[0:00] We should always be thankful for what God has done. Let's have a word of prayer, and we'll talk about this. Heavenly Father, I pray today, Lord, that you would help us to have thankful hearts. Lord, that we would be grateful for all that you have done for us, all the ways you have met our needs, all the things that you have taken care of for us.
[0:20] Lord, but yet we seem so many times to be such an ungrateful people. Lord, I pray that today you would help us to stop, to look at what God has done, to look at what Jesus was thankful for.
[0:37] May we apply it to our lives. May he be our example. May we follow his leading. Lord, may we have a heart that thanks you because we understand many of the things that happen in our life we could not take care of.
[0:54] but you are there. You are watching over us. You are meeting those needs. Lord, bless this time we have in Jesus' name. Amen. Two men were out in the field one day, and as they were walking along the field, they happened to notice a bull off in the distance, and the bull looked angry, and the bull was kind of pawing at the ground, and all of a sudden the bull started toward them, and they took off a running, trying to find the nearest fence so that they could go over that fence, and as they're running, the bull is catching up, and they're terrified, and one of the men hollers over his shoulder, and he says, put up a prayer, John.
[1:37] We're in for it. John answers, and he says, I can't. I never made a public prayer in my life. Well, you better pray something because he's catching up to us. All right.
[1:48] I'll say the only prayer I know. He said, it's the one my father used to say at the table. Oh, Lord, for what we are about to receive, make us truly thankful.
[2:03] I don't think that was the one that was going to work in that case. You know, are we thankful for what God has done for us in all circumstances, even in the bad ones?
[2:13] Are we thankful knowing that he's looking out for us? You know, it's good for parents to teach your kids to be thankful. Most of us grew up in families where a parent would say, you know, somebody would give you something or they do something for you.
[2:27] What do you say? Thank you. But we learn to say thank you. I try to always make sure I thank people for what they do for me, even the little things that they do.
[2:38] I want people to know that I appreciate them, I appreciate what they did, and I want them to see that, you know what, the thanks that I have is genuine from my heart because of what they have done for me.
[2:54] And as God's children, are we thankful to our Heavenly Father for all the things that he does for us, for all the benefits that he gives to us, for all the ways he meets our needs.
[3:07] The psalmist said in Psalm 100, verse 4, he says, enter into his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise.
[3:19] Be thankful unto him and bless his name. You know, when we stop and think about the Lord, our thankfulness would be unending of all the ways he meets our needs and takes care of us.
[3:34] Especially during this time of year where we concentrate on thanksgiving, concentrate on giving thanks. It should be a matter of, God, thank you. You know, maybe sometime during this week taking a few moments by yourself and just saying, God, I want to thank you for all the blessings you have given to me.
[3:57] I want to thank you because you're the one that makes them possible. I want to thank you because you have met needs and been there for me. James chapter 1, verse 17 says, every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of lights with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
[4:18] Every good and perfect gift comes from above. We don't often think about that. Well, so-and-so did this for me and so-and-so did that for me and this happened and that happened and those were all good things and so-and-so.
[4:33] But do we remember that every good and perfect gift comes from above? God is at work in our lives. He's helping us. You think of the most perfect gift, the greatest gift we have ever been given.
[4:48] The gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ. Do you thank God daily for that? Or do we kind of get to the point where we just take it for granted and we just kind of go along and, yep, I'm saved.
[5:05] Mm-hmm. So often we do that. We forget what God has done. 2 Corinthians 9.15 says, thanks be to God for his unspeakable gift.
[5:17] It is such a great gift. It is so magnificent of what he has given to us. It's good to know that God has met our needs.
[5:28] You think about Jesus for a second. We think about Jesus as Savior and he is and we should ever be grateful for that but if you remember from John chapter 1, in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.
[5:42] Same was in the beginning with God. All things were created by him and for him. All things were created by him. He's our creator. Do you thank God for the things that are around us every day?
[5:55] You know, we live in Maine. I'm not crazy about cold weather. I'm not crazy about snow. But, a fresh snowfall just happened before the plows get out there and you look out and you see that blanket of snow out there.
[6:15] You know, one of the most gorgeous things you've ever seen. And then how about living here in the summertime? We live in Maine in the summertime with the coast and the beauty of the nature that is out there, the beauty of what God has created.
[6:30] You know how I know it's special? Well, first of all, God created it. But second of all, the way I know it's special, I live in Ellsworth. Two to three million people going on High Street toward Acadia National Park every summer.
[6:45] There's something special about it. All those people are showing up. God gave us something special here. He's our creator. He is the creator of everything. Do we thank him for it or do we take it for granted?
[6:58] He is the only begotten Son of God. He came and gave his life so that we might have salvation. Are we thankful for it?
[7:10] And the thing about it is Jesus, when he was here on earth, he was a thankful person. He gave thanks to the Father for many different things that he did.
