that most of us hear
this and think little of it. It's not that big a deal.
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Oh, it's a big deal. Let me show you turn to 1st
Corinthians chapter 10, First Corinthians chapter 10 and let
me show you how big a deal this is.
First one for I do not want you to be uninformed, brethren.
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I don't want you to, the King James Version says.
I don't want you to be ignorant,brethren, that our fathers were
all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all
were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all
ate the same spiritual food, andall drank the same spiritual
drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which
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followed them, and the rock was Christ.
He talks about Israel's privileges and all that they had
as a unit, as a nation that camefrom God.
Verse 5. Nevertheless, with most of them
God was not pleased, for they were laid low in the wilderness.
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This is a nice way of saying they died in the wilderness.
Here was this nation who received all these blessings
from God, and they received themall at once as a as a nation of
of 2 million Jews. But nevertheless, for a lot of
them, God was not even pleased with them.
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So he killed them in the wilderness for six.
Now these things happen as examples for us so that we would
not crave evil things as they also crave.
This is an example. This is an illustration Paul was
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telling the Church of Corinth. Look, these are examples of what
not to do. He says verse 7, do not be
idolatrous as some of them were.As it is written, the people sat
down to eat and drink, and stoodup to play.
Nor verse 8 Let us act immorally, as some of them did,
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and 23,000 fell in one day. Nor let us try the Lord, as some
of them did, and were destroyed by the serpents.
Nor grumble question as some of them did and were destroyed by
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the destroyer. We understand where God would
kill those who committed idolatry.
We understand that God would kill those who committed
immorality. But why would God kill somebody
who grumbles? I mean, compare the two
grumbling, idolatry, complaining, immorality.
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In our minds, they're like, whoa, there's such a difference
between the two sins. But in God's mind, sin is still
sin. And of course, the reference is
Numbers chapter 16, where they're in Numbers 16.
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Cora Dathan in a Byram rebelled against the leadership of Moses
and Aaron, and God opened up theground and swallowed them and
their families all alive, and then closed the ground over
them. And then 250 other men thought
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that he could act like priests. And God sent fire down from
heaven and incinerated those men.
And the people complained. They grumbled, They questioned
Moses, and then questioning Moses, they were questioning
God. Why would God do this?
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Why would God lead us out here and then kill us?
And God was incensed. So instead of plague and killed
14,700 of them, if it wasn't forMoses and Aaron interceding on
Israel's behalf, he probably would have killed every single
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one of them. Grumbling questions and doubts.
God's sovereignty, His goodness,His mercy, His Providence.
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When you begin to grumble and complain, you are saying, God,
you didn't do it good enough, oryou didn't do it right, or you
didn't do it in my way, because my way is better than God's way.
You gave me this when I asked for that, You did this when I
wanted that and to begin to complain.
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Husbands do it all the time, following in the footsteps of
Adam. When Adam said it's the woman
you gave me Lord, he blamed the Lord.
He grumbled to complain because of sin, because of the woman
that God gave him. See and see.
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Isn't it a miracle that that that God doesn't kill us when we
grumble? Think about that.
Think. Think about your day.
Think about your week, how many times you complained about what
was taking place in your life, your family, your work, your
school, because things didn't gothe way you thought they should
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go. So you criticize, You moan, you
complain, you groan over and over and over again.
And God in his grace allows you to continue living.
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That is a that is a walking miracle of God that you're still
alive today even though you disobey the commands of God.
So Paul says, do not grumble, donot complain about anything,
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just don't do it instead in everything and for it just give
thanks to God. Can you do that?
If you're an unbeliever, you cannot do that.
You don't even want to do that. If you're a believer, your
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hearts cry as Lord, I want to, Iwant to cry out to you and, and
thankfulness for what you've done.
Am I to thank the Lord for for abad marriage?
Absolutely, absolutely. Because why is the marriage bad?
Is it just all on him or all on her?
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Or do you play a part in it as well?
And bad is relative, is it not? To you?
