Thanksgiving

What if gratitude did more than lift your mood—what if it transformed what you are going through?

This episode explores how giving thanks to God can change situations - turning scarcity into abundance and grief into hope. Giving thanks in everything is not a cliche but a powerful way to align with God's will.

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“in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
- ‭‭1 Thessalonians‬ ‭5‬:‭18‬ ‭NASB1995‬‬

Chapters

• 0:13 Thanksgiving And True Gratitude
• 2:11 Give Thanks In Everything: 1 Thessalonians 5:18
• 3:04 David’s Psalms Of Thanksgiving
• 5:19 Story One: Ten Lepers And One Thankful Heart
• 10:50 Story Two: The Alabaster Jar
• 14:55 Story Three: Jesus Gives Thanks Before Multiplication
• 18:03 At Lazarus’ Tomb: Thankfulness And Glory
• 23:05 Daily Mercies And Joyful Praise
• 25:31 Closing Exhortation And Prayer Of Thanks

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:13

I want to start by telling you that some parts of the globe celebrated Thanksgiving this week. Some cultures celebrate it and some cultures don't. I know it's mainly celebrated in the United States. And for those of you who don't know what it is, it's to give thanks for the previous year. It's to give thanks for the blessings of the past year. It has originated as a celebration for harvest time. It's a time for gratitude. And I want to tell you that if you know Jesus, and it has a very different meaning. It's time to give thanks. For the blessings that he has. It's time to give thanks for everything. Everything. The Bible says that is good. That comes from him. A time to give thanks for the cross. For our eternal salvation. A time to give thanks for God's love for us. His provision. His peace and his joy upon our lives. Hallelujah. So you see, it's a beautiful time. A time to give thanks. And I want to tell you that it's so beautifully put in the scripture, and I'm reading to you from the word of God, from the book of Thessalonians. In everything, give thanks. For this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. Hallelujah. 1 Thessalonians, the 5th chapter, the 18th verse says, In everything give thanks, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. Hallelujah. I told you the world celebrated Thanksgiving and it celebrates it for different reasons. But I want to tell you when you know Jesus, Thanksgiving has a very different meaning. And 1 Thessalonians 5.18 tells us that in everything, everything, no matter what situation you are in, in everything, give thanks. Because if you have met Jesus and you have accepted Jesus as your Savior, I want to tell you it's God's will through Christ Jesus for you. And you might not see the larger picture right now. But you have to give thanks. And it says, in everything, give thanks. Hallelujah. No matter where you are and what point you are in life, we need to give thanks. And I want to tell you, King David knew this. The Bible says God called him a man of his own heart. And King David knew this. And he knew to be thankful to God. And I'm reading to you from one of his beautiful scriptures, a scripture of thanksgiving, a psalm of thanksgiving. From Psalm 101 and 2, which says, Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth. Serve the Lord with gladness. Come before him with joyful singing. Let me tell you, this was a time when David was not at his best time. Serve the Lord with gladness. Come before him with joyful singing. King David is saying from Psalm 100. And I won't tell you it's so similar to the previous scripture from Thessalonians, which says, no matter what you're going through in life, give thanks. And King David knew this, and he gave thanks, and he's joyful. And he's singing. Hallelujah. Psalm 9 1 says, I will give thanks to the Lord. With all my heart. I will tell you. I will tell of all your wonders. I will be glad and exult in you. I will sing praise to your name, O Most High. Hallelujah. I will give thanks to you, O Lord, with all my heart. Again, this is a beautiful psalm from King David. I will tell of all your wonders, I will be glad and exult in you. I will sing praise to your name, O Most High. Hallelujah. What a beautiful passage of scripture. And you know, you should mark these down the true essence of thanksgiving. And I want to tell you that today I want to share three stories with you from the lives of three different people, and I'll be very brief and short. But I want to tell you about these examples that are acts of being thankful to God or an act of thanksgiving. And how important it is to actually be thankful to God. And this is what I want to leave you with today is how important it is to be thankful to God and give thanks to Him. As the earlier scriptures have told us, from Thessalonians and the Psalms, and through the Word of God today to show you a deeper understanding of what happens when you give thanks to God. And I'm going to start straight with the first story that I have to share with you, and it's it's it's a time when Jesus is on this planet and you know he's walking through a city. And it so happens that he meets a leper. Actually, he's on his way to Jerusalem. This uh story comes to you from the book