← ArchiveReformation: 5 statements that form/faithSunday, November 26, 2017DateNovember 26, 2017Speaker—TextPsalmsPassages in this sermonPsalms 1364:44Psalms 5123:10Genesis 138:10TranscriptMachine transcribed. Click any line to jump there.0:00Music.0:30Music.1:00Music. Music. Music. Music. Music. Music. Music. Welcome to week three of our Thanksgiving series.1:28If you have come in this place grumpy, I pray that Christ would redeem your heart and that you would leave differently and change in the way you have come in. So we have spent three weeks saying, Lord, change our hearts. Change the way we bring joy to the world through Christ and change the way now that we worship. Because we want to be people not only who take thanks, but we want to give thanks. I want to begin with a story you heard three weeks ago and1:56thankfully to one of our church members who was paying attention, they gave me an update on the same story. So, the story goes, a young man in Arizona called Jamal was randomly text messaged by this grandmother. It turns out, because our young people, they're always changing, that this young man had changed his number and given his grandmother now the incorrect number to his phone. So, she2:24incorrectly text Jamal. So, Miss Wanda text Jamal and says, hey, come over for Thanksgiving. And it took him a second to realize this is not my grandmother. So, Jamal is bold because our young men and women are often bold. And so, he said, can I still come? And Miss Wanda said, as any grandmother would, come on. And so, Jamal last year in Mesa, Arizona, goes to Thanksgiving with Miss Wanda2:52and her family. Fast forward to today. Guess what happens this Thanksgiving? Miss Wanda calls Jamal up again and says, hey, you're part of the family, bro. Come back. And so, now because of this coincidence, they have now started a new tradition that Jamal ate with them again and had turkey. He said he loves her mashed potatoes. So, they had mashed potatoes again. So, in Mesa, Arizona, this3:20week, a new history has begun and a new family has found. Here's why I love this story. It's a picture to me of the Gospel that God lets someone come to his table and eat that is not supposed to be part of the family. And through Jesus Christ, we are adopted in grace and we are able to eat and dine and love and be found in a new family.3:48This is why I love the picture of Miss Wanda and this is why I love the good news of Jesus Christ. And so, let me pause and say this. If you are a stranger to God and you are broken in your sin, I was able to counsel two ten-year-olds this morning. They are going to get baptized next week. And I said, what does sin do to your relationship with God? And you know what they said? It kills it. And I'm like, you nailed it. Sin kills our relationship4:16with God. Why did Jesus die? Because He traded His life for mine. He traded His life for yours. And if you have come in here as an outsider, I want you to know that Jesus died on the cross for your sins and you can leave here differently. You can leave here as a son with a new family in Jesus Christ. With that, we want to be people today that give thanks and not simply take thanks. And with that, let's look at Psalm 136.4:44The message entitled "Give Thanks, Not Take Thanks." A difficult Thanksgiving message for Americans, I believe. That we would give thanks to the glory of the Father. You will need your Bibles today if you don't have one. Find one. Steal your neighbor's phone. Use their Bible. This is not only something we do regularly,5:12but we value God's Word to us. Recognizing that many of our brothers and sisters around the world have no access to God's Word to them. This is not a book. This is God's Word. So this will be a participatory sermon today and you will see why very shortly. Psalm 136, we're going to read the entire psalm. Beginning in verse 1. "Give thanks to the Lord for He is good.5:40His faithful love endures forever." Reading from the Christian Standard Bible. "Give thanks to the God of gods. His faithful love endures forever. Give thanks to the Lord of lords." Why? "His faithful love endures forever. For He alone does great wonders. His faithful love endures forever. He made the heavens skillfully. His faithful love endures forever."6:09Now let me pause here. This is more than likely a liturgical response of Israel to God's faithfulness. It means this is what they did in worship. So they would read it and they would repeat it. So feel free. I know we're Baptists, but it's okay to talk in church. And by all means, it's certainly okay to give thanks to God the Father. So if you want to repeat that He is good and His love endures forever, it's okay. Verse 6. "He spread the land on the waters.6:38His faithful love endures forever. He made the great lights. His faithful love endures forever. He made the sun to rule by day. His