Always Give Thanks: The Joy That Outlasts Circumstances

And the second song [music] we'll be singing is Thank you, Lord. I come before you today [music] and there's just one thing that [singing] I want to say. [music] Thank you, Lord. [music] Thank [singing] you Lord for all you've given [music and singing] to me for all the blessings that [music and singing] I cannot see. Thank you [music] Lord. Thank you, [singing] Lord, [music] with a grateful [singing] heart, [music] with a song of praise, with an outstretched [singing] arm. I [music] will bless your name. Thank you, [singing] Lord. I just want to [music] thank you, [singing] Lord. Thank you, [singing] Lord. [music] I just want to thank you, [singing] Lord. Thank you, Lord, [music] for all you've [singing] done in my life. You took my darkness and [music and singing] gave me your light. Thank you, [music] Lord. Thank [music] you, [singing] Lord. You [music] took my sin and [singing] my shame. You took my sickness [music] and healed [singing] all my pain. Thank you, Lord. Thank [singing and music] you, Lord. With a grateful heart, [singing] with a song of [music] praise, with an outstretched arm, [singing] I will bless your name. Thank you, Lord. [music] I [singing] just want to thank you, Lord. [music] Thank you, [singing] Lord. I [music] just want to thank you Lord. Thank you [singing] Lord. [music] Praise God. Praise the Lord brothers and sisters. You know, we have a lot of things to thank God for in our lives and a lot of things we might not even see that we might be even thankful for. And we just got to, you know, reflect on our lives and see how much God has blessed us. So, praise God for that. And I want to open up to Psalms 19, uh, page, which for many of you guys it would be page 786. [cough and clears throat] Psalms 19. page 786. And I'll give you guys a little bit of time to open up to that. And it says here, "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows his handy work. Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. Their line has gone out through all the earth and their words to the end of the world. In [clears throat] them he has set a tabernacle for the sun which is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber and rejoices like a strong man to run its race. Its rising is from the one end of heaven and its circuit to the other end. And there is nothing hidden from its heat. The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. And the judgment of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold. Ye then much fine gold. Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Moreover, by them your servant is warned, and in keeping them there is great reward. who can understand his errors. Cleanse me from the secret faults. Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins. Let them not have dominion over me. Then I shall be blameless and I shall be innocent of great transgression. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, oh Lord, my strength and my redeemer. Praise the Lord. Praise God. [clears throat] And now we have uh Pastor Tim uh saying a word for us this morning. God bless. Praise God. My dear friends, uh before we start with a message, I would like to take these few minutes and get to know each other. um greet each other, shake each other's hands, uh fist bump each other, just in the fist, not in the face, you know, everybody peaceful and happy and happy Thanksgiving. So, let's stand up and take these few minutes. [music] [music] Okay. So, we're going to be starting here in a a minute or so. I just want to say welcome and we're happy to have everybody here. Um, I'm not sure if we're going to have a lot of time at the end, but I'm going to make some small announcements right now that Wednesday, not Thursday. Some people are getting confused. Uh Thursday's Thanksgiving, but we're going to have a Thanksgiving lunch on Wednesday at 11 to 1 here. Um our buses will go to the shelters Wednesday at 10:00 a.m. So, whoever wants to join us, uh there will be turkey. Uh there will be meals, a feast. So, I invite everybody, invite your friends. Uh we will be there at 10:00 a.m. but uh the lunch will start at 11. So I hope to see everybody there. But we're the reason why uh we chose Wednesdays because Thursday a lot of people spend their Thanksgiving with family uh with friends. So that day is reserved for you guys. Uh my sermon today is Thanksgiving. And even though Thanksgiving is Thursday, but we celebrate it also today. And as you could see the the blessings that God has given us. And maybe you won't eat this pepper just how it is, but this pepper is going to be really good in some eggs, right? and some eggs and some other meals. And like whatever God made is good for us, but sometimes we forget who made it for us and we forget to give him the glory and the praise and the honor. And I'm going to say that I did not deserve God to feed me the way he has. and none of us do. Yet he always takes care and provides. The word thanksgiving has actually two words in it, right? If we really think about it, the word thanksgiving, it it has two words, thanks and giving. Uh there's times that we're used to the thanksgiving or the thanks receiving, right? And even then we're not thankful when we get or we receive. But thanksgiving is we are thankful for what God has given us and therefore we give. You know God he loved us so much that he gave it all. He gave it all. that of course we know this that we wouldn't perish in this world that the devil has corrupted that Satan has confused he gave it all and the least we can do is say thank you Lord how we um sang that song you know uh being being thankful is is actually not something that you and I inherited. Do you think we inherited to be thankful? When you look at little children and we were all little kids one time and maybe you can ask your parents if your parents are not alive then you can just look at other kids