Thank God For 2020 - Part 2

Today on Fellowship in the Word, Pastor Bill Gebhardt challenges you to become a fully functioning follower of Jesus Christ. I should bleed gratitude. We should just believe it.

Do we? I've not had a person tell me, and I've not heard it from the culture yet, in the midst of all this stuff we're going through in turmoil, there's a whole group of people in the country we don't understand. They're Christians. And all they talk about is how thankful they are. That's all they talk about.

I'm so thankful. How can this be? In the midst of all that we're going through, how can they do this?

That's not what I hear. It's a little bit different than that. Thank you for joining us today on this edition of Fellowship in the Word with Pastor Bill Gebhardt. Fellowship in the Word is the radio ministry of Fellowship Bible Church located in Metairie, Louisiana. Let's join Pastor Bill Gebhardt now as once again he shows us how God's Word meets our world. Giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the frog.

Do you do that? You give thanks for all things. Now you might say, but all things aren't good. No, he doesn't mean it that way. He means it from a little bit different perspective.

The circumstances of life change. We're sinful people. We live on a cursed planet. A lot of bad stuff happens. The whole idea of being God is God says, I've taken care of that. I redeem everything that's bad.

I can turn everything to good. In fact, the same phrase, all things, pantes is the word, all, all things. Paul writes to the Romans and says, all things work together for.

What? The good. All things needed to say all things are good. All things work together for the good.

How did that happen? God says, I make that happen. I can take anything and turn it for good. That's my business. That's what I'm about. That's how I work.

So when you're in the middle of all things, he said, how about thanking me? You mean Covid? Yes, I mean Covid. Isn't it part of all things?

Well, the economy is sagging. OK, thank me. Well, I won't be able to get together with 71 relatives on Thursday. That's OK. Thank me. He said, you give thanks in all things. When you aren't thankful in your spirit, you're not controlled by the Spirit of God. You're controlled by your flesh. You see, that's what he's saying.

We are the most thankful people on earth. Now, go with me to Colossians. Colossians, chapter three. And verse 16. Another prison epistle, but this time, Paul says it a little bit differently. He said, let the word of Christ richly dwell within you. Let the word of God richly dwell in you. He said, with all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

And then he says, in whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father. So when you're not thankful. And you're not submissive to the word of God.

You're not. You don't let the word of God dwell in you. So whenever we're not thankful, we're not controlled by the Spirit of God and we're not submissive to the word of God.

In fact, we're just like someone else. Turn back with me to Romans, chapter one. Romans, chapter one. In Romans one, Paul is making his case against mankind because he has rejected God. And he says they are without excuse. He says, through inspiration of the Spirit, he says, look, God has revealed himself to mankind first through creation, secondly through his conscience.

So they're without excuse. But then he says this about them in verse 21. For even though they knew God, they did not honor him as God. And there it is. Or give thanks.

He says they became futile in their speculations and their foolish heart was darkened. Not only are you not controlled by the Spirit of God and not submissive to the word of God, but your attitude is just like the unbelieving lost when you're not thankful. Wow.

You see the tying together? You honor God by what? Thanking God. That's God's expectation of you and me.

You have every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. As I said earlier, what did you do to earn those? Nothing. Your contribution? Zero. What did God do?

Everything. And it's irrevocable. So what's God won from you? How about just saying thanks? Thank you.

That's what he wants from us. It honors God. You see, the culture we live in, the world that don't know God, that's why they say every time on the news, Thanksgiving is about family. What's the word say? Thanksgiving.

You have to give thanks to somebody. They're not going to say that. It's not something they're going to say at all. It's about family.

There's nothing wrong with your family. It's a blessing. But I'm not thanking my family.

I'm thanking my God. Let me show you how far they've taken this with this holiday. They do this all the holidays.

Some time ago they said, you know, because we don't want to thank God, we're not going to do that. We need to make it better. Okay, we've got an idea. Black Friday. Black Friday, that's the key. It's about us again, shopping, shopping, shopping, more for me. People will love that.

Wow. Just a couple of years ago now, Black Friday has started on Thursday. On the exact day. We're going to have Black Friday on Thanksgiving.

This is even better. We can get more stuff. Now with COVID, I've been hearing that this whole month is Black Friday month. The whole month is Black Friday month. It's about us.

It's about shopping. This is great. This is about thanking God. But our culture doesn't want to honor Him that way. So we don't give thanks. Because we don't want God to be honored in that way at all. You and I should bleed gratitude.

We should just bleed it. Do we? I've not had a person tell me, and I've not heard it from the culture yet, in the midst of all this stuff we're going through in turmoil, there's a whole group of people in the country we don't understand. They're Christians. And all they talk about is how thankful they are. That's all they talk about. I'm so thankful. How can this be?

In the midst of all that we're going through, how can they do this? That's not what I hear. It's a little bit different than that.

