Always Give Thanks Do everything you say or do in the name of the Lord Jesus.

Always give thanks to God the Father through Christ. (Colossians 3:17) Do you know the origin of the phrase: Thank you? To find the origin of the word, we need to study etymology (Meaning of Words). The etymology of the word thank takes you to about 1,000 years in time. Wow. 1,000 years? Yes! The word is derived from an Old English thankojan or thankoz meaning thought or gratitude. The shorten form of the full sentence I thank you came about 1,400 AD meaning that I am thinking of you with gratitude for what you have done. So, we learn to say thank you when we are thinking of what someone has done for us. What are you thankful for? How would you answer the question? Lets make a list of things that we are thankful for. [Write down the list on the board] Wow, thats quite a list. I asked this question to Christian yesterday night as we were driving home. We knew we were going to a house with no light, no electricity, and especially no heat! But we were in good mood for we just spent a good evening sharing food and snacks and watch movies with other church members. You know, when you stomach is full and had a good entertainment, you feel good. Right? Anyway, when I asked Christian what are you thankful for, he said, I am thankful for Jesus shedding blood. Maybe? I was quite surprised. You know we have many things that we can think of with gratitude. Yes, some of us still dont have the power. Some of us have not had a good night sleep since the Hurricane Sandy came last week. But dont we have our loving family to be with? I feel much closer to my family ever since we have lost the power; we have to stay together! God has been so good to us this year. If you just look around, you can find so many reasons to be thankful for. If you just think about it! Colossians chapter 3 tells us that we should give thanks to God always Apostle Paul tells us why in the previous verses in the same chapter. 1 You have been raised up with Christ 4 Christ is your life. When he appears again, you also will appear with him in heavens glory 10 You have started living a new life

12 You are Gods chosen people. You are holy and dearly loved 15 Let the peace that Christ gives rule in your hearts 16 Let Christs word live in you like a rich treasure. Wow! Isnt this wonderful? We have so many things to be thankful for. Not just for the things that we have right now but for the things that we will have forever!!! We have a new life as Gods chosen people to have the peace and love from heaven above! Let us be thankful. We have a thanksgiving coming up this month. Lets make this years thanksgiving a chance to think of God with gratitude. Give thanks. New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary thank (v.) O.E. ancian "to give thanks," from P.Gmc. *thankojan (cf. O.S. thancon, O.N. akka, Dan. takke, O.Fris. thankia, M.Du., Ger. danken "to thank"), from *thankoz "thought, gratitude," from PIE base *tong- "to think, feel." For sense evolution, cf. related O.E. noun anc, onc, originally "thought," but by c.1000 "good thoughts, gratitude." The whole group is from the same root as think (q.v.). In ironical use, "to blame," from 1560. Thankful is from O.E. ancfulle; thankless "likely to not be rewarded with thanks" is from c.1547. Thank you is attested from c.1400, short for I thank you. To thank (someone) for nothing is recorded from 1703.