because we are all the same. We want all the same things. But doesn't it sometimes annoy us when we are walking in a grocery store, right? And there's that little child that's screaming and I want this, I want that. And and the mother, she she doesn't know what to do. She's like, she gives him one toy. Then then the child calms down. A minute later, the child wants that thing. The mother doesn't know what to do. She gives him that toy. And we're looking from the side like, "Wow, what an unthankful child, right? And it kind of annoys us because because this child is spoiled, how we would say this child is spoiled and unthankful and the mother doesn't even know what to do because she's trying to calm the child down by giving him or her things. Yes. Sometimes what we don't realize is that we are like that child. [snorts] We are expecting the God is our God is providing but it's not enough. We get what we wanted but a few days or weeks later we want something else. We want something more and when we don't receive, we feel that the world is upside down. Therefore, the the Bible teaches us that to be thankful, it's actually learned. It's taught. And as a mother or a father is teaching their child to be thankful. Okay, you received something. You're supposed to say thank you. Be thankful for what you have. We are being taught also to be thankful. And I would like to open up to Ephesians 5:20. Ephesians 5:20. This is going to be page 1692. 1692. And over here we're going to read about this man who said these words. But behind what he said, there was a lot going on in his life. Ephesians 5:20 it says, "Always giving thanks to God the Father for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." Always giving thanks to God the Father for everything. Oh wow. For everything. Wait, wait, wait. Did I read that right? And always. You see, let's look at the duration of time. The duration of time is always sometimes we don't want to be always thankful, right? We want to be sometimes unthankful because the shirt that I got is not the color I wanted or the shoes are not cool enough or the food is not five star. Oh, we at times do complain. But the man who wrote this was going through very hard times in his life. And you can say, "Oh, well, Pastor Tim, how can I be thankful when I lost my house? Because the mortgage is too high. I can't afford it anymore. How can I be thankful when I just lost my job?" Did you know that about this month, just this month, about 60,000 people lost their jobs? It was posted everywhere from Amazon to Starbucks to Verizon. People are getting laid off. They're losing their jobs. How can a person like that be thankful, right? And you're preaching thankfulness to him, right? Got to be thankful. But but how? I just lost my job. I lost my health. I feel that I'm in pain every day. My friends turn their back on me. How can I be thankful? But we read these words always, always, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything. The man who wrote this, his name is Paul the Apostle. And he wrote this these words when he was sitting in prison. He was accused of something he never done. He was convicted of a crime he never committed. and sitting in prison. He's writing these words to you and me. My friend, you got to be thankful always because God has a purpose. God has a reason for what we are going through. God has a reason for what we have received or what we have lost. And therefore we always have to be thankful. The reason why some of us struggle to be thankful in everything and always is because we are trying to find the joy and happiness in the things that we receive or the things that we have. But a Christian is not thankful because of what he has. But a Christian is thankful because of who he has. The problem is if you haven't noticed yet that when you get something it never satisfies you want something more. And life goes on. We keep on chasing that something in our life. But when we have Christ, he satisfies all our needs. And when we have or don't have, we are thankful. When we read at the life of Apostle Paul, he kind of shares a glimpse of what he went through. And this is 2 Corinthians 11 23-27. 2 Corinthians 11:23-27. That will be those who have their Bibles. 1675. or 1676. 1676. Are they the servants of Christ? I am out of my mind to talk like this. [clears throat] I am more. So the reason why he's saying this is because the people around him, they were thinking, "Oh, Paul, you're you're not going through hard times in your life." They were accusing him of preaching about being thankful at all times, yet they thought he never went through anything terrible. And so over here he's he's almost making a statement. He's defending his case. He says, "I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been foggged more severely and beat and been exposed to death again and again. Five times I received from the Jews the 40 lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was pelted with stones. Three times I was shipwrecked. I spent a night and a day in the open sea. [clears throat] I've been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles, in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea, and in danger from false believers. I have labored and have toiled, and how and have often gone without sleep. I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food. I have been cold and naked. What a life. What a life. He's been beaten. He's been stoned. He's been in prison. He's been shipwrecked at sea. Even though right now our transportation is not ships necessarily, but we can I guess um relate that to I've been in car accidents many times. I've been in danger from those that are closest to me because they're the ones that are beating me, abusing me physically, verbally. Yet, how can a man going through so much say be always always be thankful to God for in everything? Right? It's because my dear friends, he did not put his