faithful love endures forever. The moon and the stars to rule by night. His faithful love endures forever. He struck the firstborn of the Egyptians. His faithful love endures forever. And brought Israel out from among them. His faithful love endures forever.7:07With a strong hand and an outstretched arm. His faithful love endures forever. He divided the Red Sea. His faithful love endures forever. And led Israel through. His faithful love endures forever. But hurled Pharaoh and his mighty army into the Red Sea. His faithful love endures forever. He led His people into the wilderness. His faithful love endures forever.7:34He struck down great kings. His faithful love endures forever. And slaughtered famous kings. His faithful love endures forever. Sihan king of the Amorites. His faithful love endures forever. And Og king of Bashan. His faithful love endures forever. And He gave their land as inheritance. His faithful love endures forever.8:01And inheritance to Israel His servant. His faithful love endures forever. His faithful love endures forever. And He rescues us from our foes. His faithful love endures forever. His faithful love endures forever. His faithful love endures forever. His faithful love endures forever. His faithful love endures forever. His faithful love endures forever. His faithful love endures forever. His faithful love endures forever. His faithful love endures forever. His faithful love endures forever. His faithful love endures forever. His faithful love endures forever. His faithful love endures forever. His faithful love endures forever. His faithful love endures forever. His faithful love endures forever. His faithful love endures forever. His faithful love endures forever.8:30forever. His faithful love endures forever. His faithful love endures forever. His faithful love endures forever. His faithful love endures forever. His faithful love endures forever. His faithful love endures forever. Father, we thank you for your faithfulness. We thank you for your enduring mercy towards us. Lord, help us not take thanks, but help us give it. And help us live differently. Let us live as thankful people in a world that is often thankless. We know we can only do this through your spirit, through your power, and by your glory. We pray this in Jesus' name.8:58Amen. Well, first things first, we need to understand some terms before we can look at the Psalm and understand it together. Now, there's two words here that we often misunderstand as modern Westerners. And the first is thanks. Now, you're thinking, well, it's Thanksgiving. We know what it means to give thanks. Hold that thought. The second is the word hesed, or the word that you've repeated 26 times. His hesed, His love, His mercy endures forever.9:26So what does it mean to give thanks? Because if we don't know that, everything in this sermon falls apart. The word is yadah. And often we translate it as my Bible, give thanks. It's repeated in verse one, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good. Verse two, give thanks to the God of gods. Verse three, give thanks to the Lord of lords.9:54But it is better translated, confess or declare in worship. So we confess that He is good. We confess that He is right. We confess that He is the God of gods. We confess that He is the Lord of lords. As we confess, we give thanks. And what a beautiful picture that is for our worship,10:20that our worship now is part of our thanksgiving. So the Psalm does not call us to say thanks, but to declare thanks. That's different. We're not called to say thanks, but to live out thankfulness in our life, to declare that to the nations. Because if we have found Christ, we should find contentment. We can say to the world that give thanks. We declare, we confess that He is good.10:49His love endures forever. This is a reminder for us that we are not called to be private pilgrims, but public thanksgivers. Like God doesn't want you to hide in the Mayflower. God wants you to declare His glory. That's part of worship. And again, we're reminded, as we need to be, worship is not about you. And you can say that to me. Worship is not about me.11:17It's about God. We declare His thanks. We confess that He is good. We are not, and I love the reminder that worship is not about the worshiper. We are not putting on a show. We're not putting on a show. Because even if we tried, the angels laugh at us. Like, you guys have smoke and fog machines and lights? You have three-part harmony? Come on, let's bust out the choir, angels. Like, I mean, who are we to compare to the glory of creation?11:45How foolish that we think we can put on a show for God and impress Him. No, we give thanks by our lifestyle. And this is what I believe. I believe that our worship should be unnaturally thankful. Our worship should be unnaturally thankful. Like, people who don't know Jesus should walk in