Thanksgiving Sermons Hello and welcome to RayFowler.org. If you are new here, be sure to subscribe by email or feed reader so that you don't miss any future posts.
Pastor Rogers, I know Thanksgiving is supposed to be a time of thankfulness. But because of some very hard circumstances in my life, I am struggling with being thankful right now. How can I be thankful when things seem to go so wrong?
You know, we're supposed to thank God all times - for all things. And sometimes we don't feel very grateful or thankful. And yet, as God's children, we are to thank Him all the time and to thank Him for everything. Ephesians 5:20 says, 'Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.' When he says giving thanks always for all things, that makes it a little difficult.
That brings up some real questions. There are some very bad things that happen to a child of God.
Sickness, sorrow, disappointment, death, divorce, abuse, murder, rape, and mayhem. Why does God allow these things, and how can we possibly give God thanks always and for all things? Let me suggest some factors you need to take into consideration: Sin: Why do hard things happen?
Very frankly, we live in a world that is cursed with sin, and therefore filled with sorrow. Job 14:1 says: 'Man that is born of a woman has few days, and full of trouble.' And so we bear in our bodies the ravages of sin, brought about by the failure of Adam.
Nature also bears this curse (Romans 8:21). We need to understand that our world and bodies are cursed, but we can take hope and can thank God in the worst of all circumstances because if we know the Lord, and are saved, one day, God is going to undo all that. Romans 8:21 says 'Because creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.' One of these days creation is going to be delivered from corruption. So in the midst of it all, I can thank God that one day, He's going to make it different. Chastisement: If you're having difficulty, it just may be that you're under the chastening hand of Almighty God.
In Hebrews 12, we see that 'If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?Now no chastening for the present time seemeth to be joyous, but grievous; nevertheless, afterward, it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.' If you're suffering, it may be because God is chastising you. That doesn't mean He doesn't love you. It means that He does love you. He loves you too much to let you get away with sin and He will chasten you, dealing with you as with a son. If God takes you to the woodshed, as it were, and has to chastise you, thank God in this-because it proves He loves you and exercises 'peaceable fruit of righteousness unto those that are exercised thereby.' Dependency: Sometimes God allows us to have problems to cause us to depend upon Him.
Now, we have weaknesses, and weakness is an asset when it brings you to Jesus Christ, and helps you to depend upon Him. Our place of weakness can be our place of strength. If our troubles cause us greater dependency, then thank God for them. Maturity: When you have difficulty, you learn more during those times than you learn in the good times. Someone wrote these words: 'I walked a mile with pleasure, she chattered all the way, but left me none the wiser for all she had to say. I walked a mile with sorrow, and not a word said shebut oh the things I learned from sorrow, when sorrow walked with me.'
We learn so much more in times of sorrow than times of joy. Psalm 119:71 says, 'It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I might learn thy statutes.' If affliction causes me to learn, then I've got to thank God for it. If affliction causes you to be like Jesus, and you're made mature through these things, then you can thank God for it. Patience: When bad things happen to you, inexplicable things, could it be that God is just simply working patience in you? All of us need to learn the Christian grace of patience. Psalm 27:14 says, 'Wait on the Lord, be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thy heart.
Wait, I say, on the Lord.' James 1:4 says, 'Let patience have her perfect work that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.' You and I need to learn patience. The word 'patience' in this verse is a Greek word that means to bear up under suffering and pain. And so, if God is teaching us patience, and it is a Christian virtue, should we not thank God when we're enduring trials? Ministry: Things that happen to you may happen to you to enable you to minister to other people.
Second Corinthians 1:3-4 says, 'Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort. Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, but the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.' God gives us comfort in order for us to comfort somebody else.
Now, God can't comfort you unless you need it, and you can't need comfort unless you have trouble. Give God thanks that you can comfort someone else because of trouble. Glory: When we suffer and yet keep praising God, it gives God glory.
Now, I like for God to deliver me when I'm in trouble. It's one thing to be delivered and praise God for it; it's another thing to be in a fiery furnace and not be delivered and praise God for it. And I tell you, that takes more faith and gives God more glory. And if God is being glorified in my life, even though I may be persecuted, can I not thank God that He is being glorified in my life, even though I don't feel thankful? Mystery: I've mentioned many things, but these may not satisfy you. You may not know and you may not understand. But one thing we can understand: God is a sovereign God, and bigger than any of us.
Isaiah 55 tells us that His thoughts are not our thoughts, and that His ways are higher than our ways. Second Corinthians 5:7 says: 'we walk by faith, not by sight' There are times when we say, 'God, You owe me an explanation.'
