Jesus Series
04/10/2019, by John Kincaid
Lesson 2028: The Result of Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving Results in Victorious Living
Our writing reveals what kind of people we are.
In Paul’s letters, you discover that he was filled with thanksgiving for all that God had done for him.
In the short letter of Colossians, giving thanks bubbles to the surface 6 times - 1:3, 1:12, 2:7, 3:15, 3:17, 4:2. Paul couldn’t contain what was in his heart; he expects all Christians to express gratitude for God’s amazing grace.
Thanksgiving is also a theme in Paul’s letters to the Ephesians, Thessalonians, Timothy and Philemon.
Giving thanks to God was important to Paul; like a reflex, he spontaneously shared this message with church after church, year after year.
Many people say, “I know I should be grateful, but I’m going through a really hard time.”
But remember that Paul wrote these letters filled with thanksgiving during awful circumstances.
Paul was stoned at Lystra. He was driven out of Thessalonica and his ministry was destroyed.
He was rejected in Athens. He was jailed in Philippi. He was arrested at Caesarea.
He was taken to Rome as a prisoner and shipwrecked on the way. They let him out of prison, put him back in again, then released and jailed him again.
Finally they put him in a dungeon at Rome, then killed him for being a Christian.
Yet most of Paul’s letters on thanksgiving were written in prison.
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