Sermon Tone Analysis

WE are closing our focus on Living the Content Life

Week 1

Understanding God’s goodness allows us to be thankful for the gifts he gives us.

-prodigal sons and how both sons were not able to live in the richness of their fathers love, and provision.

-God is our inheritance and his goodness to us never stops

Week 2

We looked at the pharisee and the tax collector asked ourselves who and what are we measuring our lives by?

God asks us to be at ground zero.....at the greatest place of hurt in people’s lives.

We must be the righteousness of Christ in their lives.

Serving others in his name.

Week 3

We took time to celebrate God’s goodness in our lives through fellowship, food, testimony of how God has been working in our lives.....this is a perfect example of living in a life that is filled with contentment.

I want us to look at 3 sections of scripture today and hear the voice of God calling us and guiding us deeper into a life filled with contentment through Thankfulness and generosity

Thankfulness study

read clips of the article you printed

read clips of the article you printed

What are we thankful for?

-I have been challenged in my own heart by the phrase “I am thankful for all God has done for me”

Are we thankful for

-Am I only thankful for what God can do for me?

-When God doesn’t “do things” to show his presence, or provision......am I still thankful?

-If the cross was the last thing that Jesus ever did.....would I still be grateful?

-If the cross was the last thing that Jesus ever did.....would I still be grateful?

If the Holy Spirit filling my life was the only blessing I received would that be enough?

-We prayed for the persecuted church today.

I wanted to do this specifically today because I knew what I would be preaching about today and from my Americanized mind it is hard for me to recognize what the persecuted church has to be thankful for.

-a couple years ago when I was traveling internationally I was asked to preach on the last Sunday morning we were in town.

-the church was so far away from where we were staying we left 3 hours before service started.....and we ended up being 1.5 hrs late.

-the people in the church had been worshipping for almost 2.5 hrs waiting for us to get there.

-August.....humid, hot

-The church was corrugated plastic that were held together with poles, open air church.

-When I arrived it was like a celebrity showed up at their church.

-when I asked why they were so excited to see me....Im no one special…they said you coming to us to bring God’s word represents God faithfulness and his generosity to us.

No Thanksgiving leftovers.......God’s generosity/ our thankful hearts shared

When we are given excess, our gratitude should culminate in a celebration of our Lord.

The instructions for thanksgiving offerings in Leviticus are included with those for fellowship offerings.

Thanksgiving offerings were made with a herd animal, such as a goat, sheep, or cow ().

It would be divided into three portions: the Lord’s share (), the priest’s share (), and the rest was used to prepare a feast for family and friends ().

The people were instructed to leave nothing for the next day ().

That meant they had better be ready to give away a lot of meat.

The best way to make sure no food is left over is to invite friends to share in our thanksgiving.

Under Christ we are no longer bound by the rules of the sacrificial system, but the principle of generosity is clearly illustrated.

A thanksgiving sacrifice is a testament to the Lord’s provision, and a celebration for his people.

Just imagine how much closer the church would be if we celebrated the Lord’s blessings with generous parties when God did something wonderful in our lives.

One of the hallmarks of a thankful heart is generosity.

When we are truly grateful for what the Lord gives to us, we are moved to give freely to others.

Luke tells of a woman so overcome by gratitude she weeps at Jesus’s feet and washes them with her hair and her tears.

7:36-50

One of the hallmarks of a thankful heart is generosity.

When we are truly grateful for what the Lord gives to us, we are moved to give freely to others.

Luke tells of a woman so overcome by gratitude she weeps at Jesus’s feet and washes them with her hair and her tears.

Jesus says the woman’s great love is because she has been forgiven of many sins.

He tells the disciples those who have been forgiven of little will only love a little ().

Understanding the depth of our sin and the magnitude of the Lord’s forgiveness will move us to acts of thanksgiving, which moves us to greater love and greater generosity.

When we are given excess, our gratitude should culminate in a celebration of our Lord.

The instructions for thanksgiving offerings in Leviticus are included with those for fellowship offerings.

Thanksgiving offerings were made with a herd animal, such as a goat, sheep, or cow ().

It would be divided into three portions: the Lord’s share (), the priest’s share (), and the rest was used to prepare a feast for family and friends ().

The people were instructed to leave nothing for the next day ().

That meant they had better be ready to give away a lot of meat.

The best way to make sure no food is left over is to invite friends to share in our thanksgiving.

Under Christ we are no longer bound by the rules of the sacrificial system, but the principle of generosity is clearly illustrated.

A thanksgiving sacrifice is a testament to the Lord’s provision, and a celebration for his people.

Just imagine how much closer the church would be if we celebrated the Lord’s blessings with generous parties when God did something wonderful in our lives.

Sometimes we think we need to be wealthy in order to be generous.

Generosity is something that must be practiced regardless of what we have.

Luke records Jesus watching people give their gifts at the temple.

When Jesus saw a widow giving two small copper coins he told the disciples, “This poor widow has put in more than all the others.

All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on” ().

This woman was truly thankful for even the small amount the Lord had provided for her, and she was moved to be generous with her small gift.

Sometimes the Lord gives some of us big gifts.

When those times come we should be ready to increase our generosity, but we will find this easier to do if we have practiced generosity even in the lean times.

Francis Chan was talking about it was the desire of his wife to be generous.....she loved giving, but as a pastor’s family they weren’t able to give in the ways on in the magnitude they wanted to give....still faithful to be generous in ways they were able to be in their lean times.

-francis wrote his book crazy love

-they always take the proceeds from that book and it goes directly into a separate account they set up.....not for themselves, but an account where they can write checks to meet needs and be generous from the faithfulness of God

-Francis talked about the fact that the money is only the tool that God worked through to express His love through them.

And they see it as their responsibility to steward that resource the way he put on their heart.

You may never write a book and be able to give away millions of dollars, but ways where we can be generous God will use and bless.

It is a Characteristic we see of God that in his great love for us his generous heart is shown through the life of his son Jesus Christ.

How can we love like that?

What is our thankfulness focused on?

What is our thankfulness focused on?

Use acts of thanksgiving to share the grace and love the Lord has shown you.