Conquer, defeat, all our foes, God leads his dear children all on through.
Some great song of the song season, as his dear children these day children through.
Let's sing everybody, Brother Ryan, would you please open us up with a word of prayer?
Service, and singing, and fellowship to come, in Jesus' name, Amen.
Amen.
All right, if you want to take your hymns, we're going to turn to page number 97.
Page number 97, "I need thee every hour."
Page number 97, let's sing everybody at this time, we will read our announcements.
The verse of the week is Psalms 147 verse 7, Psalms 147 verse 7, "Sing unto the Lord
with thanksgiving, sing praise unto the harp, unto our God."
Psalms 147 verse 7, service times are 10.30 this morning, 3.30 this afternoon, Wednesday
evening Bible study is 6.30, except for this week.
It will be on Tuesday just to allow people to have time to travel.
So many times this afternoon will be 1pm and yesterday it was at 10.30am, that's just where
we go out and bring the gospel to people door to door.
Salvation reports for this month are 5 for this month, 7 for October for a total of 89
for the year so far.
Last attendance down below, a lot of upcoming events, directly after the morning service
will be the first choir practice for kids for a holiday special.
So if your kids are going to attend that, please just let them be ready right after
service to attend choir practice.
Just reiterate what I just said a minute ago, this Wednesday service is being changed to
Tuesday just to give people time to travel and prepare for Thanksgiving.
So this week only, Tuesday at 6.30 will be our midweek service.
Also it says bring a dish, so I assume that's before service, shared dinner.
Alright I guess it's been decided.
Bring a dish if you'd like on Tuesday.
Men's preaching in Pi Social will be the November 30th, that will be our evening service.
For men that wish to get up and preach, I know I think four have signed up, I could
be wrong there, but they're going to get up, see what they have found in the Bible and
just let us know.
Just to make that a fun evening, in the month, we're having a pie social, so please sign
up to bring a pie and we'll just have pie and fellowship on the evening service on November
30th.
December 13th will be a ladies' Christmas party at 1 p.m. at the Thompson's.
Please just RSVP with Ms. Kiley, and I think you guys did that last year, so you guys kind
of know what's going on.
And for the whole church, that will be December 20th, will be a church Christmas party, will
be 4 p.m. at the church building, and it will be our second annual Christmas Olympics.
I don't know if the suspension of me and Jason still stands, but we'll try to see if we can
get in this year since I think we were disbanded last year.
Do you not remember?
Have someone remind you.
Anyway, we were the first to go, and we kind of did not do the game.
We did our own destroy the room game.
Yeah.
You'll have to remind Jason.
That's the best way to get back in.
And I'm admitting my faults, so they probably still will ban me from the games, but it's
all good.
That was a fun time.
I'm sure it will be fun this time and be a blessing.
Also, December 21st will be our Christmas Sunday, I think that's Sunday, Christmas
message with the Kids' Corps and Potluck.
Invite the friends and family.
We're being hip.
We're reaching out to Gen Z, but no, it will be a great time, good time to bring everyone
because, hey, let's face it, Christmas and Easter, we can usually pull a few
more in.
All right?
So we want to make it fun and bring people in.
So those are a lot of events coming up here in just a little bit of a month, month and
a week.
So really a blessing to have that, that all these are happening.
Kids, your memory verse for the week is John 14 verse six, John 14 verse six.
Jesus say unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no man cometh unto the Father
but by me.
And if you can recite that to Miss Kylie, you receive a reward of a piece of candy.
We always like to have the kids start memorizing Bible as early as possible.
Below that, the bulletin is just, you know, same rules, tithing information.
On the back, we've already had our three birthdays of this year, or this month, and prayer requests
are below.
If you have any other prayer requests that you want added to the bulletin, please just
let the Thompsons know and they will add it into the bulletins.
But with that, let's turn to the Lord in prayer.
All right, if you want to grab your blue psalm book and turn to psalm number 119, psalm number
119.
And if you don't have a blue psalm book, I have some extra copies and an extra psalm
book right here.
We're going to turn to psalm number 119.
I'm going to sing everybody with an apology, please pray for the offering.
Sure Foundation Baptist Church, if you could go ahead and take your Bibles and turn to
Colossians chapter 4.
We're going to read Colossians chapter 4 and as our custom is here at Sure Foundation Baptist
Church, we read the entire chapter before the preaching.
Colossians chapter number 4, the Bible reads, "Masters, give unto your servants that which
is just and equal, knowing that ye also have a master in heaven.
Continue in prayer and watch in the same with thanksgiving.
Withal, praying also for us, that God would open unto us a door of utterance, to speak
the mystery of Christ, for which I also in bonds, that I may make it manifest as I ought
to speak.
Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time.
Let your speech be all way with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to
answer every man.
All my state shall Tychicus declare unto you, who is a beloved brother and a faithful minister
and fellow servant in the Lord, whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose, that he
might know your estate and comfort your hearts.
With Onesimus, a faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you, they shall make known unto
you all things which are done here.
Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner, saluteth you, and Marcus, sister's son to Barnabas,
touching whom ye have received commandments.
If he come unto you, receive him, and Jesus, which is called Justice, who are of the circumcision.
These only are my fellow workers unto the kingdom of God, which ye have been a comfort
unto me.
Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluteth you, always laboring fervently
for you in prayers, that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.