Your bad marriage might be good to somebody else's marriage, I
don't know. But do you rejoice with the wife
of your youth? That's what Solomon says.
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Rejoice with the wife of your youth.
But we want to complain about the wife of our youth because
she doesn't do what she used to do.
Well, that's no good. Who's that help?
We, we had to give thanks for everything in everything.
And I know that some of you right now your, your wheels are
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spinning in your mind and you'relooking for an excuse that says,
you know God. I know that God does not expect
me to give thanks in this situation or for this situation.
I know you're, you're thinking that and you're going to ask the
question, well, what do you meanthat I in this situation or, or
in this circumstance or or in this way or I know you're asking
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that question in your own mind. We all do.
But can't we just rest in what God has said, because
thankfulness reveals so much about our lives?
It reveals #1 this is my outline.
This is all introduction up to now.
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It reveals our conversion to Christ.
That's the Philippians 2 says. It reveals our conversion to
Christ. That's what Luke 17 said.
We read about the 10 lepers, butlisten to what Paul says in
Colossians 2. Therefore, as you have received
Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him.
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How did you receive Him? By faith or by grace through
faith, right? So you walk by faith, by the
grace of God, have you been firmly rooted and now being
built up in Him and established in your faith just as you were
instructed and overflowing with gratitude.
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What a statement. Overflowing with gratitude,
because what thankfulness does is reveal my conversion to
Christ. There's been a transformation.
I'm not like the Pagan world. I'm not ungrateful.
I'm not unthankful. I am not the person who just
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tries to consume from God. I really want to obey God and
thank him for what he's done andgive praise to his glorious
name. So it reveals my conversion to
Christ. 2nd Corinthians 915 Thanks being to God for His
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indescribable gift. I'm not so sure we understand
the indescribable nature of the gift of God, because if we did,
we'd be giving thanks all the time.
Fact. You got to get used to it
because the Book of Revelation says this.
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And when the living creatures gave glory and honor and thanks
to him who sits on the throne, to him who lives forever and
ever, the 24 elders which is thechurch will fall down before him
who sits on the throne and will worship him who lives forever
and ever, and will cast their crowns before the throne,
saying, Worthy are you our Lord and our God to receive glory and
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honor and power. For you created all things, and
because of your will they existed and were created. 4
Living creatures stand around the throne of God, always saying
holy, holy, holy is the Lord GodAlmighty.
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Holy, holy, holy is the Lord GodAlmighty.
Worship him, praise him, honor him with Thanksgiving.
And they haven't been redeemed, for living creatures have not
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been redeemed. They're spirit beings, they're
angels. But us, we've been redeemed.
And so a thankful heart reveals #1 my conversion to Christ #2 it
reveals my commitment to the will of God, my commitment to
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the will of God. In other words, this is the will
of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
What? That you give thanks in all
things. So now I'm, I'm going to reveal
my commitment to God. Lord, not only am I converted by
you, I am committed to you so much so that I will purpose in
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my heart to give thanks to you in everything.
Remember Jonah, the will of God was for Jonah to go to Nineveh
to give thanks and everything. Jonah wasn't about to give
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thanks nor go to Nineveh. He went the opposite way.
And you know the story so overboard, swallowed by a great
fish. He's in the belly of the fish
and listen to what he says in the belly of the fish.
While I was fainting away, verse7 of Jonah chapter 2, I
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remembered the Lord. It's always good to remember the
Lord, especially when you're in the belly of a fish.
I remember the Lord, and my prayer came to you into your
holy temple. Those who regard vain idols
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forsake their faithfulness. He did.
He forsook His faithfulness. He forsook His commitment
because he regarded vain idols. It's in this case was him the
worship of himself that he wouldnot go and preach the gospel to
the Ninevites because they were an ungodly nation.
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And those who regard their idolsalways forsake their
faithfulness, their commitment. Why do we forsake our commitment
to giving thanks to God? Because we have another idol,
something more important to us than the true living God.
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So he says. But I will sacrifice to you with
the voice of Thanksgiving that which I have vowed.
