Thanksgiving

Introduction

Over in Psalms 100th chapter, Psalms 100. It says, 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, and 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 for all generations. It’s good to be with you this morning. Let me see how this thing works. I’m not sure how this works. Is that the clicker? Nope. Is that a clicker? Another one. Oh, here’s something over here.

There we go. Let me see. Okay. Well, anyway, I’m I’m getting ahead of myself. Anyway, I’m not sure how to back it up. Uh it is good to see all of you today. Uh, just I appreciate you asking me to be here and to be with you uh for sure. I know some of you for I’ve known some of you for over 30 years. We moved to Pine Hills in 91. And so uh I preached at Pine Hills for 11 years, and uh so many of you that are here were there with us at that time, and I’ve just learned to love all of you uh so much in that regard for sure, and it’s always good to see you and be back with you. And I’ve been here with you when Hark Rider was here and all through the years uh at various times.

It’s just good to see you here here at Bumby and see the number of people that are here with you at this time for sure. It’s been a good week. We’ve thought concerning Thanksgiving throughout this week. And you’ve you’ve been together, hopefully, with your family and friends that are involved as well that are involved. And now today we’re here together as far as the Lord’s church is concerned, and as far as brethren are concerned. And we’ve been able to associate and enjoy the good things that are involved as far as this holiday is concerned. This this holiday began with pilgrims early uh in the life of this country. And we watch even George Washington had a hand in the national nature of the holiday. You uh think of Abraham Lincoln was involved in it as well, and Franklin Delador Roosevelt had a hand in making it uh uh a national holiday on an every year basis that is involved as well.

1. Thanksgiving Is Timeless

But uh it isn’t uh it’s one of my favorite holidays involved as far as that is concerned, because of the fact that we have a nation that is so far removed from God that now we have uh a nation that takes a day off in thanksgiving unto God, recognizing the imperfections that we have and yet thanking God for for the many blessings that we have within this life for sure. This is a glorious holiday involved uh that we have this week involved. And I thought we’d just talk about Thanksgiving some in this regard. Well, first of all, I want you to recognize it is timeless in its very nature. It’s timeless. It is not just simply one day out of the year that we are to give thanks unto God, but we are to give thanks unto God on a daily basis.

In fact, Paul, in this passage in First Thessalonians 5, talks concerning it, verse 17. He says, Pray without ceasing. And then in verse 18, he says, In everything give thanks unto the Lord, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. In everything, give thanks unto the Lord. Paul in 1 Corinthians 1 and verse 4 says, I thank my God always, always on your behalf, for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ. We are to thank God constantly within this life. Always we’re to give thanks unto God. That doesn’t mean that we’re always praying. That doesn’t mean that we’re always in a mood of prayer. That means that we do not cease to pray, but we give thanks unto God constantly.

I like to liken it unto eating. We always eat. We always eat. You may look at some of us and think that’s the truth. That’s all we do within life. But but all of us eat. If we don’t eat, what happens to us? We become weak, we become sick. I’ve gone on a diet and just quit eating. And I catch a cold just like that in a day or two. It’s just amazing how that happens. If you quit eating altogether, you’re going to die. So it is with prayer. We pray always. We give thanks unto God always within this life. If we don’t, we become weak spiritually. We’re not talking unto our God. We’re not thinking about our God. We’re not counting our blessings. We’re not giving thanks as we ought to give thanks.

And if we do that constantly within life, we wind up dying spiritually, separating ourselves even from God. And so this is a timeless thing. You remember Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount when he said in Matthew 6, he’d say, Give us this day. When he taught the disciples, he taught the disciples to pray. And he taught them in this way. He said, Give us this day our daily bread. We have blessings. We have blessings that are daily in their very nature. Not just simply once a year do we have blessings. We have blessings constantly within this life. And if we have blessings constantly in this life, we ought to be giving thanks unto God constantly in this life. And so when you think about thanksgiving, think not just simply of a day of the year, but think timelessly.

2. Give Thanks Heartfelt and Sincere

We need to be giving thanks unto God. And we need to do this heartfeltly. You need to give your heart unto the Lord as far as your thanksgiving is concerned. That’s the nature of our worship unto God. We worship in spirit and in truth. We put our heart into it. We think about the words that are involved in the songs. We think about the prayer. We think about the Lord’s Supper as He talked to us a while ago. And we give our mind over unto Jesus and all that He did for us upon Calvary’s Hill. And we put our heart into our worship unto God. And so our thanksgiving needs to be given unto God in this regard. In Ephesians 6 and verse 6, he says, not with eye service as men pleasers, but as the servant of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart.

