Today's Sermon:
Character VII- Gratitude

I. Gratitude is .....

Ingratitude and forgetfulness are ultimately moral rather than mental; they are the direct expression of sin. No culture has nourished such tendencies as consistently as ours. We pride ourselves on being autonomous, self-created, and freestanding. A modern world with no need of God produces modern people with no sense of gratitude.
-OsGuinness, The Call, 206-207

Gratitude is the ability to experience life as a gift. It opens us up to wonder, delight, and humility. It makes our hearts generous. It liberates us from the prison of self-preoccupation.
-John Ortberg, When the Game Is Over, It All Goes Back in the Box,
149

II. Gratitude Grows from.....

III. Gratitude Flows in Outward Expressions

A. Gratitude.....

Gratitude toward God is the corollary of faith in God. When I have faith, I affirm explicitly that I am a recipient of God’s favors, and implicitly I recognize and affirm God as the giver. When I am grateful, I recognize and honor God explicitly as the giver, and I implicitly recognize and affirm myself as a recipient of God’s gifts. In a way, faith and gratitude are two sides of the same coin. At the same time, there is a certain progression from faith to gratitude. Faith receives God’s gifts as gifts; gratitude receives them well.
-MiroslavVolf,Free of Charge, 46

C. Gratitude Delights in .....

B. Gratitude Commends....

“I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought, and thatgratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.”
-G.K. Chesterton