The Way of Thanksgiving

I have a simple message to share with you this afternoon.

Man, I was praising gospel hard.

I bruised my hand.

I must have hit the pulpit right here.

I had a Lord, hallelujah Jesus.

But that's all right, you know?

I mean, when I was growing up, we'd have church people

get stepped on.

I don't know if you've ever been in church like that, man.

Pray for healing by the end of the service

because someone stepped on my toe

or someone swung their hand.

You gotta be careful in a Holy Ghost service,

you know what I'm saying?

Someone just swing their hand and you gotta,

you gotta be careful, you know?

You might get knocked out or something like that.

Praise be to God.

Psalm 100, I invite you to join with me now.

Book of Psalms chapter 100 and verse four.

Psalms 100 · chapter mention

Praise be to God and who knows,

maybe we'll have a little bit of a little bit of a shout

before the service is over today.

Amen.

Psalm 104, it reads this way, very familiar,

passage of scripture.

This is what the Lord placed in my heart this week.

It says, enter, everyone say enter.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving

and into his courts with praise.

Be thankful to him and bless his name

for the Lord is good.

His mercy is everlasting

and his truth endures for all generations.

I wanna talk for a few moments this afternoon

about the way of thanksgiving, the way of thanksgiving.

I'm gonna invite you to pray with me at this time.

Let's ask God to speak to us.

Father, we come before you today.

We thank you God for many things,

but above all, the presence of God

that we feel here in this service today, Lord.

We bless you today and we ask God

that as we go into your word, you would speak to us, Lord.

I pray God that every distraction and every force

in opposition to you, Lord, would be removed

and God would be cast out of this place today.

And we ask Lord that you would speak to us, God.

Speak to our hearts, change and transform

as God challenged us.

Annoy my lips of clay, Lord.

Put your word in my mouth and be glorified today.

In the name of Jesus, we pray everyone say amen.

You may be seated in God's house.

Thanksgiving has almost become, in our culture,

a forgotten holiday.

It's treated like the warmup act for Christmas.

In fact, people tend to get more excited

about what happens after Thanksgiving, right?

Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving

and more than they do, the actual day of Thanksgiving,

it seems, but overlooking Thanksgiving

isn't just a symptom of hyper-consumerism

that seems to plague our society today,

but it's indicative of the human heart.

Because we, by nature, are not prone

to reflect and give thanks.

People are either too consumed, too busy,

too dissatisfied with life, to appreciate where they are,

not realizing how blessed they actually are.

It's just, we're just not prone to do it.

We get so busy, we get so caught up in life,

and sometimes we just fail to stop

and recognize where we are,

and how good God has been to us.

And so, if that's ever happened to you, you're not alone,

because I think that we all can get so wrapped up

and so, just moving that we can overlook

the blessings of God.

I saw a post the other day on Instagram,

in fact, it was Brother Kevin on it,

just to give a credit where credit is due.

He posted it on his stories,

and I told him, I'm gonna steal that,

because the other day I read this,

and it helps put all of this into perspective.

It read this way, your terrible job

is the dream of the unemployed.

Your house is the dream of the homeless.

Your smile is the dream of the depressed.

Your health is the dream of those who are ill.

Don't let difficult times make you forget your blessings.

Amen.

This line of thinking here,

not only puts life into perspective,

but it shifts our focus from complaining

about what we don't have to thanking God

for what we do have,

which usually, when you stop to consider it,

is more than what we deserve.

Someone say, Amen today.

And I think that this attitude,

the attitude of the psalmist who wrote Psalm 100,

presumably David, this was his attitude,

when he sat down and wrote these words.

Psalm 100 was written as a processional psalm.

It was meant to be chanted on the way to the temple.

Oftentimes the Jews would march in procession

and sing hymns like this one along the way to the temple.

There are certain psalms within the book of psalms

that were written for that express purpose,

for the purpose of being sung, chanted,

or prayed in procession to the house of God.

