Cultivating Gratitude: A Thanksgiving Message

I love that song. And very good job tonight, turning your wood

and your Bibles to Colossians, chapter three. Let's see if I can

read the Scripture better tonight. In seminary, I had the opportunity

and the privilege of having Dr. Terry Rigsby as my. The class

was called speech. I think it was speech class. And several things

he taught us in that class. And one of the things he really hammered

and just pushed to us men was when you're reading the Bible, read

the Bible. Read every word of it. Read it right. Take your time.

Don't miss a word, don't add a word. And so that's one of the things

that I've tried to do over the years and making sure that when you

read the Bible publicly, that you do so as it's read. And that's

why Sunday morning, I was a little frustrated, like, I don't

know, I must have the Honduran flu as well. I'm kind of making fun

of that. But we do have several out. I know my dad has it,

Brother Johnson has it, Brother Stone has it. So I'm glad

they stayed home, aren't you? I pray for them, but they don't spread

it around us. But it is important that when you read publicly

that you read the Scripture as it's written. It doesn't mean I'm

not going to mess up tonight, Brother Billy, but I'm going to try

to get back to reading it. Ready? Let's look at Colossians 3:10.

Colossians 3:10

And have put on the new man, which is renewed in the knowledge

after the image of him that created him, where there is neither

Greek nor Jew, circumcision, nor uncircumcision, barbarian Scythian

bond, nor free, but Christ is all and in all. Colossians 3:12.

Colossians 3:12

Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, vows of

mercy, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering, forbearing

one another and forgiving one another. And if any man have a quarrel

against any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above

all these things, put on charity. Remember, charity is love

in action, which is the bond of perfectness. Verse 15. We've used

this text a lot over the years. For Thanksgiving, we'll use

it again tonight. Verse 15. And let the peace of God rule in

your hearts to the which ye are called in one body. And be ye

what thankful. Be ye thankful. And we ought to be a thankful people.

It was, I believe, Curtis Hudson who said, a thankful people

is a thankful people. Really, if we do count Our blessings we have.

There's no doubt we would be a thankful people. So let's pray. Heavenly

Father, we thank you, Lord, for your love, your grace and your

mercy. We pray tonight, Lord, that you'd be with us, lead and direct

in this message. And I do pray, Lord, again, that we would

be a thankful people, Lord, as we remember how good you've been

to us, Lord, help us to be thankful in Jesus name, Amen. Back

in the first part of the year, this would be March and April. We

covered this particular chapter on Wednesday night in the

Book of Colossians. And in this portion of Scripture, we made

the point that when you get up in the morning, you make a decision

and you decide what to wear physically. I got up this morning,

decided what I was going to wear, and I put on, I call it my

magic pants, my dry fit, you know, dry fit, business casual dress

pants. And yes, they are stretchy pants, Brother Billy, I

appreciate that. But they are dry fit. I'm telling you, dry fit

stuff's amazing. I don't want to talk about it anymore. I'll move

on. But I put on my pants, you know, put on my magic pants, put

on a shirt, a polo shirt, and put on some little bit nicer cohons,

you know, dress shoes that look like dress shoes, but they're

really tennis shoes and just, you know, dressed appropriately for

work. How I think a pastor ought to at least, you know, dressed

to that point. I do come to sometimes come to work in jeans,

depending on what I plan to do and if I plan to do some manual labor,

or at least I attempt to do some manual labor. But we all get

up in the morning, decide what we're going to wear physically. But

the point we made in the first of the year was that we also get

up every morning. We decide what we put on spiritually, if we're

going to put off the old man and put on the new man. It's so important,

it's vital in our Christian life that we put on the new man,

that we get up in the morning and frankly, decide whether or not

we're going to read our Bible, whether or not we're going to pray,

whether or not we're going to allow our flesh to dictate what we're

going to do, or we allow the spirit to dictate what we're going

to do. And I think every morning, almost every morning, you

ought to pray, Lord, help me to live in the spirit, not the flesh.

Today we need his help. We're dependent upon him because we cannot

live the Christian life as God intended for us to live it on our

own and in our own strength. We need the Holy Spirit. By the way,

it's been given to us to strengthen us and help us to put

on the new man. As we look here at the scriptures that we just

read, it describes for us what this new man looks like. As you put

that new man on every day. It's important that these are the

characteristics that will be prevalent in your life. What are

those? Well, bowels of mercy. It just means deep, tender. It means

deeply felt. It's benevolence. Number two is kindness. So goodness

towards others. If you are putting on the new man, these are

the characteristics that will be evident in your life. Kindness,

gentleness. Humbleness of mind. Meekness. Those are tough ones,

aren't they? That word humbleness or meekness has to do

with willing to suffer injury or insult without desiring to retaliate.