thankfulness in what he has, the possessions, the materialism. He says that in one of the chapters, I learned to live in wealth and in poverty. He was satisfied when he was living good and he was satisfied when he was living in poverty because his possession was Jesus Christ. Paul's joy, his peace, his hope, his everything came from above. That is why no circumstances around him changed his behavior of being thankful. My friends, if we put our anchor on our possessions, we are always going to be unsatisfied because things get old when the new phone comes out. And I'm guilty of that. I want that thing. I want that thing. As if that's the newest, that's the coolest, that's the nicest phone ever. But what you realize is that a few years down the road, it's already old. Yet if we constantly are chasing, we want, we want, we want, we want to get, we want to receive, we want this, we want that, we will be unthankful. And over here we saw that no circumstances that Paul was going through changed his heart. Whether he was in prison, whether he was celebrated, whether he was persecuted, whether he was strong or weak, Paul remained thankful because his faith was rooted in Christ, not in his riches or poverty, not in his problems or possessions. And so today, my friend, you may have much, you may have very little. You may be wondering, why don't I have joy in my life? Why am I constantly depressed? Why am I poor? Why do I have anxiety? Why am I so unthankful? Why can't I find happiness? The reason is simple. This world cannot give you happiness. This world cannot give you joy. It only gives it for a little time. That's why you're searching. You're searching. Your soul is searching for that joy, for that peace, for that love, and you're not getting it because you are looking at the wrong resources for your help. Your flesh will never be satisfied. No possession, no achievement, no relationship, no earthly success will ever satisfy your needs. That's it. And I'm pretty sure a lot of us know this because we are already in age where we experienced much where we experienced many things where we had and where we lost. Yet, are we right now overjoyful of what we have? No. Because those things, they come and they go. But the things that come from above, they will satisfy your desires. The things that come from above, they will satisfy your longing, your wants, your needs, they will satisfy. If you are looking today for joy, if you are looking today for peace, if you're looking today for somebody to love you and you're not finding in in this world and you can say, Tim, how can I be thankful? How can I be thankful? I'm in the hole. I'm in the pits. How can I be thankful? Dear friend, have you turned your eyes up there? Because he, God, the one who created you, knows all your desires. He knows all your needs. He can bring all of that into your life. And this thankfulness, it's not learned. This thankfulness is inherited. It's a gift that God gives when you fully submit your life to his control. When you let Jesus Christ be Lord of every part of your life. You see every part, not just some parts. We want to walk our life. Okay, Lord, I came to church. Great. I feel good. But then outside of it we are living not how he wants us to live. And then we wonder why am I here? Why am I there? Why do I feel this way? It's because you have not submitted 100% of yourself to the Lord. When we look at Apostle Paul, we read what he went through, but he gave his all because when he tasted Jesus Christ, he was never the same. My friend, it when you tasted Jesus Christ, you said, "I gave my life to him." Have you seen your life transform? Are you transformed that you're a different person? Or are you still feeling that same burden as you felt before? That same weight that you keep on carrying, the despair, the grief, the anger. When we accept Christ, he brings his comfort, his joy, his peace into our life. And therefore nothing around, no circumstances around us can change our thankfulness to God. We can be going through the hardest things in our life, but we will be thankful to God. We can be in the pits, in the dirt, but we will be thankful to God. We can be up high, but we'll be thankful to God. No circumstances will will change how we are thankful to God because his spirit will satisfy all our needs. And if today you feel that you're alone, if today you feel that you're broken, if today you feel that [sighs] I just want to give up. My friend, Jesus Christ is your answer. He is your answer. Give all to him. Not 50, not 80%, but all of you to him. And you will see he will come into your life. He will transform you. He will renew you. Like I say, our God, he's in the salvage business. He takes what is wrecked, what's been thrown away by this world, by your friends, by your parents, and he restores it to new. Oh, our God, he does that. He does that. He's done that to so many people. But in order for that to happen, we have to accept him, submit our life to him and make him our Lord in everything. In everything. And then we could say like Apostle Paul, always give thanks. And I want to finish off with 1 Chronicles 16:34. Give thanks to the Lord for he is good. His love endures forever. Don't put your anchor on possessions, but put your anchor on Jesus Christ and you will see he will satisfy all your desires. Amen. Let's pray. Lord God, we thank you for this time, God, that we could share your word, Lord God, and how we see an example of Apostle Paul, Lord. Even though he went through so much, God, but he was still thankful because no circumstances could change his thankfulness for you, God. No possessions, God, because his anchor was on you, Lord. And you satisfied all his desires, Lord. And you know each person here today, God. You know, the people that are going through something hard today, right now, God, they've been thrown out. They've been spit out, Lord God, by this world, Lord, by those that that