Hey, man, just keep your place there in 1 Thessalonians chapter number 5, we're going
to focus down on verse number 18 where the Bible says, in everything give thanks for
this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
So this sermon this morning is going to be kind of a cousin or a companion sermon to
one of the sermons that I preached at Faithful Word.
I preached a sermon at Faithful Word called I'm Sorry.
And it was the importance of, I looked at, we did a Bible study on forgiveness and having
mercy with people, but mainly that sermon focused on the importance of saying I'm sorry
and being sorry, having godly sorrow.
This morning the sermon is titled Thank You.
And that is, we're going to look at being thankful and actually showing thankfulness,
which is why people say thank you.
Look down at verse number 18 where Paul says, in everything give thanks.
Many times in the Bible, Paul starts out his epistles, just go to the first chapter
of Thessalonians where he says, look what he says, he says in verse number 2, Thessalonians
chapter 1, 1 Thessalonians chapter 1, Paul many times starts his letters like this where
he says we give thanks to God always for you all.
You know, whether he's going to talk to them about something serious or not, many times
Paul will begin and end his letters with thanksgiving.
And here he's saying, you know, we give thanks to God always for you all.
Even in 1 Corinthians, you know, where Paul is about to just unleash, you know, some reproving
to the people at the church of Corinth, Paul says, you know, we're thankful for you when
he starts out the message, the letter, the epistle.
So we're going to look at the importance of thankfulness this morning, the importance
of, you know, saying thank you.
Why do we teach our kids this?
We'll look at it this morning.
Turn to Psalm chapter 107.
Let's just look at, let's look at the idea of being thankful for a few minutes and then
I'll show you the importance of, you know, showing thankfulness and that's kind of the
point of this sermon.
So this is all introduction for the first few minutes here.
Turn to Psalm chapter 107.
Look at verse number one, Psalm chapter 107.
Look at verse number one.
The Bible says, oh, give thanks unto the Lord for he is good, for his mercy endureth forever.
So who should we be thankful, thankful to who is the question.
We should always be thankful to God.
We should be thankful to people, yes, but we should always be thankful to God.
Turn to Colossians chapter three, I'll read for you Ephesians chapter five.
We could never go through all the verses in the Bible talking about thankfulness and
how we should be thankful.
Ephesians chapter five, you're going to Colossians chapter three.
Ephesians 5, 20 says, giving thanks always for all things unto God the Father in the
name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Very similar to first Thessalonians chapter five and verse number 18 there, meaning in
everything give thanks.
We should appreciate everything.
We should be thankful for everything in our lives.
Look at Colossians chapter three and verse number 15.
The Bible says, and let the peace of God rule in your hearts to the which you're also called
in one body and what?
And be thankful.
Turn to Philippians chapter four, I'll read for you James chapter one.
James chapter one, you say, why, why should I be thankful for everything because, you
know, I mean certain things I have because, you know, I work hard or certain things that
I have because, you know, I did certain things right in my life and I've got things together.
So, you know, if I've done something right and I got, you know, a promotion at work or
I got something for that, why should I be thankful to anyone but myself for that?
Well, James 1 17 says, every good gift and every perfect gift is from above.
And what?
And cometh down from the Father of lights.
Meaning everything good that you have is from God.
If it's good and you have it, it is from the Lord.
That's why you should be thankful for everything to God.
Look at Philippians chapter four, Philippians chapter four and verse number six.
The Bible says, be careful for nothing.
That means, you know, don't care too much about things but in everything by prayer and
supplication with what?
Thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.
So, the Bible here is saying that you should be praying, you should be going to God about
things but, you know, it should be part of your prayers, a part of every single prayer
that you have should be thanksgiving.
You should be thankful to the Lord.
You know, it's probably, that's a good part of the prayer at the beginning.
You're going to come to God and you're going to ask God for something.
The first thing you want to do is, you know, good things to start prayers with, good ways
to start prayers are, you know, confessing your faults, telling God you're sorry for
the things that you've done and then being thankful for the things that you have.
