First, before we go to the text, just a brief word of explanation that in the last year and some months, at the behest of this congregation and with your blessing and our pastor's encouragement, I have had the privilege of serving as a pastor.
I was an interim pastor in a sister church in Chillicothe. It's about an hour and 20 minutes or so drive, depending on deer and weather, and I have ample time to pray for many of you that I dearly love and care for and also for the fellowship here.
It's been my blessing in that absence to enjoy listening to the services on a regular basis, and I am blessed to listen to the ministry of the Word of God and also your singing, but I have to tell you, you sing well.
You heard me say that while I was here, but what a phenomenal blessing for me to sit up here again in this morning and just listen to you putting your hearts into it and kind of bearing testimony of the fact that when the Word of God is working in people's lives and the Spirit of God is working in people's lives,
one of the ways it shows up is in joyful singing to the Lord. There is a spirit of thanksgiving and blessing in your singing, and I am so very thankful for that.
I will tell you, I have to ask you to pray for me. I've done that for all the years of my ministry, and I am mindful that apart from prayer, we don't get much done, and so you can kind of multitask.
You've heard me say that many times, but go ahead and pray for me, and it won't bother me in the least if at some point you say it out loud.
You know, you may feel I need a little extra help, and just go ahead and say it. Oh, Lord, help him. Do it out loud. Not going to throw me off. I know it. I know that.
But I will tell you that today, the fellowship, Calvary Baptist Church at Chillicothe is in the process of candidating.
They are looking to call a man to become their pastor, and should that go well, I will be back here sitting in this fellowship and enjoying the ministry that you all have in declaring the glory of Christ.
And so you kind of pray for them as well. Pastor Rob Fowler is his name, and a good man coming from a sister church, and a man that has a heart for God and a heart for the Word.
And so you keep that in prayer, and I'll keep you posted how that is going.
Well, with that said, let's kind of step in to the end of what preaching aims to do.
Preaching is an activity in which the Word of God is, it should be, the thing that's out front and center, right?
When you walk away from here, one of the things that you should know is not that I was a storyteller,
and I don't tell jokes because I'm miserable at them.
My wife never laughs at them, and so it's like, let it go.
But I want you to walk away saying, I heard the Word of God, and it affected my life,
and I want to be different as a result of it.
I think about the passage in Jeremiah where the prophet made this statement.
He says, is not my word a fire?
Is not my word a hammer that breaks the rock?
And I'll tell you ahead of time what we're going to be talking about this morning is the matter of thankfulness.
The Scriptures that call us to be thankful is one of those that not a one of us here is probably unaware of.
We know that we are to be a thankful people, and yet we live in a culture that is just kind of shot through
with an attitude of ill will and unthankfulness at every hand.
You go in Monday to work, and guess how a lot of the people are going to act?
I mean, they're not going to be happy.
Am I right?
I read an article last week talking about the fact that in this current political malaise,
the majority of people that pay any attention to politics at all are generally pretty unhappy and angry.
I can't understand that.
But, you know, it's out there.
We live in an unhappy world, and Romans chapter 1 tells us that that's one of the characteristics of an unbeliever.
And yet what I would ask you this as we kind of work our way into this text, Psalm 136,
I want to ask you this.
How often are you recognized by other people as being thankful?
How often are you recognized by other people by you being thankful?
How many of you know people that are consistently thankful?
Do you know?
Wave your hands at me.
I've been gone a long time, so some of you don't know how to do that.
But just, I get it.
How often do you remember, that's a thankful person.
That's a person that I can count on not to be grumpy and moody, not to be kind of surly and unhappy,
not to be easily offended.
They're a person that on most occasions are going to be thankful.
And by the way, a thankful spirit, as rare as it is, is a profound testimony in this unbelieving world, isn't it?
How many times have you had people say to you, so, why are you happy?
Well, what's going on in your life?
What is the reason for the hope that lies within you, right, from 1 Peter?