here and say, you guys are really weird. Y'all are, you are some of the most thankful people I've ever met.12:15I don't like it. And we can tell them, look, in the good days and the bad days, God is good. And I'm thankful for His grace. You don't realize how profound the kids are at this church. We have a young child, she's 10, and she's going to be baptized Sunday. And she's wrestling with this thought. Her parents came up to me and they said, she's really struggling. She doesn't feel like she's worthy of baptism. And I looked at her this morning.12:44And I said, that is one of the greatest thoughts I've ever heard. I wish every adult in this church would say that. I said, you are not worthy of baptism. And that is why we are thankful. We're unnaturally thankful because we're not worthy. And yet, He is gracious. A 10-year-old said, I don't know much of that. I'm not worthy. And I said, you're not. But He traded His life for you. And oh, if every single adult in this place right now would understand the depths of the grace.13:13We do not put on a show. And that we would weave thankfulness into our lives and in our worship church. Give thanks today. It's okay. The church, the world needs to see this church give thanks. The world needs to see we are unnaturally thanksgiving. Thankful. It's okay. Give thanks to the Lord. He is good.13:41And you know how often He is good? Forever. As the youth say this. Five-ever. You know what five-ever is? It's longer than four-ever. I do not make that up. I actually heard that not from one of our youth, but a youth. So you're welcome for that, guys. That's how long and far and wide He is good. Secondly, we need to understand not only what it means to be thankful, confess.14:09So if you have not confessed Him as Savior, you don't know what it means to be thankful. The second is we need to understand what loving kindness is. Hesed. The Christian Standard Bible translates it. His faithful love and they nailed it. Because the word hesed is notoriously difficult to translate. 26 times we see that this is a response to who God is. The church is rising up and saying His faithfulness endures forever.14:37So the word hesed most often means that God is faithful and He is committed. God is faithful and He is committed. God is the covenant maker. Not you. So what is the church saying? It's saying that God is faithful to us. When we are not faithful, He is faithful. When I sin, He is faithful. When I am not good, He is faithful.15:06I love that. It's not just what God is love. No, it's He is faithful in His commitment to His covenant through Jesus Christ. Jesus holds up the cup and says this is the cup of the new covenant. That without life in Christ, I don't have life with God the Father. And we are repeating this love. It's not just God who loves you because He is touchy and He is feely and He wants you to be happy. Notice God is faithful.15:36Notice God is faithful. When you are ugly and nasty and dirty and sinful and you rejected Him, His Son died for you and because of that He is faithful. I love this thought. One commentator says it this way. He said it would be no use if Yahweh were inherently good and not committed to us. It would be frightening if Yahweh were supreme God and supreme Lord but not committed to us.15:59But Yahweh being good and supreme and supreme Lord is something to confess because He is faithful and committed to you through His Son. Church, hold on to the fact that He is faithful through His Son, Jesus Christ. So what does it mean for God to love you? He is committed to you because of His Son.16:27We need to hear that. He is committed to us. Give thanks. He is committed to His people forever. Even more than forever. Eternally. He is committed to His people. Now what's that? Now we can understand what it means to give thanks. So let's look and work through this psalm about how we now give thanks. We confess it because He is committed to His people.16:55And we see in verse 1, give thanks to the Lord. Right? For He is good. Verse 2, give thanks to the God of gods. Verse 3, give thanks to the Lord of lords. This is why we give thanks. Give thanks because He is the only true God. He is the only true God.17:23Now some of you say, Well, duh. Right? I'm a Christian. We're monotheistic. We believe in one God. But this is what the psalm reminds us that we all struggle in this way. It doesn't say give thanks to God. Give thanks to the Lord. It says God of gods and Lord of lords. The reality is that we all have gods in our life. I was reminded of that this week. I usually only go to one football game a week. And some of you go, here we go football.17:52I was not going to do this, but I just feel like I should. So I usually only go to one game a year. I went to two games a year this year. My team did not win Thursday evening. And I thought I was to the point in my life