Title: True Thanksgiving / Psalm 116
Genuine Gratitude / Psalm 116
Saints!
Now, next Thursday, the 26th, is Thanksgiving Day in Korea, just like Chuseok.
In the United States, separated families gather together on Thanksgiving Day.
They eat food together and have a good time.
That's why plane tickets are sold out on Thanksgiving Day in the US too.
The highway is also crowded with many cars.
Even in the United States, where the land is vast, this is the case, but in Korea, where the land is small, it is Chuseok.
The whole country is in turmoil because of people roaming around in search of their hometown.
Traffic across the country is paralyzed to visit my parents in the countryside.
People fight very hard to buy train tickets and express bus tickets.
Let me introduce an incident that happened in Korea last Chuseok.
I also read about the incident through the Internet newspaper and thought that they were really pathetic people.
The contents are as follows.
A couple burned down their apartment after a fight.
They fled immediately from the uncontrollable fire, but
The people living upstairs were the problem.
A woman who lived on the 5th floor, the top floor of the apartment, just upstairs from being unable to get out of the fire,
I screamed for help through the window with the child.
Underneath, people spread out the blanket and prepared to catch a child if they threw it.
The mother of the child threw the child and people pulled the blanket from underneath.
Received the child safely.
But when the child's mother fell, it was so heavy that people missed the end of the duvet.
The child's mother is dead.
Those who were burned escaped, but what is the other person guilty of?
The couple got into a fight and set fire to the police.
I asked what happened
"Let's go to my in-laws' house on Chuseok, no, let's go to my parents' house"
that he has done such a big thing.
They are really pathetic people.
Rather than arguing that we should go to our in-laws and go to our parents' house,
We want each other to live happily ever after.
Saints!
God wants us to live happily ever after.
Where is the criterion for being happy or unhappy?
How can you tell that that person is a happy person and that person is an unhappy person?
Are you happy with a lot of money?
Are you unhappy with no money?
There are many people who are unhappy even though they have a lot of money.
Many people are happy without money.
Money is not the standard for dividing happiness and unhappiness.
So, what is the criterion for dividing happiness and unhappiness?
That's right, right? Do you live a life of complaints and dissatisfaction?
A person who says "Thank you very much, thank God very much" is a happy person.
But no matter how much you have, if you complain and complain, you are an unhappy person.
Saints!
'Even though I slept in a shack that was leaking in the rain
There is also a song I sang when I was young, 'Isn't it fun to be with Jung-Dun?
Happiness and unhappiness are shared whether you are a grateful person or a complaining life.
Saints!
Thank you and please buy.
Whenever we thank God, God gives us happiness.
Amazing things happen when you are grateful.
When Jesus offered thanks with two small fish and five loaves of bread in front of him,
An amazing thing happened, feeding 5,000 people.
All the countries where we prayed every time we ate to say thank you to God came to prosper.
Saints!
Do you feel grateful to God?
Then you are happy people, everyone is blessed.
Saints!
But when you say "Thank you" and "Thank You!"
It was just a formality and became a word of greeting to each other.
From what I see, in America, I'm not very grateful, but if I don't, I'm afraid I'll be a weird person
Thank you for anything.
Is the church saying thank you so much to God?
Or maybe it's because it's a way of speaking that's already ingrained in your mouth, God! Thank you! It is said.
Saints!
How do you really appreciate it?
What kind of thanks are real thanks?
It is the first real thanks to remember.
I don't forget.
What we are truly grateful for is never forgotten.
There are so many things to be grateful for in my life so far.
But sometimes I think of things I'm really grateful for.
I think of you while I'm sleeping, praying, and driving.
The real gratitude will never be forgotten.
I have a gratitude that I can never work in my life.
I sometimes think like this.
What would I be doing if I wasn't a pastor?
Maybe I am kicked out of my job during the IMF era, where Korea is now economically very difficult.
I think I might have become an alcoholic by laying down newspaper at a Seoul station or subway station.
Maybe if I didn't become a pastor, I would drink and play every day.
Maybe they got divorced because of an affair.
Saints!
Imagine that you don't believe in God and don't sit like this in church right now!
Believing in Jesus and knowing the grace of God
Isn't that something to be really grateful for?
It's something I'll never forget, something I'll never forget in my lifetime.
We believe that God loves us and guides and protects us along the way.
From the words of Psalm 116 that we read today
Psalm 116:01 I love him because the LORD hears my voice and my supplications.
Psalm 116:02 He has inclined his ear to me, and I will pray all the days of my life.
Psalm 116:03 The cords of death wrap around me, and the torments of Hades come upon me,
When I met tribulation and sorrow
Psalm 116:04 I pray in the name of the LORD
I beg you, O LORD, deliver my soul.
Psalm 116:05 The LORD is gracious and righteous; our God is merciful.
Psalm 116:06 The LORD preserves the foolish; he saved me when I was low.
