In his sermon 'In Everything Give Thanks,' Pastor Steve Hopkins calls upon his congregation to maintain a spirit of gratefulness, emphasizing that giving thanks is a daily practice for Christians, not limited to a holiday. Drawing from 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, he encourages believers to rejoice and pray continually, expressing gratitude in every situation as this reflects God's will. The sermon critiques modern society's lack of gratefulness, contrasting it with historical examples of faith and thankfulness, such as the Pilgrim Fathers and the early Christian church. Pastor Hopkins underscores that gratitude must be directed towards the giver, God, rather than towards the gifts themselves, warning against idolatry. He reminds the congregation of the infinite blessings received from God, including salvation, and urges them to express thanks consistently, both in personal devotion and public life. The sermon concludes with a call to appreciate God's mercies and to remain thankful in every aspect of life, recognizing the eternal hope and inheritance Christians possess.

Thanks for joining us at Burnet Bible Church. This week Pastor Hopkins gives his sermon entitled, In Everything Give Thanks. Morning. Turn with me in your Bibles to 1st Thessalonians, the Epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Church at Thessalonica, 1st Thessalonians, chapter 5, And we're going to stand and read verses 16, 17, and 18. Let's stand and read together.

Beginning with verse 16. Rejoice evermore, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Pray. Our God, our Father, we humble ourselves, O God, before you once again. We come before you, God, praising you.

And we come before you, God, thanking you for all things. We thank you, God, that your mercies toward your people are new every morning. We thank you for your great faithfulness. And God, we once again ask humbly that you would lead us by your Spirit and open up our understanding once again to understand your word. And as we seek you by your word, we pray that you would fill our hearts with praise this morning, oh God, and thanksgiving as we seek you, for we ask it in Jesus' name, amen.

Amen, Let's be seated. As we approach Thanksgiving Day 2022, we have so much to thank God for. Giving thanks to God, of course, is not something the Christian does one day or one week out of the year, but a thing that we do every day of our lives. In Ephesians 5 and verse 20, we are admonished by the Apostle Paul to give thanks always for all things, unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. And I want to begin this morning by telling you that I thank God for this church, really praise and thank God for this church and for every one of you.

And I pray for this church and I pray for every one of you. And I thank God that you are a grateful people. And I thank God that I can be a member of a grateful church. I hear it in your prayers every Sunday. You're grateful.

We're a grateful people. And every time we gather together as a church for prayer in the middle of the week, this is a grateful church, and I'm grateful to be thankful to be a member. I also thank God for you as the Apostle Paul thanked God for the church of Thessalonica and 2 Thessalonians 1, 3 for your faith and for your love for one another. Paul thanked God in that letter for the flock at Thessalonica that their faith was growing abundantly and that their love for one another was ever increasing. And I thank God that for this church that your faith is also increasing, and mine is increasing.

Our faith is increasing together. We've seen it over the years, haven't we? In the decades. And that our love for one another is also increasing. The love for one another and our families, husbands for their wives and wives for their husbands, and parents for their children and children for their parents.

The love that each member has in the church for every other member. Love for one another, you'll remember, is one of the eight tests of faith in 1 John that we went through many months ago. The absence of love for the people of God is a mark of an unbeliever. Love for the people of God is a mark of a true believer. And it's something you can look around as a member of the church and look around and say, is there, do I love the people of God?

Do I have a love for the people of God or just the people that I kind of like to hang out with. Do I love the people of God? It's a mark of a true believer. The absence of love is the mark of an unbeliever. So is the absence of a grateful heart.

True gratefulness is a mark of a true believer. And true gratefulness is a rare thing in our world today. Because true Christianity is a rare thing in our world today, at least in our part of the world. On a national level, we used to be a very grateful nation because we used to be a Christian nation. We used to be a nation that united together in Thanksgiving on the last Thursday in November each year to thank God corporately as a nation for His abundant blessings.

But sadly, no more. How many have heard the perversion of the holiday referred to as Turkey Day? How base, how ungrateful. But still there are pockets of grateful people all over this country, pockets of the true worshipers of God, congregations of the saints here and there, and a sprinkling of grateful believers throughout the nation. But as a whole, we've become a very ungrateful people.

