Thanks for everything

In all things.

You know, it's okay and it's easy to be thankful in the good things, is it not?

But when the circumstances kind of go bottom side up, or they turn in the wrong direction in a situation that you thought was going in the right direction.

That's been my case for 40 years in ministry.

I have a plan, I have a vision, and I just know this is where we're going.

And then all of a sudden, God says, Nope.

I think you need to go here.

But God.

No, there's no but God.

When God is directing.

There are no Billy Goat Christians always butting.

But it's amazing when Paul knew he was going to roll.

But God said, No, you're not.

You're going to Macedonia.

But you know what?

A man that had been unbelievably persecuted, and we're going to look at all those, well, not all of them, but we're going to look at a few of them.

Situations left for dead, beaten by rods and skirds by cat of nine tails.

Left for dead more than once.

Shipwrecked.

I'm talking about if anybody could teach us how to be thankful, it is the Apostle Paul.

So let's look at his encouragement and his reasoning for being thankful in everything.

Turn with the in your Bibles to Ephesians chapter 5.

Ephesians 5 · chapter mention

In the next few weeks, we're going to be looking at how we can be thankful continually.

Because it's not easy.

Church, it's not easy.

And today we're going to be looking at three things: the standard of thanksgiving, the substance of thanksgiving, and the secret of thanksgiving.

So again, turn with me in your Bibles to Ephesians chapter 5.

Ephesians 5 · chapter mention

And we'll be looking at verses 14 through 20.

Therefore he says, Awake you who sleep.

Arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.

In other words, turn from your wicked ways, and Christ will come into your heart and your life and save you.

See then that you walk circumspectedly.

Now that's a big Hebrew word, or should I say a Greek word, but it just means walk wisely.

Not as fools, but as wise.

Redeeming the time, don't waste time.

Don't spend your time doing things that don't count for God.

Because the days are evil.

Boy, we're living in those days right now.

But guess what?

Each generation has lived in those days.

Therefore, do not be unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.

All right?

So what is the will?

What's God's will for my life?

Be not drunk with wine.

There's a comparison.

In other words, do not let worldly stimulants control you.

Don't let alcohol, don't let drugs, don't let all the, and it's not just that, all the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life control you.

That's exactly what he's saying.

Don't yield to the flesh, but be filled with the Spirit.

Speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your hearts to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, submitting, and I like, I'm gonna add verse 21, submitting to one another in the fear of God.

Wow.

So, this morning, what does it really mean to be thankful for everything?

Number one, let's look at the standard of this thanksgiving.

The standard of this thanksgiving.

And I love this.

Verse 20, look at it.

Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Psalms 104 says this enter into his gates with thanksgiving.

I love that.

And hey, and to his courts with praise, being thankful unto him and bless his name.

Can we just thank God this morning and say, thank you, God?

Thank you, Father.

Bless his name.

Because that's what he wants from us.

That's what he desires from us.

Here we see Paul, spirit-filled, Christ-conscious, word-filled, and obedient and faithful, giving thanks to God in all things.

And you've got to remember he's been left for dead more than once.

Wow.

So what we see here, the standard of thanksgiving for all things, is uniquely a Christian concept.

It's not a worldly concept.

I can promise you that.

Can I get an amen?

Now the word Thanksgiving is you charesto, and it literally means the Greek word to be grateful and to express gratitude.

When I was working on these messages, this message, I thought to myself, do I really express gratitude in all things?

Can I go ahead and say every one of us are guilty of not doing that?

I guarantee it.

Because we ought to be thankful and express gratitude in all things.

Hey, you know we don't have a problem in being grateful and expressing gratitude when something major really happens in our life.

For example, with me and my daughter.

Now, I'm giving you what God's taught me this last two weeks.

Well, actually the last month.

Was I grateful that my daughter had to have major surgery?

Absolutely not.

Was I grateful that I thought that she possibly could be paralyzed?

Absolutely not.

And I could go down the record what I was grateful, hey, when my power went out.

Oh God, thank you.

I am so grateful for my power out.

Hello?

Oh God, I'm so thankful for my internet being down.

That's where most of you.

Y'all could have cared less about the lights, but give me my internet.

I gotta stay plugged in.

Hold on, I missed something.

You hear that little ding for text or something?

Oh, where's my phone?

Where's my phone?

Here, throw it in the come out.

My phone! You know I'm right.

I watch you.

I watch you here.

I walk in and here you are.

Uh-huh.

Uh-huh.