[7:22] I want you to think this morning, when did Jesus say thank you? Well, look there in Matthew chapter 15 where I have you and look with me beginning at verse 35. Verse 35 says, He gave thanks.
[7:46] He gave thanks. He gave thanks. He gave thanks. What was he giving thanks for? For the grain?
[8:00] For the loaves that were there? For the fishes that were there? He understood. Those seeds had been planted. Those seeds had grown. They had had water that came in and helped with the nourishment and the watering of it.
[8:17] They had had sunlight that helped them grow. God had provided everything to help those seeds to grow that eventually became the bread. And what about the fishes?
[8:28] The fish, they were out there in the water. God created them, put them there. They had the water, they had everything they needed in order to be able to grow and then provide food.
[8:40] God had provided everything necessary for this meal that he's about to give. The disciples, remember, he said, we need to feed these people. There's 5,000 out there. And remember, that was only the men plus women and children.
[8:55] You know, we don't have enough food with us to feed all these people. We don't have enough money with us to feed all these people. What are we going to do? And remember, they came with a little boy and he had the loaves and the fishes.
[9:10] I want you to think about this for a minute. Think about this scenario. He came with those, they came with those fish that loaves of bread.
[9:23] And if you read in one of the other Gospels, it talks about they made 12 baskets to go hand out the food to the multitude. Seven loaves divided amongst 12 baskets. That's not even a whole loaf of bread.
[9:37] Two fish, says in one of the other Gospels. Going to hand out two fish amongst 12 baskets. That's not a lot of food. Can you imagine being one of the disciples and Jesus says, okay, get ready.
[9:51] These baskets are here. I'm breaking this up and I'm putting it all in there. And you've got, and he says, they're going, that's not enough to feed me. How are we going to feed all those people out there?
[10:03] But Jesus prays and he gives thanks, it says, and then they go out to do it. Did you notice he gave thanks before the food went out?
[10:16] He gave thanks before the miracle happened. Can you imagine there being those disciples and you go out and you're looking at that and going, what in the world are we going to do with this? And he says, go feed them.
[10:29] The disciples were obedient so they go out and they go to the first person and you need some food and don't take too much we're going to make this last.
[10:41] And they watch and people are hungry. They reach in there, grab, and they look down and they're like, they've got food in their hand but there's nothing missing.
[10:54] They go to the next person. People grab, nothing missing. And over and over and over it kept multiplying. Over and over and over it kept putting itself back.
[11:07] Finally, they get to the end. If you look further on in that passage, it talks about they went and picked up baskets full. And it says that the people, verse 37, and they did all eat and were filled.
[11:24] They ate and were filled. They didn't just take a little bit. They ate everything that was there. And they were filled. They wanted, couldn't hold another bite. Imagine the things that, and again, come back to the fact that Jesus prayed and said thanks before they handed it out.
[11:47] the faith that he had that God was going to do a miracle that day. That God was going to take care of what they had need of that day.
[11:58] Wow, that's just something. So many people today think, ah, this idea of giving thanks. Especially, you ever go into restaurants and give thanks free meal?
[12:11] And people watch. And they're kind of, hmm. Every once in a while we'll do that and somebody will come over and say, you know what, it was really nice to see a family that gives thanks for their food.
[12:24] But a lot of times people just go, hmm. You know, the waitress comes and you're praying and she kind of sneaks at something on the table and takes off. You know.
[12:37] There was a man who was a farmer. He was a very godly farmer. He loved the Lord with all his heart. And he was invited one day to a well-known man's house who was a wealthy man in the community and they went and he was invited to have lunch with him and so he did.
[12:56] And they provided lunch and the farmer took time to bow his head and thank the Lord for his food. We get all done and the guy who had invited him kind of jokingly, jeeringly said, you know, that's kind of old-fashioned.
[13:15] Most people today don't pray before they eat their food anymore. It's not customary. Especially among the well-educated people. The farmer said, well, it was his custom but he said, there's some people on my farm who don't pray for their food either.
[13:33] The man said, ah, some sensible, well-educated people. Who are they that don't pray for their food? My pigs. Good point.
[13:45] So, yeah, are we thankful for what God has done for us? He prayed for the food. So often we forget to thank God for those little things. Second thing Jesus gave thanks for was answered prayer.
[13:59] Answered prayer. Turn over to the right about three books. the book of John. One of the Gospels. So it's all written in that same area. The book of John chapter 11. The book of John chapter 11 deals with the death of Lazarus.
[14:23] And in John chapter 11 beginning at verse 38 it says this, Jesus therefore again groaning in himself cometh to the grave. It was a cave and a stone lay upon it.
[14:37] Jesus said, take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh for he hath been dead four days.
[14:49] Jesus said unto her, said not, I said I not unto thee that if thou wouldst believe thou shouldst see the glory of God. Then they came and took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid.