For I bear him record, that he hath a great zeal for you, and them that are in Laodicea,
and them in Hierapolis.
Luke, the beloved physician, and Demas greet you.
Shoot the brethren which are in Laodicea and Nymphos, and the church which is in his house.
And when this epistle is read among you, cause that it be read also in the church of Laodiceans,
that and that ye likewise read the epistle from Laodicea, and say to Archippus, take
heed to the ministry which thou hast received in the Lord, that thou fulfill it, the salutation
by the hand of me, Paul, remember my bonds, grace be with you. Amen. Brother Jason, could
you please pray for the preaching? Amen. We're there in Colossians chapter number four. We're
going to look in at verse number two, where the Bible says, continue in prayer and watch
in the same with Thanksgiving. That I'm assuming this morning is enter his gates with Thanksgiving.
Let's pray. Father God, thank you so much. Wonderful day. Thank you so much for everything
you do for us, God. Thank you so much for this church, God, and for everybody that showed
up this morning, God. Thank you so much for the people that I know would be here if they
weren't sick or didn't have other pressing things upon them in their life right now,
God. I just thank you so much for the opportunity to preach your word. I just pray that you
fill me with your Holy Spirit, God, and help me to deliver a message that would edify the
people in this room that took time out of their week to come and hear your word preached,
God. I pray that you would help me to say what you want me to say and keep me from saying
what you don't want me to say. Jesus name I pray. Amen.
How much more, like I said again, is enter his gates with Thanksgiving. We're there in
Colossians four two. And today I'm going to be preaching a sermon about just the general
subject of being a thankful person, you know, gratitude and the giving of thanks obviously.
And that's obvious for the reason. The reason I'm preaching on this, I should say is as
obvious because we have Thanksgiving coming up this week. And though this topic is kind
of basic, I would say like it's a, you know, it's not like the deepest thing in the world.
What I've come to learn as a Christian is that the things that are the most basic or
the things that are like just seem like, you know, the most standard are often the things
that people struggle with and also the things that really will make you a better Christian
if you focus on them. And this subject, though, it is very basic. I'm very glad that we have
a yearly reminder for it because of the fact that this topic is, you know, always satisfying. And
in 2025 America, we only need more of being thankful to be preached from behind the pulpit.
Go if you would to Romans 1, verse number 21. In 2025 America, even though we live in, like,
one of the most blessed nations of all time, if not the most blessed nation of all time,
we still have, like, just a ton of unthankful just, you know, people in this country and people that
are always wanting more, that just never have enough, that just always think that they're just
entitled to something. And it's a shame because this attitude kind of rubs off on Christians
sometimes. Like we, because we're like around the people of the world sometimes, whether it's in
our work or just, you know, our daily life, this attitude of being unthankful unfortunately rubs off
on Christians. But this should never be so because as a Christian you have nothing to be
unthankful for. We are blessed beyond all measure just by the fact that we have Christianity to
cling to, just by the fact that we have Jesus Christ to cling to. We're blessed beyond all measure
and our cup truly runs over in this country. But so the reason I'm preaching on this is because
obviously I said it's Thanksgiving but also this subject is very important. It's important for
these reasons. Okay the word thanks or kind of any of its forms like thanksgiving, thank you know
anything like that appears over a hundred times in the Bible. So clearly this is a subject that
God focuses a lot on. It's all over the Bible. I mean over a hundred times and that's just
like for thanks. That doesn't include any of its other synonyms or anything like that.
But also I'm preaching on this because again we live in an entitled culture where people just
expect handouts. That's why like socialism is so popular nowadays. Like people will unironically
you know think that socialism is a good thing. Even Christians online will say stuff like this
and it just blows me away because socialism is not what the Bible teaches. And I'm not going to make
this all political or anything like that but it is evil to it. People try to like make it out like
it's a good thing but taking money from other people and and and giving them to people that
giving money to people that haven't deserved it is wrong. In the Bible I mean giving is all over
the Bible but you're supposed to give of your own free will not the government making you give to
people. But that's a different sermon for another day. Talk about being thankful right now. Number
three though is I'm preaching about this because being unthankful as a Christian is something that
God despises. Look at there in Romans 1 21 the Bible says this because that when they knew God
they glorified him not as God neither were thankful but became vain in their imaginations
and their foolish heart was darkened. The reason I'm having you turn there is because we obviously
know the primary application of this but in just a secondary you know application says I would just
take this and say that when you're an unthankful person it really does darken your heart it darkens
your it blinds your eyes of what I would say and we obviously know there's a blinding from God that
happens with certain people but when I talk about this it's like when you are an unthankful person
it really does harden your own heart like you harden your heart to the things of God and to the
benefits and the privileges that you have in your own life but the fourth reason I want to preach on
this is because it is very easy to slip into an unthankful mindset if you're not actively trying
to be a thankful person this is like almost like our default sitting as humans is just being
uncontent being you know unthankful so it's always good to have a reminder on this I'm glad that we
have a yearly reminder on this at the very least with the holiday of thanksgiving where we are
supposed to be giving thanks which is kind of funny because I just talked about how
compound words aren't always the some of their parts on my last wednesday sermon but thanksgiving
is a compound word that is the sum of its parts because it truly means that the giving of thanks
yeah uh go if you would uh psalms 86 verse number eight psalms 86 number eight so with that all
being said i'm going to focus this sermon this morning on things that we should do to be just
kind of thankful in general general tips for being thankful and things that we need to avoid in order
to be thankful christians uh according to the bible you guys are going to psalms 68 verse number
eight the first point of my sermon is this i'm going to just list off things that we should be
thankful for because this helps with my sermon as well but it's also just a good practice in
life if you find yourself being unthankful for things you should just try to sit there and list
out all the great things that you have in your life because if you actually like i'd submit to
you if you get into detail and you try just to write out every single thing that you should be
thankful for in your life in one sitting you probably couldn't really do it you probably
couldn't spell out every single thing that god has blessed you with on this earth uh and that
should show you how blessed we truly are as christians what i'm going to list off a couple
things that we should be thankful for and the first thing i want to list off here is that we
should be thankful that we have god as our god that we have the lord as our god that we have
the god of the bible as our god you guys are there in psalms 86 verse number eight i'm going to look
at uh i'm going to read first Samuel uh yeah first Samuel two verse two it says there is none holy
as the lord for there is none beside thee neither is there any rock like our god and in first kings
823 it says and he said lord god of israel there is no god like thee in heaven above or on earth
beneath who keep his covenant and mercy with the thy servants that walk before thee with all their
heart and in psalms 86 verse number eight where you guys are at it says this among the gods there
is none like unto thee oh lord neither are there any works like unto thy works and obviously brother
jason actually just preached a sermon on this subject about you know the god's plural it's
important just to realize whenever you see the word god's plural in the bible it's talking about
false gods it's talking about the ideas that people bring forth about false gods because
sometimes people that are atheists will like bring up verses like this and be like well if there's
only one god then why is there multiple gods in this verse it's like because we're referring to
the idea of false gods like when we talk about the greek gods okay we're like oh there's multiple
gods it's like no we're talking about mythology though everybody understands that that kind of
stuff drives me insane but truly even bringing up the greek gods praise god that we don't have
gods like that that we have one god first of all not many gods but praise god that our god is
holy and righteous and just and he's not like the gods of the greeks that are just filthy and
disgusting in all their stories praise god that we have a god that isn't you know like the man
that created him like or like like for their gods the reason why the the gods of the greeks are so
wicked and they do all these crazy acts is because that comes right out of their own hearts but our
god is above us he's perfect he's sinless he you know it is always just in his judgment and that's
because he's not of mankind because we as mankind are just sinners we we are sinful and it just
proceeds in all of our actions but praise god we have a god that is above all and that is holy and
that is righteous and that isn't like you know it makes me even think of like zeus in their little
mythology story he kills his own father but praise god that we serve jesus christ who submitted to
the will of his own father and didn't do something that is worthy of death according to the bible in
the old testament praise god that we don't have a god like the gods of the mormons plural and i do
say gods plural because if anybody doesn't know the mormons believe not in just one god they believe
in many gods and they kind of try to like package it in a nice way where if you don't ask questions
about it at first it seems like they believe in one god but they're just about one god for our
planet like our universe but they believe in a multitude of gods they don't just believe in the
one god of the bible but praise god we don't have a god we don't have many gods and praise god that
we have a god that doesn't come up with a bunch of crazy rules that people just scoff at
like uh that you're not allowed to drink coffee or you're not allowed to drink hot drinks it's
like why is this a morality issue what in the world why are they like praise god that we have
a god too that preserved the scriptures and didn't like lose his church and didn't lose
that that's powerful enough to uh you know praise god we have a god that's powerful enough
to preserve his holy word so he doesn't have to reinvent the religion in the 1800s right praise
god that we have a god that makes just and and rational commandments not like holy underwear
like if you don't even know about that just go look that up the holy underwear is super weird
maybe don't look it up okay but but some of the men in here i made this joke last week but it's
kind of funny someone out here might be wearing the holy underwear but not the the holy underwear
that the mormons are talking about but christmas is coming soon so you know you can just hold out
for a little bit and then we can repent of our mormon ways right there uh where did i have you
guys going to next go if you would to um mica 718 mica 718 talking about being thankful for our god
and and the fact of who he is and that we get to serve him praise god that our god is not like the
god of the muslims either who doesn't know morality that makes eating pork a sinful thing
and and here's the thing about that because obviously in the old testament god makes like
some certain commandments like that like eating pork and shellfish but it's important to realize
that those were never inherently wrong to eat it was because that was supposed to be a picture
of things that would be fulfilled in the future but for the muslims this is not so in the muslims
belief they're just like pork is evil in perpetually it's just always been evil to eat pork to eat
shellfish it's like what in the world praise god that we have a god that knows the difference
between truly what's right and wrong and that can set up pictures but then does them away later
but the the the the the muslims they don't eat pork and then they also treat their women like
they're trash and some people will kind of you know give islam a pass and they'll just they'll
kind of they'll kind of simp for islam is what they'll do they'll be like oh no that's just
the extremists in islam we should understand that the extremists of islam are just the people that
are actually following what the quran says okay because like we have christians nowadays you have
like really liberal christians and you have like you know christians that try to follow the bible
to the best of their ability the muslims that are you know not radical are the ones that are not
following their own scriptures okay there's scriptures like this one in on this uh four uh
34 just you can read i guess you don't have don't turn in your quran okay but you don't
but i'll just read this for you it's insane i got this from pastor stuckey a video that he did
online but this truly shows you like some of their crazy beliefs this is what it says it says men are
in charge of women by right of what allah has given one over the other and what they spend for
maintenance from their wealth what does it even mean like this sounds like it's written by someone
that's illiterate and it's because it was okay it says so righteous women are devoutly obedient