Doing the will of God from the heart. Philippians 1 and verse 10 puts it like this: he says, That ye may approve things that are excellent, that ye may be sincere, that ye might be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ. Think you think of the impoverished nations round about, individuals that do not have. You think of you think of the homeless that are found in our land that have so little to be thankful for of the material blessings of this life. And then you think concerning us and the bounty that we have within this life and how sincere we ought to be in giving our thanks unto God. We sing a psalm, count your many blessings, name, name them one by one. And it will surprise you what the Lord, what the Lord has done.

3. Give Thanks Audibly

He’s blessed us so within this life. We have so many blessings that we have within life. We also ought to give this, oh, I learned how to back it up. I’ve done something here. Okay. We need to give thanks audibly as well. Audibly.

We give thanks not only to God, but we give thanks unto others round about us as well. We’ll talk about that in just a second. But we need to give thanks audibly unto the Lord. Thanksgiving ought not to be just within our own heart unto others that are round about us. There’s few individuals that are mind readers that can know just what you’re thinking and the thanksgiving that you have within yourself. We need to give it unto them audibly in some form or another. It might be by the by the sending of cards or letters or this day and age, you text individuals. And so you might text an individual and and and inform them concerning the thanksgiving of the heart that you have for them within this life.

And we ought to be grateful in this. You remember Luke Luke 17 and the ten lepers that were cured by Jesus. There were ten of those individuals cured by Jesus. Nine of them, when they saw that they were cured, going unto the priest as Jesus had told them. But nine of them just went on on their way. There was one of them that returned. He he with a loud voice, he exclaimed praise unto God for what God had done for him. And he fell down at the feet of Jesus and gave thanks unto him. In that regard, Jesus says, Well, weren’t their tent clean, cleansed? But were the where are the dying? Certainly, certainly those dying were thankful that they didn’t have leprosy anymore. But they failed to give thanks unto the one who had cured them of their leprosy.

They did not audibly speak unto him at all on that occasion. But this one Samaritan, sometimes the world is better giving thanks than we are for the blessings that they have from heaven or from men on this earth, for sure. I’ve received cards at times from various members at Pine Hill that would write unto me. Sister Larkin Larson was the one sent me a card one time that just meant the world unto me in that regard. We need to audibly give thanks unto the Lord. That’s how we ought to give thanks in this life. We need it timelessly. We need to be heartfelt, sincere in it, and we need to be audible as far as making ourselves known that we are thankful in this regard. Oh, it’s working.

4. Who Do We Need to Give Thanks Unto?

How about that? Who do we need to give thanks unto? Who do we need to give thanks unto? Not just simply God, but there are others around about us that we need to give thanks unto as well. Those that are dearest and nearest unto us within this life. Oftentimes we just take them for granted. And we fail to give thanks unto them, and as we ought to give thanks unto them. Those who are dearest husbands and wives ought to be giving thanks unto one another. It’s amazing how we take each other for granted and we fail to give thanks. Sarah can just Sarah can walk up to me and tell me that she loves me. Oh, it does something for you. It just goes all through you, does it not?

When your mate tells you that they love you, that they care about you, that they’re thankful for you and all that you do. Do you even recognize what your mate does for you within this life? I think about I think about things sometimes. I think about the closet. You think about your closet? The men ought to think about their closet. I go to the closet, I pick out a shirt. I put this one on this morning. I hadn’t worn it in a while, I don’t think. But I picked it out. Uh and so I’ll wear it. I’ll wear it until I get tired of it. Whatever it is, I I wad it up and I throw it in a hamper. There by the bathroom, you know, you kids know where that is.

I just throw it in the hamper back there. And uh, you know, in uh in a couple of days I go in and I may want to wear it again. You know, it just miraculously appears. There it is. I don’t know how it got there. I didn’t have a thing to do with it. I threw it in the hamper, I watered it up now. It’s ironed, it’s cleaned, and it’s it’s in the closet. How did it get there? Somebody put it there, I think. You just think of all that they do. You go to, I sit down at the table to eat, and there’s all the food on the table, and I didn’t have anything to do with it. Somebody asked me a while ago if I turned on the stove this week.

