“Mark this, then, you who forget God,
lest I tear you apart, and there be none to deliver!
The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me;
to one who orders his way rightly
I will show the salvation of God!” [1]
“The darkest hour is just before the dawn,” is the claim preserved in an ancient proverb. Applied to our relationship with God, the saying is definitely apropos. Perhaps the greatest treatise that has ever been written concerning salvation is that penned by Paul. Of course, I am referring to the New Testament book of ROMANS. Before he ever speaks of God's great salvation that is now extended to mankind, the Apostle Paul invests what seems to be at first glance an inordinate amount of time exposing the darkness of human depravity.
What is interesting as the darkness of man's fallen spirit is exposed is the Apostle's point of origin for this unveiling. He writes, “The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them because God has shown it to them.” is the Apostle sets the stage for detailed explorations of God's saving grace in [ROMANS 1:18-19]. One great truth about God becomes clearly evident, though it is equally clearly ignored in too many circles. That which the Apostle reveals are “[God’s] invisible attributes,” identified as “His eternal power and divine nature” [ROMANS 1:20]. There is no excuse for anyone not knowing God.
With rapier swiftness Paul points out that man's ignorance is a willing condition. He writes, “Although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.” [ROMANS 1:21]. Every expression of man's wickedness flows from determined refusal to be thankful to God. What is worse, the more God has blessed His people, the greater their lack of gratitude. Before ever He had blessed them with riches, God foretold their determined turning from Him despite His rich blessings. Moses recited a song in the presence of Israel. The people no doubt smiled as he spoke of the rich blessings which would come with the passage of time. He spoke of riding “on the high places of the land” and of eating “the produce of the field,” “honey out of the rock,” “oil out of the flinty rock,” curds and milk, “fat of lambs, rams of Bashan and goats” and “the very finest of the wheat.” The people probably rejoiced at the prospect of drinking “foaming wine made from the blood of the grape.” But what followed must have positively stunned them.
“Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked;
you grew fat, stout, and sleek;
then he forsook God who made him
and scoffed at the Rock of his salvation.”
[DEUTERONOMY 32:15]
That is certainly pointed; God makes it very personal, addressing Israel directly. God’s intent cannot be misunderstood. I am at a loss whether we should marvel more at the immensity of the people's ingratitude or at the magnitude of God's grace. The command delivered to Israel was for the people to “bless the LORD your God for the good land he has given you” [DEUTERONOMY 8:10-16]. The LORD would bless His people, and they were to recognise His goodness, lifting their voices in praise to loudly glorify His Name. Israel would live in a beautiful land filled with good things, and this was a mark of God’s goodness. Nevertheless, the ancient warning applies even to this day.
Throughout history, there would be a continual temptation for people to imagine that they deserved what they enjoyed because they were worth it. We see this attitude in advertising to this day. KitKat assures us, “You Deserve a Break.” Really? “You Deserve a Break Today,” was the McDonald’s lure. Really? “She Deserves the Best,” according to 1-800 flowers.com. All these advertising campaigns assure us that we are a good enough reason to have it all.
In time, people who are richly blessed tend to imagine they deserve the blessing, or they begin to imagine that they are the ones who somehow secured what they have. Make no mistake, we who live in Canada are recipients of divine blessing. We have not known famine, or war, or religious riots; God has shown us great mercy.
What would it be if we had been born into a family in China? Would we enjoy the blessings of bounty that have ensured we could feed our families? What if we had been born into a family living in Sub Saharan Africa? What if we were forced to scrabble for wood to build a fire in order to cook our meagre meal, never knowing if our family would have enough to eat for that day or whether our children would go to bed hungry again? What if our children walked several miles to draw water from a polluted ditch and they suffered incurable diseases as result of the polluted water? What if we had to worry whether government bombers would drop poison gas on our homes, killing our children and threatening our family as happens in so many places. Surely, God has blessed us. We are a privileged people to live where we live and to enjoy the peace that we enjoy. This knowledge alone is sufficient reason to be thankful each day of the year.