Those are good ways to start prayers.
But the problem is, the problem is when we don't give thanks, what are we doing?
When we don't give thanks, when we're not thankful for things, we're taking things for
granted in our lives.
We start to think that things in our life are automatic, that things in our life are
these things that I have, whether it be material things or my family or my church or whatever.
We start to think that those things are just, they're just deserved.
They're just going to always be there.
This is a problem with human beings, right?
Turn to 2 Timothy chapter 3.
And the Bible has a word for that.
When you stop being thankful or you stop showing thankfulness, the Bible has a word for that.
It's called being unthankful.
Unthankfulness in the Bible is a very serious sin.
So let's look at that for just a couple of minutes.
This is all introduction before we get into the sermon this morning.
Look at 2 Timothy chapter 3 and look at verse number 1.
2 Timothy chapter 3 and verse number 1.
The Bible says in 2 Timothy 3, 1, this know also that in the last days perilous times
shall come.
So we know we're in the last days.
We already know this.
Jesus said we're in the last days, meaning the last half.
We're not in the end times, but we're in the last days.
So the Bible is saying in the last days, perilous times shall come.
So you're going to see these things in the next coming verses.
For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient
to parents, and look at this, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce breakers,
false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good.
Look, this is, this is, unthankful here is put in with a lot of serious sins.
It's put in with sins like, you know, being a reprobate.
It's included with this, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than
lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof, from such turn
away.
So we definitely don't want to be any one of those things, and unthankful is one of
those things.
It's interesting because there's four things there that you'll see come along, there's
a lot of things listed with being unthankful in that same verse, and look what it is.
It's covetous, boasters, proud, and unthankful.
You'll notice that unthankful people many times are all four of those things.
They're what?
They're unthankful but they're also, they're covetous, they're boasters, they're proud,
and they're also unthankful.
So notice that just people that are unthankful are all four of those things.
A perfect example of this is many, and I don't want to say all, but many of these people
that are homeless today.
I'm talking about the 30-year-old man standing on the street with a sign saying, give me
money.
This person, he's an unthankful person.
And what is he?
He's covetous.
You're like, what, he's covetous?
What are you talking about?
He's covetous over what is not his.
He's covetous over someone else's labor.
He has labor.
He owns labor, but he doesn't want to spend his labor.
He wants your labor.
The Bible says in 2 Thessalonians chapter 3 that if any would not work, neither should
he eat.
That's what the Bible says.
But this is a covetous person.
That's why you will see many times with people like this, and look, I've gone down this road
with several of these people at this point, and let me tell you something, they are unthankful.
And they're proud, too.
And you wouldn't think, like, how could somebody that is at that state be proud?
But they are.
Many of these people you can tell nothing to.
You can go and you can lead them down this path like, hey, if you do this and this and
this and this, everything will work out.
And you go and just clear the path for them.
They're too proud to listen to anything.
Anybody that is at that state has made several missteps, they're too proud to take any advice
from anyone, they're covetous, and they're unthankful.
And that's why they are at that state.
The point being is unthankful is a very serious sin and we want to be nowhere near it as Christians.
Turn to Romans chapter 1.
Look, you shouldn't want other people's stuff.
You shouldn't want other people's things.
That's the definition of covetous.
And that is somebody that is standing out saying, give me your labor, give me your money.
That comes along with unthankfulness as well.
It's a very serious sin in the Bible.
It's in Romans chapter 1 at the beginning of the process where someone gets rejected
by God.
Look at Romans chapter 1 in verse number 21.
Romans chapter 1 in verse number 21.
It says because that, this is somebody that as we go down the road of Romans chapter 1,
this is the very beginning, this is the very beginning.
Look at Romans chapter 1.
Actually, let's go back one chapter or one verse and let's get the whole context of the
verse.
Look at Romans chapter 1.
Let me turn there myself.
But look at Romans chapter 1 and verse number 20.
Verse number 19.
Let's start at verse number 19.
We're talking about how no one has an excuse.
No one has an excuse because everybody has this evidence of the creation around them.
