Giving God Our Grateful Love
Memory Verse: 1 Thess. 5:18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
SCRIPTURE: (Psa 66 NIV) Shout with joy to God, all the earth! {2} Sing the glory of his name; make his praise glorious! {3} Say to God, "How awesome are your deeds! So great is your power that your enemies cringe before you. {4} All the earth bows down to you; they sing praise to you, they sing praise to your name." Selah {5} Come and see what God has done, how awesome his works in man's behalf! {6} He turned the sea into dry land, they passed through the waters on foot-- come, let us rejoice in him. {7} He rules forever by his power, his eyes watch the nations-- let not the rebellious rise up against him. Selah {8} Praise our God, O peoples, let the sound of his praise be heard; {9} he has preserved our lives and kept our feet from slipping. {10} For you, O God, tested us; you refined us like silver. {11} You brought us into prison and laid burdens on our backs. {12} You let men ride over our heads; we went through fire and water, but you brought us to a place of abundance. {13} I will come to your temple with burnt offerings and fulfill my vows to you-- {14} vows my lips promised and my mouth spoke when I was in trouble. {15} I will sacrifice fat animals to you and an offering of rams; I will offer bulls and goats. Selah {16} Come and listen, all you who fear God; let me tell you what he has done for me. {17} I cried out to him with my mouth; his praise was on my tongue. {18} If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened; {19} but God has surely listened and heard my voice in prayer. {20} Praise be to God, who has not rejected my prayer or withheld his love from me!
INTRODCUCTION:
Illustration: The story told by Mother Theresa during an address at the National Prayer Breakfast in 1994.
1. A CALL TO ADORE GOD
(Psa 66:1-4 NIV) Shout with joy to God, all the earth! {2} Sing the glory of his name; make his praise glorious! {3} Say to God, "How awesome are your deeds! So great is your power that your enemies cringe before you. {4} All the earth bows down to you; they sing praise to you, they sing praise to your name." Selah
(Psa 66:8 NIV) Praise our God, O peoples, let the sound of his praise be heard;
(Psa 29:9 NIV) The voice of the LORD twists the oaks and strips the forests bare. And in his temple all cry, "Glory!"
(Psa 100:1-2 NIV) Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth. {2} Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.
(Acts 16:25 NIV) About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.
(Rom 14:8 NIV) If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.
“In a chapel at Stanton Harold outside of London these words are engraved on a plaque.”: “In the year, 1653, when all things sacred throughout the nation were either demolished or profaned, Sir Robert Shirley Baronet founded this church whose singular praise it is to have done the best things in the worst times and hoped them in the most calamitous.”--Willard A. Scofield
2. A CALL TO APPRISE THE WORKINGS OF GOD
(Psa 66:5-15 NIV) Come and see what God has done, how awesome his works in man's behalf! {6} He turned the sea into dry land, they passed through the waters on foot-- come, let us rejoice in him. {7} He rules forever by his power, his eyes watch the nations-- let not the rebellious rise up against him. Selah {8} Praise our God, O peoples, let the sound of his praise be heard; {9} he has preserved our lives and kept our feet from slipping. {10} For you, O God, tested us; you refined us like silver. {11} You brought us into prison and laid burdens on our backs. {12} You let men ride over our heads; we went through fire and water, but you brought us to a place of abundance. {13} I will come to your temple with burnt offerings and fulfill my vows to you-- {14} vows my lips promised and my mouth spoke when I was in trouble. {15} I will sacrifice fat animals to you and an offering of rams; I will offer bulls and goats. Selah
(Jer 31:14 NIV) I will satisfy the priests with abundance, and my people will be filled with my bounty," declares the LORD.
3. A CALL TO BE ATTENTIVE TO GOD’S GOODNESS
(Psa 66:14-20 NIV) vows my lips promised and my mouth spoke when I was in trouble. {15} I will sacrifice fat animals to you and an offering of rams; I will offer bulls and goats. Selah {16} Come and listen, all you who fear God; let me tell you what he has done for me. {17} I cried out to him with my mouth; his praise was on my tongue. {18} If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened; {19} but God has surely listened and heard my voice in prayer. {20} Praise be to God, who has not rejected my prayer or withheld his love from me!
(Psa 34:19 NIV) A righteous man may have many troubles, but the LORD delivers him from them all;
(Psa 66:16-20 NIV) Come and listen, all you who fear God; let me tell you what he has done for me. {17} I cried out to him with my mouth; his praise was on my tongue. {18} If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened; {19} but God has surely listened and heard my voice in prayer. {20} Praise be to God, who has not rejected my prayer or withheld his love from me!
(Isa 61:3 NIV) and provide for those who grieve in Zion-- to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor.
CONCLUSION: (John 3:16 NIV) “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