Psalm 116:07 Return to your peace, my soul, for the LORD is hospitable to you.
Psalm 116:08 You rescued my soul from death, my eyes from tears, and my feet from stumbling.
record.
He could not forget the grace of God, so he wrote this song.
Saints!
How is real gratitude different from just gratitude and ordinary gratitude?
Second, real gratitude is gratitude when it is difficult.
If you are truly grateful, you need to be able to give thanks even if it is difficult for you to be truly grateful.
If you complain and complain that you are having a hard time right now, that is not real gratitude.
Saints!
When love is hard and problems arise, you know it's real love.
'I've wanted to break up for a long time, but it went well, now is your chance' is not true love.
When you have a difficult problem, in a difficult and painful time, you know that love is real.
When faith meets tests, you will know if you have real faith.
The temptations that tempt us and the temptations that afflict us
It determines whether we really have faith to depend on God.
Real gratitude comes in difficult times.
Those who are truly grateful to God are those who know how to give thanks when they are in trouble.
Saints!
The 15-year-old son of a man who believed in God died in a car accident.
Many people, their relatives, saw it and were tested.
He said, "God! Thank you so much. For lending me my son for 15 years.
Thank you so much for giving me so much joy."
And someone with good faith
My mother, who believed well in Jesus, died of cancer.
Many people say, "It's no use believing in Jesus! Even if you believe in Jesus well, you will get cancer and die."
But who is truly grateful
"God! Thank you so much. My mother doesn't suffer from cancer any more.
Thank you for taking me to heaven where there is no suffering, so that I will not suffer any more.
says Rigo.
Real gratitude is being grateful in difficult times.
Jesus also said that a poor widow came to the temple
He saw two small lepton being put into the treasury.
?쏬uke 21:03 He said, ?쁔ruly I say to you,
This poor widow has put in more than all
Luke 21:04 They put in their offerings out of their abundance.
Out of her poverty, this widow put in all she had to live on.??You said.
Real gratitude is recognized in difficult times.
So in Psalm 116
Psalm 116:10 I will speak because I believe; I have been in great trouble.
Psalm 116:11 I said in my fears, All men are liars.
Psalm 116:12 With what shall I repay all the favor the LORD has given me?
Psalm 116:13 I take the cup of salvation and call on the name of the LORD;
Psalm 116:14 I will pay my vows to the LORD before all his people.
Psalm 116:15 The death of the saints is dear to the LORD.
Psalm 116:16 Truly, O LORD, I am your servant, the son of your maidservant, your servant.
They sing, Thou hast loosed my bonds.
Third, if you are truly grateful, express it.
Dogs also express their gratitude with loyalty.
There used to be a dog named Happy in the house next door.
The dog was abandoned on the street and was getting ill and dying.
The man next door, Lance, brought the dog home and took good care of it.
The dog was fine.
How grateful and loyal the dog is to the man next door who saved him.
I saw it and felt a lot.
Saints!
Someone who has been working as a lifeguard at sea for 35 years
I have been retired.
A friend who came to congratulate me asked:
"How many people have you saved their lives while working as a lifeguard?"
"There are only two."
The friend asked again in disbelief.
"You've been working for over thirty years, and you've only saved two people? Don't be kidding."
The lifeguard explained to a friend:
?쏰f course, there were countless people who were saved.
But after that, there were only two people who came to say thank you again.
I think those two are the only human beings."
Saints!
Jesus healed 10 lepers
When only one person comes back to Jesus and says thank you
"Are the ten not cleansed? But where are the nine?
Is there only this Gentile who has returned to give glory to God???(Luke 17:17).
Saints!
Love must be expressed.
If you can't express yourself, you'll fall ill and even die.
Faith is always expressed.
It is expressed through prayer and boldness with the Lord.
If you don't express your gratitude, you can't even be an animal.
A devout Christian farmer
I was invited to have a meal with local celebrities.
As usual, the farmer put the food in front of him and offered a prayer of thanks.
Then a celebrity sitting in front of me said,
"Heh heh, that's outdated, educated people these days don't pray before they eat."
All. Then the farmer said, "I always say a prayer of thanks because I have a habit of praying.
But there are some people on our farm who don't even pray before eating."
The celebrity said, "Oh, yes, that's a very sensible and dignified person.
What kind of people are they?" he asked,
The farmer said, "They are the pigs we raise in our house." answered.
It is said that those who do not show gratitude are treated like animals.
From Psalm 116 we read today
Psalm 116:17 I will offer you thanksgiving, and I will call on the name of the LORD.
Psalm 116:18 I will pay the LORD my vows before all the people of the LORD.
Psalm 116:19 From the midst of you, Jerusalem, I will repay in the house of the LORD. Hallelujah.
Saints!
Next week is Thanksgiving Day.
It is a day to give thanks to God.
We all thank God for not forgetting His grace,
Let's give genuine gratitude that we give even when it is difficult, and that we express sincere gratitude.