Welcome to PowerPoint with Jack Graham. The scripture says, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Jesus Christ concerning you. Why? Not because all things are good. But because God is always good.
God is always good. On today's PowerPoint. Dr. Graham brings a message about what it looks like to lead a life of thanksgiving.
Now, here's Dr. Graham with his message: living a grateful life. Take God's word and turn to Psalm 107, the 107th Psalm. Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good. for his steadfast love endures forever.
Let the redeemed of the Lord whom he has redeemed from trouble. And then scroll down to verse 8. Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of men. For he satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul. He fills with good things.
And then look at verses 21. and 22 which comprise our primary theme and text for today a grateful life Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love. For his wondrous works to the children of men, and let them offer, watch this. sacrifices of Thanksgiving. Sacrifices of thanksgiving and tell of his deeds.
In songs, of joy. Our worship. includes exuberant Joyful. Voluntary praise. to God.
We magnify the Lord with our mouths. And with songs of praise and adoration. We say so, let the redeemed of the Lord say so. And we sing it so as well as we worship with God. Ratitude is the mark or a mark.
of the Christian. In Romans chapter one, we are told that the mark of an unbeliever. is ingratitude. It says, for although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him. The mark of a believer is thanksgiving and gratitude.
We have grateful hearts because of what Christ has done for us. The mark of an unbeliever does not honor God. and does not give Thanks. We enter into the presence of God with thanksgiving and praise. Psalm 100.
is another great Psalm of Thanksgiving, song of Thanksgiving. It's that psalm in which it says, we enter his courts with thanksgiving. And with shouts of praise to God, we enter his courts with thanksgiving. It's called the Jubilante. In Latin, the 100th Psalm.
If you're from the Anglican tradition, perhaps you grew up learning the 100th Psalm as the Jubilante. It is the song of the Jabal, it is the song of joyful praise and adoration and thanksgiving to God.
So we enter His courts with thanksgiving. He inhabits the praises of His people. In the Old Testament, there were two kinds of sacrifices. Propitiatory sacrifices meaning sacrifices for salvation, those blood sacrifices. Bringing the animals and the blood of animals for the sacrifices, for the redemption of sin, for the covering of sin, propitiation.
Those sacrifices of the Old Testament, those bloody sacrifices. Are finally and fully fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. When Christ laid his life down on the cross, he bled and he died. He became the sacrifice for our sins once and for all upon the cross.
So there is now no longer a need for those kinds of sacrifices, those bloody sacrifices of propitiation. That Christ is our Passover. He is our propitiation. But the second kind of sacrifices that we see in the Bible are sacrifices. of celebration and The people of Israel would often bring sacrifices to celebrate great events, in particular to celebrate their redemption, whether it be crossing the Red Sea or their trip through the desert to the land of promise.
They would celebrate with these massive festivals, much like the American tradition of Thanksgiving, at least in some way in which we celebrate Thanksgiving as a nation. The nation of Israel would celebrate with these feasts and these festivals, and they would bring sacrifices. offered to God, sacrifices of celebration. sacrifices of thanksgiving. That's what I want to talk to you about today.
These sacrifices. First, why we give sacrifices of thanksgiving. Look again in your Bibles. at Psalm one hundred and seven. Verse 1 says, Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for he is.
Good. Because God is God, and God is good, and His steadfast love. Last endures forever. That is why we say so, the redeemed of the Lord say so. He has redeemed us, which means he has set us free.
From the power of sin and death, from the shackles of sin and judgment. We have been redeemed. In His goodness, in His grace, He has become our Savior and our God. When we read verses eight and nine, it speaks of God satisfying the deepest longings of our soul. I am satisfied with Jesus.
And he satisfies the longing of the soul, the hungry soul. If you're hungry for God, if you want your soul satisfied, then God and God alone can do that for you. In verse 10, it says that some of us sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, and we were prisoners in affliction and in irons. We had rebelled against the words of God. What a picture of a person outside of Christ, outside of a relationship with God, sitting and waiting to die, sitting in the very shadow of death.