Here we live in the richest nation on earth. Think about it. You live in the richest nation on the face of the earth, possibly the richest nation ever to have existed on the face of the earth, enjoying the greatest blessings of prosperity and certainly comforts of any nation in the history of the world. That's where you live. That's what you're experiencing.

Yet we're also probably the most ungrateful nation in the history of the world. Rarely in the course of our daily lives do we hear public expressions out in the world of giving thanks to God or of gratefulness to God. It's a rare thing. I was blessed, however, this past week to hear one at a nursing home in Austin, Texas, from an elderly woman in a wheelchair that somehow inadvertently ended up at the wrong table, the table I was sitting at in the cafeteria. And when one of the other residents complained, she was at the wrong table.

Move her to the staff, tried to have her removed. I said, no, it's okay, it's okay, she can eat with us. She pulled up just to my left. And the staff lady that was there said, Mildred gets confused sometimes. And she forgets where she's supposed to be.

And I said, that's okay. We'd love to have her company. And as she sat there with us over and over again, she thanked God. She just kept thanking God. She just had this joy about her and this spirit of just happiness.

And she was just praising God and thanking God. She was so happy. She kept saying, Lord, and she didn't have any teeth. She kept saying, Lord, I'm just so grateful for this meal. Some of us wouldn't have been grateful for that meal.

I'll just put it that way. And then a few seconds later, she would say it again. And after a couple of minutes, she looked up at me and she said, my son loves me so much. And I said, he does? She said, yes.

Look what he gave me. And she was clutching it really tightly and laid it over in front of me and it was basically a coloring book. A coloring book with a lot of little word games in it. She was just so happy to have it. She looked at it as an expression of love from her son.

And as we ate, she ate faster than I did. After a couple of minutes, she looked up at me and she said, I love my Jesus. He's so good to me. And I thought, wow, what an example. And what a rebuke to the other person at my right who had just been complaining about everyone and everything there.

And what a rebuke to me when I consider how little she had in this world, but what treasure she surely has in the next. You'll hear Non-christians sometimes out in the world say that they're grateful for this or that How many hear sometimes you'll hear unbelievers? They'll say oh, I'm just so grateful for this or so grateful for that and it always strikes me odd when I hear that from unbelievers because Friends gratefulness has to have an object and it can't be the object itself. Unless gratefulness is expressed toward the giver of something, it isn't gratefulness. And of course James 1.17 tells us that every good thing comes down from above.

Everything we're given comes down from the father of lights with whom there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. But unbelievers will say that they're grateful for this and they're grateful for that, but to be gratefulness, it has to be expressed towards the giver and not towards the gift. In other words, you can be grateful for something, but you can't be grateful to something unless, of course, you're engaging in idolatry. You can be grateful for something, but you can't be grateful to something unless, of course, you're engaging in idolatry. You can be grateful for something, but you can't be grateful to something.

I can't be grateful to my food, But I can be grateful for my food. I can give thanks for something, but I can't give thanks to something unless, of course, I'm worshiping and serving the creature rather than the creator who is blessed forever, as Paul puts it in Romans chapter 1. Apostle says in Romans 1 25, they worship and serve the creature rather than the Creator who is blessed forever. Again, We can express thanks to some one, but we can't express thanks to some thing, unless, of course, we've made that thing an idol. Think about it, which the Bible calls idolatry.

And that's where so many are in our country today. Listen, who are living for what they can get their hands on in this life. Living for the things that they can get their hands on in this life and the pleasures, the next pleasure of this life. And it's no different than if a person were to set up a little God on their nightstand at home and bow down to it. There's no difference at all.

You see, because Paul says in Colossians chapter 5 and verse 5 that covetousness is idolatry. Covetousness is the worship of idols and false gods. And it's a thing we need to be aware of, Jesus said in Luke chapter 12 and verse 15. Beware of covetousness. It's an inordinate desire, a moderate desire for possessions in the pursuit of gain.