And then some of you try to say, oh, yeah, but but Pastor Danny, because I have mine, it's my Bible.

Yeah, give me a break.

It better be.

Amen.

Is that not true?

So, let me tell you what God's taught me.

Was I thankful that my dog hit a car and almost died?

No, by the way, he is doing fantastic.

My daughter's doing fantastic.

To God be the glory.

But let me tell you what I learned about gratitude.

Listen to me.

You know when I was really grateful and thank you, God, thank you.

And I'm still thanking him.

It's when it was in that major crisis.

We have no problem being thankful to God in those major crises when he delivers us out of them.

Or during those crises, we're saying, oh God, oh God, please, Lord, man, we confess everything and do it three or four times.

But God, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

Oh Lord, please, please, please.

We pray that way.

And there's nothing wrong.

You should.

But what I'm trying to tell you, what Paul is trying to say, when you get to the point when you're walking filled with the Spirit of God, now listen, and you're really walking close to God, you'll be thanking him even for the little things.

You'll be thanking him that you get, hey, you got up this morning and you're able to walk to the bathroom.

Amen.

Amen.

That's what I'm talking about.

That's where he's wanting to get us to be.

In all things.

And with that said, how do we do that?

One, here we go.

The standard of Thanksgiving, number one, in your notes is God exalting.

We've got to learn to give thanks.

Look at verse 20.

Unto God and the Father.

That's it.

Paul conceived of God as the giver of every good gift.

In fact, remember on Mars Hills, he told those unbelievable Ephesians there.

He said this: God gives you all life, all breath, and all things.

Let me repeat that.

He gives you all life, all breath, all things.

Acts 17, 24 and 25.

And then James 1, 17, every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of lights.

Folks, do you understand that?

Everything that you have and that you are comes from God.

And that's why he was able to say, thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.

God sending Jesus the ultimate gift for our saves, the down a cross on Calvary, to what?

Take our sins so that we can be free and have life and have it more abundantly.

Folks, don't take that for granted.

Thank God every day.

Amen?

That's what he's talking about.

He's our joy.

Hey, he right here.

In fact, that's not natural for man.

Listen to what Romans 1.21 says.

When they knew God, they glorified him not as God.

Neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations.

It wasn't about God, it was about them.

In Romans 1.

They serve the creature, them, more than the creator.

And you know what God said about that?

That's an abomination unto me.

In Romans 1.

But we see that God is our Elohim, our creator, Jehovah Jirah, our provider, Jehovah Rapha, our healer, Jehovah Nisi, our banner.

Hey, Jehovah Shalom, our peace, Jehovah Rah, our shepherd, and hey, Jehovah Shema, the Lord is present.

And then I love this name that we have of God, El El Yan, which means sovereign ruler of the universe.

Ha ha! He's in charge! Thank God he is.

Amen.

Secondly, not only is he God exalting in this thankfulness, he's Christ revealing.

Look at what he says in verse 20 again.

Verse 20.

Giving thanks unto God, but then watch what he says in the next phrase.

In the name through, hey, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

He is the one through whom we approach God, but also because he himself constitutes, and I love this, the crowning subject of our thanksgiving.

In other words, true Thanksgiving is confessional.

It's confessional.

We, hey, he wants to hear us say thank you.

He wants to know that our hearts mean, hey, means that thankfulness and that gratitude.

He wants to see it in person.

And I got to thinking about that.

Hebrews 13, 15, listen to what it says.

By him, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually.

Now, watch, that is the fruit of our lips.

Wow.

Giving thanks to his name.

The fruit of our lips is to be constantly giving him gratitude and thankfulness.

And I know I'm guilty of not doing that.

How about you?

How about you?

There's a lot of things going on right now that in my flesh I'm not thankful about.

But that's not what he said.

Oh, Pastor Danny, you can be thankful in those things that you agree with.

Oh, Pastor Danny, you can be thankful for those things you like.

Pastor Danny, you can be thankful for those things that you want me to do.

What about being thankful for those things that I don't want him to do?

Everything.

Can I tell you the Greek word for everything?

Are you ready?

Now don't miss this.

The Greek word says that, hey, here's the word.

Everything means everything.

Everything.

But pastor, no, there are no butts.

I got to thinking about that.

You know how he's revealed?

To the astronomer.

He's the bright and morning star.

Woo! To the baker! Oh, and I love the baker.

He's crispy, cream, hot nail donuts.

No, no, no, no.

To the baker, he's the living bread.

