Be Revived Through Thanksgiving

Praise God. Let's open in our Bibles to psalm number 107, psalm number 107. If you need help finding the psalms, they're right in the middle of your Bible, so crack it in half and try to look for psalm number 107. Can you all hear me all right? Okay, wonderful. I want to speak today on this theme, be revived through Thanksgiving. Be revived through Thanksgiving. Let's read psalm 107 verses 1 through 9. Give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endureth forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so. Whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy, and gathered them out of the lands from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south, they wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way. They found no city to dwell in. Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them. Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble. And he delivered them out of their distresses, and he led them forth by the right way, that they might go to a city of habitation. Oh, that man would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men. For he satisfieth the longing soul and filleth the hungry soul with goodness. Praise God. Praise God. Isn't that beautiful? Isn't that beautiful? What incredible words here. Oh, let's pray before we go any further. Father, I need you, and we need you, and we believe in the Holy Spirit. Lord, I believe in the Holy Spirit. I believe in the Holy Spirit, and I believe your Holy Spirit is here in the room right now, and I believe, Lord, that you have goodness for every single person that's gathered in this room. And I believe, Lord, that you want to change hearts today. And I believe, Lord, that you want to take us up out of the pit of misery and up out of our unthankfulness, Lord, and you want to take us up into a realm of holy, beautiful, glorious thankfulness, Lord. So would you please do it? Would you please get me, the preacher, out of the way? Lord, we want to be preached to by Jesus Christ and by him alone today. So I beg you, Lord, to come down and have your way in this message and guide my words, Lord, and guide every ear in this room, guide every heart in this room, Lord. Get all the glory for yourself, Lord. Transform us into the image of your glorious Son, Lord. Make us more like Christ today, Lord. Fill us with thanksgiving today, Lord. We praise your holy name. Amen. I know the Lord led me to this psalm, and then had to study this psalm, because you all know if if you're a preacher you have to study the text, right? And as I studied it, my heart just started to melt and melt. And I just want to point you to one thing. Look at the last verse of this psalm. You know what I realized in studying this psalm is that it's a lot like the book of Revelation. It's a picture of God's people sinning and then crying out to the Lord, and then the Lord comes in great power, and then they lift up their hands in thanksgiving. But then God's people sin again, and they cry out to the Lord, and he comes in great power, and then they give him thanksgiving. But then what do you think they do? They sin again, and they cry out to the Lord, and he comes in great power, and they burst with thanksgiving. It's actually a lot like the book of Revelation. And look at this final verse, verse 43. It says, who so is wise and will observe these things, even they shall understand the loving kindness of the Lord. We're not going to study every word of this psalm, but I want to beg each one of you to go home and pray this psalm this week. Go home and study this psalm this week. Go home and bring it before the Lord this week. And what you'll find if you study it here is there is a particular blessing in store for you through this psalm. There are mysteries here, and you have to go find them out on your own, but I'll just give you one clue. Again, like I said, there are four scenes in this psalm, and God's people sin, and they come back to him crying and what does he do? Does he whip them? No, he receives them. And he blesses them, and he pours out revival on them, and he gives them a spirit of thanksgiving. And in this psalm, he does that four times. And I think the Lord is crying out to us through this psalm to say, there's still mercy for you. Are you still sinning? Are you going back into sin? Are you tempted by the world? Are you going back? Are you sinning against even the Lord who bought you? The Jesus Christ who shed his blood for you, who filled you with his spirit, but then you go back to the world. This psalm teaches us that there are waves of mercy ready for you. There are waves of mercy that God wants to pour out on you. And when you get that, when you see that, it will fill you with thanksgiving. So I'm talking about being revived through thanksgiving. And before I go any deeper, I just want to press this home. You know, this also applies to our communities. And this applies to our families. Some of us are going to go to maybe a Thanksgiving