Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Thank you, everyone.
Welcome.
Thank you for the Baptist Church.
Great to see you all here for the service.
We can all please have a seat and grab a handbook.
And open up those handbooks to song number two.
We can begin this evening's service by singing a song number two.
Glory to his name.
Song number two.
Now that we've all served our Savior,
glory to his name.
Glory to his name.
There to my heart was the blood of Christ.
Glory to his name.
By his kindness we sing from sin.
Jesus was cleanly abides within.
There at the rocks where he took the egg.
Glory to his name.
Oh precious mountain that sits from sin.
I am so glad I have him turning.
There Jesus safely leads me here.
Glory to his name.
There to my heart was the blood of Christ.
Glory to his name.
Oh to his mountains so rich and sweet.
That's life for soul and the Savior's feet.
Glory to his name.
Amen. Thank you brother.
This is the song of the 143.
The song of the 143, bless him and share it.
This is my story.
This is my song.
Praising my Savior.
Hallelujah.
This is my story.
This is my song.
Hallelujah.
This is my song.
Praising my Savior.
Hallelujah.
This is the vision.
This is the passion.
The words of my son.
He took his steady breath from above.
This is my story.
This is my song.
Praising my Savior.
Hallelujah.
This is my story.
This is my song.
Praising my Savior.
Hallelujah.
Praising my Savior.
Hallelujah.
This is my song.
Praising my Savior.
Hallelujah.
This is my story.
This is my song.
Praising my Savior.
Hallelujah.
This is my story.
This is my song.
Praising my Savior.
We've got the service times.
This is the upper left-hand side.
I actually will be in 2 Kings chapter 12 this week.
I'm preaching to thank you.
And don't forget the Desert Social
on Thursday at 6 p.m. before the service.
To the land of the free and the home of the brave.
To the land of the free and the home
of the brave.
To the land of the free and the home of the brave.
To the land of the free
and the home of the brave.
To the land of the free and the home of the brave.
To the land of the free
and the home of the brave.
To the land of the free and the home of the brave.
To the land of the free and the home
of the brave.
To the land of the free
and the home of the brave.
To the land of the free and the home of the brave.
That's what we're there to do.
You know, so Psalm 136 has just scratched the surface
of praising God for his mercy.
We haven't even gotten started yet.
We are appointed to Thanksgiving the moment we get saved.
When we were dead in sins and we got saved,
we were appointed to Thanksgiving to give God thanks
for his mercy and grace.
Maybe not here, but for sure in heaven.
When you get there, you know, your tune will change.
If you're going through this life and you're not grateful
for salvation like you ought to be,
if you're not praising God for his mercy and grace,
your tune will change the second you step into heaven.
The first time you look Christ in the face,
it's just gonna be praise God for his mercy,
praise God for his grace, and it's just gonna be that
for millennia.
How couldn't it be?
You know, and people out there in the world,
they try to make God into some, you know, egomaniac.
Oh, God just wants to be praised.
That's why he made man.
You know, God is so good.
God deserves to be praised throughout all eternity.
If all heaven ever is for the rest of all of eternity,
it's just us saying praise God, praise God, praise God,
praise God for all of eternity.
He's worthy of it and more.
God is worthy of all the praises for all eternity
from all of creation, all of it.
It's not because he's some egomaniacal,
some kind of, you know, narcissist
who just needs to be praised.
No, it's because he's so good,
because he's so loving,
because he's so rich in mercy,
because he has so much grace,
and he loves us so much, he's worthy of that praise.
And that's what we're appointed to.
The moment we got saved, you were appointed
to Thanksgiving and eternity.
Why not start now?
Why not start today praising God now?
Praising God for what? For his mercy.
Praising God for his grace.
Praising God for the scripture.
Praising God for salvation.
Praising God for eternal security.
Praising God for the church.
Praising God for the fellowship that we have in Christ.
Praising God for all the benefits
that he loads us with every single day,
every breath we could praise God for.
But, you know, people today, they don't,
you know, they, you know,
they get too focused on what they don't have.
They get too focused on what they can't have.
And what they do is they lose sight of what they do have.
You know, instead of sitting there thinking about
all the things you don't have,
all the things you can't have,
I'm not saying sinful things, even.
I'm just saying some things are just maybe
not gonna be in the cards for you.
Or maybe some things that just,
maybe you will have one day, maybe you won't.
Just things you don't have.
Instead of focusing on that,
you need to focus on all the good things
that God has already given you.
And the greatest thing that God has ever
given any of us is salvation.
And, you know, you need to meditate on that.
Go back to 1 Chronicles chapter 29.
We'll close it up there.
You know, when David, at the end here,
is praising God, you know,
he's reminded of something,
that everything that you have comes from God.
Why should I thank God for everything, anything?
Because everything that you have comes from him.
You know, that's what's so frustrating
about the world that we're living in.
You know, on Thanksgiving Day,
there's probably gonna be a lot of people
that don't even acknowledge God.