To the carpenter, he's the door.

Hey, to the doctor, he's the great physician.

To the educator, he's a master teacher.

To the farmer, he's a lord of the harvest.

Oh, to the florist, he's the lily of the valley.

He's a rose of sharon.

And then to the gardener, he's the sower of the seed.

To the geologist, he's the rock.

To the newspaper boy, he's the bearer of great news.

To the sailor, he's the anchor that holds.

To the soldier, he's the captain of their salvation.

And to the sinner, he's their redeemer.

Can I get an amen?

Oh, Christ revealing.

That's why you ought to be thankful, folks.

Then the third thing, he's time invested.

Being thankful, being thankful means that we we invest our time in doing what God's asked us to do.

Look at what he says now, verse 20 again.

Giving thanks always for all things.

And then look at verse 15 and 16.

Here's what he said.

And when we're doing that, look at what we're doing.

You will walk, hey, wisely, not as fools, but as wise.

Redeeming the time because the days are evil, giving thanks always for all things.

Now, the implication is pretty obvious here to me.

Look at it.

When we do not redeem or wisely invest our time, our minutes, our hours, our days, our weeks, our years even, we're not living, hey, lives of thanksgiving.

We're not living lives of thankfulness.

You know what we're living?

We're living lives to please us.

We're doing what we want to do when we want to do it.

And can I say something?

I just, you when we say, don't, I I've got to, I'm I'm asking God to let me quit saying this.

I just don't have time.

Oh, yes, I do.

I thank God I'm living.

I got time right now.

I just don't have enough time.

You have the exact amount of time that everyone has, and that's 168 hours a week.

And guess it, yeah, but I I I you know I can I tell you, are you gonna stand before Jesus at the beam of judgment seat as Christian and say, I and I do exactly what we want to do.

You said, no, we don't.

Yes, we do.

Who controls my time?

Ew me.

Me.

Yeah, but nobuts.

But there's things I have to do.

Yes, you need to learn to, hey, what?

Redeem the time.

You know what that means?

You gotta learn to do priorities.

What's the most important thing you do first?

Can I get an amen?

And the most important thing is your time, especially, hey, your time with the Lord.

That's the most important first thing.

How do you know that?

Pretty simple, Matthew 6.33.

Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.

Now watch.

And all, there's that word, all things, all these things shall be added unto you.

Hello.

So we do.

We control our time.

We really do.

And it's important that our time starts with keeping God first, just like on Sundays.

I know there's sometimes you may have to miss being here in church.

But that doesn't mean you have to miss wherever you are going to church.

And I know now a lot of people are saying, Well, I'm watching it online.

And I'm thankful you are.

We'll have a hundred people probably watching it this morning.

And I understand about this virus and all this other stuff.

I understand all that.

I do.

But let me just remind you, just God said, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some are, but exhorting one another so much more as you see the day approach.

Oh, but Brother Danny, they didn't have this pandemic.

Oh, they had things worse.

They had leprosy.

It was very contagious.

A lot of things.

And I'm not trying to put a guilt on you.

That's between you and the Lord.

But I know one thing.

Bless God, and not trying to be bragtocious, but I am so thankful that when all this started, God laid on my heart, He said, Pastor, I love you.

You love me.

This is my church.

It's not your church.

And I'm asking you.

Well, he didn't say he's asking me.

He's just telling me, really.

He says, Upon this rock I build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.

I am not going to let Satan stop you from preaching the word of God, being in church, and you just do what you know you're supposed to do to honor me.

And we have done that.

Not one Sunday.

Have we not been here?

Hong Kong?

That was fun.

But listen, folks, all I'm saying is, hey, it gets back.

Lord?

I'm at the beam of judgment seat.

Lord, and I know I'm gonna get really cute for what I'm about to say, but I gotta say it.

You know, the reason I wasn't in church is because of this virus.

What do you think?

How would it?

I got a question.

How do you think he'd answer to that?

Now ask that question to me.

Because that's how I made the decision that I was going to be here and not miss a Sunday preaching.

I asked myself that question, Lord, what would you say if I told you, you know I love you.

You know I'm committed to you.

I you know, Lord, that I'm sold out, but this virus, you know, people, it's endangering those people.

Okay.

Now let's go to the Old Testament with Daniel.

And this is what he told me.

Remember Daniel?

The decree had already been signed?

That if you pray the next 30 days to any other God than our King, you're going in the fire furnace.

And what did Daniel do?

