“Through Gates Of Thanksgiving”
(Sermon by Rex Herndon)
Psalm 100:4
A number of years ago, I was invited to speak at a youth conference sponsored by the German arm of the Assemblies of God and held in Eastern Canada, near Buffalo, New York.
It so happened the conference schedule coincided with the U.S. celebration of Thanksgiving.
On the morning of Thanksgiving Day, the Director of the Conference invited me to join him for lunch at a restaurant atop a tower overlooking nearby Niagara Falls.
Having heard and seen pictures of one of the natural wonders of the world, it was exciting to be there looking down on 168,000 cubic feet of water cascading one hundred seventy feet every minute to the rocks below.
Being Thanksgiving Day, my mind was on my family and how I was privileged to be pastoring a great Church and enjoying the many blessings poured out upon my life.
With those thoughts running through my mind, I told my friend, how the torrents of water flowing over the falls was like the blessing of God flowing over my life. Thinking a moment, he, too, indicated he had been immeasurably blessed.
Sitting there with the billowing sound of the massive falls filling the air, we bowed our heads at the table and “Entered into His gates with thanksgiving.”
Somehow, it seemed most appropriate that, while peering down on one of the majestic wonders of God’s Creative Hand, we should give thanks for His manifold blessing upon our life.
Reflecting on that moment, the words spoken by God in the Old Testament Book of Malachi come to mind. “Prove me, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.”(Malachi 3:10)
Surely, God has graciously kept His promise, and we can say with David, “Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: Thou anoint my head with oil; my cup runneth over.”(Psalm 23:8)
As a young boy, I recall watching my Dad drink his morning coffee at the breakfast table. Mom would fill his cup to the brim with hot coffee fresh out of the percolator, and sometimes it would spill over into the saucer beneath it. In that case, Dad would very carefully lift the cup and sip the overflow from
the saucer.
The song writer, knowing that custom, compared it to the overflow of God’s blessing.
In a recitation backed by music, He said, “Haven’t got a lot of riches and sometimes the going is tough, but I’ve got loving ones around me, and that makes me rich enough. I thank God for His blessings and the mercies He’s bestowed.
I’m drinking from my saucer ‘cause my cup has overflowed.”
(Micheal Combs)
Over the years, believers living with God’s blessing flowing upon their life, have sung, “I am blessed! I am blessed! Everyday that I live, I am blessed.”
Abiding under the mantle of God’s favor, it is now our privilege to joyously, “Enter into His gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise.” It is now our opportunity to, “Be thankful unto Him, and bless His Name.”
(Psalm 100:4)
A cursory survey of Scripture will reveal, a grateful heart and the offering of thanks is for believers, both an attitude we should possess and a mandate we should diligently and faithfully follow.
For example, in (Psalm 50:14), we are instructed, “Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving and pay your vows to the Most High.”
In Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians, he admonishes, “In everything give thanks: this is the Will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”
(1 Thessalonians 5:18)
Psalm ninety-five, thought to have been written by David, encourages, “Let us come before His Presence with Thanksgiving, let us shout joyfully to Him with Psalms.”
From God’s Word, it becomes clear, the believer’s table should never be void of gratitude or his altar of Thanksgiving found empty.
While preparing this message, the Holy Spirit reminded me how a grateful heart has an impact on our attitude and outlook upon life. The expression, “gratitude determines attitude” came to mind.
There can be little argument but that a heart filled with gratitude will be reflected in a joyful attitude and a positive outlook on life.
The Swiss theologian, Karl Barth, writing about the impact of gratitude wrote, “Joy is the simplest form of gratitude.”
It is also true, an ungrateful spirit tends to lead to a negative, pessimistic attitude and a life shrouded in bitterness and anger.
A friend told me recently how, when going to the supermarket market, he saw an elderly gentleman walking with his cane moving slowly toward the entrance of the store. Thinking he should help the man who seemed a bit unsteady on his feet, he rushed ahead of him and opened the door, only to be taken back in surprise when the man angrily cursed him and demanded, “I don’t need your help! Get out of my way!”