And the reminder, our lives are to be marked by a spirit of thankfulness and joy that is a magnetic thing
in the life of an unhappy and discontent and discouraged world.
Agreed?
And so what we're going to look at this morning, Psalm 136,
is an unbelievable psalm dealing with the subject of thankfulness.
Let's look at it.
Let me read a portion of it, and then we'll kind of work our way into it.
Psalm 136, verse 1,
Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good.
Right?
Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good.
The next little line is,
For His steadfast love endures forever.
Verse 2,
Give thanks to the God of gods, for His steadfast love endures forever.
For,
To Him who alone does great wonders,
for His steadfast love endures forever.
Now by that, by this point, you're probably thinking to yourself,
Is He going to go on this way all the way through all 26 verses?
And the answer is,
Yes.
It's not because the Holy Spirit couldn't come up with anything else.
It's because He wants us to know the supreme importance of His name, character,
And the reason that we are to be thankful is that His steadfast love endures forever.
Do you want to be a thankful person?
Do you want to be a person who in the swamp that we live in,
in the unhappy, broken world that we are going to be sent out into tomorrow,
to minister, and to be a testimony to the grace of God?
Do you want to be a person who stands apart, who is different, who is atypical,
and by that character draws people to wonder about why you're different?
I think this passage has something to say.
And I would appeal to you,
if you're sitting here in the honest heart that you have,
you're saying,
You know what?
As a general rule, I'm not a very thankful person.
I don't have to work very hard to be pretty moody and unhappy.
I'm pretty good at it.
I would ask you to begin praying right now to say,
This is the day that I am asking the Holy Spirit to change my attitude
about the matter of thanksgiving,
because His steadfast love endures forever.
Well, let's kind of step into the text a little more in detail,
and recognize that actually this entire psalm is a psalm of thanksgiving.
The word's actually only used four times.
You find it there, give thanks in verse 1,
give thanks in verse 2,
give thanks in verse 3,
and then you can kind of work your way on down to the very end in 26,
and it says,
Give thanks.
So why would I say that the entire psalm is a psalm of thanksgiving,
and draws our attention to that obligation?
Well, where's Jared Piles, the grammar Nazi?
Okay?
If you are a grammarian of any sort,
and I'm not going to step into that swamp for the moment,
but if you're a grammarian,
you would know that if you look at verse 3,
it says,
Give thanks to the Lord of lords,
for His steadfast love endures forever,
and then there's a little bit of punctuation there.
What is it?
It's a semicolon,
and it attaches the remaining verses from 3,
actually 4 on to 25,
and it's all lumped together as one declaration.
Here are the reasons that we are to give thanks.
Give thanks, give thanks, give thanks, give thanks.
The psalm wants us to be thankful in every situation,
and it's interesting to recognize that this psalm also was one that was a centerpiece to Old Testament worship.
It was known as the Great Hallel, okay?
And it was a psalm that was often sung,
and some scholars say it was actually sung in every Sabbath worship service.
One of the songs that they would sing,
one of the psalms,
was Psalm 136.
It depends on who you're looking at to kind of get out the information on this,
but it was certainly one that was sung on a very regular basis.
I remember a couple of songs we sang this morning,
and we have some songs that are,
we're not liturgical,
but there are songs that are kind of at the foundation of who we are
and our appreciation for God.
Isn't that right?
Praise God from whom all blessings flow.
Praise Him all creatures.
And things that we often come back to touch on
because they're foundational to us.
This was one of those psalms that the Old Testament saints sang on a regular basis,
and it was a reflection of their heart in their worship.
It was also a psalm that was often used
when people were struggling with adversity and difficulty.
Now, none of you here have had any of those problems.
Your life is probably just kind of peachy and all very good,
and there's no adversity and difficulty,
but this psalm is one that when the saint was struggling with a burden and a challenge,
he would go back and he would recite this psalm to himself,
and he would take comfort in knowing that this psalm was a reminder
of the unfailing love of God.
