2 Cor 4:13d-15
“We also believe, and so we also speak,  14 knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence.  15 For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.”

How can we not merely be thankful but actually increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God?

To begin: what does Paul say will result in an increase in thanksgiving?  Grace.  As grace extends, and comes in contact with more and more people, then more and more people will be thankful to God.
But how is this grace going to extend?  What does Paul say at the end of v. 13?  “So we also speak.”  Speaking.
But what must we speak?  All of us have experience delivering and receiving words that did not result in gratitude in us or others.
Notice what speaking is a result of: belief.  Belief in what?  The knowledge “that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence.”  Belief, in other words, in the Gospel, the Good-News that there is a Big, Huge, Happy God out there who pulls His loved ones out of any condition, even death, straight into His Eternal, Festive Presence.  And guess what?  We’re His loved ones!
Hooray!  Holy, Holy, Holy Hooray!
Ah, so this is how our speaking can result in people giving thanks.  Because what we say is shaped by this news.
What we say is that these all, our friends and neighbors and all, can likewise be raised and brought together finally with God.
How we say it is as people who have all the love-born freedom necessary to be patient, gentle, and confident.
Our faith, this Great News, has reshaped not only our words but our mouths as well.  If we believe, then we can speak in such a way that everyone around us thanks God for the news we spoke.
*
God, may you grant your people this Thanksgiving and Christmas season to be good Speakers, filled with confidence and joy in Your Son’s Words, through whom you grant the extension of Your grace to more and more people, increasing thanksgiving (by them and by us) for Your Glory, Father.  Amen.
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Increase Thanksgiving.

2 Cor 4:13d-15
“We also believe, and so we also speak,  14 knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence.  15 For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more

and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.”
How can we not merely be thankful but actually increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God?

To begin: what does Paul say will result in an increase in thanksgiving?  Grace.  As grace extends, and comes in contact with more and more people, then more and more people will be thankful to God.
But how is this grace going to extend?  What does Paul say at the end of v. 13?  “So we also speak.”  Speaking.
But what must we speak?  All of us have experience delivering and receiving words that did not result in gratitude in us or others.  What are we to speak?
Notice what speaking is a result of: belief.  Beleif in what?  The knowledge “that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence.”  Belief, in other words, in the Gospel, the

Good-News that there is a Big, Huge, Happy God out there who pulls His loved ones out of any condition, even death, straight into His Eternal, Festive Presence.  And guess what?  We’re His loved ones!
Hooray!  Holy, Holy, Holy Hooray!
Ah, so this is how our speaking can result in people giving thanks.  Because what we say is shaped by this news.
What we say is that these all, our friends and neighbors and all, can likewise be raised and brought together finally with God.
How we say it is as people who have all the love-born freedom necessary to be as patient as possible–as gentle as lambs, as confident as lions.
Our faith, this Great News, has reshaped not only our words but our mouths as well, and our body language, and our questions.  If we believe, then we can speak in such a way that everyone around us is made grateful for

the news we have.
Thanksgiving can be a season of bitterness and ingratitude.  But we believe.  We believe that He who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Him and bring us all together on the last day with Him.  We can go home

again.  We can return free.  And we can speak to them.
*
God, may you grant your people this Thanksgiving and Christmas season to be good Speakers, filled with confidence and joy in Your Son’s Words, through whom you grant the extension of Your grace to more and more

people, increasing thanksgiving (by them and by us) for Your Glory, Father.  Amen.
**