Thankful for the Little Things

Developing the Art of Being Thankful for Little Things

Psalm 100:4

Audio MP3

May 29th 2011 PM

Pastor Craig Ledbetter

Bible Baptist Church, Ballincollig, Cork, Ireland

www.biblebc.com

 

I.                   Introduction (Psalm 100:4)

 

A.    The older I get and the longer I am saved, the more I need to be thankful!

B.     Just because I want to praise and thank God more, doesn’t mean that I find it any easier!

C.     But being grateful, thankful, appreciative of especially the little things, is far more important than getting paid, owning a car, having good health, or almost anything else!

D.    Thankfulness is a gift from God. And it must be sought for, and cultivated, or else you will miss the life that God has so freely give you

 

II.                Message

 

A.    If there is ONE thing that God is starved for, it is gratefulness (Rom 1:21)

 

1.      Jesus healed ten lepers, and all but one ran off excited, healed, and unthankful!

2.      Mankind naturally is unthankful

3.      People only love themselves, and think of themselves

4.      Religious people only thank God for their own greatness (Luke 18:11)

5.      Proud, successful people don’t need to thank anyone

6.      Even depressed people – thinking only of their situation, and their problems, and forgetting God

7.      We keep waiting for something BIG to come our way, and we think that THEN we will really appreciate God, but that is WHY nothing big comes our way!

8.      Become thankful for little things – invisible things – simple things, and God will give you great things to thank Him for!

 

B.     If there is one Barrier to a Grateful Spirit, it is Self (Philp 3:3)

 

1.      We have all our wants, plans, goals, needs – and yet have none of what Christ has for us! He offers life abundant, and yet we cling to our past. Our plans. Our pains.

2.      Brokenness is the stripping away of my self-reliance, of my self-sufficiency, of my self-gratification, and me starting at zero

3.      Once there, every little thing that comes my way, I become thankful for!

 

a.       A wealthy man will find it hard to be thankful for a glass of water, but a thirsty man will smile and thank God for it!

b.      A comfortable man will find it hard to be thankful for a cloudy day, but a tired man, who has no home, will be eternally grateful for a bit of shade from the hot sun!

 

4.      It takes losing to gain. Once I lose everything, I finally start to gain (Philp 3:8-10)

5.      If you find it hard to be thankful for little things, then YOU are in the way!

 

C.     Jesus thanked God for Simple Things

 

1.      A Small Meal (John 6:2-9)

 

a.       A little lad

b.      A little bread and fish – a tiny amount of food

c.       A lot of opportunity - to show the greatness of God, and the greatness of praise!

 

1)      Even though it is hard sometimes

2)      Like when He came to Lazarus’ tomb – Jesus was grateful for the opportunity to show just who He was, and how He worked!

 

d.      Jesus was thankful for a small meal and looked what happened!

 

2.      Simple Truths (Luke 10:21)

 

a.       Jesus loved blowing people away! He loved how marvellous the truths of God were!

 

1)      About the grace of God – thieves and publicans could appreciate it

2)      About the love of God - harlots could understand it

3)      About the faithfulness of God – children could understand it

4)      About the victory over Satan – fishermen understood it

 

b.      Too simple for the hyper-educated

c.       Too little for the Religious to handle

d.      But wonderful for the humble, and hungry, and empty lives that clung on every word that Jesus spoke!

 

3.      God’s Specific Will (Luke 22:17,19)

 

a.       He struggled with it as a Man

b.      But He always was thankful for the path that His father had laid out for Him – and by-the-way, so am “I” thankful for the path God laid out for His son!

 

4.      How automatically do you thank God for such things?

 

D.    We Should Be Thankful

 

Let me start the list!

1.      For Forgiveness (Col 1:12)

 

a.       We have been accepted in the Beloved!

b.      We HAVE the Victory, Freedom from sin (1Cor 15:57; Rom 6:17)

c.       A present tense reality! “Ye are washed!”

 

2.      For just Knowing God (Jer 9:23,24)

 

a.       I know Him! I know where He lives (Isa 57:15)

b.      Best, He knows me!

