We are celebrating this week; its Thanksgiving in our Country. I hope Americans truly understand why we have this great country and where the many blessings come from. I hope we are giving to God what is God's.
91% of Americans have turkey for Dinner. And so... I was thinking about Butterball Turkeys for some reason I know not why. Did you know they have an online help page? Well I went to that computer page and I found some of the problems that people have with cooking turkeys. You may be flabbergasted at what I found. Here are just a few of them:
1. All in the Family
A woman in her seventies, cooking Thanksgiving dinner for the first time, called for help because her mother said it was time she learned how to prepare the Thanksgiving meal.
2. It’s a Wrap
A proud gentleman called to tell the staff how he wrapped his turkey in a towel, laid it in the floor and stomped on it breaking the bones so it would fit in his pan.
3. Carving the Turkey
Another gentleman called to tell the operator he cut his turkey in half with a chain saw and wanted to know if the oil from the chain would adversely affect the turkey.
4. Upside Down Turkey Surprise
A disappointed woman called wondering why her turkey had no breast meat. After a conversation with a Talk-Line operator, it became apparent that the woman's turkey was lying upside down.
5. Keeping it Cooking
One mom called in and told the Help Line operator about how her little girl had asked if they could slow-roast the turkey for three or four days because she liked how it made the house smell. The experts at the Butterball Turkey Talk-Line told her that the turkey should only stay in the oven for a few hours and that it wasn’t a good idea to leave it cooking four days!
6. Turkey Treasure
After discovering a turkey from 1969 in his dad’s freezer, a man called the Talk-Line at Butterball to ask about the best way to cook the 30+ year-old bird. Although the Talk-Line staffer recommended the open roasting pan method to cook most turkeys, but this time she suggested that the first step was to purchase a fresher fowl!
7. State Bird
When a Talk-Line staffer asked a caller: “What state is your turkey in” (meaning how thawed was it) the caller responded with, “Florida.”
*Reference: http://www.rd.com/slideshows/funny-thanksgiving-help-line-calls/#ixzz3JRR6nTJS
Sermon:
Today in our Scripture Text they have many reasons to celebrate and to show Gods Blessings. It seems they are repeating the same mistakes of the past. The mistake is this: Not giving to God what is God's.
In our text today we can see that the Lord gave them many blessings and things to celebrate. I don't think that God just waved a hand and they received all the things they had. I think God gave them, as he does with us today gifts, graces and talents that allows us to serve him fully, to provide for ourselves and our family's. Thus, God Blesses us as we use what he has given us. He has given us so much. He has given us skills, health, to some humility, he has given to us good minds that can learn and use complex things. God has given us physical, spiritual and mental health with the help of Doctors that God has given us. God has given us parents, children and relative that love us. Are we going to repeat history or break from it? Are we truly going to enjoy the Blessings of our God and give Him for all the good things in our lives. I hope we break the family tradition of making the same mistakes over and over!
But its possible that we might not break the family tradition if we don't strive to be what God wants us to be. It's possible and most likely that history will repeats its self with us.
Ecclesiastes 1:9 says:
King James Bible: The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.
New Living Translation: History merely repeats itself. It has all been done before. Nothing under the sun is truly new.
The writer of Ecclesiastes isn't talking about computers and space ships. He is talking about human nature. He is talking about us and what we do with our lives, the things of our lives and who gets the glory of it all.
Have we reached the point in our lives where Deuteronomy 8 has come home to us. That our life has repeated the past mistakes of those that have gone before us just as Ecclesiastes?
We have so much, and I'm not talking just about money. What have we done with all the “stuff” except spending it on ourselves in most cases.
Deuteronomy 8:17 And thou say in thine heart, My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth.
We might not say it this way. The way we live our lives and the way we use the things God has given us without acknowledging Him seems to be saying the same thing.
Deuteronomy was written around 1406 BC, at the end of the forty years of wandering endured by the nation of Israel. At the time, the people were camped on the east side of the Jordan River, on the plains of Moab, across from the city of Jericho (Deuteronomy 1:1; 29:1).
Book of Deuteronomy Overview - Insight for Living Ministries/www.insight.org/resources/bible/deuteronomy.html/Charles R. Swindoll
Today is 2014AD, add that to when Deuteronomy was written 1406BC and you get: 3,420 years that recorded history has repeated its self. Where will it end?
Not many of us are in a position to change much of anything in this world. But you know there are people that we can and do influence. The biggest influence we can have is on us. We can influence ourselves. It takes humility towards God, takes effort, it takes understanding, it takes a “want to” attitude. The biggest advantage we have is to believe in the one Sovereign God of the universe.
Philippians 4:13 (NewLivingTranslation)
For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.
We talk about what has happened to “the” Church. It gets smaller and smaller as time goes by. It gets older and older and the older folks are moving on to be with the Lord. I hear this a lot: Nobody seems to want to come to church anymore.
Those of us who study the writings and practices of John Wesley can’t help but be reminded of those prophetic words near the end of his life: He said: ‘I am not afraid that the people called Methodists should ever cease to exist either in Europe or America. But I am afraid lest they should only exist as a dead sect, having the form of religion without the power. And this undoubtedly will be the case unless they hold fast both the doctrine, spirit, and discipline with which they first set out.’
If we are dead, numb, and lifeless as is said by some about the Church then what does that say about us. Because we are the Church.
(Ask quietly) Are we as individuals dead and having a form of religion without power? Or, are we the ones that says “I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me.”? We have to be one or the other. Which are you and me? Some say, “Look at your Church and you will see you.”
Mull these words over as you enjoy the blessings of this Great Thanksgiving in the United States of America.