guarding in the husband's absence what allah would have them guard okay says but those wives from
whom ye fear arrogance so no wonder they put the tarp over their wives because they're scared of
them is what it says right there the wiser they fear the arrogance right says first advise them
logical says then if they persist like to disobey you says forsake them in bed what so but like
that's like their brain buster conclusion right there that's so bizarre i'm reading you what the
quran says though says and finally if they don't listen strike them but if they obey you once more
seek no means against them so in islam they're like oh they're like you know we're not savages
we at least forsake the women in bed first before we would actually like strike them right praise
god that we serve a god that doesn't tell you to strike your wife when you're when she's not
listening praise god that we serve a god that says you're supposed to love your wife like christ
loved the church and gave his life for it so bizarre that like this is this oh and when i
talk about them playing games with stuff like that too nowadays and like modern renderings of the
quran they'll say they'll put like in quotes right there strike gently like your wife it's like what
does that even mean strike gently like not a full slap like we're talking about you know 50 at
least right you know have some love in your heart good night what if you just got your wife to
listen to what you were saying because you're a good leader and because you're following jesus
christ and a man that's following jesus christ most i would submit you 99 percent of the time if
you're following jesus christ to the best of your ability your wife will want to follow along with
you it's just natural this is what the bible teaches but anyways we're not going to get off
on on all that too much but praise god that our god is not as their god praise god that our rock
is not as their rock praise god that we have a god that loves women women not that tells us to beat
them praise god that we have a god that knows what morality is not that fumbles just basic
commandments praise god that we have a god that tells us in the bible that if someone is a
pedophile it's better for them to have a millstone put about their neck and thrown into the ocean
than to face the judgment that god has for them compared to what the muslims ordain a pedophile
as the head of their religion sounds harsh but listen this is a false gospel okay so when when
we're when we're talking about different things like it's obviously important to understand that
we don't hate people of other religions we want them to get saved but part of that is showing them
the error of the way it is this is what we have to do as christians sometimes because it's not
loving for me to pretend that the mormons and the muslims and all these other you know religions
like this are following god rightly because they're not they're they're in sin and they
would die and go to hell if they don't actually believe on jesus christ like the bible teaches
that's why we say these things not just to be mean in general praise god though we don't have a god
like the gods of the aztecs or the inca or the maya or like molech in the old testament
that causes you to give human sacrifice to him or that causes you to sacrifice your own child
to them praise god that we have a god that sacrificed his own son for us not that requires
us to sacrifice our children to him praise god that we have a god that's like no other
in every way shape and form you guys are there in mica 718 it says this who is a god like unto
thee that pardoneth iniquity and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage
who retaineth not his anger forever because he delighteth in mercy praise god that we have a god
that's merciful to us and is very kind to us and that you know is always patient with us as
christians go to matthew 1128 if you would matthew 1128 we should obviously be thankful for our god
and the fact that he is like no other and the fact that there is only one god and we serve the true
god but we should also be thankful for our salvation as christians you guys are going to
matthew 1128 look at the bible says there in matthew 1128 it says come unto me all ye that
labor and are heavy laden and i will give you rest take my yoke upon you and learn of me
for i am naked lowly in heart and you shall find rest unto your souls he says for my yoke is easy
and my burden is light something that people will mock us for when we go out and knock on
people's doors and try to you know show them what the bible says about going to heaven
is they'll say you guys believe in easy believe ism don't you you just believe you know this once
saved always saved easy believe ism gospel and i'm like yeah praise god that is what we believe
because that's what the bible teaches that it is easy to get saved and that's because getting
saved is just by putting your faith on jesus christ that's what he says right here he says
what does he say he says my yoke is easy and my burden is light this is what this is a great
verse to debunk a workspace salvation salvationist because of this fact there is no other part of the
christian life that's easy except for salvation think about it like because they're like when you
talk to a work salvationist they'll you'll say what does it take to get to heaven they'll say
you gotta die daily you gotta be a disciple pick up your cross daily you gotta repent of all your
sins you gotta follow all the commandments of the best of your ability and you just might just might
get into heaven is any of that easy they would never say it's easy and that's why they want to
tell you all their good works when you come to their door because they're doing a hard work
for their hard salvation okay whatever but here's the thing about it when you break this down the
only way that this verse makes sense is if it's talking about salvation because salvation is just
by believing on Jesus Christ that is easy that's why he says my yoke is easy and my burden is light
someone might say though oh but it's a yoke isn't a yoke for working this is true but here's the
thing about this what is a yoke anyways it's a it's a thing that you put on like two oxen to
connect them together so they can do the work so if we're on one side of this yoke who's on the
other side Jesus Christ are we going to be pushing at Jesus's pace no we're not going to be pushing
at all you know why because Jesus Christ did all the works for salvation for us that's why
so he's like he's kind of like making it out like uh I don't know he'd say like uh not like a joke
per se I'm losing the words I'd say for this but it's like he's kind of showing you how silly it
is to think that you're going to work for your salvation to heaven he's like here's the yoke
that you're going to have it's going to be with me the yoke is light because of the fact that
you're with Jesus Christ your burden is light because of the fact that Jesus is pushing the
burden for you he's like that's the work that you got to do to get to heaven someone would say
that's kind of a stretch go to John 6 29 though you'll see this you see this a couple times in
the Bible John 6 29 John 6 29 obviously we believe in dying daily and and in being a disciple of
