WEBVTT 00:00:09.439 --> 00:00:12.640 We're currently message called one-word prayer. 00:00:13.359 --> 00:00:17.440 No, too often a lot our prayer life is built with me words. 00:00:17.839 --> 00:00:22.000 Words that actually prevent us from connecting and growing closer to God. 00:00:22.559 --> 00:00:30.239 In this series, we're focusing on four simple one-word prayers that will help anyone grow in our relationship with Jesus. 00:00:30.480 --> 00:00:33.520 I hope today's message is an encouragement to you. 00:00:36.240 --> 00:00:45.280 After a child says their very first word, moms and dads, aunts and uncles, grandparents know that uh the work has just begun. 00:00:45.600 --> 00:00:49.119 Instantly a child's vocabulary begins to grow. 00:00:49.359 --> 00:00:58.960 And one of the first uh phrases, first two words that any parent wants to insert into their child's vocabulary are the words thank you. 00:00:59.679 --> 00:01:08.079 We teach our children to say thank you when food is served, and not just when the food that is served is food that you like. 00:01:08.560 --> 00:01:15.280 Say thank you for the chocolate cake and for the boiled cabbage that your grandmother worked so hard to prepare. 00:01:15.920 --> 00:01:20.400 We teach our children uh to say thank you for the gifts that they receive. 00:01:21.280 --> 00:01:22.480 The gifts that they like. 00:01:22.640 --> 00:01:23.519 That's easy enough. 00:01:23.599 --> 00:01:26.239 The bikes, the dolls, the video games. 00:01:26.640 --> 00:01:31.120 But you also need to say thank you for the gift that you didn't even ask for. 00:01:31.280 --> 00:01:37.040 You know, that hand-knit pea green turtleneck sweater that you unwrap from under the tree. 00:01:38.000 --> 00:01:41.840 And you should say thank you when someone offers you a compliment. 00:01:42.159 --> 00:01:50.879 Great job on the ball field, great job at the recital, and you can see that mom or dad look at their child and say, look them in the eye and say thank you. 00:01:51.920 --> 00:01:56.079 One reason parents teach their kids to say thank you is this right here. 00:01:56.239 --> 00:01:58.719 Saying thank you is a social norm, right? 00:01:59.280 --> 00:02:01.280 It's just good manners. 00:02:01.599 --> 00:02:05.040 It's polite to say thank you. 00:02:05.280 --> 00:02:15.120 And as a part of that social norm, it also, listen, it also reflects uh good on dear old mom and dad if their children say thank you. 00:02:15.280 --> 00:02:19.680 Nobody wants to be known around El Dorado for raising a rude child. 00:02:19.919 --> 00:02:21.759 Yeah, people, they talk. 00:02:22.960 --> 00:02:29.360 But there's another reason that we teach our kids to say thank you, and it's actually a more important reason. 00:02:29.520 --> 00:02:31.199 Let's go to the next slide. 00:02:31.759 --> 00:02:36.560 Saying thank you is a relational necessity. 00:02:37.439 --> 00:02:58.639 Recently, a study was conducted at the University of North Carolina, and it discovered that saying thank you and other expressions of gratitude, they serve as some of the most important factors in the life of a person if that person wants to begin and to nurture lifelong relationships. 00:02:59.199 --> 00:03:05.439 The lead researcher on this project, her name is Sarah Algo, out of this project, she uh coined this phrase. 00:03:05.599 --> 00:03:06.719 Go to the next slide. 00:03:06.879 --> 00:03:12.159 She said that thank you is relational glue. 00:03:12.960 --> 00:03:14.960 Relational glue. 00:03:15.360 --> 00:03:24.639 That phrase that tells us then that a thank you is what brings people together and holds people together. 00:03:25.439 --> 00:03:33.840 Thank you is relational glue because it recognizes the good things that someone else did for you. 00:03:34.639 --> 00:03:41.199 It sees the effort and the sacrifice that someone has made on your behalf. 