And it's all right to ask for one, but not to doubt God's wisdom, love or goodness. If God loved you enough to send His Son to die for you on the cross, then you never have to doubt His love again. Real faith is not receiving from God what we want, but it is accepting from God what He gives. You may never in this world figure it out, but you know that God is sovereign and someone wisely said, 'Where we cannot trace His hand, we can trust His heart.' He is good and faithful, and so thank Him and praise Him. Used by Permission of. By Adrian Rogers.
© 2006 Love Worth Finding Ministries. Adrian Rogers, preacher/teacher of Love Worth Finding Ministries, and one of America's most respected teachers.
Under his 32 years of pastoral leadership, Bellevue Church in Memphis, TN, grew from 9,000 members in 1972 to more than 29,000. Most important to Dr. Rogers have been the tens and thousands of believers who have had their faith strengthened and thousands of others who have for the first time entered into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Rogers passed away on November 15, 2005.
Temple Baptist Church - Psalm 103 Introduction: A. It is the most wonderful time of the year for this preacher. I love cool weather! I love Thanksgiving through Christmas! I love to fellowship! I love to eat!
I love to remember all that God has done for me! I thought, I need to find something new for Thanksgiving this year but—the more I thought about it—the more I realized that Thanksgiving is simply that, Thanksgiving!
I understand more than ever the ramifications of 1 Thessalonians 5:18 which says, “In everything give thanks!” Even in the hard times; even in the bad times; even in the confusing times; God is more than good to His children and they are blessed. As we come back to Psalm 103 again this year, I realize that it says it all. I do not know anything that needs to be added to these verses. God’s salvation has a lot of wonderful “benefits” that go along with it and we need to concentrate upon them in the next few days.
Yes, thank God for turkeys! Thank God for our families! Thank God for our friends! All I can say is “Thank God!” C. Here are a few things found in these verses that we need to be constantly reminded of: 1.
Thank God For His Wonderful Redemption! 3 The most important thing in this life is to know that you know that you know that you are saved!
The knowledge that your sins have all been washed away in the crimson flow of Calvary. To know the wonder of a cleansed heart. To know the forgiveness of all of your sins. To know that heaven is your home. To know the wonder of a changed life. To know Christ! Thank God For Health And Strength!
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3 I feel great this morning at 62. I have a few little problems but, in general, my health is good and I feel it.
God has been gracious to me in giving me a strong, healthy, resilient body with a great immune system. I rarely get sick or feel bad. Thank God for healing all of my diseases. One day I will get sick and not get over it in this world but thank God He will heal me completely in the next. Thank God For Saving Me From Self-destruction!
4 I have heard many say that they would be dead and in hell if it had not been for salvation. I do not know where I would be right now if God had not saved me but I do know this: I would not be where I am now. He changed my life, placed new desires in me, renovated my family, gave my two sons a dad who has loved and lived for the Lord. My body is strong because the Lord helped me to give up tobacco, alcohol, turnips, and beets! I still hate the last two on the list. Thank you Lord for saving my life as well as saving my soul.
Thank God For Your Lovingkindness And Mercy! 4 I believe that all of us can say that the Lord has been better to us than we deserve. He has not rewarded us after our iniquities. I have never been good enough to go to heaven and never will be. I am going because He loved me and died for my sins!
Never think that you are someone spiritually. It is all of God and it is all of Grace! Thank God For His Provision! 5 The Lord has sure been good to me, even in the physical things of life. It is God that gives to you the very air that you breathe! Every good gift and every perfect gift!
These things come from God. He gave you your health, your home, your job, your car, your food, your every blessing in life. All is made by God and given by God. We are the richest nation on earth and have far more than we deserve. No wonder people are swimming rivers and sneaking across the borders to come to this great land! Thank God For His Divine Intervention In Our Lives!
6 I am so glad that my life is in the hands of One who can help. He protects and shields us from evil things. Yes, life is hard, but I look back over the last three years and know that my family and church could have been destroyed. We are here and well! We have trusted in the Lord and have not had to compromise one inch in either our integrity or our doctrine. God has brought us this far and He will take us all of the way home. December is just 3 weeks away and someone is going to find our just who God is!
We can trust Him! Thank God For His Longsuffering! 8-9 He sure has to put up with a lot when He puts up with me. I am not proud of it but it is a fact!
Thank you, Lord, for being there with me and for me when I did not deserve it. You are gracious; you are merciful; you are longsuffering; and you are compassionate—and I love you for it!! Conclusion: I believe that I have said enough for this morning and you probably “get it” by now. This Thanksgiving, as you enjoy the things of this life, give glory and honor and praise to the One who made it all possible!