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Sep 17, 2017

Let’s Begin with Thanks

Let’s Begin with Thanks

Passage: Psalms 136:1-26

Speaker: Patrick Lafferty

Series: Psalms

As one theologian has noted, the Psalms are more than a collection of Israel’s prayers. They, in a sense, reflect a narrative quality: the Psalms begins with an affirmation of hope that so long as you meditate on the Law of the Lord, you shall bear fruit in its season. Then as life happens, you discover how much sorrow, confusion, and lament are inevitable (Ps 13, 39, 88, etc). But by the end you come to realize that, despite all that confronts and confounds, there’s still a reason for thanks and praise--still a reason for gratitude. Psalm 136 is a Psalm of gratitude, which I’ll argue underscores how gratitude is both central to knowing God, but also that gratitude is, more than a feeling, a skill to cultivate. Here in this important moment the life of GMR, wouldn’t it be fitting that before we take another step together, that we take a moment to give thanks?

Order of Worship

Call To Worship: Colossians 3:16-17 ESV
Song Lyrics (Click to Download)
Reading: Psalm 118:1-4 ESV
Central Text: Psalm 136:1-26 ESV
Sermon Slides
Illustration: Stranger Than Fiction

Illustration: Always, A Dress

Communion
Benediction: Psalm 50:23 ESV

Scriptures & Readings:

Call To Worship: Colossians 3:16-17 ESV
LEADER: 16 Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.

ALL: 17 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him

Reading: Psalm 118:1-4 ESV
LEADER: Oh give thanks to the LORD, for He is good;
ALL: for His steadfast love endures forever!
LEADER: Let Israel say,
ALL: “His steadfast love endures forever.”
LEADER: Let the house of Aaron say,
ALL: “His steadfast love endures forever.”
LEADER: Let those who fear the LORD say,
ALL: “His steadfast love endures forever.”

Central Text: Psalm 136:1-26 ESV
1 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever. 2 Give thanks to the God of gods, for his steadfast love endures for ever. 3 Give thanks to the Lord of lords, for his steadfast love endures for ever; 4 to him who alone does great wonders, for his steadfast love endures forever; 5 to him who by understanding made the heavens, for his steadfast love endures forever 6 to him who spread out the earth above the waters, for his steadfast love endures for ever; 7 to him who made the great lights, for his steadfast love endures forever; 8 the sun to rule over the day, for his steadfast love endures forever; 9 the moon and stars to rule over the night,
for his steadfast love endures forever; 10 to him who struck down the firstborn of Egypt,
for his steadfast love endures forever; 11 and brought Israel out from among them, for his steadfast love endures forever; 12 with a strong hand and an outstretched arm, for his steadfast love endures forever; 13 to him who divided the Red Sea in two, for his steadfast love endures forever; 14 and made Israel pass through the midst of it, for his steadfast love endures forever;
15 but overthrew Pharaoh and his host in the Red Sea, for his steadfast love endures forever;
16 to him who led his people through the wilderness, for his steadfast love endures forever;
17 to him who struck down great kings, for his steadfast love endures for ever; 18 and killed mighty kings, for his steadfast love endures forever; 19 Sihon, king of the Amorites, for his steadfast love endures forever; 20 and Og, king of Bashan, for his steadfast love endures forever;
21 and gave their land as a heritage, for his steadfast love endures forever; 22 a heritage to Israel his servant, for his steadfast love endures forever. 23 It is he who remembered us in our low estate, for his steadfast love endures forever; 24 and rescued us from our foes, for his steadfast love endures forever; 25 he who gives food to all flesh, for his steadfast love endures forever.
26 Give thanks to the God of heaven, for his steadfast love endures forever.

Benediction: Psalm 50:23 ESV
LEADER: The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me; to one who orders his way rightly I will show the salvation of God!

ALL: Amen

Related Scriptures:
Ps 100:1-4
Jonah 2:9
1 Thess 5:14-22
Phil 4:4-7
Col 4:2

Discussion Questions & Applications:

  1. Ever heard someone say, of themselves or of another, that they’ve “lost the plot”? What does that mean? Ever felt that way? What does it mean to find it again?
  2. What do you think of McIntyre’s notion that you can’t know what to do unless you know of what story you’re a part? What does he mean?
  3. Does gratitude come hard or easy for you? What do you think accounts for that?
  4. Why are those three categories of things we mentioned the Psalmist is thankful for important? How could dwelling on them until you gave thanks for them matter?
  5. Why must the Gospel become the “anchor” for our gratitude?
  6. The choices you now regret: how could the practice of gratitude have altered or pre-empted those choices?

Quotes:

A central thesis then begins to emerge: man is, in his actions and practices, as well as in his fictions, essentially a story-telling animal. He is not essentially, but becomes through his history, a teller of stories that aspire to truth. But the key question for men is not about their own authorship; I can only answer the question ‘What am I to do?’ if I can answer the prior question’ Of what story. . .do I find myself a part. --Alasdair McIntyre

I don't think anything is more emotionally stabilizing, more clarifying in every way, than gratitude. . . . --Marilynne Robinson

“Gratefulness,” by George Herbert
Thou that hast giv’n so much to me,
Give one thing more, a grateful heart.
See how thy beggar works on thee
By art. . . .

Wherefore I cry, and cry again;
And in no quiet canst thou be,
Till I a thankful heart obtain
Of thee:

Not thankful, when it pleaseth me;
As if thy blessings had spare days:
But such a heart, whose pulse may be
Thy praise.

Sermons:

On Gratitude: Pastoral Backstory--Advent 2013

A Song, A Solace, A Sermon, and A Summons by Charles H. Spurgeon
Psalm 136:1

Guard Yourself With Gratitude by John Piper
Colossians 2:1-8

God’s Enduring Love by Leo Schuster
Psalm 136

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