00:03:41.759 --> 00:03:49.520 It admits that another person has done for you things that you could not do on your own. 00:03:50.240 --> 00:03:54.000 And in the clip that we just watched, we saw the power of thank you. 00:03:54.159 --> 00:04:02.960 We saw it act as this relational glue as moms and dads looked into the eyes of their children and then embraced their children. 00:04:03.599 --> 00:04:10.159 Thank you in that moment brought a parent and a child together. 00:04:10.560 --> 00:04:24.800 And if over the next months and years and decades they continue to say thank you to each other, it's quite likely they can nurture a healthy, lifelong relationship. 00:04:25.360 --> 00:04:29.040 Saying thank you is a relational necessity. 00:04:30.000 --> 00:04:35.519 That principle, though, it's not only true of the relationship between a parent and a child. 00:04:35.839 --> 00:04:41.920 It's also true with regard to the relationship between a husband and his wife. 00:04:42.319 --> 00:04:47.360 Or it's also true among siblings or among groups of friends. 00:04:48.560 --> 00:05:00.000 This principle that saying thank you is a relational necessity is true of every relationship, and that includes your relationship with God. 00:05:01.279 --> 00:05:17.920 One of my favorite authors, his name is Dallas Willard, and Dallas puts it this way: he says, a healthy faith before God cannot be built and maintained without heartfelt celebration of his greatness and goodness. 00:05:18.560 --> 00:05:22.399 Let's leave that quote on the screen for just a minute. 00:05:22.800 --> 00:05:31.600 For some of us, our faith is in a state of ill health because we always ask God for more, more, more. 00:05:31.759 --> 00:05:42.720 And we never stop and say, thank you for what you've already given to me, for what you've already done in my life. 00:05:42.959 --> 00:05:45.839 I can only think of myself when I pray. 00:05:46.000 --> 00:05:49.279 I can only see my needs in this moment when I pray. 00:05:49.439 --> 00:05:56.240 And I never stop and say, thank you for all the ways you've already met my needs. 00:05:57.839 --> 00:06:09.439 Or Psalm 50, verse 23, puts it this way: Giving thanks is a sacrifice that truly honors me. 00:06:11.040 --> 00:06:19.279 A person who honors God, that's a person who's nurturing a healthy, lifelong relationship with God. 00:06:19.680 --> 00:06:27.439 And according to Psalm 50, verse 23, that person knows it's so important to say thank you to God. 00:06:27.519 --> 00:06:29.680 That's the sacrifice I give to God. 00:06:29.759 --> 00:06:37.439 It's what I offer to God every single day, because thank you is relational glue. 00:06:38.800 --> 00:06:41.680 But the opposite is also true. 00:06:42.480 --> 00:06:48.000 If thank you is relational glue, then the opposite of thank you is ingratitude. 00:06:48.160 --> 00:06:57.199 And if thank you brings people together, ingratitude forms a relational gap that pushes us apart. 00:06:58.720 --> 00:07:04.079 Most often, ingratitude is nothing more than an absence of words. 00:07:04.560 --> 00:07:13.120 And in the context of your relationship with God, that's when you fail to recognize the good things that God has already given to you. 00:07:14.319 --> 00:07:16.959 They go unspoken and unnoticed. 00:07:17.360 --> 00:07:23.680 It's when you don't say anything in your prayer life about Jesus' sacrifice on the cross. 00:07:23.839 --> 00:07:26.639 You act as if the cross is not all that important. 00:07:26.800 --> 00:07:35.279 You've moved beyond the greatest sacrifice that the world has ever seen that was given for your sake and for the sake of the whole world. 00:07:35.600 --> 00:07:45.360 It's when a person sits in silence and never admits the countless ways throughout the day when God meets every need. 00:07:45.600 --> 00:07:53.519 He does something for you, and that something is something you couldn't do for yourself. 00:07:55.360 --> 00:08:02.959 And when ingratitude persists in the life of a believer, a gap forms. 