Hello? Okay, I'll move on from that one. When that person cuts you

off in traffic, you know, Meekness, Humbleness. The Bible talks

about Moses being meek. The Bible talks about Jesus Christ being

meek. Meekness is not weakness. Meekness is power under

control. Power under control. Characteristic of putting on the

new man is long suffering. The definition of that is to endure injustice

or difficulties is to be long tempered, which the opposite would

be short. Not to be short tempered, but long suffering. We

all experience this with our children, right? To be long suffering

with our children. To be long suffering with not just our family,

but to be long suffering at work and to be long suffering with

our neighbor. To be long suffering at Thanksgiving, around

the Thanksgiving table. And y'all know my favorite word, the

next one, verse 13. It really is. I just. When I found this one,

I'm like, that's cool. Forbearing one another. It does really

mean put up with each other. And the idea of that is that we put

up with our family. And we're fixing. I mean, we're. We're. I'm

gonna use the Texas word fixing to be there Thursday. We're

gonna sit around with our family. And honestly, there's some

family that I may not like as much as others. Now, I gotta be careful

because I think there's only gonna be like six people at ours

on Friday, this Thursday. So I can't tell you which one of that

is, but I'm being silly. But it really is saying I love my family.

And because I love them, I put up with some things because they're

family. And this word implies that we ought to do that for everyone,

not just our family, but for everyone. That we forbear one another,

that we put up with others. I mean, Jesus said, love your enemies.

So again, this cannot be done without the Holy Spirit and the strength

of the Lord Jesus Christ. Forgiving one another. Again, characteristics

of putting on the new man. Again, tenderness, kindness, humbleness,

meekness, long suffering. Forbearing one another, forgiving

one another. Again, forgiving one another. As Christ has forgiven

you. Ephesians 4:32. Forgive one another, even as God for Christ's

Ephesians 4:32

sake hath forgiven you. Remember that now, God forgave us

because of Christ, because of what Christ did on the cross, because

of the death, burial and resurrection. It's because of Christ

that we have fellowship with God now. He's our mediator, he's

our go between. He reconciled us to God and God has forgiven us

because of His Son, forgiveness. And then again, in verse

14, it says, and above all these things, put on charity. Put

on charity. Love in action. Paul says, most importantly, above

all these others, put on love. Put on love. And that is that we

show goodwill and a loving attitude toward others around us.

And that that goodwill and loving attitude produces action.

In other words, it's not just saying we love them, but we show

action. We prove our love. If you would we show that love. I know

I'm a broken record, but it is important that you tell your kids

you love them. It's important you tell your spouse that you love

them. It's important that they hear it. Amen. It's important. When's

the last time you told your spouse you loved them? When's the

last time you told your kids you love them? Verbally, it's important.

But all that would be for naught if your actions don't back

it up. I mean, you could say it with your mouth, but it better

be backed up with your actions. And that's what it's saying

here, love in action. That our charity should be that love should

be shown in our benevolence towards others, in our actions towards

others. We say that we love them and we should show that love.

We see this in Christ's life as he showed the sacrificial love

in giving his life for us. By the way, he showed us sacrificial

love day by day, as he healed the sick, as he raised the dead,

as he all the things, the service that he did. So those are

the characteristics of putting on the new man. And when you get

to the point of verse 15, he stops and says, and therefore or

let the peace of God rule in your hearts. So the product of putting

on the new man, the results of that are not just the actions which

we show to others and which is displayed in our life, but we benefit

from it as we do for others, as we're selfless for others. We

learned this in the book of Philippians. When we do for others,

you want happiness in your life, you want joy in your life.

