Life-Changing Gratitude (Psalm 103)

In a world filled with challenges and imperfections, how can we cultivate a heart of gratitude that truly transforms our lives? This Sunday, join us as we explore Psalm 103, a powerful passage that calls us to remember and celebrate God’s unending mercy, forgiveness, and faithfulness. Discover how embracing a thankful spirit can change your perspective, strengthen your faith, and bring peace no matter your circumstances. Come ready to be encouraged and inspired to live with “Life-Changing Gratitude” as we prepare our hearts for Thanksgiving.


Rockwell Church     Nov 24, 2024     Pastor Chris Teien
Life-Changing Gratitude   Psalm 103 

1. Thank God for His Personal BLESSINGS (v.1-5)
2. Thank God for His Compassionate FORGIVENESS (v.6-12)
3. Thank God for His Enduring LOVE (v.13-18)
4. Thank God for His Sovereign RULE (v.19-22)

1 Thessalonians 5:18 – "Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus." 

The WELL Faith Podcast offers encouraging, Bible-based messages from Pastor Chris Teien and guests. New sermons are released every Sunday. Replay episodes are marked with an asterisk. Find us online at ChrisTeien.com and Rockwell.Church in Virginia, MN. Email comments to wellfaith24@gmail.com

Transcript

Chris T 0:16

Oh Lord, we give you thanks. And this we're going to talk about thanks, life-changing gratitude. So as we get ready for Thanksgiving, hopefully there'll be a time when you pause and think about what you're thankful for. Think about the things that God has allowed in your life and be thankful for them. Maybe the lack of certain things in your life is something to be thankful for. So we need to trust that God has given us what we need as we prayed for it. So as we think about that, as we think about worship, as we think about things that we're thankful for, I'm thankful for so many things. So I'm thankful that if somebody wants to be baptized, that a couple volunteers in the church pour the baptism, it's like a tub, pour the baptism water and get it all ready to go. And that we don't have to go to a hotel or a school or an outdoor pool or a lake or a river to do baptisms. So that is great. And it's also a cost saver because where I was before, we had to pay the hotel six dollars for every person that touched the water, basically. But we can baptize people here. I'm so thankful that the roof is on. You know, they're talking about snow today or tomorrow or whatever, but that it's pretty much, as far as I know, done. And so we don't have to worry about that. I was at a pastor's gathering a couple days ago, and one of the one of the people that live in town here or live in their area said, so when are they going to take that protective coating off the roof? And I'm like, what are you talking about? He said, It's white. It's don't you need to peel that off? And I'm like, No, that's the way it is. So I asked the roofing guy, Lewis, I said, so just curious, why white? And he's like, one, it's the most common color. Two, there's benefits to having white instead of dark colors. And three, you were in a hurry, and that's what we had in stock. And that makes a lot of sense. So that's a good thing. So anyway, so being that it is white, I would like to somehow figure out ways to get big letters up there that says come to Rockwell Church so that all the air traffic going over around can say, Oh, we should go to that church, like they do in those big churches in Texas. But I am thankful for all the volunteers that make everything here happen. So uh it is so great to just show up and hit the light switches and the soundboard switches, and we can have church. We can have memorial services, we can have um weddings, we can do all this stuff because we have a place to meet. And after spending almost 20 years pulling the trailer around and unpacking church and setting up church and then packing up church and then driving church in the trailer back to my driveway and my house. And um we had a lot of volunteers there too, but this is just so much better. I'm thankful for the people that keep showing up to teach classes, to keep working with kids, to take care of kids in the nursery, to serve in so many different ways. I'm just I'm not gonna you know take the whole hour or whatever to you know just say how thankful I am, but I'm just thankful for just little things. And so it is a great blessing to be able to be part of this church and to be able to serve here. I am thankful for that. And David in Psalm 103, he was thankful also. He was thankful. You know, gratitude is foundational to the believer's life, so uh that's when we acknowledge who God is and what he has done and how he has worked, and it is a good thing. So David reflects on that in Psalm 103, and to be truly thankful. Jesus told the Samaritan woman that God was seeking worshipers who would worship him in spirit and in truth. And so when we are thankful and we praise God and thank him for the things that he's doing, and we trust him for the things that he hasn't done yet, or the things that we prayed for that he hasn't given yet, when we trust him, that's an act of worship, that is true worship when we're real with God about how we feel and how we're thankful and how we're genuine in the way that we communicate. So the difference between religion and having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ is that communication. So God speaks to us through his word. Sometimes he speaks to our heart, um, and we uh speak back in prayer. Prayer is talking to God. You can pray anywhere about anything. It never ceases to amaze me the number of believers that don't think that they can pray for themselves. Usually, um, usually people have it backwards and they pray for themselves first. But you know, it'd be better to pray for others as intercessory prayers and then you know pray for your needs. But some people are like, well, no, I couldn't. I couldn't pray for my needs. It's like, yes, you