00:08:04.639 --> 00:08:20.560 And if that ingratitude, listen, if it persists for long enough, the gap becomes a cavern, that becomes a canyon, and then finally it just feels like you are totally distant and separated from God. 00:08:22.240 --> 00:08:28.399 And if that's you this morning, maybe you're tired of that state of affairs. 00:08:31.920 --> 00:08:37.600 You want to be connected to God, you want to hear the heartbeat of your heavenly Father. 00:08:39.440 --> 00:08:50.159 Well, to be close and connected, you and I, we need to put another one-word prayer into our daily rotation. 00:08:51.440 --> 00:08:59.919 Last week, as a companion to these 21 days of prayer, we began a four-week series we're calling one-word prayers. 00:09:00.559 --> 00:09:12.320 One-word prayers, one-word simple prayers that allow us to draw close to God because these one-word prayers help us avoid often the meaningless words that we say. 00:09:12.720 --> 00:09:21.679 These one-word prayers allow us to focus not on what we gain from God, but just being with God and listening to the voice of God. 00:09:22.000 --> 00:09:24.879 Our first one-word prayer was that word father. 00:09:25.120 --> 00:09:35.759 And we pray, Father, and we're reminded that God desires an intimate relationship, and He grants us instant access. 00:09:36.559 --> 00:09:40.720 And today's one-word prayer, you've probably already figured it out. 00:09:40.960 --> 00:09:42.960 It's the word thanks. 00:09:44.240 --> 00:09:53.519 And it's a one-word prayer that we have to put into a daily rotation because this one-word prayer is relational glue. 00:09:54.080 --> 00:09:57.759 It brings us close to God and holds us close to God. 00:09:58.559 --> 00:10:08.720 To learn how to incorporate thanks into our daily prayer life, we're going to look at Psalm 136 today. 00:10:08.960 --> 00:10:12.320 This is a psalm that's known as the great halel. 00:10:13.279 --> 00:10:22.559 That word halel, that Hebrew word, could be translated praise, so it could be called the great praise, or you could maybe even translate it the great thank you. 00:10:22.879 --> 00:10:36.960 And this psalm, what it does is it gives us the one true reason we pray a prayer of thanksgiving to God while we say thanks to God, and it's going to give us the recipe to how we can do it every single day. 00:10:37.840 --> 00:10:46.159 Now, we're going to read Psalm 136 different than we normally read scripture together because we're actually going to read it together. 00:10:46.399 --> 00:10:53.600 So Psalm 136 contains a refrain, it contains a phrase that's repeated over and over. 00:10:53.759 --> 00:10:54.159 There it is. 00:10:54.320 --> 00:10:57.919 His faithful love endures forever. 00:10:58.240 --> 00:11:01.600 So here's how we're going to read Psalm 136 together. 00:11:01.840 --> 00:11:05.919 I'm going to read the words that are in plain type. 00:11:06.480 --> 00:11:10.480 And then you as a congregation, we can do it, guys. 00:11:10.879 --> 00:11:12.960 You are going to respond. 00:11:13.600 --> 00:11:17.679 His faithful love endures forever. 00:11:17.919 --> 00:11:20.159 We're going to try it before we go to verse 2, Will. 00:11:20.240 --> 00:11:22.879 We're going to see if we can do this on verse 1, okay? 00:11:23.440 --> 00:11:23.919 Alright? 00:11:24.480 --> 00:11:26.559 Did y'all understand how we're going to read it? 00:11:26.720 --> 00:11:28.080 I'll read plain text. 00:11:28.240 --> 00:11:31.200 You, as one voice, the italicized text. 00:11:31.600 --> 00:11:35.279 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. 00:11:39.360 --> 00:11:40.639 That was really good. 00:11:41.279 --> 00:11:42.240 Here's what I need. 00:11:42.320 --> 00:11:45.440 I need, I also want to hear some emotion in your voice. 00:11:45.759 --> 00:11:49.919 That you've felt the love of God in your life. 00:11:51.279 --> 00:11:57.679 That you've encountered the love of God in your life, and you believe that his love is faithful and that it endures forever. 00:11:57.840 --> 00:12:01.120 So we're going to do verse one one more time and then we're just going to keep going. 00:12:01.200 --> 00:12:01.519 Alright? 