Getting Back to Giving Thanks

Luke 17:11-19 
¹¹As Jesus continued on toward Jerusalem, He reached the border between Galilee and Samaria. ¹²As He entered a village there, ten lepers stood at a distance, ¹³crying out, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” ¹⁴He looked at them and said, “Go show yourselves to the priests.”  And as they went, they were cleansed of their leprosy. ¹⁵One of them, when he saw that he was healed, came back to Jesus, shouting, “Praise God!” ¹⁶He fell to the ground at Jesus’ feet, thanking Him for what He had done. This man was a Samaritan. ¹⁷Jesus asked, “Didn’t I heal ten men? Where are the other nine? ¹⁸Has no one returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?” ¹⁹And Jesus said to the man, “Stand up and go. Your faith has healed you.”  

 

Put feet to your faith

 

See ourselves as spiritual lepers before Christ

 

Go to the Master and cry out for mercy

 

Respond to Jesus with obedient faith

 

Mark 12:30-31 
³⁰And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength. ³¹The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’

 

Micah 6:8 
No, O people, the Lord has told you what is good, and this is what He requires of you:  to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.

 

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 
¹⁶Always be joyful. ¹⁷Never stop praying. ¹⁸Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.

 

Return to the Lord, glorifying Him at His feet from a thankful heart.

 

Make sure our thankfulness leads to a response.

 

I don’t go to church because I feel like it all the time, because I need to meet an attendance requirement, or because I want to make someone happy.  I go because I owe Him.  Because every time I ask for forgiveness, He forgives me.  Because when I needed saving, He saved me.  Every time I need Him, He’s there.  Every time I pray about something, He answers me.  I owe Him.  I go to church to worship because I owe Him a tremendous debt of gratitude!
-Greg Nelson

 

YOUR voice, YOUR heart, YOUR thanksgiving, YOUR gratitude, and YOUR worship

 

A lack of thankfulness…thanklessness…is sin

 

Ingratitude (thanklessness) is a sin, just as surely as lying or stealing or immorality or any other sin condemned by the Bible.
-Billy Graham

 

Evaluation:
Has my heart grown indifferent to God’s mercy and love?
Have I’ve take the sacrifice of Jesus for granted?
Do I barely give God thanks..if at all?
Thanklessness is a symptom of selfishness, pride, complacency, ego

 

Just as parents remind their children to give thanks, God does the same for us.  This is not God being vain.  It’s His way of making sure we stay spiritually healthy.  The Great Physician is writing us a prescription; these are reminders from our caring, heavenly Father.
-John Bloom

 

In all the priorities of life - with all that seems so urgent, we might not think that giving thanks ranks high enough.  We might be tempted to think that thankfulness is sort of like a luxury option in the car of the Christian faith - it’s a nice feature, but we can drive fine without it.  Thankfulness is not a luxury option; it’s part of our car’s engine.  The car of faith simply doesn’t work right without it.
-John Bloom

If God never grants us another glimpse of His glory in this life, if He never grants us another request, if He never gives us another gift from the abundance of His grace, we still would be obligated to spend the rest of our lives thanking Him for what He has already done.
- RC Sproul – in his book “Does Prayer Change Things?”  

 

Colossians 3:15-17 
¹⁵…always be thankful. ¹⁶…Sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs to god with thankful hearts. ¹⁷And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.

 

Ephesians 5:20
And give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
¹⁶Always be joyful. ¹⁷Never stop praying. ¹⁸Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.

 

Do you need to repent of thanklessness?