said that they love them, Lord God, but it turned out that they didn't, God. Lord, I pray, Holy Spirit, you stir their hearts, that they submit themselves to you, God, and you satisfy all their desires, God. May you bless this church and everybody here in Jesus name. Amen. And for the last song we'll be singing showers of blessing. There [music] shall be [singing] showers of blessing. This is the promise of [singing] love. [music] There shall be seasons refreshing [singing] sent [music] from the Savior above. Showers of [music and singing] blessing. Showers of blessing we need. Mercy drops round us are falling. Before [singing] the showers [music] we plead. There shall be showers [singing] of blessing, precious [music] reviving again [singing] over the hills and the valleyies. [music] Sound of [singing] abundance of rain, showers of blessing, [music] showers of [singing] blessing we need. Mercy drops round [singing] us are falling. But for the showers we [music and singing] plead. There shall be showers of blessing. [singing] [music] Send them upon us, O Lord. [music] Grant to us [singing] now a refreshing. Come and now [singing] on earth thy word. [music] Showers of [singing] blessing. Showers of blessing we need. [music] Mercy [singing] drops around us are falling. [music] But for [singing] the showers we plead. [music] There shall be [singing] showers of blessing. Oh that today they might fall. [singing] Now as to God we're confessing. [music] Now [singing] as on Jesus we call. [music] Showers of blessing. Showers [singing] of blessing we need. Mercy [music] drops round us [singing] are falling. But for the showers we plead. Showers of blessing. [music and singing] Showers of blessing we need. Mercy drops [music and singing] around us are falling before the showers we plead. Praise God my dear friends. And um our service has come to the end and how we sing the song showers of blessing. And I think the biggest blessing we could encounter is to know Christ and to have him know us. Because have we heard that he will satisfy all your desires and needs? all the things that you were seeking and longing for, he will desire [clears throat] like he will put his desire in your hearts. And um [clears throat] before we pray today, it's going to be a little bit different in the gym. Uh James and uh Vasili, they're they're preparing a special meal. So they said that they will give plates. They're preparing uh steak, a chicken steak or something. I don't know. Chicken fried steak. Yeah, there you go. Chicken fried steak. I'm I'm trying to understand how that makes sense. Steak is beef. Chicken is chicken. But then we're going to have turkey. So So praise God. Oh, you see you see the the chefs know. But uh we'll see you guys in the gym after we pray. And uh just a reminder that Wednesday the shuttle buses will be at the shelter at 10:00 a.m. We'll be there for about 20 minutes and then we'll come here. And if you guys want to invite your friends and your family, uh our Thanksgiving lunch starts from 11 to 1. And also uh we are doing a Christmas outreach our church is doing. So if you know any single mothers or widows, they can go on our website is just ms.urch ms.urch and they can uh sign up to receive free Christmas gifts. Um, feel like I'm I'm forgetting something, but maybe I'm not. Does Does anybody have any needs? Yes. I just want to say last week. Amen. Wow. Oh, yeah. Amen. Praise God. And actually, I just remembered uh thank you for sharing your need because Jack also uh wanted to share that uh we prayed last week about his court case and everything turned out better than he expected. He said that he didn't go nowhere and now he can finally work. So, praise God for that, that God hears our prayers. Uh is there any more needs? Yes. Okay. Okay. And um can you share your name? My name is Shakiva. Shakiva. Yes. You're testing me. You're testing me. It's It's usually like Suzanne, you know. [laughter] Okay. Amen to that. Oh, yeah. And next week we're going to have a a Q&A. So if you guys have any questions you would like myself and Pastor Henry to to like study, there's some paper and some pens in the back. You can write down your uh questions about your personal life uh about the Bible uh questions over there. And next week is going to be our Q&A. Greg, one last one. kids. I'm recently learn. Nice. Good. Good job, Greg. Amen. Let's pray. Lord God, we are thankful, God, that you opened yourself up to us. We are thankful that you saved us from this world. We are thankful, God, that you put your peace, your joy in our lives, Lord God. And Lord, if there's somebody here that doesn't have that, Lord, may you stir their heart, that they give their life to you, Lord. And may you be their Lord and may you be their savior, Lord God. We also God are praying for the needs and the thankfulnesses. Lord, we're thankful God for the uh brother that we prayed for about his job situation, Lord, and you answered and everything was great. Lord God, we are thankful that you hear our prayers. And also for brother Jack, Lord, we are thankful, God, that we prayed for his uh court case and it turned out better than he expected, Lord. And that's how you answer. Thank you, God. And we also pray for Shaka, Lord. God, she's looking for an apartment or a home. May you provide, Lord. May you provide them that, God, that need, Lord Jesus, because you are our provider, Lord. And we are also thankful for uh Brother Greg for just uh the the job that you gave him that he's loving it and that the people love him there. Thank you, God, for providing that for him, Lord. God. And I just pray for each person here. May your blessings be be like those showers that we sang upon each person here like throughout the week and throughout our life in Jesus' name. Amen. Our father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For your kingdom, your power, and glory forever are yours. Amen. be blessed and we'll see you in