Before they entered into the Land God promised Israel, the LORD cautioned His people, “Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’ You shall remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day” [DEUTERONOMY 8:17-18]. Blessed so richly, and yet ignoring the One who blesses! I fear that such a day has come upon us in our land!
On this Sunday preceding Thanksgiving, I invite your review of two verses of a Psalm penned by Asaph. I pray we will discover something of the attitude of gratitude that should mark all mankind, but which ought especially to be the hallmark of the individual who follows God. The final two verses of the Fiftieth Psalm will be the focus for our study this morning. We ignore the teaching to our own detriment, and we embrace it to the benefit of our lives.
THE CONTEXT IS CONFRONTATION —
“Mark this, then, you who forget God,
lest I tear you apart, and there be none to deliver!”
[PSALM 50:22]
Over twenty-five years ago, I read how one enterprising American doll maker produced and marketed “Jesus rag dolls.” [2] These dolls were completely machine washable and available for only $29.95. Not content with this particular effrontery to the Faith of the Risen Christ, the Florida manufacturer planned to make and market a complete line of dolls he called “Firstfruits.” Mary and God rag dolls were to be the next product that would enter the manufacturing line.
Just think! Jesus could be yours by calling the toll-free number and paying the price asked. In an interview, the manufacturer said, “One of the big things is it makes it hard for people to deny His presence. The look across the room and go, ‘Oh, there’s Jesus.’” Well, that is convenient! When the manufacturer was asked what a rag doll god might look like, the doll maker brought out a prototype. It was two feet tall, white-haired and sporting a white beard, wearing a long, rainbow coloured robe, completely machine washable, of course.
The dolls are a metaphor of the manner in which some professing Christians imagine God. Instead of the sovereign God of the Bible, people actually prefer a benign, passive, pliable white-bearded ragdoll image. The very thought of God as One who demands our obedience and as One who deserves our worship is apparently abhorrent, even for many professing Christians. Nevertheless, I contend that not only must we know God as He has revealed Himself, but that we can never discover true thanksgiving until we recognise God as sovereign, independent of man!
It would be to our benefit to recall Who it is Whom we worship. It would be to our benefit to remember God’s character, a character so awe-inspiring that we could never know Him unless He revealed Himself to us. We witness the awesome character of the Living God in the opening verses of this Psalm:
“The Mighty One, God the LORD,
speaks and summons the earth
from the rising of the sun to its setting.
Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty,
God shines forth.
“Our God comes; he does not keep silence;
before him is a devouring fire,
around him a mighty tempest.
He calls to the heavens above
and to the earth, that he may judge his people:”
[PSALM 50:1-4]
The verses that follow are confrontational; they demand that each of us give thoughtful consideration to God’s character. This is especially true from those who refuse to acknowledge the LORD as very God, sovereign and holy. Those who approach God to worship are challenged to give an accounting of what they imagine they are doing. In particular, the Sovereign Lord demands that those who are living a charade cease from playing their foolish game of self-deceit. The Psalmist challenges casual worshippers and those who have never honoured God by acknowledging Him as God,
“What right have you to recite my statutes
or take my covenant on your lips?
For you hate discipline,
and you cast my words behind you.”
[PSALM 50:16b-17]
Is the LORD God? Do you recognise Him as God? Or are you merely going through a ritual that has meaning only to yourself, a ritual that will die with you? What are you doing when you say you are worshipping? Are you actually endeavouring to meet the Living God when you come to worship? When you come into the House of God, do you expect to meet the Risen Son of God? Have you prepared your heart to encounter Him?
The words of this Psalm either ring incredibly hollow or they reveal a God of awesome power and inconceivable might, a God capable of striking terror into every heart, especially when that heart stands opposed to Him and to His will. The former induces no particular gratitude in any heart, whilst the latter is the basis for true thanksgiving.
