If you would take your Bibles and go to Psalm 100, and if you believe I can do it, I'm going to preach a short message on the 100th Psalm. It's a Thanksgiving Psalm, and something I know that will be a help to you. I want to read it to you. It's five verses. God doesn't command us to feel thankful, but he commands us to be thankful. And I'll tell you, there are days and times where I don't feel thankful, but I know that I'm to be thankful. And being thankful and grateful and having peace in our heart as Christians is something that God has designed us to experience. And when we do what God designed us to do, we in turn have what God designed us to have. I'll explain that to you with a chicken. I raised some chickens one time, and it was a lot of fun. It's a lot of work for just a few eggs, I promise. I raised some chickens, and I love to watch the chickens. Someone told me before I had chickens, they said they're fun to watch because when they're happy, they sing. If you've ever been around chickens, they've got this kind of, And they sing, as someone described it as singing. And I found out something about my chickens. The chickens, they were okay if you gave them a feeder. They didn't mind a feeder, they liked a feeder. And they'd peck at that feeder and they'd sing a little bit. But if you really want to make your chickens happy, what you do is you take a handful of chicken scratch and you throw it out and sling it out and spread it. And if those chickens have the opportunity to scratch around and pick up pieces and find a treasure every now and then as they're picking and scratching and picking and scratching, those chickens sing louder and are more satisfied than ever when they are doing what God designed them to do. You see, God made that chicken within His heart that when He was scratching around, picking something up off the ground, that is the very thing that made Him sing the loudest. Do you know what God designed us, His people, to do? He designed us to praise His name. He designed us, even when things don't seem to be just right, He designed us and wants us to thank Him and praise Him and to be thankful. When you come to the 100th Psalm, there's a list of things to do. And I want you to know, when you do what God designed you to do, you will have what God designed you to have. And it's a thankful spirit. The Bible says in verse 1 of Psalm 100, Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands. Serve the Lord with gladness. Come before his presence with singing. Know ye that the Lord, he is God. It is he that hath made us, not we ourselves. We are his people and the sheep of his pasture. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving. and into his courts with praise. Be thankful unto him and bless his name for the Lord is good. His mercy is everlasting. and His truth endureth to all generations. I want to show you just a few things. If we're going to be what God has designed us to be, be thankful, then there are some things that we must do that God has designed us to do. The first one is this, the Bible says, make. What do we do? Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands. That word, noise, is like a shout, and the Bible says that we're to make a joyful shout, a joyful noise to the Lord. Now, what's that mean? When we consider God, it's almost like the king walks into the room and everybody goes, hey, hey! Yes! Hallelujah! We're to give praise to the Lord, and God has designed us to make a joyful noise to the Lord. When's the last time that you just verbally praised God, and verbally thanked God, and verbally acknowledged that Jesus is Lord of your life? Make a joyful noise unto the Lord. We should make it a habit to make a joyful noise to the Lord. The Bible says in verse 2, serve the Lord with gladness. You know God calls us to serve Him? Now look, God's called me to serve Him in a specific way, and God's called you to serve Him in a specific way, and whatever way God's called you to serve Him, you need to serve Him. And we're to serve Him, not only serve Him, but serve Him with gladness. Hey look, if you're not serving the Lord, you need to find a spot. You know what I found out a long time ago? Anybody that genuinely wants to serve the Lord is a busy person serving the Lord. Every person I've ever met that said, I just wish I could find somewhere to serve the Lord. Every person I've ever met that had that spirit like they couldn't find anything to do for God. Every person I've ever met like that was somebody that was looking for God and other people to serve them in the title of serving the Lord. I want you to know that's not what God's called us to do. God's called us to serve the Lord with gladness. If you ever start to do something for the Lord, if you ever start to do something around here at this church and you call it serving the Lord and you're mad because you're doing it and somebody else is not doing it, let me tell you something, you should serve the Lord with gladness. Let's serve the Lord. Let's be glad that we have the opportunity to serve Him. Serve the Lord with gladness. We're to make a joyful noise. We're to serve the Lord with gladness. Look at the next one, verse 2. Come before his presence with singing. Do you know what we're to do? We're to come before his presence with singing. One of the greatest ways to get your heart in tune with God is singing. You say, I can't sing. It doesn't matter. singing. If you find yourself at a low time, I want to encourage you to do something. Take a hymnal. If you need to, if you have to, take one out of the pew. Take a hymnal and then just start from the beginning and start singing the songs in the book. to God. And you know something's going to happen? The next thing you know, when you do what God made you to do, you'll be what God made you to be. You'll be thankful. Oh, how many times as a boy did my mom and I sit on the bed and sing, poor Poppy. He had such a hard time going to sleep because mom and I, we'd start singing. When we started singing, we'd sing halfway through the hymn book. It'd be an hour. He said, true. I'm going to tell you something, when you do what God designed you to do, you'll be what God designed you to be. Come to His presence with singing. Hey, sing something to God. If you've never done it, and some of you have to do it in your truck when nobody else is around, I encourage that. Some of you need to do it in a closet or somewhere in the backwoods, and that's okay too, but you need to find a spot because God loves the way you sing. coming before His presence was singing. Verse 3, know ye that the Lord He is God. What are we to do? We're to know that the Lord is God. Sometimes I think we forget that the Creator is our Lord and our God. You need to know that He is God The Bible says, Know ye that the Lord is God, it is He that hath made you. Remember, God made you. You should thank Him for the way He made you. God made you, it is He that made us, not we ourselves. We are His people. Who do you belong to? I belong to Jesus, and that's good. And the sheep of His pasture. Folks, I want you to know, to be in the flock of God is a great pleasure and great opportunity and great privilege. Verse number four, the Bible says, into his gates with thanksgiving. We should come before the Lord thanking him. I've been thinking so much about this and last week we're to enter into his gates with that. We're to come to the Lord and be thanking the Lord. You need to make it a habit to thank the Lord. It's not what's in your pocket that makes you thankful. It's what's in your heart. May God help us to enter in His gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise. Be thankful unto Him and bless His name. The last thing I want you to see is the last phrase of verse 4. What are we to do? Bless His name. What are we to do? We're to praise the name of Jesus. Bless His name. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Lord. We have every reason to be thankful. You see, if you'll start making a joyful noise, serving the Lord with gladness, coming before his presence with singing, knowing that the Lord is God, entering into his gates with thanksgiving, blessing his name, you know what's going to happen? When you do what God designed you to do, You'll be and have what God designed you to be and have It's just like that chicken, God made that chicken to be happy when he's scratching and finding little treasures all along the ground God designed you and I when we praise him and thank him and worship him and sing his praises The byproduct is a heart that's overflowing with gratitude and peace and joy. The very things that God has promised to give his people. Amen.