Thankful

Focusing on what we are thankful for should never be done just once a year.  Just as people are thinking about beginning new exercise routines after their Thanksgiving feasting, so we need to have a plan for how we will work out a heart of gratitude.  A heart of thankfulness should be seen as a muscle that must be developed in a lifestyle of worshiping Jesus.  Have you ever wondered what the difference is between a happy, healthy Christian and one who feels like they are barely making it?  Today we will do a little "C.S.I." work to uncover the keys in Christ-centered understanding of blessings, the importance of sharing blessings and the discipline of taking inventory of our blessings.  

Things are not always easy for us but these are things that Christians throughout history have learned to buoy their walks with God.  The more difficult your circumstance, the more this rings true.

Psalm 50:23
"The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me; to one who orders his way rightly I will show the salvation of God!"

C.S.I. of Thankfulness: 

What separates a happy, healthy Christian from one who is embittered and struggling?

1) Christ-centered in their understanding of blessings 

They have their hearts set on the eternal.

Hebrews 12:27-29
This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire. 

“Perhaps it takes a purer faith to praise God for unrealized blessings than for those we once enjoyed or those we enjoy now.”
-AW Tozer

Hebrews 13:12-15
So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood. Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured. For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come. Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. 

In practice:
Exercise your faith by daily expressing a sacrifice of praise to God. Circumstances will come and go. Invite God into your daily existence through the exercise of a submitted praise that He might bring you into His salvation.  Jesus has and will continue to work on your behalf. 

“Guidance, like all God’s acts of blessing under the covenant of grace, is a sovereign act. Not merely does God will to guide us in the sense of showing us his way, that we may tread it; he wills also to guide us in the more fundamental sense of ensuring that, whatever happens, whatever mistakes we may make, we shall come safely home. Slippings and strayings there will be, no doubt, but the everlasting arms are beneath us; we shall be caught, rescued, restored. This is God’s promise; this is how good he is.”
—J.I. Packer 2) Share their Blessings With possessions

Hebrews 13:16
Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God. 

“Would you know who is the greatest saint in the world? It is not he who prays most or fasts most; it is not he who gives most alms or is most eminent for temperance, chastity, or justice; but it is he who is always thankful to God, who wills everything that God wills, who receives everything as an instance of God’s goodness and has a heart always ready to praise God for it. Could you therefore work miracles, you could not do more for yourself than by this thankful spirit, for it turns all that it touches into happiness.”  
-William Law in the 18th century classic, A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life

In practice:
Honor God with your giving and share what He's given you that others might honor Him as well.  

With parlance

Proverbs 18:21
Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits. 

In practice:
Start and end every conversation with a sincere expression of that for which you can thank God. It will change your attitude, mood, the atmosphere of your surroundings and relationships. 

3) Inventory their Blessings“Everything about God is great, vast, incomparable. He never forgets, never fails, never falters, never forfeits His word.”
―Arthur W. Pink 

Psalm 103:1-5
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 iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's. 

"In one 2003 study, gratitude experts Robert Emmons of the University of California at Davis and Michael McCullough of the University of Miami asked some participants to keep a record of what they were grateful for, while others were asked to list the hassles in their lives. After several weeks, those in the gratitude group had a more positive outlook on life, exercised more and reported fewer physical problems.Emmons also has compiled a list of health data points from his and others’ studies on gratitude that show there are many emotional and physical health benefits of being consciously thankful. For example, practicing gratitude is related to 23 percent lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol and led to a 7 percent reduction in biomarkers of inflammation in patients with congestive heart failure. There are studies that suggest gratitude led to reductions in depression and blood pressure and improvement in sleep quality among those with chronic pain and insomnia. In one study, 88 percent of suicidal patients reported feeling less hopeless after writing a letter of gratitude."
―https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/inspired-life/wp/2016/11/24/the-science-behind-why-you-shouldnt-stop-giving-thanks-after-thanksgiving/

In practice:
Start your prayer life each day with thanking God for all of the good that you can think of. Journal it and testify to God's faithfulness for your and others' future faith endeavors. 

Psalm 100:1-5
Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing! Know that the Lord, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations. 

Understand that in addition to family, provision, health and friends, the greatest blessing for which we should give thanks is Christ purchasing our salvation at the cross.  Come to Him and rest in His salvation with a thankful heart today and always. 

“Since no man is excluded from calling upon God the gate of salvation is open to all. There is nothing else to hinder us from entering, but our own unbelief.” 
—John Calvin

Second City Church: Thankful Sermon 2016