Reasons To Be Thankful

Thank you for listening to this message from the ministry of Morse Corner Church in Leverett, Massachusetts. Morse Corner is a non-denominational church that is committed to the preaching and teaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Our church was founded in 1896 by two students of the famous evangelist D .L. Moody. We seek to encourage and edify the body of Christ through the proclamation of God's word through the ministries of the local church.

If you'd like more information, visit our website, morsecornerchurch .com. We hope you enjoy the message. Psalm 100 says, Make a joyful noise unto the Lord all ye lands. Serve the Lord with gladness. Come before his presence with singing.

Know ye that the Lord, he is God. It is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves. We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise.

Be thankful unto him, and bless his name. For the Lord is good, his mercy is everlasting, and his truth endureth to all generations. This is the word of God. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, how thankful we are for your goodness towards us, and how blessed we are to have a church where we can worship in freedom and safety, free from tyranny, and how blessed we are for our family and for our friends, but most thankful we are for the gift of thy grace.

Lord, may you speak to our hearts and renew our minds on this Lord's day. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. I don't always preach Thanksgiving messages, or messages that line up with the holidays.

You've probably noticed that. Certainly I do it on Easter and usually Christmas, but I thought this year it would be appropriate to give this message about giving thanks, because really we need to be intentional about having a grateful heart and just an overall spirit of thanksgiving.

Why? Why now? Because now perhaps more than any other period, certainly in my lifetime, there seems to be a lot of people that are discontent, discouraged, whatever you want to say. We all know it. We all see it.

Maybe we all feel it at times. If it's not that way in the church, it's certainly that way in the culture, because most of us feel, I think most of us understand that things are getting worse. We are unhappy with the direction of our country.

Inflation is up. There's division like never before. You don't need me to explain all this to you. So it's helpful spiritually, emotionally, and also I believe physically, because your spirit and your emotions affect your physical health.

So it's important for all of those reasons to be focusing in on the good and to be intentional about having a grateful spirit and a spirit of thanksgiving directed towards God. Praise God and thank God for all the good things.

We know about all the bad things. Let's make sure this week, especially and every day, really, that we thank God for the good things. Amen?

Amen.

Thanksgiving Is a Duty, Not Just a Holiday

All right. We read from Psalm 100, which says, Enter into his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise. Be thankful unto him and bless his name. Why should we do that? For the Lord is good.

And I hope that's how you feel this morning, that the Lord is good, that you can say the Lord is good or you can say amen to the saying that the Lord is good. And if you don't feel that way right now, I hope that you'll feel that way before you leave.

Well, the word thanksgiving is mentioned about 40 times in the Bible and the holiday we will be celebrating this Thursday. Obviously, it should be obvious. It is to us that it revolves around the giving of thanks to God.

And by the way, the early settlers were thanking God. They weren't thanking the Indians like kids are taught in elementary school. They were thanking God. OK, thanksgiving to God. The first thanksgiving was held in 1621 when the pilgrims gathered together for a day of eating and fellowshipping with one another to thank the Lord for the harvest or to thank the Lord for all that he had blessed them with.

And of course, we know, we know our history. Why did they come to this country in the first place? They were fleeing religious persecution. That's why they came here, fleeing religious persecution. They were looking for a land where they could have freedom.

They were searching for a land where they could enjoy liberty, freedom to worship God and live as they saw fit. In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln declared a national day of thanksgiving in the midst of troubled times.

In the midst of civil war, he called for unity. And since that time, Americans have been gathering together with their families and with others, setting aside this day to express a gratitude and thanksgiving to God.

But you know, thanksgiving is not just a day. Thanksgiving is not just a holiday. It's not just a day. It's a duty. Thanksgiving is a duty. And we see this all throughout the Bible. Philippians 4 verse 6, that was read in the scripture reading.

What does it say? Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. Ephesians 1 .16 tells us, do not cease in the giving of thanks.

Thinking of the holiday and how it's associated with food. And by the way, don't call it Turkey Day. There's enough people doing that. We don't need Christians to be calling it Turkey Day. But since it is associated with food, one of the most basic things a Christian does is to give thanks for their food.

So on Thanksgiving Day, as you sit down to eat with your friends, family, whoever you're with, let's make sure we are giving the proper thanks in prayer before we eat, giving thanks to God. 1 Thessalonians 5 .18, here's another verse.

It says, in everything, give thanks. You say, in everything? Well, I don't know. That's what it says. In everything, give thanks. For this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. What's the will of God for you?

In everything, give thanks. Well, let's take a few minutes to walk through Psalm 100 verses 1 and 2. Again, make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lambs. Serve the Lord with gladness. Come before his presence with thanksgiving.

