Cawthorne, James

Date 2/13/15
Preaching Lab
Wagner
Preaching Lab #1
Subject: Thanksgiving
Subject Category: Giving Thanksgiving
Sentence Summary: We must give Thanksgiving to the Lord for everything he does for us.
Objective: To teach about giving Thanksgiving to the Lord. .
Psa. 100:0

A psalm of thanksgiving.

Shout with joy to the LORD, all the earth!

Worship the LORD with gladness.
Come before him, singing with joy.
Acknowledge that the LORD is God!
He made us, and we are his.
We are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving;
go into his courts with praise.
Give thanks to him and praise his name.
For the LORD is good.
His unfailing love continues forever,
and his faithfulness continues to each generation.

Psa. 100:1
2
3

Introduction
Do you guys ever realize how good you have it? Have you ever forgotten how good you have it?
I mean seriously come on, think about it for a second. I dont even know where to start when it
comes to have good we have it. Who here drove a car to school today? How many of you have
a smart phone? Lets go even further, how many of you have running water?
According to Answers.com; 75% of people drive cars.
1/6th of the world have their own personal cell phone.
36% of the worlds population (2.5 billion people) do not have access to proper sanitation (such
as a toilet and washing), and 768 million people still use unsafe drinking water.

(Transition)

Now youre probably wondering what is James trying to get at here. Today I want to talk about
giving thanksgiving to the Lord. Giving thanks for all the little things we have in our lives.
Rather than focusing on what we dont have, but being content and thankful for what we do
have.
Lets turn our Bibles to Psalm 100
Psa. 100:0

A Psalm of Thanksgiving.

Psa. 100:1
Make a joyful shout to
2 Serve the LORD with gladness;

the LORD, all you lands!

Come before His presence with singing.
3 Know that the LORD, He is God; It is He who has made us, and not we
ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.
4 Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be
thankful to Him, and bless His name.
5 For the LORD is good; His mercy is everlasting, And His truth endures to
all generations.
1. Everyone needs to give worship to the Lord!
Verse 1 says, Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands!
The Psalmist here which was most likely King David; is shouting to everyone let the Lord hear
how joyful you are, not just you, but everyone. Its an act of worship were being called to here;
being joyful and letting the Lord know in worship. Whether it was the Israelites or a different
nation he was referring to during this time he is telling everyone to worship the Lord. Which is
the same was what we should do today; regardless of our situation.

Kevin made an awesome point during his sermon last week when he mentioned the
optimist says, It could be worse, but with God, with Jesus; it gets better!

Now Im not saying you should start running around yelling joy to the Lord, but you
should be showing such thanks to the Lord with your heart, with your soul in acts of
worship in the things you do. Not just you, but everyone.

Lets continue
Verses 2 says, Serve the LORD with gladness; Come before His presence with singing.

2. NO MATTER WHAT YOU DO, WORSHIP THE LORD WITH HAPPINESS!

Here we have the Psalmist commanding us to serve the Lord with gladness, to come before
his presence with singing. He is addressing us as servants, which we are; we all are
servants in different ways.

1 Corinthians 10:31 So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of
God.

Youre not only asked to serve with gladness, but to come before him in worship and
everything you do for his glory.

During the ancient times only priests were allowed to serve in the temple; but over time
things have changed. Anyone and everyone is allowed to serve in church; in a way we are
all servants of the Lord in our own way with our own spiritual gifts.

You dont have to go to church to serve either, no matter what youre doing be willing to
serve, be willing to do it all for the glory of God.

As believers we all have this belief that God has a special purpose for our lives that he has
something special planned out for us. And its true he does! Sometimes you hear people in their
daily lives sad or dismayed that this is what God is doing with their life. They have this belief that
God has something special in store for them. This is all true! God has something special planned
for all of us. But Gods plan for you is what youre doing right now in this very moment. No matter
what it is were doing we must be willing to serve and worship him in our actions.

My Dad always tells me this story about my great grandpa where he would walk
outside and see him working on his car. Next thing you know he would either
stub his toe or accidentally hit his hand and rather than curse he would cry out,

God Bless It! or Praise the Lord! My father didnt understand it at the time,
but as he got older he realized that no matter what happens we are supposed to
praise God; worship him in everything we do.

Ephesians 2:10 says, For we are Gods masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ
Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

Verse 3 says, Know that the LORD, He is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;
We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.
3. KNOW GOD, KNOW WE ARE HIS.

Here King David is saying recognize who our Lord iswho is he? He is our God. He is
the one who created us.

We addressed this in class yesterdaywho did God say he is to Moses?

o Exodus 3:14, And God said to Moses, IAM WHO I AM. And He said, Thus
you shall say to the children of Israel, I AM has sent me top you.

It is God who has created us and everything we have gained in our lives we have gained
from him.

It is interesting how fast when we gain little success we can take credit for the things that
he has done working through our lives.

This verse is a reminder here that we must remember who made us, it wasnt us it was
God and we are his and not of our own.

So each and every time we are successful, it is him that gives us the blessings it is his
gifts he is bestowing on us because we are his.

Verses 4 and 5 says, Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise.
Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. For the LORD is good; His mercy is everlasting, And
His truth endures to all generations.

Now lets recap:

Heaven is our true home. Think of going to someones house, once you enter the opening gate,
you past the first door into the courtyard. How do you usually enter someones house? With
humbleness and meekness am I right? How do we go the Lords house? How do we go to
church? How do we live our lives? With praise and worship to God. Just as the host of a house
meets us he is good to us and his mercy and gladness is bestowed upon us.
Verse 2; Come before his presence with singingenter his house with worship.
Verse 3; Know that the Lord, He is God; We are His people and the sheep of His pastureWe
are welcome in his courtyard; we are welcome in his house.
Verse 4; Enter into His gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise. Be thankful to
Him, and bless His name..When you come to the Lord let him know how much you love him,
praise him, bless him as he has blessed you. Why should you do this?
Verse 5: For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting, and His truth endures to all generations.
Conclusion:
So no matter what trial you are facing, no matter what you may be going through give praise to
the Lord for the things he has given you. Dont focus on what you dont have but give praise and
worship to the Lord for what you do have. Because God is good Amen! I pray today that we can
learn to be thankful to the Lord for everything he does in our lives. When we get down and
forget what we do have we can look to him and praise the Lord for the things he has done in our
lives.