I will pay salvation from the Lord.
Then the Lord commanded the fishand vomited Jonah up on dry
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land. Maybe, just maybe, God is
patiently waiting for your situation, your attitude to say,
Lord, I have forsaken my commitment.
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I will sacrifice to you with thevoice of Thanksgiving.
I will thank you that I am single and not married.
I will thank you that I am married but can't have children.
I will thank you that even though I want to be physically
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better, I know that Your grace is sufficient for me.
And I thank you. And maybe it's that time that
God throws you up out of your situation onto solid ground.
I don't know. But I do know this Thanksgiving
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reveals my conversion to Christ.It reveals my commitment to the
will of God. What else does it reveal?
Well, you're going to have to come back next week.
Figure that one out. Let's pray.
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Lord, we are grateful for today.Truly, Lord, you are a great
God. Forgive us for our ingratitude.
Pray that all of our lives will be challenged today to live for
the glory and honor of Your name.
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Then we might give praise and Thanksgiving to you in Jesus
name, Amen.
You know, the model life is a life that's built around
thankfulness, not just joyfulness, and not just
prayerfulness, but thankfulness.The trilogy of commands in First
Thessalonians, chapter 5, verse 1617 and 18 exemplify the life
of adoration, the life that truly adores God and worships
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God. And it's always marked by
joyfulness, prayerfulness, and thankfulness.
Over the last several weeks we have spent time looking at what
it means to rejoice always, verse 16, what it means to pray
without ceasing, verse #17 today, what it means to give
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thanks in everything. For this is God's will in Christ
Jesus concerning you. The will of God is not just to
be thankful. The will of God encompasses the
trilogy of commands. God's design and God's desire
for you is that you be joyful, you be prayerful, and that you
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be thankful. If you want to understand the
will of God for your life, that's where it begins.
If you're looking for God to guide you into a, a new job or
or guide you into the person youare to marry or, or to guide you
and making the right decision. And yet you have a a bad
attitude and are ungrateful and you don't pray always and you
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have a sad heart and not a joyful heart.
Guess what? You're not going to have any
direction whatsoever because God's will for you is that you
be joyful, you be prayerful and you be thankful all the time in
everything. This was guy's not designed for
us. This only one's for his
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children. So incredibly important every
year at at Thanksgiving, which is about 12 weeks away, just in
case you didn't know it's it's right around the corner.
I always tell you that that Thanksgiving is not a holiday
vacation. It's a holy vocation.
We look at Thanksgiving is a time to get away, a vacation
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time, a holiday. You look at it for the wrong
reason. It's a holy vocation.
We've been called by God to givethanks.
Listen to what the psalmist saysin in Psalm 100, very familiar
Psalm to most of us. Shout joyfully to the Lord, all
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the earth. In other words, be joyful.
Serve the Lord with gladness, come before Him with joyful
singing. Know that the Lord himself is
God. It is He who made us in, not we
ourselves. We are His people and the sheep
of His pasture. We've been formed by God.
We've been made by God. We are His people.
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Therefore, enter His gates with Thanksgiving and His courts with
praise. Give thanks to Him.
Bless His name, for the Lord is good, His loving kindness is
everlasting, and His faithfulness to all generations.
Come into His presence with Thanksgiving.
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Enter His courts with praise. When you come to worship the
Lord, you come with a thankful heart, a heart filled with joy
and praise to God. Did you come to church today,
Grumpy? Did you come to church today
with a bad attitude? Did you come to church today
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because things weren't going your way in the car on the way
over? So many times we we get off
kilter by by looking at all the negative circumstances instead
of realizing all the things thatGod has done.
I love what the psalmist says over in Psalm 116.
He says in verse #12 what shouldI render to the Lord for all of
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his benefits toward me? So someone was to ask you a
question and say, OK, what will you render to the Lord?
What will you give to the Lord for all the benefits that he's
bestowed upon you? What would you say?
Psalmist answers. He says, I shall lift up the cup
of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord.