Beware of covetousness, for a man's life does not consist in the abundance of the things which he possesses. That's not what it's all about. The boy with the most toy in the end doesn't win. But what about this thing of being an ungrateful people or an ungrateful person. Is it really that bad to just not be a thankful person?

Think about it. I mean, doesn't that seem so bad? There's all kinds of terrible things that people are doing in the world. Evils that are being committed against others, even against children. Horrible things that are going on in the world.

Is it such a terrible thing to be ungrateful? Is it such a bad thing to not be a thankful person or a thankful people? The apostle Paul says it is. When Paul lists the things in Romans chapter 1, for which God hands a people over to their own heart's lust. God gives them over to their own heart's lusts.

One of the things that he cites is ungratefulness. He says, They aren't thankful. In verse 21 of Romans 1, the apostle Paul writes, "'Because that, when they knew God'—here's the first indictment—'they glorified Him not as God'—second indictment—'neither were they thankful. And so God gave them over to their own hearts lusts. He says, speaking of unbelievers, that though they knew God from the creation order all about them, by which he has clearly made himself known to all, even his eternal power and Godhead, even though they knew God, they did not worship him as God, and neither were thankful." Neither were they thankful.

You see, the refusal to worship God as God manifests itself in different ways. And one of the ways that the refusal to worship the one true and living God as God, when you know He's God, is that the person is not thankful. They don't worship God, and they don't thank God. Again, we have to ask ourselves the question, do I? Does the giving of thanks to God mark my life?

Is my Life marked by a continual giving of thanks to God. Paul says the unbeliever isn't thankful. They just aren't thankful. The spirit of ungratefulness is pervasive in our world today. But true believers are a grateful people.

And they are people who are always giving thanks to God. John says in Revelation 11 in verse 17, we give thanks to the Lord God Almighty and then he describes Him who art, who was, who art to come. We give thanks to you, O Lord, our God Almighty, who was, who is, and who is to come. How many times have you gone out to eat at a restaurant and noticed that you were the only ones in the place who Bowed their heads and gave thanks to God for their food How many times have you noticed that? We've taken to thanking God for for all the food that no one ever thanked Him for recently.

People are ashamed to give thanks to God publicly because they're ashamed of God. They ought to be ashamed to not give thanks to God publicly, but they're ashamed to give thanks to God publicly. Jesus said in Luke chapter 9 in verse 26, In verse 26, whosoever shall be ashamed of me, I'll be ashamed of them. Whosoever shall be ashamed of me, in my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his fathers, and of the holy angels." Psalm 107, verses 21 through 22 says, Oh, oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness. Oh, that men would publicly praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to them, for his wonderful works to the children of men, and let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving and declare his works with rejoicing.

Brothers and sisters, we should never find in our prayer time a moment when we run out of words. We have so much to thank God for. To begin with our very lives. Acts chapter 17 verse 25 says, He gives to all life and breath and all things. Life is a precious gift.

You've heard me probably say this before. I asked an elderly man one day how things were going and He said, I woke up above the ground again. It's going pretty good. Woke up above the ground again. Yes, and that means another day on earth.

Think about it, another day to serve God. Not to serve self, but another day to serve God and to serve our spouses and our families and our church. Praise God for every new day. 1 Chronicles 29-13 says, Now therefore our God, we thank thee and praise thy glorious name. In the Psalms, David tells us that the eyes of all wait upon God And that he is the one who gives all their food in due season Psalm 145 And then he opens his hand and satisfy satisfies the desire of every living thing think about that God satisfying the desire of every living thing.

When the drought was really, really, really bad before these last couple of rains, we go down to the river where I pray, and the area where there was just a little bit of water left, all these animal prints down there, birds and hooves and claws and everything. God gives everything on earth what it needs, one way or another. Every living thing receives its sustenance from God. It's beyond our finite comprehension. We can't comprehend it.

Everything from the greatest of the beasts to the smallest microbe is sustained by God. But God's care for humanity is especially generous. Food that he gives to all and drink and shelter and clothing. How good our God is to us. Or as the elderly woman said in the nursing home, How good is Jesus?