Jesus Christ but those things are not salvation salvation is easy that's why he says my yoke is
easy my burden's light look what it says in John 6 29 it says Jesus answered and sent to them this
is the work of God this is what we got this is the work that we got to do to get to heaven he says
that you believe on him whom he has sent that's the work that we got to do the work that we have
to do the work because he's obviously being you know I don't even know he'd say metaphorical here
something like that is that we have to believe on Jesus Christ that's what we have to do to get to
heaven so the bible teaches over and over again that's why his yoke is easy that's why his burden
is light but just think about that from work salvation's perspective how would they explain
that verse away what do they have to say about it what part of salvation is easy for them none of it
none of the christian life is easy except for the very beginning which is believing on Jesus Christ
and getting saved go to Psalms 122 verse number one Psalms 122 verse number one I mean just those
two things right there you could really just preach the whole sermon on being thankful for
those two things the fact that we have the God that we serve and the fact that salvation is easy
that it's just by faith in Jesus Christ we're blessed beyond all measure just for those two
things alone but praise God also that we have you know a good church that we can go to look
what it says in Psalms 122 verse one it says a song of degrees of David I was glad when they
said unto me let us go into the house of the Lord praise God that you know we live in a country like
America where you can literally go to any church that you want to any day of the week if they have
a service you can go there praise God that we live in a country like that that we are truly blessed
that like anytime we want to go to church anytime we want to serve God we could do it just like that
and we're not restricted by our government or by our state to say like you can't believe this or
you can't go to church this day praise God we don't live in a country like China or like North Korea
that enforces those kind of wicked things praise God that we have freedom in this country to believe
what we want and to do what we want according to the Bible and also just I mean there's that sense
of this but also you know praise God that we have a good church to go to you know I'll tell you a
little story when I was younger when I was going to church the the church I was going to I really
I really liked the junior church about it but when it came to like once you graduated out of
junior church to like the real preaching I like really did not like it like I was just preaching
doesn't always have to be just the most entertaining in the in the world I understand that but the
reason I bring that up is because I know it had to do something with the pastor because whenever
I go to church camp when I was a kid and hear people get up and rip on sin I loved the preaching
I was like man there's like preaching outside of just like reading the Bible like this and
like there was like real face ripping preaching and I loved it as a kid and it kind of made me
a little mad when I was a kid that my pastor wouldn't preach like that ever or wouldn't
invite people to preach like that ever that he wouldn't preach about going and preaching the
gospel it bugged me and it made me like really like kind of indifferent to the preaching at first
but praise God that we have a church now that I can go to to where I mean even when I'm not
preaching behind the pulpit there's men that get up and will preach what the Bible says and will
preach thus saith the Lord so glad for that and I'm glad for the fellowship in this church too
because I'm glad that we have people that know the Bible you can actually talk to them about the
Bible I kid you not I probably talked about football in the old in my very first church
I went to like a hundred times more than we ever talked about the Bible because nobody knew the
Bible nobody was reading the Bible at that church it was very bizarre but praise God that I can
talk to people and fellowship with people in this room that know the Bible and care about the
commandments of God and come to me not about the football game which you can if you want to it's
not the biggest deal in the world but like praise God that we have people that come to me and they'll
be like hey what do you think this means in the Bible what do you think this verse is saying here
like it just shows like the men in this room and the women in this room are actually caring about
what the Bible says they're trying to find out the whole truth of the Bible and find their blind
spots that they have I enjoy that very much and it's like now that I go to a church like this I'm
so glad that I can like look at the verse and resonate with it very well and just say hey I
was glad when they said let's go to the house of the Lord right praise God that we can go to a
church with fellow like-minded believers go back to Colossians four verse number two though Colossians
four verse number two I mean I could literally preach a whole sermon just things that we could
be thankful for in that regard like I said earlier that our country our freedom our spouses that we
have if you have a spouse I mean praise God for the the the wife that I have and for the children
that I have you could you know preach about you know friends and and you know my parents and my
family and I mean I'm talking about this in everybody's sense right the job that we have
the health that we have so there's just really no reason to be ungrateful is my point in this kind
of the first point of this sermon there's that if you find yourself being ungrateful it's because
you're not thinking about what you're truly blessed with on this earth already that's the issue with
people this is the second point on my sermon though is that we should be thanking god in our prayer life
for the things that he does for us colossians 4 2 you guys read that earlier that's where brother
ryan read initially it says continue in prayer and watch in the same with thanksgiving i want
you to notice in this verse that paul says that we're supposed to continue in prayer which means
we're supposed to be praying right and he says and watch which means to be like diligent in
says in the same with thanksgiving and i said earlier that thanksgiving is a compound it means
the giving of thanks right that's pretty obvious what it means it is the sum of its parts right
here but paul's telling us right here not that we should just be praying but that when we are
praying to god we should be giving thanks to him as well and i bring this up for a couple reasons
okay number one is this i think there's a general misunderstanding about prayer what it is like some
people i feel like with prayer they think all that prayer is is just you going to god and being like
give me this give me this give me that please amen this is not all that prayer is okay and then you
see this in the bible in in multiple spots we see it right here that he says you're supposed to
continue in prayer with thanksgiving but also go if you would to psalms 100 verse 4 that's where
