First Thessalonians 5, 18. First Thessalonians 5, 18. I marked this verse in red in my Bible. In everything, give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning other people. Concerning you. This is the verse to you. God, as Paul writes, he said, this is for you in everything. Give thanks. Does that mean the good and the bad? It does. Does it mean sunshine and shadow? Yes, it does. Does it mean in adversity and suffering and problems? Do you still give thanks in good times and bad times? I heard of a pastor one time. who said he was going to have a testimony meeting at church that night. He said, now there's one difference. I want your testimonies not to be for good things. You know, most of the testimony meetings at a church, folks will say, oh, I got a raise this week or I had to go to the doctor and they took care of this, got me some medicine. And people usually tell about healing or my aunt was really, really sick and she's doing better now. He said, I'd like some testimonies on bad things that have happened to you. And you'd like to thank the Lord for a bad thing, a trouble, a struggle. He said, maybe you lost your job. But you know what? God's got something better. Maybe you had to go to the doctor with a problem. But anyway, I want you to give a testimony of something that has been a difficulty in your life. And they had a testimony meeting, but it was pretty small. because most of us have a hard time thanking God for the adversity. But the text here, I'm looking at 518, 1 Thessalonians, in everything, give thanks, no exceptions, no excuses, whatever the adversity you're suffering, whatever problem you're going through, in every situation, God says, give thanks. And lots of times, When we're going through adversity, we don't understand why God's doing that. If we could know, maybe that would help. And we say, Lord, why am I having this problem? Why is this difficulty going on in my life? So you thank God. for allowing certain things in your lives. And that's how we're gonna study today. And I hope this will be a blessing. As I thought about this this week, it just really was a blessing to my heart. Now there's another verse very similar to this one in 1 Thessalonians, and that's Ephesians 5.20. And Paul says here, giving thanks always for all things in the name of Jesus Christ and God the Father. Does God really mean that? Does he really mean give thanks for everything? Now, maybe you cannot understand right now why this adversity is in your life. You may not understand why this certain thing God has allowed in your life. Could I tell you something? One day you will. One day you will be in heaven. and God will explain, or you'll have your spiritual eyes opened a lot better, and one day you will know. And you say, you know, I see now why God allowed this difficulty, why God allowed this problem, why God allowed this pain in my life. So let's begin with a some answers here. I think I've got about nine things on our outline. Why should we be thankful in adversity? Why should we be thankful in adversity? Number one, be thankful in adversity for God's and back up, lost in place. Being thankful in adversity, it motivates us to look for God's purpose in everything. When you have adversity, when you have problems, when you have suffering and difficulties, that is a motivation for us to look and see what is God's purpose. And the verse I've got on your sheet is Romans 8.28. Romans 8.28, that's one of our favorite verses. We quote it off and we all know it by heart. And we know, we don't guess and hope and get stirred up. We know that all things, there's that little word all again, all things work together for what? Good to them that love God. That's God's promise. God's promise to you and to me is that he's going to bring good from that. You can rely on the trustworthiness of God. You can. It's not something you have to doubt about. You can know that. So you thank him ahead of time. You say, Lord, I don't know why this has come in my life, but I want to thank you for it. And I want you to teach me the lesson that you have for me. Many people, probably you included, often think God has forgotten me. Here I am, little old Joe Blow or little old Joni Blow. I'm way down here in Indiana in the middle of cornfields, and God doesn't think about me. Yes, he does. God thinks about you. Whoever you are, God knows. Somebody said to think of Romans 8, 28 as a great umbrella, an umbrella for your life. It may not seem to be good now. The problem you're having may not seem to be good now, but God's going to take that and turn that to good. And this tells me something else. It tells me God is active. God is not just sitting upon the throne playing checkers with Gabriel. God is up in heaven and God is orchestrating and working all things. There's a sovereign design in all that God does. Have any of you had hand surgery for carpal tunnel? Okay, a few of you had pain surgery for carpal tunnel. Now, when you have the surgery, I've understood that it's pretty painful and it's a very painful surgery, but you endure the pain because you know the outcome is going to be good. If you have knee surgery, You endure the pain, you endure the crutches, you endure all the exercises and all the therapy. You endure all that because you know that in the end, it's going to be good for you. So you know good is coming and you endure it. And that's the same with suffering, that's the same with adversity. We know God is going to call something good. So as believers, we have to take the long look. The short look is the pain. The short look