So we can give thanks to God through our singing. I think the singing we were doing earlier gave wonderful thanks and glory to God, and I praise God for that. You know, when a person is joyful, they tend to sing.

And if you're not joyful, if you start singing, you become joyful. Isn't that true? So if you're not joyful, hey, make a joyful noise. You say, but I can't sing. God has not given me the gift to be able to sing.

It doesn't say, if you can sing, make a joyful noise. You know, people in Bible times, they couldn't sing either, many of them. It just says, do it. Make a joyful noise. And this is why our church believes in congregational singing, where everyone is involved.

And if you can't sing, you kind of just blend in. That helps too. But we want everybody involved in the worship of the Lord. So make a joyful noise unto the Lord. Come before his presence, it says. Another way we can give thanks to God is to assemble corporately with his people.

Every Sunday and every Wednesday all across this land, God's people gather for worship. For the believer, this is one of the sweetest times, if not the sweetest time of the week. I'll speak for myself.

This is the best, or as you say, this is as good as it gets. I hope you feel that way. So gathering together with the church, building one another up, it helps to produce a thankful heart in people. You know, sometimes you'll get up and I don't feel like going to church.

That's when you need to be in church the most. During the past 20 months or so, I think we've all realized how essential church is. Remember all that time ago they said church was not essential. The pot shops were essential.

The liquor stores were essential.

We know all this.

Church was not essential. And we said, nope, that's not true. Church is essential. It's a great blessing.

It's a privilege.

It's a duty. It's a wonderful, wonderful thing. So if we didn't realize how important church was before, I think we do now, just to gather together, help one another, encourage one another, build each other up in the faith.

Verse 2 says, serve the Lord. So make a joyful noise. Sing. Come and assemble with God's people. Sunday, Wednesday, any time we're getting together, the more the better, I think. Next thing says, serve the Lord with gladness.

You know, the holiday season is one of the best times to serve the Lord. It's one of the best times to serve his people because when you're doing it, it's a really dark time, right? Okay, there's the darkness that's just everywhere these days, and then obviously November and December, it's just physically dark.

And that takes a toll on people. But just serving people this time of year helps to bring a little joy into their life. So we should be serving the Lord, and we can serve the Lord by serving others. This Thursday, Thanksgiving Day, will be a day of rest and relaxation for many others.

It's a very busy day, and you are going to be serving others. But either way, this should be our general approach to just ask, how can I serve God? How can I serve God's people? How can I help someone who is lonely?

Sometimes it only takes a phone call. We can all do that. So ask yourself, what can I do to serve the Lord? And make sure you're doing it with gladness, right? That's part of it too. Some people say, well, God has been good to me.

God has been good to me, but for whatever reason, they're not reciprocating that. Make sure we're doing that this holiday season. Let's be intentional about it. Write yourself a note. I'm going to go out of my way to call somebody this week that we haven't seen in a long time.

I'm going to be going out of my way to make a meal for someone who's shut in at home. Let's be intentional, and whatever your spiritual gift is, make sure you're serving it. So serve the Lord with gladness.

Look at verse 3. Know ye that the Lord, he is God. It is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves. We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. This verse is telling us to know that the Lord is God.

He's our creator. He's the creator of all things. When you see the word Lord, right, it's in all capitals. That in your Bible, all capitals? Capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D. That's the name of God what?

Jehovah or Yahweh. So this is God. Jehovah is God. There is no other. He has created us. He has given us all things. That's why we give thanks to him. We can't take credit for anything. How does an unthankful person live?

Well, did you thank God for your Thanksgiving meal? Why should I thank God? I'm the one who cooked it, right? That's an unthankful attitude. Thank God for your house and all of your blessings that you have.

What do I need to thank him for? I'm the one who earned the money, right? That's kind of how a lot of people are. Everything you have is from God.

Everything.

Give thanks to the Lord. Psalm 23, just on this idea of we are the sheep of his pasture. What does Psalm 23 say? The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still waters.

He restoreth my soul. There's a lot of souls out there that need healing and restoration and refreshing. This is what the Lord offers. It's our responsibility, however, as sheep, to do what? To follow the shepherd.

Walking in his ways, obeying his commandments, immersing ourselves in the word of God, resting in his promises. He is the one who provides the green pasture, and I hope, spiritually speaking, you are enjoying green pasture in your life, in your spiritual walk.

Thanks for listening. I'm Pastor Michael Grant from Morris Cornet Church. If you'd like to listen to the complete message, or if you'd like more information about the ministry, visit our website, MorrisCornetChurch .com.

And we'd love to have you join us some Sunday morning here in Leverett. Until next time, may the grace of God be with you.