i get the title of the sermon for when you compare scripture with scripture you'll see that praying
is not just asking god for things even though that's part of prayer is asking god for things
and there's nothing wrong with asking god for things hopefully you don't get that um you know
attitude from what i'm saying we are supposed to ask god for things that's a commandment that he
gives us but prayer in and of itself is not just asking god for things it's kind of the point that
i'm trying to make right here it's also thanking god for the things that he gives us and for the
requests that he's already answered for us on this earth you guys are there in psalms 100 verse
number four i'll read psalms 50 verse number 14 it says this offer unto the lord thanksgiving and
pay thy vows unto the most high and in psalms 100 verse four where you guys are at it says
enter into his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise be thankful unto him and
bless his name so the bible's saying right here the psalmist is telling us and paul's commanding
us like we saw in claustians 4 that we're supposed to enter his courts with thanksgiving like we're
supposed to when we go into the presence of god which is in prayer we're supposed to go with
thanksgiving in our heart and with praise in our heart so think you're supposed to be thanking god
when you pray to him about the things that he does for us that he already has given to us because
he's given us you know more than we've even asked of him and you're supposed to be thanking him for
the things that he answers the requests that you've already asked him and that he's already
answered we see this in the bible go to luke 17 verse number 11 luke 17 verse number 11 because
this is something i want to make clear to you this morning it's not just a good idea for you
to thank god for the things that he does for you god expects you to thank him for the things that
he does for you and the things that he will do for you in your life we see this very clearly in this
story uh in luke 17 verse number 11 it says this it says and it came to pass as he went to jerusalem
that he passed through the midst of samaria and galilee and as he entered into a certain village
there met him ten men that were lepers which stood afar off and they lifted up their voices
and said jesus master have mercy on us and when he saw them he said unto them go show yourselves
unto the priests and it came to pass that as they went they were cleansed so obviously these ten
men they're lepers they go to jesus christ they say have mercy on us and jesus christ here's
a request he heals them of their leprosy right but then look what the next verse says and verse
number 17 there or verse number 15 excuse me it says and one of them one of them when he saw that
he was healed turned back with a loud voice with a loud voice glorified god and fell down his face
his feet giving him thanks and he was a samaritan and look what jesus's answer to this is look what
he says he says and jesus answering said were there not 10 cleansed but where the nine there are not
found that returned to give glory to god save this stranger i want you to notice in the story
that jesus christ he heals these 10 men all 10 of these men come to him and ask for healing right
here okay all of them come and ask for a miracle to be done in their lives and jesus christ here's
here's their request and he heals them he comes he performs a miracle on their lives and they're
cleansed completely of their leprosy right there which is a huge deal back in the day
we don't really you know face it like in america anymore but in the back in the day there's a huge
deal but when this man the one man comes back and says thank you so much jesus christ you know
jesus christ is like his response not necessarily to the man but just in general is this he's like
weren't there 10 guys that i healed weren't there 10 guys that i performed a miracle for
weren't there 10 guys that asked a request of the king of kings and the lord of lords and i
answered their requests he's like where's the nine where's the other guys that i performed this
miracle for and the reason i'm pointing this out to you this morning is this is that i want to
understand that when we go to god in prayer and when he hears our requests he is performing a
miracle for us the fact that god almighty comes and intervenes in our problems and hears our
requests and and and and moves and meets our request is a miracle that happens in our lives so when
because like we look at these men and be like oh man there's a miracle that he's christ did for them
and and these men didn't come back and say thank you i'd submit you that there's a lot of christians
that do the same in their prayer life okay they go to god in prayer they pray to him like they're
supposed to do they get their request granted and praise god for that but then afterward it's like
crickets no thank you no praise to god for that it's like you use god like he's like a genie in
the like in the in the in the in a lamp and then it's just kind of like ah now these here's my
request i'm just gonna move on with my day not say thank you and this might not be the state for uh
you know everybody or it might not be even the state for most times that you pray to god
but i'll tell you this it should be the state for zero percent of time that you pray for god
every single time you ask god for something and he blesses you and he does that in your life
he expects you to go and praise him and thank him for that because you gotta understand the
gravity of this we are like like we're dust that he breathed life into we're worms right like the
bible says it's like we're like nothing in the grand scheme of things the bible says that the
nations are like a drop in the bucket let alone the little people that make up the nations it's
like and we're going to the king of kings and lord of lords and asking him to do something in our
life that really in the grand scheme of the universe is like nothing right and god's when and when he
moves to meet that request god expects us to go back and say thank you for it he he requires that
we go and do that or like what we see in this story with jesus christ he's gonna ask where are
the nine where's where this this servant was praying to me about this job and he was praying
a long time when i answered it for him where is he now though that i got that i gave him that job
hey this guy was asking for his health he was really concerned about it he was like you know
praying to me night and day about it and i heard him and i and i showed mercy on him where is he
at now though i i bet you that question goes through god's mind a lot it's like it just again
that that ties back to what i was saying the beginning of the sermon that we are so privileged
nowadays that we don't even understand how privileged we truly are that we'll ask god
almighty to do something for us and then it's just like move on like nothing happened don't
even give him a thank you for it and and here's the thing like when it comes to a thank you
because really even like when we do things for each other as as christians it's like
a thank you is is not a lot like in reality but it's like in this especially with the sense of
god that's the only thing you can give god for answering your request that is like the only thing