where my team losing didn't affect me and make me miserable and angry. Church, I'm not there yet. I'm not there yet. And just like that, I remember, you know what? This is not a God to worship.18:20This is not a Lord to serve. And you know what happened that reminded me of how foolish we are when we worship sports? A call from the hospital on Saturday said, look, I don't know if I'm going to make it very much longer. I want you to come pray over me. What are sports compared to that? We're going to spend time with the family this afternoon as we pray and encourage because of the hope of the resurrection and knowing that a young child has passed away.18:44What is a sport God compared to the God who gives us hope in death? And that was God reminding me, you know what is so quick for these little guys to creep up. They come so fast and you were never to a point where you think we've demolished them and we are to give thanks because he is the one true God.19:05So if that is your struggle, if the loss this week is still affecting you, it's not worth it. And if you have walked in and barely fit through that door because your head is a little bit bigger than it used to be because your team won, it's not worth it. It's not. Our teams are not going to be a footnote in eternity when Christ comes back.19:31Not even a remembrance. Remove our idols. Give thanks to the one true God. So what is a God? Gods in our life are the things that we worship. You say, well, I don't worship sticks. I don't have idols in my house. But you have dreams. You have hopes. You have aspirations. So what are the things that you dream about? Well, if I just had this house or this life, if I could just retire this way, if I had this island,19:59or if my team could win this championship, or if my kid would win this batting title or score this many goals, what are the things that keep you awake at night dreaming? If I had this, I would be fulfilled. That is your God. And the hope is this. Give thanks to the God because he is the God of our little gods.20:26Give thanks to the God. Not only that we are to give thanks because he is the Lord of lords. The Lord is Adonai or Adon. A Lord is something that has power over you. So if a God is something that we worship, a Lord is that which serves or has our focus and our time. So what do you spend your time doing? Are you serving two masters? By the way, you can't.20:55I can't. So I'm thankful that we can worship a God that smashes our idols. That gives us hope. That lets us dream. That gives us and fulfills our deepest longings. You say, well, Pastor, I don't have any other gods. I don't have any lords. You don't know how long I've been a Baptist. I do know this. You're in trouble. And two, that there's so much to be thankful for that God is the God that transcends our pettiness.21:23The pettiness of our idolatry. You see, Psalm 136 calls us to lay down our gods today and our lords. And give thanks to the God of gods and the Lord of lords. Give thanks because he is the only thing that is true in our life. Give thanks to the God of gods. Secondly, we give thanks to the God of creation.21:51Look at verse 4. We give thanks to the God of creation. He alone does great wonders. You say, well, what are those? He made the heavens skillfully. I love that. You know, I think in simplistic terms and, you know, I've often, people have said to me before that I was a piece of work. Just confirm in scripture. Because I can look at them and say, verse 5, you know what? He made me skillfully. I am a piece of work.22:19And I am a very skillful piece of work. Get behind me, Satan. Right? I love that. I mean, God didn't make you a dump or a trashy. He skillfully made you. God doesn't make trash. He's created us uniquely and wonderfully. And not only that, he spread the land on the waters. Verse 7, he created great lights. The sun to rule by day.22:48Verse 9, the moon and the stars to rule by night. We give thanks to God who is our creator. You see, in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. But creation was not the end. Creation was the beginning of God's covenant relationship. But not the totality. And I love what Psalm 51 says about creation. And if you want to go there, I encourage you to Psalm 51 by a man you might have heard of named David.23:14David was also a piece of work. Skillfully made. Skillfully, wonderfully redeemed. Look at verse 1 in Psalm 51. Psalm 51, verse 1. Be gracious to me, God, according to your faithful love.23:42Now, you've heard that word faithful love before, have you not? You've heard it 27 times now. It's the word hesed. God, be gracious to me, according to your covenantal love. And so now you're thinking, wait, this sounds familiar. Psalm 136. So not only that, we thank God that he is a creator, God. Look down in verse 10. The word faithful love, and now in the same psalm, God