"The Importance in Giving Thanks" with Doug Batchelor

who are online we'd like to remind you you can go to the granite bay church website and you're able to view the bulletin there and also be updated with any of the announcements that we have and for the few of you that are here in person i just want to bring these announcements to your attention just of course a reminder we are functioning a little bit differently because of the coronavirus we're encouraging online participation and the many who are joining us online we want to welcome you we also like to remind you that this midweek bible study scheduled for this coming wednesday has been cancelled because of the the holiday because of thanksgiving but it will resume that's our study in first samuel that'll resume not this coming wednesday but the following wednesday after that now for those who are joining us i think you know about our online service because you're watching live but if you're looking for some other avenues how you can participate in online service on the bulletin in the bulletin on the granite bay church website we have a list of all of the different places you can go to view the online service also like to remind those who are joining us if you'd like to give your ties and offerings you can do so online and go to the granite bay church website for more information about that also we'd like to remind you about church updates we have announcements that come from time to time and we like to send out a weekly email to let you know what's happening for the church service if you'd like to get those email updates just send a phone number your phone number your cell phone number to office at granite baysda.org and we can actually send you a text update to let you know of the various things that are taking place i'd also like to remind you that we have an announcement from our health ministries team they're planning a walk after thanksgiving it's going to be sunday the 29th at 8 00 a.m and for the details of the of the hike please visit the granite bay church website and again you'll see that in the announcements section and we'll mention something about that next week as well would also like to let everyone know that we do have some transfers that's in the bulletin and you'll be able to see this online this is the first reading so we won't be voting on this just yet but be sure to read through those names folks who are transferring out from granite bay who have moved and then those who have moved in and transferring in to the granite bay church well again we'd like to warmly welcome all of those of you here at the granite bay church and we're going to begin our service with the call to worship you'll see the words on the back of your bulletin and we'll actually have some musicians lead us in that so at this time those who are here we invite you to stand as we sing our call to worship we have this hope that burns within our hearts [Music] of the lord we have this faith that [Music] of his that time is [Music] is the lord let's bow our heads forward a prayer dear father in heaven indeed we are so grateful to be able to gather before you in your presence and lord what a joy it is for us to be able to lift our hearts in praise and worship for the many blessings that you bestowed upon us and father we ask your blessing upon the service we know we are scattered many of us a distance from one another but lord you are everywhere and we invite your spirit to speak to our hearts wherever we might be lead us into a clear and a full understanding of your grace and your will for our lives for we ask us in jesus name amen please be seated happy sabbath you're all excited about the return of the lord i can see welcome to be here my loved ones uh you know i come across people all the time that they say well you know you don't have to tie there's nowhere in the new testament where it says that tithing is part of the christian experience and i just always love to show them matthew 22 23 23 that says woe to you scribes and pharisees hypocrites for you pay tithe of mint of anin of coming and have neglected the weightier matters of the law justice mercy and faith these you ought to have done without leaving the others undone amen and so it is a principle and why is it a principle because it is a delight it is our privilege it is our blessing that we can be collaborators with god in the plan of salvation that we can participate as it says in revelation we are now what priests amen all of us are part of the plan of salvation and are working and ministering this plan out so i think it's a great blessing and we receive a lot of blessings also from the lord so for all i just wanted to remind you for those that are watching us online that are not here that you can leave your tithes and offerings can be given online you can go to www.granitebaysda.org or you can send a check you can make a check out to granite bay sda church and you can mail it to p.o box 910 rocklin california 95667 for the very few of us that are here when you go out you will find a deacon that will pick up uh will also if you brought your ties and offerings today and so let's have a word of prayer for these tithes and offerings that will be collected father we thank you again for the great privilege and the great honor that you have given us of being your children of being part of the remnant church and father of of being collaborators with you stewards in this plan of salvation so we just ask father that this the all of the resources that we have brought to you father may be used for your glory may be used to reach those that have not heard the plan of salvation that have not heard the everlasting gospel and for those father that are suffering or in pain or going through needs may this money that is being collected fathers serve to reach out to their needs as well and we present them with the gospel may this character of yours be reproduced in us every day father as we are learning and may we reflect their glory and glory in all things that we do and we ask this and beg this in the name of our lord and savior jesus christ amen happy sabbath everyone good morning everybody welcoming the vast majority of our members are watching online we praise the lord that uh following our revelation now series we have some people who've made decisions and you know the work of the gospel does not stop even with an economic or what do you call it an international pandemic people still make their decisions for jesus and we still follow the command to teach and to baptize them so thankful for the way the lord has been leading in ed's life ed engel has a very interesting testimony from new york city and has been searching for the truth in so many different places and ways and ran into the amazing facts programs among some of the others and has studied his way into the adventist message and he's been reading and studying voraciously he wanted so much to be part of this baptism he flew from new york city and he is this is he'll be part of the middletown churches this bronx middletown yeah middletown new york middletown new york and they're aware that he's out here and he just kind of felt like we were helping shepherd the process and asked if he could be part of this baptism and so it is a a privilege and an honor and we've had