you can give him is a thank you so at the very least just do that for him that goes with people
as well like i was just saying like if someone does something nice for you the very least that
you should do is say thank you for that like people kind of again people are just very entitled it's
kind of crazy but when it comes to us and when we're asking god for things as christians be sure
that you're not like these nine other men that gets your request answer then it doesn't you know
thank god at all for it you should go to god with thanksgiving in your heart and say thank you for
the requests that he does for us and for all the great things that he does for us in reality as
christians go to first corinthians 10 verse number 10 first corinthians 10 verse number 10
and if you have things that you've asked god for that you haven't said thank you it's better late
than never go go out to the sermon and go thank god for all the great things that he's done for
you if you don't say thank you because truly a late thank you is better than no thank you at all
it kind of reminds me like um when i was a kid you know you're a kid so you're like kind of a punk
especially when i was a teen or whatever it's like your parents do so many great things for you and
in the moment you don't say thank you as much as you really should when you're a kid when you're a
teen but now that i'm an adult i'm like trying to make up for it like every time i see my parents
i'm like thank you so much for dealing with me and even when i was a little punk you still love me
and were looking out for me all the time in my life because our parents truly do so much for us
and we under appreciate them so much so true it's true in my life and how much more do we
under appreciate what god does from does for us our heavenly father but i'm sure that my parents
at least appreciate the thank you now even though it wasn't back then right now that i have my own
kids i'm like oh i i understand now it all clicks okay it'll click for you too i have you guys going
to first corinthians 10 and i don't even go in there what in the world first corinthians chapter
number 10 and this is a little last point of my sermon the last time i'm going to talk about in
first corinthians 10 10 and i'll wrap this sermon up is that a way to avoid being unthankful is to
not complain about things first corinthians 10 verse number 10 it says this neither murmur ye
as some of them also murmured and were destroyed of the destroyer if you know the context of this
you'll know that this is talking about israel after they get out of after they get out of egypt
they're just like complaining the whole time like if you read that whole old testament story
they complain about everything it's like ridiculous it's like come on now like like it's like they're
like oh man we're gonna die of of dehydration where's our water god which dehydration is the
big thing but it's like you have to just think about it for a second be like would god save
these people in such a miraculous way just to kill them in the desert of dehydration it's so stupid
it's like what were they thinking but again that's what it's about when you're unthankful it blinds
your eyes it blinds your eyes to what's already been done for you these people they complain about
that they complain about the food they're like we don't have any food what are we gonna do we're
gonna die you took us out here just to kill us they do the same thing and he's just like okay
i'll give you guys food so he gives them the manna from heaven and then it's like they're even
picky on top of that they're like manna we're sick of this we're like where's the their meat
okay like where so then it's like he finally does give him the meat he gives him the quails right
he just like take a step back and look at that it's like how arrogant do they have to be how
like blind do they have to be to see to not see that they're acting like little children in that
situation but we do the same thing nowadays in a lot of aspects like again we truly are blessed in
this country in every area of our life but we sure like to complain a lot and this happens in every
area of life like at work especially i noticed this is like the cheapest thing i see that's like
guys no matter how great my boss is in any of the places that i've always and i've ever worked
there's always like a couple guys that just despise the boss like this guy sucks they always got
something to say about him it's just like like in our nature almost it seems like as humans we're
as like naturally built to just complain and just a murmur in our sinful nature as humans and but
like this is a bad quality is what god says it's a terrible thing to be just murmuring and complaining
and it blinds you as a christian is what i why i had you to go to this verse go to philippians 2
14 philippians 2 verse number 14 i'll go there too just the complaining though like it's like
at my work especially like i told you guys before my job is pretty easy most of the time
and man no matter it just makes the verse true in the bible where it's like the eyes of men are
never satisfied it's so true no matter what job you have no matter how much money you're making
no matter what car you have what house you have as a human you'll never be satisfied unless you
make yourself be content in these things that's that's the true thing about us as humans because
you look at these rich people these famous people and you're like if i just had what they had i'd
be happy but then you have these rich people in these areas people killing themselves you're like
how did this happen they have everything but you have to realize you can't just tie your happiness
up in material things you'll never be happy if that's true because someone will always have more
than you they'll have something better than you they'll have a nicer house they'll have a nicer
boat they'll have a better job they'll have you know a better lawn they'll have something better
than you but you don't want to focus on what other people have focus on what god has blessed you with
because again like i said earlier if you just listed off everything that he gave us it'd be
more than you could even say in one sitting philippians 2 verse number 14 get to the end
of the sermon right here philippians 2 14 though look what this says in philippians 2 14 it says
do all things without murmurings and disputings so this is obviously applicable in a church sense
because he's talking to you know the church at philippi right here so i just say this like you
know and i've told this before like i'm not a i'm not a passive aggressive guy i don't like when
people are passive aggressive i think it's cringe when people are like that so whenever i bring up
something like this i've said this people think oh someone must have complained who was it let's
find out who complained this is just general though i'm preaching this because people just
as i've shown you naturally tend to complain okay so not about anybody in specific uh but just in
general it's a good principle to realize that as a church you should just not be complaining about
everything because i've been to churches where people like complain about everything like literally
like my dad tells a story all the time about the first church we went to and it's and it's true