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Because of all the things the Lord has done for me, I will be
#1 prayerful #2 I shall pay my vows to the Lord.
O may it be in the presence of His people.
I will pay my vows. I will be responsible.
Not only will I be prayerful, but I will be dutiful to to
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fulfill my responsibility. And then he says, precious in
the sight of the Lord is the death of his godly ones.
I will be hopeful for 16. Oh Lord, surely I am your
servant. I am your servant, the son of
your handmaid. You have loosed my bonds because
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I'm your servant. I will not just be prayerful,
not just be dutiful, not just behopeful, but I will be useful
because I am your servant and I will be used by you for your
glory. And then he says this to you.
I shall offer a sacrifice of Thanksgiving and call upon the
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name of the Lord. I will be thankful.
I will be thankful. Let me ask you a question.
Does that characterize you today?
William Law, an 18th century writer and preacher, wrote a
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book entitled A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life.
In that book he says this. Would you know who is the
greatest St. in all the world? It is not he who prays most.
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It is not he who fasts most, it is not he who gives most alms or
is most imminent for temperance,chastity, or justice.
But it is he who is always thankful to God, who wills
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everything that God willeth, whoreceives everything as an
instance of God's goodness, and has a heart always ready to
praise God for it. The greatest St. in all the
world is a St. that gives thanksunceasingly to God.
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I wonder if you do that? Paul says we're to give thanks
in everything. In everything in Ephesians 5, he
says we're to give thanks for everything.
So when you think about that andyou think, OK, I'm to give
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thanks for everything, yes, that's what it says.
And in everything, absolutely. But the question comes, do we do
that? And for the most part, we don't.
But you have to realize that that that thankfulness is is
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what sets the Christian apart from everyone else in the world.
In fact, listen to what it says over in second Timothy chapter 3
verse #1 says. But realize this, that in the
last days, difficult times or perilous times will come.
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For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful,
arrogant vilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful.
The characteristic of perilous times and and the word for
perilous or or difficult times is the same word used in Mark's
gospel to talk about a man who was demon possessed.
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So he's talking about demonic times, the times that are
characterized by demons in times.
What is mostly characteristic isthat people will be not just
disobedient to parents, but they're going to be ungrateful.
In fact, Romans one says it thisway, Romans one verse #21 For
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even though they knew God, they did not honor him, ask God, or
give thanks to God. The characteristic of the
unbeliever is that he will not give thanks to God.
Not that he can't, but he won't.He just won't give thanks to
God. And yet the believer is
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characterized by a heart filled with Thanksgiving, filled with
gratitude, filled with gratefulness to their God.
So important. Turn in your Bible, if you
would, to Luke's gospel, the 17th chapter, Luke's gospel, the
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17th chapter. You know the story.
It's a very familiar story, saysin verse #11 when he was on the
way to Jerusalem, he was passingbetween Samaria and Galilee.
As he entered a village, 10 leprous men who stood at a
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distance met him and they raisedtheir voices saying, Jesus,
Master, have mercy on us. Now here are these 10 lepers.
They're in this in the outskirtsof this village, and they see
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Jesus coming. And the reputation of Jesus by
this time is, is all throughout the land of Israel.
Everybody knows who Jesus is. He's the miracle worker.
He takes the blind and causes them to see, takes the lame and
lets them walk, takes the dead and raises them up.
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So here comes Jesus. And so these men who are, who
are filled with leprosy, see this as an opportunity to ask
Jesus to plead with Jesus to have mercy upon them and heal
them. I mean, if it was you, would you
not do that? Of course you would.
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Here's the miracle worker. Here's the all powerful one.
Here's the one that can do what no one else has ever done.
Well, we, we need to ask him to have mercy upon us.
Look what happens next. When he saw them, he said to
them, go and show yourself to the priests in Luke 5, he he
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touched the man with leprosy. He doesn't touch these men.
He doesn't say be healed, don't do that either.
He he wants to to test the meagerness of their faith.
You see, they already believe that Jesus is a miracle worker.
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So they already believe in the power of Jesus.