00:12:01.600 --> 00:12:02.240 Here we go. 00:12:02.480 --> 00:12:05.360 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. 00:12:10.320 --> 00:12:13.120 Give thanks to the God of gods. 00:12:17.039 --> 00:12:20.080 Give thanks to the Lord of Lords. 00:12:31.919 --> 00:12:36.159 Give thanks to him who made the heavens so skillfully. 00:12:40.399 --> 00:12:44.559 Give thanks to him who placed the earth among the waters. 00:12:48.559 --> 00:12:51.919 Give thanks to him who made the heavenly lights. 00:12:56.240 --> 00:12:58.799 The sun to rule the day. 00:13:02.240 --> 00:13:05.600 And the moon and stars to rule the night. 00:13:09.200 --> 00:13:12.799 Give thanks to him who killed the firstborn of Egypt. 00:13:16.320 --> 00:13:19.039 He brought Israel out of Egypt. 00:13:22.320 --> 00:13:26.080 He acted with a strong hand and a powerful arm. 00:13:30.240 --> 00:13:33.519 Give thanks to him who parted the Red Sea. 00:13:37.120 --> 00:13:39.919 He led Israel safely through. 00:13:44.639 --> 00:13:48.399 But he hurled Pharaoh and his army into the Red Sea. 00:13:52.320 --> 00:13:56.080 Give thanks to him who led his people through the wilderness. 00:13:59.600 --> 00:14:02.240 He remembered us in our weakness. 00:14:05.440 --> 00:14:08.000 He saved us from our enemies. 00:14:11.200 --> 00:14:15.039 He gives food to every living thing. 00:14:18.879 --> 00:14:21.440 Give thanks to the God of heaven. 00:14:25.519 --> 00:14:30.559 Lord, your love is faithful and it endures forever. 00:14:31.039 --> 00:14:34.480 Speak to us now as we reflect on your word. 00:14:35.360 --> 00:14:36.000 Amen. 00:14:37.440 --> 00:14:51.519 Scholars of the Old Testament believe that Psalm 136 signals the return of God's people, that's the nation of Israel, to their home following the Babylonian exile. 00:14:52.080 --> 00:14:59.679 To be honest, it seems to me that's a peculiar moment in the life of Israel to offer the great thank you. 00:15:00.480 --> 00:15:10.080 Maybe they're thankful because they finally are able to leave Babylon, but it took 70 years. 00:15:10.879 --> 00:15:12.399 Are you kidding me? 00:15:12.879 --> 00:15:16.720 For 70 years they lived in a foreign land. 00:15:17.759 --> 00:15:28.960 For 70 years, God's people lived in a home that was not really their home, and the home that they wanted to live in, well, it was hundreds of miles away and it was lying in disrepair. 00:15:29.039 --> 00:15:31.120 It had been destroyed. 00:15:31.679 --> 00:15:49.039 For 70 years, God's people lived in a place, and it was this constant daily reminder that they had sinned against God and God had judged their sin and now they dealt with the consequences of that sin every single day. 00:15:50.080 --> 00:15:59.279 After 70 years, I'll be honest, I don't know if thanks is the first, second, or third word that comes out of my mouth. 00:16:00.559 --> 00:16:07.279 After 70 years, I maybe my prayer is a little bit more, you know, filled with complaints. 00:16:07.600 --> 00:16:10.559 God, I know 70 years, long time. 00:16:10.720 --> 00:16:12.399 Never liked the food. 00:16:13.039 --> 00:16:15.440 It's a list of disappointments. 00:16:17.600 --> 00:16:22.799 I tried to make a home in Babylon, but they wouldn't help me make my home in Babylon. 00:16:22.879 --> 00:16:28.639 It was a list of grievances against God, how you felt that he had failed you. 00:16:41.440 --> 00:16:48.559 When everything's going my way, when events turn out in my favor, I'm quick to say thank you to God. 00:16:49.840 --> 00:17:03.360 But when life is hard, when life is unfair, when the stress of life is unrelenting, thanks isn't the first, the second, or the third word that comes out of my mouth. 00:17:04.799 --> 00:17:20.240 Which is why I, and maybe you so badly need the words, the instruction of Psalm 136, because the reason we say thanks, the reason we pray thanks is not connected to the circumstances of our life. 00:17:21.119 --> 00:17:28.880 Psalm 136 teaches us the true reason we pray this one-word prayer of thanks. 