Intro:
- We teach children how to be thankful to God (especially at Thanksgiving)
- Maybe we need to teach ourselves more
- Text Eph 4:15-20
- We need to always be thankful to God
I. By being filled with the Spirit
- This is not the "gift of the Holy Spirit", it is a command, not something done for us.
- Questions
- How are you filled with the Holy Spirit
- This is a figure of speech
- What comes out of mouth and from hands tells what you full of
- Being filled begins with heart and mind (Col. 3:1-3; Rom 12:2)
- But I don’t FEEL different after becoming a Christian
- Don’t trust you feelings, they fickle
- How were Children of Israel feeling in wilderness? Elijah? Job?
- Feelings can make you doubt God
- May not FEEL like thanking God
- Thank him anyway
- 2 Cor. 10:5 - "We are taking every thought captive to Christ"
- Don’t wait till feel good and thank, thank self into feeling good
- Are you led by God or by your emotions?
- What is being filled with the Spirit?
- Eph 4:22-24; Titus 3:5; *Rom 8:5 - Set ming on things of the Spirit
- John 3:3-5 - Born again (from above) = born of Water and Spirit
- A renewal takes place
- Born of Water & Spirit === Physical and Heavenly come together
- ILL: The engineers who designed our machines came to tour our Avionics shop
- We teased them (We always would say crawling in the plane, -who designed this? because it was not designed to get at easily for repairs)
- They couldn’t do maintenance
- We couldn’t design equipment
- Took both of us working together to make it work
- Takes both the Spiritual and the Physical working together to improve our thanksgiving
- We have to be filled with the Spirit
- Can you still be thankful without the Spirit? (Yes, but for the wrong things)
- What physical goes with Spiritual? Fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22)
II. Be filled with Spiritual Singing
- It is a natural result of being filled with Spirit
- This passage describes it
- Speaking to one another
- Can’t be thankful or filled with spirit if not speaking
- how does it feel when come and there is tension?
- Goes right along with (Rom 12:10-11)- Fervent in Spirit
- In Psalms Hymns and Spiritual Songs
- We usually just concentrate on not using instruments, but miss that fact there is so much more
- These are message of praise we SHARE WITH EACH OTHER
- A Man was sick with Cancer, three months to live
- He bought every joke book, comedy videos and funny item he could get his hands on
- His days were filled with "wise guy" "nyuck nyuck nyuck"
- Lived for years because of all of the positive feedback he was receiving
- We need to be giving positive feedback
- Be positive, mention things to be thankful for and reasons to praise God
- Idea of doing testimonials in church?
III. Fill your time with Thankfulness, not complaints
- Always have a thankful attitude
- Text:
- Give thanks in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ
- Give thank to God even our Father
- We have a God that comes near, he is our Father
- Old Testament uses the phrase that God "inclines his ear" to us
- God almighty is out FATHER
- A Father loves his children
- A Father cares for his children
- A Father Disciplines his children
- Give thanks for all the good things God has given us
- Is that what this passage says?
- Give thanks for ALL things!
- You mean when I’m sick, can’t make ends meet, enemies persecute....
- Phil 4:6 - With thankfulness make requests to God
- Paul rejoiced about his thorn in the flesh with the answer he received from God (2 Cor 12:7-10)
- ILL: Lord’s Supper (Early Christians called it Eucharites)
- Means thanksgiving
- This is high point of worship, central to our faith
- IT IS NOT A FUNERAL. We serve a risen Lord!
- He’s coming back!
- So don’t get so caught up or comfortable with this place - Set mind on things
above
- What have you complained about last week?
- Is there some way you could make requests to God in thankfulness
- Will you commit to this?
Conclusion:
- We need to be thankful
- by being filled with the Spirit
- by being filled with spiritual singing (share)
- by filling time with thankfulness, not complaining
- What happened to children of Israel because of complaining?
- Because they didn’t know God could deliver them?
- Because didn’t know if God was still with them?
- No, because they did not choose to trust
- Bottom line for being thankful and setting mind on things above--DO YOU TRUST GOD?