They already believe in the reputation of Jesus.
So that's their faith. They, they, they believe in who
he is based on what he has done already.
And so he says to them, go and show yourself to the priest.
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Why would we say that? Because Christ came to fulfill
all the law. And the law in Leviticus 17 and
18 would meant that the priest who are the inspectors of those
who are leprous, would determinewhether or not they were healed
or not. And he wants them to go to the
priest, because 10 men who are filled with leprosy, who are
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healed is an overwhelming example of the power of God to
the priest of Israel that they would not be able to deny.
And so he says, go and show yourself to the priests.
And so they all get up and they make their way toward the temple
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in Jerusalem, so says. And as they were going, they
were cleansed. So uneventful, so low key, No
balloons, no whistles, no lights, no hoopla, nothing like
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that. Just as they were going, they
were cleansed. This is a remarkable
understatement in the Scriptures, but that's what the
the Lord wanted to say. And then it says this.
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Now one of them we saw that he had been healed.
Turn back, turn back, glorifyingGod with a loud voice and fell
on his face at his feet, giving thanks.
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He was a Samaritan. See, this man wanted physical
cleansing, but he knew he neededspiritual cleansing, and so he
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knew that. So he went back to the one who
cleansed him and glorified his name with a loud voice, No shame
praising his name, then falling down before him, because worship
is known by a thankful heart. Not only am I joyful and
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prayerful, but I am thankful. It's the model life of
adoration. So he here, here, he adores his
God. He falls before him and gives
thanks to him. He recognizes his deity, He
understands his iniquity, and hecries out for mercy.
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And Christ responds with three simple questions.
Were there not ten cleansed that, he says, but they're 9.
Where are they? Was no one found who returned to
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give glory to God except this foreigner, this Samaritan?
Was no one willing to to exalt God?
Was no one willing to adore God,to worship God except this one
person? You see, they're, they're
indicative of Israel. They, they want Jesus to do for
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them. When Jesus feeds them, they're
great. They love him.
When Jesus heals them, they are ecstatic.
But when Jesus preaches to them,they can't stand him.
They just love what Jesus does for them.
They were consumers, a lot like people today and in the church.
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They go to church for what the church can do for them.
They are called consumer Christians.
Can the church do this for me? Can the church do that for me?
Can the church meet this need? Can the church meet that need?
That's the way the Israel was with with with Jesus.
Do this for me. Jesus He did because he's a God
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of grace, mercy, compassion, andlove.
Were there not ten? There were cleansed.
Where are the other nine? Where'd they go?
How come they're not with you? Do they not want to recognize
God and give glory to his name? He said to him, Stand up and go.
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Your faith has made you well. The word for well is sodzo, most
common word for salvation in theTestament.
Your faith has saved you. See, the unbeliever doesn't care
to give thanks. There's a want to give thanks.
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The believer cannot help but give thanks.
That's the difference. And that's why the model life is
filled with with adoration. And yet, yet we find it's such a
hard thing to be thankful in everything.
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Turn with me in your Bible to another passage.
Again, another familiar one, butalways good to be reminded.
And that's the passage in the book of Philippians, Philippians
chapter 2. So we are to give thanks in
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everything. First Thessalonians 518 we're to
give thanks for everything or for all things.
Ephesians 520 so Paul is going to turn that around and say
these words in Philippians 214 do all things, all things, all
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things without what grumbling and disputing.
So in all things, give thanks, give thanks for all things, so
that in all things you do not grumble or complain.
The word for dispute is a is a word to question.
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Do all things without questioning.
That's very hard for us, isn't it?
We always want to know the answer.
Why? Why?
Why do I have to do this? Why do I have to obey that
command? Why do I have to forget that
person? Why?
And God just give commands. He doesn't give suggestions and
he doesn't OfferUp an opinion. He just gives you commands.
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And the word for grumbling is a is a word for complaining.
Complaining. Now maybe that's not you today,
but people have all kinds of things to complain about.
They complain because we have bagels and not doughnuts in
between services. Figure that.