If God is a gentle, old grandfatherly being, kindly disposed to mankind in general and unlikely to demand much of anyone, if He is the “little man upstairs,” as irreverent people seem to enjoy referring to Him, then we haven't much to fear in meeting Him. Neither, in that case, do we have much for which to thank Him. In that instance we ought to join Bart Simpson in returning his strange and arrogant prayer of thanksgiving: “Dear God, We pay for all this stuff ourselves, so thanks for nothing!” However, if it is true, as the Psalmist asserts in his Psalm, that God is absolute ruler over all creation, and especially if God reigns over the heart of mankind—even the fallen, ungrateful heart of those associated with this world—then we ought to be horrified at the audacity of such irreverence. We should, in that case, fear that God may indeed call us into account for the sin of presumption and for silence in the face of such arrogance.
When you sit to the Thanksgiving meal tomorrow, consider the purpose for observing the day. It will prove to reflect your conception of God. If there is no gratitude to Him for the riches we presently enjoy in this nation, we have need to be in great fear. If we are tempted to believe that it is because we are deserving of God's grace, that it is because we have strength and might that we are at peace with the nations of the world, that it is our knowledge and wisdom that provides the riches we take for granted, we need to recall this TWENTY-SECOND VERSE:
“Mark this, then, you who forget God,
lest I tear you apart, and there be none to deliver!”
THE BENEFITS OF A THANKFUL HEART —
“The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me.”
[PSALM 50:23a]
The Psalmist appears to be of the opinion that those reading the Psalm would surely be of another mind, especially since they would be possessed of a thankful heart. He indicates that in his estimate his readers would be those willing to present thank offerings to honour the Lord. What is a “thank offering?” A thank offering was properly what was called a “fellowship offering,” or in older translations of the Bible, it would often be referred to as a “peace offering.” The “thank offering” was offered as an expression of thankfulness to God.
We read in the Law, “If [a worshipper] offers [an offering] for a thanksgiving, then he shall offer with the thanksgiving sacrifice unleavened loaves mixed with oil, unleavened wafers smeared with oil, and loaves of fine flour well mixed with oil. With the sacrifice of his peace offerings for thanksgiving he shall bring his offering with loaves of leavened bread. And from it he shall offer one loaf from each offering, as a gift to the LORD. It shall belong to the priest who throws the blood of the peace offerings. And the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offerings for thanksgiving shall be eaten on the day of his offering. He shall not leave any of it until the morning” [LEVITICUS 7:12-15].
When upon reflection an individual realised the richness of God's blessing in his or her life, that individual could bring an offering to present before the Lord. A central feature of the thank offering was a communal family meal with the Levite and his family also in attendance. It was not unlike our Thanksgiving meal in that respect. So, when the Psalmist writes of those sacrificing thank offerings, it is not far off the mark to compare the event to a Thanksgiving meal. Consider that tomorrow, and especially if you invite others to share in the meal.
More important still to us as a people called by the Name of the Lord God are the benefits which accompany a thankful heart. The one sacrificing a “thank offering” is therefore one with a thankful heart; and a thankful heart honours God. It is the absence of gratitude that initiates a downward spiral for a culture. It is a failure to cultivate a thankful heart that begins that descent into societal madness described in such detail in the Letter to Roman Christians.
Remember how the Apostle begins that dark passage in the opening portion of the Letter to Roman Christians? “The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So, they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things” [ROMANS 1:18-23]. Did you notice that refusal to be thankful to God is closely associated with dishonouring Him? And those who dishonour Him are already moving inexorably toward exaltation of the self and eternal irrelevance, if they have not already done so.
Have you ever thought about the fact that honouring God was beneficial for you? Did you ever pause to consider that a grateful heart could be beneficial to you? Among other things, we know that “A joyful heart is good medicine” [PROVERBS 17:22a]. Showing gratitude ensures that we enjoy a joyful heart. The Wise Man also wrote, “A glad heart makes a cheerful face” [PROVERBS 15:13a]. According to their visage, there must be some very sad hearts among many of the professed saints of the Lord. When we honour God, it is a demonstration that we understand our relationship to the world and our relationship to the Creator of the world. Honouring God reflects our understanding of God Himself.