create, create bara, the same word used in Genesis chapters 1 and 2.24:09God created something from nothing. The God who formed us. God create a what? A clean heart for me and renew a steadfast spirit within me. I believe the pinnacle of God's creation was not the sun. It is not the moon, the sun that ruled by day.24:39The pinnacle of God's creation was when he creates a new heart through his son, Jesus Christ. That is the bara, that is the covenantal love, and we give thanks because he is the creator. Not only does he create everything you see, but he turns your heart of stone into something that is new and alive again. And for those of you who have tasted and seen that God is good, think back on the day where your heart of death and destruction was made new.25:06For God answered that prayer, God create in me a clean heart, and he said, okay, I will. How much joy does that bring to you right now? I almost want to say, your faithful love endures forever. What a beautiful God, we thank you that you are our creator. And he did not stop creating the Genesis, he is still creating us and making all things new.25:35And if you have come in here with a heart of stone, God is not terrified of your hard heart. Because he can create in you a new heart and give you new life. All it takes is for you to become a 10-year-old and say, Lord, I'm not worthy. And God's answer is going to be, I was hoping you would say that. Because let me take this heart and let me create in you.26:03God, we give thanks that you are the creator. And Augustine says it this way, he who created the foundation of the world, he who created us without our help, will not save us without our consents. He who created the world without your help, will not save you without your consents. And if you are waiting for God to force himself upon you, and say, you will worship me, you will trust me, he will not do that.26:27But I want you to know the invitation of grace is extended right now. He is our creator, God. Not only do we give thanks because he is the God and the one true God, not only do we give thanks because he is the creator, we give thanks because he is the God of history. Again, look at verse 10. He struck down the firstborn of the Egyptians.26:56Verse 11, he brought Israel out from among them. Verse 12, the strong hand and an outstretched arm. Verse 13, he divided the Red Sea. Verse 14, he led Israel through. 15, he hurled Pharaoh. 16, he led his people in the wilderness. 17, he struck down great kings. And if that's not enough, some of you are thinking, well, I wish the Lord would do more. Well, he slaughtered Sihon, king of the Amorites. If that's not enough for you, verse 20, he also slaughtered Og.27:23Some of you are thinking, that's it, I was waiting for Og. Now I believe. But he did this as a reminder to Israel that with every step of the way, he was there. Because he is the God of history. And the reminder to us as those who now follow Christ is there is not a second in your life that Jesus is not there. And maybe you're staring at the Red Sea and you say, I can't go any further.27:53And God is saying, I can part that thing. Don't worry about it. And maybe you're staring Og in the face. And you're like, there's a big, beastly king, Sihon. I don't know if I can go any more. And God is saying, watch me slaughter my enemies. And his reminder is that he will not leave you. Every second of your life after you've confessed Christ, he is there. We do not stand as people that say, well, we've come to Jesus and now everything is always going to be happy.28:20We're going to have turkey and cranberry dressing all the day long. And we're going to fish until we just blow up. That's foolishness. That's foolishness. That's not the world we live in. And if we ever portray that to the world, we need to apologize. And we need to seek forgiveness. Because listen, this is the God that we worship.28:49We worship a Savior who was rejected by men. A man of sorrow and acquainted with grief. He was despised and rejected. He had no honor in his hometown. He was spit upon. He was mocked. He was ridiculed. He walked to the cross. They put a crown of thorns on him. He sweat drops of blood for you and I. And he died a brutal death on a cross.29:17Why do we think our life would be any different? Think about that. We want to Americanize Jesus and say, you know what? Jesus suffered so I don't have to. Okay, you find that in church. What Bible are you reading out of? What God, what little G God have you and I created? Because we live in a world of brokenness because of our sin.29:44And so we don't look at the world and we say, well, everything is going to be awesome in Jesus. Live it up. Eat, drink, and be merry. We look at a world that says, when life crushes me, I have everything I need in Jesus Christ. And I will be thankful even in the wilderness. Church, we see He