Nobody has an excuse to not know, to not seek who the Lord is.
Verse 19 says because that which may be known of God is manifest in them for God has showed
it unto them.
God has shown himself to everybody.
You say in what way?
Look at verse 20.
For the invisible things of him, meaning God, from the creation of the world are clearly
seen, being understood by the things that are made even his eternal power and Godhead
so they are without excuse.
They don't have an excuse because everyone can see the creation.
Everyone can see nature.
Everyone can see this earth.
Everyone's living on this earth.
Everyone's living in God's creation that he literally spoke into existence and you have
to willingly deny that.
But what was the first step of these people rejecting God?
Look at verse number 21.
It says because when they knew God, they glorified him not as God.
So they knew that there is a God because they can see the creation and they didn't give
God credit for anything.
They didn't give glory to God.
Neither were what?
Neither were thankful.
But became vain in their imagination and their foolish heart was darkened, professing themselves
to be wise.
They became fools.
They changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made unto man and birds
and four-footed beasts and creeping things.
Wherefore God also gave them up unto uncleanness.
And we see that these people, we see these people rejected God.
They didn't give him glory and God gave them up.
Twice it says he gave them up.
It says he gave them over to a reprobate mind.
These are people that God literally has rejected.
And how did it start?
They were unthankful.
They saw God was there.
They saw what he created.
And they just, neither were they thankful.
It's very serious to be unthankful.
It's in, look, became vain in their imaginations.
You know what that means?
It means they were proud.
Just like I just read you in the previous verse, it's like proud people are unthankful
people.
And you may look at people and be like, how in the world could someone in that situation
be proud?
Well look, pride destroys you.
Pride goeth before destruction.
It'll completely destroy your life.
And one of the ways it does it makes you unthankful.
It's a very serious sin that I'm trying to get you to understand this morning.
And it's a prelude to even worse things.
Obviously if you're saved this morning, you're never going to become rejected by God.
But this is just a lesson that being unthankful is something we want to be nowhere near.
We want our kids to be nowhere near being unthankful.
Turn to Romans chapter six.
I mean unthankfulness in the Bible is a gateway.
If we look at Romans chapter one and we look at where that led people, it is literally
a gateway to a ruined person.
That's what we're looking at in Romans chapter one.
It is that unthankfulness towards God that ruins a person.
It creates someone that literally cannot be saved, the Bible was saying in Romans chapter
one.
Look at Romans chapter six, just a couple chapters over.
But look, even saved people can be unthankful.
Even saved people can be unthankful.
That's what Paul's talking about in Romans chapter six.
And we're going to look at Romans chapter six in depth tonight.
Romans chapter six, Romans chapter seven, I'm in depth tonight, but let me just show
you a couple things in Romans chapter six, verse number one.
The Bible in Romans chapter six, Paul is talking about should you take your salvation for granted.
You know, if you're saved this morning, you've trusted on the Lord Jesus Christ, you're sealed
by the Holy Spirit, nothing can ever make you unsaved.
But you can go and you can take advantage of that salvation.
You can take advantage of that eternal security that God has given you.
You've been given that through no works of your own, through nothing but trusting on
the work of Jesus Christ, and God has promised that He will save you.
He will save you everlasting, eternity, it's forever.
He will never take it away from you.
But you can go take advantage of that if you wanted.
And that's what Paul is talking about in Romans chapter six.
Look at this in verse number one.
I have everywhere in my Bible where a form of the word should is used in Romans chapter
six especially and Romans chapter seven, I have it underlined because this is just like
the core of so much false doctrine.
These verses in Romans chapter six and Romans chapter seven are used for so much false doctrine
and I'll show you that tonight.
But look at Romans chapter six in verse number one.
What shall we say then?
I have shall underlined twice here.
What shall we say then?
Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?
Shall meaning a form of the word should.
It's like shall you continue in sin that grace may abound?
Grace will abound but should you do it is what he's saying.
God forbid.
How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein?
Know ye not that so many of us were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death.
