Lewis Memorial UMC

One of the earliest things I can remember my parents teaching me was to say thank you every time someone does something for me. I remember them saying to me, “What do you say?” I think most of us were taught at an early age to be thankful and it probably is engrained in our memory forever. We say thank you to people for holding the door for us or for helping us pick up something we drop or for giving us a gift. But we also thank people for cheering us up when we are feeling down or being there for us when we are facing hard times or for sitting with us in the hospital as we wait for surgery. People do things for us on a daily basis that should lead us to say thank you every day! So do we? Do you say thank you every time someone does something for you, no matter how small it may seem? I see people forget to show their gratitude from time to time and I am sure I am guilty of it myself. We seem to take it for granted sometimes when people do what they are suppose to do so we some how forget to be thankful. It is amazing how much more peaceful things seem to be when we all have an attitude of gratitude.

What are you thankful for today? Thanksgiving Day is this Thursday and it is suppose to be a day when we are reminded to be thankful for all that God has done for us. Is it that kind of day for you? Will you wake up Thursday morning and all of a sudden feel a little more thankful than you did Wednesday night when you went to sleep? Maybe! So why can’t we do that everyday? Every day God gives you is a reason to wake up even more thankful than the day before.

But Thanksgiving Day is a great reminder for us all to be more thankful. King David wrote in the first 15 verses of Psalm 107 about 9 different reasons for God’s children to be thankful and I want us to take a look at each of these this morning. What’s incredible to me is that for all that God has done for us we still have room to thank Him more! We can see the reasons David is thankful in these 15 verses and we could all think of many, many more. So let me ask you this - when was the last time you thanked God? Hopefully you do every time you pray to Him! But when was the last time you really thanked Him specifically for something He has done for you? The last time you said thanks a lot God?

Many of us are on Face book on our computers and we see so many people stating what they are thankful for on any given day. Someone started a thing on there at the beginning of this month and we’ve been challenged to put something new everyday as to what we are thankful for and to write something different every day. What a great way to be reminded to thank God! So, what are you thankful for today; this morning; right now?

Let’s look back at Psalm 107. The caption above this particular scripture tells us that this psalm is about giving thanks for deliverance from many troubles and I found 9 reasons in these 15 verses to give thanks to God. The first two are obvious as verse one says, “O give thanks to the Lord for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever.” These are two excellent reasons to say thanks a lot God! There’s a call and response that I always think about when I read this and I think many of you know it. Let’s try it! God is good! All the time…! And why is God good? One reason is because His steadfast love endures forever! God is good because He loves us no matter what we do! God is good because He forgives us when we ask in Jesus’ name! God is good because He keeps all of His promises!

For these reasons alone we should be sure to thank God every day! Give thanks to the Lord for He is good! His love lasts forever! Because of His everlasting love we have been redeemed and David said that as redeemed children of God we should say so and let the world around us know that God has redeemed us from trouble! This is the third reason to be thankful today! Because of this redemption we should be thankful! When was the last time you thanked God for redeeming your soul? Rescue! Recovery! Salvation! Have you thanked God lately for His redemptive power? Today is a great day to do it!

Now look at verse 6. Here we can see the 4th thankful moment from King David. “Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress.” God delivers us from the things that drag us down! God delivers us from our sinful nature! God delivers us from suffering and pain! David is saying that for all who have wandered away from God and find themselves hungry and thirsty for the Lord, God delivers them from that distress. The 5th reason to be thankful is here at the beginning of verse 7 where David wrote how God leads us down a straight path. So God not only delivers us away from the suffering we find ourselves in, even if by our own choices, but He also leads us down the straight and narrow path of righteousness. Thanks be to God our Father for His love and redemption and deliverance! What a mighty God we serve!

The 6th reason to be thankful to God is found in verse 8 and it is once again about God’s love, but this time a little more specific. Verse 8 says that all of us should thank the Lord for His steadfast love and for His wonderful works to humankind! God’s wonderful works can be found through His promises to never leave us or forsake us. His wonderful works to humankind is also; and primarily found through Jesus Christ! God has given us everything we will ever need in the power and the promises and the presence of Jesus! Thanks A LOT God!

I cannot imagine thinking about all the reasons I am thankful in my life and not put Jesus at the top of the list! How can we not be thankful for what Jesus has done for us? The beginning of the Advent season is upon us as our first Sunday of Advent is next Sunday. We will be celebrating the remembrance of the birth of Jesus as He came to save us. He did that through His life, death, and resurrection! Three more reasons to be thankful today and every day God gives us!

Reasons number 7 and 8 are found in verse 9 and we are thankful to God because He satisfies the thirsty and the hungry He fills with good things! Those who are hungry and thirsty for the Lord will find Him and will be satisfied to the fullest! Once we have the Lord within us we hunger and thirst no more! We all have found ourselves at times with an empty feeling within us and we know that something is missing in our lives. Even as Christians we sometimes stray off course and we need to be reminded of all that God has done for us. But then God does something in a way only God can that reminds us that Jesus Christ fulfills our every need! Have you thanked God for Jesus lately?

Verse 14 tells us that God brings us out of darkness and gloom and breaks the bonds that hold us down. This final reason to thank God is powerful because it ties all of the other 8 reasons together. I think that’s why David repeated himself in verse 15 when he said again that we should thank the Lord for his steadfast love and for his wonderful works to humankind. God does bring us out of darkness and gloom through the forgiving power of Jesus Christ and it is the Holy Spirit that helps us to stay on the right path! The three most important things to be thankful for every day is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit! For these and so many other reasons we should all say – Thanks a lot God!

Let’s not let this great opportunity pass us by without saying thank you to those we love! Tell your spouse thank you for his/her love! Tell your children thank you for the joy they give you! Tell your parents thank you for their guidance and protection through the years! Tell your friends thank you for their support! Thank your Sunday school teacher and Bible study leader and youth worker for their dedication! Thank the worker bees and volunteers and paid staff here at Lewis for all they do for you and for the Kingdom of God!

This Thanksgiving let’s thank God for His goodness, ever lasting love, redemption, deliverance, and guidance! Let’s thank God for His wonderful works and for providing all of our needs and for bringing us out of the darkness and gloom of sin! And every day let’s thank God for our family and our friends! Let’s thank God for our health and for our jobs and for the beauty of His earth! Let’s thank God for the roof over our heads and the food we eat and the clothes we wear! Let’s thank God for our church and all of the ministries here! Let’s thank God for the power of the Holy Spirit! Let’s thank God for Jesus Christ and His love! Don’t you just want to say, “Thanks a lot God?” Let’s do that right now!