a chance to visit and i know that he just loves the lord and is very thankful for this new beginning and we want to send special greetings to any of his friends and family that may be watching online right now so let me have your hand here ed because you've made your decision to accept jesus as your personal savior to have all of your sins washed away and be part of his people it gives me great pleasure to baptize you in the name of god the father his son jesus christ and the holy spirit amen [Applause] yes i should be in clovis right now right yeah you grab my wrist and you'll cover your nose for this one okay uh bill here has been studying for some time and coming to church friends with the ings and i don't know if they're here today and and uh some of your other friends and family that may want to stand in support of this decision but we're just praising god that you've accepted the truth you've taken the stand and you want to be part of god's people have all of your sins washed away and for that reason it gives me great pleasure to baptize you in the name of god the father his son jesus christ and the holy spirit [Applause] thank amen i've really decided uh delighted about the decision that luce has made loose pressly has been studying and she's studied with john she comes from the las vegas area and is i can tell she's just thrilled about the new beginning becoming part of god's people i grew up in the catholic faith and of course had a lot of learning to do and and has accepted the teachings of jesus and the seventh-day adventist movement and so lucid is a delight and an honor because you've made your decision to have all of your sins washed away to follow the example of jesus and to be baptized and be part of his people filled with the spirit i baptize you in the name of god the father his son jesus christ and the holy spirit amen [Applause] just little bit further this is always a special day for many people family members as well and um abe here um grew up a seventh-day adventist and during his life you know how sometimes things get just a little wavy and then he became he really started getting back and then wavy and then all of a sudden an illness came down and god miraculously healed him from that and so he wanted to fully dedicate his life to the lord so this is why he's standing here today so abe you know god has given you a true blessing of life here but most of all life with him and so at this time by god's grace i baptize you in the name of the father son and in the holy spirit amen you know uh deborah we've known each other for a little while paths have crossed many times at malls in several different places and she had been studying she watched revelation now and watched that through and she came to me and i know she filled out the cards online as well and she came to me as well and says you know i'm ready to do this and so she's here standing here today and um so deborah it's my privilege at this time to baptize you in the name of the father son and the holy spirit [Applause] so i am so excited i'm kind of trembling right now because i'm so excited um it is such a blessing to be here it is such a blessing to celebrate this moment with this beautiful family look i'll tell you it's a blessing to baptize to witness this transformation but it is a greater blessing when the whole family comes together and so we've been studying with the wood family for it's been like almost a year right guys since we started at the old church and we studied there we studied over zoom when all this stuff happened so it is just a blessing and a privilege um for jason it's been a journey of 20 plus years that he's been studying and you know learning more and it is just a blessing that his wife sharon and their kids leilani and tyler are coming too and so when you're studying the bible with people that are you know the parents and the kids it's always a fun dynamic because you have the the knowledge of the maturity and the experience of the parents and then you have the curiosity and you know the passion of the kids so it has been such a beautiful journey with you guys when i met jason and his family it was at a potluck at the old church and who knew ajson who knew that this is where we'd end up right yeah well this is where we're ending up this is the beginning of the journey yes for your family jason after all this time it is a privilege to be here with you you know this moment represents death to the old self so it's kind of somber that way but it represents a rebirth in jesus a death to your sins a death to the old self and a rebirth to the new self in jesus christ which is why as a minister of this gospel following the orders of the master for the forgiveness of your sins and a new life in jesus christ i baptize you in the name of the father of the son and of the holy spirit thank you sharon always had really good questions i appreciated studying the bible with you so much sharon because it challenged me to learn more to learn more day by day preparing for our lessons and answering the questions and so it was just a privilege not only with your husband and with your kids but to see your curiosity to see your your desire to know more and not know more only in a in a theoretical way but in a way where you are coming to know jesus as a friend and as your savior which is why as a minister of the gospel following the orders of the master for the forgiveness of your sins and a new life in jesus christ i baptize you in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit leilani is more of the quiet type at least with me i don't know with her family right tyler but studying the bible with leilani and just seeing her understanding of what we were talking about and every time after when i ask well what are you thinking about baptism are you excited and seeing how excited she was that's been such a a rare jewel to see in someone that is your age you know going through the bouts of adolescence and the the we all know how hard that was right so it's just a pleasure and a privilege to be able to participate in this moment with you and sing the new path that jesus is placing you on which is why as a minister of the gospel following the orders of the master for the forgiveness of your sins and a new life in jesus christ i baptize you in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit tyler with me at least is also one of the silent types but the thing about tyler is that you can see you can see the intelligence in his eyes you can see that when he asks a question it's not just for the sake of asking a question it's because he's truly curious he's truly wanting to find out more and the questions are always very very smart questions so i know tyler that while you go through growing up as a teen as a young adult i know that your faith it's not going to be based only on what your parents did or what they taught you or only what you see at church is going to be based on a natural curiosity that i believe to be inspired by the holy spirit which is why as a minister of this gospel following the orders of the master for the forgiveness of your sins and a new life in jesus christ i baptize you in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit so you everyone can see that it's family day right we just did a family praise