dinner in this coming week. And things aren't going to be perfect, are they? Does anyone have a perfect family this week that they're visiting? I didn't see any hands. No. Things aren't always perfect. And some of our families have actually gone through the stuff in this psalm. Maybe they knew the Lord and then they reject him. Or maybe they have blessings from the Lord, but then they ignore him. This psalm ought to scream out to you, there is still mercy for your family. I've been praying for some members in my family for many, many years. God tells me in this psalm, there is still mercy for them. There is still mercy for them. Amen? Amen? Pray for them. Cry out for them. Expect great things for them. Be thankful for them. Have your heart revived. Let's dive into this psalm. It is one of the most beautiful and realistic pictures of thanksgiving in the whole Bible. And that's what I want all of us to realize today, that thanksgiving is not about being perfect. It's not about everything in our world around us or in our families being perfect. Thanksgiving in the Bible is about praising a perfect God who is in control of everything. Can you please imagine with me, what would our church look like if there were no thanksgiving here? What if none of us had thanksgiving in our hearts? Would this be a nice place to come on a Wednesday or a Sunday? It would feel dark, wouldn't it? It would feel gloomy. We'd all be down. We'd be worrying about the bell tower. We'd be worrying about money. We'd say, ah, there are these people I have to put up with on Sunday. This drudgery, this obligation of going to church. But what does a church look like that's full of thanksgiving? Tell me, if anyone wants to say something. If we're full of thanksgiving, it means that we get God's grace, right? It means that we know God has been gracious to us, and we're just thankful. If we're full of thanksgiving, it means we are happy. We are content. We are full of faith. We're expecting good things. We're ready to receive God's blessings. And if we're full of thanksgiving, it means that we're thankful even in the midst of trials. That when trials come for this church, when tribulation comes for the church, we can say, but it's all of grace. My God is with me. He's still being merciful. We can thank Him even for the tears. Do you all see that, why thanksgiving matters so much for our church life? So I want to give you five points from these nine verses right before us about the thankful heart. And I want to encourage each one of you to have a thankful heart in this season. And like many of us have been praying, not just for that thanksgiving day, but I want to encourage us to walk in radical, biblical, Christ-like thanksgiving at all times in our life. Five points. The thankful heart is revived, bold, gathered, led, and promised. I'll read those to you one more time, but we're going to follow this in the text. Very, very clearly. The thankful heart. Is that you? The thankful heart is revived, bold, gathered, led, and promised. Let's see what the Lord has in store for us right here. First of all, the thankful heart is revived. Look at verse one. Study this beautiful text with me. Verse one says, Oh, give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good. For His mercy endureth forever. We're going to study every word here, so come with me. Dive deep into this text here. First word is what? Anybody see it? What's that? Oh, amen. And you don't want to skip that word by. In the Hebrew, it's just one little letter. It's the letter. The psalmist is going. It's like the psalmist is breathing out an exhalation. Let me ask you. Do you pray with that oh in your heart? Do you have that ache in your heart? What's the spirit of the psalmist? Oh, give thanks unto the Lord. He's crying out. Oh, be revived. Return to God. Oh. In the Azusa Street revival, there was a man named Frank Bartleman. And he said before the revival, his emotions were getting all pent up. And he couldn't get anything. He was just stuck in his sin. And when the revival came, he said, I found vent from my emotions. And he was able to go, oh. Oh, give thanks unto the Lord. What a beautiful word. Amen. Oh, give thanks. Then it says give thanks. And here, this literally in the Hebrew is throw or cast or give it up. And actually, my brother Ben prayed this on Thursday evening. It was really amazing. He said, Lord, we give it up for you. That's what the psalmist is doing here. He's saying, okay, it's all yours, Lord. We give it up for you. Oh, give God all the glory. Give thanks unto the Lord. You all know this, don't you? So many people in the next week are going to be giving thanks. And a very easy way to evangelize them is to say, who are we giving thanks to? And you don't have to be a brat in saying that, right? We don't have to be rude to our dear families. But we can say, do you know who you're giving thanks to? Are we giving thanks to the air? Are we just giving thanks to some happy feeling? What does it say right