Sunday Worship Service Livestream


November 23, 2025
  • Welcome and Announcements
  • Prayer of Invocation
  • Make Me A Blessing
  • Worship Set - Thanksgiving
  • Scripture Reading: Psalm 36:1-9
  • Thank You For Saving Me
  • Pastor's Message - Gratitude Gateway
  • There Is A Redeemer



Psalm 36:1-9

  • For the choir director. A Psalm of David the servant of the Lord.
  • 1 Transgression speaks to the ungodly within his heart; There is no fear of God before his eyes.
    2 For it flatters him in his own eyes concerning the discovery of his iniquity and the hatred of it.
    3 The words of his mouth are wickedness and deceit; He has ceased to be wise and to do good.
    4 He plans wickedness upon his bed; He sets himself on a path that is not good; He does not despise evil.
    5 Your lovingkindness, O Lord, extends to the heavens, Your faithfulness reaches to the skies.
    6 Your righteousness is like the mountains of God; Your judgments are like a great deep. O Lord, You preserve man and beast.
    7 How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God! And the children of men take refuge in the shadow of Your wings.
    8 They drink their fill of the abundance of Your house; And You give them to drink of the river of Your delights.
    9 For with You is the fountain of life; In Your light we see light.


SERMON NOTES - Gratitude Gateway

INTRODUCTION
  • Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. - 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
  • Giving thanks to God is an act of obedience and worship that is supposed to be a way of life and this is particularly true for the child of God. Thanksgiving is not just an annual event but an attitude of the heart. It is a perspective that affects the way are to live our lives.
  • "Let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name." - Hebrews 13:15
  • "Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." - 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

THE CONNECTION IN THE COMMAND
  • The verbs in the above passage are all present tense imperatives which means that we are to continually rejoice, continually pray, and continually give thanks. Each one is an expression of the same attitude, and the emphasis is on the activity.
  • There is personal application for each of us as individual Christians but the "rejoice, pray, and give thanks" are 2nd person plural verbs. It is not "you" but "you all."

THE COMPONENTS OF THE COMMAND
  • The Christian life is a spiritual life that is experienced by being filled with and walking in God's Spirit. He is the one who provides the ability to live obediently in Christ. I would contend then that to always rejoice is not something that we can accomplish on or own, but is comes from the Spirit of God who produces the fruit of joy.
  • The next component in the command is to pray without ceasing, to pray all the time, to never stop praying. Without ceasing does not mean that every single thought in our minds or word that comes out of our mouths is a prayer.
  • To pray without ceasing means that prayer is a recurring habit. It is something you do incessantly and frequently throughout the day. It is repetitious, continual, and perpetual.
  • The third component in this command is, "in everything give thanks."
  • In every individual thing, every circumstance, every event, every experience, give thanks. "In everything" is not a demand for thanks in general, but for thanks specifically.
  • It is in everything not for everything we are to give thanks.
  • Believers are called to give thanks in the midst of all circumstances, whether good or bad. It does not mean we must be thankful for everything (including evil or suffering), but rather that we can express gratitude within every situation because God's presence, purposes, and promises remain constant.

THE CENTRAL OBJECT OF THE COMMAND
  • We can give thanks in everything because we know that God is sovereign, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent and never makes a mistake, is never caught off guard, is never incapacitated, is never confused about what to do and is never late. It is in the midst of everything that we can give thanks because God causes all things to work together for God to them who love Him, to them who are called according to His purpose.
  • This is the key. "In all things rejoicing, at all times praying, and in every single thing giving thanks," is possible because of a relationship with God through Jesus Christ.
  • The author of Hebrews calls giving thanks a sacrifice of praise - "through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name" (Hebrews 13: 15).
  • The word sacrifice is the Levitical term for a thank-offering. Against the backdrop of the Old Testament sacrificial system, a sacrifice of thanksgiving takes the place of an animal sacrifice.

CONCLUSION
  • Give thanks to God for who He is.
  • Give thanks to God for what He has done.
  • Give thanks to God for what He is doing.
  • Give thanks to God for what He will do.
  • Thanksgiving is a Gratitude Gate that recognizes God's blessings.
  • This Thanksgiving let's swing open the Gratitude Gate and "enter His gates with thanksgiving And His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him, bless His name." - Psalm 100:4