Call to worship
Psalms 104
104 Bless the Lord, O my soul. O Lord my God, thou art very great; thou art clothed with honour and majesty.
2 Who coverest thyself with light as with a garment: who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain:
3 Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters: who maketh the clouds his chariot: who walketh upon the wings of the wind:
4 Who maketh his angels spirits; his ministers a flaming fire:
5 Who laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be removed for ever.
6 Thou coveredst it with the deep as with a garment: the waters stood above the mountains.
7 At thy rebuke they fled; at the voice of thy thunder they hasted away.
8 They go up by the mountains; they go down by the valleys unto the place which thou hast founded for them.
9 Thou hast set a bound that they may not pass over; that they turn not again to cover the earth.
10 He sendeth the springs into the valleys, which run among the hills.
As long as you still have life, God demands praise from you.
Thanksgiving is a divine commandment.
We’re commanded to give thanks by God.
The more you engage with God’s commandments, the more He furnishes you.
Note: Furnishing is for comfort, convenience, and enjoyment.
It is when man completes his commitment to Gods commandment that God furnishes him.
Psalm 150:6 – “Let everything that hath breath praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD.”
Every commandment of God is for our benefit.
1 John 5:3 – “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.”
Understanding is not a product of intellectual exertion, rather God opens the eyes of our understanding.
There is a demand for understanding in the midst of praise.
We cannot benefit from scriptural benefits without understanding.
Ephesians 1:18 – “The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,”
Satan planned for you to eat the bread of sorrow daily but God showed you mercy.
Any day you are not consumed is a day of mercy.
No matter what has happened at any point in time, God is good!
The preservation of your blessing is at the mercy of thanksgiving.
Whatever blessing God gives will take God to keep.
For your blessings to be preserved, you must maintain an attitude of gratitude.
Whatever you are continuously thankful for, God preserves.
The clearer you see the brighter your life, and the brighter you see, the higher you go in life.
Psalms 47:7 – “For God is the King of all the earth: sing ye praises with understanding.”
It is the depth of spiritual understanding that determines individuals’ manifestation.
Psalms 119:114 – “Thou art my hiding place and my shield: I hope in thy word.”
WHY DO WE GIVE GOD THANKS
- Thanksgiving is a debt that we owe.
2 Thessalonian 2:13 – “But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:”
We must recognize as individuals that thanksgiving is a depth we owe God.
Every act of God leaves man with a debt of thanksgiving.
No matter what is happening around you, you owe God thanks.
Every day is an act of God blessings.
Thanksgiving is a continuous debt that we owe both as an individual and as a church, we owe God the debt of thanks.
Matthew 13:23 – “But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.”
2 Corinthians 3:18 – “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.”
- We owe God thanks for every good thing He has done for us.
Ephesians 5:20 – “Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;”
James 1:17 – “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.”
The goodness of God is more than the expectation of Man
Psalms 103:2 – “Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:”
If it is a good thing, then it is from God.
Give God thanks for every good thing in your life.
Any day you were not consumed in tears or sorrow was a day of mercy.
Lamentations 3:22 – “It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.”
Psalms 127:2 – “It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he giveth his beloved sleep.”
Psalms 23:6 – “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.”
Therefore, God deserves your thanks every day.
- We owe God timely thanks to have our blessings preserved.
Job 1:8-10 – 8 And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?
9 Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought?
If you do not have God as your defense, then you lack defense.
If God takes His hands off your life, you are left defenseless.
No strategy can keep the blessings of God upon your life; it takes God to preserve your blessings.
Job. 1:10 – “Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.”
To keep the blessing, you must keep the blesser and to keep the blesser, you must keep giving thanks.
Every spiritual mystery is simple but very deep
2Corinthian 3:11 – “For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious.”
Romans 11:33 – “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!”
- It provokes supernatural multiplication.
Deuteronomy 1:11 – “(The LORD God of your fathers make you a thousand times so many more as ye are, and bless you, as he hath promised you!)”
Jeremiah 13:19 – “The cities of the south shall be shut up, and none shall open them: Judah shall be carried away captive all of it, it shall be wholly carried away captive.”
- God is the source of every breakthrough that you experience.
Isaiah 54:2 – “Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes;”
As we’re celebrating God, there is a breaking forth in every area of our lives.
- It secures the fulfillment of prophecies.
1 Thessalonian 5:18 “In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”
Hebrews 10:36 – “For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.”
Psalms 28:5 – “Because they regard not the works of the LORD, nor the operation of his hands, he shall destroy them, and not build them up.”
Act 12:22 – “And the people gave a shout, saying, It is the voice of a god, and not of a man.”
Note: Lack of thanksgiving destroys!
Your refusal to give God thanks is highly destructive.