of Luke, the 17th chapter. And it's so uh the Bible says that uh Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem and he's passing between Samaria and Galilee. So it's very specifically telling you where Jesus is with his disciples, and he's about to enter the village, and there are 10 lepers outside who stood at a distance and cried out to him from afar. I've told you in the past that you know the lepers used to be the outcasts, they used to be put out of the city because leprosy was highly contagious and they're diseased. And just to let you know, uh we live in a day and age where leprosy is not so prevalent. But your limbs, it's basically a virus that affects your limbs, and the tips of your limbs start deteriorating, and slowly after time it eats into the body part, starting from the tip. So, you know, people would lose their toes, their fingers, their nose, their ears. It was a strange, strange disease. And as I said, because it's scary and there used to be outcast to the edge of the city. And now Jesus is entering Jerusalem, and these ten lepers are screaming out to him, shouting out to him from afar. And Luke 17-13, verse onward, says Hallelujah. As he entered the village, ten leprous men stood at a distance, and they raised their voice to say, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. And when he saw them, he told them, Go show yourselves to the priest. And the Bible says that the ten of them decide to do that. So clearly there's news that's spreading about Jesus, and he's walking from city to city healing people, and now he's passing through Samaria and Galilee, the place where these people are sitting, and they shout out to him, and he says, Go show yourself to the priest. Hallelujah. And the Bible says, now one of them, when he saw that he had been healed, he turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice, and he fell on his face at the feet of Jesus, giving thanks to him. Hallelujah. Ten lepers, Jesus just tells them, Go and show yourself to the priest. And while they're on their way to the priest, they get healed. And the Bible says, one turns back, runs back to Jesus, glorifying God with a loud voice, the Bible says, and he falls on his face flat at Jesus' feet, giving thanks. Hallelujah. And Jesus asked him, and here's where you need to pay attention: Jesus asked him, Were there not ten of you cleansed? Where are the other nine? Was no one found to return to give glory to God? Hallelujah. I had my own version here. Was no one found to turn and give thanks to the to the Lord? Hallelujah. Jesus knew there were ten. Jesus knew obviously that they're all going to get healed. But he's asking, where are the other nine? And he said, Well, it's only me. And then Jesus says, Stand up and go your way. Your faith has made you well. Another version says, Your faith has made you whole. Hallelujah. Let me tell you what's my interpretation of being made whole is mean the body passed it, got deteriorated and fell off or got destroyed, I believe, came back. Hallelujah. That's what's being made whole. He didn't say you're healed, he said your faith has made you whole. Oh, hallelujah. Don't miss it. This beautiful morning, there was one who came back to give thanks, and Jesus makes him whole. I would like to believe it's because he came back to give thanks. And Jesus even asked, Where are the other nine? So Jesus is looking for a thankful heart, if you ask me. And that one that came back became whole. Hallelujah. The other one is a beautiful story. And I told you I'm briefly going to get into all these three stories to share the larger picture with you. It's from uh the time uh of the life when uh of Jesus when he was on this planet, and the Bible says that Jesus is is invited by a Pharisee to come home and have lunch, and the Bible only talks about Jesus being at this person's home, and it says that they're sitting there at the table, and there's this the Bible only refers to as a sinful woman, there's a sinful woman, in case you'd like to know, it's from the uh the book of Luke, the seventh chapter, the 36th verse onwards, and it's a beautiful story, and you should pay attention to this. And it says there's this there's a woman in the city who is a sinner, that's it, that's all it says, and you must listen to this. And when she learned that he was at the table of the Pharisees' home reclining there, she bought an alabaster jar of perfume. Let me just tell you that an alabaster jar was extremely expensive. And standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and wiped it with her hair from her head, and kissing his feet, she anointed them from the perfume that she broke from the alabaster jar. Oh, hallelujah! And then, of course, there's a story that goes on where the Pharisee says, What a waste! and Jesus knows what this is about. But I would like to say that this is an act of thanksgiving because she's a sinful woman, and that's all the Bible says that she is, and she realizes wow, it's my chance to give thanks. It's my chance to give thanks to the savior who's here in whatever form, only I know, because I don't know what mindset she might have been in, where she took an alabaster jar of perfume and crawls behind him