god and now it's siblings you know uh one of the closest relationships that you can have in life is with a sibling i know that by experience the relationship that i have with my sister and especially with my brother michael that's right there i know that going through this moment and and um sharing this moment with each other is something that i believe will bring you closer together as family and as siblings david you can stay right here in the back katie come on this side right here this one right here katie studying the bible with katie was a trip it was the most enjoyable thing because katie she is also one smart kid she will she will not only ask smart questions but she will provide smart answers all right and anyone that knows katie knows that she knows what she knows it's not just because of her parents it's not because her parents are faithful good christians but it's because she has learned from them learned at their feet i i visited your home three or four times and every time i learned so much so it was just a privilege to be there and it's an honor to participate in this day that i think you're going to remember forever and i know that i'm going to remember forever so that's why katie as a minister of the gospel following the orders of jesus christ for the forgiveness of your sins and a new life in him i baptize you in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit [Applause] david is the silent strong smart type all right he won't say much at least with me i don't know about with the family i i believe that with the family he'll speak more right yeah or is he silent to with you guys certain topics he talks all right my knowledge of david is that he is the silent smart type right but when he does open his mouth is to say something smart or something funny but participating here with you now david it's just an honor and seeing you grow up look these last six months you all know that we haven't been able to see each other that much so the last time i had seen david you know before i guessed september it had been a few months and david grew like this much in just a few months so seeing you go from a child to a pre-teen and eventually a teenager and then a young man it's going to be an honor and a privilege of mine i love hearing your questions and i love sharing with you the bible and that's why david for the forgiveness of your sins as a minister of the gospel following the orders of the master and a new life in him i baptize you in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit so let's go here in the middle so we had a family we had siblings and now we have best friends sisters in jesus and they wanted to be baptized together their baptismal interview happened together and the bible studies that we had were all together right through zoom and the pathfinder baptismal studies and so just being here with you two and seeing this beautiful friendship that jesus has given to you just inspires me to preserve my relationships my friendships and so it's just so good to see that together in both of you okay is simply one of the most intelligent humans that i've ever met all right those who know donica know what i'm talking about when pastor doug's ask asks a question you could hear her voice answering it at church on our zoom bible studies i had to hold donnica off otherwise she would answer everything because she knows everything that we ask you're just so smart and danica i believe that is a gift from god so you have to remember to daily use that gift use your intelligence use your awesome memory to memorize scripture but not for the sake of memorizing it but for the sake of having jesus living within you and in your heart and that's why donica as a minister of the gospel and i know how special this moment is to you as a minister of the gospel following the orders of the master for the forgiveness of your sins and a new life in jesus i baptize you in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit [Applause] guys donica's smart but brookie is really smart too brookie knows how to take care of alpacas better than anyone i know okay she knows about animals she is possibly the sweetest child i know or one of them at least because i know quite a few but she is always a friend she is always helpful she is always sweet and i also believe brookie that that is a god-given gift the ability to make people feel welcome to make them feel good to make them feel happy and joyful around you i'll tell you that's not for everyone i have to work more on that myself and so it's just such a good thing to be here and this baptism will tank with you because i know that jesus has so much to use you for to bring people to him and to inspire people to be more like him because i see that reflection in your life which is why brookie as a minister of the gospel following the orders of the master for the forgiveness of your sins and a new life in jesus i baptize you in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit [Applause] last but not least andrew is possibly the best guitar player that i know and he comes from a family of talented musicians i know that at least him and his sister my goodness when i see them playing i feel that i'm i'm getting i'm having a glimpse of heaven it's that good not only this but andrew he is a smart kid all right our bible studies i was surprised by the hard questions that i would ask and that he would deductively instinctively know the answer to so that really reveals your knowledge of the bible it reveals your interest in the bible i didn't have to approach andrew to for for bible studies he came up to me and said pastor i want to be baptized and that just showed me that he was serious he was determined he knew what he wanted and that is the definition of andrew he's determined he knows what he wants and he goes out to get it so andrew use that god-given drive for him always in your life independently of whatever you're doing use the desire to learn and to know and to answer for jesus and i'm sure that you will learn more and more because he will bless you more and more which is why as a minister of the gospel following the orders of the master for the forgiveness of your sins and a new life in jesus christ i baptize you in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit [Applause] [Music] you please [Music] so [Music] foreign so so [Music] good morning church family please stand for scripture reading our scripture this morning is found in psalms 103 bless the lord o my soul and all that is within me bless his holy name bless the lord o my soul and forget not all his benefits who forgives all your iniquities who heals all your diseases who redeems your life from destruction who crowns you with loving kindness and tender mercies who satisfies your mouth with good things so that your youth is reno renewed like the eagles please remain standing as we prepare our hearts for prayer i invite you to sing with me now dear lord as we pray and we have a lot to be thankful for in spite of everything that's going on we have a savior that's about to come and that's what brings us here and that's what makes him live in our hearts and we allow him to let's sing now dear lord as we pray take our hearts and minds far away from the press of the world all around to your throne where grace does above may our lives be transformed by your love may your souls very refreshed from above at this moment that people everywhere join us now as we come to you in praise as far as possible please kneel dear father in heaven we thank you for the privilege of being able to come before you in prayer lord we read in the bible how that the prophets of old which would catch a glimpse of your glory high lift it up and they say woe is me and the angels in your presence that say holy holy holy lord god almighty and even though father you are high and lifted up you are our father and you desire us to enter into your presence for we are your children and lord today we come before you we bring all of our joys and our sorrows our requests and we lay it all at your feet father you know each need father we thank you for taking care of us for you have told us not to worry about tomorrow for you know what's in store and we can place ourselves in your hands and trust in you and so father thank you for your grace for your goodness thank you for promising to take care of us and lord we look forward to the day when jesus comes and there will be no more pain or sorrow or suffering but you will make all things new father keep us faithful to you may our hearts be prepared and ready and looking forward to that glorious reappearing of christ and now lord we just want to commit this service in your keeping ask that your spirit would speak to our hearts and be upon pastor doug as he opens up the word in a special way for we ask this in jesus name amen good morning again i say again because we had some people that were joining us for sabbath school and now of course we're moving into our worship service and we just want to praise the lord we have a lot to be thankful for amen and we're just thanking the lord and praising god for these souls we've just seen seal their decision to follow jesus with a covenant of baptism and i think in the background i hear the angels singing the bible tells us there's joy in heaven when people make those decisions i'm also thankful because um 2020 is coming to an end we're hoping that 2021 is going to be a different kind of year on a more positive way i think we see light at the end of the tunnel they say they've they've found a couple of vaccine options that might help life return to some normalcy and i don't know about you but i'm looking forward to the day when we can all gather together again and then without some of the incumbent the encumbering criteria but uh we we're just going to hang on and endure to the end our message today being thanksgiving is this coming week i thought it'd be appropriate to talk about a very biblical subject of returning thanks i was looking in my bible computers make it easy but the word thanks or thanksgiving is found a hundred and three times in the bible so i would say that qualifies it as a bible subject now i was reading that back in 1860 september there was a ship that was crossing lake michigan at night and just before dawn it had a terrible collision the name of the ship was called the lady elgin it collided with a schooner well it was still dark before the same sun came up called the august the schooner suffered some uh damage but it pretty much poked a hole right in the side of the the lady elgin which was carrying somewhere between four and 500 people they don't know because the manifest was destroyed the august was able to limp into shore chicago was only about nine miles away but the lady elgin broke in too and began to rapidly sink and as the sun was coming up the people who had managed to grab a hold of various parts of the broken ship they didn't have lifeboats for the folks back then and it seemed like they weren't even able it happened so quickly to deploy the life vests that they began to wash towards the shore very rough seas and even in september lake michigan's cold well the august when it came to shore it notified that it had struck a ship in it and they would be needing help a number of people gathered on the shore and you can see off in the ways that people were struggling and there were four or five young men from a nearby college one of them whose name was uh edward spencer he um i hope i'm giving you the right name yeah ed spencer he was not a very strong man but he was the most experienced swimmer and so what they did is they tied a rope around him now when you try and rescue someone drowning in rough water you can both drown so they tied a rope around him and they sent him out in the cold water and one by one he would swim way out and sometimes 100 yards offshore in rough water he'd grab a hold of somebody he'd signal and they'd pull him back in and he did this 16 times and he finally felt delirious there on the shore he was so cold and shaking and exhausted and then they said there's he's heard another man shouting help help help and he went out and man was with his wife and he got out there and he got a hold of one more struggled out got a hold of a man who held onto his wife and so he pulled in two more totaling 17 people well in the process of fighting through the debris and the waves and the cold he was injured he was bleeding his face was struck by a piece of floating debris and he had had such serious hypothermia and exhaustion he never fully recovered years later he went to visit his school there outside of chicago and they brought him up and they said what do you remember about that night on lake michigan with the sinking of the lady elgin over 300 people died he rescued 17. he said two things said one i just wondered if i had done my best and he said the other thing is none of them that i rescued ever thanked me and um you know that struck me guy his whole life has changed he's injured he suffered with ill health the rest of his life rescuing 17 people not one of the 17 he said ever thanked him and it makes us think about a story in the bible that jesus shares with us if you turn in your bibles it's only found in the gospel of luke luke 17 you've got this story of ten lepers and it says it happened as jesus went to jerusalem that he passed through the midst of samaria and galilee and as he entered a certain village there met him 10 men who were lepers now sometimes they had leper colonies they could have 50 or 100 people they were all isolated they they had to wear masks you know about that let me read this to you it's in the bible leprosy that makes us think about our day and age leviticus 13 45 now the leper on whom is the sore his clothes shall be torn and his head bare and he'll cover his mustache i guess that's for the men who have mustaches it doesn't speak about the lady's mustaches and cry unclean unclean he is unclean and he will dwell alone have you had that feeling lately in the last eight months or so you go into a store and you've forgotten your mask and all of a sudden you think unclean that's happened to me many times i jump out of my car and as i walk up towards walmart or my other favorite places to shop i see everybody walking in and out with masks i think i'm unclean i gotta go back to my car and get my mask you feel separated they could not associate with other people because of the disease they were separated so they come and they're pleading with jesus and they're asking for mercy and jesus when he saw them he said