Do something for somebody else, serve others. And again you

ask the question in Philippians, well, if I'm constantly

doing for others, what's going to happen to me? Well, God says there

in Philippians chapter four, I will supply your needs. You look

out for others, you do for others. It will bring joy into your

life and God will take care of you. And this is the same principle

here as you put on the new man. The peace of God will rule in

your hearts. You'll experience that peace of God to which also you're

called. In one body, it doesn't just affect you, it affects

the body of Christ. Think about it for a moment. What would

our church be like if everyone was just like you? We asked this

question back in April. What would our church be like if everyone

was just like me? If everyone served as I serve, if everyone gave

like I gave, would the church be able to pay its bills? Would it

be able to support its ministries? Would it be able to support

its missionaries? Would it grow or decline? In other words,

if everyone was in the church was just like me? Again, the product

of the characteristics or the product of putting on the new man

is that of peace that rules in our hearts. And that peace that rules

in our hearts affects those around us. If I have peace in my

own life, it's because I'm walking with God, man. I'm going

to put you another scripture to you first, John 1:7. If we walk

John 1:7

in the light as he's in light, we have fellowship one with another.

As the peace of God rules in my heart, I'll have fellowship with

not only God, but with my fellow man. And they'll be. And that's

what he's precluding here, is that there'll be unity in the body

if everyone in the church put on the new man every day and lived

a life of testimony and a light for the Lord Jesus Christ,

and that was produced in their life. Imagine the difference, the

difference that would make in the church if everyone did it. Things

racing through my mind because all these principles connect together

as we think about being a living stone. We are a lively stone.

Building up a spiritual house, it's important that when we meet

together, this is not the church. This building is not the

church. We are the church. We are the Christians. We are the church.

And each one of us represent a stone. And as we come together, we

are fitly framed together. The Bible says to build up a spiritual

house, it's important that your stone be here, number one. Number

two, it's important that your stone be clean. Again, back to that

principle. As I live for Jesus, as I walk in the light, as

I. My life is characterized by putting on the new man. And here

they are, you know, again. Forgiveness, vows of mercy, kindness,

all these things, then it produces peace in my heart, it produces

peace in my life, which everyone wants. And therefore it

produces that same peace and unity in the church. I'm thankful

for a church that experiences peace. I'm thankful for a church.

It doesn't mean we never had any problems, because we have. I

can go back and write them down for you, but I'm thankful for

a church who. I love that preachers come in here and they say,

preacher, your church is the church that God has given you to.

Pastor is one of the easiest churches I've ever preached to. And

that says a lot about you. It really does. It means many of you,

most of you are practicing what you preach during the week.

Many of you, most of you are trying to live for the Lord, are

putting on the new man. And that spirit, that peace permeates

the church. It makes the difference. Amen. By the way, that

is important to keep that. So forgive one another, praise the Lord.

Right? If you want to keep a spiritual church, you want to keep

a good spirit in the church, then we have to be a forgiving people.

We have to be forgiving. If you want harmony and peace, then

that harmony and peace is again, ruled in our own lives, can

be ruled in the church as well. As we work together, as we

use our gifts that God has given us together, it's all important

as we follow Christ. We are children of God, and therefore we

put up with each other sometimes. Hello. I put up with brother

John and Ms. Aaron sitting in the wrong spot. Somebody has said

it this way. There's a difference between love and liking

somebody. Right? Again, we should love everyone, we really should,

because Christ did. And we should love our church family. Love

them, you say. Well, I just don't like them. That may be the

case. There's always personality clashes, always hurt

feelings. And again, to have that joy that we experience personally,

to have that same peace and Joy in the church itself, in the

spirit, which I believe heritage does have most of the time,

even over its history. We have to be putting on the new man, and

we have to be a forgiving and have those characteristics. And what

happens then that produces a thankful spirit. Aren't you thankful

tonight for all God's been for you? I'm so thankful for the love

of Jesus. I'm thankful that he loves me in spite of me. Every time

I think about that, he knows every thought that I've ever thunk,

it blows me away. The prophet says, he knows the secrets of your

heart, and yet he loves you. He loves you. What a merciful God

we serve. What a gracious God we serve. Again, he says in verse

15, let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which ye are called

in one body. We're called to be in this body, a body of peace,

body of unity. Amen. And when you're not at peace or not unified

in the body, then you need to get that thing right. And then he

goes, and be ye thankful. And be ye thankful. Thankful. Thinking,

as I said, brings thanksgiving. As we think about what

God has done for us and how good he's been to us, it makes us

a thankful people. I quoted Warren Wiersbe back again in April,

and Warren Whispery said it this way. When there is peace in

your heart, there will be praise on your lips. You experience

the peace of God in your hearts, man. There'll be praise on

your lips for him. We will be a thankful people. When you put on

the new man and we're renewed, we'll be a thankful people. When

you're walking with the Lord, and therefore in his will, we'll

be a thankful people. The peace will reign in our hearts and

in our life. A love for others, a love for brothers and sisters

in Christ, which will result in thanksgiving. Will result in thanksgiving.

