November 25, 2018
Morning Service

This is certainly one of my favorite times of the year.  I love the fall colors, the cooler weather, and the beautiful sunrises and sunsets.  Thanksgiving is also one of my favorite holidays as well.  It doesn’t have the pressure that Christmas has in regards to presents and the overall busyness.  We simply get together with family and share a meal and enjoy spending some time together.

Thanksgiving was established as a national holiday by Abraham Lincoln in 1863, though history reminds us that it was the pilgrims that began the celebration back in 1621.  We can actually trace the origin of setting aside time to be thankful to the time of Moses and the children of Israel in Leviticus 23. 

Thanksgiving-An acknowledging and confessing with gladness, the benefits and mercies, which God bestows either upon ourselves or others.

·        For a Jesus follower one day a year is not nearly enough for us to display our thankfulness; it should be an attitude that we display constantly in our walk with the Lord.  Just think of all that we have to be thankful for.  Just last week Peter told us that God loves us so much that He cares about everything we care about and desires us to “Cast your cares upon Him, because He cares for you.”  We have a God and Creator who places an extremely high value on each of us.  He loved us enough to die for us.  His love for us should produce within us a sense of gratitude and thankfulness towards our Creator and Savior.  Paul told the Ephesian church that we should let this attitude of gratitude control us and shine out brightly from our lives.

Eph 5:18-21  And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit,  (19)  speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord,  (20)  giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,  (21)  submitting to one another in the fear of God.

·        Just as someone drunk on wine can’t control his actions, we should let the Spirit take control of our lives and Paul shows us the result.  We will not be able to control ourselves; quoting scriptures, singing songs, giving thanks for everything, and submitting to one another.  It becomes who we are not what we do.  Our love for God changes us to be “giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

·        Coming out of our study in James we should remember that our thankfulness can be directed to our Heavenly Father who not only loves and cares for us but gives us everything that is good in life.

Jas 1:17  Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.

·        God is the provider of all the good things in our lives.  Our health, jobs, relationships, good times, good food, beautiful sunsets, and the list could go on for a long time.  Those are things we are blessed with on physical side of our lives, but God does not stop there He goes deeper.  He gives us hope of a future that will never change, peace beyond understanding, love unconditional, joy unspeakable, His constant presence, a purpose to live for and a contentment that can be there no matter what our circumstances are.  Our physical conditions do change and sometimes beyond our control, but these things hope, peace, love, joy, His presence, purpose, and contentment will not change.  They are constants in our lives if we allow the Spirit to control us.  So we are not only to be thankful during the good times but also the difficult ones.  Suffering will be part of our journey.  Our studies in Peter and James have reinforced that as well.  James said it this way:

Jas 1:2-4  My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials,  (3)  knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.  (4)  But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

·        We are not only to be thankful during our struggles, but raise it a level and be joyful as well!  We can rejoice that the struggles will lead us to a deeper faith, produce patience within us that we may be perfect and complete lacking nothing.  Isn’t that our goal; to be perfect?  To reach it we must be joyful and thankful during the good times as well as through the many trials of life knowing that God is in control.  Our journey through this life should reflect our love and thankfulness towards our Savoir.  We should be living out what we believe.  Paul told this to the Colossian church.

Col 2:6-7  As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him,  (7)  rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.

·        Paul encourages us to walk as we have been taught.  When we leave this building, we should be encouraged to remember what we have learned and apply it to our lives to get closer to the goal of perfection.  We are to be “rooted and built up in Him established in the faith.”

·         Are you “walking in Him” this morning? How deep are your roots in Christ?

·          Looking back over the last year, have they grown deeper into Him?  Our walk with the Lord is a journey and we need to always be moving towards Him even if it is little baby steps.  That is a choice that we make daily.  If we are not growing, then we are going the wrong way!

·        How can we judge for ourselves if we are doing this right?  Thankfulness can be a good gauge for that.  Paul said that we should be abounding in it. Are you more thankful for the things that you have compared to the desires you have for things you long to have?

·         The American way is the sky is the limit.  You can be anything you want and have everything you want if you work hard for it and that is what makes our nation great.  But, we can get so caught up in working and planning for the future that we lose our thankfulness for what we have right here and now.  My best family memories come from a time when the boys were small and we lived in a trailer and owned a 10-year-old Astro van.  Life was simple and we were extremely thankful for all we had.  We were able to live in the moment and enjoy the blessings of that time of life and not get caught up in what the future held.  We planned for the future but were thankful for and enjoyed the present.

·        We have been given today, rejoice and be glad in it.  Life is too short to waste today worrying or planning for the tomorrow.  Let’s all try to live with an attitude of gratitude and serve the Lord with gladness as it is written in Psalms 100.

 

 

 

Psa 100:1-5  A Psalm of Thanksgiving. Make a joyful shout to the LORD, all you lands!  (2)  Serve the LORD with gladness; Come before His presence with singing.  (3)  Know that the LORD, He is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.  (4)  Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.  (5)  For the LORD is good; His mercy is everlasting, And His truth endures to all generations.

·        Every day is a good day.  God is with us and loves us more than we can comprehend.  Let’s enter every day with thanksgiving and praise to a God who is worthy of it all!

Heavenly Father stir within us a spirit of gratitude and praise each and every day and help us to yield to the Spirit’s control.