THANKFULNESS FOR DELIVERANCE – Thanksgiving Series

THANKFULNESS FOR DELIVERANCE – Thanksgiving Series 

I explain why we thank God, focusing on thankfulness for His deliverance. I identify specific ways God rescues us from real problems. Using Romans 7 and various Psalms, we explore deliverance from sin’s power, strongholds, enemies, and destruction. We also choose joy as our way of expressing thanks for His great deliverance.

Chapter Markers
- 0:00 Thanksgiving And Deliverance Focus
- 0:26 Christ Delivers From Indwelling Sin
- 2:10 Delivered From Strong People And Strongholds
- 7:10 Enemies, Destruction, And God’s Rescue
- 10:56 Joyful Gratitude And Final Summary

Transcript

Thanksgiving And Deliverance Focus

SPEAKER_00 0:00

I want to bless you on our series on Thanksgiving. We're going to look at specifically thankfulness for deliverance. One of the purpose of Thanksgiving is we give thanks because of deliverance from our problems. Let's look at examples in the Bible where individuals give thanks to God for God's deliverance of

Christ Delivers From Indwelling Sin

SPEAKER_00 0:26

their problems. Why we need to thank God for deliverance? The first point is that thanking God for deliverance through Christ from indwelling sin. This is one of the greatest thanksgiving that we can give to God. For us to be thankful because of God's powerful deliverance through Jesus Christ from the indwelling of sin. Look what it states in Romans chapter 7 from verse 23 to 25. I read, But I see another law in my members, woeing against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members. So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh, the law of sin. So we see here that Paul is stating that you and I we should be thankful to God for deliverance through Christ Jesus from indwelling sin. Sin has no power over you. You can choose to yield into sin, but sin cannot have power over you as a child of God. Even though, yes, the presence of sin still dwells in you, but sin has no power over you. Thanks be to Jesus Christ, and through Jesus Christ, you and I, as believers, we are delivered from the power of sin. Sin has no hold over our lives because of Jesus Christ.

Delivered From Strong People And Strongholds

SPEAKER_00 2:10

Another point that you and I we should be thankful for deliverance of God is thanking God for deliverance from a strong man or a strong woman or a strong city. I'm gonna highlight a few instances in the book of Psalms, especially when it comes to the life of David. He was all of his life, he was fighting battles, he was fighting against strong men in his life, and we're gonna see instances in the Bible. David thanking God for his great deliverance from strong men and strong cities. Psalm 35, 9 to 10. I read, and my soul shall be joyful in the Lord, and it shall rejoice in his salvation. All my bones shall say, Lord, who is like you? Deliver the poor from him who is too strong for him. Yes, the poor and the needy from him who plunders him. So we see that David is encouraging you and I that God is the one that can deliver us from those who are stronger than us. God can deliver the poor from him who is stronger than the poor. You could be poor financially, you can also be poor mentally, you can also be poor spiritually, whereas people who know better than you, people who are more stronger than you, they are using you, they are bewishing you, they are manipulating you, they are subduing you, they are dominating you. But thanks be to God for his deliverance of the poor, of the needy, from the strong man, from anyone who is stronger than you. So that is why we need to thank God for deliverance from strong man or strong city. Let's go to the next verse, Psalm 31, verse 7 to 8. It states, I will be glad and rejoice in your mercy, for you have considered my trouble, you have known my soul in adversities, have not shut me up into the hand of the enemy, you have set my feet in a white place. We see again David clearly giving us an example that you and I we should thank God with gladness and rejoice in the mercy of God because God has seen our afflictions, God have seen our troubles, God have seen that our souls are in adversities, and God has not shut us up into the hands of our enemies. That is a strong man. So we need to thank God for his great deliverance of our soul. Let's look at Psalm 31, verse 21 to 22. The Bible states, Blessed be the Lord, for he has shown me his marvelous kindness in a strong city. For I said in my haste, I am cut off from before your eyes. Nevertheless, you are the voice of my supplication. David again is clearly indicating that when we pray to God, when we petition God, when we plead to God, when we offer supplication to God, guess what's gonna happen? God will make haste to come to our rescue, and God will not cut us off before his eyes, but God will ensure that his kindness, his mercy, his grace, and his great power to deliver us in strong cities, in strong places, in strong environments. That is why we need to be grateful and express a heart of gratitude for God's powerful, mighty deliverance against strong men, strong women, or strongholds or strong cities. Whatever that strong man is, whatever that stronghold is, God can deliver you from it. Psalm 44 verse 6 to 8. For I will not trust in my bow, nor shall my sword save me, but you have saved us from our enemies, and have put to shame those who hated us. In God we boast all day long and praise your name forever. Wow, this is amazing! So David is praising God. David is boasting in God, not in his own bow and arrow, not in his own sword, because his bow and arrow, his sword can do nothing without God. So the takeaway from this is that if we need deliverance, we need not to put trust in our own abilities, in our networks, in our resources to rescue us from adversities, to rescue us, to deliver us from that strong man, that strong woman, that strong city, that stronghold. But what we need is to put our trust in God, have faith in God, boast in God, have confidence in God, that God will surely come true for you, that God will deliver you. That is what we need to be thankful to God by praising Him. Because God will surely save you and I from our enemies. Not our own power, not our own strength, but by the spirit of the living God, thus says the Lord.