One night in 358 A.D.,
the church father, Athanasius,
held an all-night service of prayer at his church in Alexandria, Egypt.
He'd been leading a fight for the eternal sonship and deity of Christ.
Now, how many of you know that the issue of the sonship and deity of Christ
was not a theological truth that was hammered out in the first three weeks of history after the cross?
It actually took about 450 years for the church to absolutely rock settled
on the entire humanity and the entire deity of Christ.
Athanasius was one of those scholars that was leading the fight,
and it was a very adversarial and unhappy predicament for the church,
and a lot of tension over it.
And on that evening that he was leading this service,
this prayer service,
for more political reasons than theological,
there was a large gathering of soldiers that had come against the church.
And when Athanasius knew that the soldiers were outside the church,
had surrounded the church,
and meant ill to the congregation,
what he instructed them to do,
he said, listen, we're going to stop right now,
and we are going to sing Psalm 136.
Now, how does that go?
Let me do it again.
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,
for his steadfast love endures forever.
And 26 times as Athanasius led the church in singing this,
when they would come to the second part,
guess how they would say it?
They would thunder it out.
Right?
They would just bellow it.
And when the soldiers actually broke through the big open doors to come into the service,
they were blown away by the enthusiasm of saints,
who in the face of adversity,
were just kind of thundering this,
for his steadfast love endures forever.
This psalm has been a comfort over and over again,
when saints have found themselves in challenges,
challenges that stretch them beyond their ability,
and drive them to remember who their God is and how he loves them.
Let's think a little more carefully about what this psalm does,
in terms of laying out the issues for us,
and pick up, if you will,
in verses 1 through 3,
and understand that this first portion draws attention to the nature and character of our God.
So why are we to be thankful?
Yes, consistently we are to remind ourselves that his steadfast love endures forever,
but we are also to be thankful because he is our Lord.
He is our God.
He is the Lord of lords.
And that's what the psalm does here in the beginning part.
He draws attention to the issue of who our God is by using three different names in the Hebrew.
He calls God, first of all, Yahweh, which is I Am.
And in relationship to that, the very first part of the verse, he says,
Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good.
He is good.
He's always good.
He's good in every case.
He is the only one who is absolutely unchanged in His goodness,
and there is not a part of Him that ever changes or drifts away from goodness.
How many of you have done good things but really didn't have a good heart?
You ever done that?
I don't want to bring it up, but you've taken flowers to your wife
after there's been a little something going on,
and you use flowers as what?
A remedy for the problem?
She'd much rather have you be good all the time than have flowers.
And we've all done a variety of things to kind of compensate for our badness.
God's not that way.
He is always good.
I have been thinking more often about what it means to get older.
I like to look out and see all your young faces and no gray hair.
There are some of you out here that have gray, but I appreciate that.
You know, hey, getting older is actually, here's what I'm beginning to learn.
Are you listening?
It is a heightening opportunity to discover the goodness of God.
I mean that.
I watched my dad and my mom both go towards heaven,
and every step of the way they grew in thankfulness
and spirit-tuned sensitivity to the glory and supremacy of Christ.
And as I'm beginning to get older,
and there are parts that ache in the morning when you get out of bed,
it's like, I keep saying,
hey, I want to grow to know you more and love you more.
He is always good.
And do not ever let the enemy of your souls rob you of the certainty
that the God of this universe is good in everything He allows in your life.
I look back in the rear view mirror, as many of you have done,
and I have to recognize that every moment marked,
whether it has been by difficulty or exceptional moments of joy,
have been characterized by the goodness of God.
And here, as the psalmist starts into this psalm,
he says,
Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good.
The second thing that we find here is that He is known as the Elohim,
or He's known as Elohim, the Mighty One, the Judge, the Lord of all.
And I am so very thankful when I stop and think about the world that we live in
that I know the One who is the Judge of the whole earth.