I didn’t touch the stove this week, but I sure did eat Thanksgiving dinner. Somebody, somebody did all that. Do we realize? You realize what your husband does for you? Even if it’s just cutting the grass or whatever it is, taking out the garbage or something, does he not work for you? Does he not slay for you? Does he not, does he not do what needs to be done on his part for you within this life? Are we thankful? Do we give it? Do we give thanksgiving unto them? For sure, for the things that they do within this life, it could help a marriage a great deal if we were far more thankful. For mate and express that in the manner in which we ought to sincerely within this life, for sure.

You think of co-workers, you think of other people that work with you. They’re not Christians, but perhaps, perhaps some of them are.

How would it be to go to go to work and not find anybody there but you? How would the work get done? How would your work get done? Are you thankful for them? Do you express your thanksgiving unto them? Perhaps the influence you would have for them as a child of God would be greater if you would express more thanksgiving for them within life. What about the brethren as well? You think about the brethren. Are you thankful? For the brethren, as you ought to be thankful for you for your brethren. In First Thessalonians, the first chapter we read concerning Paul as he talks concerning concerning the nature of the brethren. Paul Sylvanus and Timothy writing unto the church at Thessalonica. He says we give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers, remembering without ceasing your work of faith and labor of love and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of God our Father.

He says, knowing, brethren, beloved, your election of God. I think sometimes we pick one another to pieces, and we think concerning uh the faults and the shortcomings that one another have. And oftentimes we fail to give thanks for one another. How great it is to have a congregation of 150, 200 people. How many ever there are in this congregation as you think concerning one another? And the encouragement that one another gives by your presence together, by your singing and making melody unto the Lord, teaching and admonishing one another in songs and hymns and spiritual songs, breaking bread, thinking concerning the Lord and the sacrifice that he gave unto us on Calvary’s Hill, the prayers that you pray one with another, the encouragement that you give just by being here and filling a pew and joining in to the worship that’s involved.

How thankful we ought to be for one another and for the good that is found in one another within this life for sure. You think you think of Noah in the long ago? Noah. He was a preacher of righteousness. Preached, preached for a hundred years building the ark. When he got done. There were eight souls saved in that ark. Just Noah and his wife and his three sons and their wives. How would it be? How would it be to labor within this life and just be you and your wife and your kids and their mates? And that’s all that there were that were striving to serve the Lord. How difficult would it be to remain faithful unto the Lord without others encouraging you? How thankful we ought to be for one another within this life, for sure.

And then you think concerning, you think concerning let me see. Uh oh. No, I’m going the wrong direction again. How about your kin? Your kin. You ought to be thankful for your kid. I’m thankful, I’m thankful for the grandkids. Are you not thankful for your grandkids? You think about you think about what there is within life. You think you think about some of those in the old in the old testament, they knew their families even to the fourth generation and so forth. And you think concerning glory that is involved as far as family is concerned, you think concerning grandkids, what better thing is there within this life? Griffin’s mine. He was up here a few minutes ago leading the singing. If you don’t love Griffin, there’s something wrong with you.

And Lauren, she’s even better than Griffin. You know.

And he takes after Porta. He’s just sweet as he can be. And and he’s almost as sweet as his mama. But then there’s three others that I’ve got and that’s a that’s Tyler that back there and Alyssa and Wyatt. Nobody loves them like Mark and Julie do, because their grandparents too, the same kids that I’ve got are their kids as well. What do you think? You you you can you think think concerning your brothers and your sisters. Think concerning how you might be an encouragement unto them and how much joy they bring unto your life and how how they are a part of your very being within this life and how often it is we just take each other for granted and feel I have I’ve lost one brother Grant was my brother and he died.

Had cancer but he died.

But y he makes he makes heaven more appealing unto me. If he made it and I hope he did. He preached all through his life. Hopefully he made it. We sing the songs we sing songs concerning heaven and I think about Grant and the reunion we may have if I can make it to be with him and the redeemed when this life is over. How thankful we ought to be for those that are so dear unto us or our kin that are involved therewith. We ought to be thankful for them for sure. Children ought to be thankful for their parents that I I my dad died back in ninety six. He’s been gone thirty almost thirty years now, close to it. You think concerning your your parents.

I was preaching at Pine Hills at the time. I remember driving across town. I drive across Orlando. And I I stopped one day, the light was green, and I stopped, and then it turned red, and I started to go. My mind just was not on it. You you may not realize how much you love your parents. You may not realize how much your parents have done for you within this life until they’re gone. And then maybe you think you think concerning your parents 20 years they had you something like that. They cooked for you, they cleaned for you, they provided for you, they did everything you needed, gave you their heart, gave you their life, gave you their everything they had, and still would until the end, I think.

