Thanking God | R.T. Kendall

[Music] there's so many incredible things dr rt kendall has taught me one of those things he taught me some years ago that i try to do on a daily basis dr rt said this he says every night before he goes to bed the earth he tries to remember three things throughout the day to thank god for i've tried to do that i try to put it in my journal every single day to say thank god for this from the simple to the amazing but to always have a spirit of gratitude going into this thanksgiving season i can't think of a better person that would come and challenge us with a spirit of gratitude and a heart of gratitude than dr rt kendall i want you to prepare your hearts as you're going to be challenged on what it means to give thanks i want to read one of my favorite verses in the bible it's philippians chapter 4 verse 6. well the apostle paul says do not be anxious about anything but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to god i want to talk to you today about thanksgiving that is being thankful many years ago my grandma mccurley was a school teacher in springfield illinois now this is before she got married when she was known as lottie maddox and she told me this story that she taught to kids around 10 years old and there was one black boy in the class who was hard to manage because he was always fighting with the kids in the class and she went up to him and and said why is it that you pick on the boys during the class she said he said well miss mccurley no i think he said miss maddox that was her name then out on the playground the boys gang up on me and i can't defend myself but i come into the classroom and i get to fight him she said to him would you like to get even with those boys he said more than anything in the world he looked at her she looked at him and said look you have a good mind you've got a great future let me tell you how to get even with those boys and that is to get a good education make the best grades because you can do it well that's the story 40 years later a phone call came from the state house in springfield illinois they said mrs mccurley are you the former lottie maddox that taught school many years ago she said yes i am would you be willing to come to a banquet at the state house uh next week and be in the seat of the guest of honor well she said yes well she didn't know then just what it was but she and her husband went and showed up and it turns out that a black senator the first black senator in the history of the state of illinois told the story that i've just told you because he wanted to speak on the subject the person who has influenced me most in life and told how her word to him changed his life and made him want to amount to something and here was a senator and he thanked her publicly and put her in the honor seat now this is a story of saying thank you it's about gratitude and i want to talk about that today except to say more about gratitude by the way just being thankful is a good thing did you know some years ago the mayo clinic came up with this conclusion and they weren't basing it on the bible or the words of jesus statistically they said it can be proved thankful people live longer and during the same time the american psychological association came up with a similar conclusion thankful people live longer well what they've shown statistically that these two organizations they're not trying to prove anything as i said they weren't trying to prove the bible they found out that those who are depressed wallowing in self-pity demanding entitlement living by what's in it for me and they just don't live as long well now that kind of gratitude is is important and it refers to being thankful generally however in this talk today i refer to being thankful to god and i want to show the importance and the first thing i want to point out if you want to know why we should be thankful it has a lot to do with knowing god's ways in hebrews chapter 3 verse 10 god said of ancient israel they have not known my ways and the more i read that i almost can sense the tear in god's voice his lament he's his sorrow my own people don't know my ways well now it lets us know god wants us to know his ways and there are two things that god wants you to understand his word and his ways now his word refers to the bible could i ask you this question how well do you know your bible well it means spending time in the word i would suggest to you that you have a bible reading plan my mentor back at westminster chapel many years ago dr mark lloyd jones introduced me uh to his bible reading plan it's one that was designed by the scottish minister of the 19th century robert murray mcshane and i follow this system and for over 40 years i've been reading the bible through the new testament twice and you need a bible reading plan now even if you don't use the one i suggest you can go online and look bible reading plan a plan that will take you through the bible in a year let me tell you why this is important if maybe you would like to get on god's good side if i may put it that way or if is anybody watching you would like to get on the holy spirit's good side i can tell you the quick way the fast track is to know his word you see the bible is the holy spirit's greatest product he's unashamed of what he's written and if you really want to know god you need to read his word so there are two things god wants you to know his word but also his ways and i can tell you the way to get to know anybody's ways you get to spend time with them uh there are people that know my ways uh they spend time with me and i get to know certain people's ways pastor delena a close friend i've got to know his ways it comes from spending time with him and if