Oh, he ran home and he went to his prayer room.

And he closed the blinds and he closed the door so nobody could see him, but he kept praying.

That's not what the story says.

Said him, he knowing, went to his prayer room, threw open the shutters, and prayed out loud in God Jehovah Elohim's name.

I think he was going through the names of God myself.

Jehovah Jirah, the God that provides.

What about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego?

Same thing.

He said, No, we're not gonna bow.

We're not gonna bow.

And if it's God's will for us to die today in the fiery furnace, let it be.

But guess what?

We're standing with God.

So you know what God told me that day?

Hey, if it's your my will for you to die with a virus, you're gonna die with a virus.

Because I'm in that 60 and above.

And I'm not making light, I'm just telling you what I believe in my heart.

But then he said, this is good.

Do you believe in Proverbs 3, 5, and 6?

Yes, sir.

What does it say, preacher?

I almost said, Lord, you know I know what it says.

That's not the problem.

He knows what it says.

He knows I know what it says, but he wants me to quote it back to him so that he'll know that I know what it says.

Trust in the Lord with all thy heart.

Lean not on thine understanding or all those other people's understanding.

But in all, there's thy word, in all thy ways.

Acknowledge him.

And he will direct your path.

And he'll take care of you.

Now, folks, either you believe that or you don't.

And I know there's other circumstances.

I know there's all kinds of circumstance.

The only problem is I don't see that in the scriptures.

I wished I did.

And I love you with all my heart.

Which brings me to that last point under point number one.

It's all embracing.

Giving thanks always for all things.

And this man, he had been a regular jail bird for Jesus.

Everywhere he went.

He didn't ask for the Hampton Inn.

He said, Where's the jail?

Because I'll be there soon.

Dragged in the streets in Lysria as already dead, beating, but he always gave thanks.

You know why?

Alright.

You know this.

You know why we were able to do that?

Romans 8.28, say it with me.

We're conditioned to do this.

We know.

Come on.

We know that all things work together for good.

To them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose.

And what is his purpose to live our life, giving thanks and gratitude to him in all things.

Man, that helps me.

It's really helping me now.

Because, ready?

Ooh, thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

What Satan meant for evil.

Watch this.

This applies to everything.

God meant for good.

Genesis 50, 20.

Can I get an amen to that?

Are you feeling a little better?

I'm excited.

How can you?

I'm excited.

Why?

I know.

Brings me to the second point.

The substance of this Thanksgiving.

Look at verse 18.

Be filled with the Spirit.

Now watch.

Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.

I'm going to give you a little education today about all that.

And make a melody in your hearts to the Lord.

Verse 20 again, giving thanks unto God.

Alright, here we go.

It is both an activity and attitude of life which is biblically, and I really believe this, biblically informed, which I've been teaching us, and spiritually specific.

In simple language, this life of Thanksgiving involves.

Are you ready?

This is powerful.

This is worth you being here.

This is worth you watching.

Here it is.

Three things.

Here it is.

One, speaking the truth of God.

Look at what he says.

Be filled with the Spirit.

Verse 18.

Now watch verse 19.

Speaking.

Speaking.

One of the greatest gifts of God to man is that of conversational fellowship.

Aren't you glad that God gives us a body of Christ that we can converse with and pray with and share our hearts with, share our joys with, share our sorrows with.

So what are you telling me, Pastor Danny?

What I've been telling us.

Walk, hey, hey, here it is.

And I love this.

It matters what we say and how we say it.

Can I get an amen or oh me or both?

It matters.

If you and I don't appreciate our words and actions, it's likely others won't either.

It matters.

Listen to Proverbs 16, 24.

Words are like a honeycomb to the soul and health to the body.

Is that not beautiful?

Body.

And you know my favorite verse, and I hope you'll memorize it like I have.

It's helped me a lot of times, not all the time.

I wish you could say it's kept my mouth shut sometimes, but it hasn't.

I can put my foot in my mouth quite easily.

And I can definitely speak the truth sometimes, but not in the right attitude.

Let no corrupt communication come out of your mouth.

That word corrupt, that's a good word.

You know what it means in the Greek?

It means rotten.

Rotten.

Have you ever taken, I did this morning, one of those little creamers and put in your coffee?

This is an illustration, hot off the press.

And it's sour.

And you go to drink your coffee and you see that old clabber curve, what all right there?

Huh?

And you know what I do?

No, you know what I do?

Well, that's what rotten means.