And I think that's important for us to understand

that that is indeed how certain songs were written,

how they were intended to be used,

because what it says to us about the mind

of the Jewish believer in those days

is that worship was not just something to be done

or thanksgiving when you arrived to the house of God,

but from the moment you stepped foot outside of your door,

worship or the service of worship begins at that point.

And so all along the way to the house of God,

which was not just a five, 10, 15, 20 minute drive

or even an hour drive,

but it was a long procession that took place

and such processions would continue sometimes,

even days at a time,

depending how far they were traveling, of course, by foot.

And it just goes to show the kind of mindset

that God's people had when they were approaching

the things of God, when they were approaching

the house of God, the reverence, the respect,

the mindset that they had to put themselves into,

going to the house of God.

This was sacred, this was important,

this was a part of their duty,

but something done with all of their hearts.

And as I read this psalm,

I started picturing in my mind

a reverent procession towards the temple.

I started thinking about these groups of families,

fathers and mothers and husbands and wives

gathered together with their children

with extended members of their family,

all gathering together,

maybe meeting at a certain juncture,

hey, we're all gonna meet at grandma's house,

so we're gonna get together and then from there,

we're all going to proceed to the temple

for however long it takes.

And I started picturing in my mind

just all of the preparation and the coming together

of the people making their way

to the house of God to sacrifice,

to offer up sacrifices, to pray.

And I can just imagine today,

and I want you to imagine with me as well,

the anticipation that must have been building

in all of them.

This was not something that was just done very quickly,

done without forethought.

This was something that was done

with a lot of intention and preparation

and the anticipation must have built with each step,

with every yard, with every foot,

with every kilometer and every mile

that they got closer and closer to the house of God.

With each step they took,

I can imagine that within those little caravans

of people pilgriming to the house of God,

that the energy, the intensity of worship

probably began to intensify the closer they got

to the house of God.

And maybe as they started walking

closer to the city of Jerusalem and within eye distance,

within visual contact of the temple,

perhaps the energy level went up.

And as they got closer,

I said, man, you can feel we're almost there.

This was a big deal for them.

Everything kind of culminates in this one moment.

They're going to the house of God.

They're going to worship.

And I mean, I wish that all Christians today

would kind of have that type of attitude

when they get ready for the house of God.

Unfortunately, we live in a day and age

where it seems like coming to church

is more of an afterthought.

But anyhow, so there was a lot of intention

and I imagine that as they got right close

to the gates of the temple,

man, you could just feel the energy.

There was something there.

Anticipation had been building over this moment.

And they were ready to worship.

They were ready to sacrifice.

They were ready to give God.

And I believe that that kind of processional worship,

that kind of attitude, that mindset

is something that God is looking for even today.

Someone say, amen.

God's looking for that same kind of attitude.

And we've got to, I think today, reprogrammed

the way we see the things of God,

the way we see coming even to church

on a Sunday afternoon.

Our own mindset has got to get back to a place

where it all kind of revolves around.

And you have to excuse me,

but because of my upbringing being sort of born and raised

in the church and kind of my whole life

being revolving around, orienting around Sunday

or around gatherings in the house of God.

Not just Sundays, but even prayer meetings

throughout the week and Bible studies

and midweek services.

It seemed like, I mean, my whole life was lived

at church in a lot of ways.

I'm sure some of you could relate to what I'm saying.

But there was this mindset that my world,

it doesn't revolve around me,

but it revolves around the things of God.

It revolves around coming into the house of God.

And I just want to, if I can, inject and steal that,

I haven't even got to my point yet.

But I just feel like if anything, we need an awakening

of passion for the house of God

and to give God our best worship.

Come on, let's give God a hand praise right now.

How many of you are thankful that you've got a church

that you can come to and give God a praise?

Shout hallelujah today.

And I think that that's something that we need.

And so as we look at these groups of people singing Psalm 100,

I have to ask this question,

that if Thanksgiving, as the word says,

it says enter his gates with Thanksgiving,

if Thanksgiving is what gets us through the gates,

as the Psalm implies, my question would be,

what gets us to the gates?

We could talk a lot about what we do

when we're at the gates,

but unfortunately, many people never get to the gates.

