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BE YE THANKFUL

By George W. Sinquefield

(Col 3:15 KJV)  "And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful."

(1 Th 5:18 KJV)  "In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you."

        God has been so good to America. We, like Israel of od, have inherited a good land. We have:

1.    A billion acres of farm land.
2.    Five hundred million acres of forest.
3.    A hundred million acres of land developed into cities and towns.
4.    A hundred million acres of coal, iron, copper and other minerals.
5.    Three hundred twenty thousand oil wells.
6.    Six and a half million farms.
7.    Two million miles of highways.
8.    Six percent of the world's land area and 7 percent of the population of the world, yet we have:

a.    66% of the world's wealth.
b.    80% of the world's automobiles.
c.    Half of the world's telephones.
d.    Over half of the life insurance policies.

1.    Fed us.
2.    His plants and creatures have clothed us.
3.    His sun has warmed us.
4.    His hand has guided us.
5.    His Son died to save us.
6.    His church has inspired us.
7.    His grace has sustained us.
8.    His heaven awaits us.

(Psa 107:8 KJV)  "Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!"

        Thomas Jefferson said, "How little do my countrymen know what precious blessings they are in possession of and which no other people on earth enjoy."

        Truly, this is God's country. Nothing can destroy it unless we become unthinkably weak -- too weak to lift our hearts to heaven in gratitude for its uncounted blessings. -- Burton Hillis

(Eph 5:18 KJV)  "And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;"

(Eph 5:19 KJV)  "Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;"

(Eph 5:20 KJV)  "Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;"

        Another passage teaches that we are to be thankful "in everything."

(Phil 4:6 KJV)  "Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God."

        Please notice again the verse we read at the beginning of this message -- I Thessalonians 5:18. It tells us to give thanks in everything, for this is the will of God in Christ. Being thankful for everything and in everything is God's will for His people.

        One year when Christmas Day came on a Sunday, a farmer decided to go to church. (Like some people, he thought he was fulfilling his religious obligation by going to church twice a year -- at Christmas and Easter!) The sermon that day was preached from the text, "The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Israel doeth not know, my people doth not consider" (Isa. 1:3). Isaiah is saying that man is more ungrateful than animals.

        After church the farmer returned home and stood among his cows, when one of them began to lick his hand -- a practical demonstration of the sermon he had just heard. Strong man though he was, the farmer began to weep and he thought, "God did much more for me and yet I never thanked Him. My cow is far more grateful than I am. What do I ever give her other than grass and water?"

        An oriental visitor traveled across America and saw wonders of this great land -- the Golden Gate Bridge, the Grand Canyon, Niagara Falls, the Empire State Building and much more. He was asked what impressed him the most. His answer was, "The size of America's garbage cans."

        God has given us so much and it would be well in order for us to pray as George Herbert did, "Thou has given so much to me. Give me one more thing -- a grateful heart."

I.    We often fail to express thanks to some person who has been a blessing to us.

        A man got in a taxi in New Your City and he could tell the driver was sore about something. He asked and the driver told him that that morning one of his passengers had left his wallet in the cab containing $200.00. "I spent nearly two hours tracing the guy down. When I found him, he grabbed the wallet without saying a word. I didn't mind getting no reward nor expense for my time and gas. But he didn't even say thanks."

        A young man rescued 19 people from the stormy waters of Lake Michigan. He was recognized for that heroic action and asked, "What one thing impressed you most during that experience?" He said, "The thing that impressed me most about this whole incident was that not one of the 19 came back to say thank you."

        William Stidger tells how grateful he was to an old school teacher who went out of her way to introduce him to Tennyson. He confessed that he had never expressed his appreciation to her and that he would write her soon. He did and received this letter from her.

        "My dear Willie, I can't tell you how much your note meant to me. I am in my eighties, living alone in a small room. Cooking my own meals, lonely and like the last leaf of fall, lingering behind. You will be interested to know I have taught school for fifty years and yours is the first note of appreciation I have ever received. It came on a blue, cold morning and it filled me with cheer."

        In his old age, President James Madison suffered from many ailments and took a variety of medicines. It is said that a longtime friend from a nearby county sent him a box of vegetable pills, one of his own home remedies, asking to be informed if they brought relief. In time he received one of those gracious and carefully worded letters for which Madison was noted. It went something like this: "My dear friend, I thank you very much for the box of pills. I have taken them all; and while I cannot say I am better since taking them, It is quite possible that I might have been worse if I had not taken them."

