Pastor Tim P. Blaisure – 11/20/22 – Morning Message
Intro:
THE MEANING OF THANKSGIVING – the act of expressing or feeling thankfulness. The act of giving thanks for what you are grateful for.
A HEART SONG OF THANKFULNESS – the act of giving thanks from your heart (spirit) with a song of deep gratefulness.
It is so easy going through the motions of saying you are thankful or just singing in church when everyone else is doing it. We need to show our thankfulness to the Lord with a heart full of gratefulness that comes out in a heart song and reaches heaven immediately.
Foundation Scriptures:
Psalm 100:1-5 NLT
“SHOUT WITH JOY to the Lord, all the earth! 2 WORSHIP the Lord with gladness. Come before him, SINGING with joy. 3 ACKNOWLEDGE that the Lord is God! He made us, and we are his. We are his people, the sheep of his pasture. 4 ENTER his gates WITH THANKSGIVING; go into his courts with PRAISE. GIVE thanks to him and praise his name. 5 For the Lord is good. His unfailing love continues forever, and his faithfulness continues to each generation.”
I. SINGING THE HEART SONG OF THANKFULNESS FROM THE WORD OF GOD:
Psalm 26:6-8
6 I wash my hands to declare my innocence. I come to your altar, O Lord, 7 SINGING A SONG OF THANKSGIVING and telling of all your wonders. 8 I love your sanctuary, Lord, the place where your glorious presence dwells.
Psalm 28:7
7 The Lord is my strength and shield. I trust him with all my heart. He helps me, and my heart is filled with joy. I burst out in SONGS OF THANKSGIVING.
Psalm 69:30
30 Then I will praise God’s name with singing, and I will honor him with thanksgiving.
Psalm 95:2
2 Let us come to him with thanksgiving. Let us sing psalms of praise to him.
II. SINGING THE HEART SONG OF THANKFULNESS COMES FROM TRUE SACRIFICE:
Psalm 107:22
22 Let them offer sacrifices of thanksgiving and sing joyfully about his glorious acts.
Romans 12:1-2
And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.
2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.
III. SINGING THE HEART SONG OF THANKFULNESS COMES FROM NOWING WHO YOU ARE THROUGH CHRIST JESUS:
2 Corinthians 5:16-18
So, we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now!
17 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!
18 And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him.
2 Corinthians 4:14-16
14 We know that God, who raised the Lord Jesus, will also raise us with Jesus and present us to himself together with you.
15 All of this is for your benefit. And as God’s grace reaches more and more people, there will be great thanksgiving, and God will receive more and more glory.
16 That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day.
Conclusion:
1 Thessalonians 5:18
18 Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.
Revelation 7:11-12
11 And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living beings. And they fell before the throne with their faces to the ground and worshiped God.
12 They sang,
“Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and strength belong to our God forever and ever! Amen.”