You kind of listen to the political wrangling a little bit.
I can't take very much without getting my hair kind of ruffled,
but you listen to some of that and you think,
Man, what a messy world we live in.
And it makes me think,
I really am looking forward to when Jesus comes back.
Aren't you?
We won't need Washington.
We won't need Beijing.
We won't need London.
We won't need an army.
We won't need...
Man, I'm looking forward to when the Lord, my Savior,
the Mighty One, the Judge of the whole earth,
returns and brings His kingdom into being.
I'm reminded as well in this passage in verse 3,
it says,
Give thanks to the Lord of lords.
And it's reminding us that He is the Adonai.
He is the Mighty One.
He is transcendent and creator of all.
Over and above all.
And yet, in reality,
while He is the creator and over all,
He also pays attention to us personally.
And as we step from verse 3 into 4 through 9,
what we're going to pick up here,
and I'm not going to go into all the details of the text,
but here we find that God's power and wisdom is on display
through the activity of His creation.
Verse 4,
To Him alone who does great wonders,
for His steadfast love endures forever.
To Him who by understanding made the heavens.
Stop and think about that.
This summer, Judith and I,
as we would sit on our porch in the mornings,
we discovered that hummingbirds liked our plants.
Well, that kind of prompted us to do a little further research,
Google it, and figure out what else do hummingbirds like.
And pretty soon, our porch,
it was just a collection of all whatever would attract hummingbirds.
I mean, at the point you hardly see the road.
They're all over the place.
But then that wasn't enough.
We had to go by like three or four little hummingbird feeders, right?
And we've got those things hanging out there.
And every single time one of them showed up,
we just kind of,
this is amazing.
I mean, how did God do that?
A little teeny little thing like this
that flies with the most spectacular speed and mobility.
Am I right?
Have you ever noticed hummingbirds?
This is where they really show their abilities,
when they're unhappy with each other and chasing each other.
They don't share feeders very well.
And you'd see this,
there would be hummingbird and suddenly,
and then off they'd go.
And how they,
it's like,
my God did that.
That's the creator of this universe.
universe.
That's just a very small part of it.
And,
and as I think about this passage,
you kind of stop and recognize that
this issue
of God as the creator of the universe
is one that is a center point to our faith.
How does Genesis 1, 1 start?
In the beginning,
God.
How does John chapter 1,
verse 1 through 3
get rolling?
In the beginning was the word,
and the word was with God,
and the word was God.
And it goes on and says,
and all things were made through him.
Psalm 19, verse 1.
The heavens declare the glory of God.
Romans chapter 1, verse 20.
For his invisible attributes,
namely his eternal power
and divine nature,
have been clearly perceived
ever since the creation of the world.
And while many unbelievers
do their very best
to suppress down
the spectacular wisdom
of God in creation,
it slaps them in the face
everywhere they turn.
Unbelievable.
The complexity
and the beauty
and the marvel
of the creation
that you and I enjoy,
and we know the creator,
and he is our Lord
and our God.
I remember asking myself
as I was praying
about this passage,
why is this issue
of creation
so important
to my appreciation of God?
Now there are many reasons
that probably could be offered,
but one stands out in particular.
And I want you to turn,
if you will,
just for a second,
over to Psalm chapter 8.
You're in Psalm 36,
so turn over,
if you will,
to Psalm chapter 8.
Hey, by the way,
pastor,
I want you to,
ah,
who put that up in the back?
It says 1152 here,
and then it says 1143 over there,
and on my phone
it says 1143.
We're in good shape.
Okay.
Do they do that to you?
Do they mess with the time
over here?
Pastor,
preach on.
When pastors pay attention
to time,
don't take any note of it
because they really don't,
let me stop.
Psalm 8,
verse 3 through 6.
When I look at your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars
which you have set in place,
what is man
that you are mindful of him?
I don't know about you,
but I'm pretty impressed
with my insignificance
on fairly regular occasion.