So next time you're about to criticize somebody, condemn somebody, or say one of those filthy words, just remember that's what it looks like and go, don't say that.

Amen.

That's what it means if it's not good, if it's not necessary, if it's not building up.

Don't speak it, folks.

We got to get better at that.

We do.

God help us.

Say it with me.

God help us.

Let your, you know what Colossians 4.6 says, you want to write this down.

Let all your speech be full of grace.

Is that not good?

Be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger.

James 1.19.

That's what we need in the body of Christ.

That's what we need with my wife.

I need to be sweeter.

I'm confessing in front of everybody.

Yeah, you just did.

Amen.

Can I say amen?

And we heard you.

Amen.

Thank you.

It is.

You know who we're the, sometimes we're the most, is this the right word, curt?

Mean?

Well, I'm trying to say it a little nicer, but uh no filter.

That's it.

I like that.

You know who we have no filter with the most?

The ones we love the most.

And why is that?

Let me tell you.

Let me tell you why that is.

That's Satan.

And let me tell you, are you ready?

Boy, this fits perfectly.

You know why we do that?

We're ungrateful.

We do not have that gratitude toward our the ones we love the most.

Can we all, one, two, three, when I say three, say oh me together.

One, two, three, owe me.

Can we get better at that?

Come on, come on.

Say let's do better.

Let's do better.

We can do better with that.

Honey, I'm making a public commitment in front of everybody.

I'm gonna be more cautious of what I say and how I say.

And you ought to follow your pastor's lead.

Amen.

Amen.

And then the second thing, hey, now watch this.

This is gonna get good.

Benji, all my musicians.

Now don't perk up.

I'm going directly at you guys.

Showing the joy of God.

Now look at what he says in verse 19.

Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always.

Paul obviously has both worship and witness in mind here.

And in describing worship, the apostle categorizes three expressions of praise.

Now watch this.

All right, musicians, watch this.

There's been a lot of interpretation about this verse.

First of all, Psalms.

He says, Psalms.

Famos.

Thamos is the Hebrew word.

And it means a pious song.

A psalm.

A set piece of music, possibly.

In other words, it's it's, and if you go through the Psalms and read the Psalms that are many of them musical songs, it's speaking from the heart of those playing and singing those songs.

It's not performing, it's expressing, and there's a big difference.

Are you listening?

Not personal, truthful.

Not performing, but expressing an intimate relationship with an awesome Almighty God.

And that you can tell.

Secondly, hymns.

It is a sacred song.

It's a sacred song.

It's a song that means something.

It's a song that is filled with exaltation.

As I just preached, watch how beautiful this comes together.

God exalting, Christ revealing.

That's what a song ought to do.

If it doesn't exalt God and reveal Christ, it's not a hymn and it's sure not a spiritual song.

Are you with me, church?

I didn't say what kind of flavor or rhythm or all the other stuff.

I'm teaching you what a song ought to be filled with.

Spiritual.

What does that mean?

Spiritual.

That which is, now watch, here's what that means.

That which possesses the nature of the soul.

The Holy Spirit.

In other words, the Holy Spirit has so consumed you, oh, I'm about to have a running spell.

The Holy Spirit has so consumed you that you cannot help but express it through singing, dancing, just expressing a soul filled with the Spirit of God, with the word of God, that it has to come out through song.

That's good, preacher.

Now that's what it is.

That's what it means.

And I'm going to give you one of the best examples.

Turn real quick.

You got to see this.

You got to see this.

In fact, I'm going to bring it up in New Living Test.

Go to Psalms 40.

Real quick.

I wasn't going to.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Come on.

Look at this.

Some of you that's just been saved, some of you that's filled with the Spirit, this is going to blow.

Go back to the time when you got saved.

Just start thinking about it right now.

Watch this.

Psalms 40.

Ready?

Psalms 40.

A psalm of David.

I waited patiently for the Lord, and he inclined to me, and he heard my cry.

In other words, he was crying out.

He was being thankful.

He also, hey, brought me out, and he's crying out of what happened to him.

He said, and he also brought me out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock and established my steps.

And look at verse 3.

And he put a new song in my mouth.

Praise him to our God.

Many will sin and fear and will trust in the Lord.

I waited patiently for the Lord to help me.

And he turned to me and heard my cry.

He lifted me out of the pit of despair, out of the mud, out of the mire.

He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along.

In other words, he put me on a new path.

He's given me a new song to sing a hymn of praise to our God.

Many will see what has done, what he has done and be amazed.