[15:02] And Jesus lifted up his eyes and he said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. I knew that thou heardest me always, but because of the people which stand by I said it that they may believe that thou hast sent me.
[15:21] Here he is. Lazarus died. Jesus is late getting there. Lazarus has already died, been dead for four days. And Jesus comes and he says, take away the stone.
[15:33] There's a whole lot of questions that are going through that group that's out there right now, including Martha. Lord, you know, he's been dead for four days. And Jesus says, take away the stone.
[15:47] And then I want you to notice what he did. He said there, look at verse 41. He said, they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid.
[15:58] And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. He lifted up his eyes and said, Father, I thank thee.
[16:10] Why did he lift his eyes? Well, first of all, he's simply looking toward God. He's talking to God, he's looking toward God. But he's also looking over all the unbelief that is down here.
[16:24] all the unbelief. People are like, what is he doing? What is this? He's crazy. He lost his mind. Jesus is ignoring all of that. He's talking to the Father.
[16:38] He says, Father, I thank thee. The omnipotent God, the all powerful, he's talking to him.
[16:50] And he says, Father, I thank thee. think of the assurance that he had. Think of the faith that he had.
[17:03] As he looked to the Father and thanked him for answering his prayer before the prayer had been answered. Again, get that.
[17:14] He's thanking God before Lazarus came walking out of that grave. The faith that he had in what God could do. Do we have that kind of faith? See, prayer is a privilege to us.
[17:30] We get to go to God. Those of you who are with me in the Sunday school time, the Bible study, we've been going through Hebrews. Remember in Hebrews chapter four? We get to come boldly before the throne of grace.
[17:43] We get to come boldly into the presence of God to make our request known unto him. He comes and he says, look, prayer is a privilege.
[17:55] Answered prayer is a blessing. We get to see the blessing of God on our lives. And are we thankful for what it is? Jeremiah 33.3, he says, call unto me and I will answer thee and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not.
[18:13] Call unto me. Pray. come before me and I will answer thee and show thee great and mighty things.
[18:25] Jesus comes before God and he says, Father, thank you for what you're about to do. Not for what you have done, but for what you're about to do.
[18:36] I know that you hear. I know that you will answer. You ever stop and thank God for the prayers that are answered?
[18:48] Think for a minute. How many times have you gone to God and asked him for things? We're good at that. God, I need this.
[19:00] God, I need that. God, I want this. God, I want that. God, I you know, you've got to do this and you've got to do this and you've got to do this. Okay. He tells us to come before him to ask.
[19:13] But how often do we go back and thank? Remember the ten lepers that Jesus healed? How many came back to say thank you? One.
[19:25] One out of ten. Can you imagine having leprosy, being healed of it, and then only one of them came back?
[19:39] I read a story about a pastor who went on a short-term missions trip. And he was leading the singing in a service. It was on the island of Tobago.
[19:53] And they were actually visiting a leper colony. Speaking of lepers, this was a leper colony he was visiting. And he said that there had been a woman attending that meeting.
[20:06] She'd been facing away from the pulpit area. She'd been looking toward the back. She hadn't been looking. he said he's leading the singing and apparently they were taking requests or something.
[20:17] I don't know. But he said the woman turned around and he said it was the most hideous face I have ever seen. The leprosy had taken away her nose, had taken away her ears.
[20:31] and he said all of a sudden the lady's fingerless hand went up.
[20:44] And she said could we sing count your many blessings? Now did you catch what I said about this woman? No nose, no ears, no fingers.
[20:57] can we sing count your many blessings? The pastor actually had to leave the service for a few minutes. One of the team members went out with him and the team member said I guess you'll never be able to sing that song again.
[21:15] The pastor answered and he said oh yes I will. But I'll never sing it the same way. We sang count your many blessings this morning.
[21:26] What were you thinking as we were singing that? Well verse one's down and verse two and three to go. Count your many blessings.
[21:38] I can't think of any right off the top of my head. See we get spoiled here in this country don't we? Do we thank God for what he has done?
[21:51] Every breath you take is a gift from God. Everybody take a deep breath. Exhale. Where did that breath come from?
[22:06] God gave it to you. Feel your heart beating? God's keeping that heart going. God is watching over you, taking care of you. Do we thank him for what he has done?
[22:19] And then the third thing, Christ said thank you for Calvary's cross. Thank you for Calvary's cross. Back up just one book, book of Luke, chapter 22.
[22:35] If you were with us a couple weeks ago, a few weeks ago we had our communion, Lord's table time, and we used this passage of scripture. Luke 22, look at verse 14.
[22:46] And when the hour was come, Luke 22, 14, he sat down and the twelve apostles with him. And he said unto them, with desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.
[23:00] For I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God. And he took the cup and gave thanks and said, take this and divide it among yourselves.
[23:14] For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God shall come. And he took the bread and gave thanks and break it and gave it unto them saying, this is my body which is given for you, this do in remembrance of me.
[23:29] He takes a cup, he takes the bread, he gives thanks over both of them. Think about what he's doing here. He's preparing them to be able to have the Lord's table, after he's gone, but he is also showing them, I can give thanks, even though I know by this time tomorrow, I will have died on the cross.
[23:58] I will have died and the sins of the whole world will have come on me. I will have paid the price for every person in the world to have forgiveness of sin.
[24:10] and he's giving thanks twice for that. It's interesting, in the Bible, unleavened is a picture of corruption, so is fermentation.
[24:30] so he uses two things, and they use unleavened, unfermented food, common food, anybody can, it doesn't matter what continent you're on, you can have bread and you can have juice.
[24:48] And he uses two very common things that every society has. And what is bread? Bread is grain. We talked about grain already. Jesus is the bread of life.
[25:00] And he says, look, that grain is going to be ground up. It's going to be crushed. Jesus was about to face the same thing. As the bread of life, he was about to be crushed under the weight of the sin of the world coming upon him.
[25:19] What's the cup? Grapes that have been crushed. And with that grain, it gets all mixed together. With that juice, it all gets mixed together.
[25:32] He is going to show unity. We as Christians, we get to have a unity with Christ. We as Christians get to have a unity with one another. And he says, give thanks for what you have.
[25:47] Give thanks that you can have unity with me. Give thanks that you can have unity with one another. See, when we come to the Lord's table, it's a sign of unity.
[26:02] It's a sign of oneness with Christ and with one another. And the interesting thing is when he talks about the Lord's table, he doesn't say teach it.
[26:16] He doesn't say think about it. He says, do it. do it in remembrance of me.
[26:28] Are we thankful that Christ has given his life? Are we thankful that he came to take our sins upon him? That night, Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians chapter 11, you know this passage well, he says, beginning of verse 23, for I received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread.
[26:55] And when he had given thanks, he break it and said, take, eat. This is my body which is broken for you, this do in remembrance of me.
[27:06] And he prayed basically the same thing over the cup. He gave thanks for it. He says, look, I had the opportunity.
[27:19] I had the privilege of going to the cross to take your sin upon me. He paid the price for your sin and for mine.
[27:32] He says, I had the opportunity to do that. And he was thankful that he could do that. He was thankful that he could spare us all of that. When's the last time you thanked Jesus for doing that?
[27:50] When's the last time you spent time going, God, Jesus, I am so unworthy of all that you have done.
[28:01] But you did it. So that I could have salvation. So that I could have an eternal life in heaven. So that I could spend eternity with you. You did that for me. Thank you for all that you have done.
[28:14] you know, the best example we could have in life is Jesus Christ. We follow him in so many different ways.
[28:26] But the fact that he gave his life for us and he was grateful for it. He was grateful for the opportunity to do that.
[28:43] Are we people of gratitude? Are we people who are thankful for what he has done? And we can start by following his example. Are we thankful for the food that we have?
[28:56] Are we thankful for our answer of prayer? Are we thankful that Christ went to the cross for us? I don't know everybody's spiritual condition here this morning.
[29:07] I don't know if everybody is saved. Or not. But if you're not saved, can I say this? Jesus Christ loved you enough that he went to that cross to give his life so that you might have eternal life.
[29:25] I don't know about you, but somebody who do that for me, I think I need to be thankful for it and what they have done. I need to acknowledge what they have done. I need to be remembering the unspeakable gift.
[29:40] He says he's given us a gift. His word says he's given us a gift through salvation. Coming up on Christmas, reach out and take the gift. He's given to you. If you're here this morning and you are saved, when's the last time you thanked him?
[29:57] When's the last time you followed his example, being thankful for all the things that God has done in your life? this sounds like a chastisement, after which phrase, this sounds like a chastisement.
[30:15] Are we thankful? Are we thankful? But I actually want it to be an encouragement. Are we thankful for all that he has done? Are we thankful for the things that he has done for us in our lives?
[30:28] I want us this morning to stop and think. One of the great things about God, we don't have to change anything to come to him.
[30:42] He'll do the changing in us. All we have to come just like we are. Come and let him do a work in our life.
[30:53] We're going to sing here toward the end. Bonnie, come on up. Just as I am. If you're here this morning, you've never asked Jesus Christ to be your savior. Today's the day.
[31:04] Ask him to come into your life. Ask him to be your savior. He did it for you. I mean, he was thankful to come, but what? Did he do it because it's, oh, I can't think of anything I'd rather do than go to the cross?
[31:18] Got nothing better to do today? No. He did it because he loved each one of us. He loved us. and he gave his hope for us.
[31:30] Let's stand. Thank you.