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Figure that they complain because there's not air
conditioning in the foyer. But there's a method to our
madness. It gets you into the auditorium
quicker where it is air conditioned.
But we complain there's no air conditioning in the foyer.
We complain about how long it takes to sign in our children to
take in the class. We complain about where we have
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to park in the middle of someoneon the outskirts of someone on
the other side of the auditorium.
We, there are so many things that we complain about.
We don't even think about it. If Paul says, I want you to do
all things without complaining, as a mother, I, I want you to,
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to care for your children without complaining, without
grumbling, right? You ask the Lord for children.
The Lord gives you a gift, and then you complain about how much
time it takes to take care of the children.
Why would you do that? There are gifts from God.
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If we find ways to complain and grumble, we complain because I
no longer can do the things I used to do when I didn't have
children, but now that I have children, I can't do those
things anymore. So I complain about not having
time to do those things and I begin to grumble and mumble.
You see, we find so many things to to complain and moan and and
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groan about. And Paul says just the reverse
of Ephesians 520 and 1st. That's why it's 518 and
everything that you do, don't complain and do not grumble.
Do not question. So that what you will prove
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yourselves to be blameless, innocent children of God above
reproach, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation,
among whom you appear as lights in the world, in order to prove
that you are different than the world, in order to prove that
you are a light in the world, inorder to prove that you are a
child of God. It comes because you do not
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complain and you do not question.
I love the words of Thomas Watson, that great Puritan
preacher and writer, when he said this.
By praise a Christian excels allthe infernal spirits.
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Do you talk of God? So does the devil.
He brought scripture to Christ. Do you profess religion?
So can the devil. He transforms himself into an
Angel of light. Do you fast?
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The devil never eats. Do you believe the devils have a
faith of ascent? They believe, and yet they
tremble. But as Moses worked such a
miracle as none of the magicianscould reproduce, so here is a
work Christians may be doing which no or none of the devils
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can do, and that is the work of Thanksgiving.
Devils can't do that. Only the Christian can.
The world grumbles and Mumbles and moans and groans and
disputes, right? But the Christian, no, he, he
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proves himself different than the world.
He's he's completely the opposite.
He's given thanks in all things and for all things.
I love the story that Spurgeon tells when he says I once heard
a a touchy story about a poor woman with two children who had
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no bed for them to sleep in, andscarcely any clothes to cover
them. In the depth of winter.
They were nearly frozen, and themother took the door of a cellar
off the hinges and set it up before the corner where they
crouched to sleep, that some of the draft and cold might be kept
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from them. One of the children whispered to
her when the mother complained. Mother, what do those dear
little children do who have no cellar door to put up in front
of them, hmm? Spurgeon says.
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Even there you see the little heart found cause for
thankfulness. Thankful for a cellar door that
just blocks some of the cold. Not all the cold, but just some
of the cold. And what do those children do
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who have no cellar door to blockthe cold for them?
A heart of thankfulness. Now I know that most of us hear
this and think little of it. It's not that big a deal.
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Oh, it's a big deal. Let me show you turn to 1st
Corinthians chapter 10, First Corinthians chapter 10 and let
me show you how big a deal this is.
First one for I do not want you to be uninformed, brethren.
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I don't want you to, the King James Version says.
I don't want you to be ignorant,brethren, that our fathers were
all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all
were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all
ate the same spiritual food, andall drank the same spiritual
drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which
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followed them, and the rock was Christ.
He talks about Israel's privileges and all that they had
as a unit, as a nation that camefrom God.
Verse 5. Nevertheless, with most of them
God was not pleased, for they were laid low in the wilderness.
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This is a nice way of saying they died in the wilderness.
Here was this nation who received all these blessings
from God, and they received themall at once as a as a nation of
of 2 million Jews. But nevertheless, for a lot of
them, God was not even pleased with them.
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So he killed them in the wilderness for six.
Now these things happen as examples for us so that we would
not crave evil things as they also crave.