I'm going to be dust
one of these days.
By the way,
I won't be embalmed
just in case you're wondering,
so I will be dust.
Okay.
That's for real
in my own pine box
that I'm making myself.
There you go.
You didn't need to know that either,
but I've told you.
It's my last remodel job.
Oh,
stop.
Okay.
What is man
that you're mindful of him?
Okay.
And the son of man
that you care for him.
I hope you honestly
are overwhelmed
when you stop and think
that the God of this universe
knows you personally
and cares about you personally
as an interest in your well-being.
And if he has called you
to be his son,
having spent the blood
of his own son
for your salvation,
he will do whatever
is necessary
to get you home.
Don't mess with him.
The psalmist goes on
and he says this,
Yet you have made him
a little lower
than heavenly beings
and crowned him
with glory and honor.
You have given him dominion
over the works of your hands.
You have put all things
under his feet.
We serve as his vice regents.
We are charged with caring
for his creation.
And he has set
his unfailing love upon us
and his attitude
and his heart towards us
will never change.
The second, third portion
actually begins there
in verse 10
and carries on down
through verse 24.
And I just want to mark
in broad terms
that this segment
deals with God's great work
in deliverance and provision.
Each note
of his good work
is followed
by the repetition
of that statement
for his steadfast love
endures forever.
The psalmist begins
with the high point
of the plagues
that God afflicted
on Egypt
so as to deliver
his people from slavery.
Now, you may be familiar
with this story
but you may not.
So let me kind of
just touch on it
a little bit.
It's really curious
but worth our attention
to recognize
that while the Israelites
were not entirely happy
in Egypt
they weren't entirely
unhappy either.
In fact,
they were really not
all that settled
about leaving.
The unbeliever
caught in the swamp
of their sin
doesn't like where they are
but has no intention
of leaving.
And God had to do
something pretty miraculous
to get the nation
of Israel
out of the land
of Egypt.
Did you know
that the people
the Egyptian people
drove Israel
out of town?
It's like
get out of here.
We're afraid
of what else
will happen.
And by the way
if you pay attention
to the ten plagues
each one incrementally
got worse and worse
more significant.
And remember
when God told
Moses
I'm going to have
people send you out
and by the way
they're going to
pack you off
with all kinds
of good stuff.
I'm going to spoil
the Egyptians.
And their back wages
in essence
were paid
as they packed up
and left town.
But we find here
in this passage
you look at the passage
again
you find that
what takes place
is that God
reminds the nation
over and over again
I'm the one
who did these things
for you
as I delivered you
from the iron furnace
and I brought you
to the place of promise.
The text goes on
to name one deliverance
after another
and we cannot read
the text
without being
a little overwhelmed
of just
how gracious
God was
in loving his people.
And by the way
what were those people like?
They were the most wonderful
congenial
happy
enduring people
I mean you know
God took them a hard way
but he did that
he tells us in Exodus
so that they would
kind of toughen up
and how did they do
toughening up?
They whined every single day.
They whined and complained
about every single challenge
that God brought
into their life
and
on more than one occasion
Moses just kind of
threw up his hands
and said
ha!
And here we find
as you work your way
through this passage
over and over again
that God
taking care
of his people
never changed
his mind
on them
and never
turned his back
on them.
I love the flow
of the text
in particular
in verse 23
and verse 24
let me read it to you
there it says
here it says
it is he who remembered us
in our low estate
for his steadfast love
endures forever
and rescued us
from our foes
for his steadfast love
endures forever.
Let me ask you a question
when did Israel
have foes?
Most of the foes
they had
were self-inflicted
because of their
idolatrous hearts
would you agree?
they dug themselves
holes repeatedly
and God
delivered them
and here is the
psalmist
reminding
the nation
of the fact
that over and against
these heartaches
and difficulties
that they endured
was the God
who cared for them
and never changed
his mind
about them.