It's a product of it. The product of the new man is a peaceful

heart. The product of putting on the new man is unity in the body

of Christ. Unity at Heritage Baptist Church. The product of putting

on the new man those characteristics of forgiveness and

all the things meekness and so forth is thankfulness, is thankfulness.

We live in a world today that is very unthankful, very unthankful.

And it is as we've talked about many times there. In second

Timothy 3, the Bible says this. Know ye that in the last days

perilous times shall come. And as it makes the list of the perilous

times, the end times, it uses the Word unthankful. It puts it in

a list of terrible stuff, like immoral stuff, immorality. And it

puts it right in the middle of it. Think God's concerned about unthankfulness?

Yes, he is. He puts it in the same category as immorality, adultery,

fornication, so forth. And so we live in a society today that is

predominantly unthankful. In fact, Romans chapter 1, verses 18,

Romans 1:18

30, 32. In verse 21, it says, neither were thankful, but they were

vain in their minds. In other words, when you go through and you

read Romans chapter one, and it lists off the things that are

contrary to the word of God, again, immorality. And then it says

those who are of that persuasion, those who are adulterers

and fornicators. And then it goes on and it talks about those

who go against the very nature. Man with man, woman with

woman, are unthankful. It uses that word. And I believe as you study

it, you'll find that when someone lives and lives in, let me

put it that way, that's what it's talking about. It's not talking

who sins and falls, but somebody who lives in that lifestyle

rejecting God's law, Rejecting God's law of nature. Hello. It's

not natural, the things we're seeing today. Absolutely. And he

says because of that, because they were unthankful, God gave them

over to a reprobate mind. In other words, unthankfulness is the

tipping point. Not just the immorality, but the immorality is

a product of being unthankful. Unthankful. And then God gives them

up. May we be a thankful people. Being thankful does not come

natural. And I know I'm a broken record, but you don't have

to teach a kid how to be unthankful. Right? It's a great illustration.

It works every time. Kid's two years old, what do you do? Somebody

gives them something. You tell little Johnny, little Billy, Billy,

tell them, thank you. And most of the time, what is the natural

reaction? No. And again, mom and dad gotta continually work at

it and work at it. And of course, some kids are easier than

others of getting it right. But it means you do have to, no matter

what, who, what personality the kid has, there has to be some

instruction, There has to be some training. And you have to train

a child to be thankful. And that's constantly staying at it.

And we see this with even our grandchild, who's perfect. Say, thank

you, Say, yes, ma'am. Say, no, ma'am. Yes, sir. No, Sir. And all

the things that, especially if you've been in Texas, you've been

taught to do, just picking on some other people. But it's not natural

to be thankful adults. What happens to us too? Sometimes we get

past our raisin and then we forget. We really do. Sometimes we

are not thankful either. And may we be reminded over and over

again that being thankful does not come natural. Just like a child.

It's not natural for a child to swim. They have to be taught.

A duck does not have to be taught. Swimming for a duck is natural.

Swimming for a human being has to be taught. And so does being thankful.

It has to be taught. How are we to be thankful? We need to constantly

recognize that God owns everything and that everything comes

from Him. I've quoted this Sunday, But James chapter 1, verse

James 1:17

17 says, Every good gift and every perfect gift from above. By

the way, aren't you glad that God wants us to enjoy things? It's

not like he's up there going, bam, bam. I hope this like a little.

Taking the little magnifying glass on a little ant like you did

when you was a kid. If you didn't get to do that as a kid, you're

missing. I'm sorry. Don't even know what a magnifying glass is,

do you? My papa and grandma, on my papa's desk there on the farm,

he always had a magnifying glass. We take it outside, take that

magnifying glass, find some ants and just burn them up. So much

fun. But that's not how the Lord sees us. No, he wants us. Life

was not to be. I said this Sunday. Life was not meant to be

endured. It's meant to be enjoyed. I know I'm a broken record.

That's one of the things I say all the time. Because I think we

need to hear it all the time. Life was not to be endured. It's

meant to be enjoyed. Kids were not meant to be endured. They were

meant to be enjoyed. Marriage was not meant to be endured. It was

meant to be enjoyed. Life was meant to be enjoyed. God's been so

good to us. Everything comes from Him. Everything comes from Him.

