Gratitude Offered to God

The opening section of the sermon establishes the foundation with Scripture passages from Psalm 103:1-2 and 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, calling for gratitude and praise to God. The pastor emphasizes that gratitude is not a fleeting emotion but God's will for believers. The sermon begins by recalling the blessings that the nation and individuals have received from God.

The second section develops theological argument through President Abraham Lincoln's call to national prayer in 1863. Lincoln points out that although the United States has received tremendous blessings from God—peace, prosperity, population growth, and wealth—people have forgotten God and believed these successes were products of their own wisdom and merit. Lincoln stresses that pride and forgetting God's grace lead to separation from the Creator. The pastor uses this history to illustrate a timeless principle: when people forget God, they fall into spiritual decline.

The third section introduces a formula for understanding ingratitude versus gratitude. Ingratitude focuses on counting others' faults, adding what one desires, subtracting what one has, then multiplying by what one has lost. Conversely, gratitude counts what others do for oneself, adds God's blessings and what one possesses, then multiplies by God's grace and forgiveness. The pastor points out that those who forget the language of gratitude can never speak the language of happiness.

The final section applies the message to the congregation's actual life through Lamentations 3:19-24, where the speaker remembers affliction but also recalls God's mercies that are never exhausted and His faithfulness renewed every morning. Even in the worst circumstances, trusting in God and gratitude are acts of faith. The pastor encourages the congregation to practice gratitude not based on feeling but because it is God's will, knowing that His grace is great and His mercy never fails.