Sermon: We Give Thanks to God

A tremendous amount of effort has gone into acknowledging GBC’s 40th anniversary.  Hours and hours in planning, interviewing, designing logos, phone calling, ordering (food and shirts and…), setting up tables and chairs, mowing, marking parking, and more.  Is it worth the effort?  Is there value in remembering the past?  Or have we wasted a large amount of resources in time and money?

In a completely different context, at the dedication of the World War II memorial, President George H. W. Bush said,

They gave the best years of their lives to the greatest mission their country ever accepted. They faced the most extreme danger, which took some and spared others for reasons only known to God. And wherever they advanced or touched ground, they are remembered for their goodness and their decency.…

On this Memorial Day weekend, the graves will be visited and decorated with flowers and flags.… America will not forget them.…At this place, at this memorial, we acknowledge a debt of long standing to an entire generation of Americans — those who died, those who fought and worked and grieved and went on. They saved our country, and thereby saved the liberty of mankind. (May 29, 2004)

We likewise gather this morning, to remember the past and remember the sacrifices, and to remember in the work of believers in this church body, the faithfulness of God.  We gather to remember work and ministry and success and failure this morning, and through it all we remember the work of our faithful God to use weak and imperfect people to accomplish divine and eternal purposes.

Whatever other thoughts you leave with this morning, we want you to leave with gratitude to God for His work of grace in you through this church body.

As we reflect on 40 years of ministry at GBC, not everything has been easy (though some/many things have been easy), but these 40 years have led us to great gratitude.  Just like we might ask at Thanksgiving, today we want to ask and answer the question, “why are we thankful” or, “why should we give thanks?”

We give thanks to God for His great works of grace in our church body.

These verses offer us an opportunity to give thanks to God for five works of His grace:

1. We Give Thanks to God for His Gift of Faith (v. 4a)
2. We Give Thanks to God for His Gift of Love (v. 4b)
3. We Give Thanks to God for His Gift of Hope (v. 5)
4. We Give Thanks to God for His Gift of Fruit (v. 6)
5. We Give Thanks to God for His Gift of Ministry (vv. 7-8)

Download the rest of this sermon on Colossians 1:3-8.

The audio will be posted on the GBC website by tomorrow.