For you and many pastors, when you plan your yearly teaching schedule, you know there are a few sermons that are event or holiday-based. Think Christmas, Easter, Mother’s and Father’s Day, even Independence Day for some. Often, our national Thanksgiving holiday is included in those special annual messages. You take account of these events, which are chosen for you obviously. You don’t have a say on those dates!
You know, as well as everybody else, how difficult it can get when you need to preach on the same specific subject, yearly, again and again! Creativity, it feels, reaches its limit. This year, you don’t have to scramble in order to preach your best Thanksgiving sermon. Here’s a list of seven messages you haven’t preached yet on that specific weekend.
You’ll be given the title, the Scripture(s) you can use, the main and intro idea, as well as a simple outline.
1. When 90% Doesn’t Cut It
Text: Luke 17:11-19
Main idea: Thankfulness needs to be expressed
Intro idea: This is the story of 10 lepers who walk up to Jesus for healing, who gives it. They are cleansed as they head to the priest. But only one leper comes back to Jesus. 90% of them didn’t show thankfulness. 90% is an excellent result on an exam but when it comes to gratefulness, it just doesn’t cut it. It needs to be expressed.
- Be thankful when you receive something, whether it may be mercy, grace, forgiveness, a gift, a kind word or helpful hand
- Express your thankfulness to the right person. The sole leper came back to Jesus, praising God.
- Express your thankfulness with words, let it be known. “Praising God in a loud voice”
2. Grateful People
Text: 2 Corinthians 8:16-19, 2 Timothy 1:3-6, 2 Timothy 4:11
Main idea: Express gratefulness for your people
Intro idea: In his letters, Paul mentions reasons to be thankful and grateful. In this message, you will be able to communicate to your congregation how to be grateful for the people around you and them.
- Grateful for Titus: Paul is thankful for Titus’ enthusiasm to serve, initiative to help, adaptability and sense of responsibility. Paul expresses his thankfulness to everyone for Titus’ awesome attitude and mindset.
- Grateful for Timothy: Concerning Timothy, who Paul calls his son, he celebrates the beauty of his spirit and spiritual life. Paul his grateful for his sincere faith (3), his sensitivity (4), his spiritual gifts (6).
- Grateful for John Mark: Paul had some issues at one point with John Mark. He wanted him off the team. Later in his life, when he does come to the conclusion that John Mark is “useful to the ministry”, he expresses his thankfulness for what John Mark does.
3. Pure Joy
Text: James 1:2-4, Hebrews 10:36
Main idea: Hardships are thanksgiving moments
Intro idea: We all desire joy. But what if you could access PURE joy, wouldn’t that be phenomenal? James, Jesus’ brother, the leader of the Jerusalem Church, gives you the way to obtain it.
- “Consider”: This verb requires you to understand that it is your choice to appreciate the trials of life. What you focus on you magnify.
- “Tester”: The testing of your faith, the trust in God you show, is not to prove something to the Lord. It is to solidify yourself.
- “Producer”: That testing produces perseverance by which you will obtain what God has promised (Hebrews).
- “Perfecter”: When you learn to perseveringly withstand trials, you will become complete, mature, not lacking anything, experiencing pure joy.
4. Investing for Thanksgiving
Text: Psalm 126:5, Galatians 6:7-10, Proverbs 20:4, Job 4:8, Hosea 8:7 and 10:12-13
Main idea: What you invest now you will give thanks for later
Intro idea: Investing is about doing something now in order to get something greater later. You invest now in your 401k to use it in a few decades, after it garnered fruitful interest for example. Investing is also the giving of your time and talents now, to gain something greater later.
- Investing is a priority NOW: (Proverbs). If you do not sow now, there will be no reward, no reaping of a harvest
- What you invest you reap (Galatians, Job, Hosea). Sow the wind, reap a whirlwind. Sow righteousness and reap kindness.
- Sow with tear, reap with joy (Psalm) The concept of this verse is that the farmer needed to take of the seeds that could feed his family now and sow them in the ground in order to get a harvest later. One grain in the ground can produce hundreds more. It is always hard to sacrifice now in order to gain later. The farmer sowed with tear (hardship now) but reaped with joy more later than he actually sowed.
- What you invest now (your time in relationships, serving others for example), you will reap in thanksgiving (growth in your relationships, lives changed by your service, for example)
5. Anything, Everything, Thanksgiving
Text: Philippians 4:6-7 (NLT)
Main idea: 3 step-process to peace
Reverse engineering is a process that works backwards, that deconstructs a product to discover the design of each part. For example, Philippians can be used for this. If you want to experience the peace of God, which is certainly your desire, reverse engineering will help you discover a three-step design to live it out.
- Part 1: Anything like in “don’t worry about anything.” Worry adds nothing good to you or your family. It doesn’t extend your life. It only affects you negatively. Yet, it can happen. Since nature hates void, it you stop worrying, it needs to be replaced by something else.
- Part 2: Everything like in “pray about everything, tell God what you need.” Your finances, your kids, your partner or life in general makes you worry? Pray about all these things when you begin to be anxious. A good side effect of this is that you’ll develop a prayer life quickly!
- Part 3: Thanksgiving like in “give thanksgiving to God for all He has done.”
- RESULT: You will live and experience God’s peace, which exceeds what you can understand!
6. Special Guest
One of the sermons you haven’t preached yet may just be the one you shouldn’t preach! Ask someone you know, a fellow pastor or evangelist to come address your church as a special guest. It will give you a break, bless the church and give a needed boost to your congregation.
If your church budget is stretched out, perhaps you could church swap for one Sunday with a fellow pastor from the same city or area as you.
You know that deacon, that teacher or communicator from you church that doesn’t often get the opportunity to preach? Thanksgiving weekend is a beautiful time to give away ministry.
7. Any Message You Haven’t Preached Yet
A sermon is a meal, a spiritual meal that is. You eat turkey at Thanksgiving, like the tradition states. And you also eat turkey at other times of the year, not only on that holiday weekend. You even also devour other types of food on Thanksgiving like green beans, steak, yams and what else!
The same thing can apply to a thanksgiving “sermon meal”. You can preach any message you would preach any other Sunday.
You’ve had this message you’ve been wanting to communicate for a while but haven’t decided to preach it yet. Well, this is the perfect time to do so. It will be a delicious spiritual meal for your congregants.
Which of these seven Thanksgiving sermons will be preached this year? That’s up to you. This is the perfect year to use these useful tips you just read!
