welcome to bullcreek
Connecting People to God
               Building His Church
Gratitude        by Phil Kinney


Last week we talked about Praise. Remember Praise is offered for who God is.
               NAME                      MEANING
a.        Jehovah Tsidkenu            “God is my Righteousness” (Jer 23:6)          
b.        Jehovah M’kaddesh        “God is my Sanctification” (Lev 20:
c.        Jehovah Shalom               “God is my Peace” (Judg 6:24)
d.        Jehovah Shammah          “God is Present with me” (Eze 48:35)
e.        Jehovah Rophe                 “God is my Healer” (Ex 15:26)
f.        Jehovah Jireh                     “God is my Provider” (Gen 22:14)
g.        Jehovah Nissi                     “God is my Banner” (Ex 17:15)
h.        Jehovah Rohi                     “God is my Shepherd (Ps 23:1)


Today I would like us to continue on a similar theme and talk about Gratitude.

A while back the paper The Village Voice in New York City conducted a survey to evaluate people’s perceptions of how they were doing financially. In the survey, the reporter interviewed ten people from differing levels of income- from a poet who made $5,000 a year all the way to a Wall Street investor who made $10,000,000. Each person was asked the same question: Are you satisfied with how much money you make? Surprisingly, each one, regardless of income, answered that he or she was not quite there yet. Each felt close, but needed just a little more! 

The common myth in our country is that the more money we have the happier we will be. I expected the poet to answer that he or she needed a lot more money to feel satisfied while I expected the millionaire to feel more than satisfied. 

Obviously, it wasn’t the money that gave the satisfaction. The people interviewed were comparing themselves with some idealized norm of how money is supposed to make us feel. And that comparison left them feeling that they hadn’t quite met the bar yet they still felt they needed a little bit more to be completely satisfied.

Gratitude is an interesting area that is neglected by much of society today. You see we are conditioned to be unhappy with our position in life, with our current amount or type of possessions, with our income. Advertising bombards us day in and day out telling we need more money, more things, more of this and that. I read a survey recently that said that 50% of people would enter into an adulterous relationship with someone in their workplace. More than half of these had already. This is people not being grateful for the relationship – the spouse they already have.

So is gratefulness important? Do we need an attitude of gratitude? What’s the big deal anyway?

This actually has a lot to do with building the Kingdom of God and influencing the world for Jesus. You see when you have an attitude that you don’t have enough of things or money, you see the lack in your life. This means that your attitude is that you can’t afford to pay your bills, you can’t afford to do this or that, which results in the Christian that they can’t afford to give tithes and offerings to God. The person who thinks they don’t have enough then sees others and what they have, and becomes envious and jealous of what someone else has, and their focus is off God and onto possessions, and they start to strive for more of money, possessions, the latest plasma screen, the latest clothes and so on. And once you start on that path the focus is not on how can I share my faith, it’s trying to fill an empty space within you that can never be filled.

You see an attitude of gratitude is that you look to God as your source and supply. Then when you look at what you have you start to give God thanks for what he has blessed you with. When you – as we talked about last week – give Him praise for who He is, one of the names of God is Jehovah Jireh – My God who provides. When you use praise in this way God becomes your source. Then the next step is to thanks Him for what he has already provided. Do you have any food in your cupboard? Where did you sleep last night – in a bed or on the street? How did you get here? Oh but Phil, you don’t understand – my car takes 5 minutes to start, my house is falling apart and the neighborhood I live in.... and there’s only a few dollars left in my bank account and I still have some bills left, and I just can’t seem to get ahead.....

Let me tell you if this is how you think then you will never get ahead. Proverbs 23:7 says “As you think, so are you”. If you are always thinking you don’t have enough then you will never have enough. But if you take the attitude of gratitude, and change your thought process to “Thank you God for your abundant supply, that I have more than enough” then your life will change.

Rather than think “My house is only a rental and in the wrong part of town”, think “God has blessed me with a roof over my head. How can I use it to glorify Him. I could invite this person over for a meal and bless them – it might bring them closer to Jesus or encourage them”

Rather than think “my car is so unreliable and rickety and the heater doesn’t work” think “I so blessed to have a car and not have to wait hours for the bus. Who can I bless by giving them a lift to church?”

Rather than think “I have trouble every week paying my bills, I never have enough” think “God has blessed me with an income” – whether it is employment or the pension or whatever. “I have been able to eat today and I can eat tomorrow, and I ate yesterday -  wow that’s more than 95% of the worlds population. Who can I share my blessing of food with?”

Some of you are thinking this is just mind games – power of positive thinking and all that. Let me ask you – who was the most positive man to ever exist? Jesus. He went through extreme suffering yet did not utter a word condemning those around Him – rather he prayed for their forgiveness. That’s positive thinking!!!

The Bible is full of passages that encourage us to change our thinking. The passage already quoted in Proverbs 23:7 says “As you think, so are you”. 

"And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God." (Romans 12:2)

Even God saw the value in His thinking -  "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope." (Jeremiah 29:11)


In the OT we see the peace offering – which was actually all about gratefulness. 

The peace offering and thanksgiving offerings expressed fellowship between the worshiper and God. There were three types:
(1) Thank offering: expressed gratitude for an unexpected blessing.
(2) Votive offering: expressed gratitude for a blessing granted when a vow had been made while asking for the blessing.
(3) Free will offering: expressed gratitude to God without regard to any specific blessing.

The thought was that the person would bring an offering from their wealth. The sacrifice of thanksgiving was a public proclamation of who God is and what He does. A thanksgiving offering required three kinds of unleavened cakes and leavened bread, also there was an offering involving cows, sheep etc. 

These offerings were brought along with friends and family. A portion of the offering was burnt unto God. A second portion was given to the priest to feed his family, and the rest was consumed in the temple in a party atmosphere of celebration as to the goodness and blessing of God.

Now can you image what happened if they didn’t bring a thankfulness offering, as they weren’t grateful for what God had blessed them with? 
1.        They would have seen their lives an insufficient, and would have distanced themselves further from God (and we can see where that got them in the OT – captivity!)
2.        The priest would not have had food to feed the family (priests were not allotted land in the distribution of Israel. Their only source was what was brought into the temple)
3.        They would have missed out on celebrating with family. Celebrating together helps build relationship as we bless each other through a party. Rejoicing with each other builds community

When we have an attitude of not enough we rob ourselves before God, before His Church and rob our selves of good relationships as we take rather than give.





TALK ABOUT
Try these discussion-starters about this week’s topic: