Entering the Promised Land #4 Giving Thanks ~ Pastor Paul Hohman

Giving Thanks Overview

In this fourth and final message of the ‘Entering the Promised Land’ series, Pastor Paul Hohman brings a powerful and practical teaching on the transformative power of thanksgiving. Drawing a compelling parallel between the Israelites wandering in the wilderness and believers who accept Christ yet fail to truly change, Pastor Paul challenges listeners to move beyond complaint, murmuring, and negativity into a lifestyle of active, daily gratitude. Anchoring his message in key passages such as 2 Corinthians 5:17, 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, Psalms 100, 103, and the miracle of the feeding of the five thousand in Matthew 14, he demonstrates that giving thanks is not merely an emotional response but a spiritual discipline that opens the gates of God’s presence. Pastor Paul explains that thankfulness shifts our focus from our own inabilities to God’s limitless ability, builds strong spiritual habits, and guards the heart against futile thinking as warned in Romans 1:21. Through vivid illustrations including Peter walking on water and the feeding of the five thousand, this sermon calls every believer to enter their promised land by choosing thanksgiving over fear, and faith over feelings.

Giving Thanks Outline

• 00:00 – Series Recap and the Wilderness Parallel: Pastor Paul recaps the four-part series, revisiting how the Israelites left Egypt physically but remained in bondage mentally, drawing the parallel to believers who pray a salvation prayer without embracing true change.
• 07:30 – New Creations in Christ — 2 Corinthians 5:17: An exploration of what it truly means to be a new creation in Christ, emphasizing that salvation is the beginning of transformation, not the entirety of it, and that visible change in actions and words confirms the new birth.
• 15:00 – The Power of Our Words and Meditating on God’s Word: Pastor Paul teaches on Psalms 141:3 and 19:14, showing how the words we speak flow from what we meditate on, urging believers to declare Scripture aloud, memorize it, and apply it to every life situation.
• 24:00 – Why Thanksgiving Changes Everything: The central teaching of the message: giving thanks shifts our focus from our inabilities to God’s ability, guards against futile thinking from Romans 1:21, and is the direct antidote to the complaining and murmuring that kept Israel in the wilderness.
• 33:30 – Entering His Gates — Psalms 100 and 103: Pastor Paul walks through Psalms 100 and 103, showing that thanksgiving is the key that opens the gates of God’s presence, and that recounting God’s benefits — forgiveness, healing, redemption, and mercy — fuels a life of praise.
• 41:00 – Romans 1:21 — The Warning Against Ingratitude: A sobering passage: those who knew God but neither glorified Him nor gave thanks became futile in their thoughts and their hearts were darkened. Pastor Paul issues a strong call to guard against spiritual drift through consistent thanksgiving.
• 48:00 – The Feeding of the Five Thousand — Matthew 14:13-21: Jesus looked up to heaven and gave thanks before multiplying five loaves and two fish to feed thousands. Pastor Paul uses this miracle to illustrate that thanksgiving activates the supernatural provision and power of God in impossible situations.
• 54:30 – Closing Exhortation and Communion: Pastor Paul closes with a congregational declaration of thanksgiving and leads the church into communion, calling believers to make gratitude a daily spiritual habit that fuels their entry into everything God has promised them.

Scripture References

2 Corinthians 5:17, Psalms 34:8-16, John 16:33, Psalms 141:3, Psalms 19:14, 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, Psalms 103:1-5, Colossians 2:6-7, Psalms 100, Romans 1:21-24, Matthew 19:26, Philippians 4:13, Psalms 50:23, Matthew 14:13-21

Key Takeaways

• Thanksgiving is not just an emotion but a spiritual discipline that builds strong habits and opens the gates of God’s presence as described in Psalms 100.
• Giving thanks shifts your focus from your own inabilities to God’s limitless ability, breaking the cycle of complaint and negativity that kept Israel wandering for forty years.
• Romans 1:21 warns that those who know God but fail to glorify Him and give thanks become futile in their thinking and their hearts grow dark, making gratitude a matter of spiritual survival.
• Just as Jesus gave thanks over five loaves and two fish before feeding thousands, thanksgiving activates God’s supernatural provision in situations that look humanly impossible.
• Being a new creation in Christ means actively applying the Word of God to your life daily — reading it aloud, memorizing it, and declaring it — because faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word.
• You enter God’s presence through thanksgiving, and maintaining that posture of gratitude prevents the spiritual drift that causes believers to settle for a mediocre life instead of the abundant promised land God intends.
• Faith, not feelings, is the foundation of the Christian life — and giving thanks is the practical act of faith that keeps your eyes on Jesus even when the winds and waves of life grow boisterous.

