Thankful

Attitude Adjustment  •  Sermon  •  Submitted   •  Presented   •  28:30
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This morning, as we continue our series on Attitude Adjustment we are going to talk about what it means to truly be thankful and where better to turn than one of the many songs of praise and thanksgiving that we find in the Psalter. Turn with me to Psalm 30 as we answer four questions who, what, when and why.

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Attitude Adjustment Week 2 – Thankful Psalm 30:1-12 Thanksgiving is a day that has its very foundations in the earliest parts of our country as Colonial Settlers and the Wampanoag Indians gathered together to celebrate the Autumn Harvest. That celebration occurred in 1621 and for 200 years days of thanksgiving were celebrated by individual colonies and states. According to History.com “In 1827, the noted magazine editor and prolific writer Sarah Josepha Hale—author, among countless other things, of the nursery rhyme “Mary Had a Little Lamb”—launched a campaign to establish Thanksgiving as a national holiday. For 36 years, she published numerous editorials and sent scores of letters to governors, senators, presidents and other politicians. Abraham Lincoln finally heeded her request in 1863, at the height of the Civil War, in a proclamation entreating all Americans to ask God to “commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife” and to “heal the wounds of the nation.” He scheduled Thanksgiving for the final Thursday in November, and it was celebrated on that day every year until 1939, when Franklin D. Roosevelt moved the holiday up a week in an attempt to spur retail sales during the Great Depression. Roosevelt’s plan, known derisively as Franksgiving, was met with passionate opposition, and in 1941 the president reluctantly signed a bill making Thanksgiving the fourth Thursday in November.” Thanksgiving has become in many Americans eyes the number one of the best holidays, not for the fact that we as Americans will consume somewhere around 51,650,000 turkeys or that we will spend 2.9 billion dollars on our meal or even the fact that black Friday has slipped into black Thursday afternoon. Americans around the nation and across the world love and gather for the simplicity of the focus of the holiday. We pause to give thanks. Unfortunately, SO many of those who pause and give thanks, do not truly understand what it means to be thankful. This morning, as we continue our series on Attitude Adjustment we are going to talk about what it means to truly be thankful and where better to turn than one of the many songs of praise and thanksgiving that we find in the Psalter. Turn with me to Psalm 30 as we answer four questions who, what, when and why. Who A question that in and of itself seems to be very simple, to whom should we be thankful, David’s response, LORD. Short simple and to the point, but herein lies the issue…Who is LORD So, who is this LORD that he should be the LORD to whom we are thankful for all that we have. Scripture Reveals who God is an in an article written by Dr. Joseph Nally, Jr. we find this list: 1. Elohim 2. The One God 3. The Faithful God 4. The God of Truth 5. The Righteous God 6. God Almighty – El Shaddai 7. The Most High God – El Elyon 8. The Everlasting God 9. The God Who Sees Me 10. The God of Jeshurun 11. The Mighty God 12. The God of Knowledge 13. The Great God 14. The God of Glory 15. The Holy God 16. The God of Heavens 17. The God of My Life 18. The Gracious God 19. The God of Israel 20. The God of My Strength 21. The God of Patience and Consolation 22. The God of Compassion 23. The God of My Salvation 24. The God of Our Salvation 25. The Jealous God 26. God With Us – Immanuel 27. The Awesome God 28. The God of Jacob 29. The God of Forgiveness 30. The Lord Will Provide – Yahweh Jireh 31. The Lord is My Banner – Yahweh Nissi 32. The Lord is Peace – Yahweh Shalom 33. The Lord of Hosts - Yahweh Sabbaoth 34. The Lord Your Sanctifier 35. The Lord My Shepherd 36. The Lord Our Righteousness 37. The Lord is There 38. The Lord, the God of Israel 39. Adonai – Master 40. Theos – God 41. Kurios – Lord 42. Despotes – Master 43. Pater – Father 44. Hagois Pneuma – Holy Spirit 45. Spirit of God, the Lord and Christ 46. Comforter Counselor and Advocate 47. Revealer and Spirit of Truth 48. Teacher 49. Convicter of Sin 50. Guide 51. Seal, Deposit or Ernest 52. Spirit of Life 53. Indweller 54. Teacher 55. Intercessor and Author of Scripture THAT IS THE GOD WE SERVE. That is to whom we are to be thankful. He is the Lord, Our Savior, Our Deliver and ALL that we should ever need or want. Now that we know the Who… we need to know the what What As we continue reading in the Psalm we find what David is thankful to God for and it can be a reminder to us as we approach this thanksgiving and in our daily walk of the things for which we need to be thankful. First, David is thankful that God drew him out of his enemies, drew him out of the pit and restored him. This week as we look at the things for which we are thankful, let us not forget that the top of the list should be our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ who draws us up from the depths. Listen, He didn’t just draw us up from the depths. In Romans 8:28-30 we find a passage that is so beautiful when we understand that Christ didn’t just happen to walk by, see our hand sticking up out of the pit and be like, oh wow, how’d you get down there, hang on, hang on, let me see if I can get you out. NO. Romans tells us that He foreknew and predestined you…listen to this: Romans 8:28-30 (HCSB) 28 We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God: those who are called according to His purpose. 