is there. And for that, I can say, His faithful love endures forever.30:14I'm reminded of a story that I shared many years ago. In 1991, at 8.20 p.m. on Thanksgiving, Marshall Shelley, an editor for Christianity Today, gave birth to a child that died two minutes later. And she, after four years, she finally read an article about it called Two Minutes to Eternity.30:40And the nurse that was there held up this child and she said, does he have a name? And this is what their response was. Believers in the one true God. They said, his name is Toby. Short for the Hebrew, Tobias, which means God is good. People who could look at brokenness and ugliness and say, even in the shadow, in the valley of death, I will not fear.31:04Because my God, my God is there. We give thanks to this God who has redeemed us. He is creator. He is the only true God. He is the God of history. He is with us every second. And lastly, we see this. Not lastly, but lastly today.31:33Because there is so much that we could be thankful for. We would be here forever. And then something. We see in verse 23 that God remembers us in our humiliation. Remembers us in our humiliation. And he rescues us from our foes. You see, we give thanks to Jesus because he is our rescuer. So what does that look like?32:02I have often heard the gospel described this way, that Jesus is on a boat and he sees you drowning. And so he throws a life preserver to you. And that is Jesus the rescuer. He is rescuing you from your sea of sin and you cling on for your life and he pulls you in. I have used that before. I am sorry if I have spoken those words. That is not what the picture of the gospel is for us. Here is the rescuer. The rescuer is this.32:31That Jesus sees you and I at the bottom of the sea, 20,000 leaves under the sea, dead. Not trading water. Not asking for help. Dead. Because of our sin. The Bible says the wages of sin is death. The Bible says that we are dead in our trespasses. That is not flowery language. That is real. You are dead. Sin kills our relationship with God. All of us. And Jesus, looking down, sees our need and he goes to the bottom of the sea and rescues us.33:00He brings us to the water, brings us to the shore, pumps the fluid out of our lungs and then breathes new life into our heart, giving us eternal life. That is the rescuer. And in so doing, he loses his life in the process. That is the gospel. Now tell me, if Jesus rescues us that way, what do you do in that scenario?33:26The only thing you've done is kill yourself. We've died in our sin. The only thing I've done is floated to the bottom of the sea. And Jesus, radically, in verse 24, he rescues us from our foes. And the greatest foe we have is sin and death. Church, we rejoice because he is our rescuer. You are not here today trading water. You are dead in your sin.33:56And yet Jesus loves us enough to trade his life for us. And because of this, we give thanks. You're not clinging to the life preserver. You don't have life in you. There is no strength. And yet God loves us. He remembers us in our humiliation. That is the power of the gospel. And that is why we give thanks. Because we are owing a debt of gratitude we cannot repay.34:25So you say, well, how do I have new life? The Bible says this, whoever calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved. And as I shared this morning with some of our young people, I said, many will say they believe, but few will follow. There are no secret believers. There are no silent pilgrims. And maybe you're here today and you have, you say you believe,34:53but you have not made a statement in a public declaration of your faith. Maybe God is calling you today to make your faith public. The scriptural response always to new life of Jesus Christ is not walking an aisle. It is believer's baptism. Because you can run up and down these aisles and you're not going to get saved. It is only by the grace of Jesus Christ. And we're going to have a baptism service next week. If you have not yet put your faith fully in Christ,35:20why not? He's worth it. You say, well, I'm scared of the water. He's worth it. You say, well, I'm scared of people. I think you are scary. But it's worth it. So I don't know. It's not the right time. You are not guaranteed tomorrow. Oh, would you not reach out for the grace of Jesus Christ. Whoever calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.35:47That is his faithful love, his chesed to you. If you will seek him, he will give his son to you and you will find new life if you turn and repent of your sins. That is my hope and my prayer that today would be the day of your salvation. That you would not sit, but you would serve and you would seek a savior. Maybe you're here today and you've passed all that and you say, well, I want to know how I can be thankful. Here's 12 questions by Paul Tripp to really cement our