Thanksgiving Sunday 1 December 2013
Speaker: Pastor Austen Ukachi
Key Passages: Psalms 9:1-4; 50: 14-16; 103:1-4; Genesis 4:1-7
The psalmist says he will praise the Lord with his whole heart. In Psalms 50, we see that an offering acceptable to God 
must come from a broken and contrite heart. When we come in humility, God will accept our sacrifices. Two things are important on a day like this. The thanksgiving offering we bring before God and secondly, the acceptance of the offering by God. No one wants to give an unacceptable offering to God. We have many things to thank God for, but it is more important to be sure that God would accept our thanksgiving offering. God does not accept every kind of offering. The example of Cain and Abel are cases in point (Genesis 4:1-7). How terrible it would be for God to reject our thanksgiving today! Imagine God looking at your offering, and waving his head in disapproval rejecting the offering you placed before him! We must come with ALL of our heart!!
Reasons For Thanksgiving:
We thank God because it is His due. This is why we were created. We do not have a choice. The gift of life is a blessing from God.
We thank him for all he has done for you: we are supposed to tell of God’s marvelous works, sing, dance and rejoice before him.
We thank him for bringing you thus far in life.
We thank him in anticipation of what he will yet do for you.
Thank God this day for the following reasons:
For the gift of life: the dead cannot praise God. Just one minute can make a difference in your life. One day, God sent 
Isaiah to King Hezekiah to say, “Get ready tomorrow you will die”. That devastating news changed Hezekiah’s life. Imagine that happening to you. You may not be satisfied, but read Ecclesiastes 9:4; but for him who is joined to all the living there is hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion“.
We believe that next year will be better than this one. We have hope in God who is on the throne. Our desires will certainly come. Let us look at Psalms 116:12; What shall I render to the Lord. For all His benefits toward me?” As you come with your offering this morning, let this question remain in your heart.
If it were necessary to buy longevity, some of us would not afford it. We are alive by grace, not by the qualification or merit of our actions. God has been good to us, to our families, to our loved ones. The Lord has delivered us from many problems. Some of us are in the midst of troubles, but we know that the Lord will deliver us from them all.
Thank God this day:
For your salvation Psalms 67:2; Titus 2:11
For forgiving your sins Psalms 32:1,2; 51:1-3
For giving you hope in Him 1 Peter 1:3
For his mercy Psalms 103:17,18
For giving you good health Psalms 118:18
For his numerous blessings Ephesians 1:3
For peace, joy and rest Ephesians 2:14
For the friends he has given to you
For your enemies who drove you closer to God and your destiny
For your wonderful family members.
In conclusion, reflect on what the Psalmist says in chapter 124:1, “If it had not been The Lord who was on our side“. Psalms 124: 6-8 says
“Blessed be the Lord,
Who has not given us as prey to their teeth.
7 Our soul has escaped as a bird from the snare of the fowlers;[a]
The snare is broken, and we have escaped.
8 Our help is in the name of the Lord,
Who made heaven and earth”
We are here today because the Lord is on our side. God’s presence, love and blessings have made all the difference in our lives this year. We don’t deserve it. It is all because of his grace and mercy. Thank him for that!