Therefore we are buried with him when we, this is on the baptism certificates that we
give people.
This is what your baptism is all about right here in verse number four.
Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death that like as Christ was raised
up from the dead by the glory of the Father.
See look at this statement right here.
As Christ was raised up, look that's a different word than should, is it not?
Christ was raised up meaning it happened.
That was something that happened for sure.
He was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father even so we definitely will.
Is that what that says?
It says even so we should walk in newness of life.
This is the point of your baptism.
It is an outward showing of the thankfulness that you're not going to take that grace for
granted that God gave you, that you're identifying with the death, burial, and resurrection of
Jesus Christ.
You know what?
I'm not going to take that salvation for granted.
I'm going to show what towards God?
I'm going to show thankfulness towards God.
So Paul's like you should do this.
Should I go and just take advantage of my salvation and go be a drunk and just take
advantage of all this and just live an ungodly life?
I should not do that.
That's what Paul is saying.
God forbid I would do that.
Again verse number six, knowing this that our old man is crucified with him that the
body of sin might be destroyed that henceforth we should not serve sin.
He's saying don't do it.
Again in verse 12, let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body.
I hate to break it to you folks but you're saved but you still got this mortal body.
You still have this flesh that you're contending with.
People that twist this, they clearly are not saved and you do not understand what Paul
is trying to say.
Paul is trying to convince people you still have the flesh.
You still have the flesh.
Follow the spirit that is not within you, not the flesh.
You should do that.
You should obey it in the lust thereof.
Verse 15, what then?
Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace?
God forbid.
He's trying to teach us to appreciate and be thankful for our salvation.
For what?
For the grace that God gave us, the free grace.
If it's, look folks, if it's of works, it's not of grace.
It's one or the other.
The Bible is clear about that.
He's trying to tell us, don't take advantage of that.
Be what?
Be thankful.
So look, thankful, good, unthankful, bad.
But what I want to talk about this morning is the importance of showing thankfulness.
That's why you say to someone, thank you.
When I'm gone for a week and the men of the church handle things or the ladies clean and
you know, things in the bathroom get fixed or somebody brings up problems, you know what
I say?
I say thank you.
You know what that's doing?
That's showing thankfulness.
Being thankful is one thing, but it's important that we show thankfulness.
Turn to James chapter 2.
You say, I do appreciate things.
I am thankful.
But there's a problem if you're not showing thankfulness in your life.
Turn to James chapter 2.
This is the whole point of James chapter 2.
Maybe one of the most misused chapters in the entire Bible, James chapter 2.
This is the point.
The point of James chapter 2 is showing your outward works, showing people this.
Look at James chapter 2 and let me just give you an example of the importance of showing
things.
The importance of showing outward works, basically.
Look at James chapter 2 and verse number 21.
Look what the Bible says.
It says, was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son upon
the altar.
See as though you're like, what in the world?
Justified by works?
How is that possible?
But I thought it was not of works lest any man should boast.
See as though how faith wrought with his works and by works was faith made perfect.
And we get another example here.
But look at verse 23 first.
And the scripture was fulfilled with saying, Abraham believed God and it was imputed unto
him for righteousness and he was called the friend of God.
You see that then by how that by works man is justified and not by faith only.
People love verse number 24 that teach works-based salvation.
Because they say, oh see, it's not just, it's not faith only.
But the Bible is talking about, he's saying, Abraham was justified by works in verse number
21 and then it says in verse 24 again, it says, see how by works a man is justified
by not faith only.
But look at verse number 23 again where it says, Abraham believed God and it was imputed
unto him for righteousness.
So that is salvation right there.
It says, you know, Abraham believed God and it was imputed unto him for righteousness.
But then it says he was called the friend of God.
So the question is, how was Abraham justified by works?
What are we talking about here?
Turn to Romans chapter 3.
A lot of people grab one or two of these verses and twist these into works-based salvation.
But remember, Bible reading rule number 1.
Bible reading rule number 1.
