The Celebration of Thanksgiving
God Has a Plan to Use You for His Glory
Introduction:
Ilustration, Thanksgiving weather: A weight watch and indigestion warning have been issued for the entire area, with increased stuffiness around the beltway. During the evening, the turkey will diminish and taper off to leftovers, dropping to a low of 34F in the refrigerator. Looking ahead to Friday and Saturday, high pressure to eat sandwiches will be established. Flurries of leftovers can be expected both days with a 50 percent chance of scattered turkey sandwiches late in the day. By early next week, eating pressure will be low as the only wish left will be the wish bone.
Scriptures:
2 Tim 3:1-5 But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: 2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful , unholy, 3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, 4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away! NKJV
Eph 2:8-10 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works , lest anyone should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works , which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. NKJV
Body of Sermon:
Sandwiched between Halloween and Christmas is a holiday that is slowly becoming smaller each year in the hearts and minds of millions of Americans – Thanksgiving. It is celebrated on the 4th Thursday of each November. If you look hard, you might find one small section of Thanksgiving cards, autumn decorations, and a turkey platter in the midst of miles of Halloween costumes, Christmas decorations, and toys. Many now call it Turkey Day.
For some people, Thanksgiving is a day to get a list together for their Christmas shopping. Others plan a big dinner with their family. Others just enjoy having the day off from work, and they spend this time working around the house, go Christmas shopping, go fishing, play golf or watch football on TV.
But, historically we think of Thanksgiving as a time of feasting for the Pilgrims and Indians. In the fall of 1621, the Pilgrims had been in America less than a year. During those months, over half their original population died from disease or starvation. The Pilgrims hosted the first feast not to try out their latest recipes, but to celebrate life with their Indian friends and give thanks to God for His provision in difficult circumstances.
Perhaps it would be wise, perhaps it would be a good idea to redirect our families and friends toward gratitude, toward heart -felt Thanksgiving this year.
The first National Day of Thanksgiving was declared by President George Washington. I’m going to read his entire declaration.
Illustration:
On the the 3rd day of October, 1789, President George Washington, at the request of Congress made the following declaration, proclaiming a A National Thanksgiving.
"Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; and Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me "to recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness:"
"Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favor, able interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted; for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and, in general, for upon us. all the great and various favors which He has been pleased to confer
And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations, and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions; to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shown kindness to us), and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally, to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best."
--Given under my hand, at the city of New York, the 3rd day of October,
A.D. 1789, G.Washington
Many critics of the Christian faith are attempting to rewrite our nation’s history. President George Washington’s declaration indicates that our nations founders and leaders were men of faith who sought God’s favor.
Illustration: Squanto and the Miracle of Thanksgiving:
Eric Metaxas has written for The New York Times, Atlantic Monthly, and Christianity Today. He has also written many children’s books, including several popular Veggie Tales stories. Let’s look at an interview with him.
Eric Metaxas: Well, when I found out what happened, when I actually researched it, I couldn’t believe what I was reading. I said, "There has to be some mistake here." So I read the original documents wrihetten in the 1620s and 1630s, and I was absolutely dumbfounded by what I read. I mean this was an out-and-out miracle. If there’s such a thing as a miracle, this is a miracle. And I’m a believer, and I said, "This was God’s hand in American history." I had never heard this story.
Most of us hear the story of Squanto meeting the Pilgrims, but really, the miracle happened long before that. Well, this is just one of the examples of how God does things, and we don’t know what He’s doing at the time.
Most people have no idea that any white man came to the coast of New England before 1620. Most just think that the Pilgrims came, and that was the first time Englishmen came to America. But there were many traders who would come from England and other places, and they would come down the coast of Maine and Massachusetts, and they would trade with the Indians.
Around 1612, a trader, a Captain Hunter, came to the coast of Massachusetts and was trading with the Indians. He was obviously a very bad man, because when the Indians came down trustingly to trade with him, he knocked them over the head, took them to the ship, threw them in the hold of the ship.
