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[0:00] That was good. Jonathan, would you come back up here real quick with your guitar? I'd ask him a question. Sometimes on Thursdays I come up here when he's playing and I try to mess with his guitar and I ask him, do you know how to put it back in the tune if I mess it up?

[0:13] He told me the day he does, which means in the future I may really do it. All right? So just in case, I want to make sure the kids, that line, tune my heart to sing thy grace. I think we understand what it means to tune something, but just to kind of help them.

[0:27] So would you play one of those strings and then put it out of tune and do it again? All right.

[0:40] That's quite different. Okay? And then you can go sit down after just for that. That's all I needed. Okay? And you get to be first at the line of the night for that. So we know what it's like for something to be out of tune.

[0:52] You play it. It's similar, but it's not there. So I want us to talk about tuning our heart to sing thy grace and speak about being thankful. Tonight we rejoice in the goodness of God.

[1:03] On Tuesday nights, I'm going to ask you to come share praises of things that God has done in your life. And the Bible calls us to that. And that is a wonderful thing. And then in that time of giving praise, a lot of you will say things about, I'm thankful for this person in my class or this other thing that happened.

[1:17] But before we get to that, I want to make sure that God and the attributes of God are the first things that we call for in giving praise. And so when we come to praying a little bit, men, I'm going to ask, there are going to be five different attributes.

[1:31] I'm going to ask five different men to pray and to thank God for each of those attributes about God. And so I've said this before, and you shouldn't say this, but we say it sometimes.

[1:43] Kids, come so we can pray so we can eat. You ever said that? We all know what you're saying. You shouldn't probably say it, all right? We don't, we shouldn't say, let's pray so we can eat as if saying, I'm going to pray so I can check off something so I can do what I really want.

[1:57] It'd be better to say, let's eat so we have energy to pray. That would be more spiritual. But we say, let's pray so we can eat because we know in all things we should give thanks to the Lord.

[2:08] Our children and those around us probably learn, they learn more about prayer, not in a Bible institute class or in a series and a life group. They learn it in our homes by how and what we say and what we pray.

[2:24] And we ought to be people that thank God for who he is and his goodness. I'm thankful for the mercy of God. I love being loved by God. I love being treated graciously and kindly and patiently by God.

[2:36] I love being accepted and forgiven by God. I love God's grace towards me. I love chicken wings. I love the four seasons that we have here in Georgia.

[2:47] I like and I'm thankful for the cranberry sauce that Stephanie brought out of the can and it's already cut up out there and so I'm excited about that. It's very fresh right out of the can.

[2:58] It's a long family recipe. I love things and I like things and I'm thankful for all those things that come my way. Some of you met my friend that was here this week named Kerry Smith and when we were talking one of the things that he shared with us is that it's so important that in the life of a church as in the days of with the children of Israel they would follow the art covenant.

[3:20] They would always see that God was leading. It's important that in a church we recognize that God is leading us as a church family and that when he said that I just got real tense because I had this realization that if we always talk about what we're doing for God or what God has done for us those are all good things but we don't ever stop and just speak about who God is then we make ourselves the center of the story or the center of the story right?

[3:49] The center of the story. Some of you moms will appreciate this. I saw a picture that said after you spend 10 hours on the kitchen and Thanksgiving then your kid gets full of and it's Hawaiian rose right?

[4:00] Oh no you do all that cooking and the kid just eats the bread and they're not ready to eat. And as a parent maybe you sit there and you're thankful. The kids are thankful for the food but you want them to also be thankful for the one that provided it.

[4:14] Be thankful for you that cooked it or for the mom and dad that provided so that it could be on the table. And in all of our talking about serving God I want to make sure that we take time especially the night as we pray to just thank God for who he is.

[4:31] So what is it about God for which we're thankful? I love that he's the kind of God which didn't spare his own son. I love that he's the kind of God who justifies the ungodly. I love that he's the kind of God that gives the least deserving the greatest blessing which is namely himself.

[4:46] Psalm 69 30 says I will praise the name of God with a song and I will magnify him with thanksgiving. Juan chose a great song right before him right now. It's his name right?

[4:57] It's greater than all other things is what we just sung about. So we magnify him with song. We magnify him with thanksgiving. But what we know about God it binds us to praise his name.

[5:10] 2 Thessalonians 2 13 says this. But we are bound to give thanks unto always the God for you. I asked the high school class today that language.

[5:21] We are bound. What did that make you think of? And they said negative, duty, responsibility. You don't often think of a lot of delight in that.

