Giving Thanks Always
PSALM 136: 1-4 O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever. O give thanks unto the God of gods: for his mercy endureth for ever. O give thanks to the Lord of lords: for his mercy endureth for ever. To him who alone doeth great wonders: for his mercy endureth for ever.
People don’t typically think of Thanksgiving as a religious holiday but when you consider the name “Thanks – Giving” you have to ask, who are you giving thanks to? Not only that but where does the term holiday come from? Well, it comes from the term “Holy – Day”. We of course know that the Pilgrims were deeply religious and they did their best to obey the teachings of Scripture.
If you were to believe the narrative that secularist are pushing today you would think that the Pilgrims didn’t care at all about God and they were only giving thanks to the Indians! They may have been thankful for their initial cooperation but ultimately the early settlers gave thanks and praise to God and this coming Thursday so will we!
Of all the things you are thankful for what would be at the top of your list? Would material things be on the top of your list? Certainly, we are thankful for the necessities of life – food, clothing, shelter etc. But I think we understand that it is the immaterial that matters most of all. Just as the Spirit gives life to the body (and not the other way around) so do the immaterial things of this world supersede the material.
What are you most thankful for? We are going to focus on 4 general topics here this morning – those things we are thankful for
Faith, Family, Fellowship & Flag
Faith – Hebrews 11:1 says that “Faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen”. Faith is not something that can be tested in a laboratory, it isn’t something that you can hold in your hand but when you have it you know it, and one of the best ways to know it is to put your faith into action!
The Bible says in James chapter 2 that Faith without works is dead! Now Faith and works are obviously NOT the same thing but what James is saying is that one follows the other. If you truly have faith you will have works, but if you don’t have works then you don’t really have saving faith.
I got news for the people who would say “I have faith because I believe in God!” That’s not the issue! Adam and Eve believed in God, they spoke with God, they knew full well that He existed but when God gave them His Word – (not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil for the day you eat of it you shall surely die), did they believe Gods Word? Did they exercise faith? They believed God existed but they didn’t believe what He said – they lacked faith because their actions didn’t conform to Gods word.
As Christians, our actions need to be in line with our profession. James 2:14-16 What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit?
Last week we had the folks here from the Springfield Rescue Mission and we heard 1st hand the wonderful things that God is doing in Springfield. How is God working? He is working through his people! It’s not that God needs us rather He is pleased to use us. We took an offering for them and it added up to around $1300-1400. That is faith in action, why? Because it required people to do something. Imagine if the folks at the Mission were to keep all the money, keep all the food, keep all the clothing and tell the people who were on the streets – we’ll pray for you, but don’t ask us to help you out! What good is that? Or what good is it if we say we care about others but we are not even willing to lift one finger to help out?
Faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen” - We are thankful for the living faith that God has given to His people and although it cannot be held, weighed or measured the evidence of faith can be seen when we put it into action and there is no better time of year to do that then the holiday season.
When I was a child our family would go around on Christmas Eve and visit relatives, some were in nursing homes and I admit as a 9, 10, 11, year old it wasn’t exactly my favorite thing to do and if I could have gotten out of it I probably would have but thinking back on it those are the things that anybody can do. It doesn’t take that much time to go and visit someone, it doesn’t cost any money, it’s not strenuous but sometimes those are the little things that can make the biggest difference.
So we are thankful for The Christians Faith, we are also thankful for our family. Thanksgiving is the busiest time of year for traveling. Why is that? Because it is the time when many people travel to go and visit family. What on earth is more important than your family? God is #1 but when it comes to earthly things family should be number #1!
Now families don’t always get along, they don’t always see eye to eye but if there is a time to put aside one’s differences for the sake of peace certainly the holidays are a good time to do it. But some folks don’t have family around, perhaps because of strife, maybe there have been deaths in the family or maybe people have just moved away and you just don’t see them as often as you like. – Turn to Matthew 12:46-50
While He was still talking to the multitudes, behold, His mother and brothers stood outside, seeking to speak with Him. 47 Then one said to Him, “Look, Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside, seeking to speak with You.”
48 But He answered and said to the one who told Him, “Who is My mother and who are My brothers?” 49 And He stretched out His hand toward His disciples and said, “Here are My mother and My brothers!50 For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother.”