He then took them across the Atlantic Ocean, and sold them into slavery in Malaga, Spain. This, of course, was a nightmare for the indians. Squanto was one of those captured and sold into slavery.
Monks in Spain, men of God, bought him, and treated him well. There he was taught the Christian faith. Three years later, in 1615, they made it possible for him to get to England.
He went from Spain to England -- just think of a young Indian boy from Massachusetts going all the way across the ocean to Spain, and then going up to England so that he could somehow get a ship back across the Atlantic. There were no ships.
So, he worked in a stable as a stable boy for a family called Slaney. Squanto was with them for five years until a ship going back to the coast of North America could be found, another trading ship. This was around 1620. He learned English and lived in London.
He was dreaming and hoping and probably praying that he could come back to his family after ten years of exile and slavery.
He learns that a ship is going to American, he becomes the translator on the ship. He gets all the way back, again, against odds we can’t even dream of, comes to the coast of Massachusetts, runs to the place where he was raised, but here is no one there. His entire tribe had been wiped out by disease, probably small pox. He was heartbroken. Ten years to get back and no one is there!
(My Comments:When things in our lives seem to be going very wrong, God often is preparing us for his use and service. First, in ministry, there is the call, then the preparation, then the commissioning. Many people go into ministry or a place of service at the call, skip the preparation and the commissioning, or sending. And they usually fail.)
Squanto went to live with a neighboring tribe, briefly. But after a short period of time, he went to live in the woods by himself.
Remember that in 1620, a band of Pilgrims in a little boat comes across the Atlantic, trusting God is leading them. They land and experience hardship, the cold, and starvation. And these were faithful, faithful Christians. Fifty percent of them died. And so they got through their first winter, as we know the story, and you can imagine that they were probably questioning, "Lord, how could You have taken us this far?"
Their trials and hardships were devastating, they were crying out to God. We know that these were very strong Christians. And suddenly, out of the woods walked an Indian brave speaking English. This is 1621.
They were so shocked; an Indian speaking perfect English. Actually he was in London England much more recently than they were. And it just happened that he grew up on the very spot where they had settled. This was his home that had been abandoned by his tribe. He had no place to go. They became his family. And he knew everything there was to know about how you plant corn. (End of Eric Metaxes Comments)
Squanto showed them how to plant corn with the fish as the fertilizer - how to plant the gourd around the corn so it goes up the cornstalk. He knew how to get fish and eels out of muddy streams. He knew where the lobsters were and where the fish were. He knew everything. And the Lord used him truly miraculously to help sustain their life. What a miracle!
So in the fall of 1621, after a good harvest of crops and wild game taken from the woods, the Pilgrims and the Indians had a “Harvest Feast” for the blessings God had bestowed upon them. This is one of the orgins of our National Day of Thanksgiving.
William Bradford wrote later that Squanto was a "special instrument sent by God for their good beyond their expectations." He helped them recover from their first difficult winter by teaching them the best places to catch fish and eel. He helped them to build warmer houses. Squanto also advised the Pilgrims in their relations with the Narragansetts. He acted as an interpreter, and guided them on trading expeditions
God used Squanto to create blessings resulting in Thanksgiving in others. How will God use you? Are you willing to surrender your life to the Lord, in order for Him to use you to be a blessing to others? That is one of the primary reasons God created us.He created ‘Good Works” for us to do, before we were ever born.
Eph 2:8-10 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works , lest anyone should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works , which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. NKJV
Application:
You can become the person God had destined you to be. You can do the works he ordained you to do. Go forward and perservere in your faith. You can go through what you are going through. The important issue is that you go through it. Not for your own sake alone, but because God is probably preparing you to encourage others, by the same encouragement and the faithfulness of God you have seen in your own experiences.
You can become a miracle to someone else, as Squanto did. You can emerge from your wilderness, speaking the same language they speak. You can bring spiritual skills which ministers to their need as a result of what you have been through.
To the world you might be one person, but to one person you might be the world - Unknown