You know, they're not even gonna mention
the name of Jesus Christ,
unless it's in the form of, you know, some expletive,
as they curse some referee
for making a bad call or whatever.
Or because their team lost.
You know, here's the thing.
You know, we should be thanking God
for every single thing that we have.
Those people out there
that don't want to acknowledge God,
the breath that they draw through their mouth
is a gift from God.
Every heartbeat that they have is a gift from God.
Everything that we have comes from God.
I mean, that's what David tries to express here
in 1 Chronicles 29.
Look at verse 10.
It says, Wherefore, David blessed the Lord
before all the congregation.
And David said, Blessed be thou, Lord God of Israel,
our Father, forever and ever.
Let God be blessed.
Thine, O Lord, is the greatness and the power
and the glory and the victory and the majesty
for all that is in heaven and the earth is thine.
Thine is the kingdom, Lord,
and thou art exalted as head above all.
Both riches and honor come of thee,
and thou reignest over all,
and in thine hand is power and might,
and in thine hand is to make great
and to give strength unto all.
Now, therefore, our God, we thank thee
and praise thy glorious name.
Who am I and what is my people
that we should be able to offer so willingly
after this sort?
Remember, he took up this huge offering
at Solomon's coronation
and for the building of the temple.
But notice he says, Wow, we took up
such a great offering.
He says, Who are we that we should be able
to offer so willingly?
Notice he explains this question that he poses.
For all things come of thee
and of thine own hand have we given thee.
Everything that we can even offer God
is already his.
Any service that we can do to give him,
any praise, he's worthy of it
because it's already his.
Everything comes from him.
Verse 15, For we are strangers before thee
and sojourners, as were all our fathers.
Our days on earth are as a shadow
and there is none abiding.
O Lord our God, all this store
that we have prepared to build thee
and house for thine holy name
cometh of thine hand and all is thine own.
None of us should have any problem
thinking of something to thank God for
on Thanksgiving.
And if you can't, at the very least,
you can praise God for his mercy
and his grace.
And all I'm trying to get across here at the end
is that instead of focusing on things
you don't have, think about the things
that you already have.
We're to be content people.
We need to learn to be content people.
And there's really no reason for any of us
to be discontented because of the fact
if we're honest, we have more than heart
could wish.
We have great abundance.
And even if we were living in squalor,
even if we truly were just miserable,
poor wretches, we're still saved.
We still have God's mercy.
We still have God's grace in our lives.
And everything we have is of God.
We should thank him for it.
So again, just in summary,
the command to give thanks to God
is not optional.
It's a command in scripture.
David's appointing guys like your job
is to thank God every morning and every night.
That's your job.
In fact, here's some psalms about it.
Here's some psalms I want you to sing.
I've written these.
Put these to music.
I want these sung in the temple.
I want people praising and giving thanks to God
every day in the temple continually
because God's worthy, right?
Well, we just don't feel like, David,
not an option.
You've got to do it.
You know, giving thanks to God
is not an optional.
It's a command in scripture.
Now, what is optional is whether or not
you want to obey that command,
whether or not you want to take time
to acknowledge God and praise him
and give thanks unto God.
And, you know, say, well, I'm having
a hard time being thankful.
Force it.
Honestly, force it.
Force being thankful.
Make yourself get down and say,
thank you, God.
If I have to, thank you.
And start to think about the things
that you're thankful.
And you know what?
Eventually, it will become more natural.
And the more we meditate upon the things
of God, the more we read the Bible,
the more we understand the great love
wherewith He loved us,
the more we understand the riches
in Christ that we have,
the more we understand the depth
of love that we have in Christ,
the more that thankfulness
will not have to be forced,
the more it'll just come out naturally.
In fact, it will be eternity.
Lord, I pray, help us to be a grateful people,
that we would be contented people,
and, Lord, that we would take advantage
of the great opportunity we have
to do great works for you in this life.
We praise you and thank you
for all the good things you've done for us
and will continue to do.
We ask that you bless as we go now
in Christ's name, Amen.
All right, we'll sing one more song before we go.
Turn our handles to song number 309.
Some 309, Dare to be a Daniel.
Spanded by a purpose to heal God's command,
honored by the faithful,
we'll welcome to them a friend.
Dare to be a Daniel.
Dare to stand on line.
Dare to have a purpose for a man to make him come.
Pray by the power of God,
dare he rise to stand.
Hope for God and man,
almost by joining man goes man.
Dare to be a Daniel.
Dare to stand on line.
Dare to have a purpose for a man to make him come.
Pray by the power of God,
dare he rise to stand.
Hope for God and man,
almost by joining man goes man.
Dare to be a Daniel.
Dare to stand on line.
Dare to have a purpose for a man to make him come.
Hope for God and man,
almost by joining man goes man.
Dare to stand on line.
Dare to be a Daniel.
Dare to stand on line.
Dare to have a purpose for a man to make him come.
Thank you for watching!