Do you imagine that the work of Christ is dependent upon your gifts? Are you sometimes tempted to believe that if you fail to give the work of God will be impeded? To be sure there is a sense in which His work depends upon the generous participation of the people of God in the act of giving; but it is we who benefit from this act of worship we call giving, not God. Two sobering thoughts we must recognise are that God does not need our gifts and that we need to give! Here is the manner in which the Psalmist treated the first matter.
“I will not accept a bull from your house
or goats from your folds.
For every beast of the forest is mine,
the cattle on a thousand hills.
I know all the birds of the hills,
and all that moves in the field is mine.
“If I were hungry, I would not tell you,
for the world and its fullness are mine.”
Then God quickly follows with the invitation to:
“Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving,
and perform your vows to the Most High,
and call upon me in the day of trouble;
I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.”
[PSALM 50:9-12, 14-15]
These verses offer a most sobering thought, indeed! God does not need us! Underscore that thought in your mind—God does not need us; however, we need God! Think about that—we are not the centre of our universe. The Living God does not require our gifts; but we need to give. When Paul wrote the Philippian saints he spoke of their gifts to him, quickly reminding those readers, “Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit” [PHILIPPIANS 4:17]. It was not personal benefit that Paul was seeking; rather, he was seeking benefit for the Philippians as they participated in the ongoing work of God. A thankful heart honours God, benefitting the one offering thanks.
There is another and a vital benefit connected with and resulting from a thankful heart, which is that the one offering thanksgiving to God prepares the way for God to act, presumably in their own behalf. I am intrigued by this statement that the one sacrificing thank offerings prepares the way so that God may reveal His salvation. The verse is complex and presents fascinating challenge to those attempting to translate, to say nothing of those seeking to understand what the Psalmist is saying.
Speaking in a negative vein for the most part, the Psalmist invests considerable effort in describing the rites of worship mandated under the Law. There is observed in every race and among all peoples a perverted tendency for worship to progressively degenerate into mere form. Man struggles to give his sense of worship adequate embodiment in rite and ritual, and often finds that the rite or ritual at first deflects and at last destroys true devotion to God, the essence of which is gratitude. The history of the race reveals a devolution instead of an evolution as man moves inexorably toward ever more distorted forms of worship of the Living God.
Man also struggles to give embodiment to his desire for goodness, and often finds that the covenants and promises of God deflect and sometimes destroy the joy of godliness, the essence of which again is gratitude. So, man abandons the rites and rituals which speak of the covenants and promises, or he maintains them as a perfunctory routine. So also, man scoffs ultimately at covenants and promises, or respects them under duress. Contrition reflects one's sense of failure; gratitude, one's sense of recovery.
Tragically, the ordinances of the Church may become to us what sacrifice and offering were to the Jews, a mere opus operatum. The ordinances of the Faith, as practised in far too many instances among the churches, are relegated to mere rituals, mindlessly performed so that the one performing the ritual feels good about himself or herself. Participants fail to recognise the high and holy privilege we are given as we come into the presence of the Risen Son of God.
A younger minister worked with me at one point. This younger man apparently felt the Communion Meal was just a ritual to be endured with some regularity. He would never have said that aloud, but his actions demonstrated that he had scant respect for what was done or for the One the Meal honoured. As with many churches, in his estimate the Meal could have been tacked on to the end of the service, a minor inconvenience to be endured so that we can still get a spot at White Spot before the Pentecostals get there following morning services.
As he rushed through the observance, there was no sense of worship. He hurried through the distribution of the elements and unconsciously urged people to eat and drink quickly. The prayers were perfunctory, routine. Though I had spoken with him on several occasions, urging him to take time so that worshippers could recognise the presence of the Lord, he was in a hurry. After a few times with him rushing through his performance, I simply assumed responsibility for the conduct of the service. He couldn’t grasp the importance of worship. Communion and baptism were acts to be tolerated rather than opportunities to worship. He was in a hurry to do the really important stuff, like preaching! All else was a mere intrusion on what he wanted to do.