R.E.O. White said this, and I'll apply it to gratitude. He's a British preacher. He said this, the surest sign that you are carrying a full bucket of water is wet feet. The surest sign that you are a thankful Christian is it oozes out of you.

Everybody sees it, no matter what the circumstances are. One more, I want you to go with me to 1 Thessalonians, 1 Thessalonians 5, 1 verse, verse 18. Paul writes this. When I'm 16, he says, rejoice always. That means now, not just Christmas morning.

It means every other time. Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. Always have relationship with God.

Then he says this, in everything, give thanks, for this is the will of God for you. In everything. You mean now? Yes. You mean in the midst of COVID? Yes. How about in the midst of economic uncertainty? Yes.

How about in the midst of the election? Yes. Yes. In everything, give thanks. I'm not giving God thanks for the circumstances the way I'd like them to be. I'm giving God thanks for being God in a relationship with me. That's what I'm saying. He says, in everything, give thanks. Social distancing. Should we give thanks for that?

I mean, isn't that terrible? He said everything. In everything, give thanks, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. Over the years, I can't tell you how many times this has been asked of me. Pastor, my problem is, could you tell me what the will of God is for me? Should I stay here or should I move to Schenectady? Tell me, Pastor, what's the will of God for me?

Should I keep this job or take another one? Is this the right person for me to marry or is there someone else? Tell me the will of God. It's right there. Give thanks in everything, for this is the will of God for you. You want to know what the will of God is?

It's simple. Give thanks in everything. Well, no, I didn't mean that.

Of course you shouldn't mean that. It covers every other question. I can give God thanks. He says give God thanks in everything. It doesn't matter. Thanksgiving should be the natural response for all that God has done for me.

A couple of things. One, giving thanks honors God. Every time you're thankful, it honors God. Now, I think when the circumstances are terrible and you're full of thanksgiving, just think of how pleasing that is to God.

You're not thanking him because you got what you wanted. You're thanking him in difficult circumstances for who he is. That honors God. That's important to God. Hampton Keithley III said this, true thankfulness recognizes our total dependence on God and stems from realizing that everything going on in our lives and all that we have is the product of God's sovereign control, God's infinite wisdom, God's purposes, God's grace, and God's goodness.

Everything. Nothing in our culture that's happening has ever surprised the God. He knew 2020 was coming when he created the creation. He's not shocked. He can't be, oh, I can't believe it. What am I going to do? There's COVID there.

What am I going to do? He knows that. See, that's the point. And secondly, we are commanded by God. I'm sure he doesn't like that. He commands us. He commands us to give him thanks. In everything, give thanks. That's an imperative mood in the Greek.

It's a commandment. In everything, give me thanks. He said in Ephesians, for everything, give me thanks.

In everything, give me thanks. Now, wow. We sang it in the beginning of the service. Enter his gates with thanksgiving. We sang that from the Psalms.

That's a PL stem. That means it's a commandment. Come into my presence, give me thanks for who I am and how I relate to you. I actually believe with all my heart that thankfulness is a spiritual barometer of your true spiritual life. I think spiritually mature people are very thankful. I think people who are not spiritually mature are not thankful. Let me call them what I think they've been, and there's been enough of that going on this year, whiners.

They went, ah, this is so bad. This is so hard. It should never be how a child of God talks. Never be. I read a book, part of a book, by Will Bowen, and it's called A Complaint-Free World. It's an interesting book. And he said, I want you to think of your mind as a manufacturer, he said, and your mouth, he said, as the customer. Your mind manufactures your mouth as the customer. He said the manufacturer produces negative thoughts that are purchased by the customer when they are expressed as complaints.

It goes like this. The manufacturer, your brain, produces negative, unthankful thought, which the consumer, your mouth, he says, purchases by complaining and expressing ingratitude. He said if the customer will stop buying what the manufacturer produces, the manufacturer will have to retool. He said when you stop complaining about what you perceive to be wrong and begin to speak about what you are thankful for, you force the manufacturer brain to develop a whole new product line. What a great imagery for that.

Your mouth listen to your brain? This is awful. This is terrible. What are we going to do? How are we going to make it? If we would do that process, it would be life-changing for us.

It would be life-changing. But we're buying it. Our mouth buys it. This has been a record-setting year to fill your brain with complaints.

Have you submitted to those, though? See, that's a very important question. Is your mouth buying what your brain is producing? I hope not.

I sure hope not. You know, one of the most interesting things as I think through the closing of this is a very famous psalm, Psalm 100. I'm just going to read it. You don't have to go there, but I want you to think about that. He said shout joyfully to the Lord all the earth. Serve the Lord with gladness. Come before him with joyful singing.

Know that the Lord himself is God. It is he who has made us, not we ourselves. We are his people.

We're the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him.

Bless his name, for the Lord is good and the loving kindness is everlasting and his faithfulness to all generations. That's what we should be about. That's the way our life should be. It would be great to be surrounded by your extended family this thanksgiving. Even something to be thankful for, but that's not the reason we have thanksgiving. Not at all.

But if you don't have your extended family around you, remember that it's called thanksgiving because God wants us to thank him. It honors him. Ben Moges is a missionary Dallas Seminary grad who's in Bucharest, Romania. And he wrote this. And by the way, he just wrote this week that they're going through a second very difficult wave of COVID in the whole country of Romania.

And so this is what he wrote. He said none of us know the future, either related to politics or pandemics. Nevertheless, we can still be thankful because our gratitude is grounded in the only one who does know the future.

And every single detail regarding our present circumstances. The one who is in absolute control over all things, including pandemics, politics or any other problems we might face. The Lord, our God, is still on his throne. He is still all powerful, all knowing, all loving and all sufficient. Our thanksgiving is rooted in his character, not our circumstances. Our gratitude is rooted in our faith, not our fears. Our faith is strengthened by the Lord's presence with us in the present. His promises for us in the future and his many blessings he has given us in the past. May we never forget all the good things that he has done for us. Maybe we should all just look up to the sky and say. Thank you, God.

This Thanksgiving, try to remember that. You know, as I was thinking about all the different examples. Who's the best example we know of in the scriptures? Our Lord Jesus Christ. It's an amazing thing, the things that he has done. So I want to go to 1 Corinthians 11, verse 23.

And I want you to see something that Paul wrote. This is on the night before the crucifixion, by the way. What was that night like for him? Do you remember any sweating going on?

Droplets of blood because of the pressure. Crying out to God, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not my will, them, but yours. He's about to have the worst day any human being has ever had in history.

A completely terrible, horrible day. So here's what he does. He says, for I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you. That the Lord Jesus in the night in which he was betrayed took bread. And he says, and when he had given thanks. This isn't the worst night of his life. Before the worst day of his life. And he takes the bread and he gives thanks.

Isn't that an example for us? Because of this unique year, we're doing the Lord's table in a very unique way. You picked up one of these when you came in. If you would just take the cellophane off the top. I know there's a temptation to take it all apart, but just take the cellophane off the top first. And here's the wafer or the bread. The bread's unleavened. The reason the bread's unleavened is the bread represents something that when he says body, he means more than that. The bread represents the bread represents. The life of Christ.

That's what the bread represents. It's unleavened, which means it's without sin. If Jesus Christ hadn't lived a perfect life, he in no way could have been a substitute for us on the cross. He lived the perfect life. He is the lamb of God. Sinless and perfect.

Jesus is thanking the Father for this opportunity. He lived among people who didn't believe him. People who disliked him. People who struck him.

People who scourged him. And yet when he got on the cross, the first thing he said was what? Father, forgive them.

They don't know what they're doing. So when we take this, just like Jesus, we are thanking God. Let me pray a short prayer. Father, thank you for the life of Jesus Christ. Thank you that he lived this life not just to show he could live a sinless life. But to give this life for me and for all people. That we could have an assurance that when he went to the cross, he could be an appropriate substitute for our sins. We know, Father, that in your holiness you were satisfied because you raised him from the dead. Thank you, in Jesus' name, amen.

Paul goes on. It says when he had given thanks, he broke it and he said this is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. In the same way, he took the cup also after supper and he said this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this and as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. So when we come to the cup, and you can take the top off of that, when we come to the cup, we're not remembering the life of Christ. We're remembering the death of Christ.

That's what it is. That's why he said let this cup pass from me. How do I spiritually die for all mankind? How do I bear all the sins of the world?

Nevertheless, not my will be done but yours. Every time we do this, we remember that. We remember the agony of the cross. You see, we remember the cost that God's grace is for each and every one of us. And we can do so with full assurance because once again he raised him from the dead because he was satisfied. Father, thank you for the death, the burial, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Amen. So this year, all I would want you to do is to think about this Thanksgiving a little differently. I hope you're with the family members of Extent Fin. If you want to be, that's fine.

But if you don't, it won't change the holiday at all. In fact, in a very real way for us, every day is Thanksgiving. You've been listening to Pastor Bill Gebhardt on the Radio Ministry of Fellowship in the Word. If you ever miss one of our broadcasts or maybe you would just like to listen to the message one more time, remember that you can go to a great website called oneplace.com. That's oneplace.com, and you can listen to Fellowship in the Word online.

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That's fbcnola.org. At our website, you will find hundreds of Pastor Bill's sermons. You can browse through our sermon archives to find the sermon series you are looking for, or you can search by title. Once you find the message you are looking for, you can listen online, or if you prefer, you can download the sermon and listen at your own convenience. And remember, you can do all of this absolutely free of charge. Once again, our website is fbcnola.org. For Pastor Bill Gebhardt, I'm Jason Gebhardt, thanking you for listening to Fellowship in the Word.