While we'd like
to think that
we've been reasonably
focused in our
spiritual lives
the truth of the matter
is this
is that we've been
a whole lot more
like the children
of Israel
than we want
to admit.
Our great
consolation is this
is that his
steadfast love
endures forever.
Now before we take
a minute to think
in practical terms
of the blessings
of his steadfast love
let's just kind of
watch or let's think
for a second
about what is the
significance of his
steadfast love.
What is this
steadfast love?
I want you to know
that for one
his steadfast love
is the centerpiece
of our relationship
with him.
It's a centerpiece.
And you say
well can you prove
that?
Well 1 John chapter
4 verse 19
how many of you
know it without
looking?
Come on.
We love him
because he first
loved us.
If you're sitting
here this morning
and your heart
has any level
of affection
for the Lord
Jesus Christ
it's not because
one warm evening
you decided
as you were
sitting over
on the porch
you know I think
I need to start
loving God.
Didn't happen.
He chased you
through the messiness
of your life
he found you
broken and ruined
and he lifted you up
and he loved you
unconditionally
and slowly in your
heart you began
to appreciate
the wealth
and depth
of that love.
His love
is the basis
of our salvation.
There's not a one
of you here
probably today
that doesn't know
for John chapter
3 verse 16
for God so loved
the world
that he gave
us his son.
And then we come
to John chapter
15 verse 13
where Jesus said
to his disciples
greater love
hath no man
than this
that he lay
down his life
for his brethren.
Jesus let
those who he
loved know
that he loved
them.
His love
also assures
me that regardless
of where I roam
he will not
let me go.
I got to tell you
I'm an older
guy now.
And one of the
advantages of being
older is I kind
of learned a little
bit with messing
with God is not
a good idea
because he won't
let his children
go.
Do you follow
that?
He will do
whatever is
necessary to get
a hold of you
if you are his
child.
And I say that
not on the basis
of personal experience
because that's
irrelevant.
I say that on
the basis of
Hebrews chapter
12.
Whom the Lord
loves he
chastens.
If you're sitting
here this morning
and you're someone
who's getting away
with sin and it
seems like God
doesn't care you
probably ought to
stop and say why
not?
Why not?
If you are his
child and you are
drifting he will put
his arm around you
gently to start with
but he will always
step it up until
he gets your
attention.
That's one of the
things I like about
my age.
Truthfully.
When I begin to
mess with bad
attitudes and
primarily attitudes
is what I'm
dealing with.
Getting a little
self-focused and
you know whatever.
God will tap me
on the shoulder
and it's like I
hear you I hear
you.
And then he'll
say do you want
to go any further
and I say no no
no.
I get it.
I've been there.
I know how this
ends.
It's never fun.
And so I want to
tell you his love
will not turn you
loose.
His love sets the
boundaries in my
life.
It tells me in 2
Corinthians chapter
5 verse 14 it
says for the love of
Christ constrains me.
I love my wife.
I love my
grandchildren.
I love you.
But it is not the
thing that constrains
me most.
It is the Savior who
has loved me
unconditionally and
never failed me.
That helps me set
the standard and
keep the course.
His love is
central.
So let me ask you
this question.
If the psalmist
uses this repetitive
phrase 26 times,
do you think it's
really important to
think about on a
regular basis?
yes?
And the answer is
yes.
How I do that,
I have a little
routine with going
to sleep at night.
I'd like to say that I
always go to sleep after
I do the routine but it
doesn't happen that way.
But I do have a little
routine.
I get in bed and I say
certain things to my
wife.
Whether she's awake or
not.
It's just kind of a
habit.
How many of you
understand what I
just said?
Okay, it's like,
honey, I love you,
you know, and
whatever.
And it's like,
it's all right.
I say it.
I did say it.
And when I turn off
my volume,
the next thing I do
is I talk to God
and I say thank you
for loving me and
never stopping
every night.
There are some
habits that are worth
developing.
