Forgetful

 Temple Baptist Church - 11-19-2023

2 Peter 1:1-3

 

Introduction:  Thanksgiving Season through New Years has always been my favorite time of the year.  What a wonderful time or remembrance, thanksgiving, and family get-to-gathers.

 

A.  As we approach Thanksgiving Day, I want to look at the words “forget not” found in our text.  The words for thanks are found in many places and in several forms in the Bible:  Thanks – 71x  Thank – 26x  Thankful – 3x  Thanksgiving – 27x.  

 

B.  The key to being “thankful” is to “forget not.”  Most people are not thankful because they do not take the time to reflect upon just how good the Lord has been to them!  Too often they think about all the bad things of life at the expense of forgetting the good things.

 

C.  Don’t forget WHO to thank.  The Person of Thanksgiving.  Psalms 69:30   I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving.

 

Psalms 30:4   Sing unto the LORD, O ye saints of his, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness. 

 

     Psalms 106:1   Praise ye the LORD. O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.

 

D.  Don’t forget WHERE to be thankful.  The Places of Thanksgiving

 

1.  In The Presence of The Lost - Psalms 18:49   Therefore will I give thanks unto thee, O LORD, among the heathen, and sing praises unto thy name. 

 

2.  In The Presence of The Church - Psalms 35:18   I will give thee thanks in the great congregation: I will praise thee among much people.       

 

Psalms 100:4   Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.

 

Psalms 105:1 O give thanks unto the LORD; call upon his name: make known his deeds among the people. 

 

Psalms 106:47 Save us, O LORD our God, and gather us from among the heathen, to give thanks unto thy holy name, and to triumph in thy praise.

 

3.  In Presence of Your Children - Psalms 79:13   So we thy people and sheep of thy pasture will give thee thanks for ever: we will shew forth thy praise to all generations. 

 

4.  In The Presence of The Lord - Psalms 95:2   Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms. 

 

E.  Don’t forget When to thank.  The Period of Thanksgiving - Psalms 30:12 To the end that my glory may sing praise to thee, and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever.

 

F.  Don’t forget the Way to thank.  The Publishing of Thanksgiving - Psalms 26:7 That I may publish with the voice of thanksgiving, and tell of all thy wondrous works. 

 

Psalms 116:17 I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the LORD.

 

1.  I Thank God For My Salvation.  When we did not deserve it.

 

a.  At age 28, He came to me when I could not come to Him.

b.  He gave me the faith to be exercised.

c.  He granted me repentance.

d.  His mercy keeps me from hell.

e.  His grace gives me Heaven.

f.  His power to keep me saved.

g.  His watch keeps me safe.

h.  His chastening to keep me straight.

 

2.  I Thank God For His Grace.  When we needed it most.

 

a.  Grace to live.

b.  Grace to suffer.

c.  Grace to stand.

d.  Grace in sorrow.

e.  Grace when it is my time to die.

 

3.  I Thank God For His Longsuffering And Mercy.  When we failed often.

 

a.  When I am good He loves me.

b.  When I am not so good He loves me.

c.  When He chastens me it is with love and compassion.

 

4.  I Thank God For My Family.  Things could have been so different.

 

a.  I thank God for my wife.  For her faithfulness.  For her forbearance (she has to put up with me 24/7 while you only put up with me for about 5 hours/week!)

 

b.  I thank God for my children. 

c.  I thank God for my grandchildren.

d.  I thank God for my family in Kentucky.

 

5.  I Thank God For Mine And Barbara’s Health.  We both had our bouts with cancer.

 

a.  I am getting older and still feel good and am able to work.

b.  Barbara has been cancer free for 26+ years now thanks to the Lord.

c.  She has had no significant heart problems since the early 70’s.

 

6.  I Thank God For My Nation.  God bless America and Israel.

 

a.  I love America!  I am an American by both birth and choice!

b.  I love her freedom.

c.  I love her prosperity.

d.  I love her mountains, plains, deserts, farmlands, for the north to the south, and from the east to the west.  This is my country!

 

7.  I Thank God For My Bible.  Blessed but often ignored by so many.

 

a.  Its calm assurance.

b.  Its open prophecy.

c.  Its power to save.  (It still works!)

d.  Its comfort in troublesome times.

e.  It is inerrant, infallible, inspired, powerful, wonderful, and it is free!

 

8.  I Thank God For Calling Me Into The Ministry.  Undeserved.

 

a.  That God could use a sinner such as I.  Unworthy and unprofitable!

b.  To let me preach in a time such as this.  There are more sinners to preach to; more sin to preach against; more opportunity to shine for the Lord than at any other time since the beginning of time. 

c.  The school from which I graduated.  Tabernacle Baptist Bible College.  It was a good school: faithful to God’s Word and the doctrines of the faith.  It was a place of old-fashioned worship where God was praised and pleased.

d.  Godly pastors and laymen who faithfully taught us the Word of God.

 

9.  I Thank God For The Church That God Called Me To Pastor.  Temple Baptist Church of Laurens, SC.  The greatest church on the face of the earth!

 

a.  For 7 people to start with.  I couldn’t have handled 8!

b.  For godly deacons and their familys who have never given me one ounce of trouble.  Who have stayed by the stuff and continue to faithfully serve their Lord.  (Deacon jokes are like mother-in-law jokes, but I have none to tell!)

c.  For a church full of people who are not only members of Temple Baptist Church, but are my friends.  They follow instead of fight!  I am theirs and they are mine.  I am proud of them.

 

10.  I Thank God For His Many Blessings.  Just look around at the billions who will never know what we have and often take for granted.

 

a.  Food on the table.

b.  A good bed to sleep in.

c.  A car and truck to drive.

d.  Shoes on my feet and clothes on my back.

e.  We could camp here for a while!

 

11.  I Thank God For A Heavenly Hope.  This world is not our home. 

 

a.  All of this and Heaven too.  Glory!!

b.  The blessed hope of His soon appearing.

c.  The blessed hope of my disappearing.

d.  Ruling and reigning with Him.

e.  Living in the New Jerusalem in a mansion.

f.  Spending an eternity with my blessed Saviour and those who have been redeemed throughout all ages.

         

Conclusion:  Unthankful is Forgetful?  Let us never take for granted all that the Lord has done for us and given to us.

 

2 Peter 1:3  According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: