November 19, 2009

"Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." Colossians 3:15-17

The Apostle Paul gives us another great insight into being thankful. Thanksgiving is "thanks- living". He makes that clear in these verses. What you give when you give thanks is - you!

THE SURRENDER, V. 15

"Let the peace of God rule in your hearts......."

The word used for "rule" is the word "umpire". Finding peace with God is a result of allowing Him to be the umpire in your life. He makes the calls, especially the judgment calls. You surrender to His authority and His judgment. You play the game He makes the calls. That sounds like surrender to me!

THE SOURCE, V. 16

"Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your heart to God."

If you are going to allow God to be the umpire in your life on a permanent basis you will need to know the rules. That is where knowledge and understanding of the Word comes into play. It is impossible to know whether or not the umpire is making good calls if you don't know the rules. God's Word not only outlines the rules but it give detailed insights about the Umpire so you can know Who He is.

As this was being written the believers in the churches only had the Old Testament. The New Testament was still being written. These verses are part of that process. The stories about Jesus and the formative doctrines and teachings of the Apostles were memorized and passed on by word of mouth. That became the focus of their fellowship and worship. No wonder they had such exciting services!

THE SUBSTANCE, V. 17

Thankfulness ultimately must be lived out! How do I know you are thankful unless you show it with your attitudes and your actions? This is why I say thanksgiving is "thanks-living". According to this text, thanks-living is not something you do occasionally or once a year but it is a lifestyle. It is a mindset. It is a perspective. Everything you do and every decision you make is filtered through a thankful spirit.

Thanks-living is living out the transformed life for the glory of God. Thanks-living is the outward expression of an inward presence and power.

Thanksgiving is a wonderful holiday. Thanks-living is the holy way!

November 18, 2009

"I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength."

Philippians 4:12-13

Most people can be thankful for their freedom but who can be thankful while in prison?

The Apostle Paul was in prison chained to prison guards while he wrote these words about contentment. How do you do that? Not sure I could.

Are contentment and thankfulness the same thing? Can you be thankful and not be content? Can you be content and not be thankful?

What do we need to learn from this spiritual giant?

"I can do....."

The first thing is to decide to have a willing attitude. A willing attitude is a decision to do God's will. Paul discovered that contentment develops from accepting God's will and not from trying to convince God to do it his way. "I can" really means "I will".

"all things...."

That willing attitude is only as good as your willingness to live it out. It is one thing to say you are willing to accept God's will but it is quite another to stay committed to it when the shackles are applied and the cell door slams. I think sometimes "all things" really means "all my things". When Paul said "all things" he meant "anything God wills for me". Sometimes it meant abundance and sometimes it meant abuse, but Paul was committed to God's will in God's way.

"...through Him Who gives me strength."

Here's the key, when we have the will to do it His way then He gives us the strength to do it. I don't know about you but sometimes I have expected God to MAKE me willing and Give me strength BEFORE I commit to do His will. Paul shows us that it doesn't work that way. If I front load it with willingness and if I surrender to the circumstance, He will backload it with His strength!

Paul's contentment was a result of his relationship to his Christ not to his circumstances. THAT'S IT! That is the secret.

Most of us will never be shackled and thrown into a cell, but we have our prisons. Some of those prisons are prisons of discontent. For others, their discontent is the result of their prison. Either way, there is much to be learn from Paul's testimony of contentment.

You are only a couple of commitments away from contentment. The prison door is open.

November 17, 2009

"But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness." Romans 6:17-18

The greatest freedom is the freedom of choice. If you can't choose you are not really free.

These great verses from the sixth chapter of Romans remind you that you are as free as you choose to be. Good choices lead to freedom and poor choices place you in bondage.

What is the choice that brings freedom? It is the freedom to choose your master. That sounds like a contradiction doesn't it? How can you be free if you have a master? I thought freedom was serving no one.

God is the only One Who has absolute freedom and yet He has placed some limits on His freedom in order to allow you freewill! When He created Adam, He made him free. Adam could enjoy fellowship with God and roam Paradise at will. There was only one prohibition - do not eat from the tree of good and evil. There was no freedom without a choice and God gave Adam and Eve one choice - and they chose wrong. When they chose to disobey God they chose to serve another master - sin. When sin is your master you are not free!

Because of the sin of Adam you are born into this world as a slave to sin. As a slave to sin you serve your sinful nature and go from bondage to greater bondage. Each sinful choice adds another link to the chains that bind you. What a miserable plight!

Is there no hope? Is freedom only a dream?

It was until Jesus came to set you free!

How can you claim that freedom? Choose a different master! That is the essence of the freedom Jesus came to give us - the freedom to choose a different master!

How?

By "wholeheartedly obeying the teachings". Freedom comes by way of truth. In this case it comes through spiritual truth - by obeying it, that is. Truth sets you free! That's because truth is more than a concept it is a Person - the Person of JESUS!

Serve sin or serve righteousness? It is your choice - thank God!

November 16, 2009

"Now, our God, we give you thanks, and praise your glorious name." I Chronicles 29:13

One of the things we give thanks to God for is His provision for us. Here is a great story of how God provides.

There is a true story of an old man who visited an old broken pier every Friday on the eastern sea coast of Florida until his death in 1973 his name was Eddie Rickenbacker whilst at the pier he would feed the sea gulls with a bucket of shrimps. Many years before in 1942 Eddie was a captain on board a B-17, he was on a mission delivering important documents to General Douglas Mac Arthur. On route there was an unexpected detour which would hurl his crew into a most harrowing adventure. Somewhere over the south pacific they lost radio contact and the fuel ran dangerously low as a result they had to ditch the plane into the ocean. For nearly a month the crew of the flying fortress would fight the water, the weather, the scorching sun. They would spend sleepless nights as 10 ft sharks would ram into their 9 ft by-5ft rafts. But out of all their enemies’ one that proved formidable was starvation. Eight days into their dilemma all food and water was out. It would take a miracle to sustain them. A miracle took place. In Eddie's own words he said that “Cherry” who was the pilot read the service that afternoon and we finished with prayer and deliverance and hymn of praise. There was small talk but with the oppressive heat it tapered off with my hat pulled over my face, I dozed off. Now something landed on my head, I knew it was a seagull I don’t know how I knew, I just knew, everyone else knew too. No one said a word, but peering out from under my hat brim without moving my head, I could see the expression on the faces of the men. They were staring at the gull because it meant food....If I could catch it.” And the rest as they say is history. Captain Eddie caught the gull the flesh was eaten and the intestines were used as bait for fishing. The men were sustained and their hope renewed because of a lone seagull hundreds of miles from land offered its life as a sacrifice. Of course you know that captain Eddie made it... and you also know that he never forgot that lone seagull that saved his life and his men that day. With his bucket filled with shrimp every Friday you would find him feeding the gulls – in remembrance of that lone gull who gave himself for them without a struggle... like manna in the wilderness. That reminds me friends that so often it is our encounters in the past that shape our futures, for many of us its the reason why were here today because of the past deliverance out of sin and death, through the Lord Jesus Christ, through his sacrifice we are rescued from sin – death and hell and are recipients of eternal life. Isn’t that a cause of real thankfulness?

God IS good! He WILL provide! Trust Him and be thankful!

November 15, 2009

"Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men." Psalm 107:15

God doesn't have to do anything to prove His love to me! He has already done everything He can. It is up to me to recognize it and receive it - and be thankful!

He doesn't have to demonstrate His wonderful deeds. He has already done far more than I deserve and it up to me to realize it and to be thankful.

BUT, He does! He continues to demonstrate His love for me and He continues to accomplish wonderful deeds! And I AM thankful!

Just this morning at worship service we were recognizing our military veterans when one of our couples mentioned that their son was being deployed to the Middle East on Tuesday - so we prayed for him.

Minutes later, as I was preparing to preach they interrupted me to say that they had just received a message via cell phone from him saying that his wife had gone into labor about six weeks early and her water had broken. They were having trouble getting a heartbeat from the baby. So, they came forward and the good people of our fellowship surrounded them and we prayed for them.

"Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men."

Not too long ago I received a phone call from that couple with a happy update! The doctors decided to take the baby via c-section. The little girl weighed a little over 3 pounds and is 16" long - and healthy! She is being moved to the neo-natal unit. Furthermore, when they did the c-section they discovered that the placenta had partially torn away from the uterus and had her water not broken and had they not taken the baby, the detachment would have become worse and potentially life-threatening for both. Wow! Thank you, Lord!

And, due to these circumstances the military is likely to postpone his deployment temporarily so he can remain with his wife and daughter! Thank you, Lord, for your unfailing love and your wonderful deeds to men!

I am thankful that even though God does not have to prove His love or His faithfulness for me to have faith in Him, He does! I guess He can't help it. It's Who He is!

November 14, 2009

"Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done." Psalm 105:1

I just returned from two days of interviewing ministerial students and evaluating their progress in their ministerial studies. Some are just out of college and a few are just short of retirement. A few have just a few courses to complete while others a justing beginning the journey.

We listened to their stories. We heard their struggles. We were warmed by their passion and excited by their dreams.

They come from small towns and tiny churches. They come from large churches in cities. Some have overcome amazing headships and heartaches. Others have had a pretty smooth path. But all of these came before us with a sense of awe that God would choose to call them for ministry and a deep sense of gratitude for what God is doing in their lives.

They are eager. They are anxious. One part of them is thrilled about God's calling on their lives and another part of them is overwhelmed by all the responsibilities of Local Church Ministry. That is precisely how it should be.

Each of them had different dreams, different talents, different agendas, various spiritual gifts and they alternated between acting very self-confident and entirely inadequate. But one thing was evident, they were unspeakably grateful for the work God had done in their heart and they were praying for the day that they could take leadership in a church and "make know among the nations what He has done".

We ministry veterans find it encouraging and envigorating to see this next generation of pastors who will stand beside us in the work of the Gospel and then someday come behind us to . We count it a great privilege to come long side them and share in their development. Someone did it for us and we are thankful for the chance to shape the next generation of ministers.

I left those meetings after hours of interviews and climbed into my car extremely grateful to God for these who have answered the call to "...make know among the nations what He has done!" I thanked God for calling them and I thanked God for their obedience. I praised God for their eagerness to do anything, go anywhere and give up anything in order to follow their calling. And I thanked Him for calling me and giving me the great privilege working with the called.

"Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done!"

November 13, 2009

"It is good to give thanks to the LORD, and to sing praises to Your name, O Most High; To declare Your loving kindness in the morning, and Your faithfulness every night." Psalm 92:1-2

Being thankful and counting your blessings this Thanksgiving may help you mentally and physically -- recent research shows it's healthy to be grateful.

"Depending on your view of history, the holiday of Thanksgiving is either a commemoration of an event that changed North America for the better or for the worst; but the idea of Thanksgiving itself -- of reaching across the table, of being thankful for the good things that have happened throughout the year, particularly around the harvest time -- actually has a very important scientific basis in making us all feel better. It's going on inside of us, mentally, physically.Jeffrey Froh, Assistant Professor of Psychology at Hofstra University, is on "The Takeaway" (NPR radio program) to talk about research into the scientific biological basis of Thanksgiving itself.Froh's research focuses on being grateful as a continuing behavior, and the benefits that accrue by doing that: "The one particular study that we did was we had students count blessings, which is essentially focusing on the things they were thankful or grateful for, and we had them journal that daily for two weeks."We followed them up three weeks later to see the benefits, and we found that students who counted blessings reported feeling more optimistic, more satisfied with their lives, more school satisfaction -- and actually, the trend for being more satisfied with school not only occurred immediately after the experiment, but actually lasted up to three weeks later. "There's a broad literature emerging in science and psychology that is attempting to measure the benefits of certain consistent behavior, like praying and being thankful, and there are some surprising findings. Froh: "It's beyond feeling good, and beyond happiness ... we found that grateful kids tend to report less physical complaints; bit also in the adult literature ... they found that grateful people who counted blessings were more likely to exercise, more likely to report better sleep; less likely to report these physical complaints. There's even some research done, we're looking at, when you have a sense of appreciation your heart rhythms are more coherent and smooth, which of course is healthy."

There you have it! A liberal scientists agrees with the Psalmist - being thankful is good for you! It will preserve your mind, soul and body!

You know you have much to be truly thankful about, so don't be a turkey - be thankful. It's beyond being right - it's healthy!