Last Sunday I visited Eureka Baptist Church in Anderson, SC. I served as the Minister of Education and Youth at Eureka before moving to Vermont in 1993. I continue to have many good friends in the congregation. They were very good to me while I served their congregation and I remain thankful for their investment in my life.
Dr. Ron Fousek has been the pastor for the last seven years. Last Sunday he preached from Psalm 100. Though it is a short psalm, it is packed with many great thanksgiving truths. Dr. Fousek did a great job of bringing out those truths and I wanted to share them with you on this Thanksgiving Day.
Psalm 100
1Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands.
2Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing.
3Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
4Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.
5For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations
In verse one we learn to Celebrate God. No matter what struggles we may be having in our lives, we should celebrate the many good things God is doing.
In verse two we learn to Serve Joyfully. Too often we see our service to the Lord and to our fellow man as a chore. When we view service as a chore, it is seldom fulfilling. When we serve joyfully, we get a lot more out of our service and we find a great sense of satisfaction.
In verse three we learn the importance of Knowing Our Limitations. We should be joyfully serving others, but we must also remember that we cannot solve all the world's problems. After all, we are not God. Understanding that we can only do so much and then must leave the rest in the Lord's hands removes a lot of stress from our lives.
In verse four we are reminded to Proclaim His Praise. When we do good things for others, it is tempting to take the praise for ourselves. But God is the one who gave us the ability to do whatever good we accomplish in this life, therefore, all the praise must go to Him.
In verse five we are encouraged to Reaffirm Our Faith. Though the struggles of life sometimes challenge our faith, the way to remain positive and thankful is to keep reaffirming our faith. Faith will carry us through, so long as we keep holding on to it.
As we think through these truths together, let us apply them to our lives, not only on this Thanksgiving Day, but every day of the year.
Thank you Terry... I'm sharing a quote :) Got to work on that part about not being able to solve all the worlds problems and allowing God to be God :)
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