Psalm 92:1-6
It Is Good to Thank the Lord

This Thursday is Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is one of our least
commercialized holidays and I for one am glad.  I suppose it is
difficult to make much of a profit on a day whose purpose is to be
thankful.

However, the Bible teaches us that we are not naturally a thankful
people.  I am not speaking of just the lost people here but the saved
as well.

\\#Luke 17:11-19\\ Jesus healed 10 men of leprosy but only one came
back to express gratitude. Two things are obvious from that text:
    1. People are not naturally inclined to offer thanksgiving.
    2. Jesus expected thanksgiving.

Psalm 92:1  It is a good thing to give thanks
unto the LORD….

Let us consider some of the things we have to be thankful for this
morning.

I. We have received too much not to be thankful.  (POSSESSIONS).
    A. We are blessed with our health.
        1. Every person is different and everyone has differing
            degrees of health, but even those who are struggling some
            today have enjoyed some very good days.
        2. I’m always impressed that those who seem to have the
            greatest reasons to be unthankful, seldom are.

We have often been blessed by the hymns of Fanny Crosby. She has left
us over 8,000 songs such as, “Blessed Assurance,” “To God Be The
Glory,” “Jesus Keep Me Near The Cross,” Praise Him! Praise Him,”
“Rescue The Perishing,” “Redeemed,” and “All The Way My Savior Leads
Me,” just to name a few.

When she was only 6 weeks old she developed a minor eye inflammation
and the doctor’s careless treatment left her permanently blind. The
doctor who destroyed her eyesight never forgave himself and moved
from the area, but Fanny held no ill will against him. She wrote in
her autobiography, “If I could meet him now, I would say, ‘Thank you,
thank you’ over and over again for making me blind.”


Forgive Me When I Whine
Today upon a bus, I saw a lovely maid with golden hair;
I envied her-she seemed so gay, and how, I wished I were so fair;
When suddenly she rose to leave, I saw her hobble down the aisle;
she had one foot and wore a crutch, but as she passed, a smile.
Oh God, forgive me when I whine, I have two feet-the world is mine.

And when I stopped to buy some sweets, the lad who served me had
  such charm;
he seemed to radiate good cheer, his manner was so kind and warm;
I said, "It’s nice to deal with you, such courtesy I seldom find;"
he turned and said, "Oh, thank you sir." And then I saw that he was
  blind.
Oh, God, forgive me when I whine, I have two eyes, the world is mine.

Then, when walking down the street, I saw a child with eyes of blue;
he stood and watched the others play, it seemed he knew not what to
  do;
I stopped a moment, then I said, "Why don’t you join the others,
  dear?"
He looked ahead without a word, and then I knew he could not hear.
Oh God, forgive me when I whine, I have two ears, the world is mine.

With feet to take me where I’d go;
with eyes to see the sunsets glow,
with ears to hear what I would know.
I am blessed indeed. The world is mine;
Oh, God, forgive me when I whine.

    B. We are blessed to have our wealth.
        1. By wealth, I do not mean an abundance of money.  That
            seems to be more a curse than a blessing to many.
        2. By wealth, I mean you have a comfortable life.

If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof
overhead and a place to sleep, you are richer than 75% of this world.

If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a
dish someplace, you are among the top 8% of the world’s wealthy.

If you woke up this morning with more health than illness, you are
more blessed than the one million who will not survive this week.

If you can attend church meetings without fear of harassment, arrest,
torture, or death, you are more blessed than three billion of this
world.  (That’s almost half of the world’s population.)

If you could read a printed copy of this message, you are more
blessed than over two billion people who cannot read at all.

If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of
imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation, you
are ahead of 500 million people in the world.

If you hold up your head with a smile on your face and are truly
thankful, you are blessed because while the majority of people in
this world could do that, most will not.

    C. We are blessed to have our family.
        1. Again, everyone has different types and sizes of families,
            but most are blessed not to be alone in this world.
        2. Maybe your family is blood related; but the best are love
            related.
        3. If anyone loves and cares for you, you are tremendously
            blessed and have cause to be thankful.
    D. We are blessed to be born in this country.
        1. The freedoms that we have!
            a. We can DO what we ought to do.
            b. We can GO where we should go.
            c. We can SAY we should be said.
            d. We can WORSHIP how the Bible directs.
            e. We can BE whoever God wants us to be.
        2. The opportunities we have!
            a. Notice that I have added the word "can" there.
                (1) Much of what our country offers is a choice that
                     must be exercised.
                (2) Every American is afforded opportunity but not
                     all of us are taking full advantage of those
                     opportunities.
            b. Let me give you two.
                (1) Education - Provided basically free
                (2) Work
                    (a) You do the work you want.
                    (b) You can do it with whom you want.
                    (c) You can do it how you want.
                    (d) If you are not doing that, the only thing
                         keeping you where you are is you.
                (3) No matter who you are or where you started. You
                     can be almost anything.
        3. The happiness we have.
            a. The Declaration of Independence grants to us that
                most basic right:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created
equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain
unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the
pursuit of happiness."

            b. Jesus gave us something even better—His peace.