You thank your parents like you ought to thank your parents. You let them know that you love them like you ought to. Thanksgiving. Glorious time. Thanksgiving is.

5. Be Thankful for Society

We ought to be thankful for society. Oh society. Society is involved. We need to be thankful for for the nation in which we live, for society, the friends that we have, our neighbors that are involved. Oftentimes we’re not as thankful for the neighbors that we have. We may criticize and complain about them. They’re not Christians necessarily, but perhaps we can have an influence upon them. And when we’re gone, they kind of watch after your house, or you watch after their house, or you care about them in one form or another. Do you express your thanksgiving for them within life for sure? The soldiers, our nation is pretty good at honoring the soldiers that have given their life. Or I lost an uncle in World War II.

Never did know him because I was born after that. But he gave his life for the country and for us for the freedoms that we have within this life for sure. Are you thankful for the nation that we live in? It’s certainly not perfect in its very nature, and we recognize that for sure. But perhaps we’re far too critical of that nation that we have. We’ve been so blessed in this life to be able to worship God in the way in which we worship God and the freedoms that we have in this life for sure. We ought to be thankful unto God for the nation that we have. Peter talks unto us concerning it. In 1 Peter, the second chapter, he puts it like this: he’ll say, honor all men, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king.

Honor the king. Peter or Paul talked concerning it as well as he speaks concerning it in 1 Timothy, the second chapter. He says, I exhort therefore, that first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings, and for all that are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God, our Savior, the thanksgiving that we ought to give for those that are in authority that help us within this life for sure. Certainly we ought to give thanks for the nation in which we live for sure in this regard. We ought to be the society that we have for sure. Romans 13 will deal with it as well as you think, concerning the powers that be, and how we need to be in subjection unto the powers that be.

There, the ministers of God. Three times in that text it talks concerning the powers that be as the ministers of God serving us within this life for sure. That’s why I keep the speed limit the best I can keep the speed limit. We’re to obey the powers that be.

6. Be Thankful unto God

That labor in our behalf in some regard. Let me give you one final one that we need to do, and that is God. Hmm. I’m getting ahead of myself again. Well, that is God. We need to be thankful unto God for sure in all things. Thanksgiving should be unto Him. It’s in Him that we live and move and have our very being. It’s God. All spiritual blessings and heavenly places are in Christ Jesus, our Lord, as Ephesians 1 and verse 3 would put it. James 1 and verse 17. Every good gift, every perfect gift cometh down from the Father above, in whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. We need to give God thanksgiving. Why? The increase is one thing. The increase. Food, shelter, clothing.

You remember Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount talking unto us concerning, take no heed what you shall eat or what ye shall drink.

There’s so much that God gives unto us within this life. We need not to be anxious concerning those things. He says, consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They toil not, neither do they spin. And yet the Lord takes care of them. So birds of the air, all of the things that are amazing unto us. I feed the birds in the backyard. I’m trying to help the Lord take care of them, I guess. I feed them bread. I’ve got about 50 of them some days come into the backyard. And uh squirrels, I got squirrels in the front yard. I wonder how we have we have deers that run in the backyard every now and then. And I wonder how they feed. They’re fed, I don’t ever feed them.

I don’t. We got a few buzzards in the backyard, and I don’t ever feed them either. But uh the Lord takes care of all that. How does the Lord take care of that? You think you think I’m amazed at the nature of the water here in Florida? It gets so hot throughout the summer here in Florida. And it’s all it’s almost like on every corner there’s a pond, there’s a lake. We’ve got a creek running behind our house. And the Lord provides water for Florida. Like that. He provides for the birds. And here we are. Oh, yeah of little faith. We worry about food, we worry about clothing, we worry about how we’re going to take care of this, that, and the other within this life.

Where we need to be giving thanks unto God for what we have. Paul would put it. Be content with such things as you have. Whether you’re bound or whether you’re abased, what difference does it make? Give thanks unto God for what you have within this life and be content therewith within life. The increase God gives unto us for all things.

Let him that stole steal no more. But letter let him labor, working with his hands the things which is good that he might have to give to him that hath need. We have to give to him that hath need in this life. How blessed we are. We ought to thank God for the increase. We need to thank God for the victory that is involved. Victory in 1 Corinthians 9 27, but I give thank I keep under my body and bring it under subjection, lest it by any means after I preached unto others, I myself might be a castaway. We have the victory that is found in Christ Jesus, so that we be not a castaway. First Corinthians 10 13 says, There’s no temptation taking us, but such is common to man.