00:17:30.000 --> 00:17:33.599 And the reason is the refrain. 00:17:34.799 --> 00:17:40.400 His faithful love endures forever. 00:17:41.839 --> 00:17:47.200 Most, if not all, modern English translations of the Bible obscure this point. 00:17:48.160 --> 00:18:02.960 In the Hebrew, before this refrain, his faithful love endures forever, there's a conjunction, a conjunction that could be translated because, or it could be translated for this reason. 00:18:03.279 --> 00:18:05.599 Here's the reason why. 00:18:06.319 --> 00:18:09.119 Give thanks to the Lord for this very reason. 00:18:09.359 --> 00:18:11.599 His love endures forever. 00:18:12.960 --> 00:18:14.160 Give thanks to the Lord. 00:18:14.400 --> 00:18:21.920 He said that the sun in the sky for this very reason, his love endures forever. 00:18:22.079 --> 00:18:27.279 Give thanks to the Lord, he saw me in my weakness for this very reason. 00:18:27.599 --> 00:18:30.880 His love endures forever. 00:18:32.079 --> 00:18:49.359 The reason we pray thanks, the reason we give thanks and we say thanks to God every day, no matter the circumstances of our day, is because his faithful love endures forever. 00:18:50.880 --> 00:18:56.240 In other words, his love goes on and on and on. 00:18:57.839 --> 00:19:08.799 We pray thanks to God every day because his love lasts longer than the happiness of this moment or the pain of this season. 00:19:09.680 --> 00:19:21.039 We pray thanks to God every day because his love meets us in our greatest victory and it will comfort us in the moment of our greatest loss. 00:19:22.079 --> 00:19:28.720 And there are some in this room or some listening online who need to hear that. 00:19:29.519 --> 00:19:39.119 The reason you pray thanks is not because of the intense pain, the intense loss you feel right now. 00:19:40.079 --> 00:19:43.519 That's not the reason you pray thank you. 00:19:44.960 --> 00:19:57.200 But you can learn to pray thank you because God's faithful love will find you and it will meet you wherever you are and whatever you need. 00:19:57.440 --> 00:20:01.599 His faithful love endures forever. 00:20:02.400 --> 00:20:12.240 If that's you, the reason you got out of bed this morning just one more time is because his faithful love, it found you today. 00:20:13.119 --> 00:20:23.200 The reason you didn't give up, even though you wanted to give up, it's because his faithful love met you and it carried you. 00:20:24.000 --> 00:20:25.599 So pray thanks. 00:20:27.359 --> 00:20:38.400 And the reason you're still clinging to just even a sliver of hope after all that's happened in your life, is because God's love goes on and on and on. 00:20:40.319 --> 00:20:43.519 It endures forever. 00:20:45.599 --> 00:20:46.799 So pray. 00:20:47.359 --> 00:20:48.319 Thanks. 00:20:50.000 --> 00:21:10.880 And I promise if we as God's people learn to pray thanks, and that prayer of saying thanks is not the result or driven by circumstance, but it's in response to God's unconditional, unending, always eternal love for his children, for his family, for his church. 00:21:11.119 --> 00:21:24.480 We will grow closer and more connected to God because in that moment we will realize that God truly cares for each and every one of us, that he is concerned with all the intimate details of our life. 00:21:24.720 --> 00:21:32.319 His faithful love endures into our lives and into our homes and into this world. 00:21:34.079 --> 00:21:38.319 Where God's people are, his love is with them. 00:21:40.880 --> 00:21:43.279 Are you beginning to see why? 00:21:43.920 --> 00:21:48.240 Saying thank you is a relational necessity. 00:21:49.200 --> 00:21:59.839 Because in the context of our relationship with God, it's the way we begin to truly understand what it means to be loved by Him. 00:22:01.279 --> 00:22:04.480 And the quality and the character of his love for us. 00:22:06.480 --> 00:22:07.680 So that's the reason. 00:22:07.839 --> 00:22:09.039 The reason is the refrain. 00:22:09.200 --> 00:22:11.759 His faithful love endures forever. 