Adrian Rogers: What to Do When You Don't Feel Thankful [#2446]

welcome to love worth fun with pastor teacher and author Adrian Rogers reaching out with God's love bringing people to Christ touching lives around the world and helping you find the answers you need today join us as we prepare to open God's Word and discover how your life can be changed forever by his great love worth finding he finding please Ephesians chapter five and the verse 20 and in Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 20 there is a command which many believe and I think I do also may be the hardest command in all of the Bible to obey but correspondingly and at the same time this command may bring the greatest blessing of all when it is obeyed let's look at it Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 20 giving thanks always for all things and I just underscore the all things under God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ again I say that may be the hardest commandment of all in the Bible to obey there are four levels of life when it comes to Thanksgiving first of all there are those people who are constantly complaining have you ever been around those people they're just always complain they can't find good in anything one woman was married to a man like that he never could be pleased one morning she got out of bed determined to please him she said sweetheart what would you like for breakfast I'll fix it any way that you would like in anything that you like he said all right said I want two pieces of toast I want one whole-wheat and I want one white bread I won the whole-wheat bread lightly buttered nothing on the white bread and I want two eggs I want one fried over easy and I want the other scram well you got it she said got it sweetheart and she fixed him breakfast just like that and he still had a sour look on his face she said darling what's wrong he said you scrambled the wrong egg no people like that hey you can't please them they're constantly complaining and then a little higher than that are people who have a simple ingratitude they don't complain they just are not grateful they're like a hog under tree eating a Kearns never looking up to see where they come from and many of us though we may not be bitterly complaining we are ungrateful but then there is another level of life and these are people who are grateful for the obvious blessings if they have help they thank God for help if they have food they thanked God for food and they just thank God for the obvious blessings of life but the highest level the Bible level the level of this verse that I have is is not the level of constantly complaining or mere ingratitude are thankful for obvious blessings but look at it giving thanks always for all things now that friend is the highest level of life and that is the level that will get you through life there is a legend of a man who found the devil's seed barn where the devil kept his seeds that he would sow in the hearts and lives of human beings and he found there was a super abundance of one kind of seed and it was the seed of discouragement and the devil said when he was plied about why he had so many of the seeds of discouragement he said well if I can if I can get discouragement into a person's life then I can get almost anything else I want into their life and he said I found that the seeds of discouragement will sprout almost anywhere except in the heart of a grateful person giving thanks always for all things in the name unto the father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ now let's break it down and look at it this morning shall we okay first of all I want you to notice the duration of this kind of things the duration of Thanksgiving he says here that we're to be giving thanks always always why always blessings never cease their fourth Thanksgiving should never cease Ephesians 5 verse 20 giving thanks always now we're to praise God always there for folks one day of Thanksgiving on Thursday November is not enough we've got to give 365 days of Thanksgiving let me give you a scripture Psalm chapter 68 verse 19 blessed be the Lord who daily load with us with benefits even the god of our salvation and then he says Selah that means think about that meditate upon that God daily loads us with blessings God has given you today a wagonload of blessings and then lamentations chapter 3 verse 23 speaking of God's mercies the Bible says they are new every morning great is thy faithfulness great is thy faithfulness God has been faithful to you precious friend and he has been faithful with a great faithfulness and so every day every day ought to have a liberal portion of Thanksgiving and every prayer ought to be mixed with Thanksgiving put this verse in Philippians chapter 4 and verse 6 be careful for nothing that is don't worry about anything but in everything by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God now look at me I want to tell you something be careful for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God if you ask God for more blessings and don't thank God for what he's already done for you you are wicked and foolish if you come to God and you say God do this and do that give this and or give that and you don't thank God you are wicked and foolish be careful for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving let your requests be made known on to God now most of us need to pull some of the groans out of our prayers and shove in a few hallelujahs thanks is a wonderful thing rudyard kipling the great poet of yesteryear I gained quite a bit of notoriety as a writer and as a matter of fact he was being paid 10 shillings per word at the height of his career that was a lot of money back in those days 10 shillings a word there was some college students who were also into writing and journalism and they were a little jealous of Rudyard Kipling and so they thought they played a little joke on him 10 shillings the word was preposterous to them they gathered up 10 shillings and put it in an envelope and may have it or did Kipling and said I hear 10 shillings give us your best word he wrote back thanks that's a good word learning to thank God now what is the duration of Thanksgiving giving thanks always always always perpetually thanking God why thanks should never cease because blessings never cease now here's the second thing I want to lay on your heart not only the duration of this Thanksgiving but we're going to slow down here for