They will put their trust in the Lord.

Woo!

Is that not it?

That's it, church.

Woo! That's it.

Rig Flair.

Woo! Showing the joy of God.

And then number three.

Are you ready?

Speaking the truth of God, showing the joy of God, and then number three, sharing the love of God.

Look at verse 21.

That's why I added it.

Submitting yourselves one to another in fear of God.

A thankful life can truly express the love of God.

You can't truly express the love of God without being thankful.

You listening?

That's good, preacher.

You can't submit to people willingly and lovingly unless you're filled with the Spirit of God.

And if you are filled with the Spirit of God, you will not only submit to each other, you'll be thankful and grateful for each other.

Can I get an amen?

That brings me to my last point.

The secret of thanksgiving.

Be not drunk with wine wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit giving thanks.

Now watch.

Paul uses the law of contrast here.

The secret of true thanksgiving and joyfulness is not found in physical stimulants, but in the spiritual reality of the fullness of God.

And what does that mean?

Watch real quick.

This is good.

One, it means the incoming of the Holy Spirit.

You cannot, and look at what he says in verse 18, be filled with the Spirit, and then you give thanks.

In other words, you cannot be thankful if you're not saved.

You gotta be saved.

And you know how you get saved?

You repent of your sins and you ask the Lord Jesus Christ to come into your heart.

And when he does, that's the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

1 Corinthians 12, 13, by one Spirit, are you all baptized into one body?

That's what Paul said in Acts 2.

Repent and be baptized, every one of you, into the body of Christ.

Amen?

So you gotta be saved first.

You gotta be saved.

If you're not saved here, watch it.

No wonder you're not thankful.

If you're always going around griping and complaining, can I ask you to do something?

Examine your heart to see if you are in the faith.

You cannot go around grumbling and complaining all the time and have a relationship with the Holy Spirit of God.

Can't do it.

Why?

The flesh, remember, the flesh worth after the spirit, and the spirit after the flesh, Galatians 5 and 16 through 25, and then he goes on and he says, so walk in the spirit that you not fulfill the lust of the flesh.

So griping and complaining is nothing but the flesh.

Gossiping is nothing but the flesh.

Cutting people down is nothing but the flesh.

Speaking ugly to people, nothing but the flesh.

It's not sharing the love of God.

And then the second thing, the infilling of the Holy Spirit.

Be filled with the Spirit, giving thanks.

Woo! It's talking about the fullness of the Spirit, a state holy, unattainable.

Now what?

You can't attain this by training, by reasoning, by human wish and will.

It is nothing less than God in command and control of man's whole life.

Can I get an amen?

That's it.

It's Romans 12, 1 and 2.

I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

Be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good, acceptable, and perfect will of God.

That's what it is.

That's what it is.

And then the last thing: the inspiring of the Holy Spirit.

Be filled with the Spirit.

Giving thanks.

Only the Holy Spirit can truly inspire the standard and the substance of true Christian Thanksgiving.

To attempt to work up thanksgiving by our own efforts is not only a frustrating experience, but it's also totally, totally unacceptable unto God and is hypocritical.

You know, I can tell somebody when they try to be thankful to me and it's not genuine.

You know why they're saying, well, thank you, Pastor?

Because they're supposed to.

You don't say thank thank you because you're supposed to.

You say thank you because you're grateful and it's from your heart, and you really are sincere.

Amen.

So, this morning, let us re-emphasize for the Christian, for us.

Thanksgiving day is every day.

Say that with me.

Thanksgiving day is every day.

And this is why God created us, and it is for this purpose that He has blessed us with His grace and mercy, and we know what it is to be continually filled with the Holy Spirit.

We can truly be thankful for everything.

So, one of the best indicators, listen to me this morning, one of the best indicators this morning of a spirit-filled Christian.

Are you listening?

Is that they are thankful and grateful and appreciative of what God has done in their life, and it's evident by the way they treat you.

Well, that was a holy hush.

I know.

Should have been.

So this morning, let me ask you.

How thankful are you really?

How grateful were you this morning?

When you got up.

Did you start out just thanking God for another beautiful day?

Did you start out by saying, Thank you, God, it's Sunday.

I can go to church.

Oh, it's your day.

I'm going to worship you in spirit and truth because you desire me to do that.

By the way, he does.

John 4, 23, 24.

He desires our worship.

He desires our gratitude.

He desires our thanks.

Thankfulness.

Our thanksgiving.

So every head bow, every eye close.