Wouldn't you agree
with me?
And Psalm 136
was one of the
verses, the passages
that hammered with
driving home this
point that appreciating
the unfailing,
unchanging,
steadfast love of
God was a
principal thing to
focus my thinking
on.
Do you find
yourself overwhelmed
on a regular
basis with the
steadfast love of
God?
Do you find that
thinking about his
love tamps down
your natural
moodiness, your
offendability index,
and your hesitance
to serve other
people?
You remind
yourself, he
loves me.
He loves me.
And he will not
change his mind
about me.
So, let me kind
of put this
together in a
closing statement
this way.
You are here
this morning
really in one
of two conditions.
I don't know
some of you,
your faces are
new to me,
others of you
I've known
fairly well.
I've been your
pastor for 31
years and now I
am part of the
congregation.
But I know you.
people.
And so, those of
you that are
here that ask
yourself the
question, am I
affected at all by
the steadfast love
of Christ?
And if your heart
is cold to that,
let me ask you
whether or not you
really know Christ
as your Savior.
If you have been
redeemed, one of
the things that goes
along with that
redemption is you
begin to fall in
love with the
Savior.
Remember the
woman who washed
the feet of Jesus
with her hair?
Right?
Pretty spectacular.
Do you know why
she loved him like
that?
She had been
forgiven much.
And when Jesus
rebuked Simon for
his squirrely little
pinhead thinking,
you know, it was
like, hey, she
loves me, man.
Get over it.
And if you're here
as a person who
has been redeemed,
and forgiven of
all your sins,
how can you not
love him?
Love can grow
cold.
We can become
indifferent to it.
And so if you're
here and there has
been a time where
you have had a
heart that's been
tuned to the Lord
Jesus and yet
you've kind of
drifted away in
your sensitivity to
the unbelievable
love of Christ that
just is beyond
imagination, let me
encourage you with
two closing passages.
Ephesians chapter
three, verse 14
through 19, and
we're not going to
take the time to
look at it, but
she says this.
Paul says, he's
praying for the
church.
He says that you
might be able to
comprehend with all
the saints what?
What is the breadth
and height and width
and depth of the
love of Christ?
And so if you're
sitting here and
you're kind of,
eh, I'm not there.
By the way, a
thankful spirit is
the fruit of
appreciating the love
of God.
Would you
understand that?
And if you're
sitting here kind
of a moody, surly,
not really a happy
Christian, the
solution is not to
take some other
pills.
It is to go to the
Lord and say, I
need a heart change.
And let's do it with
reminding myself of
the fact that you
love me unconditionally.
Ephesians, the
apostle says, I pray
that the power of the
Holy Spirit would
help you grow in
appreciating and
understanding the
love of Christ.
One other verse
and then we'll
close.
Turn to Romans
chapter 5,
verse 5.
Romans 5,
verse 5.
And hope does
not put us to
shame because God
love, God's love
has been poured
into our hearts
through the Holy
Spirit who has
been given to
us.
It's the Holy
Spirit's business
to pour into
your impoverished
impoverished and
dry soul and
appreciation of the
love of God for
you.
And he is glad to
do that.
Ask him and say,
there is something
that the Holy
Spirit is called to
do and I need it
done.
My devotions this
morning were about
a lady that came
asking Jesus for a
miracle.
Daughter was sick
and it says
twice,
Jesus answered
her not a
word.
What?
Poor lady was
pouring her heart
out.
She was broken.
Her daughter was
suffering and he
didn't say a
thing.
He was really
checking her
determination.
Am I right?
And so if you're
dissatisfied and an
unhappy heart and an
unhappy and unthankful
spirit is the
characteristic of your
life and you're a
believer, the prudent
thing to do would be
to profess you need
the help of the Holy
Spirit to grow in
understanding the
depth, the magnitude,
the awesomeness of
his unfailing love.
love.
Let's close in prayer.
miracle miracle miracle
Thank you.