a moment and think about the dimensions of this Thanksgiving the dimensions of Thanksgiving we're to be giving thanks for all things now giving things always would not be difficult if he had not put in here giving thanks always for all things now why should we give thanks for all things because simply God rules all things and we should give thanks for all things now go back to and look in verse 18 hour 19 we're to be speaking to ourselves in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ thankfulness comes before praise no matter what happens listen no matter what happens according to Ephesians chapter 5 verses 19 and 20 you are to have a song in your heart now we need to thank God for the very rudimentary things the the simple things of life thank God for example for water here you go to the fountain and drink fresh sparkling water you turn the tap on in your home and thank God for water if you thank God for the water that you hadn't thanked God for just simple things like water thank God for simple things like dirty dishes you say no wait a minute I don't thank God for dirty dishes you ought to because it means you just had a meal there are a number of people who would be grateful to thank God for some dirty dishes in this world because they wouldn't have enjoyed the meal that you have enjoyed or that kind of a meal yes the simple things we can thank God for and the obvious things but what about the sorrowful what about when we don't feel thankful what about when we hurt what about when there are problems that God alone knows how deep they are can you thank him for a heartache can you thank him for sorrow well you say pastor Rogers if you knew what I'm going through you wouldn't be preaching with such a happy face this morning well let me tell you something I'm not the one who wrote this Scripture he's written by divine inspiration I'm not the I'm not the author of it I'm just the Western Union boy or the news boy delivering the message this was written by the Apostle Paul we say he never had any problems friend he wrote this from prison he is in Ephesus in prison he's been unjustly accused of starting a riot and a riot drove him out of town and now he is languishing in prison and he is saying give thanks to God for all things now why is this well let me talk to you a little bit about the overruling hand of God I said giving thanks that the dimensions are always for all things because of the overruling Providence of God let's go down through some of other things that trouble and heartache and problems and sickness and death and tears may do for us number 1 when we have trouble it may correct us there is a correcting ministry put down in Hebrews chapter 12 verse 11 now no chastening for the present time seemeth to be joyous but Grievous but afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness to them that exercise thereby no chastening for the present time seem it to be joyful but grievous but afterward it yieldeth the peaceful fruit of righteousness David said before I was afflicted I went astray now if suffering and pain sometimes corrects us then thank God part now not only may correct us but it may cause us to have a greater dependency upon God you know if we don't have difficulty many times we do not depend if we didn't have troubles we would stray away from him but we are crowded by our troubles to Christ the classic passage that we often use is second Corinthians chapter 12 verses 7 through 10 Paul had a great vision he was caught up into the third heaven and saw sacred secrets things not an not lawful for a man to utter he had a great revelation and he says here in verse seven and lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations there was given to me a thorn in the flesh the messenger of Satan to buffett me lest I should be exalted above measure for this thing I besought the Lord thrice that it might depart from me three extended periods of Prayer Paul prayed God please take away this excruciating thorn in the flesh from me and he said unto me my grace is sufficient for thee for my strength is made perfect in weakness that is God said I'm not gonna take it away I'm gonna give you added strength and then Paul said most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me therefore I take pleasure in infirmities in reproaches in necessities in persecutions in distresses for Christ's sake for when I am weak then I'm strong Paul is saying God in His love to me gave me a thorn in the flesh that I might see my weakness depend upon him and learn his strength Paul didn't say what can't be cured must be endured Paul said what cannot be cured will be enlisted and enjoyed and I will gladly rejoice in my infirmities giving thanks always for all things in the name of our Father now friend it sometimes this suffering causes us to have a greater dependence upon God I've seen it happen many times I'll tell what else a friend it will do besides giving you a deepening dependency upon God it may can firm your testimony to other people when you go through suffering you see when we endure and keep praising we shut the devil's mouth here there's some people say well the only reason that Adrian serves God is because he's never known any trouble the only reason this person or that person serves God they've never known any difficulty well friend listen when you go through suffering and pain and heartache and come out on the other side still praising God it shuts the devils mouth put this over there in Philippians chapter 1 in verse 12 Paul is in another prison when he went to town by the way he never asked what kind of hotels you have there he said what kind of prison Jezza he figured that's where he'd end up and here's what he said in Philippians 1 verse 12 but I would the II should understand brethren that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather to the furtherance of the gospel yes I suffered but it caused the gospel to go further and then he says in Philippians 1 verse 29 for unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ not only to believe on him but also to suffer for his sake to suffer for his sake when we can go through heartache tears tears disappointments and problems and still serve God Brenda shuts the devil's mouth and it confirms our testimony in the Lord now Paul who wrote this before had written this had already endured almost every conceivable hardship and human affliction he suffered shipwrecks he suffered he suffered beatings he