The response of this senior citizen to an intended act of kindness was baffling to my friend. Instead of being grateful, the man was hateful. His anger was an example of the truth, “gratitude, or the lack thereof, determines attitude.”
A voice often heard in the ancient Book of Psalms is that of David singing and praising God with a joyful heart of praise. With a heart of Thanksgiving, He said, “I will bless the Lord at all times, His praise shall continually be in my mouth.” (Psalm 34:1)
His spirit of praise and the expression of thanksgiving flowed heavenward as he reflected on the many blessings he had experienced throughout his life.
Likewise, a moment of retrospection will remind us, how God’s Goodness and Grace have been extended to us and His blessings have flowed over our life like the torrents of water thundering over the precipitous edge of Niagara Falls.
It is so important we never lose the sense of amazement, that we have been the object of God’s Love and the recipients of His bountiful Grace. May we remain spiritually sensitive and never take that which comes to us from the open windows of heaven for granted.
From His seaside pulpit, Jesus, in the parable of the sower and the seed, warned His disciples and the multitude gathered there, about the danger of “the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches and the lust of other things, entering in choke the Word, and it becometh unfruitful.” (Mark 4:19)
His warning about making the Word ineffective and unfruitful is a reminder that we must not allow the ‘cares of life’ and those things attendant to them, to obscure the miracles of His blessings or make the benefits of His Grace commonplace.
The American poet and
essayist, Ralph Waldo Emerson, addressing man’s tendency
to take the miraculous for granted, used his response to seeing the stars every night as an example of his making the magnificent commonplace.
He said, “If the stars should appear only one night every thousand years; how man would marvel and adore.” But every night come out the envoys of beauty, and light the universe with their admonishing smile.”
His point being, because the stars come out every night, man scarcely takes notice of them and rarely pauses to consider the power with which they were created or the wisdom guiding their course.
So it is with the blessings of God upon our life. They flow unceasingly day after day, month after month, year after year and unless we are spiritually sensitive and recognize them with a heart of gratitude as a gift from the Gracious Hand of God, they may become commonplace and nothing more than that which is expected.
In the Book of Isaiah, God speaks to Israel saying, “Behold, I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.” (Isaiah 43:19)
The line in that ancient text that arrested my attention follows the promise of God, “Behold, I will do a new thing. Now it shall spring forth.” He then asks the critical question, “Shall ye not know it?” He is asking, “Will you recognize the work of My Hand?”
The point being, God is working today in each of our lives. He is providing, protecting, guiding and blessing. The question is, do we recognize and acknowledge the bounty of His Hand, and are we found grateful He is “Making a way through the wilderness, and rivers in the desert?”
Have we paused to recognize
as did gentle Fanny Crosby,
“His Love has no limit,
His Grace has no measure,
His Power has no boundary known unto man;
For out of His infinite riches in Jesus,
He giveth and giveth and giveth again.” (He Giveth More Grace: Fanny Crosby: pub. dom.)
(1) Preparing to pass “Through Gates of Thanksgiving,” we understand, it is generally believed, humanity struggles under a dark cloud that hangs menacingly over our world creating a sense of uncertainty and despair. If you listen to what people say, confidence in a bright and promising future is minimal at best. Sadly, those who have committed their hopes and dreams to the arm of flesh find the future unsettling and bleak.
In contrast, those who ‘walk by faith and not by sight,’ do so with the unshakable confidence, the God who holds tomorrow is securely holding their hand. Their trust is in the Lord, who said, “Fear thou not; for I am with thee; be not dismayed; for I am thy God. I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.” (Isaiah 41:10)
On our journey of faith, we are assured, God has not forsaken us, His Presence continues to surround us; His Love continues to lift and sustain us; His Wisdom continues to guide us. He remains, our “Rock, and fortress, (our) deliverer, and (our) strength.” (Psalm 18:2)
The voices of unbelief surrounding us are constant and boisterous. They scoff at believers who have
committed their future to a loving and caring God. They adhere to the poets philosophy, “I am the master of my fate. I am the captain of my soul.”
