Full sermon notes - How to become a Thankful Person

At the end of this talk my goal is that you will be

• more thankful
• as a result you will be happier
• and less likely to be depressed
• people will like you more
• but much more than any of that
  • God loves us to be thankful
  • so you will increase his pleasure in you.

1. What determines your happiness?

• What does your happiness depend on?
• Are the people who have the most stuff the happiest?
  • So what determines your happiness?
• I’m going to show three very short videos to illustrate the point that your happiness is not dependent on what you have, but on your attitude.
• The first two are a comedian
  • Everything’s Amazing and Nobody’s Happy pt 1
  • Everything’s Amazing and Nobody’s Happy pt 2 (animation)
• One of the “Lost Boys” from Sudan who was kidnapped as a young boy from his village
  • Escaped to the west. Made a life for himself, becoming part of our modern society
  • Returns to visit his home after 22 years
  • he is shocked at how happy they are, even though they are so poor, and says he plans to re-join them
  • Lost boy returns home – New York Times feature

2. What are we thankful for this morning?

• Can you suggest some things have we to be thankful for?

• hand out cards and explain them

3. What did Jesus give thanks for?

• There are 12 prayers of thanks recorded from Jesus
  • 2 thanksgiving that God revealed the truth to the humble
  • 1 for answering prayer to raise Lazarus from the dead
  • 9 ...? (for food)
• Some people regard it as legalitic to always say grace before eating
  • it can be if it is a ritual
  • but it’s very Jesus-like
• Why do you think Jesus modeled it so strongly?
• What about the followers of Jesus?
  • the pattern continues in the N.T. with the early church giving thanks for food more than any other single thing

• So we are to be overflowing with thankfulness
• How is this to be when many of them lived terrible lives
  • brutal slaveowners
  • very little healthcare
  • injustice
  • inadequate diet
  • most people would not have the opportunity of marrying for love
  • low life expectancy
• Paul warns Timothy to avoid unthankful people:

4. How to become a thankful person

• How do you become more thankful?
  1. Think about what you have to be thankful for
  2. Compare yourself with those who have less, not those who have more
  3. Give thanks! (especially by singing)

• both passages are pretty broad:
  • Everything we do should be done with thankfulness Col 3:17
  • Not just words, but in our hearts Col 3:16
  • Always and for everything Eph 5:20

• We are going to put this into practice this morning
  • Take a moment to finish marking your cards
  • I would like people to come up to the microphone and share items of thanks

Psalm 100

1. Shout out praises to the Lord, all the earth!
2. Worship the Lord with joy!
   Enter his presence with joyful singing!
3. Acknowledge that the Lord is God!
   He made us and we belong to him;
   we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
4. Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
   and his courts with praise!
   Give him thanks!
   Praise his name!
5. For the Lord is good.
   His loyal love endures,
   and he is faithful through all generations.

based on NET Bible with some changes by amf

Psalm 107

1. Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!
2. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he has redeemed from trouble
3. and gathered in from the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south.
    
4. Some wandered in desert wastes, finding no way to a city to dwell in;
5. hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted within them.
6. Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress.
7. He led them by a straight way till they reached a city to dwell in.
8. Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of men!
9. For he satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul he fills with good things.
    
10. Some sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, prisoners in affliction and in irons,
11. for they had rebelled against the words of God, and spurned the counsel of the Most High.
12. So he bowed their hearts down with hard labour; they fell down, with none to help.
13. Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress.
14. He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and burst their bonds apart.
15. Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of men!
16. For he shatters the doors of bronze and cuts in two the bars of iron.
     
17. Some were fools through their sinful ways, and because of their iniquities suffered affliction;
18. they loathed any kind of food, and they drew near to the gates of death.
19. Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress.
20. He sent out his word and healed them, and delivered them from their destruction.
21. Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of men!
22. And let them offer sacrifices of thanksgiving, and tell of his deeds in songs of joy!
     
23. Some went down to the sea in ships, doing business on the great waters;
24. they saw the deeds of the Lord, his wondrous works in the deep.
25. For he commanded and raised the stormy wind, which lifted up the waves of the sea.
26. They mounted up to heaven; they went down to the depths; their courage melted away in their evil plight;
27. they reeled and staggered like drunken men and were at their wits’ end.
28. Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress.
29. He made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed.
30. Then they were glad that the waters were quiet, and he brought them to their desired haven.
31. Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of men!
32. Let them extol him in the congregation of the people, and praise him in the assembly of the elders.
     
33. He turns rivers into a desert, springs of water into thirsty ground,
34. a fruitful land into a salty waste, because of the evil of its inhabitants.
35. He turns a desert into pools of water, a parched land into springs of water.
36. And there he lets the hungry dwell, and they establish a city to live in;
37. they sow fields and plant vineyards and get a fruitful yield.
38. By his blessing they multiply greatly, and he does not let their livestock diminish.
39. When they are diminished and brought low through oppression, evil, and sorrow,
40. he pours contempt on princes and makes them wander in trackless wastes;
41. but he raises up the needy out of affliction and makes their families like flocks.
42. The upright see it and are glad, and all wickedness shuts its mouth.
     
43. Whoever is wise, let him attend to these things; let them consider the steadfast love of the Lord.

based on NET Bible with some changes by amf

Updated on 2014-09-22 by Andrew Fountain