is the suffering. The short look is what I'm going through right now. But God says, take the long look. Look at the end, and we know that all things work together for good. I read one commentary about this, Romans 8, 28. A friend of mine had written a book about Romans 8, 28, and he calls this the staggering promise. The staggering promise that God put this promise in the word is a staggering thing that God takes everything, turns it around, and makes it into good. The banner over us is Romans 8 28. As you go through life, God has a banner right over your head, Romans 8 28. It'll be printed on your birth certificate. You say, I can't even find it. Well, it was on there. When you were born, God put on your birth certificate, Romans 8 28. And when you die, they're going to chisel it on your tombstone. Romans 8 28. Have you heard of Catherine Marshall? Maybe some of you ladies have written, read books by Catherine Marshall. Her husband was Peter Marshall. And Peter Marshall was the chaplain of the US Senate. and he was a pastor in New York City, Presbyterian Church, and he pastored there and he died very suddenly. He was 46, just a mere kid, right? 46, had a heart attack and died. Catherine went into great depression. She went into great despair. And you say, wait, a preacher's wife? Yeah, they can have that too. And that happened with Catherine Marshall when he died very suddenly. He had written some things out, and one thing was a passage on this verse. And he wrote it and said, this is the word of a gentleman. It is the most sacred honor and the most strict honor of God. He said Romans 828 is the word of a gentleman. Now notice something else in Romans 828. I hope it's in your Bible. Romans 828 is considered the most famous word or the most powerful word I guess I could say in Romans 828 is the word all. We don't like that. We wish it would say some things. or the things we can understand. But God says, and we know that all things and all, by the way, do you know how much time it's used in the Bible? I didn't count it. I took someone's word for it, but they said the word all in the Bible is used 5,675 times. All, all. All, all through the Bible. God spared not his son, but he delivered him up for us all. Romans 8, 37. In all these things we are more than conquerors. God uses the word all over and over and over in our lives. He is our all in all. He's our all sufficient one. Can you think of anything that's not covered by the word all? Can you think of something that's outside the realm of the word all? God works all things. So that's the first thing about our verse here in First Thessalonians, giving thanks and everything. Here's the second one. Being thankful in adversity brings us in submission to God's will. Being thankful in adversity brings us into submission to God's will. In the midst of a problem, in the midst of difficulties, in the midst of adversity, it may not feel and you may not feel grateful to God. That's when you ought to be thankful to the Lord and verbally express it to God. When you go to see the Lord and you meet with the Lord in your devotions each morning, and you have time with the Lord, you ought to be submissive. Lord, I don't know why this particular thing you've allowed in my life, but Lord, I'm going to thank you for it. I know you have a reason for it. Your heart says, question why? Your heart says, Lord, why is this going on in my life? I look at all these other people and they don't have the problem I have. In fact, some of them are older than me and they don't have the problem I have. And God, why has this come? And so your heart says, grumble. Your heart says, complain. Your heart says, feel sorry for yourself. But your mind knows and the scripture knows that you're supposed to thank God. Thank God that this has happened in my life. I'm reminded of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. You remember his prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane? Not my will, but what? Thine be done. God, not my will. This is not what I would have chosen. This is not what I wanted. Lord, not my will, but thine be done. Now, some of you know I have enjoyed, for the years of starting in college, playing golf. I always enjoyed getting out with some preachers, friends of mine or others, and playing golf. But about a few years ago, I went to the doctor and was diagnosed with MS. And at first, it was a bother, but it wasn't a real problem. But about 10 years down the road, which is now, I can't play anymore. I still have pictures in my office of golf courses. I still watch some of the golf programs. It's kind of like watching paint dry. But anyway, I... I watched, but anyway, I can't do it now. I just thank the Lord, Lord, thank you for at least I'm alive and I can watch it and I can enjoy it. But in adversity, it brings us into submission to the will of God. Number three, being thankful helps us to trust the Lord, even when we do not understand why. God has not promised to explain things to us. We Americans, we want explanations. When you were a little kid, you don't remember this, but your favorite word was why. Why? Mom said do this, why? Your dad said do this, why? You go into school, teacher says do this tomorrow, and you don't verbally say it, but in your mind you're thinking, why do I have to do that? Why, why, why? But God says, I'm not going to tell you why. I want you to trust me. He has promised never to leave us. He's promised never to forsake us. Joshua 1, verse 9. Remember, they were going into the promised land. And God told the people of Israel, I've