go show yourselves to the priests now what he meant by that was when somebody had leprosy if they believed that they had either healed naturally because there are a few different kinds of skin diseases they called leprosy or if they had been miraculously healed like mariam was they needed to show themselves to the priest the priests were the doctors back then and they would basically say they were declared clean or not if they were declared clean they could go back to life as normal they didn't have to walk around covering their face and crying out unclean unclean and now when jesus told them go show yourself to the priests they still had leprosy and they might have argued and said why would we go show ourselves to the priests to make an offering for cleansing from leprosy if we still have leprosy but they didn't argue that they got right and the bible makes an amazing statement it says in going they were cleansed right there friends you've got the secret weapon of the gospel in going they were cleansed as they took the first steps to do what god had commanded them to do a miracle took place and they were healed so many people come to jesus and they wonder how they're going to deal with the burden of sin as you take the first steps you make up your mind by god's grace you're going to do his will the children of israel walked into the jordan in going the water parted i know people say i don't think i can quit smoking i said you believe that god will help you do what he wants you to do yes i said well you take the first step throw away your cigarettes and then we'll pray and you might find that in going you're cleansed and i've seen that miracle happen so many times you draw near to god and in going they were cleansed he will draw near to you and so it's just a wonderful powerful principle as they began to do what jesus commanded them to do divine power attended their human effort and the miraculous occurred in going they were cleansed well as they were cleansed they began to leap up and down and they were excited and they couldn't wait to go tell their families they couldn't wait to get the inspection be declared clean they had had their covet test and they wanted the results and it says but one of them when he saw he was healed he did a u-turn and he went back to jesus it doesn't say how far they had gone but they'd gone some distance he turned back and he went back to jesus and with a loud voice he glorified god now how is it that we glory god how do we glorify god what does it mean in the bible that tells us to give glory to god to live for his glory one of the ways you glorify god is by thanking him sorry for the noise trying to adjust the microphone okay how a little better there we go he went back to glorify god and glorifying god meant he thanked the lord you know every time that you thank god you're glorifying god especially if you're doing it in front of other people you're giving glory to god he turned back and he glorified god fell down on his face at jesus feet giving him thanks and he was a samaritan christ was going through samaria so that isn't too surprising but and jesus thought it's interesting i've been sent to the lost sheep of the house of israel none of them came back but the samaritan came back and said jesus said were there not ten cleansed but where are the nine were there not any that found who were found to return and give glory to god except this foreigner and he said to him arise and go your way your faith has made you well now you notice that jesus commanded them to go and they went he did not command them to thank him how many of you like thanks when you force it from someone do you want to command people now when your kids are little and you notice someone does something for them or they give them something you say now what do you say oh yeah thank you that's appropriate you want to teach your kids you might need to remind them to make it a habit to always say please and thank you right that's good parenting but for us that are adults if you do something for someone you don't ever say now what do you say say thank you do you really feel like you're blessed when you compel someone to say thank you jesus wanted it to be voluntary and it should be it should be the natural response now how many were healed ten how many came back one came back how many blessings do we get from god every day how often do we forget to be grateful and sometimes in spite of all the blessings we get how often in spite of the blessings do we manage to complain i'm talking to myself i am a good complainer i have to always remind myself of all i have to be thankful for because the carnal nature is we're predisposed to look at what we don't have instead of what we do have we are living in an ungrateful generation second timothy 3 verse 1 through 5 but know this that in the last days perilous times will come for men will be lovers of themselves lovers of money boasters proud blasphemers disobedient to parents unthankful unholy unloving unforgiving this is one of the attributes of the last days is people will be unthankful you know when you're living in such a materially rich country where you're surrounded with so many conveniences and so many comforts and take my words for it friends if you don't know and you haven't traveled i've been to a lot of countries where people really struggle for their daily existence and they live in hovels or they live underneath some you know grass hut or blue plastic and the amazing thing to me is i meet people like that that are happy i go to those countries and i say oh they're so poor and they see you and they smile and they're so happy and they're so generous they'll invite you to their homes to feed you and then you go away convicted you think boy i'm really selfish there's a danger when you're surrounded by so many blessings you cease to appreciate them sometimes we don't know what we've got until it's gone the opposite of gratitude is grumbling the two cannot coexist in the same heart at the same time the israelites were stalled in their trip to the promised land because of what murmuring and complaining here god has just saved them from slavery he gives them water miraculously from a rock he reigns bread down from heaven upon them and instead of praising god whenever they encounter some trial or delay they complain they murmur they grumble romans 1 21 paul talks about this when he said for even though they knew god they did not honor god as god or give thanks but they became futile in their speculations and their foolish hearts were darkened the devil is always working to try to darken our hearts and blind our eyes to all the blessings the devil is always trying to blind our eyes to the blessings of god because realizing the blessings of god makes us live lives where we glorify god and we're people who are grounded we're grateful how many of you like to be around positive people i mean everyone wants to be around positive people and yet in spite of that sometimes we love to commiserate with our complaints again i'm talking to myself i heard one pastor he was talking about those ten lepers and only one came back to say thank you and he said probably the other nine were thinking one of these things here were their excuses for ungratefulness the nine lepers that did not come