should. God wants you to. Sometimes you see God at work when he answers your prayers. When you have tried to uh get an answer or a solution or get that job or get that resource or whatever, you have tried everything on your own to get it. And you've come to the conclusion that it's just impossible, and you've been praying about it, and then God shows up and then things work out. Uh, he connects you to the right person or the right opportunity comes, or uh you get what you need. And it was after you had exhausted your own resources so that you could have a God sighting, so that you could see and it will strengthen your faith. You can see when the God of the universe reaches down from heaven to fix something or help you in your life. It is a good thing. And we worship him for that. We worship him. You know, David was called a man after God's own heart. So David wrote a lot of Psalms, and at times David was on fire for God. And at times, David made some mistakes that we remember him for. But God didn't turn his back on him, God didn't walk away from him. Uh, there was a penalty for his sin with Bathsheba. There was never peace in his family after that, but he still had a relationship with God. He still wanted to build God's temple, and God's like, You're a man of war, we'll let Solomon do it. So then David acquired resources to get ready to build God's temple. So David was able to pivot from the destruction of his sin, from Satan's accusations, from everything that would shut some people down. And he's able to ask for forgiveness. You read about that in Psalm 51, and to come back to worshiping and praising God. And so David praises God and thanks God for his personal blessings. And we should too, we should thank God, we should praise God for that. So let's read in Psalm 103. He says, Praise the Lord, my soul, all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all of his benefits. He who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desire with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagles. So in some of the older translations, and say instead of saying, Praise the Lord, it says, Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me bless his holy name. So as in a Bible commentary, I like this description of what does it mean to bless God? So it always means to express solemn words that show the appreciation, gratitude, respect, joint relationship, or goodwill of the speaker, thus promoting respect for the one being blessed when God is the object. Should always be rendered praise. David's praise is given to the Lord, that is, to Yahweh, God as personal, and to his holy name, God as transcendence, presence, and authority. As he blesses this God, he throws himself fully into his worship, and he gives all that is within me. His worship is a living sacrifice, like in Romans 12.1. The call to bless God is repeated in verse 2 with the added thought, and forget not all of his benefits. And so David knew what it was to see God at work. You know, David was supposed to become king, but then he had to wait for Saul, and he had to wait through that process, and it was a messy process, yet he trusted God through that. Um, the old pastor Harry Ironside said, we would worry less if we praised more. Thanksgiving is the enemy of discontent and dissatisfaction. So David is praising the Lord. He's realizing that God is at work in his life, and there's benefits to following after him, that he does all of these things. So forgiving our sin, and everyone is sinful. There's no one that doesn't have any sin. In 1 John, it even says that if you think that you have no sin, you're deceiving yourself. But God can forgive. And he heals all your diseases. And, you know, it would be nice if we could just pray, and everybody's disease that they have now, or their sickness, or their ailment or whatever, could be immediately healed. Sometimes God does heal people miraculously. You pray for them, or they pray, and they're healed, they get healed. Miraculous healing. Sometimes that happens. Doesn't always happen. Sometimes. Sometimes God chooses to use medicine because, as I've said before, doctors never tell you they're doing medicine. They always say, Oh, I practice medicine. So when are they ever going to get it right? I don't know. But they practice and they're willing to practice on you. But as you pray and ask, God, God can work through medicine. God can work through doctors. Always pray that God gives you a wise doctor. It's always a great thing when a doctor, that you have a doctor that will pray with you and say, I, well, they know I'm a pastor, but you know, maybe it maybe it happens to you too, I'm not sure. But uh, hey, I know that you're a man of faith. How about if we pray about this together? I want to go back to that doctor. That's a good thing when he realizes that God is the one that ultimately heals. As we go through life and we get older and tired, God can satisfy our desire with good things. So the youth is renewed like the eagles. So young eagles soar on the clouds, and so do old eagles. God can do that. So in James 1:17, it says, Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of heavenly lights who does not change like the shifting shadows.

SPEAKER_00 10:51

Gratitude. It's not an emotion, it's not a feeling, it's not some nostalgic or wistful memory of what has been, or some nebulous hope of what might be. It's not a fair weather friend that draws close to you in summer, and then abandons you winner. It's not dependent on circumstances, or only for warming. The determination is in the midst of happiness. Gratitude is things to God. Not because things are good, but because things is good. In gratitude, our will to become one with God, so that we bless him for the life he has given us and long for the day when he calls us home. Not my will, but yours be done. And so for all the good things that are to come, and all the heartaches too, O Lord, we give you thanks.

