Grateful
God of All Seasons
Sunday, November 24, 2024
Call to Worship: The world is filled with the glory of God, and we say,
Thank you!
The hills and valleys are filled with color, and we say,
Thank you!
The vines and trees are filled with fruit, and we say,
Thank you!
Our tables are overflowing with food, and we say,
Thank you!
Our life is filled with love of family and friends, and we say,
Thank you!
We fill this house of God with our voices, saying,
Thank you!
May the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts
be acceptable to you, O God, as enter into this service of thanksgiving and praise. We bless and magnify Your great name, Jesus.
Let’s pray.
Praise Songs
Intro:
Well we have certainly seen a changing of seasons this week, haven’t we?
That’s so WI to throw us right into a blustery snowstorm overnight. Why ease into anything, it’s so much more dramatic to have entrances that are definitive and tell you the sweet smell of autumn and pleasant fall days are gone again. Here to stay are the piercing winds so bundle up baby-we’re in for a long, cold ride.
My husband scheduled to take his car in for an oil change and said to me I needed to borrow the SUV on Thursday. I said, I need to go to Covenant Place so ok-I’ll ask to borrow Reese’s truck. Well, guess what arrives Thursday morning for all of us- winter! I watched it whip through the trees as I was having my morning time with God and thought how funny the weather is distinctly different today as I was preparing my message on the God of all seasons. You have a good sense of humor, God.
I get ready and go out to warm up the truck and make sure I can see out the windows only to find no truck! Reese took it, forgetting I wanted to borrow it. I thought Noooooo….. well this is going to be interesting.
So I bundled up and out I went with the wind just whipping all around me, snow pelting my face and I thought this is not funny anymore God! Then I was like OK well I’m in it, I’m preparing this message what do You want to show me? Trying to be positive and find some reason to be grateful.
I was thinking as I was literally having snowflakes stab me in the eye- who knew they could be a weapon of torture, life can be like this at times can’t it really be brutal, harsh, and downright stinky? We all have those seasons throughout our lifetime for many different reasons and we feel like we’re getting pummeled from all directions and we can’t see very clearly the path in front of us. But we do get through, and what a comfort to remember we’re not alone in those seasons- we’re not forgotten - the God of all the Universe is right there with us, holding us up, keeping our footing, and giving us strength to press on through that grueling season.
And then I thought how thankful are we when the sunshine comes after we endure a harsher, colder, and darker season in our life? And to remember the sun will always come. After the snowy, then rainy day on Thursday, Friday morning gave us beautiful sunshine for a whilehope for our tomorrows and calm after the storm. Would we truly appreciate how glorious the sunshine is, the blue sky, the peaceful air around us if we never had to endure the more temperamental seasons? Do we have these as a physical reminder of the cycles of life we will go through and the reminder that God ordains not just these physical seasons in our world, but also the seasons of our lives? He appoints each one, for His purposes to be fulfilled.
So if that is the case, then we have an assurance if God has brought us into a particular season in our life, there is a reason, there is a purpose in it, and He will bring us through it. This means what happens in our life is not random, and we are not lost out there in the abyss unless we choose to be.
As we’re wrapping up our messages on gratefulness, I want to focus on the truth of God’s sovereignty over every activity on earth and in heaven. I want to invite us to find a sense of peace and hope in this truth as we discuss it and to choose to be grateful that we serve a God who is orchestrating all things for our eternal good across our lifetime-even the dark and harsh seasons He works good in them, if we look to Him and trust Him.
Let’s listen and be encouraged in our spirit today. King Solomon reflects on life in his later years after living it to the full in every humanly way possible, he takes time to ponder what does it all mean, what is the purpose of it all, and ultimately who is determining our steps.
Ecclesiastes 3: 1-11 NIV
There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:
2 a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3 a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,4 a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
6 a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, 7 a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
8 a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.
9 What do workers gain from their toil? 10 I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race.
11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.
- The Cycles of Life Are Appointed.
Genesis 8:22 22 “As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat,
summer and winter, day and night will never cease.”
A promise that so long as this earth remains we can count on these things to be present and ever changing from one to the other. The promise as one season closes out, a new one begins, and that familiar season will come back around again in it’s time. We experience this definitively here in WI. As long as our WI winters seem to be, we know with certainty Spring will come and following Spring there will be summer with longer and warmer days. It happens every year just as God’s Word says it will. Exactly when varies by year, but they always come about.
We also have a promise that in the darkest of nights, there will be daylight again; on our gloomiest of days, the sun will shine again, because God has appointed day and night, light and dark.
Psalm 74:16-17 16 Yours is the day, Yours also is the night; You have prepared the light and the sun.
17 You have established all the boundaries of the earth;You have created summer and winter.
There is a rhythm to our created world isn’t there? There is a certainty within these cycles we can trust in and find hope in. We will not live in a season of winter forever-not here in WI anyway. It will not be dark forever-a new day brings forth light every time. It will not be cloudy and overcast forever-the sun always shines again.