back one doubted the cure was real one waited to see if it would last one said he'd come and tell jesus later one decided he probably never really had leprosy one said his leprosy was already showing signs of improvement one gave glory to the priests another one said any rabbi could have done it the other one said i'll just give a donation at the synagogue and one figured maybe it was jesus who caused the leprosy and that's how he could heal it it's interesting sometimes the excuses we have for our lack of gratitude so why be grateful why should we be grateful true worship is thankfulness and thankfulness is worship starting with the bare basics we worship god and we're thankful we're alive you can't you can't worship him you can't even complain without the power of god it's god's goodness it gives you the life the other reason or there's several reasons to be thankful gratitude paves the way for future benefits if you do something you make some sacrifice and you help a person and they're not at all appreciative and then they have a need in the future are you more inclined to help them are you less inclined probably less inclined but if you help somebody and they are deeply appreciative how many of you appreciate being appreciated you know one of the principal causes for problems in a wedding in a marriage well it could have been a wedding too marriage is when people are dating they express gratitude and appreciation for little things after they get married it's like they start feeling that it's all taken for granted showing and expressing appreciation never gets old and you know what karen i'm thankful one of my gifts is not laundry i made it a point early in our marriage to wreck several loads of clothes and i was never asked again and karen does the laundry and she often folds the laundry and i always thank her because i am very grateful i don't want to do it and she makes it a point to thank me for the little things we do around the house and i can't say i always remember she doesn't always remember either but were you showing appreciation even in a marriage don't take it for granted after jesus thanks you how thankful were you when you were saved after jesus saved you you're thankful you should keep telling him don't take it for granted thank him for his sacrifice he who forgets the language of gratitude can never be on speaking terms with happiness and someone else said that there is one sense in which no gift is really ours until we have thanked the giver no gift is really yours until you have thanked the giver psalm 136 verse 1 give thanks to the lord for he is good for his loving kindness is everlasting thank him because of his everlasting loving kindness he who forgets the language of gratitude is never on speaking terms with happiness i think i said that thank god for everything someone said gratitude is the rarest of all virtues yet we invariably expect it now in our memory verse it says psalm 103 verse 5 it says forget not all of his benefits what does that mean forget not all of his benefits thank the lord crowns us with lovingkindness heals all of our diseases says forget not all of his benefits that means you may not remember them all but do not forget all of them because you and i god's thoughts towards us king david says are more than the hairs of our head i always feel funny quoting that but uh you get the point it's numberless his thoughts towards us and his blessings towards us you may not remember them all but make an effort to think of some of them karen was watching a devotional online last night that talked about gratitude and they're recommending that you you make a list someone challenged a friend they said i bet you can't think of a thousand things and she said i bet i can she was able to assemble a list of a thousand things for which she was thankful you get good at it after a little while bless my the lord all my soul do not forget all his benefits in romans chapter 5 verse 3 it says and not only that but we also glory in tribulations knowing that tribulation produces perseverance and perseverance character and character hope glory in you know we glorify god by thanking him you can even glory and tribulations that means you thank god for your troubles now we're i think reluctant to thank god for troubles because we're thinking he's up there going oh you like that i'll send you some more does that make you happy but we should thank the lord jesus said rejoice when you're persecuted paul said you know the devil came they brought a thorn in my side and i prayed three times and god said my strength is made perfect in weakness paul said then i will thank god for my thorn i'm paraphrasing now if it's gonna make me more like christ then we even thank him for the troubles that come in our lives psalms i'm sorry ephesians verse 5 or chapter 5 verse 19 and 20 we should constantly be speaking to ourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs singing and making melody in your heart for the lord giving thanks always for all things unto god the father in the name of our lord jesus christ thanking god all the time you know i'll make a little confession i only listen to a couple things in my car when i'm driving around news or christian radio i mean i've got um what do you call you know i've got some usbs i can pair with my phone and i try to listen to something spiritually edifying when i'm driving but i sometimes listen to the news well in the last few months in case you didn't notice the news got really intense not only with international disasters but political division and social unrest and i found whenever i was listening to the news it was just plain old depressing so i i flip on family radio and just listen to songs of praise or they've got some preachers on there now and i found you know it was less stressful paul said speaking to yourself it's okay to talk to yourself in psalms you sing to yourself when you go around the house sometimes i go through the amazing facts office and i'm singing when i get there and i thought oh i might be singing off key and then i get in the door and i think what this is a christian ministry you can sing off-key here just every making joyful noise to the lord right god made canaries he also made crows and one sounds better than the other but sing to the lord whatever is going on someone once said the difference between a prison and a monastery one is a place of thanksgiving and one is a place of cursing you know that little poem two men looked out of prison bars one saw mud and one saw stars it depends on whether you're looking up or looking down and on any given day here in northern california flying over the countryside you can find two birds very different from each other one is a vulture we see them right off the back of our church property here because there's thermals and sometimes they're flying right level with the the office there and and they look beautiful in the air but you don't want to watch how they eat you think they look graceful in the air but they're actually looking for something dead and in the same countryside you've got hummingbirds two birds one is looking for some flowers something sweet they're looking for nectar and the other one is looking for something dead that stinks and they're gonna go feed on that you've got hummingbirds