here? Give thanks unto the Lord. Give it up for Yahweh, it's saying. Give thanks to a specific person. The God of the Bible. Let's go on. Then it says, for He is good. For He is good. Is there anyone here, as you approach Thanksgiving, where you might say, okay, I know it's Thanksgiving, but it's hard to give thanks. There's not much for me to be thankful for. Or I know, you know, things have been hard this year. Is everything in our life good all the time? No. But is the God behind everything good? Yes, amen. You see, we have to think that through. Not everything is good all the time. But God is working behind the scenes. And He is good. Can I have you all write down this one verse? Romans chapter 8 and verse 28. Romans chapter 8 and verse 28. I hope many of you have this memorized. Paul says there, but we know that all things work together for good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose. Amen? You all know that verse? We really have to think that through. We can't go around our life and being sort of all Pollyanna, right, and saying, oh, everything's good in my life. No. The Bible is way more realistic. The Bible says not everything is good. There's sin all around us. But what is God doing with all those bad things? He's working all things for good to those who love Him. Amen? Amen? Think that through. Think of the pain you might have been in even in the last week. It was painful. It was mixed with evil. There was sin in there. We don't have to call it good, but realize this. God is flipping that around for you. Doesn't that give you hope? Right in the middle of that pain, you can say, Lord, it feels so bad, and I don't want it, but I know You're going to turn this around. I know You're going to use this for some good purpose. I know You've got a plan behind this, Lord. What does our psalmist say? He says, give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good. Can you say that in your worst hour? God is still good? In your worst hour, God is working this for good. I don't know how. I can't figure it out with my pea brain. But He's working it out for good. Amen? For His mercy endureth forever. His mercy endureth forever. Is His mercy upon you? Has God saved you? Do you know if He has? Do you know that you were bound for hell? I need to mention hell in a sermon on Thanksgiving, so just bear with me for one minute, because some might say, oh, that's mean. We're talking about Thanksgiving here. Don't mention hell. But let me say this. It's only... Well, I wrote it down. I want to say this very, very precisely, okay? The only truly thankful people in this entire world are those who know that they deserve hell. That might hurt or embarrass some of you, or it might feel uncomfortable, but think through that with me for one minute. The only truly thankful people in this world are those who know that they deserve hell. When you know that you've sinned against a holy God, when you know that your sins are so heinous in God's sight, even if we're just dishonoring your parents once, a holy God looks at that and says, that is worthy of hellfire. When you understand that, then we understand just how good his mercy is. Amen? What does mercy mean? It means there was a punishment due for you, but God pulled it back. God relented. God did not give you what you deserve. That's mercy. And when we realize that, he pulled back that punishment, then what's the rest of my life all about? It's about grace. It's about mercy. It's about receiving good things from God that I do not deserve. The only truly thankful people are those who know they deserve hell. Why? Why? Think through this with me. Because then, even the very worst thing that happens to us, we can see that there's some glimmer of mercy in it. Do you all see that? A day that's full of the absolute worst pain in my life, I can still see that God is showing mercy to me through that. It's better than hellfire. It's better than what I deserve. That's the depth of thanksgiving. We want to go that deep with our thanksgiving so that we're truly, truly thankful. What have I told you? The thankful heart is revived. That's just verse one. Maybe we won't get through the whole thing here. But let me give you a few more points. Let's read on. Verse two. The thankful heart is bold. What does our psalmist say? Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy. The thankful heart is bold. Let me ask you this. Do you tell people that you've been saved? Isn't this a beautiful verse? Read it with me again. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so. If you've been redeemed, if you've been saved, do you say so? Do you tell people about it? Well, you might say, what can I say? Is the psalmist asking us here to have some amazing theological argument that we can bring to people? Is he telling us you should be able to just say something really sophisticated about your salvation at the Thanksgiving table? No, he's saying if you were redeemed, just say it. Just say so. He's saying just open your mouth. And if you want to know what to say, look what he says next. Whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy. Is there anyone here who's able to say that? He redeemed me from the hand of Satan. You know, that's all I need to say at the Thanksgiving table. At times I can just mention, oh, I was saved, you know, 11 years ago or so. He saved me. He redeemed me. But were you redeemed from the hand of the enemy? Can anyone testify to that? Does anyone remember being in the grips of Satan? Does anyone remember your addiction was gripping you so bad that you knew that's not God. That's Satan holding you in his clutches from the hand of the enemy. And then does anyone remember when God set you free? When He released those clutches of Satan and He brought you into His hand? Everyone can testify to that. All you have to do is say so to your family. He saved me. He took me out of the clutches of Satan. He saved me from my addiction. All I want to say to you all there is don't complicate it that much. People need to hear that Christians have been redeemed. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so. The truly thankful heart is revived. It is bold. And thirdly, it is gathered. Look at verse 3 with me. And gathered them out of the lands from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south. The verb here is literally that God collected us, harvested us through plucking. So He plucked us like grapes from all of these places. I want to stop right here and ask you, is anyone bold enough to say where you were saved? If you have been saved, where exactly on this wide earth did God save you? I want to know, because I want to know in this room, is this verse true? Has God plucked us out of the lands from the east, the west, the north, the south? Well, I'll start. I was saved in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Anybody else dare to say where you got saved? Portland, Maine? Hallelujah. A mile from here. Praise God. Who else? 14 years old. Colorado. Who else? What's that? Wait, wait, one at a time. Sanford, Connecticut. Amen. Congo. Amen. Praise God. Who else? San Antonio, Texas. Lowell, Massachusetts. Texas. Who else? Yell it out. Massachusetts. Amen. Portland, Maine. Amen. Santa Fe. Praise God. Amen. Tucson, Arizona. Incredible. Can we praise the Lord for that? Yes. Portland, Maine. Praise God. Praise God. Praise God. Well, that's that point. Everybody get that? Look at that. Verse 3 is alive right here. Right here among us. He has gathered us out of the lands from the east and from the west and from the north and from the south. Can we be thankful for that today? The thankful heart knows we've been gathered. Isn't that a reason to gather on Sundays? Isn't that a reason to gather for prayer meeting on Wednesdays? We've been gathered. God has plucked us out of all of these places. So incredible. So incredible. Two more points for you. The thankful heart is led. Look at verses 4 through 7 here. They wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way. They found no city to dwell in. Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them. Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble. And he delivered them out of their distresses. And he led them forth by the right way that they might go to a city of habitation. The thankful heart is led. The thankful heart has been led through this life. The thankful heart sees God's hand over every moment of their life. Is that true of you? Have you seen God working? Can you point back to those moments where you say, yeah, he led me. He led me. For anybody who's struggling with addiction here, I want to say this. I remember a time after I had been saved for five months up in Toronto, I found myself back in the bar. Oh, I just found myself magically in the bar? No, I put myself back in a bar. And I was on the roof of that bar, and I was downing a bunch of beers. I had been saved for about five months. And right in the midst of that, I remember, I distinctly remember, and I could see the stars, just a few stars over the city of Toronto. And I remember I started speaking to God. I'm saying, Lord, you saved me, and I was so confused, slipping back into my sin, so confused. And all I can tell you is from that day onward, he led me. He led me so powerfully. I almost feel like, I don't know how to describe it to you. It's not just that he led me. It's like God became a bulldozer. And God became a wrecking ball. And he became a big crane. And he just bulldozed into my life. And he got me out of that bar. And then for the coming weeks, there was a battle, a huge struggle for my soul. And he led, and he pulled, and he pulled. Can anyone testify to that in your life? He's led me. I know he has. I know he has. It's unmistakable. He got me out of that filth. And if he hasn't, I want to beg you today, be saved. Come to him. He will lead you. But you have to look for this powerful leading. Look at it in verse 7. He led them forth by the right way. You know when God's leading