How wonderful is he to me? Oh, how I love my Jesus. God is so good to us, and in this modern age, we are actually overwhelmed in this nation with luxuries and it's staggering. Countless generations have never known the comforts that we so often take for granted. Indoor plumbing?

That's not everywhere on the earth. Electricity, air conditioning, central heat, automobiles that take us to and fro wherever we want to go with temperature control environments inside, lightning fast computers, things unknown to billions of people for thousands of years. I'm convicted when I think about the little that I'm able to do with a computer and the incredible amount that Richard Baxter did with a quill pen. It's said that he wrote one million words on horseback with a quill pen and an inkwell installed in his saddle. This is a Puritan, one of the Puritans.

Things unknown to billions of people for thousands of years, Our nation has become a very ungrateful nation as a whole. Though we're a people well clothed and well fed, enjoying luxuries that billions before us never knew, The great majority in our country have never once looked up to heaven and said thank you. And I wonder how long God will permit America to continue to enjoy such comforts. Have you ever wondered that? Why does he keep letting us go on like this?

We're not a grateful people as a whole. At the founding of this nation, of course, that was not the case. We were a people united and a people united in thanksgiving to God. But our founding, the Continental Congress penned these words in its 1777 Thanksgiving Day proclamation recommending that a solemn day be set apart so that the people of the United States might, quote, adore the superintending providence of Almighty God. That was Congress.

I'm not gonna hear it from Congress today. Not from the Republicans either. To adore the superintending providence of Almighty God and acknowledge with gratitude our obligation to him for benefits received that with one heart and one voice we might express the grateful feelings of our hearts and consecrate ourselves to the service of our divine benefactor. Of our divine benefactor, O God, a day to make penitent confession for our manifold sins, whereby we have forfeited every favor and to make our humble and earnest supplication that it may please God through the merits of Jesus Christ to mercifully forgive and blot our sins out of remembrance. It's a mission of our unworthiness to receive the mercies of God through the merits of Jesus Christ and the forgiveness of sins.

150 years earlier in the winter of 1620, their fathers, our pilgrim fathers and their families sailed to this continent on the Mayflower and established the Plymouth Colony. Many of you have been to our home on the day after Thanksgiving when I read the story of the first Thanksgiving in detail from the account of one who was actually there, William Bradford, thefirstthanksgiving.us if you want to look it up. But I talk about how these brave Pilgrim families suffered sickness and privation 66 days on the sea. That's the founding of this country. And how after landing at Plymouth, over half of them died the first winter.

That's what had to happen for us to have what we have here today. These brave families cross the ocean, 66 days. A little baby, Oceanus, the son of Stephen and Elizabeth Hopkins, dies on the voyage over. And they come and after 66 days of sickness and privation on the sea, Tradition passed down tells us that at one point, these families were rationing corn to five kernels a day for every person in the colony. Happy Thanksgiving.

And then sometimes there were not enough who were well to care for those who were sick and not enough people standing on their feet to bury the dead. But William Bradford wrote in his journal, but those who did survive said, let his holy name have the praise forever, to all posterity. And they gave thanks to God whom they acknowledged to be with them in all their ways. Our opening text this morning says that we are to rejoice always and to pray continually and in everything give thanks. What that means in everything is in every situation.

To give thanks in everything is to give thanks in every situation, no matter the circumstance. Their circumstances were pretty tough. Giving thanks in every circumstance, in every situation, no matter the circumstance, would be impossible for those families who came over on the Mayflower and impossible for us if it were not for the fact that Christians have a hope and an inheritance that lies beyond this life. That's how we can do it. That's how the people of God can pull it off, so to speak.

We have a hope that is beyond this life and an inheritance that is beyond this life. And we know that no suffering on earth can compare to the eternal weight of glory that awaits the children of God in heaven, nothing. Daniel, in the Old Testament, you remember, was told not to pray. That was the new law of the land. The text tells us that Daniel, after the law was written and signed and sealed by the king, that Daniel did as he always did.