If you are interpreting the Bible in a way that makes it contradict clear scriptures
elsewhere or for by grace are you saved through faith and not of yourselves, it is the gift
of God, not of works, lest any man should boast, that's one of the clearest two verses
in the entire Bible right there.
We are not saved by works, not at all.
So let's explain Romans chapter, go to Romans chapter 4, Romans chapter 4, verse number
1.
Romans chapter 4, look at verse number 1.
How is Abraham justified by works?
That's the question we're after here.
The Bible says, what shall we say then?
Abraham, our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found.
You need to underline in your Bible as pertaining to the flesh, meaning as pertaining to his
works and people around him.
What has he found?
For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory, but not before God.
You see what the Bible is saying there?
If Abraham was justified by his works, he could boast.
And the Bible says, lest any man should boast.
And it's saying here, he could boast, but he would not be justified before God.
So what the Bible is clearly saying in Romans chapter 4, you are not justified by your works
to God.
But look at verse number 3.
For what saith the scripture?
The Bible says Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.
That's how Abraham was spiritually saved.
That's how Abraham obtained salvation.
By what?
Believing on God.
By trusting God.
But the Bible here is clearly saying that he was justified by his works.
Who called Abraham the friend of God is the question.
Who called Abraham a friend of God when he went up and he did what God asked him to do?
He did this amazing thing of being willing to sacrifice his own son even though God didn't.
Who saw those works?
What the Bible is saying is that Abraham was justified by works.
He was called the friend of God by other men.
The only way anyone can see your faith is by your works.
So you are not justified by your works to God.
You are justified by trusting on Jesus Christ to God.
This is the justification that matters, folks.
But you are justified by men by what you do.
By what they see you do.
Because men can't see your heart.
Only God sees the heart.
Nobody on this planet, no man or woman can tell what you believe.
That's what the Bible is explaining here.
It is the only way that your faith can be shown to other people is through your works.
It's not talking about being justified by works to God.
Go back to James chapter 2.
We get another example here with Rahab.
It says, you know, she received the messengers and sent them out another way.
So Rahab was justified by her faith, by her belief, but the way the Israelites could see
her faith is because she helped them.
Is because she hid the messengers and she did what she said she was going to do.
That's what justified her before men.
Was her works.
Look at James chapter 2 and verse number 18.
Yea, a man may say thou hast faith and I have works.
Show me thy faith without thy works and I will show thee my faith by my works.
So the only way for you to show your faith to men on this earth is through your works
is what the Bible is saying here.
But you're not justified by God through your works.
So if we apply this to the sermon this morning, what I'm trying to get you to understand is
the only way people can see your thankfulness, even though you may feel thankful and you
may be thankful in your mind, in your heart, the only way for other people to see your
thankfulness is through your works.
Is through you actually doing something.
By what?
Here's one.
Thank you.
By saying thank you to people.
That is an outward way of you showing that you are thankful.
You know what I mean?
Look, this is why kids and ourselves, kids especially need to be taught, kids especially
need to be taught to say thank you to things.
Because they need to be taught to be thankful.
The last thing you want is a bunch of spoiled kids that grow up to be unthankful adults.
It's a terrible curse.
I mean, a ruined man is unthankful.
So think about that when you talk to your kids about making sure they say thank you
about things.
I mean, nothing will ruin a man faster than just giving him everything for nothing.
It'll literally destroy someone.
You say why?
It's because he becomes unthankful.
It leads to laziness.
It's this gateway to drunkenness.
Ultimately, if they're not even saved, it could lead down the path of Romans 1, not
even being thankful to God, not giving glory to God.
It's a rejection of God.
It could turn into.
I mean, think about it.
In order to be saved, think about why unthankfulness is such a big part of the Romans 1 path.
In order to be saved, you need to appreciate the fact that you need a savior.
Can you be saved if you don't even think that, if you're just proud and you think that I
don't need anything, I'm pretty good, could you be saved if you weren't even looking for
a savior?
If you don't think that your sin is bad enough, or maybe you think that every now and then
you'll meet someone who thinks that they don't sin.
It's rare, but they're out there.