hearts.36:16I want to remind you first that Alistair Begg says this. I've concluded the sermon three weeks in a row with this quote. He says that thankfulness is a song that will never be sung in hell. Thankfulness is a song that will never be sung in hell. And you know what? I want to practice for heaven. I'm going to sing until the world tells me to shut up. But it's worth it. Because he loves us.36:47He redeems us. He has created us and he's still creating in us. He is a God of every second of our lives. He is the one who loves us radically. So how can we be thankful? First, would the people nearest you characterize you as a thankful person or a complaining person? Easy. Husbands, ask your wife, am I a complainer or am I thankful? Bosses, ask your subordinates, am I thankful or am I a complainer?37:15And tell them to be honest. Because we should be unnaturally thankful. Because we have the supernatural power of the gospel. Secondly, when was the last time you sat down to count your blessings? Not to say, Lord, look at the stuff you've given me. But to say, God, thank you for who you are. Thank you for who you are. When was the last time that you spent grumbling? Thursday night for me.37:46When the rest weren't calling things my way. When's the last time you spent grumbling? That's not godliness. That's not thankfulness. Verse number four. When you look at the world, are you pessimistic? Well, the world's not as good as it used to be. You're right. It's called the fall. It started thousands of years ago in Genesis 1. So if you're trying to get back to the old days, you have a long way to go. My hope was not in the old days.38:17Because how many in Mayberry still went to hell if they didn't believe in Jesus? Every single person. And I know this. The truth of Scripture is the world's going to get worse. And then it'll get better. Because Christ will return and there will be no war. Christ returns and everything else is demolished. And every knee will bow. Every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. And there will be a new heavens and a new earth. To the glory of God our Father.38:45And that is why I'm optimistic. That's why my hope is not in the sports. That's why my hope is not in my house. Or any retirement fund I have. Or my family. That's why my hope is in Jesus Christ. Five. When you look at the world, do you find yourself celebrating God's grace? Or are you jealous? Lord, if I just had that. I can't believe you're doing this. Are you celebrating God's grace? Number six. Do you view yourself as one who is constantly shortchanged?39:14Do you find yourself as the victim? No. God is the victim. We've sinned against a holy and just God. Number seven. How often do you fill in the blanks? If I only had this. If I only had this, I would be happy. No, I have Jesus. And I have everything I need. Number seven.39:44Number seven. Number eight. How often do you fill in the blanks? I can't believe God has given this. It gets worse. Don't worry. Number nine. Do you encourage others to continue complaining? Do you encourage others to continue complaining? Number ten. Do you encourage others to give thanks? Are you someone that when they come to you and complain, you say, well, give thanks? Look at what God has given you. Number eleven.40:14Number eleven. Do you find yourself tearing others down? That includes Facebook. That includes 140 characters and Twitter. And now we have 280. Are we people who tear others down? Do you find yourself frequently building others up? And I pray today that we would declare that God, you are good and your love endures forever. If you are here and you have not trusted Jesus Christ, I pray that you would today.40:43Because he will radically save you. He will barack your heart. He will create in you a new heart and a clean spirit. Because Jesus Christ has traded his life for you. If you have put your trust in Jesus, this is what I would encourage you to do and challenge you for the invitation. Time of response. My belief is that a time of response is for everyone who knows Jesus. I know that God's been working on me this morning. So I'm going to encourage you to either stand where you are or come to the altar.41:14And when the song is being sung, you ignore the song. And you spend some time giving thanks. And if you have to come to the altar and you look at the cross and you wave your hands and say, God, I'm going to give thanks to you for your love endures forever. I will do that because I am unnaturally thankful because of your grace. And it might feel funny and it might be weird. That's okay because it's unnatural. But we have a Savior who is supernatural.41:43And may we leave here to say we will be thankful because his love, his faithfulness endures forever. Father.← Previous in Reformation: 5 statements that form/faithSunday, November 19, 2017More sermons on Psalms →
