Thanks to God

Driving home: There is no peace with God apart from his grace, and the grace of God always leads to peace, a reconciliation of the rebel sinner with his God through Jesus Christ.

Paul's custom of staying long in cities like Corinth and Ephesus, contrasted with 'fly-by-night evangelism,' illustrates his commitment to planting stable churches and building leadership, highlighting his pastoral concern for the Thessalonians.

I said, well, when did you start? Well, we checked our notes, and we found out that both of us started the same morning. Now, I'm sure that's just a coincidence, but I could not help but wish, cannot help but wish, that they shall receive the prophet that I trust we are receiving, and that he as a pastor will receive the prophet in the preparation of his messages, which I have received in the preparation of these messages to share with you as a congregation. The church at Thessalonica, as we saw in our first study, was founded on Paul's second missionary journey in this very strategic city, an...

0:38 - 1:58 Read in full sermon

The point: Examine your own experience of the gospel using verses 2-10 as a rule.

A young left-handed pitcher meticulously imitating Sandy Koufax illustrates how people set models in sports. This is used to argue that Christians should have God-given models for individual and church life, striving to approximate them.

Do you have any ambitions for yourself? For your family and particularly in this case for this church? The other day I took Joel by the James Caldwell High School here. They were having a baseball game.

6:08 - 6:21 Read in full sermon

The point: Consciously thank God for sanity of mind, physical ability, and peace from war, recognizing these as gifts from Him.

The act of making one's own sandwich versus having a wife make it, or feeding a dog, illustrates that thanksgiving implies receiving from another. This reinforces the point that true thankfulness recognizes God as the ultimate giver.

why dost thou glory as though thou hadst not received it you see Paul's theology is what shaped his thankfulness he recognized the truth of Romans 11 36 that of him and through him and unto him are all things to whom be glory forever and forever the Christian doctrine of thankfulness has as its foundation the Christian doctrine that God is over all and above all and the giver of all the truth of James 1 17 that every good and every poor and every perfect gift cometh down from above from the Father of lights with whom is no variableness nor shadow cast by turning sometime you men when your wive...

19:21 - 20:50 Read in full sermon

The point: Teach your children to thank God, making it a conscious part of family devotions and mealtime prayers.

Martin's experience trying to get his children to enumerate things to thank God for during family devotions, contrasted with their readiness to make requests, illustrates the natural human tendency towards ingratitude and the difficulty of cultivating thankfulness.

now what are we going to thank him for and it's amazing how we can sit there sometimes for a couple of minutes and so hard to pull out things we ought to thank God for last night when we did this Heidi said looked up very innocently and said I'm going to thank God daddy's home and he's not going away for a week she said that was what she was thankful for but you see how much this is ingrained in us when you have your devotions today when you have your thanksgiving around the table just go around and ask the children what should we be thankful for today and notice how hard it is for them to enu...

29:40 - 31:09 Read in full sermon

The point: Analyze your praying to ensure you are approaching God according to His directions, starting with a God-centered perspective.

A king inviting subjects to his court with specific directions on how to approach illustrates that God has given us instructions on how to pray, not just invitations. This emphasizes that prayer should be structured and God-centered, not just a 'blurting out' of requests.

suppose a king gave gracious invitations for all his subjects to come before him to ask certain things certain favors but with those invitations he gave certain directions he told you how to come how to be dressed how to approach his court what to say what do you think the king would think if you just came crashing into the throne room waving his promises to give you nice things and the king says wait a minute I told you how to come you say oh I have no time for that the thought of coming was so wonderful here I am king give me this give me that give me this give me that he says wait a minute ...

34:10 - 35:40 Read in full sermon

The point: As husbands and heads of household, take the initiative to lead your family in remembering and thanking God for His benefits at the table.

David's self-exhortation in Psalm 103, 'Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits,' illustrates the deliberate mental effort required to cultivate thankfulness, acknowledging our natural tendency to forget God's mercies.

you read the Psalms and you say oh he just had the gift to the gab when it came to praising God he just had he just sort of had a happy heart as a king he didn't have many problems didn't have to worry about paying his bills all the problems that I have I can't be expected to be full of praise like he was well how do you get that way well listen to it Psalm 103 now notice is this Psalm directed to God to men or to himself look bless the Lord oh my soul he's talking to himself you say well if I do that my husband will call a doctor let me have an examination think something's wrong with me if h...

38:37 - 40:04 Read in full sermon

The point: As husbands and heads of household, take the initiative to lead your family in remembering and thanking God for His benefits at the table.

Martin's practice of starting prayer meetings with a period of thanksgiving, forbidding petitions, illustrates how deliberately focusing on gratitude can bless participants and reveal the abundance of God's mercy, making complaints seem cheap.

gotta talk to yourself you've got to use your mind to call to remembrance the blessings of God now to make this intensely practical may I challenge each one of you husbands who's the head of the house I hope you're the head if you aren't shame on you but take the initiative at the table today when you bow to thank God for your food you go around the table and say now look we're going to remember the benefits of God what can we thank God for and get all the things you can thank God for see try to cultivate this spirit of thankfulness you must stir yourself up stir your family up if we're to be ...

40:04 - 41:33 Read in full sermon

The point: Trace all blessings back to the sovereign hand of God, fall down and bless that hand, and be able to say, 'We give thanks to God always.'

The example of seeing someone who has lost sight or a limb, yet thanks God for being alive or not in hell, illustrates how such perspective can expose and guard against sinful discontent and ingratitude in our own hearts.

it will keep us from sinful discontent I'm shocked at some of the discontent that I find rising in my own heart and rising in the hearts of God's people what will keep you from discontent you just keep thanking God for all you've got all you need to do is see someone who has the loss of sight or a loss of a limb and you'll see that you're not and you come to pity them and they say thank God I'm alive or thank God I'm not in hell and you feel pretty cheap for complaining that maybe you can't have the nicest choice of meats or some other stupid thing makes you feel pretty cheap and it ought to f...

47:29 - 48:50 Read in full sermon