you? Because it's right. He leads you toward rightness. He leads you toward goodness. He leads you out of bad situations. Amen? Sometimes our baby Shiloh's playing in the living room, right? And we just let him play around for a while. And then you see all of a sudden, oh no, he's heading toward the lamp. And I see Kiara over here, and she just flies toward him. And she just gently, no, no, no, no, no. Leads him away from there. That's how God leads us. He flies into our life. And he says, you are not going there anymore. If you claim to be a Christian today, but you're not led by God, you need to reevaluate if you're a Christian. Are you led by God? Is he pulling you out of sin and into holiness? Is he pulling you out of despair and into hope? Is he working that way in your life? And just notice one more thing, brothers and sisters. Look at verse 6. What enabled God to do this leading for them? What was the pivot point here? Where God started leading in their lives? What does it say in verse 6? Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble. Just highlight that. Circle that word right there. There's an old preacher named John Knox. Have you all heard of John Knox in Scotland? He was a very, very powerful preacher. He was a tiny man. He was filled with the Holy Spirit. When you read his writings, he almost never says, I prayed. I kept reading through all of his writings and you don't see him just saying, I prayed. He says, I cried. I cried. I cried. And in reading John Knox, I started to wonder is he just a very, very sad man? Is he just weeping all the time? But I think he was doing what it says in verse 6. When it came to prayer, Knox realized, if I'm going to get the job done here, I can't just pray. I have to cry. I have to cry out to the Lord. Is there anyone this week when you're going to the Thanksgiving dinner, you know there's those unsaved people in your family. Will you get alone and cry for their souls? Sometimes we have to look like fools in prayer. We have to cry. Please, Lord, save them. I'm crying over this way so I don't break your ears. We have to cry. Cry. Cry out for salvation. What turns the tide in this psalm? Go back home and read it four times. They cry. They cry. You might have to get alone in the car and just cry out for that granddaughter. Cry out for that grandson. Lift up your voice. Cry. The same goes for those who are still tempted. You have to cry. Don't just wait there and say, oh, wait till God gets me out of this. No. You cry. Cry to Him. Desperately cry to Him. The truly thankful heart is distinctly, clearly led by God. Amen? And here's our final point. The thankful heart is promised. Look at verse 9. Why should we be thankful? Well, look at verse 8. Verse 8 is where he cries out, oh, that men would praise the Lord for His goodness and for His wonderful works to the children of men. He's crying out, please, please, guys, be thankful. And I cry that out to you all. Please, this week, let's be revived through thanksgiving. Let's be thankful. And then what does he say in verse 9? Here is his final reason for being thankful. For He satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness. Write down in your Bibles, if you like, P. That's a promise. Why should we be thankful? Because God, without fail, satisfies the longing soul. God, without fail, fills the hungry soul with goodness. Are you on the fence about Jesus today? Is there anyone here you haven't yet fully gone all in with Jesus? You haven't surrendered your life to Jesus. Are you on the fence? I have a promise for you. If you come to Him, He will satisfy the longing soul. He will fill your hungry soul with goodness. If you don't know Jesus, but you're in this room, I know something about you. Your soul is longing, and your soul is hungry. That's what this verse says. Would you come to Him? Would you surrender your life to Him? Would you give yourself completely to Jesus? When you do, the Bible promises those who believe in Him will never be ashamed. Those who believe in Him, you will be satisfied. You will be filled. You will be given something so much better than drunkenness, so much better than anything this world has to offer. And then what about the Christian? Is this promise still for you, Christian? Is there any Christian here who could say that your soul is longing? Your soul is hungry. Maybe you know the Lord, but you know you need more. You know you need to go deeper. Two years ago, our church had some massive problems, and some of the leadership left, and I was totally broken by it. I'm just being honest with you. I was broken by it. And for a period of about six months, Kiara can tell you this, I was still doing all the motions, but I had no feeling whatsoever. I was still reading my Bible, but I didn't feel anything. I was still praying, but I couldn't sense the Lord's presence. I was still, by the grace of God, going to church, but I was empty. Anyone ever been there? There is a possibility that a believer can be truly saved, but you