If you have somebody that doesn't believe that they sin, that person cannot be saved.
Saved from what?
They would never be searching for a savior.
They would never be willing to trust in Jesus and his work on the cross to save them if
they were just unthankful.
Turn to Matthew chapter 12.
But for men to see that you are thankful, you must show it.
And look, saying thank you is a way to do that.
Look at Matthew chapter 12 and look at verse number 34.
So why is saying thank you so important?
Why are those words so valuable to people to hear from you?
Look at Matthew chapter 12 and verse 34.
Jesus explains this when he's kind of rebuking the Pharisees here.
This is Jesus many times how he spoke to the Pharisees.
You won't hear this much today.
But look at verse number 34.
He says, oh, generation of vipers.
How's this for the real Jesus right here in the Bible?
Everyone thinks that Jesus was just this love, love everybody.
He's like, how many people think that Jesus said this like, oh, generation of vipers?
He's rebuking them sharply.
He's calling them snakes.
He's saying, oh, generation of vipers, how can he being evil speak good things?
For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh.
This is why saying thank you is so valuable right here.
Because saying thank you, you know what it shows that person that you're saying thank
you to?
It shows them that like in your heart you feel that you are thankful.
So when I say thank you to the ushers or thank you to someone for cleaning the church or
thank you to someone for doing something around here to help out, you know, when I'm
gone or I couldn't do it or whatever, you know, what I'm saying is what my heart feels.
And that's why that's important for that person to hear me say that.
Because they're like, oh, well, you know, pastor or my brother is really thankful for
what I did.
Because it shows where the heart is.
Because what's in your heart, you will say.
That's what Jesus is saying.
In Matthew chapter 12 and verse 34.
Or not say.
So somebody that never says thank you, somebody that you go and just help and do things for
all the time and they never say thank you.
You're like, who would do that?
Lots of people.
You would be shocked.
You go out and you help certain people that need help and you help them and help them
and help them and they just never say thank you.
You assume they're not thankful.
Because what's in their heart, they will say or not say.
This is why kids, kids, we need to teach things backwards.
We need to teach kids things to do in their life.
You need to teach kids the proper way of doing things and then when kids get older and they
grow up in that nurture and admonition of the Lord, they'll understand why they're saying
those things and why they're doing those things.
That's why kids, I mean, they may not understand when they're four or five or six years old
why they have to say thank you to every single, they'll understand very quickly.
But they may not, when they're very young, understand why they have to say thank you
all the time.
But pretty soon, the doctrine of the Bible, they will learn and they'll understand, oh,
I should be appreciating these things.
That's why my parents have been teaching me to say thank you for everything.
I shouldn't just get used to things.
It is super important to teach kids this.
Kids, kids, let's use the family integrated church here.
Kids, you should say thank you to your mom after every time she makes you food.
Kids, do you do that?
You know what your mom will start to think if you don't say thank you to your mom when
she makes you supper, makes you lunch, makes you breakfast, basically keeps you alive, kids.
What she will start to think is, well, they're just getting used to it.
And yes, it is her job to keep you alive.
I get it.
But you should be thankful to your mother.
You should be thankful to your mother for teaching you.
You should be thankful for your mother when she's frustrated with you because you're not
getting your math and you're not getting your spelling and you're not getting all these
things.
You know what you should say?
Thank you, mom.
Thank you for making sure that I learn.
You should be thankful when your mom and your dad sits down and reads the Bible to you every
day because you know what?
That's a rare thing in this world, kids.
You should be thankful to a mom that sits down and reads the Bible to you and teaches
you the Bible and teaches you the word of God.
You need to appreciate these things and you know how you appreciate things, kids?
You say thank you.
You say it.
You say the words.
Spoiled kids would be lazy, unthankful adults.
And let me tell you something, folks.
How do you fix a lazy, unthankful adult?
I don't know.
I'll let you know when I figure it out.
But it's super important that we catch these things now in our children when they are young
so they are thankful, godly adults.
