Bethel Worship Notes
By Pastor Glenn Winch | November 1, 2011
Wow, Thanksgiving is just weeks away, and Christmas is right around the corner, can you believe it? As we enter into this season of “Giving Thanks” and Celebrating Christ’s birth, what might the Lord be encouraging each of us to do this year? As I was thinking about worship, I was impressed by this scripture and the link between worship and giving thanks.
Hebrews 12:28 says; Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe.
How can we this year express our worship to God that is filled with thanksgiving, reverence and awe? A lesson that I continue to learn is that the more we praise and thank the Lord for the blessings in our life, the closer we draw near to Him and the more of Him we experience. Plainly put, God loves it when we give and express our praises to Him. Having the proper perspective and mindset that ‘everything we have belongs to God and is given to us by God’ honors Him and can help us cultivate a “Giving Thanks” lifestyle. Here is a scripture I think speaks to today’s culture and its struggle to give thanks and praise to God for the blessings in life God supplies.
Luke 17:15-17 says: One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked Him – and was a Samaritan. Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? (the ten He had just healed of Leprosy) Where are the other nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” Than He said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.”
How am I doing with this, how are you doing? Are we quick to be like the first Samaritan that returned to Jesus to thank and give praise to God or are we like the other 9 lepers that were healed and didn’t return to Jesus to give thanks? I had a mortgage banker once tell me that he had never received a thank you letter for helping someone secure a mortgage. Many of his clients promised a note of thanks, yet after their loan closed, they never delivered. After our loan closed I sent him a letter thanking him for his work and service. He was very surprised and encouraged to have received it and told me so.
God blesses us and provides miracles daily, I believe, lets PRAISE GOD and give GOD THANKS, today, right now. I am convinced as a church body the more we share our praise and thanks to God the nearer we will draw to Him. Our worship will become more authentic, genuine and pleasing and glorifying as we remember and give credit and praise to the ONE who owns it all, The Lord God Almighty. May the Lord bless all of you and may your lips be filled with GIVING THANKS and PRAISE to God. Let us give thanks by proclaiming to one another how God has blessed us.
The Worship Ministry at Bethel is committed to leading others to respond to the grace, greatness and glory of God. I pray God’s richest blessings to all of you as we enter this time of Giving Thanks.
Serving our Lord Together, Blessings, Pastor Glenn
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