        Question -- "If someone were to pay you a dollar for every time you thanked others for kindness done you, and if he collected fifty cents for every time you forgot to thank people for their kindness would you be richer or poorer?"

        Christopher Morely said that if everybody had only five minutes to live, every phone booth in the world would be occupied by someone sending a final word of affection and gratitude.

        God help us to give people roses while they live so they can enjoy the beauty and sweet aroma. Useless are the flowers we give after one has passed on.

II.    Are we thankful for spiritual blessings?

        Are we thankful for salvation and all the blessings it brings in and through Christ? A public relations officer called Mrs.Otto at her home in California one day and asked her, "Did you give a pint of blood to the Red Cross last December 14:" After a moment Mrs. Otto recalled the occasion. "I'm sorry to call you so late but a patient has just arrived at the hospital who wants to meet you." Mrs. Otto learned that her pint of blood had saved a soldier's life on the battlefield. "He wants to thank you but he leaves early in the morning for the east coast." Mrs. Otto went to the hospital. She learned that rarely did a soldier meet the person whose blood saved his life. Her blood had gone into an individual container labeled with the donor's name.

        The soldier told her his story. He had been hit in the leg with 15 slugs. Medical corpsmen carried him to a makeshift hospital where his leg was amputated. He was fighting for his life against terrific odds when the blood reached him. As he told her the story he wept tears of gratitude, and as Mrs. Otto listened, she too wept. She was so grateful that her blood had saved this soldiers life.

        The greatest blood donor ever known was the Lord Jesus, our Savior. He shed His blood to cleanse us of sin and make it possible for us to be saved -- that we would never perish, but that we would have a home in Heaven with Him.

(Acts 8:28 KJV)  "Was returning, and sitting in his chariot read Esaias the prophet."

(Eph 1:7 KJV)  "In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;"

(Heb 9:12 KJV)  "Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us."

(1 John 1:7 KJV)  "But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin."

(Rev 1:5 KJV)  "And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,"

(1 Pet 1:18 KJV)  "Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;"

(1 Pet 1:19 KJV)  "But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:"

        We say with Isaac Watts;

See, from His hands, His feel,
Sorrow and love flow mingled down,
Did e'er such love and sorrow meet,
Or thorns compose so rich a crown.

Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were a present far too small
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.

Thank you Lord for saving my soul,
Thank you Lord for making m whole,
Thank you Lord for giving to me,
Thy great salvation so rich and free.

        The best way I know for us to grow in gratitude is expressed in the hymn;

Count your many blessings.
Name them one by one,
And it will surprise you
What the Lord hath done.

        Steve McDonald, a New York City policeman, was paralyzed from his neck down. He said, "Today, though I cannot walk, I can still be moved, though I cannot touch, I can feel, and I thank God everyday for His blessings on me and my family."

        My mother told of an old man who was always thanking the Lord. If you asked him how he felt, he would either say, "I feel good, thank the Lord" or "I don't feel very good, thank the Lord." That is the will of God, to thank Him in everything in all the experiences and circumstances of life.

        Dale Carnegie, once in deep depression did a strange thing. He took a sheet of paper and assumed he had lost everything. On the paper he listed his losses.

                Broken in health.
                My wife has deserted me.
                I'm fired from my job.
                My money is all gone.
                My children are all in jail.

        After building this horrible picture, he looked at the list and said, "There is not a word of truth in it." and he tore it up. This helped him to realize his blessings.

        One shares his experience with us:

        As I was walking along the busy street of my home town today I heard someone singing above the noise of the traffic. It wasn't noisy singing -- almost like some singing to himself -- but I heard it. Then I located the singer. He was pushing himself along through the crowd in a wheel chair by the power of his two arms, the only useful limbs he had left.

        As I caught up with him I said, "A man in a wheel chair singing gives everyone who hears him a lift."

        He answered, "When I stopped looking at what I had lost, and began looking at all I had left, I could sing again."

        Henry Ward Beecher wrote: "If one would give me a dish of sand, and tell me there were particles of iron in it, I might look for them with my eyes, and search for them with my clumsy fingers, and be unable to detect them; but let me take a magnet and sweep through it, and how would it draw to itself the almost invisible particles by the mere power of attraction. The unthankful heart, like my finger in the sand, discovers no mercies; but let the thankful heart sweep through the day, and as the magnet finds the iron, so it will find, in every hour, some heavenly blessing, only the iron in God's sand is gold!"