No future before us, shackled by the power of our own addictions. Prisoners in affliction and in irons, the iron of the soul. And rebelling against God. We all have sinned against God and rebelled against a holy God. And yet, and yet, God has loved us, He has saved us, He has brought us into His family.
And now we belong to him. No wonder we say, thank you, Lord. and bring these sacrifices. A praise to God. When you think about what Christ has done for you, you can't help but thank Him.
In fact, the etymology of the word think and think are very similar. Think and thank are cousins in the vocabulary. And when you think about what Christ has done for you, when you think of the goodness of God, when you remember and reflect upon it, you cannot help but. Offer gratitude to God these sacrifices of thanksgiving. not just because of the way you feel.
But because of what you know. What you know. We don't live by our feelings. Because our feelings, our circumstances, these are not always good. And yet, 1 Thessalonians 5:18, the scripture says, Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Jesus Christ concerning you.
Give thanks in every circumstance. Why? Not because all things are good. but because God is always good. Amen?
God is always good. And we are to give this sacrifice. Of thanksgiving. The writer of Hebrews chapter 13 speaks of bringing the sacrifice of praise. I know we don't always feel like singing.
We don't always show up with our hearts tuned to worship. But yet When we praise God, we enter into His joy. We enter in with thanksgiving, His very presence. And when we lift Him up, we get lifted up. And even when our voices are choked with tears, even when our hearts are breaking.
When we worship God, when we give thanks, we sometimes do it with a broken hallelujah. But we do it anyway. Not because of the way we feel, but because of what we know. is good. And his love.
His mercy endures. Forever. That's the way. to be happy. That's the way to live.
in fullness of joy. Let me give you a verse. You'll love this one. Psalm 63, verses 3 and 4. Because your steadfast love is better.
Than life. Better than life, better than breath. Better than anything. Better than life, my lips will praise you. And so will I bless you as long as I live in your name.
I will lift up My hands. Yes, that's there in the Bible. Lifting up holy hands. Unto the Lord. We praise him, we give thanks because he is good and we know that his goodness, his love for us is better than life itself.
It surpasses the greatest joys of living. It's better than anything. This is why we can give thanks whenever, wherever, whatever. That we can praise God in spite of everything. Did you know that?
Gratitude. is the key to happiness in your life. It's true. The key to happiness is gratitude. And there have been many studies, research done on this subject.
Psalm 107, verse 22, if you look at it again, it says, Let them sacrifice thank offerings. and tell of his works with songs of joy.
Songs of joy are connected with bringing these sacrifices. of praise to God. Happiness is in direct proportion. to your gratitude. In contrast to that, Unhappiness.
is in direct proportion. to your ingratitude. Grateful people are happy people. Ungrateful people. are Unhappy people.
You want to be happy? Then be grateful. Because it is in gratitude. That we are elevated into the very presence of God and His grace. You're listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and the message: Living a Grateful Life.
As you're enjoying this week of Thanksgiving, we all know Christmas is right around the corner. During this Advent Christmas season, will you join doctor Graham in preparing our hearts to celebrate the arrival of King Jesus? If you're up for celebrating the reason for the season with us, just take your phone and text the word ADVENT to 59-789. Again, text Advent to 59789. In a time marked by confusion, anxiety, and spiritual compromise, your support of PowerPoint helps point millions of people to the one source of unshakable hope and truth: God's Word.
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Now let's get back to today's message, living a grateful life. If they're sacrifices, what kind of sacrifices are we to bring?
Well, the Bible tells us. First, there's the sacrifice of what I'm going to call surrender. When we bring ourself Romans 12. Verse 1. I beseech you, therefore.
Or the word beseech there means I plead with you. This is as though God Through the Apostle Paul. who wrote these words. is pleading with them. If Jesus got down on his knees.
and begged you to do something, would you do it?
Well, that's what God is saying here. I appeal to you therefore. Based on the mercies Of the Lord Jesus Christ. What mercies are we talking about? We just reviewed some of them, didn't we, in Psalm 107.
forgiveness and grace and healing and restoration and forgiveness and all these mercies of God. Specifically, read the first 11 chapters of Romans, and you'll see the greatness and the glories and the grace of salvation in Christ. That's the reference here. Because of these great mercies, because of what God has done for us. We become living sacrifices.