Chris T 12:41

So it is so what is that old song, Count Your Blessings, name them one by one, and it will make it may surprise you what the Lord has done. Uh to just you know, think about okay, um, where has God got me? What have I what have I gone through? What choices did I make that were really wise? What choice, what bad choices did I make? Um, and then just try to you know think about what is it that God is doing in my life that I can be thankful for? And then to find contentment, but even beyond contentment, sometimes in your walk with God, He gives you a holy discontentment that uh motivates you to change something, motivates you to want to make a change in your life. So maybe you change a relationship, maybe you uh change the way that you work your finances and you start to put God first with your finances. Um maybe you realize there's certain things that are bad destructive habits, or maybe they're not even bad destructive habits, maybe they're just time-wasting habits, and they're not leading you to a place where you want to be. So you have this holy discontent to change that. Some people have a holy discontent with their careers, and they literally change careers and find ways to uh serve God in uh ministry or uh sometimes uh different types of uh ways to help people. Um but a holy discontent sometimes can move you away from um your selfish aspirations to wanting to change and wanting to pursue things that are of eternal value. Sometimes it takes a near-death experience to get you to feel that way. Sometimes people go through things and they're like, oh God, if you get me out of this, I promise to. And people have literally said, Oh, we'll be missionary in Africa. But if you're gonna make a promise, if you're gonna make a vow, you should keep it. But people sometimes will bargain with God, and if you're gonna do it, you should be honest about it. But sometimes God uses difficult circumstances to move you into the place that He wants you to be. So on our very worst days, when we think about okay, what are we going to do? You can pray and say, This is our problem, Lord. You promise never to leave me or forsake me. You promise to answer my prayers as I ask you. Um I know that in Isaiah 55 it says that you're different, your mind's not like our mind, your ways aren't like our ways, they're higher. And you are probably working out things that I don't understand, but I'm going through this really hard thing right now, and I pray that you will encourage me. I pray that you'll help me, I pray that you'll help me to understand. Um, sometimes you even pray, God, give me faith to keep going on. Sometimes God brings people in your into your life to speak encouragement, encouraging words. Uh sometimes your encouragement comes when people just come and sit and they listen. Like some of Job's friends would have been better off to just sit and listen than give some of their advice that they gave that wasn't good. But on the other hand, as we go through difficulty, as we go through the hardships that we all will, uh to know that God is in control and to trust him, even if it's not what we want, even if it's not uh the way that we think it should be, and to wait it out. So we are guaranteed, as believers, eternity in the presence of Jesus. And then we will not have any sickness, we will not have any lack, we will not have any troubles, we will not have aches and pains. There's a good eternity ahead, and compared this life compared to eternity isn't even a spark compared to the eternity that waits for us. So in Philippians 4.19, it says, My God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus. And if you look in that at in context, you'll see that the church of Philippi had been faithful even uh to sacrificially give to provide for Paul and his missionary journey, and to provide for Paul and his ministry, and to provide for Paul. And Paul says, as a result of your faithfulness, God is going to meet all of your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus. So kind of that um, you know, planting and reaping a principle that you put God first and he will bless you, he will help you. So we don't give to get, but we give as an act of worship. We give because we know that God can provide. And sometimes as we give uh by faith, God can surprise us in either extending our resources or helping us to have even more. So my God will meet all of your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus. Jesus owns everything. So it's amazing to me to watch the world stage and the politics of everything play out, as my wife and I always say that we feel like we're watching some kind of end times movie. You know, it's like, oh, yeah, this can't be real. Um, but as it continues to play out, we know that someday, anytime, Jesus is going to return and gather his church, and and there'll be a difficult time of tribulation. Jesus will return and reign for a thousand years, and just to try to wrap your head around that and to think about that and think, okay, I don't know what's going on, but God is in control, and I'm gonna just trust. I'm just gonna be faithful from day to day and trust that he's gonna get me through. That is a good thing. In Lamentations 3.22, it says, the faithful love of the Lord never ends, his mercies never cease. Great is is his faithfulness, his mercies begin afresh each morning. You know, I I like that thought that his mercies are new each morning, that uh you might have had a bad day yesterday, but you can turn it around today. So um the TV's about to fall asleep back there. But we can trust that God is gonna get us through, and we can trust in his compassionate forgiveness, in his compassionate uh forgiveness. So I don't know the types of things that you've gone through or the hardships that you've gone through, but we can trust that he can forgive and that he can help us in our time of need, and he can forgive us of the things of the past. So in Psalm 