you want to know god's ways i can tell you spend time with him so i'm asking you how much do you read your bible how much do you pray and so these are two things god wants you to know now there are two things about god's ways you should know two things one he's a jealous god and secondly he loves gratitude now when i refer to the jealousy of god i have to say there are those who don't like that about god and jealousy in the bible is not a good trait we don't admire people that are jealous those that are consumed with jealousy but god is upfront about it he says my name is jealous and it's really like being the first cousin to the glory of god the jealousy of god the glory of god they're much the same thing the great theologian of the 18th century jonathan edwards said there is one thing that the devil cannot produce in a person and that is a love for the glory of god another way of saying it is that you love it that he's a jealous god and so i would just say to you the fact that god is jealous does that turn you off or can you say i love it that is jealous you see here's the reason you should love it he's looking after you he doesn't want you to make mistakes he doesn't want you to do foolish things and because he's a jealous god he's watching you and he wants you to be committed to him because if you put him first that you love his glory you love his honor then you can be sure of this he's watching after you a great verse in psalms 84 verse 11 says no good thing will he withhold from those that walk uprightly well that's because he's a jealous god he wants the very best for you all right two things you need to know about god the first is he's a god of glory that means he's a jealous god but there's another thing he loves gratitude now what does that mean well he wants to be thanked for things uh you know we're like that have you ever said to somebody uh thank you so much i appreciate it and they say don't mention it or you've done something for someone and and they come up to you and uh they say i am so grateful and we say not at all nothing nothing to it now we say don't mention it but woe unto them if they don't mention it we don't like it if they're not thankful because when we do things for people it's not that we want them to bow and scrape but just to show that they appreciate what we've done god is like that we are made in the image of god and when he does things for us he wants us to thank him well this is a theme running right through the old testament you can read it in the psalms in the new testament here's a verse 1 thessalonians chapter 5 verse 18 where paul says in everything give thanks for this is the will of god in christ jesus concerning you now he didn't say thank god for everything no there's not a requirement in us to thank god for everything i don't thank him when i'm sick i don't thank him if i miss a plane i don't thank him for the coronavirus i don't thank him when i hear of a death of a loved one i don't thank him when i think of the evil in the world i don't thank him for it but that's not what god said he said thank him in all circumstances in other words you don't panic you don't lose your faith you may not understand what's going on it may be hard to understand and you think lord i don't understand this but choose to be thankful and to say i don't know what's going on but i love you anyway let me put it to you like this which gives you more pleasure when god is doing things for you and making you happy or when you make him happy well you say well how can i make him happy i can tell you faith hebrews chapter 11 verse 6 without faith it is impossible to please him and there are those times when because he's not making us happy at the moment uh he's not doing what we want him to do he's not answering our prayer and if we're not careful we will begin to feel sorry for ourselves and maybe sulk he doesn't like that here's what he likes that when he hides his face that's a bible phrase when he doesn't seem to be showing his glory to you he's not letting you feel his presence your prayers are not being answered he can do that he can hide his face you know what there is an opportunity to please him you see i would urge you and i don't say this is easy but i would urge you to make it as a goal get your joy from knowing you please him and when you know you're pleasing him that's a good feeling now there are times when he's pleasing you and i think oh good thank you lord and there are times when things don't go my way and i think wait a minute rt what is it you preach you preach get your joy from knowing you please him i thought i need to practice this because right now i'm not feeling very good about the way things are going but then i think this is my opportunity to show that i will be for him i will thank him in this i don't understand why this has happened uh i have a friend he's fairly well known i don't know if you've ever heard of arthur blessed he's a man that is carried across around the world he started doing it december 25th i think it was 1967 people laughed at him he said god told him to take the cross down from the wall in the restaurant that he'd started called his place he said if i knew i was going to have to carry it one day i wouldn't have made it so big but he says god told him to carry the cross around the world and i'll tell you what he has done it in fact he's carried around the world and half of the world again twice he's got the guinness book of records for the longest walk that's not what he's set out to do but i've got to know him very well he came to us at westminster chapel and he told me a story that i want to share with you he was in northern israel and it was cold and he didn't make arrangements where to sleep