[5:32] But then it goes on to list the reasons that that bound implies duty. But if gratitude is the kind of duty that if you experience it as a burden, you haven't experienced it fully.

[5:44] If you just know that you should be thankful, you're just on the right track. But you haven't fully experienced it until it's not a burden, but it's just a light. That it is something that you want to do.

[5:57] In this passage, they're rejoicing. There's a church there. Thessalonica, which said that we are brethren beloved of the Lord.

[6:07] We have been called by the gospel and that to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus. We rejoice tonight that He has saved us. We rejoice tonight that we have heard the gospel.

[6:18] But our thanksgiving can bring glory to God. 2 Corinthians 4, 15. I'm going to point out a word here that we don't often use. 2 Corinthians 4, verse 15 says, For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many...

[6:39] That's what I hope happens tonight, right? The thanksgiving of many. Redound to the glory of God. I don't know what rebound is, all right? Don't use the word redound ever, except when I'm talking to you about this verse, all right?

[6:53] But this redound to the glory of God. So all the things are for your sake, that the abundant grace, the abundant grace that we get to be a witness of, in our offering devotions we often speak about in the Bible how they became a witness.

[7:08] They became liberal in their generosity. Not because they were wealthy people, but they were liberal in their generosity, because they witnessed the grace of God. What we have seen and what we have known about God, His abundant grace in our lives, that through thanksgiving, it may of many redound to the glory of God.

[7:27] That means it will cause. Rebound is not a bad word. A cause and effect that our thanksgiving will lead to God receiving glory. So thanksgiving is big business.

[7:39] In America, it says that the average meal per family is $420. Some of you have a large family, like that doesn't surprise me at all. I forget how many millions of dollars. And then the Friday after thanksgiving, how many millions of dollars will be spent.

[7:54] Thanksgiving as a national holiday is big business. Thanksgiving as the children of God is big business, because it's about bringing glory to God in the way that we do it.

[8:09] So this church here is saying thank you for all these things. As a church, we would say it. So true gratitude is not a work. It's an overflow of a sense of being treated better than we deserve.

[8:20] Psalm 34.3, O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together. We sing that. It's a song. It's a song just like that.

[8:30] We magnify the Lord, and let us exalt His name together. It would be a worthy thing for us to say every time we start a service together. Let us magnify the name of the Lord, and let us exalt His name together.

[8:42] So I want to give five attributes of God, and I would like five of you men to volunteer to take one of these. And when we come to the altar, I'm going to ask that you pray, and to thank God that this is true about Him, to exalt His name in prayer as we communicate our thanks to Him.

[9:01] There's many. Think about what was revealed to us. Genesis 1.1. Say that together with me, guys in the front row. Genesis 1.1. It says, help them out. In the beginning, God created and has heaven and is with the earth.

[9:15] That was good. It's always scary when you all quote verses. It sounds a little scary, all right? Let's say it, but let's be happy about it one more time. In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth.

[9:27] In that verse alone, think about how much is revealed to us about God that most of the world doesn't even know. He's self-existing. He was before the beginning. God before the beginning.

[9:37] He's all-powerful. He made the world. He is one. In the beginning, God. There's just so many things that are revealed to us about God in His Word that we could just spend days and days on just understanding that verse.

[9:51] And you have that verse. If that's the only verse you ever had, you've had far more than most people in ever history would know about God. So I'm going to give five, but we could give many truths that are revealed to us in the Bible.

[10:03] What does the Bible tell us about God? One thing here, Colossians 1.17, And He before all things and by Himself all things consist.

[10:15] So Thatcher, if you'll go ahead and put those five attributes, I'll go ahead and read them. First off here, God is infinite. He is self-existing and without origin.

[10:26] He is infinite. He's always been, will always be. He is eternal. What does thinking about that do for you? It should humble us. There are truths about God that we can't even comprehend.

[10:40] The first thing that I learn about God, when I learn that He is eternal, I realize that He is beyond my comprehension. That there are things about Him that I can't even know.

[10:53] And that's humbling. And that's great. Brother Frick told us today they found another galaxy, and God would just laugh about that because there are just so many out there because it's just showing the greatness of God.

[11:03] Did we need it to be that big? Well, no, probably our solar system, but He's just showing how mass He is. It's represented how beyond our understanding. The first thing, we say that God is infinite.

[11:15] He's self-existing without origin, and that humbles us. The second, and who is willing to pray the night? Travis, no, thanks so much, okay? When you pray, Travis, God is infinite. He is self-existing.