But God is faithful who isn’t who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you’re able, but will with the temptation also provide the way of escape. God provides the way of escape.

For sure. Paul in 2 Timothy 4 and verse 6, he says, I’m now ready to be offered. Time of my departure is at hand. I’ve fought a good fight. I’ve finished the course. I’ve kept the faith. Henceforth there’s laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me in that day, not to me only, but unto all of them that love his appearance. The victory. The victory is found in Christ Jesus. For sure, we ought to give thanks for the victory. For the uh instruction that God had given unto us. What would we be if we had not the instruction of God? What kind of a life would we have? Would we not make a mess of it? We’d drink, we’d drink alcoholic beverages of all kinds, we’d give ourselves over unto such, we’d commit adultery or fornication, or we’d go this way and that way, and we’d do this and the other.

We’d lie and we’d cheat and we’d we’d steal, we’d try to get ahead however you get ahead within this life. But the Lord gives us instructions.

Like we would make out of our life if we had not the instructions of the Lord leading us and telling us how it is that we ought to be and how it is that we ought to live within this life. Paul talks unto Timothy concerning, he says, From a child, thou has known the holy scriptures that are able to make thee wise, make thee wise, even unto salvation. He says, All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable. It’s profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God might be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. I’m not smart enough to live my life on my own, or to direct my life on my own. I just listen unto the word of God and strive to fulfill it the best I can within this life.

And in many ways I’ve had the best life that you can have on this earth. Have you not? In the doing the in the doing of the will of the Lord, we come out fat in the doing of our own will apart from the Lord. We make a mess out of our life. How sad. How sad it is. We ought to be, we ought to be so thankful unto God for his instruction in his word, and therefore we ought to read it, meditate upon it, and live it the best we can within this life, the instruction of God. Ah, nearness. The nearness of God, thank God for his nearness in this life. He is close unto us.

Read Psalm 139 is one of my favorite Psalms, but it talks concerning the nearness of God, the omnipresence of God. And the passage talks concerning the characteristics of God, as John was talking about somewhat in class, but the omnipot the omniscience of God, the omnipotence of God, the omnipresence of God. In verse 7, he puts it like this He says, Whether shall I flee from thy spirit, or whether shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there. If I make my soul in hell or the grave, I take it or she holds. He says, Behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.

If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me, even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee, but the night shineth as the day. The darkness and the light are both alike to thee. For thou hast possessed my reins, thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb, the nearness of God unto us. In that regard. We ought to be thankful to God that he is close unto us, that he is near unto us. You think of the apostles and how Jesus said, Where two or three are gathered together. There am I in the midst of them, or in the Great Commission when He sent forth the apostles, telling them to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.

He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be damned. He talks concerning his nearness. He says, Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. The closeness that God has with us. Our hope of eternal life is that we’ve lived our life with him, and that we’ll be with him when this life is over. We ought to thank God for his nearness. No wonder we can come boldly unto the throne of grace and obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. He is near. We can enter into our closet and pray unto God. In the midst of the night, wherever, in the midst of the storm, whatever we can pray unto God, thank God for his nearness and then thank God for his gift, as we partook of the Lord’s Supper a few minutes ago and were so eloquently taught concerning the Lord’s sacrifice upon Calvary’s Hill, His shedding his blood, his shedding his body for us, giving all that he had in our stead for sure that we might gain the salvation of our soul, the blessed gift that God has given unto us.

God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him might not perish but have everlasting life. You think concerning Christ Jesus? You think concerning 1 John 4 and verse 9 says, in this was manifest the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we love God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation of our sins. One little poem put it like this. One moment with him. One moment with God. We mutter and sputter. We fumble and spurt. We grumble and mumble. Our feelings get hurt. We can’t understand things. Our vision grows dim when all that we need is one moment with him.

Conclusion

How thankful are you? Was this not a good holiday? Was it not a good time to be alive? Do you not rejoice with those that you can rejoice with? Are you not thankful as you ought to be? The invitation’s yours this morning if you’ve never obeyed the gospel of Christ. There’s no better way that you can give thanks unto God than to obey his will. Believing on Christ Jesus, confessing your faith in Christ, repenting of your sins, being baptized for the remission of your sins, and then being found faithful, even unto death, that you might receive the crown of life. Let us give thanks at all times for all that we have within this life. The invitation’s yours. If you subject, why not come while we stand and sing?