 

3.      For Every Meal (1Tim 4:3,4)

 

a.       Can we simply be thankful for food and raiment? (1Tim 6:8)

b.      Paul Thanked God for a simple meal, and just being alive (Acts 27:18,20,27,33-35)

 

4.      For Every Day (Psalm 118:24) – and tomorrow, and the next day! There are no days to NOT thank God for!

5.      For Good Memories (Philp 1:3)

 

a.       Hey! You are what you think about!

b.      FORGET those hurtful times, and sad times

c.       Like with a pregnancy – the pain of delivery is quickly forgotten! Can you imagine if a child has to grow up with a Mother constantly reminding them how much pain they experienced bringing them into the world?!

d.      If you don’t have any good memories (which is highly unlikely), then MAKE SOME by serving the Lord! Every believer in that Bible made some eternal memories living for Christ! Read Hebrews 11!!!

 

6.      For Our Purpose in Life (1Tim 1:12)

 

a.       God calls every Christian to do something

b.      We were saved to serve the Lord

c.       We were designed to do something for others first

d.      Take a look at where you are, and start being thankful, and then maybe, just maybe, God will put you in a better place knowing that you will be thankful there as well!

 

7.      For the Brethren (Acts 28:15)

 

a.       How can you LOVE those whom you are not thankful for?

b.      Paul loved Christians – every one of them!

c.       They were family!

d.      Some were a nightmare towards him, but he didn’t care!

e.       He was thankful when he was around them!

f.       Overlooking a load of faults and just loving them as they are!

 

8.      For Fellow-helpers (2Cor 8:16)

 

a.       Paul couldn’t do what he did (starting churches) alone

b.      And he knew how hard it was to convince men to give up their lives and head off with him on his crazy missionary church planting journeys

c.       And so, when a Silas came along, and helped him preach, he was grateful

d.      When a Timothy joined up along side

e.       When a Luke, Aquila and Priscilla, a Titus came along, Paul was ecstatic, because it was NOT a popular thing to do!

f.       HEY! When no one is helping, and then ANYBODY comes along, you better believe how happy you will be!!! Not because they are so smart, and so wise, but just because they are THERE!

 

9.      For those in authority (1Tim 2:1)

 

a.       Are you thankful for Enda Kenny? We need to pray for him

b.      But we need to be thankful for him!

c.       For your boos

d.      Your husband

e.       Your Daddy

f.       Your pastor!

 

10.  For Ever (Ps 30:12; 79:13) “I will bless the Lord at all times… continually… for ever”

11.  When Praying (Philp 4:6) It is part of praying

12.  When Talking - In the place of all the filthy words we used to say (Eph 5:4)

 

a.       Thank God for the day

b.      Thank God for the rain

c.       Thank God for the awful cup of coffee

d.      Thank people for sitting with you

e.       Thank people for putting up with you

f.       Be thankful in your speaking!

g.      Thank your Mom or your wife for everything! EVERYTHING!

h.      Thank your dad for everything he does

i.        Thank you husband for marrying you!

j.        Write a letter to Enda Kenny and thank him for caring about Ireland, and about your family’s needs

 

13.  When Troubled and Persecuted (Matt 5:11,12; Dan 6:10)

14.  While It Matters Most (Psalm 6:5)

15.  Even though it seems Strange (Psalm 18:49)

16.  Even though it may cost you something (Heb 13:15; 1Pet 2:19) and it usually does!

 


III.             Conclusion

 

A.    Now, I have started the list, you finish it!

B.     You cannot say thank you too much…

 

1.      I don’t think you can say thank you too much!

2.      I don’t think I can preach too much about being grateful for everything

3.      I don’t think God minds just being appreciated for everything – not just the big things

 

a.       Because God deserves a lot of thank you’s

b.      Because Jesus taught us to be thankful

 

C.     Start being thankful. Just start.

 

1.      It doesn’t matter if it does or doesn’t come naturally. START only saying nice things about people, food, situations

2.      You are going to have to just start saying Thank You for everything, whether you feel like it or not, and let the peace of God keep your hearts (Philp 4:6,7)

3.      If you find it hard, realise it is okay to ask God for a grateful heart – He will help you! He promises to give you the GARMENT of PRAISE for the spirit of heaviness!

 

D.    Take note every day of what you are thankful for – always on the lookout for something new to Thank God or someone for

E.     Write those things down in a notebook or diary,

F.      and thank God particularly for each and every one! Don’t let a day go by that you don’t write a dozen new things down that you are thankful for!

G.    See how long it takes you to get to 1,000

 

 

 

Craig Ledbetter |  Pastor  |  Bible Baptist Church  |  021-4871234  +353-21-4871234  |  biblebc@gmail.com  www.biblebc.com