commanded you, be strong, courageous, don't be terrified. Don't be discouraged for the Lord, your God will be with you wherever you go. So being thankful helps us to trust God and we trust the Lord. Lord, you know what's best and what you've allowed in my life. Father, I thank you for it. Number four, number four. Being thankful in versity gives our testimony a greater impact. Now people are watching you. When you go through difficulties, when you go through problems, when you go through suffering, you may not realize it, but people are watching you. Other people are watching. Other people are listening. They want to see what your reaction is, and it'll be a blessing to others. So I was thinking about this this week. I thought of Joseph when he went down to Egypt, sold into slavery, working in Potiphar's house as a slave, and yet they watched him. Pharaoh watched him, and Potiphar watched him, and they kept this, God is with this young man. And when the dreams were given, and they said Joseph knows God, God, Joseph has a corner on God. And they watched the testimony of Joseph. I think one of the great blessings that I've read was The Life of Fannie Crosby. If you've never read that, I highly recommend The Life of Fannie Crosby. She wrote over 400 songs, and many of them are still in our album. or our songbook, we have over 400 of her songs written. Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. To God be the glory. Redeemed, how I love to praise him, praise him. Jesus, our blessed Redeemer. And Fannie Crosby's life lives out this verse. In everything, give thanks. Even though she was blind as a little girl, she wasn't born blind, but a doctor put the wrong medication on her eyes and caused her blindness. She lived her life in darkness and yet people watched her testimony and she's been a blessing even now. The life and testimony of Fannie Crosby is great testimony. All right, number five. Thanksgiving in adversity focuses our attention on God rather than the circumstances, rather than our pain, rather than our hurting. It shifts our focus to God. So when you have trouble and you have suffering, It focuses your attention is to be on God, not on the problem you're undergoing. And we're not alone. God is with us. God loves us. We're eternally secure in Him. He will bring us through this thing. Psalm 103. Verse 19 is a good verse. The Lord has established his kingdom in heaven and his kingdom rules over all. God is in control of your life. And as I look out at you and see the difficulties, I know a lot of you having situations of pain, problems, surgeries, all of these things. God is in all of it. In Exodus 16, There's the story of the manna. Remember that? God sent manna to the people of Israel, and he sent manna every morning. Every morning for how long? 40 years. Every morning, they would get up, go outside the tent door, look, and there was the manna scattered all on the ground. It said like a little hoarfrost. It looked like a frost on a fall morning, and it was all over every day. Why did God do it that way? Why didn't God just send a truckloads in and everybody take a little bucket and get loaded? God didn't want them to do that. God wanted them to depend upon him every day. So they go to bed that night and there was no manna. They couldn't store it. couldn't keep it. Every morning they had to realize this is in the hand of God and for 40 years they got up every morning, went outside and sure enough God was there. God had provided the manna for them and so the manna was God's way of keeping them dependent upon him. All right, number six, be thankful in adversity and not for adversity. You may want to circle those two words in and for. It's on my notes. Be thankful in adversity and not for the adversity. You're not thankful for cancer, but you're thankful while you're in cancer. You're not thankful for a wreck, but you're thankful you're in the wreck. You're not thankful for what others do to you, but you're thankful that God is with you too. So you're not thankful for the situation, but in the midst of it, you thank God. Matthew Henry was a great Bible teacher. Matthew Henry wrote commentary on the entire Bible and all of them are published. In fact, they're still around today. So Matthew Henry lived in the 1600s. And yet still his commentaries are sold today, commentary on the whole Bible. And if you have a set of them, you've got real treasure, Matthew Henry's treasure. But one time Matthew Henry was going to a meeting in another church and on the way. Some thieves came and robbed him. Now, travel in those days was very dangerous and the robbers came, took his money and left him there. Well, later, Matthew Henry was thinking about the fact that he'd been robbed and what had happened and he wrote down that he was thankful. They said, how can you be thankful that thieves robbed you? He said, first of all, I'd never been robbed before. That's something you'd be thankful for, never happened before. Number two, Although they took my money, they didn't take my life. So I'm still alive. Number three, they took my money, but most of it that I have is at home. I wasn't carrying a lot, so they didn't get that. And then number four, this is the best one. It was I who was robbed, not I was the robber. He said, thank God. Thank God for what's happened. And we are thankful for the adversity and not We're thankful in the adversity, but not for the adversity. All right, number seven. Thanksgiving in adversity is expected. God expects you to thank him in the adversity. The Bible says, giving thanks always for all things, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. A lady was in the hospital in a lot of pain, a lot of problems. Pastor came in. She said, Pastor. What's God's will for my life? He said, God's will for your life is to thank God for what's going on. That's God's will. God's will is to thank the Lord for it. First Thessalonians 5.18, our text, in everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Can you get any plainer than that? Can you get any simpler than that? That's just, it's very simple, very plain. A little kid can understand it and be thankful for everything. You moms, I'll ask you a question. You had a baby. Do you remember your child having the colic? Anybody remember the colic? Okay, some of you do. Chuck does. You don't remember, huh? But anyway, kids get colic. And we had one of our boys, I'm not sure which one, had the colic. And you don't have great memories of the colic. You have nightmares about the colic. But suppose the baby's got colic, and it's 2 o'clock in the morning. and you're doing everything you can to help that little baby, and you're bouncing it, and you're walking, and you're singing to it, and getting in the rocker and sinking, all of that you're going on. And let's just suppose for a moment that little baby looks up at you and says, Mom, I really appreciate all you're doing for me. I just really love you so much more. You're so loving. You're so patient. I'm so glad to have you as my mom. Does that ever happen? No. And I think that's the way it is with God. We go through difficulties and problems and suffering and not many people look up and say, Lord, I want to thank you for this. I don't understand what's happening. I don't know why it's happening in my life, but Lord, I want to thank you for what you're going to do through my life. Then number eight, being thankful in adversity is the Lord's most effective way to bring us to spiritual maturity. God has a goal in mind for every one of you. That's spiritual maturity. God wants you to grow as a Christian. When a baby's born, we want that baby to grow. Little ones, when they're just born, newborns, are cute little things. But a year later, they shouldn't be like that. Two years later, they shouldn't be like that. They ought to be walking and talking, getting into everything you have. But that's the way our life ought to be. Let me give you a couple of other verses. This is not in your notes, but you may want to write these down. Psalm 119, 67, 68. Psalm 119, 67, 68. Before I was afflicted, I went astray, but now I've kept thy word. You are good and you do good. Psalm 119, 71, 72. God is for me. It is good for, pardon me, it's good for me that I've been afflicted, that I might learn thy law. Hebrews 12, 11, no chasing for the present, seemeth to be joyful. However, the produces a harvest of righteousness. And at some time, you may want to read Deuteronomy chapter eight, verses two through five. So that's seven, eight things on adversity. Now let's bring it down to our lives. Our response to adversity reveals a lot about us. It reveals our view of God. Is God sovereign or not? Is God good or not? It shows something about us. Do we see ourselves as his children? It reveals our strength and our weaknesses. It reveals our capacity for enduring these things. It reveals our spiritual growth. So our response in adversity is a very important thing. So I want to ask you some questions, kind of wrap this up here. Do you view your adversity as an obstacle or an opportunity? If you're going through adversity today, have you thought of it as an opportunity to trust the Lord, get closer to God, grow spiritually, or is it an obstacle in your life and it's gotten you down, it's gotten you discouraged, gotten you sad? What is your adversity? Then number two, has God worked in your life through your adversity? Maybe it's revealed a sin. Maybe it's taught you a lesson. When a child is born, we expect growth. It's a normal thing. Little newborns are sweet, cute, but they ought to grow. And if you see little growth, then you get concerned. You go to the doctor and they weigh the child, check the child to see if the child is progressing. Salvation is a beginning. Salvation, you're a new born babe in Christ. And then you start reading your Bible. You start praying every day. You start having your devotions. You start doing those things and you begin to grow. God uses adversity and thank God that he does. God uses adversity. Next Sunday in our class. I'm going to share with you some verses that have meant a lot to me in adversity. You ought to have some verses that you turn to when adversity comes. A problem comes, difficulty comes, sickness comes. There ought to be some verses you can open your Bible and go to these verses. And I'll give you some that I've found and you can look at some of your own. But if you'll do that, we'll study that next Sunday. All right, let's pray together, Lord. Thank you for this study. Lord, we all face adversity. Every one of us are no exceptions as part of life, and we go through our troubling But Father, I pray you just really help us to realize that you have a greater purpose, a greater goal. You're going to use it in our lives. And so I pray that today, as we go through this day, we'll keep our eyes focused on you. We'll grow spiritually day by day. Thank you again for this time together. We ask your blessing now as the pastor comes to preach. and use his study and all that he's gotten ready for us. I pray it just really helps us. We pray in Christ's name, amen. Okay, thanks for coming and you are dismissed.