Being Thankful

This message invites us into a profound examination of gratitude as a spiritual discipline, centered on Psalm 100:4-5's call to enter God's gates with thanksgiving. We're challenged to move beyond the cultural minimization of Thanksgiving into a deeper understanding of what it truly means to have a thankful heart. The sermon draws our attention to two powerful New Testament stories of lepers who encountered Jesus. The first, from Mark 1, shows us a man so overwhelmed by his healing that he couldn't contain his joy, despite being told to remain silent. The second, from Luke 17, presents the sobering reality of the ten lepers healed, yet only one returned to give thanks. This raises the penetrating question for each of us: are we among the nine who receive blessings and move on, or are we the one who returns in gratitude? The message suggests that true thankfulness isn't about God meeting our expectations like a divine vending machine, but about recognizing the unshakable kingdom we've received through Christ. We're reminded that gratitude has nothing to do with our social status or financial standing, but everything to do with a heart transformed by understanding what we've been saved from. The good lepers are those who never forget their disease, never forget the sin they once carried, and always remember how good it feels to be clean.