00:22:12.160 --> 00:22:15.680 Let's now spend some time reflecting on the recipe. 00:22:15.920 --> 00:22:28.000 The recipe has kind of two major ingredients: God's attributes, that's his character qualities, who he is, and God's actions. 00:22:29.599 --> 00:22:36.480 Here are some of God's attributes that are either named or alluded to in Psalm 136. 00:22:36.640 --> 00:22:42.880 The first one, good, says, He is good. 00:22:44.160 --> 00:22:47.920 God is the original definition of good. 00:22:48.319 --> 00:22:50.640 He is good in and of himself. 00:22:50.880 --> 00:22:52.400 He is morally excellent. 00:22:52.559 --> 00:22:54.400 He is extraordinarily beautiful. 00:22:54.640 --> 00:22:59.839 He is deeply glad, and he is extravagantly generous. 00:23:00.319 --> 00:23:01.920 He is good. 00:23:03.839 --> 00:23:08.079 Another quality attribute of God we see is that he is sovereign. 00:23:08.319 --> 00:23:11.200 It says that he is Lord of Lords. 00:23:12.880 --> 00:23:17.039 In other words, God is the one who is over all of creation. 00:23:17.200 --> 00:23:24.799 God is the one whose plans will never fail, who is bringing his purpose to bear on this world. 00:23:25.759 --> 00:23:27.759 Another attribute of God. 00:23:27.839 --> 00:23:31.119 If we go to the next slide that's mentioned, all powerful. 00:23:31.279 --> 00:23:37.039 It talks about mighty miracles and the one who made the heavens. 00:23:38.960 --> 00:23:41.039 Another one, the next slide. 00:23:41.680 --> 00:23:46.720 Faithful, who led his people through the wilderness. 00:23:49.359 --> 00:23:50.559 The next one. 00:23:51.440 --> 00:23:52.000 Kind. 00:23:53.440 --> 00:23:56.480 Remembered us in our weakness. 00:23:58.400 --> 00:24:06.079 So one of the ways I think that we begin to pray thanks on a daily basis. 00:24:06.559 --> 00:24:18.480 You read a passage like Psalm 136, read it aloud, read it with a friend, read it with a family member, read it by yourself, read that psalm, and then just sit in silence and you pray thanks. 00:24:19.200 --> 00:24:25.599 And you just let those attributes of God kind of fill your mind. 00:24:27.680 --> 00:24:31.200 That you are thankful for who God is. 00:24:33.599 --> 00:24:38.160 You pray thanks and you can see that he is good. 00:24:38.240 --> 00:24:41.680 And you just even feel that goodness in the moment. 00:24:42.400 --> 00:24:49.279 You pray thanks, and you just try to block everything else out of your mind, and you feel his kindness wash over you. 00:24:50.319 --> 00:25:01.279 You pray thanks and you see him for who he truly is, as we say that there will be one day when every knee will bow before Jesus because he is what? 00:25:01.599 --> 00:25:04.079 Lord of Lords. 00:25:06.559 --> 00:25:15.279 When we sit in silence and we pray this one word prayer, thanks, we are reminded of these attributes of God and so many more. 00:25:17.519 --> 00:25:31.519 And in my life, often what happens when I pray thanks, and I'm reminded of the attributes of God is it then highlights my own limitations. 00:25:33.200 --> 00:25:41.599 I pray thanks, and I'm reminded how good God is, and I'm reminded that I'm not very good at all. 00:25:42.400 --> 00:25:53.279 Some days I'm okay, some days I'm mediocre, some days I'm downright bad, but good, man, that's I struggle to get there because there's only one who is good. 00:25:53.440 --> 00:25:55.920 His name is God, and I'm a sinner. 00:25:57.039 --> 00:26:03.440 Or when I think about God's sovereignty, I can hardly keep my own family organized and my own schedule outlined. 00:26:03.759 --> 00:26:13.359 I can't possibly be concerned with the events of the entire world or people throughout every generation on every continent who have ever lived or spoken. 00:26:14.160 --> 00:26:18.880 Or I strive to be faithful, but I let people down at disappoint. 00:26:19.440 --> 00:26:21.519 And kindness, wow, kindness. 00:26:21.680 --> 00:26:26.160 Pastors should always be kind, but there are days when pastors aren't kind. 00:26:27.440 --> 00:26:32.000 Someone pushes us over the edge, or we just wake up on the wrong side of the pillow. 00:26:33.519 --> 00:26:37.920 Does anybody else have those limitations in life, or is it just my therapy session? 00:26:42.240 --> 00:26:56.160 But when I pray thanks and I reflect on the attributes of God, I'm drawn closer to him because I'm reminded just how much I need him, how much I depend upon him. 00:26:58.400 --> 00:27:04.160 And then God, he proves those attributes to be true through his actions. 00:27:04.319 --> 00:27:08.400 And that's the second ingredient of our recipe: God's actions. 00:27:09.839 --> 00:27:12.799 Psalm 136 names actions of God. 00:27:12.960 --> 00:27:15.039 Some of them are miraculous. 00:27:15.519 --> 00:27:24.480 Um, they're actions about God creating everything, creating all of the world, uh, setting the sun and moon and stars in their place. 00:27:24.720 --> 00:27:26.720 That's miraculous. 00:27:27.359 --> 00:27:48.480 Um, it references the story of the Exodus, how uh God miraculously defeated Pharaoh and delivered the nation of Israel, how God miraculously opened the waters of the Red Sea, how God led his people through the Red Sea and then helped them find the wilderness. 00:27:51.119 --> 00:27:54.240 Those are the miraculous actions of God. 00:27:54.640 --> 00:28:10.559 Those are the actions of God that remind us that God is in the business of delivering and rescuing and saving people, that he saves them out of bondage, that he delivers them to a new home. 00:28:11.920 --> 00:28:26.240 And we say thank you for that work of salvation that is made possible to us through Jesus Christ, through the Holy Spirit living and dwelling in us and bringing us into relationship with God. 00:28:27.440 --> 00:28:35.599 We say thank you for the miracles that God performs. 00:28:37.119 --> 00:28:44.319 But we also say thank you for some really mundane, simple things. 00:28:44.880 --> 00:28:47.359 I like it when the psalmist says this. 00:28:47.599 --> 00:28:49.599 He just says, give thanks to God. 00:28:49.759 --> 00:28:54.400 Um He gives every living thing the food that it needs to eat. 00:28:55.680 --> 00:28:58.400 Like just something everyday and simple. 00:29:01.359 --> 00:29:08.799 Think about that, every living thing, because of God, has the food that it needs to eat. 00:29:08.960 --> 00:29:12.319 Not just people, every living thing. 00:29:13.200 --> 00:29:29.119 So a squirrel gets an acorn, a deer has some corn, a cow has some grass, you've got some bread, somebody else has a steak, and somebody else has caviar. 00:29:29.279 --> 00:29:30.880 That's kind of gross though, right? 00:29:33.359 --> 00:29:42.720 Every living thing has food, has something to eat because of God. 00:29:43.599 --> 00:29:51.839 That God set up this world to care for his creation. 00:29:54.559 --> 00:29:57.519 So the people will be fed and nourished and taken care of. 00:29:57.920 --> 00:29:59.200 And we say what? 00:29:59.519 --> 00:30:06.960 We say thanks to God, not just for the miraculous, but also for the mundane. 00:30:09.519 --> 00:30:17.359 And the reason God acts in these ways is because in verse 23 it says that He remembered us in our weakness. 00:30:18.880 --> 00:30:20.880 He remembered us in our weakness. 00:30:23.359 --> 00:30:36.559 And for humanity, our greatest weakness is our habit of falling into the temps, temptations, and the traps of sin. 00:30:37.599 --> 00:30:39.200 That's our weakness. 00:30:41.599 --> 00:30:47.440 And in that weakness, knowing that we are weak, God did not turn his back on us. 00:30:49.359 --> 00:30:50.880 Instead, what did he do? 00:30:52.160 --> 00:30:53.440 What did God do? 00:30:53.839 --> 00:30:55.359 He remembered us. 00:30:55.839 --> 00:31:04.240 And whenever you read scripture and it says that God remembered, I don't know about you, but sometimes I remember things and then I forget it, right? 00:31:05.279 --> 00:31:10.160 It's just a thought that passes through my brain, and the moment I think it, it's already gone. 00:31:10.240 --> 00:31:12.319 I'm like, I need to do something about that. 00:31:12.559 --> 00:31:14.240 Do you ever have those moments? 