at his feet and cries, and then washes his feet with her tears and the perfume, and then wipes his feet with her hair. Wow. Hallelujah. I would like to call this an act of thanksgiving because she knew after this, I'm not gonna be a sinful woman. After this, my life is gonna change. Hallelujah. That's from Luke, the seventh chapter, the 36th verse onwards. You can read it in your own time, it goes on till 50. And you can read it, it's a beautiful story, and then of course, I have to share with you a story from the Good Shepherd, the Son of God, Jesus, when he was on this planet, and let me tell you that Jesus too had to give thanks. Don't believe me. I will share it with you from the word of God, and that should tell us a lot. If the Son of God had to come down on this planet and give thanks, that should tell us a lot. And I'm going to share with you a story, a few examples actually, from the time when Jesus was on this planet where he gave thanks. And it starts with the best act of multiplication that I know of. When Jesus is on this planet, where he feeds 5,000, a crowd of 5,000, and a second time when he feeds a crowd of 4,000. And some of you know the story, and some of you don't, but for no uh most of you do know the story. But Jesus is spreading the good news of salvation to all places, he's preaching and teaching, and crowds are following him. And the Bible says in multiple places, Jesus has compassion, Jesus has compassion. Of course, he has compassion. And I won't tell you in the first story, Jesus has five loaves and two fish. And the second story is about seven loaves and a few small fish. And in both these instances, the Bible says Jesus has, as I said, compassion on the crowds because they've been with him, they're following him. And he tells his disciples, make them sit. And what do we have? And his disciples say, five loaves and two fish, and the second time, seven loaves and a few small fish. And I want to tell you the Bible says, and I will give you, I'll give it you, I'll give you the scriptures for it. The Bible says that he takes them in both the instances and he looks up to the heavens and he gives thanks. Hallelujah. And then he breaks it and he gives it to his disciples. So before the act of multiplication, Jesus gives thanks. And the first story is when he feeds the five thousand, and I'm sharing it with you, ordering the people to sit down from the book of Matthew, the 14th chapter, the 19th verse. Ordering the people to sit down on the grass, he took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up towards heaven, he blessed the food, and breaking the loaves, he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds to eat. And the food did not run out till five thousand were fed. And the Bible says five thousand only accounts for the men. Hallelujah. And the second time is from Matthew the 15th chapter. Yeah, I'm I'm sorry. Yeah, that's right. Matthew the 15th chapter, the 36th verse. Hallelujah. Which goes on to say, he took the seven loaves and the fish, and giving thanks, he broke them and started giving them to his disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. Hallelujah. Matthew 15, 36. You see, Jesus too gave thanks. And an act of multiplication happened. A crazy act of multiplication. Hallelujah. There's one more story I'd like to share with you this beautiful morning. That's when Jesus is very busy in the middle of a lot of things. And he gets some news that makes him unhappy and sad. And Jesus now has to leave that place and go to a place called Judea for a friend of his. Some of you might have caught it already, but if not, I'm anyway going to share this beautiful story with you. Jesus is busy someplace, as I said, and he's got news that he has to go to another place in Judea. And I want to tell you, the Bible actually says Judea now is very dangerous for Jesus because now the people are looking for him. The people want to catch him, they want to stone him, the Bible says. But he knows that he's going back to Judea. And even though he knows the people are looking to stone him, he waits there. Where he is for another two more days. Hallelujah. And for those of you who don't know the story, I'm talking to you about the time of the death of Jesus' friend called Lazarus. And I'll cut a really long story short. And Jesus gets up after waiting there. He gets the news and he waits at the place that he's at for two days. And I want to tell you, he tells his disciples, we shall wait because the glory of God will show. And then he takes his disciples and he goes to Judea to a place called Bethany. And I'm talking about the time, as I said, when Jesus' friend Lazarus is dead. He's already got the news. And that Lazarus is dead. He gets the news that he's ill, and then he gets the news that he's dead. And when he's there, Mary comes running to him, who's Lazarus' sister. And she says A lot of you hear this would have not happened. And Jesus says, Take me to the tomb where he has been laid. And I won't tell you, he stands there outside the tomb and he says, Remove the stone. So in those days, the tombs used to be covered in by a stone. And Mary turns to him and says, But Lord, he's been dead four days, there will be a stench. Verse onwards. So they removed the stone, and when Jesus had raised his eyes and said, Father, I thank you that you have heard me. Hallelujah. And I know that you always hear me. But because of the people standing around you, I said it so that they may believe that you have sent me. Hallelujah. And for those of you who don't know the end, Jesus stands outside the tomb after the stone has been rolled over and he says, Lazarus, come forth. And the Bible says, Lazarus came forth wrapped in cloth all around. A dead man of four days comes back to life. But let me tell you, before Jesus brought that man back to life, he gave thanks to God. He gave thanks to his father. Standing outside a tomb, Lord, I thank you that you have heard me. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. I want to tell you something that most people don't know. The book of John is the only book that calls this out. The lady who was the sinner. In the book of John is called out as Lazarus' sister Mary, the same woman who broke the alabaster jar and washed his feet with her tears and wiped it with her hair. An act of thanksgiving, I believe, brought her brother back to life. An act of thanks from Jesus to his father, sealed the deal. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. It's Thanksgiving. And I want to tell you this beautiful morning. There's so many reasons for you to give thanks for. Some of them you don't even know because the Bible says his mercies are new every morning. Every morning you receive something new from God. It's not the word of God. And you don't even know it because you probably can't even see it. You don't see it because you're looking for that breakthrough at work, or you're looking for your back balance to go up, you're looking for that medical report to come to negative, you're looking for that ache to disappear. But the Bible says his mercies are new every morning. Every morning. Believe this. Look at yourself in the mirror and count the number of years that you've been on the planet, and then multiplied by the days you've been on the planet, and understand the number of miracles that you would have received from the Most High. If that's not reason to give thanks. Let me not even get into the multiples of baskets that they collected after feeding. The four and five thousand. I know it's difficult because sometimes it's difficult the point of time that some of us might be in. It's very difficult to give thanks, but give thanks always how joyfully to the Lord, all the earth. Come before him with joyful singing. Psalms 101 and 2. 1 Thessalonians 5 says, In everything give thanks. For this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. And this beautiful week, you must understand this beautiful Thanksgiving week. You must understand whatever situation that you are in. Just remember, it's to bring glory to God, it's to bring glory to Jesus. And you should give thanks for it because it is his will for you in Christ Jesus. And this is such a deep scripture if you understand it. Hallelujah. 1 Thessalonians 5:18. And I want to leave you with this last passage of scripture, Psalms 9.1, says, I will give thanks to the Lord with all my heart. I will tell of all your wonders. I will be glad and exult in you. I will sing praises to your name, O beautiful Most High. Hallelujah. This beautiful day, I want to tell you, and I believe very strongly that when you give thanks to God, you will see multiplication that nobody can even imagine. You will see things happen that physics and law and man-made laws will tell you is not possible to happen. But I believe it only happens when you go to God with a thankful heart. When you go to God irrespective of what situation you that you are in, saying thanks to Him. Because it's only through that situation that He can bring glory to Himself. Through Christ Jesus. And we thank you, Lord, we thank you for this day that you have given us. We will rejoice and be glad in it, Lord. This beautiful Thanksgiving week. This month, we give you thanks. For being faithful to us, Lord. No matter what situation we have been in, you have remained faithful to us, Lord. We might have wavered. And we might have lost track. We might have looked away. I thank you that you've always been there, Lord. With us, carrying us, holding our hand, being at our right hand. Always. We give you thanks, Lord, for this beautiful time. We give you thanks for your love that you shower upon us. We give you thanks for your grace. We give you thanks for your mercy, your joy. We give you thanks, Lord, most of all for being obedient to death and death on a cross only for us. Because of which we are your people, your children. And everything in the Bible, every blessing is here and amen. And aligned to us through your body and through your blood. Thank you for this beautiful time. Thank you for this beautiful year that you have given us. And though we leave reaching almost the end of this year, with just one month to go, we thank you. We just thank you for everything that you've done, our way, and we thank you for the wonderful things you're gonna continue to shower us with the open windows of heaven. Thank you, Lord, in Jesus' name I pray. Amen.