This is an example. This is an illustration Paul was
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telling the Church of Corinth. Look, these are examples of what
not to do. He says verse 7, do not be
idolatrous as some of them were.As it is written, the people sat
down to eat and drink, and stoodup to play.
Nor verse 8 Let us act immorally, as some of them did,
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and 23,000 fell in one day. Nor let us try the Lord, as some
of them did, and were destroyed by the serpents.
Nor grumble question as some of them did and were destroyed by
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the destroyer. We understand where God would
kill those who committed idolatry.
We understand that God would kill those who committed
immorality. But why would God kill somebody
who grumbles? I mean, compare the two
grumbling, idolatry, complaining, immorality.
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In our minds, they're like, whoa, there's such a difference
between the two sins. But in God's mind, sin is still
sin. And of course, the reference is
Numbers chapter 16, where they're in Numbers 16.
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Cora Dathan in a Byram rebelled against the leadership of Moses
and Aaron, and God opened up theground and swallowed them and
their families all alive, and then closed the ground over
them. And then 250 other men thought
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that he could act like priests. And God sent fire down from
heaven and incinerated those men.
And the people complained. They grumbled, They questioned
Moses, and then questioning Moses, they were questioning
God. Why would God do this?
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Why would God lead us out here and then kill us?
And God was incensed. So instead of plague and killed
14,700 of them, if it wasn't forMoses and Aaron interceding on
Israel's behalf, he probably would have killed every single
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one of them. Grumbling questions and doubts.
God's sovereignty, His goodness,His mercy, His Providence.
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When you begin to grumble and complain, you are saying, God,
you didn't do it good enough, oryou didn't do it right, or you
didn't do it in my way, because my way is better than God's way.
You gave me this when I asked for that, You did this when I
wanted that and to begin to complain.
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Husbands do it all the time, following in the footsteps of
Adam. When Adam said it's the woman
you gave me Lord, he blamed the Lord.
He grumbled to complain because of sin, because of the woman
that God gave him. See and see.
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Isn't it a miracle that that that God doesn't kill us when we
grumble? Think about that.
Think. Think about your day.
Think about your week, how many times you complained about what
was taking place in your life, your family, your work, your
school, because things didn't gothe way you thought they should
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go. So you criticize, You moan, you
complain, you groan over and over and over again.
And God in his grace allows you to continue living.
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That is a that is a walking miracle of God that you're still
alive today even though you disobey the commands of God.
So Paul says, do not grumble, donot complain about anything,
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just don't do it instead in everything and for it just give
thanks to God. Can you do that?
If you're an unbeliever, you cannot do that.
You don't even want to do that. If you're a believer, your
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hearts cry as Lord, I want to, Iwant to cry out to you and, and
thankfulness for what you've done.
Am I to thank the Lord for for abad marriage?
Absolutely, absolutely. Because why is the marriage bad?
Is it just all on him or all on her?
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Or do you play a part in it as well?
And bad is relative, is it not? To you?
Your bad marriage might be good to somebody else's marriage, I
don't know. But do you rejoice with the wife
of your youth? That's what Solomon says.
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Rejoice with the wife of your youth.
But we want to complain about the wife of our youth because
she doesn't do what she used to do.
Well, that's no good. Who's that help?
We, we had to give thanks for everything in everything.
And I know that some of you right now your, your wheels are
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spinning in your mind and you'relooking for an excuse that says,
you know God. I know that God does not expect
me to give thanks in this situation or for this situation.
I know you're, you're thinking that and you're going to ask the
question, well, what do you meanthat I in this situation or, or
in this circumstance or or in this way or I know you're asking
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that question in your own mind. We all do.
But can't we just rest in what God has said, because
thankfulness reveals so much about our lives?
It reveals #1 this is my outline.
This is all introduction up to now.
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It reveals our conversion to Christ.
That's the Philippians 2 says. It reveals our conversion to
Christ. That's what Luke 17 said.
We read about the 10 lepers, butlisten to what Paul says in
Colossians 2. Therefore, as you have received
Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him.