00:31:14.480 --> 00:31:18.640 And you don't have your phone to put a reminder on it or type something in the notes? 00:31:18.960 --> 00:31:22.319 You remember something, I need to do something, and then you forget it again. 00:31:22.480 --> 00:31:26.160 But anytime God remembers in the Bible, do you know what he always does? 00:31:26.400 --> 00:31:27.680 He always acts. 00:31:29.119 --> 00:31:33.920 When God remembers, he acts upon the memory. 00:31:34.400 --> 00:31:38.480 He does something about what crosses his mind. 00:31:40.640 --> 00:31:42.480 And God remembered us. 00:31:43.839 --> 00:31:48.480 In our weakness, he saw us and he sent Jesus. 00:31:50.720 --> 00:31:57.279 He remembered us and he came down to rescue us through the gift of his son. 00:31:59.759 --> 00:32:10.640 Listen, we say thank you to God for every gift, but especially for the gift of salvation that we have received through Jesus Christ. 00:32:10.880 --> 00:32:25.839 We say thank you to God because we cannot comprehend, we cannot ever make fully make sense of what God has done for the world through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. 00:32:26.079 --> 00:32:33.519 We say thank you to God because God has done something for us that we cannot do for ourselves. 00:32:34.319 --> 00:32:38.640 The very Son of God paid the debt of our sin. 00:32:39.359 --> 00:32:41.440 He carried it with him to the cross. 00:32:41.680 --> 00:32:45.680 He died, he paid the debt of that sin, and then he rose again on the third day. 00:32:45.839 --> 00:32:49.599 Those are all things you can't do on your own. 00:32:49.839 --> 00:32:51.279 I can't do it on my own. 00:32:51.440 --> 00:32:55.519 No one can do it on their own except Jesus Christ. 00:32:58.079 --> 00:33:00.319 Give thanks to God. 00:33:01.359 --> 00:33:12.880 He showed us his great love by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. 00:33:15.599 --> 00:33:20.079 Saying thank you is a relational necessity. 00:33:21.599 --> 00:33:37.599 Because only a person who says thanks to God and then just sits and says, Thank you, thank you, thank you, has experienced the enduring eternal love of Jesus Christ. 00:33:39.680 --> 00:33:51.119 Only if you pray thanks and sit and just sit and enjoy the presence of God, can you see God for who he truly is and what he has done? 00:33:52.319 --> 00:34:02.400 If you want to grow closer and more connected to God, you need to start praying thanks every single day. 00:34:04.480 --> 00:34:19.039 Or if you want to start a relationship with God, if you want to start a relationship with God for what he's done for you and for the world through Jesus Christ, it also begins with a prayer. 00:34:20.000 --> 00:34:37.280 A prayer of putting your faith, putting your faith in faith or trust in Jesus Christ, confessing that he is Lord and Savior, saying, Jesus, I want to follow you and I want to accept your gift of eternal life. 00:34:38.159 --> 00:34:50.159 And I promise you this when you put your faith in Jesus Christ, very quickly your life will be filled with countless things that you can be thankful for. 00:34:51.679 --> 00:34:54.159 Let's stand together and pray. 00:35:00.639 --> 00:35:07.440 Our Heavenly Father, we say thanks this morning. 00:35:16.079 --> 00:35:23.119 I keep thinking, God, as I pray thanks, reminded of that verse that just says, God is love. 00:35:38.239 --> 00:35:41.920 Thank you for loving even when we pushed your love away. 00:35:42.639 --> 00:35:45.840 Thank you for loving even to the point of death. 00:35:46.639 --> 00:35:48.400 Death on a cross. 00:35:49.519 --> 00:35:51.199 We pray thank you. 00:36:23.599 --> 00:36:24.880 I can be healed by him. 00:36:34.880 --> 00:36:37.199 Thank you, God, that we can be in your presence. 00:36:55.679 --> 00:36:58.719 Have your way in this place through your spirit at work. 00:36:59.840 --> 00:37:01.119 In your name we pray.