that night or where to put the cross and it was getting late and there was nothing to do there was this bus stop a bench uh no covering and he thought well i'll just sleep on the bench and had the cross laying behind him when all of a sudden it started to rain and so arthur sat on the edge of the bench and said reign in the name of jesus stop what do you suppose happened it began to pour lightning thunder the water beat down in his face arthur said god i love you i don't know that i could have done that but you see that's what paul meant thanking in all circumstances um job could say though he slay me yet will i trust him and so when bad things happen it's not that you're thankful for them but you show your faith when you can be thankful in them and that's a moment where you get satisfaction think well things aren't going my way but i know one thing i'm pleasing god and that's a good feeling in james chapter 1 verse 2 he started his epistle with these words counted pure joy count it pure joy when you fall into all kinds of trials now at the time it's hard to do that the word count is the same exact greek word that paul uses in romans 4 when it's translated impute where paul says our faith counts for righteousness so god imputes righteousness to us because we believe the gospel and the death of jesus well james uses the same exact word when you are in a trial he says impute to the trial count it pure joy well that's not easy to do it's not easy to do but why should you one reason one day you will treasure what you're going through i mean it one day you'll look back and think i complained at the time but that was so good for me or i can tell you personal illustration uh some weeks ago i had the privilege of speaking to you i don't know whether you will remember it a sermon i preached i called it total forgiveness and i was in what was at the time louise and i greatest trial of our lives greatest trial ever the future was bleak it looked awful i just thought there's nothing to live for i can tell you something now you can put me under a lie detector and i'll tell you now best thing that ever happened to me that very trial i look back and i think i don't know what to do without it it changed my life it was so good but you don't feel that way so it's not always easy that's why james says count it pure joy if you're going to count it pure joy anyway we need to say it but it's not easy there's an old hymn god will sanctify you or sanctify to you your deepest distress when through the deep waters i call thee to go the rivers of sorrow will not overflow for i will be with thee thy trials to bless and sanctify to thee thy deepest distress it's only a matter of time that you will look back on the worst things in your life and be thankful it will take time but what james is encouraging us to do be thankful now not easy now i want to share three principles three number one god loves gratitude number two god hates ingratitude number three gratitude must be taught now the reason i say that i've learned it i've learned this as a pastor i'll tell you another story if i may the text that i use at the beginning of this talk if i could just read it one more time philippians 4 6 here's what the apostle paul says do not be anxious about anything but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to god now when i when i was at westminster chapel we would always go through a book preached through many books and we went through philippians and when i came down to chapter four verse six and i was preaching my sermon on that i had in my notes a word about remember to be thankful but i didn't have much to say and something happened to me that day never happened before hasn't happened since i wish it happened all the time but it did that day when i came up with that phrase reading it with thanksgiving my whole life came before me in the middle of the sermon i've heard stories about people who at the end of their life see their whole life flash before them i'm not talking about that what i'm saying when i was going through that verse and i came up with that phrase through thanksgiving remember to be thankful i saw one thing after another it was my whole life how god had blessed me and i hadn't thanked him i mean those obvious things not a remote things that one might forget uh but well the big for example this is what i heard i thought i heard god say because when i came through that in philippians i felt so horrible i said lord help me to get this sermon finished quick so i can go into my vestry and lock the door and pray and vow to be a different man well when i went into my vestry to start to pray it came back and one of the things god seemed to say to me rt here you are at westminster chapel you're from kentucky and here you are at westminster chapel are you thankful well yes lord you know i'm thankful he said well you never told me well but you know i'm thankful and then he said you know when you came to oxford and you come from kentucky where the educational standards aren't the highest and all those other students around you you thought you can't compete with them and you were so afraid you would fail you you made it didn't you yeah are you thankful well yes you never told me but you know i'm thankful you know my heart he said you didn't tell me you know what i felt so horrible i made a vow that day i can tell you it's a vow i have kept that was 34 years ago a vow to be for the rest of my life a thankful man and here's one way i try to demonstrate it i keep a journal you could call it a diary i've kept it for years i could tell you where i was on april 4th 1984 at three o'clock in the afternoon that's just something i do well i decided to do something starting that day and i've kept it up i go through my journal for the day before and go through all the little things of the day i did it this morning before i came here i thank god uh for the good time i had with pastor delena i thanked him for the nice breakfast that we had down the street i thank for different people i met conversations we had and the day before was my son's birthday and everybody was so good to him i thanked him for that and there were four five more things do you know how long it takes me to go through yesterday's diary just to say thank you 10 seconds it doesn't take long but i make it a habit just thank him for every little thing and i'll make a suggestion to you this is something my wife and i do we think of three things every night before we go to bed that we're thankful for for that day three things it doesn't take long here's my point god notices gratitude he loves gratitude and that's the first principle god loves gratitude and if you want a fast track into an arena whereby you can be comfortable knowing and you're pleasing god be a thankful man be a thankful woman be a thankful old person be a thankful young person god loves gratitude but then principle number two he hates ingratitude oh i'm sorry but he doesn't like it he notices it example you may know the story it's in luke chapter 17 verses 11 to 19 where there were ten lepers and they were crying out for mercy and guess what jesus healed all ten just like that healed them one one leper came back and said thank you what do you suppose was the first thing jesus said in response to that first thing he said he said where are the nine i i healed ten you're the only one where are the nine you see that lets you know he loves gratitude he notices ingratitude and he notice how over the years he's been good to me so good to me it's embarrassing and then when i was found out to the way it came to me preaching that sermon i just determined that the rest of my life i would be a thankful man i would urge you to take this seriously you will never be sorry and i can tell you another thing it will change your life just to let you know how much god hates ingratitude uh in romans chapter one there's a description of people doing all kinds of terrible things horrible sins i would even hate to read it over or at this moment embarrassing things that people did and right in the middle where god says that by revelation they know that there's a true god and in all this they were unthankful it's right in the middle of all those awful sins as a matter of fact in 2 timothy chapter 3 verse 2 paul said in the last days perilous times will come and he began to describe all kinds of evil things and right in the middle of it they will be unthankful you see god regards ingratitude as equivalent to the worst kind of sin now you may not think it's so bad because it isn't known by anybody it's not necessarily scandalous but that's the way god looks at it well now i want you for the moment to think of things that you should be thankful for now let me tell you why i'm bringing this up when i say god loves gratitude he hates ingratitude and gratitude must be taught after coming to that conclusion about being thankful i decided to teach it to my church at westminster chapel and we had a prayer meeting every sunday for an hour before the evening service and so that day i said to everybody we're going to do something different now i want us to spend the first 15 minutes thanking god for things no petition don't ask him for anything just start saying you're thankful i said does everybody understand that yeah no petition no request just start thanking for things then i said let us pray quiet quiet i said is nobody here thankful for anything and uh quiet i said well uh thanking for jesus are you thankful for jesus well somebody say i'm thankful for jesus i want to say thank you lord for sending us your son that's good quiet again can you not think of anything how about thanking him for the holy spirit or another says oh lord we thank you for the holy spirit be quiet then what about the bible thank you for the bible do you know what i had to spoon feed them literally to tell them things because they felt awkward this is why i say gratitude must be taught but it took several weeks but after a couple months would you believe those 15 minutes went by like seconds people were climbing over each other interrupting each other to be thankful for things they thought thank god for the weather thank god that the flood didn't come that was being dreaded they thanked him for things that were going on in africa where they'd been listen when you stop and think of things you will find a lot and let me give you some example when is the last time you thanked god for salvation that you're saved do you realize the fact that you are a christian i hope you are it's no accident because paul said philippians 2 8-9 for by grace are you saved through faith that not of yourselves it's god's gift not of works does anyone brag about it if salvation were by works you'd say god owes me something but he owes you nothing and you just are indebted to him just say thank you my uh teacher mark lloyd jones used to say a christian is a person who is surprised that he's a christian or that she's a christian does that surprise you well it shouldn't because if you realize you are saved and god did it you think i can't believe it and you try to get others to join you they you get nowhere sometimes you go to your best friend oh i wish this could happen to you and your relative it's a work of the holy spirit and the fact that you're saved you realize god did it thank him that you're alive thank you that you've got good health thank you that god supplies your need he's never too late he's never