At the set time of prayer, he opened his windows so he was heard publicly, to be heard by all, and he prayed as always, giving thanks to God. He made his supplication and request just like always and gave thanks to God, even though it meant that he would end up in the lion's den facing hungry lions. We have A hope and an inheritance that is beyond this life. Paul and Silas, remember when they were imprisoned, they thanked God after being whipped, that they were counted worthy to suffer for the name of Jesus. We are to give thanks in every situation, no matter the circumstances.

And the text that we open with says that's the will of God for us. You'll hear Christians say many times, and I've said it, and you've probably said it as well. I just want to know what the will of God is. God, just, just, what do you want me to do, God? What is your will for my life?

Here it is, in black and white. In everything, give thanks. In everything, give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. That's His will. That in every circumstance in all of life, you give thanks to God.

That no matter what's happening and what the situation is or what the circumstances are that you give you give thanks to God. That's His will. This is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you and me. Finally, I know what God's will is. He wants me to give thanks to him in every situation of life in which I find myself in everything.

The big things, like things we've just read, as well as the small things. Someone might say, I'm not facing horrible circumstances like our Pilgrim Fathers faced in the winter of 1620. But what about in my daily struggles, in my daily trials. For instance, what about when I'm overcome with just the day-to-day cares and concerns about things that are going on in my life or in my marriage or in my family. Look at Philippians chapter 4 beginning with verse 6.

Here's an answer. You know amazed how it always goes to Thanksgiving. Be careful. Your version might say, be anxious for nothing. King James' version says, be careful.

That is, be full of care or overcome with cares and concerns for nothing. Don't be overcome with cares and concerns for anything, for any reason. It's another way of saying, don't worry about things. And I have to fight this all the time It can keep me up at night and they can wake me up after I've already gone to sleep. Don't worry About anything but in everything in every situation no matter the circumstances by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving That your request be made known unto God.

Take it to God, saying pour out your heart before Him, but remember to do so with thanksgiving. Remember to be giving him thanks all along, not forgetting to thank him for all he's already done for you and is doing for you. And then look at the promise that follows. Verse 7, the peace of God. Do this, brothers and sisters, and the peace of God, which passes all understanding, it surpasses your comprehension, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Just will. Just will. Colossians 3.17 says, whatever you do, doesn't matter. Whatsoever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord, Jesus giving thanks unto God and the Father by him. Whatever you do.

But one might say, well, but what about those times when I start having doubts and fears and lack assurance of even my salvation? This happens. Salvation is God's gift. Stop acting like it depends on you and start thanking Him for His inestimable gift. Second Corinthians chapter 9 verse 15, the apostle Paul says, thanks be to God.

Sometimes you just have to stop and just thank him for what you know to be true according to his word. Not moved by feelings. Feelings can deceive. Feelings are very deceptive. Feelings and emotions can move you this way and that way, but to just come back to the place where you say, I'm setting my feelings aside and I'm just going to rely on the Word of God.

And even though I'm having some doubts and some fears and I lack assurance, I'm just going to thank God for what He says in His Word is true, that He has given me and all those that believe on His Son eternal life, forgiveness of sins, justification in His sight, His Holy Spirit to indwell them, a Father in heaven for His children on earth. 2 Corinthians 9-15, Paul says, thanks be to God for his unspeakable gift. Just stop and thank him. Got some doubts going, God, I'm just gonna thank you for your gift. Not gonna try to work this thing through on my own.

I'm just gonna thank you for what you say you've given me. Thank you God for your unspeakable gift. There aren't words to describe the wonder of it. It's an inestimable gift. There's nothing that can be compared with it on earth.

There's no price tag that can be put on it. The love and the mercy of it, the wonder of it. Say to yourself, the salvation of my soul is God's gift, and once God has given it, he never takes it back. He doesn't take it back. Instead of doubting his word, I'm gonna pray his word.

Instead of doubting his word, I'm just gonna pray his word. In Christ, we have a gift that will never perish, an unspeakable, inestimable gift, a gift that no value could be placed on and that nothing on earth could be compared with. Thanks be to God for it. Thank him for it. It's real.

Where's my granddaughter that says it's real? I'm having a Bible study there one day and everybody's commenting, everybody's going around in circles, you always let everybody say something. So, what do you think about this? So, and so, well, I think, you know, and the Bible says, And the next one, I think so and so and so. And it got around and my granddaughter was there.

