Sermon Tone Analysis

This Thanksgiving I'm thankful...

This Thanksgiving I'm thankful...

This Thanksgiving I'm thankful...

• That there aren't twice as many Congressman and half as many doctors.

• That grass doesn't grow through snow, necessitating winter mowing as well as shoveling.

• That there are only twenty-four hours available each day for TV programming.

• That civil servants aren't less civil.

• That teenagers ultimately will have children who will become teenagers.

• That I'm not a turkey.

• That houses still cost more than cars.

• That the space available for messages on T-shirts and bumpers is limited.

• That liberated women whose husbands take them for granted don't all scream at the same time.

• That snow covers the unraked leaves.

• That hugs and kisses don't add weight or cause cancer.

• That record players and radios and TV sets and washers and mixers and lights can be turned off.

• That no one can turn off the moon and stars.

—Christianity Today

You say grace before meals.

All right.

But I say grace before the concert and the opera, and grace before the play and pantomime, and grace before I open a book, and grace before sketching, painting, swimming, fencing, boxing, walking, playing, dancing, and grace before I dip the pen in the ink.

—G.K. Chesterton

Gratitude is an offering precious in the sight of God, and it is one that the poorest of us can make and be not poorer but richer for having made it.

—A.

W. Tozer

If anyone would tell you the shortest, surest way to happiness and all perfection, he must tell you to make it a rule to yourself to thank and praise God for everything that happens to you.

For it is certain that whatever seeming calamity happens to you, if you thank and praise God for it, you turn it into a blessing.

—William Law

O Thou who hast given us so much, mercifully grant us one more thing-a grateful heart.

—George Herbert

In his book FOLK PSALMS OF FAITH, Ray Stedman tells of an experience H. A. Ironside had in a crowded restaurant.

Just as Ironside was about to begin his meal, a man approached and asked if he could join him.

Ironside invited his to have a seat.

Then, as was his custom, Ironside bowed his head in prayer.

When he opened his eyes, the other man asked, "Do you have a headache?"

Ironside replied, "No, I don't."

The other man asked, "Well, is there something wrong with your food?"

Ironside replied, "No, I was simply thanking God as I always do before I eat."

The man said, "Oh, you're one of those, are you?

Well, I want you to know I never give thanks.

I earn my money by the sweat of my brow and I don't have to give thanks to anybody when I eat.

I just start right in!"

Ironside said, "Yes, you're just like my dog.

That's what he does too!" (Ray Stedman, Folk Psalms of Faith)

· That there aren't twice as many Congressman and half as many doctors.

Robert Morgan selected as one of his top 100 verses to memorize and in his book which I highly recommend to help you store God's Word in your heart he writes...

In medicine the smallest germs can wreak the most havoc, and the tiniest pills can pack the biggest punch.

is a wafer-thin paragraph that has an outsized effect on our personalities.

It can cure our irritability, lighten our depression, lessen our anxiety, and improve our dispositions.

It’s one of the most psychologically potent passages in the Bible; and, when memorized and practiced, it can alter our attitude at any given time.

In staccato-like style, the apostle Paul tells us to be joyful, prayerful, and thankful.

And all three verses are all-pervading: Rejoice always!

Pray constantly.

Give thanks in everything.

Rejoice.

Pray.

Give thanks.

Always.

Constantly.

Everything.

At fourteen words, is the longest verse in the trilogy.

It’s the counterpart to another of our memory verses, , which says, “We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God.”

Because all things work together for good, we can give thanks in everything.

The Bible doesn’t tell us to be thankful for everything.

Some things are bad in their very nature.

There are no examples of biblical heroes thanking God for evil events or demonic attacks.

But we can be thankful in all things, for God has promised to turn them for good.

Many psychologists believe we are born with preset happiness levels.

Just as everyone has a different body, so we have different personalities.

Some are sanguine; others have a melancholy streak.

Dr. Robert Emmons of the University of California Davis has demonstrated there is one way to adjust those preprogrammed, inborn personality settings.

It’s by developing the habit of consciously giving thanks in the midst of whatever circumstances we may face.

“We discovered scientific proof that when people regularly engage in the systematic cultivation of gratitude, they experience a variety of measurable benefits: psychological, physical, and interpersonal,” wrote Dr. Emmons.

“The evidence on gratitude contradicts the widely held view that all people have a ‘set-point’ of happiness that cannot be reset by any known means.”

This is the advice issued 2,000 years ago in .

Give thanks in everything, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

(100 Bible Verses Everyone Should Know by Heart)

· That teenagers ultimately will have children who will become teenagers.

Gary Delashmutt writes that...

The New Testament teaches that gratitude is related to spiritual health in two different ways.

We'll use a medical model to explore this . . .

(1) Gratitude is a “thermometer” that indicates the state of your spiritual health.

A thermometer is a tool that tells you whether you have one of the symptoms of physical illness (fever).

It is not a medicine.

You don't put the thermometer in the freezer and then stick it into your mouth to break your fever.

You put it in your mouth and it tells you if you have a fever.

In the same way, the presence or absence of gratitude in your dealings with God is one of the most reliable indicators of your spiritual health.

This is because it (along with serving love) is the normal and natural result of personally understanding and receiving God's grace.

Grace means charity—a gift to the undeserving.

(2) Gratitude is a “medicine” that promotes your spiritual health.

Gratitude is not a feeling that dictates your choices; it is a choice that affects your feelings.

This is what Paul is emphasizing in this passage.

Most of the New Testament passages on gratitude are imperatives, addressed to our volition rather than to our emotions.

He is not prescribing for us how we must feel; he is calling on us to choose to rejoice and thank God on the basis of what is true--regardless of how happy or thankful we may feel.

This is a key insight into biblical spirituality.

It involves our feelings and experiences, but it is not rooted in them, because they are fallen and broken and unreliable.

It is rooted in God's truth and our choice to express faith in the truth, often in spite of what we feel.

This is why the notion that it is unspiritual to thank God unless you feel grateful is false.

Choosing by faith to thank God in spite of intense feelings of depression, disappointment, anxiety, etc. is deeply spiritual.

This is why if you wait until you feel grateful to thank God, you will feel less and less grateful.

But if you choose to thank God regardless of how you feel, you will feel more grateful more often.