John 14:27  Peace I leave with you, my peace I
give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I
unto you. Let not your heart be troubled,
neither let it be afraid.

            c. This country has always been a bastion for both of
                them.
                (1) Do you think the people who are risking their
                     lives to float out of Cuba on manmade boats
                     are happy?
                (2) Do you think the millions of illegal immigrants
                     who have crossed our borders from Mexico did so
                     because they were just too happy to stay in
                     Mexico?
    E. We are blessed to have our church.
        1. So far, the possessions I have mentioned have all been
            secular.
            a. That was on purpose to show that even if you are lost,
                you have ample reason to be thankful.
            b. Regardless of who you are and what spiritual
                condition you are in, it is a good thing to thank
                the Lord.
            c. But let me mention some things that begin to move us
                into the spiritual realm.
            d. Churches not only are a heaven for the saved, they
                minster to the lost.  
        2. I know our church isn’t perfect and isn’t for everyone,
            but I think we greatly blessed to be here at this time.
            a. A place where the Bible is still preached.
            b. A place where the music is God-honoring.
            c. A place where there is a loving, serving spirit.
            d. A place where there has been no scandal of any kind in
                over 30 years.
        3. Remember, these are tomorrow’s good ol ’days.  Be thankful
            while you have them.
    G. We are blessed to be saved.
        1. Now we are head one with the saved for the lost have no
            possession in heaven.
        2. The greatest possession we will ever have is our
            salvation.

II. We have been promised too much not to be thankful. (PROMISES)
     A. We have been promised the Person of the Holy Ghost.

John 14:16 And I will pray the Father, and he
shall give you another Comforter, that he may
abide with you for ever;
17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world
cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither
knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth
with you, and shall be in you.

        1. You will never be alone or forgotten.
        2. You will never be helpless or powerless.
        3. You will never be clueless or ignorant.
        4. You will never be separated from God.
    B. We have been promised a POWER.
        1. Paul asked:

Romans 8:35 Who shall separate us from the love
of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or
persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril,
or sword?
36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed
all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for
the slaughter.
37 Nay, in all these things we are more than
conquerors through him that loved us.

        2. We are the overcomers!  There is no sin, no weakness, no
            malady, no enemy, and no obstacle that we cannot defeat
            if God desires.
    C. We have been promised a PLACE (heaven).

John 14:2 In my Father’s house are many mansions:
if it were not so, I would have told you. I go
to prepare a place for you.

        1. Have you no home in this life?  You will possess a
            mansion in the one to come.
        2. Have you no family in this life?  You will be a manifested
            child of God in the one to come.
        3. Have you no riches in this life?  You will be joint heirs
            with Christ in the one to come.
        4. Have you lost a loved one in this life?  You will be a
            part of God’s great family reunion in the one to come.

III. We have been forgiven too much not to be thankful. (PARDON)
      A. Forgiveness is the heart of what 0ur salvation is.
          1. We owed a debt we could not pay.  Jesus paid a debt He
              did not owe.
          2. Now, all who will trust His death as payment for their
              sins and will turn to Him in obedience, may have every
              sin erased.
      B. No matter how evil you have been, God has forgiven you if
          you have trusted Him or will forgive you if would trust
          Him today.

Isaiah 43:25 I, even I, am he that blotteth out
thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will
not remember thy sins.

Jeremiah 50:20 In those days, and in that time,
saith the LORD, the iniquity of Israel shall be
sought for, and there shall be none; and the
sins of Judah, and they shall not be found: for
I will pardon them whom I reserve.

The story is told of one of the wagon train parties on the Oregon
Trail. Water and grass had been scarce for several days. Some of the
wagons were broken down, with consequent delays amid the stifling
heat. A general feeling of fretfulness had succeeded the early
optimism and cheer. So it was decided that, at the next night’s stop,
a meeting would be held to air their troubles. When the immigrants
had gathered around the campfire, one of them arose and said, "Before
we do anything else, I think we should first thank God that we have
come this far with no loss of life, with no serious trouble with the
Indians, and that we have enough strength left to finish our
journey." This was done, and then there was silence. No one had any
complaints to make. Looked at in such a light, it seemed they really
were fortunate.

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