Power Point - November 18, 2004

 

November 18, 2004

 

It is more blessed to give than receive.

                                        -Acts 20:35

 

I know it’s not always easy to give thanks.

 

It’s not easy when you’re stuck in traffic, 30 minutes late to work, and the boss is waiting on you, to give thanks all the while.

 

It’s not easy when you get in the express lane for those who have 20 items or less at the grocery store and the person in front of you has got a whole cart full of items and you’ve counted every one of them.

 

It’s not easy to say thanks in the more serious times of life when you get a doctor’s report and it’s not what you prayed or hoped for.

 

It’s so difficult to give thanks when your bank account is empty and you don’t know how to pay the bills.

 

It’s not easy to give thanks when someone that you love walks out, forsakes, and leaves you.

 

But the Scripture says, “in everything give thanks, for this is God’s will for you.” God will never command you or require you to do anything that he will not equip you to do. He will make it possible for you to praise Him in the midst of even the darkest of nights and the darkest of days. While thanksgiving and praise may not change our circumstances, it will change what our circumstances do to us.

 

Remember the latitude of gratitude. Once we’ve received the blessings of God, we must not contain or store them, but we are to give them away to others. That is the latitude and width of gratitude. It is extending and enlarging God’s love to others.

 

If your heart is full of thanksgiving and you have a testimony to it, you’ve always got something to share that is good from God with others. It’s the testimony of thanksgiving that should accompany us everywhere we go.

 

I wonder on your job, in your neighborhood, and in your family if those that are unsaved see someone in you that complains, criticizes, and is just like the world, or do they see someone whose heart is full of thanksgiving and praise to God? How long has it been since you’ve shared the love of God with someone else? There were two great days in my life. One was when I accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior. The second is any day that I have the opportunity to lead someone else to faith in Christ and to hear him or her say, “Thank you for telling me about Jesus. Thank you! Thank you!” That’s the latitude of gratitude.

 

BLESS SOMEONE’S LIFE BY

EXTENDING YOUR LATITUDE OF GRATITUDE.