We present our bodies. And the word bodies there means the whole self. Body, soul, and spirit. Why? Because we belong to God.
We belong to God by creation. He made us. And we belong to God by salvation. He remade us.
So we are twice born. We belong to him, and therefore we are to bring ourselves to the altar of sacrifice as living sacrifices. We're to bring ourselves because Christ is Lord. The question is: Is He your Lord? Are you living under the authority in submission to the Lordship of Jesus in your life?
The Apostle Paul said, do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit? You are bought with a price, purchased by the blood of Christ. You're the temple of the Holy Spirit. We need to take care of the temple, our bodies. And our souls and our spirits.
We bring it all. And we say, Lord, it's yours, it's not mine. Belongs to you, bought and paid for in full by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And therefore, it affects what I do with my body, how I live my life, what I think about, how I give my life. I'm a living sacrifice.
Another sacrifice of thanksgiving, songs of praise. We're to bring songs of praise. Look in Psalm 69, Psalm 69, and verse 30. I will praise the name of God. With a song.
I will magnify him. with thanksgiving. The songs of the people. We praise him. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so.
We say it. We Shout it. And we see it. That's what the Psalms are about. And if you're saved.
Spirit fill. You will sing. But we don't always feel it. But here's what I've discovered. When I show up Whether I feel like it or not.
With my worship and I sing and I celebrate the goodness of God and the grace of God, when we lift him up, we get lifted up. It's a sacrifice of praise. And sometimes we just have to bring it and sing it. whether we feel it or not. Supplication is a sacrifice.
the third thing. That's prayer. Supplication means prayer. Philippians 4, 6. Be anxious for nothing.
But in everything in prayer with what? Thanksgiving, let your request be made known unto God, and the peace of God which passes understanding. will guard, protect your heart and your mind. It's a sacrifice when we pray. Here's a great verse.
You're in Psalm 141 and verse 2. This is a picture of prayer. It says, Let my prayer be counted as incense before you. and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice. The psalmist is saying, like a priest.
We offer the incense of prayers in the temple, in the tabernacle of worship. It would light incense. And you know what incense is: it's like perfume. It burns, and there's the scent. And so prayer is like burning incense.
It is a sweet and beautiful aroma. That wafts its way into the very presence of God. Isn't that a beautiful picture of prayer? It's like the burning of incense. It's an act of worship.
And prayer is the lifting of hands. as if to receive from the Lord at the evening sacrifice, to praise our God. at the end of the day. Remember, Thanksgiving is whenever, whatever, wherever.
So from morning to evening, 365, 24-7, we are praising our God. And when we pray, We are offering a sacrifice. And then finally. Our substance. Our stewardship.
Is a sacrifice of thanksgiving. The scripture says, bring the sacrifices of thanksgiving. Psalm 54 and verse 6. With a free will offering I will sacrifice to you. I will give thanks to your name, O Lord, for it is good.
What is good? To bring my tithes, my offerings, to bring my money. To bring my possessions as an act of sacrifice and thanksgiving sacrifice to the Lord.
Now here's a spiritual principle. Just as it's true that happy people are grateful people, here's another spiritual principle. Grateful people are generous people. The opposite is true. When I'm miserly, I'm miserable.
I'm a Grinch. I hold on to everything I have. I'm greedy. I'll never be happy, but when I learn to live and to give. bringing my tithes, my testimony.
My talents to serve the Lord. When we bring our money to the storehouse, which is the local church. Then We are giving to the Lord a sacrifice of thanksgiving. I know there are many ways in which we can give. and many places and people to whom we give.
And we affirm that. Don't suppress a generous impulse. But be generous with your church. Jesus said it's more blessed to give than to receive. I believe Jesus on that one.
But here's the deal: I've observed over the years as a pastor now, there are two kinds of people. Givers and takers. Are you a giver or are you a taker? Are you a consumer? or a worshipper.
That's the question we all have to answer. I can't tell you how many people have said things, or I've heard things over the years: like, well, I'm looking for a church that will meet my needs. When did we begin to think so unchristian as that? I'm looking for a church to meet my needs.
Now, a church should minister to its members. We all understand that. But The church isn't about it's not that the church meets my needs. We are the church if we're believers. You are the church.
We are the church together, and we are to meet needs. God has called us to go up to our neighbors and to the nations. God has called us to reach out, to share our gifts, to share our talents, to serve the Lord with gladness. To say with the psalmist, I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord. Do you love your church?
Do you love God's people? God has given us His people. In fact, He mentions that in Psalm 107, verse 32. Let them extol him in the congregation of the people. That means get with God's people.
We gather in God's church and we praise Him in the assembly of the elders. How great is that? We are to bring our ties, our time, our talent to the Lord and stop watching what's happening and begin to make a difference for the Lord Jesus Christ in our lives. We're here to be the church, to reach out. to live and so give.
So that others will know our Savior.
So the sacrifices of thanksgiving. Ourselves Our songs of praise. as we offer them to the Lord. Our supplications in prayer. And with that comes The amazing peace of God, like incense, is so sweet.
And then our substance. Our stewardship. Because we are managers of all that God has given us. And you know, there's the promise: not only there's joy in giving, but we're laying up rewards in heaven. There is a heavenly reward.
I believe there are temporal rewards. to be faithful to God. But I know that there are heavenly rewards. When we lay up treasures, our gifts in heaven. And when you get to heaven, it will take another eternity.
It will take an eternity for us to realize the impact of what even that small cup of cold water given in Jesus' name will do. Bring the sacrifices of thanksgiving and live a grateful life. You're listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and the message: Living a Grateful Life. It's easy to get caught in the cycle of always trying to do more, be more, and carry it all by yourself. As a result, so many people battle stress and anxiety.
But that's not God's heart for you. And in his booklet, Breaking Free from Stress, Dr. Jack Graham speaks directly to the anxious heart, offering biblical hope to those who feel weighed down and wrung out by stress. Drawing from Psalm 23 and real-life stories, he reminds you that while stress is inevitable, living enslaved to it is not. Breaking Free from Stress is our thank you for your gift of $10 or more to help proclaim the gospel through PowerPoint.
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to 59-789. Pastor, what is your PowerPoint for today? One word. Attitude. You know, you could either have a positive, grateful attitude and look at all the blessings that God has given you, or You can have a negative, ungrateful attitude and be beaten down by the world and your circumstances.
Artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir suffered from arthritis for the last 14 years of his life. Can you imagine the excruciating pain? And yet, in spite of the pain, he continued to paint. During this time a friend watched Renoir paint and saw that every brush stroke was causing tremendous pain.
So his friend asked, Why do you continue to paint when you are in such great agony? To which Renoir replied, The beauty remains, the pain passes. I love that That is such a good thought. Two years before he died, Renoir finished one of his best known masterpieces. Had he not kept working through the pain, the world would never have known his later works.
I got to thinking about that, and you know that's the same way it is for a Christian. If you focus on the negative. If you Give in to the pain in your life. then the world will never be filled with the beautiful joy that you can experience through Jesus Christ. You can become so overwhelmed with pain and problems that it just buries you, and therefore you never see the love, the light, the sunshine of God's grace.
Today, make a commitment to change your attitude. You know, you can change your attitude. You can change your attitude by choosing love. over hate, by choosing joy over depression. by choosing forgiveness over regret.
By choosing gratitude, over ingratitude.
So I want to encourage you today to focus on the blessings and the joys that you have in this world because of what Christ has done for you and the abundant life. that he brings. And that is today's PowerPoint. Remember, when you give a gift of $10 or more to PowerPoint, we'll send you a copy of Dr. Graham's booklet, Breaking Free from Stress, as Our Thanks.
Just text the word stress to 59-789. And join us again next time as Dr. Graham brings a message about how you can develop the grace of living. That's next time on PowerPoint with Jack Graham. PowerPoint with Jack Graham is sponsored by PowerPoint Ministries.