So what is the point of talking about what we do

to go through the gates

if we never get our spirits to the gates?

So I wanna talk just for a few moments

on getting to those gates.

To answer that question,

we have to look at the preceding verses, verses one through three.

I want you to follow along with me verses one through three.

It says, make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you land.

Serve the Lord with gladness.

Come before his presence with singing.

Know that the Lord, he is God.

It is he who made us and not we ourselves.

We are his people and the sheep of his pasture.

If we break down these verses today, church,

we're going to see that Thanksgiving

is based on at least three things.

Thanksgiving is based, number one, on the joy of the Lord.

Someone say, joy.

The joy of the Lord.

Pay attention now to these words

that open this processional Psalm of worship.

Words like make a joyful shout, amen.

Words like serve with gladness

and expressions like come with singing.

These are all expressions of deep seated,

abiding joy that exists in the heart of God's people.

Joy is such an important element.

Joy is such a non-negotiable thing

that we need active in our life as a byproduct

of being connected to God.

We need joy.

We need to have the joy of the Lord in our hearts.

Joy is not simply the result of having favorable

or happy circumstances in our life.

Contrary to what a lot of people think,

joy is not just the byproduct

of your current state of affairs.

It's not even an emotional reaction

to something that God has done for you recently.

Joy goes much deeper than that.

Joy goes beyond that.

Joy transcends your current circumstance.

Joy transcends your current awareness

of what is going on.

Joy transcends your time and your season.

Joy goes much deeper than that.

Joy is rooted in an understanding of who God is

and what he has done and where you are

in relation to where he is.

Joy is the fruit of a life that is planted in God.

Jock, amen, somebody, amen.

Joy is the outgrowth of a divine revelation

of God's goodness.

It is God's gift to those who place their full

and total trust in him.

Joy is the product of being connected to the vine.

Joy is the outgrowth of knowing who your God is.

Joy is something that the world cannot give you

and something that the world cannot take away

like we sung in that old song.

Joy unspeakable and full of glory

is that first thing that will promote

and generate thanksgiving in our hearts.

It's what helps us to open up our mouth in praise

and to lift up our hands in celebration.

Now, because our lives are perfect

and everything is going our way,

but because we recognize that what we have

is not of this world, but it goes beyond this world.

I wonder if somebody came off for God of praise right now.

Is there somebody that's got joy in your heart?

Is there somebody that's got some joy on the inside

that can give God some praise?

Come on, clap your hands.

Come on, somebody open up your mouth.

We need the joy of the Lord.

If you gotta stop your feast something, honey.

If you gotta leave for joy, do it.

But joy always manifests itself in our life.

The thing about joy is you can't have joy in Sid's deal.

You can't have joy and not express it in some way.

Joy has a way of expressing itself.

Joy has a way of just revealing itself in our life.

And it is something that we need

if we're going to live thankful,

if we're going to live in a state of gratitude

for what God has done for us.

Let me tell you something, it's very hard.

And this is revealing, very important.

It's very hard to be thankful when you're not joyful.

David said, I was glad when they said unto me,

let us go into the house of the Lord.

A lot of Christians today say,

I was sad when they said unto me.

At least that's how they look.

Looked like someone fed him a lemon on the way into church.

Oh, I'm talking the truth right now.

Other Christians say I was bad when they said unto me.

And then you know some of them are mad when they said unto me.

But how many of you are glad?

Anybody glad to be in the house of the Lord today?

Well, why don't you show that you're glad to be?

Well, why don't you show that you're glad to be here?

Amen?

Hey, I don't know about you, but nobody had to force me here.

I'm here on my own volition.

I'm here because, is anybody here because you want to be here?

Hey, hallelujah.

I feel like we need to start asking people when they come into church,

you know, wink at me if you're here because you don't want to be here.

Is somebody forcing you to be here?

Are you sure this is where you want to be?

You know, because we're here on our own volition.

I'm here because I want to be here.

Amen.

Nehemiah said that the joy of the Lord is your strength.

And when you allow the joy of the Lord to fill your heart,

it will propel your life with thanksgiving.