So it is in our lives-we can learn a lot by watching the changing seasons in our world and liken it to our lives. We too have a rhythm to the cycles of our life, and what we learn from God, through today’s Scripture is God appoints the seasons and He determines the time and order for which the seasons enter and exit. His hand is upon every part of our lives.
Ecclesiastes 3:1 There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:
This means our lives are not out of control or random-they are very much held together in the sovereign hands of our God who is directing us. With this truth, it also means no season is without purpose; they each carry purpose in God calling us unto Him, turning our hearts towards Him, molding our hearts to be like His, building our faith in Him, teaching us to obey and follow Him, giving us opportunity to serve Him and participate in building His Kingdom. Every season will bring forth significance in God’s eternal plans for each one of us.
This also means with our hardest, darkest seasons we dread, we can enter them with hope and a certainty knowing the seasons will always change, a new season will enter in God’s appointed time, and He works His purposes through them all.
Ecclesiastes 3:11 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.
We don’t know what all God is doing in our lives or exactly when one season will exit and another enters. We don’t always fully understand why we endure some of the things we do in this life, or the path He is leading us down, so there is much that is outside of our control, isn’t there?
What can we control then in this ever-changing life we are living?
- We Control Our Perspective.
We control and decide as Christians, and followers of Christ, am I living just for myself-concerned about my life and all the details within it-which is a self-centric focus for living, or do I choose to live with a faith-based perspective.
If we live with a self-centric focus, we might find ourselves miserable through many seasons of life we don’t like and don’t want to be in. We might grumble a lot about how nothing is going right, nothing is working out as it should be, why is life so hard, or when is anything going to get better?
Maybe you have been there for a time, maybe you’re there now or you know someone who is. It leaves people frustrated and even hating life at times to feel out of control and maybe even mad at God as to why life isn’t better.
If we learn to live with a faith-based perspective and come to trust in the certainty of changing seasons-we can expect the seasons will in fact change because they always do-so if we’re in summer and we love summer, we can expect that season will come to a close and colder seasons will be approaching-but we also have the certainty that summer will return in our lives again-vibrant colors, warm sunshiney days will always come back around. We can also lean into God in the darker or harsher seasons knowing this truth-those days will not last forever-they too will come to a close and spring will emerge-making all things new. We can put our trust in Him and know there is a purpose for us to be in this season for He has appointed it.
Colossians 3:1 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.
Learning to live with a faith-based perspective is the difference between enjoying life-all seasons of it- and living life abundant through Christ who lives in me-or hating life.
Jesus came that we would have abundant life in Him!
This choice of living in this abundance is ours to take hold of. Our perspective plays a huge part in our enjoyment of this life that includes life and death, rejoicing and sorrow, tearing down and building up, war and peace, keeping and letting go. On our own, it can be unbearable to endure some of these times. With Him, and trusting in Him and His Word, walking out these times we see in a whole new light some of what He is doing and it should cause us to revere Him all the more. He is God Almighty-who appoints all things, determines the times for everything under the sun, and He chooses to include us in His grand plan to bring His kingdom here to earth.
- Every Activity is an Invitation by God.
With the right perspective, we come to realize that every activity we take part in throughout our lives is an invitation by God to include us in what He is bringing about. We are not in this world without significance. We are invited by God Himself to act upon His creation-to impact human history in this generation, through the circle of influence He grants to us. With this understanding, there is great significance in our lives then isn’t there?
Galatians 5:13 NASB For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but serve one another through love.
The Apostle Paul in the NT understood this invitation to be included and eagerly joined in.
1 Corinthians 9:23 NASB I do all things for the sake of the gospel, so that I may become a fellow partaker of it.
We are invited not only to share the Good News, but to be partakers in the Good News and watching not as spectators but from the eyes of someone in the game.
Ephesians 2:10 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
God wants us to enjoy the life He gives to us, with Him. He invites us to see how the changing seasons in our lives can be beautiful; even our seasons of hardship or sorrow are invitations to experience greater depths of His love and compassion.
There is never a season of life God is not with us. He invites us when the winds are strong like they were for me the other day, to lean in close to Him, to find shelter under His wings. This is where we learn to rely on Him and come to know Him as our shield, our comfort, our strength, our protector, and defender. You won’t ever experience this until the winds are beating down on you or the darkness is closing in-but when they do- we see Him with new understanding and appreciation of His greatness and love.
This is the reason we can be grateful, for we never face the harsh elements of life alone. We have God with us always and He is navigating the seasons according to His purposes.
Conclusion: God is over all. Everything has purpose. Each one is helping us grow in maturity in our faith and helps us come to know the fullness of who our God is.
Being grateful and trusting in His sovereign appointing of all seasons is the foundation to enjoy life. Let us give thanks to our God.
Let’s pray.
Offering:
Prayers: Jeremy
Final Song
Final Blessing: Colossians 3:15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.