Despite how it may seem to some on the surface this isn’t an example of Jesus being rude or disrespectful. Jesus obeyed the commandments and He most certainly honored his mother but what Jesus is saying here is our true family is the family of God! Why? Because we will be together as one people, one family FOREVER in Gods Kingdom! If you had a good home life here on earth you haven’t seen nothin’ yet! If you didn’t have a good home life or if you didn’t have a loving family, YOU WILL and in fact you do! And hopefully we can start to build that here in this lifetime here within the church.
And this leads us to the next thing that we are thankful for – Fellowship! We are thankful for the fellowship we enjoy, not only here at Moores Corner Church but also the fellowship we have with all believers wherever they may be.
Now in the book of Genesis, we read about the 6 days of creation – On the first day God said “Let there be light and there was light, and God saw the light, that it was good”
On the 2nd day God divided the waters and made the firmament the 3rd day He caused the dry land to appear and gathered together the sea’s and God saw that it was good.
He caused the earth to bring forth grass, the herbs, the tree’s all according to their kind and he saw that it was good…. And this goes on, everything that God created he saw that it was good and when His creation was finished we read in Genesis 1:31 “Then God saw everything that He had made, (man included) and indeed it was very good.
The first time in the Bible that we see God saying that something wasn’t good is when He said “it is not good that man should be alone”. Now we know in that verse God was talking about the relationship of marriage but it’s also true that God didn’t create man to be all by himself. When Jesus spoke of building the church He used the word assembly – the fact of the matter is in order for man to be truly happy, in order to be truly blessed we need one another.
One of the ways Jesus described hell is the use of the phrase “outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth”. It could very well be that the torment of hell is that of extreme loneliness, away from others, separated from God in total darkness for all eternity. No, it is NOT good that man should be alone.
We should be thankful for all our family, church family, friends, loved ones we ought to be very thankful and it certainly doesn’t hurt to let people know how much you appreciate them.
So we need to be thankful, thankful to God for our faith, our family, our fellowship and finally our flag. Of course, by this I mean we are thankful for the land that we live in. What do you see when you look at the American Flag? Freedom, liberty, honor, tradition, one Nation under God! Certainly, we remember those who fought and died to give us those things and we thank God for their service and sacrifice.
Thanksgiving is a unique holiday. It is a truly an American holiday and we would not be able to enjoy it if it were not for those who fought and died for our freedom and I don’t think I am the only one who is disgusted when I see derelicts and reprobates out there burning the flag that you and I cherish so much!
I know the Supreme Court has ruled that people are allowed to burn the flag in protest which seems strange to me because I’m pretty sure if I went into town and started lighting things on fire I’m pretty sure I would get into some trouble for it. But somehow if you burning a flag, that’s supposed to be ok – well it’s not ok with me and I doubt its ok with you either but what does God say about such things?
Romans 13: 1-2 Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves.
I think one of the major problems we have in this country is that people don’t respect the rule of law. God says let EVERY SOUL be subject! Now God doesn’t say we have to agree with everything, God doesn’t say we have to go along with everything, He doesn’t even say that those in power are always right but He does say we all must be subject!
If people want to assemble in peaceful protest, let them assemble. We can respect that. We may or may not agree, that’s fine but if a person is obeying the law and they are not hurting anybody, they are not destroying public or private property then let them assemble it is their right but what we have been seeing not only for the past 2 weeks but really for the past 2-3 years is a growing movement of chaos and anarchy. God does not approve of chaos and anarchy!
I personally don’t think it’s a major threat to our Nation but if it continues to grow and grow it could be! What does Gods Word say about it? “those who resist will bring judgment on themselves”. In other words, those who do such things must be punished. If a person attacks police, smashes property and burns and loots storefronts they need to be dealt with! Why? Because they are breaking the law, they are not submitting to the authorities, they are resisting the ordinance of God and the Bible says those who resist will bring judgment on themselves.
What can we do about it? As individuals, probably not very much but as a people we ought to be united against violence, destruction and lawlessness. God has given us a great nation; he has provided for our every need in that we are a wealthy nation. Going back to what we talked about earlier just think about all the charities, all the soup kitchens, all the groups like the Rescue Mission. If somebody is in need there is no shortage of options and there is no shortage of people who are willing to lend a helping hand. Of all the things, we could look at that might discourage us I think there are many reasons to be optimistic. I think many people, if not most people in general would be willing to help out their fellow brother or their fellow American if they were in need.
So this time of year we ought to take inventory of all those things, all those people, all those blessings that we are so thankful for. Thank the people that have been there for you, bless the people you can help along with way and most of all give thanks unto the Lord for He is good, for His mercy endureth forever!
