Weekend Sermon -- "Blessed, Grateful, and Thankful"

      Thanks for stopping by to read the sermon this week. I am grateful for the continued opportunity to post these messages, and I hope that you are all doing well. 

     In the United States, the Thanksgiving holiday will be here next week. This week is the last chance that I will get to post a message on that theme before the holiday is upon us. 

     Thanksgiving was a really important holiday for me and my friend Toby. It was our favorite day of the year. My Mom always made a great Thanksgiving dinner, and both of us ate way, way too much. What strikes me here in the US is that Thanksgiving is getting by-passed now with a big emphasis on Halloween and then people go straight into Christmas. I think we are missing something that should be a lot more important. 

      This time of year here in the US, and other days if you live elsewhere, are important times to stop and reflect on all of the blessings of the Lord. James 1:17 tells us, "Every good and perfect gift is from above." We have all been very blessed in our lives. I know that I have. The Lord has given me good things to eat, a place to live, a job and I was certainly blessed with good parents and a great friend like my friend Toby. We have also been given great blessings spiritually by the Lord. He has given us His Son the Lord Jesus to be our Savior. We are redeemed, and the Lord has prepared a place for us with Him in Heaven so that those who are in Christ can look forward to always being with the Lord. 

     Because of the blessings of the Lord, I am thankful for what He has done for me. I believe that we need to make it a habit of expressing our thanks to the Lord for the good things that He has done. When the Lord hears and answers our prayers, we need to say thank you and not just let it go by. I think we need to continually give thanks to the Lord for taking away our sins and being ever present with us as we make our way through this life. 

     In addition to being blessed and thankful, I want to be grateful. To me, being grateful is a little bit different than being thankful. Gratefulness is like a lifestyle. You realize how blessed you are and you live in a sense of continuing thanksgiving for all that you have been blessed with. 

     I hope that during this coming week whether you are celebrating Thanksgiving or not that you will take time to really count your blessings. Thank the Lord for all that He has done for you and provided for you. Then live in gratefulness for what God has done and for what He has provided. Amen

Prayer Requests

     Please pray for me regarding my health. I am having really bad issues right now. Please pray that I can get well again. 

     Pray for those affected by the storms. Pray that those in Philippines, Vietnam, Alaska, and the Caribbean will get the aid and help that they need. I am glad that group here where I live has gone down to help in Jamaica

     Keep praying for peace. Sudan really needs our prayers. Pray that peace holds in Israel and Gaza. Please keep praying for peace in Ukraine.

     For our prayer focus countries, let us pray for those in the nations of Benin and Jordan. Pray that many will come to know Jesus. 

    Next week, I will probably start posting messages for the Advent season. I will post the verses on Tuesday, and I will post the next chapter in the book on Wednesday. May God bless you all.