Any joyful person I've seen is always a thankful person,

but it's hard to be thankful if you're not joyful.

You've got no joy in your heart.

It's hard to compel people to praise God when there's no joy in their hearts.

It's like twisting arms, pulling teeth, you know.

But when there's joy there,

whoo, hallelujah, you ain't got to cheer me,

but I don't need a cheerleader when I come to the house of God.

A lot of people need that these days, you know.

They got to sing just the right song, just the right beat,

and then you got to wear my favorite color, you know, all that stuff.

You know, we've got a lot of Christian days.

I'm starting to feel like we need to bring out the pom-poms, you know,

and do some cheerleading.

I don't need anybody to cheerlead me.

You know what I've got?

I've got an internal cheerleader.

I've got the joy of the Lord in my heart.

Amen.

The world didn't give it, and the world can't take it away.

This joy that I have.

Come on now, somebody.

So we need joy, and it was joy that as the people of God went to the house of God to worship,

move them closer to the gates,

thanksgiving is based on the joy of the Lord.

It's also based on the makings of the Lord.

I'll explain that in just a second here, the makings of the Lord.

The psalmist is very conscious of his place in the universe and the origin of life.

He recognizes, again, we're talking about what leads to thanksgiving.

He recognizes the fact that he exists because God ordained it,

and that everything he has is a result of God's sovereign power.

He said,

He is God. He made us.

You know, it's safe to assume that most Christians are creationists.

In the classical sense of Genesis chapter one, in the beginning, God created.

Someone say amen for that.

How many of you are creationists, right?

We're all creationists. We should believe that we're not here by evolution or because of a big bang.

And if someone says, yeah, there was a big bang, God said, let there be light and bang.

The light turned on.

We don't struggle with the concept of God making us in his image and likeness,

but we may fail to consider how God continues to make us every day.

Can I tell you that God never stops creating.

He never stops creating. He never stops making.

God didn't just make one thing at the beginning and that was it.

He continues to make. He continues to work.

He continues to create.

He is the potter. Amen.

We are the clay.

And if we are clay in his hands, then in his hands, he continues to build, to make and to mold.

The clay doesn't mold itself.

And likewise, you don't make yourself.

You don't make yourself.

Who you are and where you are today, my friend, is a result of his making.

His making. Someone say his making.

And the more aware of that you become.

Because let me tell you, this is something that Satan throughout your life will be working to turn around.

We'll be working to thwart, to twist, because if there's one thing he wants you to be convinced of talking about the adversary is that you and what you have was made by you.

Because you are the source of this is what he wants you to believe.

But where you are and who you are today is a result of his making. And the more you understand that, the more grateful you will become.

And you ultimately get to a place where you realize, listen, that even the bad and the painful things are making you.

God doesn't just use good things to make us. He uses even in fact, I think that the bad and the painful things work to make us who we are even more than the good things.

Because all things, someone say all things, all things work together.

Like the Bible says, for the good to them that love God and are called according to his purpose.

This is why Paul said in everything in 1 Thessalonians 518, in everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

It takes trust in God to thank him.

It takes trust to thank God during the seasons and the times that you don't understand.

It takes trust in him, in his sovereign power, in his sovereign will to know that despite what's going on in my life, he is still worthy of the praise that all things are working together for the good.

And that my life is the product of his making. Even the evil, like Joseph said when his brothers came back in Egypt to him, he said, were you meant for evil?

God meant for good, amen.

Even the bad, even the hurtful, even the traumatic, all of these things help to make us who we are today in God.

And why is this important when we think about what promotes thanksgiving in our heart?

Because there are times where we have to consider everything that we are today.

And when we consider all that we are and how far God has brought us from and how much we have grown and how many things have taken place, that ought to cause thanksgiving in our heart to say that if it had not been for the Lord who was on my side,

He took the good and He took the bad. He took the sweet and He took the spicy. He took all of those things to build me into who I am today.

Even the things that I thought had no value, even the things that I thought were worthless, the things that I thought would not add anything to me, God even took those things and He worked it for my good.