103, verse 6, it says the Lord works righteousness and justice for the all the oppressed. He made known his ways to Moses, his deeds to the people of Israel. The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love, he will not always accuse, he will not, nor will he harbor his anger forever. He does not treat us as our sins deserved or repay us according to our iniquities. And then the next verse says, For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. Sometimes people can't get past their sin. So they know that they've sinned. Uh maybe it was sinned before they got saved, or maybe it sinned after they're saved, and they just they prayed for forgiveness. They've even asked people to forgive them, but they still listen to double the Satan to Satan to the devil's accusations, and they still listen to those um condemning words, and they won't move forward. They need to accept the Lord's forgiveness, they need to forgive themselves, they need to move forward. Maybe they need to own whatever they did that was sinful and say, Yes, I did that, like David. Yes, I did that. That was wrong. That's not who I am, that's not who I want to be. I've asked the Lord to forgive me, but He has forgiven me, and we are moving on. We are moving forward. So when we think about all the things to be thankful for, we can think about the things that the Lord does, that he works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed. And maybe we could do some of that too. Maybe we could figure out a way to help the oppressed to find justice and to know about Jesus. So he's made known his ways to Moses, he's made known his ways to us. So we have in a book and a library of 66 books, uh, the ways of God, and we need to read it and learn to apply it and share it with others. So when we share it with others, when we give people God's word, we should make it clear to them that it is not a novel. It does not start on page one and go to the end of the book in a continual sequence, but instead it's like I said, 66 books under one cover, and give them an idea of the difference between the Old Testament and the New Testament, and that there are four gospels that share the same story, and then there's the Acts of the Church, and then um so and then you know you can tell them about Revelation and um some of the imagery and uh representation of things in there, and you can even explain to them what the maps are about, because sometimes the maps are really helpful too. But that there is a uh subject index or a um an index in the front. Uh we like to hand out these how to find God New Testaments, in which there are a bunch of notes on how to live the Cottage. Saved, how to live the Christian life, how to treat others, how to raise your children. Lots of notes that go along through here that we like to share with new believers, and that is a good thing. So he made known his ways, and we need to, he's made known his ways to us, and we need to make known his ways to others. So some people may not read the Bible or they may not know where to read the Bible, and they need your help. There are so many videos right now, there's just an overwhelming number of videos that will tell you anything that you want to hear. So now there's even you know fake videos made by AI. So I listened, I recently listened to an audiobook on ministry on AI, and at the end of the audiobook, it said, This audiobook was read by AI. It's like I kind of figured that. But it can be a super helpful tool, but on the other hand, it can say anything that uh somebody wants it to say. So we need to help people be discerning. So he made known his ways, his deeds to the people of Israel, and he's made known his ways to us. The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He will not always accuse. If you have sin in your life, I encourage you to go to the Lord and confess that as soon as you can. Come clean with the Lord. So don't let it linger. And the by in the in Hebrews it talks about how God disciplines those whom he loves. And so confess that, get right with the Lord. Pray something like, Lord, uh, today I said this and it was exaggeration. I guess it was untrue. I pray that you would forgive me and help me not to do it again. And I'm gonna go tell my fishing buddy that that fish story was exaggerated tomorrow. But Lord, I pray that you would forgive me and help me to walk in honesty and truth so that people can trust me in Jesus' name, amen. Or something like that. But you know, unconfessed sin, don't let it linger. Confess it right away. So his love, his great love, as high as the heavens are above the earth, uh, he loves us. As far as the east is from the west, he removes our sin from us. He chooses to forget. He doesn't go, oh, let's see, where did we put that list of your sins again? Instead, he chooses to forget those sins that Jesus has covered. In 1 John 1, 8 and 9, it says, if we have no sin, if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. But if we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So I was with a friend the other day having coffee, and I've said this before, but I am so glad I am not a Roman Catholic priest. So I want to help you grow in the Christian life, but if I had to sit there in a confessional booth and listen to people confess all their stuff, that would be overwhelming. I prefer to be somewhat naive and think that you know things are going good in the neighborhood. I do not really want to know every single detail of the depths of depravity and the things that people do. So when we confess, we confess straight to Jesus. So, but if you have a besetting sin and you struggle with something, a Christian counselor, or maybe I can help, um, maybe a godly woman can help a woman. But nonetheless, um, we can't say we're sinless and we're perfect because nobody is. And we should show that same kind of grace to people. We confess that sin that we have and we try to walk clean in the Lord. It's