and vultures in the church you know what i mean you get some people you talk to them they're always talking about the latest scandal they're looking for something rotten to talk about or they're complaining and you're reluctant to say how are you doing because you always get some kind of litany of all their troubles and then you got the hummingbirds and y'all don't you like watching hummingbirds and they're iridescent colors and and they're always looking for something sweet and it's that way in life too you know no matter what's happening you can always be thankful and i was listening to a christian program last night and they were saying that this has been a tough year and that thanksgiving in 2020 almost sounds like an oxymoron you know what an oxymoron is two words that contradict each other like jumbo shrimp pretty ugly military intelligence woman driver i think they just usually don't go to the men were laughing so when you say 2020 thanksgiving you think pandemic natural disasters polarized politics social unrest and riots economic gyrations and you go now let's get together and and can't even get together with your family and have thanksgiving some are thankful for that for them thanksgiving is a time of trouble depends on your family but in all things we can give thanks listen to this verse from habakkuk and he's talking about a time when they had come back from the captivity the cities had been burned and listen to what he says havoc chapter 3 verse 17 this is great and verse 18 though the fig tree may not blossom though there be no fruit on the vine though the labor of the olive may fail and the fields yield no fruit yield no food though the flock might be cut off from the fold and there be no hurt in the stalls yet i will rejoice in the lord i will joy in the god of my salvation so if you put that in 2020 even though you've got all this isolation and restriction and pandemic and the economic challenges and the shutdowns and the politics and the the natural disasters and and i'm sure i'm leaving things out i will join the lord i'll rejoice in the god of my salvation so how are you thankful well you express it verbally you sing you make joy you try to uplift others thanksgiving also means you know thanks means giving when you're thankful it also means you give psalm 107 verse 22 let them sacrifice with the sacrifices of thanksgiving and declare his works with rejoicing and when you offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving to the lord offered of your own free will god wants us to do it from our hearts you know i'm i'm amazed by the story of naaman you know naam and the leper second kings chapter five talks about this he's a syrian general dying from leprosy elisha the prophet tells him go wash in the jordan seven times at first he doesn't want to do it but his servants say you know first they can't talk to him because he's got leprosy but as he's riding home to die it says they draw near to him even though he's contagious and they said master if he had asked you to do something hard you wouldn't have done it how much easier if he says wash and be clean so he humbles himself and he goes down to the jordan river he's halfway between samaria and damascus he washes seven times he dunks himself seven times kind of a seven time baptism comes up his leprosy is gone a symbol of how and sin is washed away by the grace of god and he is so thankful now you know what he does instead of going home to his family and his friends and tell his people he's now clean he turns back and this gentile goes back to elisha and says i am so thankful take a blessing and he offers him basically 20 million dollars in silver gold and clothing by today's standards he could have taken his money and gone home there was no medical bill and elisha by the way wouldn't take anything he says this is a symbol of salvation it's free you can't buy it but the natural response of his grateful heart for his healing from this disease was to give to at least tell elisha thank you his uh his thanks i'm always amazed listen to all the trouble that david went through when he was running from saul all those years and yet he thanked the lord david had some challenges in his life but he wrote so many beautiful songs of thanks psalm 30 verse 12 oh my lord my god i will give thanks to you forever daniel's about to go to the lion's den and it says when he knew the writing was signed daniel 6 verse 10 he went home in his upper room with his windows open towards jerusalem he knelt down on his knees three times that day he prayed and gave thanks before his god would thanks have been part of your prayer if you were about to be cat food as his custom was from the early days even jonah who was a grumbling prophet when he's finally down at the bottom of the mountains in a digestive system of that sea monster read jonah chapter 2 he prays and he thanks god you know do you know when jonah's captivity ended when he finally thanked god says then the lord spoke to the fish that's a very important lesson his liberation his salvation his freedom it all happened it pivoted on his thanking god in spite of the fact not too many of you would thank god if you were in a dark place surrounded by sushi yeah it was not a pleasant experience i'm sure but he thanked the lord and god spoke to the fish and everything began to change you can read many of the psalms like psalm 92 1-2 it's called a song for the sabbath day and what is that song for the same what day is today it says it is good to give thanks to the lord and to sing praises to his name almost hide to declare your loving kindness in the morning and your faithfulness by night paul and silas are in prison they've been whipped falsely accused and the bible says at midnight the darkest hour paul and silas were praying and singing hymns to god and the prisoners were listening to them you know when christians are the best witnesses when we are positive in dark times have you ever met a christian that even though you know they're going through trials you know their life is tough they stay positive anybody can witness in the light some people complain in the sunshine but christians know how to glorify god even in the dark tell you a little amazing fact speed of sound in the air is about 700 miles an hour depends on your pressure the speed of sound down in the dark water is four times the speed of sound in the air do you know a humpback whale's call can be heard 400 miles no 4 000 miles away 4 000 miles away because sound travels better in the water in the dark than it does in the light in the air you know when god's people are the greatest witnesses in trial it was on the cross that jesus mounted his best witness isn't it children of israel that great story of the exodus it was during the time of plagues and turmoil the greatest witness daniel in the lion's den shadrach meshach and abed to go in the fiery furnace jonah in the belly of the whale that's when god's people mordecai and i esther it's god's people shine the brightest when they're faithful and positive in times of trial so 2020 is a great opportunity for us to let our light shine can you see amen jesus was thankful he lifted up his eyes to heaven said father i thank you that you've heard me at the last supper knowing he's about to go to the cross he