We are not self made. No, I did not build that. Some of y'all

get that one later. Psalm 103, verse 2 says, Bless the Lord, O my

Psalms 103:2

soul, and forget not all his benefits Again. We're so forgetful.

So forgetful. He is the Creator of all and the curator of

all. As Colossians has told us there in chapter two. By him, all

things consist. He's the superglue that holds it all together.

The basis of Thanksgiving is recognizing that everything comes

from God. That's the foundation. Everything comes from

him. And then what should we be or how should we be thankful for?

What should we be thankful for? Well, we should be thankful

for the good and the bad. All things work together for good. We

should think, as I said before, thankfulness. And the more

you think, the more thankful you'll be. I don't know how many

times I've counseled somebody in my office, especially marriage

counseling, and say, okay, you really have, both of you. I've heard

both sides, and all you've said was negative stuff. Lots and

lots of negative. Maybe we should write down the good stuff

and see what happens and try to encourage them to write down the

good also. That's happened. And it's amazing how many times the

good will far outweigh the bad. In fact, every time it does,

we just gotta be reminded. We just gotta be reminded the blessings.

Count your blessings, name them one by one, and it will surprise

you what the Lord has done. Again, it's the devil who likes to

get your mind on the negative. It's the devil who likes to get your

mind on just the problems alone. It's the devil that likes

to look back in your history and go, that was wrong. That was

bad. That was bad. That was bad. Instead of looking back in the

same land, look what the Lord did there and there and there and

there. Look at all the good things that God supplied to me. We're

commanded in this scripture to be thankful. Notice what it says.

And be ye thankful. It's a command. It's a command from the

Lord. It's not optional. Everybody agree? And be ye thankful.

It's not optional. We are to be a thankful people. Thankful. We're

gonna sit around the table and I've been silly about it Sunday and

today, but, man, aren't we blessed beyond measure. Literally.

I went to Sam's today, and because of you taking care of your

pastor so well, I could go through Sam's and I could buy not

everything I wanted, but most everything I wanted for Thursday.

You walk right into Sam's. What's the first thing you see to

the left? Pumpkin pies, $5.98. And they're this big around hubcap

off a car. Really? I'm not exact. $5.98. Right beside it was

pecan pie. It was like $10 and something. Then there was apple and

whatever else. That stuff I don't care about. No, I'M just kidding.

And, you know, you walk through the store and you're putting

stuff in your. In your basket and, you know, just putting stuff

in the basket. Ham. We're not cooking turkey at our house Thursday.

We're having steak because there's only going to be six of us.

Couldn't afford to feed steak to, like, if my brother's kids came.

He has 11 kids. That wouldn't work. But we're having steak and

it's going to be awesome. Isn't it amazing? You know, I'm not

going to tell you how much I spent, but, I mean, most of us could

go spend 50 to $100. And aren't we blessed? Isn't that amazing?

I just got back from a country that that's not the case. Honduras.

The average wage a month is $150 a month. A banker in Honduras

makes $500 a month. You know, the, the teller. $500 a month. We're

blessed. It was amazing to me as I looked out the window or looked

out the side of that church building, what a beautiful church

building they have. And the land was given to them and the property

already had a structure on it that they were able to retrofit and

make into a church building. Just so blessed. But as I looked

out over the balcony type area, you look down, very nice house,

five or six shanties, you know, very nice house, five or six.

I mean, it's absolutely rich and very poor. Not a lot between

Americans. We're blessed beyond measure. God's been so good

to us. It's good for us to be reminded. I would encourage you.

We do allow, I believe, juniors and seniors to go the medical

mission trip. Every parent ought to make their kids go to one

just to see how good they have it. We have it so good. Let's be

a thankful people. A thankful people. Let's pray. Heavenly Father,

Lord, we love you and we thank you for all you've done for us. What

a blessing it is to receive your benefits. Lord, help us to be

reminded of those things. The devil loves to get us off and get

us thinking about all the negative. But Lord, we know and we

so thankful for all the great gifts you've given us as we sit around

thanksgiving table. Lord, may we be a thankful people. May we be

loving and kind and gracious to those around us. May we forbear

one another. And Lord, may we lift you up. We thank you and we

love you. In Jesus name, amen. We're going to.