(Invictus: William Ernest Henley) We alone determine our destiny.
Their often heard and tired argument is, Christians are weak. They lack the fortitude and strength necessary to confront the realities of life, therefore, they cling tenaciously to the fantasy that God is somehow engaged in the details of their life and He will, “Supply all (their) needs according to His riches in Glory by Christ Jesus.”(Philippians 4:19)
Well, the old Arab proverb says it best. “The dogs bark, but the caravan moves on.” No matter the criticism we may receive, our faith continues to be strong, and God continues to bless! The critics scoff, but the Lord continues to be our shepherd.
He continues to “Make (us) to lie down in green pastures; He continues, “To lead (us) beside still waters: He, continues to “Restore (our) soul.” (Psalm 23:2-3)
We can look our critics in the eye and say, “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help; My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.” (Psalm 121:1-2)
(2) Secondly, when passing, “Through The Gates of Thanksgiving,” we hear David say, “Bless the Lord O my soul, and forget not all His benefits.”
(Psalm 103:2)
G. Campbell Morgan, the renowned British preacher and longtime Pastor of Westminster Chapel in London, described this Psalm as, “Perhaps the most perfect song of pure praise to be found in the Bible.” He went on to say. “Through centuries it has been sung by glad hearts, and today is as fresh and full of beauty as ever.”
Taking a closer view of the Psalm, it becomes evident David is, engaged in a time of soul searching and spiritual retrospection.
Looking back over his long and illustrious life and having experienced the benefits of God’s Presence, protection and provision on dozens of occasions, he determines his praise and thanksgiving must exceed the superficial and be more than words. It must be heartfelt and sincere, emanating from his soul.
With that understanding, he speaks directly to his soul saying, “Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless His Holy Name.” (Psalm 103:1)
Like David, it is important we realize our offering of thanksgiving must rise on thermals of praise from the depth of our innermost being while remembering, “Every good gift, and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness or shadow of turning.” (James 1:17)
There are times we should speak to our spirit man. Times when we call upon our soul, to, “Make her boast in the Lord.” (Psalm 34:1-2) Times when we, from the depth of our spirit, say with the Psalmist, “I WILL call upon the Lord who is worthy to be praised.” (Psalm 18:3) “I WILL praise thee O Lord with my whole heart: I WILL show forth all thy marvelous works.” (Psalm 9:1) It is more than mere words. It is a determined act of our will; an expression of our inner man.
(3) When passing, “Through Gates of Thanksgiving,” we hear David speaking to His Soul, saying, “Bless the Lord O my soul and forget not all His benefits.”
(Psalm 103.2)
He then reminds himself of the many things for which his soul must bless the Lord. The list
is amazing and could only come from God with Whom, “All things are possible!”
Speaking to his soul, David says, It is the Lord, “Who forgives all thine iniquities; who heals all thy diseases; who redeems thy life from destruction; who crowns thee with loving kindness and tender mercies; who satisfies thy mouth with good things so that thy youth is renewed like the eagles.”
(Psalm 103:3-5)
It is important we understand God’s Grace is not generational. The benefits for which David desired to bless the Lord were not given exclusively to him. They are freely bestowed upon all who believe.
Like David, you and I have been the recipients of His forgiveness and healing touch. We too, have experienced His Lovingkindness and Mercy. His Hand of protection and provision have been extended to us and countless times our strength has been renewed!
Let us, at this Thanksgiving Season lift our voice with David and sing, “Bless the Lord O my soul; and all that is within me, bless His Holy Name!”
For nearly four hundred years the Body of Christ has sung Thomas Ken’s inspired words, “Praise God from Whom all blessings flow! Praise Him all creatures here below.
Praise him above ye heavenly host; Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost.”
May we with grateful hearts bring our offering of Thanksgiving to God as we enter, “Through Gates Of Thanksgiving!”
The Shepherd's Staff 