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How did you receive Him? By faith or by grace through
faith, right? So you walk by faith, by the
grace of God, have you been firmly rooted and now being
built up in Him and established in your faith just as you were
instructed and overflowing with gratitude.
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What a statement. Overflowing with gratitude,
because what thankfulness does is reveal my conversion to
Christ. There's been a transformation.
I'm not like the Pagan world. I'm not ungrateful.
I'm not unthankful. I am not the person who just
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tries to consume from God. I really want to obey God and
thank him for what he's done andgive praise to his glorious
name. So it reveals my conversion to
Christ. 2nd Corinthians 915 Thanks being to God for His
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indescribable gift. I'm not so sure we understand
the indescribable nature of the gift of God, because if we did,
we'd be giving thanks all the time.
Fact. You got to get used to it
because the Book of Revelation says this.
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And when the living creatures gave glory and honor and thanks
to him who sits on the throne, to him who lives forever and
ever, the 24 elders which is thechurch will fall down before him
who sits on the throne and will worship him who lives forever
and ever, and will cast their crowns before the throne,
saying, Worthy are you our Lord and our God to receive glory and
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honor and power. For you created all things, and
because of your will they existed and were created. 4
Living creatures stand around the throne of God, always saying
holy, holy, holy is the Lord GodAlmighty.
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Holy, holy, holy is the Lord GodAlmighty.
Worship him, praise him, honor him with Thanksgiving.
And they haven't been redeemed, for living creatures have not
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been redeemed. They're spirit beings, they're
angels. But us, we've been redeemed.
And so a thankful heart reveals #1 my conversion to Christ #2 it
reveals my commitment to the will of God, my commitment to
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the will of God. In other words, this is the will
of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
What? That you give thanks in all
things. So now I'm, I'm going to reveal
my commitment to God. Lord, not only am I converted by
you, I am committed to you so much so that I will purpose in
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my heart to give thanks to you in everything.
Remember Jonah, the will of God was for Jonah to go to Nineveh
to give thanks and everything. Jonah wasn't about to give
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thanks nor go to Nineveh. He went the opposite way.
And you know the story so overboard, swallowed by a great
fish. He's in the belly of the fish
and listen to what he says in the belly of the fish.
While I was fainting away, verse7 of Jonah chapter 2, I
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remembered the Lord. It's always good to remember the
Lord, especially when you're in the belly of a fish.
I remember the Lord, and my prayer came to you into your
holy temple. Those who regard vain idols
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forsake their faithfulness. He did.
He forsook His faithfulness. He forsook His commitment
because he regarded vain idols. It's in this case was him the
worship of himself that he wouldnot go and preach the gospel to
the Ninevites because they were an ungodly nation.
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And those who regard their idolsalways forsake their
faithfulness, their commitment. Why do we forsake our commitment
to giving thanks to God? Because we have another idol,
something more important to us than the true living God.
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So he says. But I will sacrifice to you with
the voice of Thanksgiving that which I have vowed.
I will pay salvation from the Lord.
Then the Lord commanded the fishand vomited Jonah up on dry
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land. Maybe, just maybe, God is
patiently waiting for your situation, your attitude to say,
Lord, I have forsaken my commitment.
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I will sacrifice to you with thevoice of Thanksgiving.
I will thank you that I am single and not married.
I will thank you that I am married but can't have children.
I will thank you that even though I want to be physically
(41:35):
better, I know that Your grace is sufficient for me.
And I thank you. And maybe it's that time that
God throws you up out of your situation onto solid ground.
I don't know. But I do know this Thanksgiving
(42:03):
reveals my conversion to Christ.It reveals my commitment to the
will of God. What else does it reveal?
Well, you're going to have to come back next week.
Figure that one out. Let's pray.
(42:26):
Lord, we are grateful for today.Truly, Lord, you are a great
God. Forgive us for our ingratitude.
Pray that all of our lives will be challenged today to live for
the glory and honor of Your name.
(42:47):
Then we might give praise and Thanksgiving to you in Jesus
name, Amen.
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