Enemies, Destruction, And God’s Rescue

SPEAKER_00 7:10

The third point is that you and I we should thank God for deliverance from our enemies. Your enemies can be those who hate you, your enemies can be those who curse you, your enemies can be those who persecute you, your enemies can be those who use you, your enemy can be any shape and form. But I'm here to tell you that the battle is the Lord. Don't take matters into your hand, don't take vengeance, leave it to God, be still and know that He is God and He will take care of the matters, He will deliver you from your enemies. Point when it comes to thanking God for deliverance is thanking God for deliverance from destruction. We all need that. We need to thank God for deliverance from destruction. Some of us we engage in self-destructive behaviors, some of us we engage in self-destructive habits, some of us we engage in self-destructive lifestyles, and we need to be grateful to God for his great and mighty deliverance from our own self-destruction. We can also thank God for deliverance from destruction from external forces. Let's read this account in Psalms 103, verse 1 to 5, and see the mighty hand of God for deliverance against destruction. It states, I bless the Lord, oh my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name. You see, when David is giving thanks to God, David is also allocating blessing to God. David is also giving God praises. That's something that you and I would need to learn. It states, Bless the Lord, oh my soul. Why is David blessing the Lord? David is blessing the Lord for God's mighty, powerful deliverance from destruction in his life, in his own self-destruction, and the destruction of Saul and his own son, his own family members, and the enemies of Israel. Bless the Lord, oh my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all our iniquities, who heals all our diseases. Diseases can lead to destruction, sin can lead to destruction. That is why the psalmist is blessing God for his mercy, for his goodness, for his forgiveness, and for his powerful healing from all manner of diseases. Look what it stated in verse 4. Who redeems your life from destruction? All these things can end your life in destruction. Sin can end your life in destruction. Diseases can end your life in destruction. That is why you and I will need to be grateful and express thanksgiving to God for his deliverance from destruction, who redeems your life from destruction, who crowns you with loving kindness and tender mercies instead, who satisfies your mouth with good things so that your youth is renewed like eagles. God will not only deliver you from destruction, but God will give you life. And because that is what Jesus has come to destroy the works of the enemy, to destroy the works of sin. And Jesus instead, Jesus now is replacing God by giving us life and life in abundance. He will crown you and I with loving kindness, with tender mercies, and satisfy our mouth, our lives with good things, and our youth and our youth shall be renewed like the eagles. So these are all the points why we

Joyful Gratitude And Final Summary

SPEAKER_00 10:56

need to thank God for deliverance. Just to summarize, we thank God for deliverance through Christ from indwelling sin. We thank God for deliverance from the strong man, the strong woman, or the strong city. We thank God for deliverance from our enemies, and we also finally thank God for deliverance from destruction. And the insight from all of this that we can observe from David when it comes to thankfulness and how you and I we should go about it is that the expression of thankfulness is being joyful, rejoicing, and glad. That's how you and I we should approach thanking God for his deliverance from destruction, from our enemies, from the strong man, strong woman, strong, strong city, stronghold, and from the indwelling power of sin in our lives.