not based on our perfection, it's based on Jesus' righteousness and perfection in us. In Isaiah 118, come, let's settle this, says the Lord. Though your sins are scarlet, they will be white as white as snow. Though they are crimson red, they will be like wool. He can forgive, and that is an awesome thing. And then that ties into his enduring love. We just saw his forgiveness and his love, but his enduring love continues on and on. There is nobody that loves you more than the Lord. And so David writes, as a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him, for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust, the life of mortals is like grass, they flourish like a flower of the field, the wind blows over it, and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more. Verse 17. But the love of the Lord remains forever with those who fear him. His salvation extends to the children's children of those who are faithful to his covenant, of those who obey his commandments. That kind of love, that kind of love that you're tight with God, and hopefully that carries on to your children and your grandchildren, having God's favor in their life is such an awesome thing. John Eldrich said being loved by him is the most important thing about you, that God loves you, that God cares for you so much that Paul writes in Romans, for I Romans 8 38, I'm convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. The news headlines today are crazy. I mean, we're literally talking about nuclear war. You know, Russia is literally saying, hey, you know, if you give those weapons to Ukraine, we're just gonna nuke everybody. And, you know, so you've got like the European Union and everybody's like, war, war, everybody's gonna blow everybody up. And so I don't know how much of it is threat and how much of it could really happen. I have this confidence though, that the Holy Spirit's at work holding things together until timing is perfect. And then at the right time, Jesus is gonna uh show his power and he's gonna take care of all of these warring nations and all of these people that have rebelled against God. But we, as long as we're here, are in the middle of it, and whatever happens, we just trust God from day to day. We're to be hope brokers, we're to be thankful uh representatives of the Lord Jesus Christ. And in Deuteronomy 7 9, it says, Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments. Is that how you're living? Are you living following after the Lord? His greatest commandments is to love God and to love other people. Are we doing that? And as we you know, think about war and Russia and um all these things, think about his sovereign rule, that Jesus is utterly in control. So, and so David writes in Psalm 103, 19: The Lord has established his throne in heaven and his kingdom rules over all. Praise the Lord, you his angels, you mighty ones who do his bidding, who obey his word, praise the Lord, all his heavenly hosts, you his servants who do his will, praise the Lord, all his works everywhere in his dominion, praise the Lord, my soul. So David's calling them all out. He's calling out the created beings, he's calling out the angels, he's saying, Everybody, let's praise the Lord in a grand crescendo, and to know that the Lord has established his throne in heaven. In Revelation 4 11, it says, Our Lord and God, you are worthy to receive glory and honor and power because you've created all things, and by your will they exist and were created to know that God is in control. It's interesting in Daniel 4, I'm almost out of time, but in Daniel chapter 4, verse 34, after this time had passed, I Nebuchadnezzar looked up to heaven, my sanity returned, and I praised and worshiped the Most High and honored one, and honored the one who lives forever, whose rule is everlasting and his kingdom is eternal. All the people of the earth are nothing compared to him. He does as he pleases among the angels of heaven and among the people of the earth. No one can stop him or say to him, What do you mean by doing these things? So we are to give thanks in all circumstances. Maybe this week you can find time to have a special prayer time with the Lord and just list things that you're thankful for. Maybe you could share at your Thanksgiving table things that you're thankful for. Maybe if you know somebody that's lonely that doesn't have a place to go, that you could invite them into your home and share Thanksgiving, a Thanksgiving meal with them, to encourage them and build them up. It is a good thing. But as we think about following the Lord, to give thanks to the Lord for He is good and His love endures forever. Let's watch another video clip about a practical application for Thanksgiving, and then we are going to sing another worship song. So let me just pray. Lord Jesus, I thank you so much for the people that have come here today for the baptism. I thank you for the things that I've already said I was thankful for and for so many other things. Lord, we pray that you would give us an attitude of gratitude and that it would be contagious in such a way that other people would turn to you and start thanking you for things that you're doing in their life and trusting you for the things they're still waiting for or the answers they haven't received to know that someday, maybe on the other side of eternity, you'll let them know what your plan and purpose was in the script of their life. But we just thank you in Jesus' name. Amen. Okay, let's watch this.

SPEAKER_02 31:44

Every year on Thanksgiving, we're reminded that gratitude is a decision that we get to make. There are many things that are out of our control. The children won't stop getting older, the headlines keep getting crazier, the Christmas advertisements keep starting earlier and earlier every single year. The world around us is always changing, and there's a lot that we don't get to decide. Gratitude is a decision that we get to make.