[11:27] Sam Paxton, loves Uncle Sam over there. He says this often in our prayers. God, thank you for being God. You're unlike any of the gods of this world. Remember when I first started hearing you say that, and it sounded odd to me.

[11:40] No offense, Uncle Sam. All right. But then the more I think about it, I say that sounds a lot like what we read in the Bible, and we just don't say it enough. So God is infinite. Secondly, God is immutable, which means he never changes.

[11:55] Malachi 3, 6, For I am the Lord, I change not. Therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed. This should bring you great joy. Our God never changes.

[12:06] Don't raise your hand, but does your husband or wife seem to change from year to year, moment to moment, conversation to conversation? Keep your hands down. Don't look at me like that, Stephanie. This is awkward. We do.

[12:17] We're just all over the place, and we're mostly all over the place, which means our decision-making is all over the place. You know, there's a billion people trapped in Islam tonight, and one of their great leaders of their time, historical leaders, said that I won't know till I get to heaven if the wrath of Allah is on me.

[12:37] How are we to know? Just how does he feel the day that I stand before him? He's always changing. Our God is never changing. This should bring us great joy. What all this means very simply is that God is dependable.

[12:51] So God is imbutable. He never changes. Who's willing? Which man is willing to pray for that tonight as we come forward? Thank you, Greg. I appreciate you always being willing to help like that.

[13:02] Okay. Number three. God is self-sufficient. He has no needs. John 5, 26. For as the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself.

[13:15] God never starts from a point of being insufficient or deficient. There's no insecurity. Because God is self-sufficient, we can go to him to satisfy all of our needs.

[13:29] God is self-sufficient. He has no needs. We were not created to meet a need that he didn't have. He is all sufficient. And that's wonderful. That is just because we will never have a shepherd that causes us to rest.

[13:44] There's another shepherd that will cause us to not want if he wants. Right? There's things that I have in my life that my kids don't have, and I can provide that for them. But the things that I don't have in my life that they don't have in their life, I can never provide for them.

[13:59] So unless God is all satisfied in himself and he's all sufficient, then he can't be all sufficient to us. And so that's wonderful. And so God is sufficient. He has no needs.

[14:11] Who is willing to pray and thank God for that tonight? You made eye contact, Brother Eric. That's you. Okay? All right. Good thing this Sunday night. I wouldn't do this on Sunday morning, all right?

[14:22] All right. So fourth here. God is omnipotent. He is all-powerful. Psalm 33, 6. By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, and all the hosts of them by the breath of his mouth.

[14:37] By the word of the Lord were the heavens made. He is all-powerful. When you feel completely inadequate and you wonder if anybody cares, or how about this?

[14:49] There's people that care, but they can't do anything about it. Right? People say, well, I don't want to complain. I'll say, well, I'm able to listen to you complain. I just can't do anything about it. You know, if you need to complain, I can't do anything about it.

[15:00] Some people may be real loving, but they're not real capable. But our God is fully loving and fully capable. He is all-powerful. And if you're in here today and you say, I know this.

[15:14] This is just so basic. I know this. Well, then take a moment and say, thank you, God, that I grew up in a world where knowing about you was so common. Thank you for raising me in a family where I did not grow up with a God that was taught that wasn't like this.

[15:30] Or I grew up with so many questions about him. Lastly, so God is omnipotent. Have we decided who that one's going to be? Hey, Alex, how you doing tonight? That's you, bro. All right, in the back.

[15:41] I'm so glad you made it back. I was worried. He played football this afternoon with the young people. All right? And him and Andrew Pearson, I did not expect to see. In the... Still alive, actually.

[15:51] I knew if you were living, you would be here. All right. God is omnipotent. He is all-powerful. And then lastly, before I invite you to come pray, and then we will pray. And in our prayers, I'll close us with a word of prayer.

[16:04] Thank the Lord for our meal is this one. Come in your way, David, a boy. All right? Here it is. God is good. He is infinitely, unchangingly kind and full of goodwill.

[16:18] Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man that trusteth in him. Whatever you can think about good, it's him. If your definition of good grows, he still meets it.

[16:29] There's no understanding of good that he does not meet. He is completely good, infinitely, unchangingly kind and full of goodwill. And we get to know him.

[16:40] And so tonight, Lord, before we thank you for anything that's true about you, before we thank you about anything that you've ever done in our lives, we just thank you tonight for being good.

[16:51]  And all God's people said, amen.