WELCOME
Good morning First Baptist. We welcome you to worship this morning. Be sure to remember your brothers and sisters in Christ throughout the week as you pray for them, and as the Holy Spirit brings their faces to your mind. Be sure to also connect with them in the ways that are possible. And if you have any questions or would like to talk to someone, please don’t hesitate to contact the church through the church telephone and leave a message. (519-733-4144)
Songs
Call to Worship
Let’s take a moment to pause, breathe, and open our hearts to the Lord as we worship Him today.
Songs
Prayer
CONFESSION:
Lord, we admit that we often forget to pause and notice Your mercy. We cling to what we can control instead of trusting Your faithfulness. Forgive us for holding back gratitude, for measuring Your goodness by our circumstances, and for hesitating to live generously. Help us trust You with our hearts, our families, and our lives.
WORDS OF ASSURANCE:
Hear the good news: The Lord’s mercies are new every morning. His faithfulness stretches across generations. His love is steady and sure. This is the God we celebrate today, and this is the God who invites us into lives of gratitude. Let’s open our hearts to His Word.
Gratitude that Grows
Seeing God’s Faithfulness in Every Season
Today's Message: Pastors Marlee Page and Dave Page
Gratitude in a Shaking World
Good morning, everyone and Happy Thanksgiving!
Let’s be honest: this year’s Thanksgiving might feel a little heavier than usual. There’s a lot happening in our world, wars, division, rising prices, uncertainty everywhere you look. It feels like everything’s shifting under our feet.
And yet, right in the middle of all that, Scripture still says:
“Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever.”
That can feel almost unrealistic, can’t it? How do we really give thanks when the world feels upside down? But here’s the thing, gratitude isn’t pretending everything’s fine. It’s remembering that God is still faithful even when life is not.
Psalm 100:5 (NIV) says,
For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations.
Scripture Reading: Psalm 100:1–5 (NKJV)
1 Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands!
2 Serve the Lord with gladness;
Come before His presence with singing.
3 Know that the Lord, He is God;
It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;
We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.
4 Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,
And into His courts with praise.
Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.
5 For the Lord is good;
His mercy is everlasting,
And His truth endures to all generations.
That’s what today is all about, learning to see God’s mercy, His faithfulness, and His generosity even in uncertain seasons.
So, here’s where we’re headed today:
- Remember God’s Mercy
2. Recognize God’s Faithfulness
3. Respond with Generosity
Remember God’s Mercy
Lamentations 3:22–23
“Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.”
These words were written in one of the darkest moments of Israel’s history. Jerusalem had fallen. The city was in ruins. People were heartbroken. THEY WERE LAMENTING!
And yet right there, standing in the middle of loss, Jeremiah says,
“The Lord’s mercies are new every morning.”
He’s not saying life feels great, he’s saying God’s mercy is still real.
That’s powerful. Gratitude starts there, not when everything’s fixed, but when we can say, “God, You’re still good even here.”
The Morning Sunrise:
Even on cloudy days, the sun still rises. You might not see it, but it’s there, steady and faithful. God’s mercy is like that it doesn’t disappear when life gets hard. It shows up every morning, quietly renewing your soul.
Application:
Maybe the most powerful way to grow in gratitude is to start small. When you wake up tomorrow, before checking your phone, take a breath and say: “Thank You, Lord, for new mercy today.”
Gratitude starts not with what we have, but with who God is.
One additional point on this: Practicing gratitude isn’t just spiritual it also has measurable benefits. For instance, a 2015 study published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences had participants write down three things they were grateful for each day over 21 days. The results? Participants reported significantly higher levels of well-being and lower levels of depressive symptoms.
Simply reflecting on gratitude changes the way our minds process life even in hard times, we can notice God’s mercy at work.
Recognize God’s Faithfulness
Psalm 100:5
“For the Lord is good and His love endures forever; His faithfulness continues through all generations.”
This verse holds one of my favourite Hebrew words: ʾĕmûnâ (pronounced eh-moo-nah). It means steadfast, reliable, trustworthy. It’s where we get our word amen — meaning “so be it” or “truly.” So, when the psalmist says, “His faithfulness continues through all generations,” he’s saying, “God is the steady ground beneath everything else that shifts.”
Think about that.
Governments change. Economies rise and fall. Culture moves fast. But God’s ʾĕmûnâ, His faithfulness, doesn’t move an inch. And here’s the beauty: that faithfulness doesn’t just cover your lifetime, it stretches across generations. God was faithful to your grandparents. He’s faithful to you. And He’ll be faithful to your kids and their kids too.
Ruth’s Story:
Think of Ruth (Old Testament), a young widow who had lost everything. She could’ve turned back, but instead, she stayed with Naomi, saying, “Where you go, I’ll go; your God will be my God.”