took the cup and he gave thanks psalm 103 verse 10 we can thank the lord if for nothing else it says thank him that he has not dealt with us according to our sins nor punished us according to our iniquities everybody ought to say thank you for that or god might revoke his mercy you know i i saw this uh someone said thank the lord for all the good that hasn't have all the bad things that haven't happened all the good that you have someone wrote a letter home to their parents from college a young lady wrote this letter dear mom and dad sorry i haven't written sooner it's been a difficult year riding with my left hand i broke my right arm and leg when i jumped from the second floor of my dormitory during the fire but i was lucky a young man from the tattoo parlor saw the blaze and he called the fire department my books and clothes were burnt but they saved the room i assure you the fire had nothing to do with the marijuana they found spike from the tattoo parlor he came to see me every day when i was in the hospital and because it was taking so long to get the dorm room livable again he was nice enough to let me move in with him this is better since the baby's doing seven months don't worry spike and i plan to get married just as soon as he can get his divorce finalized and find another job i hope things are okay at home i'm doing fine i'll write more when my hand tremors go away love your daughter susie p.s none of the above is true but i did get a c in sociology and a d in chemistry and i wanted you to receive this news in its proper perspective happiness comes when we stop wailing about the troubles we have and we offer thanks to god for the troubles we don't have and i remember hearing an interesting story i like studying aviation and there was a pilot fred hargensheimer a tall gentleman in 1943 he was shot down flying over new britain new guinea by the japanese and there in the jungle he struggled to survive he parachuted out he separated from his aircraft and uh karen and i've been twice to new guinea and i'll tell you get there out there in the jungles here mountains are very steep very rugged terrain rains a lot a lot of tropical disease and and it should be a jungle that could consume a person pretty quickly and after 31 days he was in pretty dire shape he was just eating bugs and whatever he could find and injured partially from his his landing well some members of the nakani tribe found him but instead of turning them over to the japanese they risked their lives if the japanese had found out that they were harboring an american pilot they would have executed the whole tribe they risked their lives and they protected fred for five months and they fed him nursed him back to health they finally through a series of secret encounters connected him with the australian coast guard who then transferred him to the navy eventually he made it back home fully recovered and he was so thankful for what they'd done for him he could never forget it so he looked at the desperate conditions they were living in back then and he raised thousands of dollars and he flew over with his son and he built a school and that over the years he made about 40 trips to new guinea and continued to build up the community built the infrastructure because he said i wanted to give back i wanted to show appreciation because of what they'd done for me and they they'd saved me when he retired from 1970 to 1974 he and his wife dorothy moved to new guinea and they lived with them for four years helping teach and build in the community built a library and built up the whole village then when he was 90 years old they found his p-38 that had crashed in the jungle and he made his last trip back they always called him master pretty they couldn't say freddy they called him masa pretty. and they they treated him like you know a hero but he was just going back he said you know i think a person should um return their gratitude i would not have survived without their help and he never forgot it now we may not remember everything god has done for us but we shouldn't forget everything either one of the best ways to demonstrate our christianity is to live lives that bring glory to god i want to be a thankful person don't you and live lives that will glorify his name and i thank the lord i praise god you know what a miracle it is that we have this building that i trust that we're going to be able to dedicate without debt one of these days we're going to set a date we're not setting a date yet because you all know that would be reckless right now but when it looks like the coast is clear we're going to set a date we're going to have a dedication of this building we'll invite all of you who are watching and be able to fill the place i praise god that's a miracle of god i praise god for meetings that just completed these baptisms that we witnessed today and i praise god that in spite of you know all that's going on in the world we still have toilet paper in our house even though they're clearing the shelves everywhere else i mean there's thank him for the big things and the little things right i want to be a grateful people and we'd encourage you to just count your blessings this season if you're able in some way to get together with some of your family safely we we hope that you'll remember to be thankful even though 2020 has been a tough year even though there are there's no cattle in the stall and there's no grain in the fields we can glory in the god of our salvation amen i'd like to pray with you and then after my prayer we'll be inviting our our band that was nice enough to play for us they're going to come up and they're going to provide our music for us i believe at the conclusion so would you bow your heads with me please and those who are watching father in heaven we thank you so much for the sabbath day we thank and praise you for all of your goodness first and foremost we thank you for providing cleansing from the leprosy of sin and lord i pray we'll never grow weary of the appreciation that we have in sending your son your beloved son into the world to suffer on the cross for all the sins that we've ever committed i pray we'll never take that for granted and that love for you will be the spring of action in all that we do lord forgive us for the times when we do whine and grumble and complain we fixate and focus on the things we don't have or something that went wrong help us remember that whatever happens to us you can work all these things together for our good so that we can be thankful even through the trials that come and lord i pray that in these days of darkness that your people will be like a light on the hill that will shine and witness for others by our positive attitude looking for the good things in life bless us this day lord be with all those wherever they're gathered and they're watching help us to sense your presence give us the holy spirit and i pray that you can prepare us to prepare others for your soon return we thank you and ask all this in christ's name amen god bless you those who are baptized today we look forward to seeing you in the foyer you

Channel: Doug Batchelor

Views: 25,740

Rating: 4.9347825 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: OBDO1Y1xgzY

Length: 99min 5sec (5945 seconds)

Published: Sat Nov 21 2020