too early always just on time oh here's something to thank him for that you didn't get caught that if you got caught it could have destroyed you things that people know about you only you know and you say thank you lord they don't know you see god is so good to us he's looking after us thank him that you've got a job in this day when i had breakfast with someone today and the person said 90 of my friends have lost their job during this crisis and my heart goes out to people like that here's what i would say to you if you don't have a job i would urge you tell god you will be so thankful when he gives you a job and never forget that if you don't have the virus of covert vow to god that you will be thankful that you haven't got it or if you get it and you come through it thank you for that you know general douglas macarthur many uh decades ago used to say there are no atheists in foxholes because people then they call out to god but what happens is when the war is over they forget and that's what i'm saying to you if you come through this and you do get a job and you get your health don't be like those that forget don't be like that be a thankful person thank him for the bible thank him for great promises uh one of my favorite verses romans 8 28 we know that all things work together for good to them that love god to them who are the called according to his purpose hebrews 12 6 do you know the lord loves who he disciplines thank be thankful because it's a sign god loves you and i've already referred to psalm 84 verse 11 no good thing will he withhold from those that walk up rightly now here's a teaching that i want to share with you in my closing moments i call it the doctrine of gratitude sanctification is the process by which we become more and more holy or more and more like jesus one of the purposes of all of paul's letters was to teach sanctification 1 thessalonians chapter 4 verse 3 this is the will of god even your sanctification that you would abstain from immorality now why must it be taught well some people automatically they have changed lives and just overnight they're never the same again we thank god for those but i know other people that struggle after they become christians and they think i thought i wasn't going to have this problem i knew of a lady who was both a prostitute and a dope addict and read a tract and was converted and she said instantly she lost all desire for drugs and it was just wonderful she decided to have a ministry to dope addicts and prostitutes and she found out that there were some who as soon as they were saved or just like her they dropped it no no drug problem at all but she found others that were just as converted that struggled and you see this is why we have the new testament we need to be talked and even those who change it first they later need it this is important to know that sanctification is what you need in order to be thankful you see when i was young i was in a particular denomination uh they thought you could live above sin uh and i used to wonder if we could live above sin why do we have the lord's prayer that says forgive us our trespasses ecclesiastes chapter 7 verse 20 there is nobody who never sins sanctification therefore to be holy is not in order to get to heaven god loves gratitude he hates ingratitude gratitude must be taught and the proof he deals with in gratitude is that he chastens those who need the slap on the wrist to need the protection god will deal with those saved by the blood of christ who show in gratitude and be thankful for that be thankful even if you did get caught and sometimes that's the way god gets your attention well as you may know we're getting close to the era a time of the year we talk about thanksgiving we've seen that god lamented of israel that they did not know his ways god wants us to know his ways we've seen this it's so neglected he loves gratitude and i close with this comment the pilgrim fathers knew this about god they were therefore determined not to be ungrateful but to show gratitude to god for the way he had blessed them after they had suffered pain and hunger for so long and they were gripped by a psalm psalm 107 verse 22 where it reads and let them offer sacrifices of thanksgiving and tell of his deeds and songs and joy that's how thanksgiving got started and yet it was not until president abraham lincoln's proclamation in 1863 that thanksgiving day became an official holiday i close god loves gratitude he hates ingratitude i believe that god's hand on america can be traced in part to the fact that america chose to honor god from earliest days one significant difference between america and israel god chose israel america chose god and the thought that america would cease to be a grateful nation is very alarming and troubling and i would urge all americans who are unashamed of god and his son jesus christ that they exercise the freedom that we have and show our gratitude not only by our personal thanks but that america also will retain the fourth thursday of november at a time that we remember as a nation how good god has been to us by the way do you know for sure that if you were to die today would you go to heaven if you don't know for sure pray this prayer lord jesus i need you i want you thank you for dying on the cross for my sins wash my sins away by your blood i welcome your holy spirit into my heart [Music] as best as i know how i give you my life and i want to live a life of gratitude to thank you for saving me [Music] amen

Channel: Times Square Church

Views: 4,089

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Keywords: R.T. Kendall, Sermon, Times Square Church

Id: eBxgdzANQPQ

Length: 41min 21sec (2481 seconds)

Published: Sun Nov 15 2020