Giving Thanks Notes

Israel’s Wilderness as a Mirror for Believers

Pastor Paul opens by drawing a vivid parallel between the Israelites freed from Egypt and believers who have prayed a salvation prayer. Both groups were technically liberated, yet neither experienced the fullness of freedom because their inner world remained unchanged. The Israelites complained, murmured, and argued their way through forty years of wilderness wandering. Paul applies this directly: if a believer accepts Christ but continues returning to the same places, habits, and mindsets, nothing truly changes. The memorable quote he returns to throughout the series captures it perfectly — change is not change unless there is actual change. Salvation is the doorway, but entering the promised land requires intentional, daily transformation.

Thanksgiving Versus Futile Thinking in Romans 1

One of the most sobering passages in the sermon comes from Romans 1:21-24, where Paul warns that those who knew God but neither glorified Him nor gave thanks became futile in their thoughts, had their foolish hearts darkened, and were eventually given over by God to the consequences of their choices. Pastor Paul makes clear this is not about God abandoning His people but about free will: when believers persistently choose ingratitude, complaint, and worldly thinking over the Word of God, they remove themselves from the covering of God’s blessing. This passage frames thanksgiving not as optional etiquette but as a spiritual safeguard against darkness and deception.

How to Declare Thanksgiving as a Daily Habit

Pastor Paul gives highly practical guidance on building thanksgiving into daily life. He encourages believers to speak the Word of God aloud during morning devotions, to declare scriptural promises over their bodies, finances, families, and workplaces, and to memorize key verses so the Holy Spirit can bring them to mind in moments of need. He references confession cards available at the church that compile Scripture promises into prayer form — covering identity, health, provision, and deliverance — so that believers can begin each day anchored in who God says they are rather than how they feel. This practice, he argues, is the foundation of entering the promised land.

The Feeding of Five Thousand and Activated Provision

Pastor Paul draws powerfully on Matthew 14:13-21, highlighting the single detail that before Jesus multiplied five loaves and two fish to feed over five thousand people, He looked up to heaven and gave thanks. The disciples had stated the facts: the resources were impossibly insufficient. Jesus acknowledged those facts and then gave thanks anyway — and the supernatural followed. Pastor Paul uses this to teach that thanksgiving does not deny difficult realities but chooses to focus on God’s ability above human limitation. If Jesus, the Son of God, practiced thanksgiving before experiencing a miracle, the believer has every reason to adopt the same posture in their own impossible situations.

Entering His Gates — The Key of Psalms 100

Psalms 100 provides one of the sermon’s most actionable insights: we enter God’s gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise. Pastor Paul describes this as a spiritual key — when you begin thanking God, the gates of His presence swing open and you walk directly into communion with Him. He contrasts this with the experience of feeling that God is a million miles away, which he traces not to God’s absence but to a believer’s drift away from gratitude and Word-centered living. The solution is always the same: begin thanking God for who He is, for His forgiveness, healing, redemption, and unfailing love, and His nearness becomes immediately tangible.

Courageous Faith in a World Full of Noise

Weaving through the entire message is a call to courage rooted in John 16:33, where Jesus declares that in the world there will be tribulation but that believers can be confident, undaunted, and filled with joy because He has overcome the world. Pastor Paul connects this to God’s repeated command to Joshua to be strong and courageous, noting that in a culture where good is called evil and evil is called good, the believer must be more intentional than ever to fix their meditation on what is true, pure, lovely, and praiseworthy. Giving thanks is ultimately an act of courage — choosing to declare the goodness of God in the middle of a world that insists on declaring the opposite.

Frequently Asked Questions