SUNDAY SERMON: THE VIRTUES AND VALUES OF THANKSGIVING By: Dr. Paul Enenche (DIGC)

JUNE 2018 TESTIMONIES AND THANKSGIVING SERVICE 

ANCHOR SCRIPTURE(S): PSALM 100:4; 95:2

SERVICE OBJECTIVE: Understanding the values and virtues loaded into the act of thanksgiving

Scripture admonishes us constantly to enter into God’s Presence

THINGS TO NOTE:

1. Thanksgiving is the guarantee of access into God’s Presence

Our time in God’s Presence is only useful, helpful and valuable if we went there with thanks

2. The profitability and productivity of our time in God’s Presence is assured by thanksgiving

Time in God’s Presence is a waste without the climate of appreciation

3. Thanksgiving is a spiritual exercise that is loaded with both values and virtues


THE VIRTUES AND VALUES OF THANKSGIVING:

1. Thanksgiving prepares the ground for answered prayer, especially in the time of trouble (Ps. 50:14-15; Lam. 3:22-23)

Thanksgiving in times of peace prepares the ground for answers in time of trouble

1a. Only the call of the thankful secures response from God in times of trouble

1b. The realm of unanswered prayers and lack of Divine intervention is the realm of the ungrateful

1c. Until God is appreciated for what He did for you in the past, He is not interested in what you want Him to do for you in the present

Without joy you are excused from God and without God, you are on your own!

If the devil ever did anything in your life that is making you angry, it is a shadow compared to what he planned to do, if not for God (Lam. 3:22-23)

If you can thank God for where you came from and for where you are, no devil can stop you from reaching where God wants you to reach!


2. Thanksgiving magnifies the Lord (Ps. 69:30; 1Sam. 17:34-37; Josh. 6:20; John 6:11; John 10:10a; 1Cor. 10:10)

2a. Thanksgiving magnifies the Lord in the lives and situations of God’s people, and when God is

magnified, the enemy is minimized (1Sam. 17:34-37)

When God is magnified, the challenge is rectified

When you begin to thank the Lord, things that look so big become flattened out (Josh. 6:20)

2b. Thanksgiving magnifies the Lord in the lives and situations of God’s people, and when God is

magnified, His help and mercy are multiplied (John 6:11)

2c. Ingratitude magnifies the enemy and minimizes the Almighty, and when the enemy is magnified, his activity is multiplied (John 10:10a; 1Cor. 10:10)

As you are right now, there is something to thank God for!

Identify something for which you are grateful to God, and you will move God to step in, and when He steps in, the enemy must step out!

If you can be thankful, no devil can stop your destiny!

It doesn’t matter where you came from, if you can be thankful, no devil can stop your destiny!


3. Thanksgiving is a good thing that connects people to the good things of God (Ps. 92:1-2; Deut. 26:11; Ps. 34:10; Josh. 21:45; 23:14; 33:14; Prov. 18:22)

3a. The seed of thanks will produce the harvest of good (Deut. 26:11; Ps. 34:10)

Those who give thanks are connected to both the goodness and the good things of God (Deut. 26:11; Ps. 34:10)

3b. The giving of thanks is key to the receiving of the good promises of God (Josh. 21:45; 23:14; 33:14)

3c. If you can’t see the last good thing God did in your life, you won’t be able to see the next good thing He will do (Prov. 18:22)


4. Thanksgiving connects people to the depths of God’s wonders (Ps. 107:22-24; John 6:11-12; 11:41-44; Ps. 30:11-12; 71:7)

4a. When God is appreciated, His power is activated and His works and wonders are manifested (John 6:11-12; 11:41-44)

The ceaseless flow of thanks will provoke the ceaseless flow of wonders

4b. The lifestyle of thanksgiving turns a person into a generational wonder (Ps. 30:11-12; 71:7)

4c. The absence of thanksgiving makes people to end as wanderers and destitutes on the earth

Focus on what you lack equals ingratitude and leads to wandering on the earth. Determine to focus on what you have

Everything that has happened around you that you thought was bad could have been ‘badder’ and ‘baddest’ if not for God


5. Thanksgiving is doorway to the destiny of glory (Jer. 30:19; Rom. 8:29-20; Prov. 3:35)

5a. Man’s destiny of glorification is realisable by the action of appreciation (Rom. 8:29-20)

Justification is designed to end in glorification

If you have not seen the glory of God upon your life, then your journey has not yet ended because

your journey MUST end in glory! (Rom. 8:29-30)

It doesn’t matter what your history looks like, if you have been justified by grace, then glorification is your destiny!

Between where you are and where God wants you to be, the vehicle you use to travel the distance is called thanksgiving

Every time the devil reminds you of where you are, remind him of where you are going!

5b. Thanksgiving is the escape route from the world of smallness to the world of greatness

To be thankful is to be sizeful!

Gratefulness is doorway to greatness

5c. The absence of thanksgiving is the absence of glory and the absence of glory is the abundance of shame (Prov. 3:35)


6. Thanksgiving secures past and present blessings, and also attracts future blessings (Mal. 2:1-4; Dan. 4:34-35, 37)

6a. The security of God’s blessing is provided by thanksgiving from man

The blessing of God in your life can never be guaranteed if thanksgiving is absent

6b. The Blessing of God without the release of thanksgiving attracts the curse of God

6c. The absence of thanksgiving will produce an outcome of shame and reproach (Dan. 4:34-35, 37)

6d. Thanksgiving attracts expected and needed blessings of the future

When you thank God for His Finger then you will see His Hand; thank God for His Hand and you will see God Himself

If you want God to change your level, you change it with thanks


FOCUS OF THANKSGIVING:

1. The acts of God of the past (Ps. 103:1-5)

2. The acts of God in the present (Ps. 126:3)

3. The acts of God in the future (John 6:11; Jer. 29:11)

4. The acts of God in the lives of others (Rom. 1:8; Job 42:10)

What you attack you can’t attract, what you hate you can’t have, what you don’t like, you must lack! So celebrate the acts of God in the lives of others

No witch is witch enough to stop a thanksgiver!


PROPHETIC DECLARATIONS:

- Before this week is over, someone is getting a massive harvest of a property and financial resources

- God will take you by surprise this week!

- As you have danced and celebrated today, the answers to what you have been praying to God for are released today!

- Systems shall lose sleep, peace, and rest until all that is yours is released!

- This is your week of victory!

- Every negative situation of your life shall be flattened like the wall of Jericho!

- Every harvest belonging to you that the devil sat on all this while, today, they are released!

- Every death looking for you is sent back to sender and you are preserved!

- Every destiny of shame and reproach is arrested!

- The destiny God has planned for you, no devil shall stop you from reaching there!