walk through the valley of the shadow of death, and for a time, there's no feeling, and there's no sense of God's presence. What did I cling to in that time? What kept me just reading the Bible, and praying, and hoping? Verse 9. Look at it again. He satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness. But here we are, and we might say, but I don't feel it, Lord. I don't feel thankful. I don't really want to go to church. I don't really want to crack open my Bible. In the midst of that, please remember, you keep doing it. You keep being obedient to God. You keep pursuing Him. You admit to Him, my soul is longing. My soul is hungry. And what does He promise you? He will satisfy. He will fill you again. Amen? He will satisfy. He will fill you again. And I can testify to you, after those six months or so, He came back. He came back in great power. He opened up His smile to me again. He will do that to you. The Word of God promises. I can't promise you that. That's just how God works. He says, yes, you are in a period, and it is hard. But you have a promise. You tell God you're hungry, and He will feed you. You tell God you're empty, and He will fill you. And you say, when? And I'll say, I don't know, but He will. Maybe tonight. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe a few weeks from now. And in the waiting, He will get the glory. I told you today that the thankful heart is revived. It is bold. The thankful heart is gathered. The thankful heart is led. And the thankful heart is promised. Some beautiful promises from God. I want to end by giving everyone some practical homework. Everybody ready for some homework? First of all, two homework assignments, okay? First one, play the thankful game. Anybody ever heard of the thankful game? Kiara, you have, right? Kiara and I learned this from my old boss. His name was Joel Beeky. And he told me that when things are going bad in your marriage, you should stop and play the thankful game. Let me explain this to you, okay? If things are going bad, you're starting to fight with your spouse, things are getting tense, and you say, what is this? I thought we were Christians and we were married. Or I thought we loved each other here. What's going on? And you realize there's something bad in the air. Stop. And one person says one thing they're thankful for. And then the other spouse says something they're thankful for. And remember to add you're thankful to Jesus, right? Not just thankful to the air. You're thankful to Yahweh. You're thankful to the Lord. Amen? Just please try playing this thankful game when things get rough. Stop. Pause. And say, I'm thankful for this. Then your spouse says, I'm thankful for this. And you know, you can do this if you're not married. Stop. And think about what you're thankful for. And shift your focus to the God of grace who's given you everything. And start thanking him. Amen? Here's a last homework assignment. Pray and don't ask God for anything. Okay? Please try this. Sometimes in our prayers we're so full of petition. What does petition mean? Asking God for something. Lord, save this person. Lord, heal this person. Lord, take care of my mother. Lord, make this person nicer to me. Lord, do this. Lord, do this. Stop. And just give thanks to the Lord. Just thank him. Pray and don't ask God for anything, but thank him and praise him. And here, brothers and sisters, you can really get creative. Do you know that in the Bible the psalmist will thank God for almost everything? Thank God for who he is. Thank God for us. Thank God that we're fearfully and wonderfully made. Thank God that we're saved. Thank God for our means of transportation, our bikes. Thank God for our cars. Thank God for the sky. Thank God for the dirt. Thank God for the seagulls. Thank God for our families. Thank God for the mean person in my family. Thank God for the tears in my family. Thank God for the happiness in my family. You see, the Bible wants us to thank God for everything and at all times. Be revived through thanksgiving. Live a life of thanksgiving. And may it start right now. Lord, we thank you. We thank you for everything, Lord. We thank you for this glorious psalm before us. We thank you, Lord, for saving us. Lord, I hope that some of the things you've said to us today would pierce the heart of those who might not be saved in this room. Lord, if there's anyone who has not accepted you, who has not surrendered their life to you, Lord, please come to them right now. Please satisfy their souls, Lord. Please bring them to a place where they repented their sin and where they believe in you, Lord. Lord, make us a thankful people. Oh, Lord, we do not want to be an ugly church that has no thanksgiving in it whatsoever, Lord. We want to be a church that is abounding with thanksgiving and love and praise and exaltation of our God. Lord, fill our hearts with praise and not with sin and not with drink and not with addiction. Lord, free our hearts, please, to thank you. In Christ's name, amen.