it's like these girls were arguing with the pastor about what kind of toilet paper they had in the
bathroom and like what color they wanted to paint the walls it's like what like praise god that we
even have a building to meet in the first place you know what i mean like so much for history
people didn't have like a nice ac you know uh giant building like we have right here where they
have the the surround sound everything like that it's like a lot of times in history people are
meeting and they're just meeting outside in the elements and and dealing with whatever is you
know present no ac i'm glad god you know i if i'm got about one thing i'll tell you this i'm glad
that i was born at a time when there's ac in this universe okay my uh i don't know that's one of
god's greatest inventions right there the ac okay but where am i i'm getting i'm thinking about the
ac i'm like oh the cool air right uh i've talked about uh not complaining yeah like i just want to
understand this it's really easy to nitpick people when you're not doing what they're doing
it's very easy to nitpick the the the the person who's doing the announcements when you're not the
one doing the announcements it's really easy to nitpick the person who's doing the song leading
when you're not the one who's song leading it's really easy to nitpick the preacher and i'm sure
you could nitpick me to death you could say he stutters he does this he does that it's true
okay that it's all true but it's easy to nitpick someone when you're not actually doing what they're
doing okay and you should just realize in a leading sense this is always easy as well
people that's why people at work like i was just saying earlier they'll nitpick the boss
but they wouldn't be able to even do half of the boss's job if they were put in that position
because it's really easy to complain but it's really hard to actually lead or to perform some
kind of good work or to execute things in a way that would make everybody happy and in fact it's
impossible to do that because people are always going to complain even in God's perfect nation
of Israel they were complaining at his leadership and at the leadership of Moses which is really
insane. I bring that up to just say that you shouldn't, God despises when people are just
murmuring and complaining all the time because he wants us to be thankful he wants to be content.
This is the last place I'll take you to Philippians 4 verse number 11. Philippians 4 verse number 11
look what the bible says it's only just a couple pages over it says this it says
not that I speak and respect of want for I've learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be
content. I want you to notice he says that he learns this here and I preach about this before
but it's really true that being content is not a matter of your circumstances it's the matter of
your mindset and your attitude in those circumstances. You can be dirt poor with
nothing to your name just barely be scraping by and be the happiest person in the world or you
could be someone with millions and millions of dollars and and commit suicide because you're
just depressed and you're just unhappy in this life. The difference in this life between a
content person and someone who's not content is not their circumstances it's the attitude they
bring to those circumstances and you just understand you can control your mindset and
your attitude in every situation so do it that's what God expects of us right and in 1st Timothy
6 8 he says this he says that we're supposed to be content with just food and raiment paul says if
you just had food and clothes on you should be content he didn't even say a house right there
just said food and raiment there with be content because i mean paul didn't have a house for i mean
i don't know if it was most of his life or for most of his ministry at least same thing with
Jesus Christ he's not just like chilling in a house always because they're traveling right
i bring this up to just say we're so blessed you should just realize by where you're at in history
right now you're blessed beyond all measure the salvation that you have your blessed beyond all
measure the god that you serve makes you blessed beyond all measure so acknowledge that in your
life and act that way and realize that being content is a matter of attitude not just your
circumstances so kind of just in closing for the sermon just this kind of little summary about this
is that in order to be thankful we should think about the things that god gives us because they're
truly so many when you think about them i listed off a few in this sermon but again i could have
preached a whole sermon about just things that we should be thankful for i could preach a series on
that okay you guys want that no okay but number two is that you know we should thank god for the
things that he does for us when we ask god something in prayer and he moves the king of kings moves for
us and intervenes in our lives we should thank him for it we should praise him for it we should
give him glory for it because that's the least that you can do as a christian when the king of kings
moves for his servant and the last thing that we should do to be thankful is just not complain
about things okay because i don't know i'm not i'm actually not going to even get into that
because i'm going to say something dumb okay i'm just going to say this okay it's so easy to
complain but just show me any example in the bible where god is happy about people complaining
it's never there okay because that's something he despises when people are just complaining all the
time um i would say this though okay some people that understand me there's a difference between
complaining and like bringing up like a reasonable concern yeah this is understandable like hopefully
like you don't get the impression that you could never like you know voice your opinions or anything
like that like you can absolutely come up and say like hey you know i have a question about this you
know or anything along those lines okay but what differentiates that is first of all like a solution
to that problem and your attitude that you come up with when you you know come and do those kinds
of things okay so just don't be a group of complainers some that god does not like and
something that he caused to destroy that he that he destroyed israel for is what i should say okay
so with that all being said let's pray dear brother god thank you so much wonderful day
thank you so much for everything you do for us god thank you so much for this church and for
the people in this church god thank you so much for all the great things that you do for us god
there's so many god i could go on and on about how you've blessed this church and how you've blessed
the people and how you've blessed my life god i just pray that you continue to bless us and help
us to be thankful and grateful for the things that you do for us and help us to be content
in our life and to focus on what you've given us already and not what others have in Jesus name we
pray amen page number 56 page number 56 when we all get to heaven page number 56 sing the wondrous
love jesus sing his mercy in the plan when we are when we sing victory sing everybody brother