suffered mocking persecution hunger thirst nakedness and character assassination and and God used all of this as a platform for Paul to proclaim the gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ I'll tell you something else that suffering will do it will bring you to a deeper maturity and more Christ's likeness affliction can be a wonderful teacher the psalmist said before I will afflicted I went astray but now have I kept thy word before I was afflicted I went astray psalm 119 verse 71 it is good for me that I've been afflicted that I might learn thy statutes many times we never really look up do we get on our back many times we never see until I eyes have been washed with tears you see God's priority for you is not health and well God's priority for you is not primarily service and usefulness God's priority for you is spiritual maturity to make you like the Lord Jesus Christ that's the reason the Bible says in James chapter 1 verse 4 let patience have her perfect work that ye may be perfect entire wanting nothing and the word perfect means maturity maturity doesn't mean sinlessness we look at flowers we say that's a perfect rose are perfect Daisy we don't mean it's sinless we mean it's mature it's full bloom when God says God is aiming at maturity God is aiming it at that's his purpose that you'd be mature that's the perfection he's talking about and he says how is he going to do this through patience as I've explained to you many times patience doesn't mean the ability to build a model ship or to thread a needle the word patience means in endurance it means bearing up under suffering and problems and when you endure you become perfected you become the tool now if you want to be mature you've got to endure and if you want to endure you've got to have something to endure so God gives us God allows us to have these things that we might learn endurance God is bringing you to maturity and if pain and suffering brings you to maturity then you thank God for it I'll tell you what else it will do it will bring the excelling glory of God in your life listen to first Peter chapter 4 verses 12 through 14 beloved think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you many of us say all this is so strange why's this happening to me Peter says don't think it's strange as though some strange thing happened unto you but rejoice that means be thankful in as much as you're partakers of Christ's sufferings the word partaker means you're having fellowship with Christ that when his glory shall be revealed ye may be glad also with exceeding joy if ye be reproached for the name of Christ happy are you for the spirit of glory and of God rested upon you and their party is evil spoken of but on your part he is glorified brothers and sisters as we get closer to the end time and the coming of Lord Jesus Christ we can expect increasing persecution if you can't see it happening and you are blind and a death more and more Christians are going to be persecuted and the more you give God the thanks for this persecution the more the glory of God is going to rest upon you some years ago we were in a battle in our denomination some of us believe that our denomination was moving away from her foundations her root in the Word of God we decided to do something about it well when we did the sluice gates of Hell opened on us and all kinds of things were said and I had people say things about me that were obviously untrue unkind and what I learned to do when somebody would say something like that because of the stand that I would take for the Word of God I would take that thing and offer it to the Lord it would be a praise offer I would say now Lord because of the position I've taken in the stand I've taken I'm receiving this I am receiving it because of my friendship with you Jesus you're the one who got me into this drop and so Lord here I give that to you as a praise the worst of criticism the sweeter the praise I almost felt like saying thank you for that you've given me something else to worship God when you see listen when Stephen was being stoned the Bible says his face shone like the face of an angel when the three Hebrew children were in the fiery furnace the Bible says there was a fourth one in there and his form was like the son of God God will never be more real more near more dear to you than when you are thanking him it may bring excelling glory in your life listen if he be reproached for the name of Christ happy are you for the spirit of glory and of God rested upon you now these are some of the reasons that we ought to give God things not only always but for all things they say Pastor Rogers you didn't explain mine well friend I don't have to explain it we don't live by explanations we live by promises in Commandments and the Bible says giving thanks always for all things God is God he is a sovereign God and you can arch the rainbow Romans 8:28 over whatever it is and we know that all things work together for good to those who love God who are the called according to his purpose and his purpose is to make you like the Lord Jesus Christ and sometimes when we are in trouble we say God why don't you do something he may be doing something making you like Jesus and you say what are you doing things I'm doing something you just can't see you don't understand what I am doing now we have talked we have talked friend about the duration of Thanksgiving giving thanks always we've talked about the dimensions of Thanksgiving giving thanks for all things now let's think for just a few moments about the dynamic of Thanksgiving how do we do it look again at this verse giving thanks always for all things and here's the dynamic unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that's the dynamism there you see true things should be given to the Father through Jesus that's what true Thanksgiving is about now first of all we give thanks unto the father why do we give thanks unto the father well James chapter 1 verse 17 tells us clearly every good gift and every perfect gift cometh from above cometh down from the Father of lights in whom there is no variableness the shadow of turning God daily loads us with benefits now God is good god is good now you say pastor Rogers are you trying to tell me that I'm to give thanks for rape for murder that I'm to give thanks for disease and and some greedy malady that's gnawing away at my body am I to give God thanks for that no no your are you telling me pastor that these things