Unfortunately, the only way, I mean, I actually do know the way to fix a lazy, unthankful
adult, but the only way, and basically our country today makes it very difficult to fix
a lazy, unthankful adult because in order for a lazy, unthankful adult to become not
lazy and thankful, they have to go through pain and suffering.
They actually have to go through a period where the Bible says, neither should he eat.
They need to go through that period where, you know what, I've been handed everything
in my life and now I'm starving.
There's nothing to eat.
Standing on this corner, a healthy, strong, 32-year-old man, it makes me sick to my stomach
every time I see it.
Standing on that corner, a healthy, young man with two arms and two legs, that person
needs to go through pain and suffering in order to get not lazy and thankful.
Because when you go through pain and suffering, you start to appreciate things again.
But see, our society today just wants to hand everybody everything so it makes that pain
and suffering impossible.
Let's hand them everything.
Let's hand them money.
Let's hand them everything that they possibly need.
Let's even hand them drugs.
It's the opposite of what the Bible teaches.
And you will never end up being able to fix somebody that is lazy and unthankful with
that.
Husbands, this is a bad one.
This is something that I still try to get better at.
You're like, I appreciate my wife.
I'm thankful for my wife.
And I feel that right here.
But I never do anything to show it.
Men are a little bit different in this case where men will go to work and we will do things
and we will get the praise of men.
We will have people at work say, good job.
We will have people at work say, you did a good job and I'm going to give you a promotion.
And we'll have people say, oh, I have the respect of all these people that I work with
because I'm good at my job.
I work hard.
I show up early.
I stay late.
And we'll get some praise from that.
We need to show our wives that we are thankful.
We need to show it.
How do we show it?
Well, first you can say thank you to your wife.
You can do things for your wife.
This is why men are too logical sometimes.
My wife doesn't need flowers.
She has lots of flowers.
She's got a garden with flowers in it.
There's flowers around the house.
Why does my wife need flowers?
Because if I bring my wife flowers, that shows her that I'm thankful in my heart for her.
It's not that she needs the flowers.
It's not like us.
I'm like, I need a wrench.
I don't have a wrench.
The flowers show thankfulness.
This is just one example.
Take your wife out to dinner.
Why?
Because I'm thankful for what you do.
It's a way to show thankfulness.
You want to have a good relationship, you better show thankfulness in your life.
Many times, men, we are thankful, like in here, but we just get so busy and we get so
focused on our lives that we never show the thankfulness.
Our wives need to see that, and really what that will show them is that we love them.
It will show that we do appreciate them.
We do appreciate the fact that I have a stay-at-home mom that's staying home, teaching my children
the Bible, taking care of this next generation, and you know what?
There's nobody around.
There's not an office full of coworkers laying praise on her constantly.
That's my job as the husband to do.
So don't forget to do that.
You should do that constantly for your wife.
Show your thankfulness to her.
Tell her.
Tell her how much you appreciate what she does.
When you see progress with the kids, point it out.
Point it out to the kids.
Tell your kids.
Tell her how blessed you are to have a mother that rejects what this world teaches and will
stay home and teach you a world lead, a biblical world view in this sick, twisted, perverted
world that's out there.
You need to show these kids what they have.
Teach them to be outwardly thankful to their mother.
Wives.
How many times, when your husband gets up at five o'clock in the morning to go out and
slay dragons all day in this world, do you get up with him and see him off and say,
I appreciate what you do.
You know what that will do?
That will show him that you are thankful.
He probably knows.
He probably has the head knowledge that you appreciate what he does, but you know what?
You should tell him.
You should do things to show him that you are thankful for what he does.
Turn to Proverbs chapter 18.
Unthankful people will destroy relationships, and to a degree, they will actually burn down
every bridge in their life.
Unthankful people.
In Proverbs chapter 5, verse number 15, the Bible says, drink waters out of thy own cistern
and running waters out of thy own well.
The Bible is pretty strict, folks, on who deserves help.
The Bible's like widows over 60 that have been married one time, that have served the
Lord and have a good report.