She goes, it's real. That's all she said. It's real, I like it. It's real, folks. Thanks be to God for it.

It's reality. Those who have trusted Christ alone for their salvation possess eternal life. And nothing on earth can be compared to it, and no price tag put upon it. Thanks be to God for it. As we close, thank him.

Thank him. Thank him for his electing love, wherewith he chose you in Christ Jesus before the foundations of the world. That's what his word says. Thank Him that Christ came into the world to save a sinner like you and me. Thank Him for bringing the gospel to you personally when multiple millions all over the earth have never even heard the gospel and had a chance to either accept or reject.

Thank him for giving you eyes to see and ears to hear the truth once the gospel was presented to you. Thank him for the convicting power of the Holy Spirit whereby you were made to see your miserable and lost condition and your need for the Savior. Thank him. Thank him for the gift of faith by which you came to believe, and the grace of repentance that turned you from your sins to call on His name. Thank Him.

Thank Him for the new birth from above. Thank Him for raising you from death to life, from spiritual death to spiritual life. Thank Him for the forgiveness of your sins and life everlasting in His presence. Thank Him that you're no longer dead in trespasses and sins, but alive in Christ both now and forever. Thank him for taking off the filthy rags of your sin and self-righteousness, including you in the perfect righteousness of his Son.

Thank him for sending his Son into the world to live a perfect life in your place when you could not. Thank him for sending his Son into the world to suffer and die to save you from your sins that you couldn't save yourself from. Thank him that Jesus' blood was shed for you personally. Thank Him that He laid your sins, your sins personally, on Jesus, the Holy Lamb of God, and poured out His wrath upon Him instead of you. Thank Him that the death of Christ atoned for and made satisfaction for your sin dead in the full, and that the penalty you incurred but could not pay, Jesus freely paid for you on the cross.

Thank him that he cast all your sins into the sea of forgetfulness, that he put him as far away as the east is from the west, as far as his remembrance goes against you, Never to be brought forward or remembered against you again Thank him that Christ's offering once for all has absolved you of all sin Thank him for raising up Jesus from the dead and that Christ is now at the right hand of the power on high making intercession for you personally 24 hours a day Thank him for delivering you from the tyranny of sin and Satan and translating you from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of the light of his dear son Jesus. Thanks be to God for his unspeakable, inestimable gift. Remember the ten lepers received only a temporal healing, and when they did, only one returned to give thanks to Jesus. The life we've been given, who are in Christ Jesus through faith has been extended beyond the grave even forever and ever. Return and give thanks to God for his inestimable gift and praise his name forever.

Remember that we deserve nothing but wrath, yet all we have is God's favor for Christ's sake. That's all we got. Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. Thank God always and in every situation, no matter the circumstance.

O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endureth forever. O give thanks unto the God of gods, for his mercy endureth forever. O give thanks to the Lord of lords, for his mercy endureth forever. To him who alone doeth great wonders for his mercy endureth forever To him that by wisdom made the heavens for his mercy endureth forever. Oh Give thanks unto the Lord to him that stretched out the earth above the waters, for his mercy endureth forever.

To him that made great lights, for his mercy endureth forever. The sun to rule by day, for his mercy endureth forever. The moon and stars to rule by night, for his mercy endureth forever. Who remembered us in our lowest state, for his mercy endureth forever. And hath redeemed us from all our enemies for his mercy endureth forever.

Who giveth food to all flesh for his mercy endureth forever. O give thanks unto the God of heaven for his mercy endureth forever. Amen. Let's pray. Father, we are filled with wonder, O God, when we survey your word, when we learn of this inestimable, unspeakable gift of our salvation which we've received from your hand.

Lord, we are filled with wonder and praise when we consider that you have redeemed a people unto yourself, and that we are among that people who have been brought to faith and repentance. Lord, help us in this coming week and in the coming year to remember to give thanks always for this unspeakable gift of justification, salvation, and for all things, always, and in every situation no matter the circumstance. For we do ask it in Jesus name, Amen.