Hallelujah, because somebody say amen today. He took all of it. He took all of it. He took it all and He made something out of it and He made it.

He took beauty and He took beauty for ashes and He turned my joy or my mourning into joy and He gave me the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.

God did all of these things to make me who I am today. And so what helps me to be thankful is when I consider that the totality of my life, the good, the bad, everything, what it all adds up to is that God has never failed me.

David said, I was young but now I'm old and I've never seen the righteous forsaken or his seed begging for bread. He said, I've lived through every season and I have seen the good, the bad, and the ugly.

But this I know is that God has been good and God has been faithful and God has been merciful and God has never let me down.

Is there a witness in the house of God today? Is there somebody today that can be thankful to the Lord and say, thank you God that you can be all this time.

Come on and clap your hands and give the Lord some praise today.

God made it. He made it all happen. He's made it happen even now. And so what helps us get to a place of greater things giving in our heart is the joy of the Lord. It's the making, it's the knowledge of the making of the Lord.

And thirdly, as I'm just about done, I didn't want to be too long today, but this is the third thing, is the blessing. Someone say the blessings.

The blessings of the Lord. The blessings of God. The psalmist said, we are the sheep of his pastor. We are the sheep of his pastor.

And this, this imagery takes me back to Psalm 23 where he says, the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. The Lord is my shepherd. How many of you is he your shepherd?

I said, how many is he your shepherd? He leaves me beside still waters. He makes me to lie down in the green pastor's soul.

Psalmist here is reminded of the fact that God is the source of all the blessings that he is enjoying in his life, the pastures where he feeds from, the nourishment and the provision that is supplied to his life is there by the grace of God.

It's there because there is a shepherd. Hallelujah. There is a shepherd. I'd like to invite the piano player to come up. The sheep is totally dependent on the shepherd to nurture, to guide, to protect and to provide everything.

Everything the sheep enjoys comes from the shepherd. And all you've got to do today is look around your life and see that God has been good.

He is our good shepherd. He has provided everything you need. Maybe not your every wish and want. Everything you need. Paul said, I've learned to be content. I've learned what it is to have and what it is to not have.

To be blessed and abased. I've learned, he said, how to be content in all things.

And even him saying, I've learned tells me that contentment, contentment with where you are, being satisfied, being content, being joyful, being thankful, being appreciative of where you are. Sometimes there's a learning process.

We have to train our minds to focus on the good. Sometimes just one little thing that goes wrong, you know, it could just take your mind off all the things that are going right.

Somebody say, Amen today. And this ought to produce things giving out of minds. You know, I don't know what this is about the Christian today, but people are always just always looking for the next one.

No sooner than you get a blessing, you're always like, now you're waiting for the next one. God's like, chill out. I just blessed you. How about you enjoy it for a little bit?

What is the next thing? What's next? And I think that what has fed into that, as I close what has fed into that is just consumeristic mindset that we have. How many of you have bought an iPhone and then like three months later already outdated?

I just got the latest one. Now there's a 15 and a 14 and there's that itch you get. I don't know if you got some techies in here, you get that tech bug. You're just like, you got to get the next one out.

I don't want to be outdated and obsolete. You know, I want the next thing. Sometimes we take that attitude with God. God doesn't work like that. God doesn't work like that.

He's going to bless us and he already has, but I came to tell somebody you're already blessed. Would you stand with me today? You're already blessed. Someone say I'm blessed.

Blessed is not a thing. Blessed is not a something. Blessed is a someone. I'm going to close my head fat man. If I didn't say anything else, that was the price of the mission today. It's not a something. It's a someone.

Every time you look in the mirror, every time you're blessed. I don't care what your bank account looks like. You're blessed. I don't care what your doctor's report says. You're blessed. Doesn't matter what people don't care what your haters are saying. You're blessed.

I'm blessed. I'm blessed. I'm blessed in the city. I'm blessed in the field. Fred Hammond didn't originate that by the way to the bottom. I'm blessed when I come and when I go. I'm blessed. Everyone say bless.