Thanks Be to God!

11/17/07

Scripture:

Introduction: Most of us are aware of how the first settlers in America landed in December of 1620 in what is now the state of Massachusetts. Within one month ten of the seventeen fathers who were on the Mayflower died. Within a couple of months only four of the mothers and wives of those first seventeen couples were alive. By Easter almost half of the pilgrims had died.    Yet in 1621 they celebrated and gave thanks to God.

Now, let's journey to another continent. It's twenty-five years later. A Lutheran pastor named Martin Rinkart lived in Eilenberg in Saxony. The Thirty Years War was being waged. Eilenberg was under siege. The people within the walls of the city were suffering from plague and starvation. Over a period of time Pastor Rinkart became the only living pastor in the city. He conducted over fifty funerals a day. He buried over five thousand people that year, including his wife. When the war ended in 1648 Pastor Rinkart sat down and penned these words: Now thank we all our God, with heart and hands and voices, Who wondrous things has done, in whom this world rejoices; Who from our mother's arms has blessed us on our way, With countless gifts of love, and still is ours today.

This desire to give thanks to God is not just a part of who we are in a free land. This desire has stretched from creation until now throughout all the ends of the earth. One of its best expressions is found in Psalm 103. The psalmist praises God and gives thanks in the daily framework of life. The psalmist finds that God is the rock of his salvation and gives thanks. Let's join the psalmist in proclaiming our thanks to God.

I.               The Goodness of God

II.              The Generosity of God

III.             The Greatness of God

IV.            The Good-news of God

Conclusion: How can I say thanks?

Sermon Multimedia:

• Thanks be To God

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