are good no you've missed the point I'm not telling you these things are good these things are bad I'm telling you that God is good god is good and where God does not rule God overrules and God with the chemistry of the Cross takes all things and it works them together for good to those who love him therefore we ought to be thankful to God unthankfulness is so sinful where Shakespeare said how how sharper than a serpent's tooth it is to have a thankless child the Bible over in Romans chapter 1 when it speaks of paganism gives one of the marks of paganism is unthankfulness Romans chapter 1 verse 21 because that when they knew God they glorified him not as God neither we're thankful but became vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkened friend if you failed to thank God you're going into deep deep darkness now we give thanks unto the father and we give thanks through the son look again in verse giving thanks always for all things under God and the Father in the name of the our Lord Jesus Christ actually this word in the name literally means through the name that is he is the dynamic it is Jesus and through Jesus that I give things in my estimation you cannot truly in the New Testament way the Bible way give thanks to God unless you do it through Jesus he is the dynamic here's the power of it if you ever doubt the love of God look at the cross see who Jesus Christ is he is the one who the word his name's actually stands for Authority in the authority of Jesus through the name of Jesus father I give you things pastor Rittenhouse and his family will make a ssin they were riding along in the automobile they were going in this direction a car was going in this direction and it had a trunk on top and the trunk fell off into the road pastor Rittenhouse stopped his car went over and picked up the trunk and turned around to try to find the other car but it's too late so they opened the trunk it was already somewhat broken and went through it of try to find an address they couldn't find any address but they found a gold medal and this gold medal this gold piece was inscribed and here's what it said given to Otis Otis ot is given to Otis Sampson at his retirement by the Portland cement company Otis Simpson Portland cement so they begin to do some investigatory work and they traced it down and they found this Simpsons address and they wrote him and told him we have your suitcase we found it we want to return it to you and he wrote them back and said I don't want the suitcase what was in it was trivial I want the gold piece would you please return it to me and here's what he said several times in the letter that is my most precious possession a $20 gold piece given to Oda Simpson upon his retirement from Portland cement company they sent it back to him but pastor Rittenhouse wrote him a letter said dear mr. Simpson I'm sending you this but you mentioned that it was your most precious possession may I be bold enough to tell you my most precious possession and he shared with Otis his relationship with Jesus Christ and explained to this man how he could know Jesus Christ as his personal Savior and Lord one year later on the anniversary of that day Pastor Rittenhouse got a letter from Otis Simpson and in it was a $20 gold piece the same one he said I'm giving you this back to keep because he said no longer is it my most precious possession he said now we're active members of a Bible preaching church and I want you to know sir that Jesus Christ is my most precious possession in that wonderful friend listen if you have Jesus if you have the Lord Jesus Christ you can say this Thanksgiving season thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift what is the duration of Thanksgiving to give thanks always what are the dimensions of Thanksgiving all things what is the dynamic of Thanksgiving through the name I want to Lord Jesus Christ do you know him bow your heads in prayer heads are bowed and eyes are closed and if you're certain that you're saved I want you to begin to pray for those around about you who may not know Jesus and if you're certain that you're saved thank him that you know that you're saved thank him that Jesus is your most precious possession because if you're saved I can tell you he is and those of you who are not saved those of you who don't have a personal relationship with God through Christ this is a wonderful moment for you and my precious friend may I guide you in a decision time we're right now where you are you can say an everlasting yes to Jesus Christ yield your life to him and invite him to take control of your life I invite you to pray a prayer like this dear God I know that you love me and I know that you want to save me Jesus you died to save me you promised to save me if I would trust you I do trust you Jesus this morning with all of my heart like a little child I receive you into my life as my Lord and Savior and master forgive my sin cleanse me and now take control of my life and begin to make me the person you want me to be I just yield my life over to you right now I'm wheat but you're strong so begin now Lord from this moment on as my Lord and Savior thank you for saving me thank you for your shed blood on the cross thank you that you paid my sin debt with your blood thank you that you were raised from the dead thank you Jesus and your name I pray amen we pray God has blessed you as you've watched this message if you'd like additional copies or information on other resources write us at love worth finding p.o box 38 800 memphis tennessee 38134 at lwf dot o-r-g in the US you can place Visa or MasterCard orders by calling 1-800 two seven four five six eight three Monday through Friday 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Central Time thank you and may God richly bless you

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Keywords: what, to, do, when, you, don't, feel, thankful, Adrian, Rogers, Dr, Pastor, Teacher, Teaching, Preacher, Preaching, Evangelist, Prophet, Prophecy, Truth, Praise, Faith, Worship, Gospel, Grace, Word, Minister, Ministry, Ministries, Love, Worth, Finding, God, Jehovah, Jesus, Christ, Christian, Christianity, Yahweh, Messiah, Saviour, Savior, Lord, Holy, Spirit, King, Lamb, Ghost, Bible, Bellevue, Baptist, Church, Saved, Salvation, Sermon, Fellowship, Trinity, Priest, Missionary, Revival, Lost, Sin, Satan, Backslide, Help, Forgiveness

Id: _yMXrBbA9YM

Length: 33min 45sec (2025 seconds)

Published: Fri May 20 2016