That simple act of loyalty became part of a much bigger story Ruth ended up in the lineage of Jesus Himself. She didn’t see the whole plan, but God’s ʾĕmûnâ, His steady faithfulness, was at work the whole time.
Application:
Take a moment this week to remember how has God been faithful to you.
Tell that story to someone else. Write it down.
When we name God’s faithfulness out loud, it strengthens our faith and encourages others. And maybe your story today becomes the faith story someone else tells tomorrow.
Respond with Generosity
James 1:17
“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”
Every good thing in your life, your breath, your home, your friends, your next meal, is a gift from God. And when we realize that gratitude can’t just stay as words, it has to show up in how we live. Because true gratitude gives. When we’re generous, we mirror the heart of the God who gives freely.
The Open Hands of Gratitude:
When we live with clenched fists, holding on to what we have, we end up anxious and afraid of losing it. But when we open our hands, when we give, when we share, we make room for God to fill us again.
Even research backs this up, people who practice gratitude and generosity are less anxious, more content, and experience more joy. It’s like God wired us that way on purpose.
Application:
This week, find a way to live your gratitude:
- Write a note of thanks to someone who’s impacted your life.
- Invite someone to your table who might be alone.
- Give, not out of guilt, but out of love.
When we live open-handed, gratitude doesn’t just grow, it spreads.
Gratitude That Transforms
Gratitude isn’t pretending life is easy. It’s choosing to see that even in the middle of uncertainty, God is still faithful. It’s not ignoring pain, it’s saying pain doesn’t get the final word.
Here’s what we’ve seen today:
- Gratitude remembers mercy — God’s love that never runs out.
- Gratitude recognizes faithfulness — His ʾĕmûnâ that stretches through every generation.
- Gratitude responds with generosity — a reflection of His giving heart.
And here’s what’s amazing, when we live this way, gratitude starts changing everything. It shapes our outlook, our relationships, our families, even our community. Because a grateful heart becomes a testimony. It tells the world: God is good, still, even now.
Call to Action
So, this Thanksgiving, let’s not just say thank you, let’s live thankful.
- Wake up to mercy every morning.
- Remember His faithfulness when life feels uncertain.
- Respond with generosity and let your gratitude bless someone else.
Because gratitude doesn’t just honour God, it transforms us from the inside out.
Closing Scripture
“Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever.” — Psalm 107:1
Reflect
Take a moment right now to pause and consider: What is it that you miss the most about coming together on Sunday morning?
* Does your answer surprise you?
* Are you confident it will come back some day? What if it doesn’t?
Reflect
Take a moment right now to pause and consider: What is it that you miss the most about coming together on Sunday morning?
* Does your answer surprise you?
* Are you confident it will come back some day? What if it doesn’t?
Question
If we are to embrace our emotions rather than suppress them, what might be the benefits of an Emotional fullness in our lives as Jesus followers?
Three barriers
- We tolerate emotional immaturity.
- We emphasize doing for God over being with God.
- We define success wrongly.
A person who practices “being” before “doing” operates from a place of emotional and spiritual fullness, deeply aware of themselves and others. As a result, their being with God is sufficient to sustain their doing for God.
Prayer
Let’s pray.
Faithful and loving God,
On this Thanksgiving Sunday, we pause to remember that every good and perfect gift comes from You. You are the Giver of breath and life, of food and friendship, of mercy that meets us fresh every morning. Even when the world feels uncertain, You remain our steady ground, unshaken, unwavering, unchanging in Your faithfulness. We thank You, Lord, for mercies seen and unseen:
For the sunrise that greets us,
for the laughter around our tables,
for the tears that remind us of love,
and for Your quiet presence that carries us through the seasons we don’t understand.Teach us to live with open hands, O God, to receive Your gifts with gratitude and to share them with generosity. Make our thanksgiving more than words, let it become a way of life that reflects Your heart. For those among us who are carrying burdens today, grief, anxiety, uncertainty, remind them that Your compassions never fail. Renew their strength with Your mercy that is new this morning, and every morning after.
Help us to remember Your faithfulness through all generations, the faith that sustained our ancestors, the grace that holds us now, and the promise that will guide those who come after us.
And as we go from this place, Lord, fill us with a gratitude that grows, a gratitude that transforms how we see, how we give, how we live. May our lives be a testimony that You are good, and that Your steadfast love endures forever.
We offer this prayer in the name of Jesus Christ, the greatest gift of all.
Amen.
Song
Benediction
Friends, go from here knowing that God’s mercy meets you every morning, His faithfulness never wavers, and His generosity is always at work in your life. Carry gratitude with you this week, remember His goodness, trust His promises, and let your generosity bless others. Amen.