If someone does something nice for you or gives you something, you should be thankful
because you definitely don't deserve it.
That's what the Bible is teaching there.
And if you're not thankful, folks, and people do things for you, it's probably not going
to happen repeatedly where people keep doing things for you because you frankly don't deserve
somebody else's labor.
You don't deserve people to just keep helping you and helping you and helping you.
Be thankful.
How do I do that?
Are you turned up to Proverbs chapter 18?
Proverbs chapter 18, look at verse number 24.
The Bible says this, says a man that hath friends must show himself friendly.
And there's a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.
I mean, remember to be nice back to those that are nice to you.
That's another way of showing that you're thankful.
You know, you should, I mean, someone remembers your birthday, you should remember their birthday.
These are simple things.
I mean, it's just, don't be this person that just expects everything to be done for them.
Somebody takes you to dinner, take them to dinner.
You should literally, I mean, somebody helps you out of a jam, helps you on a house project,
repay the favor.
You should keep score with your friends.
Unless you just want to be this person that has friends, which means people just do things
for me.
But the Bible is saying in Proverbs 18, you should show yourself a friend.
Be a friend, just because you have friends.
This is the thing in a church, like, people are going to be your friend.
I mean, like, we love you.
Like somebody that's in this church that's not doing things right, that's maybe got,
you know, things a little backwards and they need a lot of help, look, people are going
to help you.
They're going to show you that they're your friend, but you know what?
You should show that you're a friend back to people.
It shows that, why?
It shows you're thankful.
That's what it shows.
Turn to 1 John chapter 4, 1 John chapter 4.
I mean, honestly, this is how Jesus treated us.
You know, this is how Jesus treated us and the whole idea of the Christian life is that
we are to show thankfulness back towards God for what Christ did for us.
And that's ultimately the model here, folks.
In 1 John chapter 4, in verse number 19, the Bible says, it says, we love Him, why?
Why do we love Jesus?
What is loving Jesus?
We're actually going to define that in great detail tonight.
What it means to love the Lord, what it means to love Jesus Christ, we're going to get into
that in great detail tonight, what that phrase actually means.
But I mean, God said, if you love me, keep my commandments.
Basically, loving God means doing what He told you to do.
Why do we do that?
Because He first loved us.
Why in the world, so when people ask me, when people ask me, are you telling me that you
can go out and do whatever you want and you can just live whatever life you want and you're
saved and you can never not being saved, yes.
Because I'm not saved by what I do or what I don't do.
I'm saved through Jesus Christ.
But why do I come to church three times a week?
Why do I go out soul winning and try to get as many people saved as I possibly can?
Why do I try to get sin out of my life?
Why do we try to live this Christian life?
Why do we sit here and listen to the Bible preached every Sunday, every Wednesday and
try to fix these things in our life?
Why do we do it?
It's not to get ourselves to heaven, zero percent.
We do it because He first loved us.
We do it because I don't know about you, but I'm thankful that I'm saved.
I mean, we are going to get rewarded in heaven, but I'm just thankful that I'm not going to
hell.
And that's why I love Christ.
Loving meaning, nodding like some butterfly feeling or some lust feeling as they've defined
love today, but loving meaning I actually do what I'm supposed to do.
Loving meaning reading the Bible, following the Bible, showing God that I love Him by
listening to what He tells me to do.
And it shows what?
It shows that I'm thankful to the God that saved me when I deserved none of it.
I deserved, just like you, I deserved to go to hell.
And I'm not going to hell.
I mean, what more do you need?
What more motivation do you need to be thankful to the Lord?
But people need motivation because why?
Because they take their salvation for granted.
And that's what Romans chapter 6 is talking about.
Paul's saying, you're not going to hell, but don't forget that.
Don't forget that that's where you deserve to go.
Don't forget that you should follow the Lord.
Don't take grace for granted.
Be thankful.
Be thankful in your life.
Say thank you.
But more important than that, be thankful to people.
Be thankful to your brothers and sisters in Christ.
When people do things for you, be thankful and show that you're thankful back towards
them.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.