29 For those He foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those He predestined, He also called; and those He called, He also justified; and those He justified, He also glorified. We love the first verse, right, because we see that as good news, but I am here to tell you that the second and third are just as much good news because what it tells us is that even when He looked at our lives and saw the path we would take and with all the knowledge of everything we would do and everything we would be, He draws us up anyway. He went to the cross anyway, He plucked you form your enemies anyway, He restored you anyway. David also says that he is thankful because Joy comes in the morning. WE misuse this passage, we apply it to everyday life and situations and we talk about man today was hard, but joy comes in the morning. Boy this was a rough week, but joy comes in the morning. We’ve changed the lingo a little bit, tomorrow is a new day, etc. but the focus is still all about us. The reality of the focus is that it is all about Him, Jesus Christ. God’s anger is fleeting but his Joy, man His Joy is ETERNAL. We are studying the book of Revelation and, spoiler alert, but at the end of the book The One who is on the Throne and the Lamb reign FOREVER, they win. His anger will not last forever, it is already revealed that when we believe in Him we will spend eternity with Him. His anger is momentary, but His joy comes in the morning and what a Joy it is…so we have the Who and the What but what about the Why WHY So, we have determined that God is an amazing God and we have so many things to be thankful for and yes, we have answered some of the why, but let’s get more specific. David recalls a few things for us on why he is thankful to God. David begins talking about the favor of God and what he experiences because of that favor. Watch this. David acknowledges something here that I think ALL of us can relate too. David says, when things were going right, and they were going my way I was a rock, my faith was strong, I was constantly blessing people, singing your praise, excited about church and bible study, couldn’t wait to get involved with a prayer walk or a mission activity, but man when tragedy struck, and you hid your face from me I WAS TERRIFIED. Do you feel that? Do you understand that language? I know you do, I certainly understand what it looks like to have faith that is rock solid and steadfast until the ground begins to shake. We have all experienced something in our life that shook us to the very core of our being. If you haven’t, you will. Maybe that time has come and gone, maybe it is in your right now, but the reality is this that your world will be shaken. Its life. But listen, this is more reason to be thankful…WHY? Look at what God did for David and let’s talk about what Jesus can do for you. David says He turned is sorrow into rejoicing, his clothes of mourning into clothes of gladness and as a result David says, “I HAVE TO SING!!” Matthew 7:24-29 (HCSB) 24 “Therefore, everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them will be like a sensible man who built his house on the rock. 25 The rain fell, the rivers rose, and the winds blew and pounded that house. Yet it didn’t collapse, because its foundation was on the rock. 26 But everyone who hears these words of Mine and doesn’t act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 The rain fell, the rivers rose, the winds blew and pounded that house, and it collapsed. And its collapse was great!” 28 When Jesus had finished this sermon, the crowds were astonished at His teaching, 29 because He was teaching them like one who had authority, and not like their scribes. We all know and love these verses, we sang the songs, either as a kid or while working with kids. As wonderful and amazing as this story is as a standalone when we remove it from its true context and set it apart it loses some of its strength and power. This is the conclusion of, what I would argue to be, the most famous sermon ever given. This is the conclusion statement to the sermon on the mount. Why is that important, when you understand that this is the very capstone of a sermon that contains the beatitudes, the discourse on the expansion of the commandments, the challenge to love your enemy, giving, contains the Lord’s Prayer, fasting, anxiety, judging, asking, searching and knocking and then entering the kingdom and the fact that Christ wraps up that with the wise man who built his house upon the rock should give us an understanding of how vital these words are. It stunned the listeners. They realized that the one teaching was teaching from authority not a scribe, in other words they were hearing from the one who WROTE the book not the one who COPIED the book. And when we hear the Living God speak the Living word we must recognize the strength and power and stability and when we place our faith, hope and trust in Him all of a sudden, our world stabilizes. The constant rocking back and forth quiets and we see the opportunity to rest… Suddenly, the weight of the world is transferred from the backs of a weak, broken, pitiful to the all-powerful Creator of the universe and like the lame man that was healed and King David of old, we too will be jumping and leaping and praising God, and the fruit that this thankfulness bears in our soul will be that everywhere we go, we would make much of Jesus Christ. We know the who, we have addressed the what, we worked out the why, let’s look at the when. WHEN I love the last line of this Psalm. David says this, Lord my God, I will praise you FOREVER. Revelation 5:13 says “Blessings and honor and glory and dominion to the One seated on the throne, and the Lamb, Forever and Ever. The when is simple…from now to eternity we give thanks to the Lord. This week we pause for one day to remember that for which we are thankful. I would challenge us to remember each day who we owe our thanks, what we should be thankful for and why we should be thankful. When our focus is on Him and our purpose is to glorify Him, our thanksgiving will have no end.
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