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Crossroads Community Church


We gathered together to worship and praise God with a genuine spirit of thanksgiving.
Pastor Don prayed, Dear Father God, as we come humbly before you during this season of Thanksgiving, I pray that we will genuinely and sincerely be thankful for all the blessings you have bestowed upon us. May we recognize any spirit of discontent, entitlement or ungratefulness, and seek your forgiveness. Dear Lord, we thank you for your powerful hand which has guided us, lifted us and protected us in, and through, all things. I pray that, with a thankful heart, we may truly give you all the Glory, Honor and Praise. I pray all this in Jesus glorious name. Amen.
Today we studied Thanksgiving, believing, it is more than a day of celebration, it is an attitude.
Dr. Dale Robbins wrote, “I used to think people complained because they had a lot of problems. But I have come to realize that they have problems because they complain”.
1 Thessalonians 5:18 says “Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.” “We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us.”
You may think this was written to describe our society today.
This was actually written by Abraham Lincoln in his Thanksgiving Proclamation in 1863.
Hundreds of years earlier, in Psalm 95, the Psalmist invites us to worship God, with thanksgiving, sharing the Lord's warning, which cautions against hardening our hearts and testing God, denying Him the thanks and reverence we know He deserves.
Both Lincoln and the Psalmist, address our self-righteous, indignant tendencies to develop an attitude of “I did it myself and/or I deserve it”, not “I'm thankful to God, our Creator, for it”.
Let us not give God so little Thanks.
“Since we are receiving a Kingdom that is unshakable, let us be thankful and please God by worshiping him with holy fear and awe”. Hebrews 12:28
“Teach those who are rich in this world not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which is so unreliable. Their trust should be in God, who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment.” 1 Timothy 6:17
In the story Jesus told in Luke 12:16-21, verse 21 says “Yes, a person is a fool to store up earthly wealth but not have a rich relationship with God.”
Enjoy and share all your Blessings, storing up your treasures in Heaven.
1 Timothy 6:18-19.
We have God to Thank for all we have been blessed with and Blessings come in many forms, not the least of which is a heartfelt prayer, an encouraging word, a helping hand, or a shoulder to lean on.
Philippians 4:10-14.
Give thanks in all circumstances and let your life demonstrate an attitude of thanksgiving. Philippians 2:14-15. Treasure your time alone with the Lord; be thankful for the sermons and music worship prayerfully and purposefully prepared and anointed; and treasure your time and fellowship with family and friends.
Thanksgiving is not a day, but an attitude we need to cultivate in our hearts, thanking God for all he has done, is doing and promises to do for us.
Give thanks to the Lord. Psalm 136.
John 3:16&17: “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.”
Give thanks to the Lord.
A positive, thankful person is a great witness, shining bright, in this dark world.
May the Lord richly bless these words, spoken here this morning and may we go forth with a thankful heart. Amen.
Post date: 2015-10-30 17:41:22
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