An individual may give all his goods to feed the poor, and yet have no love. One may be punctual in attendance at every holy ordinance, and yet delight in iniquity in his heart, and, upon occasion, secretly practise wickedness. Hence the Psalm is truly universal in its character. It reaches to all men, in all places, for all time.
The futility of sacrifice and the frustration of goodness is remedied by gratitude to God. Without gratitude, there is no worship. Without worship, there can be no walk with God. Every blessing which flows from knowing God is ultimately dependent upon gratitude.
SALVATION, THE JOYOUS REVELATION OF GOD —
“To one who orders his way rightly
I will show the salvation of God!”
[PSALM 50:23b]
This Psalm concludes with a reference to salvation, a reference which could be misunderstood.
“The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me;
to one who orders his way rightly
I will show the salvation of God!””
[PSALM 50:23]
Permit me to speculate, to muse openly for a brief moment. It is difficult to believe that Canadians are a grateful people. We take for granted that we enjoy our standard of living because we are wiser, more intelligent, more adaptable than other peoples. Do you really think we are smarter than Koreans? Or Chinese? Or Japanese? We have enjoyed advantages of relative isolation because of our location. This is another way of saying that God has blessed us.
Is our soil richer than the soil of Ukraine? Is Canadian wheat superior to wheat that is grown in Argentina or wheat grown in Australia? We have been richly blessed as a nation; God has graciously showered us with goodness. With the Psalmist, we can say,
“The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.”
[PSALM 16:6]
And yet, it is unusual to see people actually engage in giving thanks to the Almighty with any degree of regularity. Consider what I just said and assess the evidence fairly! When did you last see people seated at a table bow their heads and return thanks when eating out at one of the many restaurants in our community? When did you last pray before leaving the home of a friend, thanking God for their friendship and thanking Him for the rich blessings you enjoyed? When were you last in the presence of someone who returned thanks, praying aloud, and you didn’t feel uncomfortable? We don’t think to give thanks in our daily life for the repeated blessings of God. We are so hurried, so busy that pausing to show our gratitude to God is forgotten.
Do you suppose that the absence of gratitude in modern Canadian life arises from ignorance of who God is or even of what He has done for us? Is it possible that our society is experiencing a failure to know God? Wouldn’t you expect that a people who know the Lord intimately would be grateful? Wouldn’t you anticipate that a grateful people would frequently engage in prayer, willingly returning thanks to our gracious God? Is not our arrogance and our refusal to acknowledge God as the giver of every good and perfect gift evidence of our fallen condition? Is it possible that though we still have an official holiday called “Thanksgiving,” that little giving of thanks will actually occur on the holiday? Is it not more likely that we will engage in a wide variety of activities including almost everything except for giving thanks at Thanksgiving?
The American patriot John Adams, one of the founding fathers of the USA, anticipated that the American States would celebrate July Second as Independence Day, because it was the day on which the Continental Congress voted for Independence. At that time, he wrote his wife, Abigail, “I am apt to believe that [the day] will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty.” To be certain, Adams anticipated “Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other,” [3] This is the point I am making through reference to the American Revolution—this man, who would serve two terms as the first Vice President of the United States and who was afterward elected to serve as the second President of the nation, was focused on the proper manner of showing gratitude. He thought the nation would be thankful to God, rejoicing before the Lord for their freedom. Church services would be the natural expression of gratitude to God.
Today, the American States often appear to ignore worship as a means of celebration. Tragically, we in Canada don’t often think of services of worship and thanksgiving as a means of commemorating God’s goodness. We are far more likely to think of watching professional athletes engage in sporting events, drinking ourselves into oblivion and eating until we are compelled to sleep off a self-induced turkey coma. Whether we recognise it or not, we struggle to be thankful to God, appearing to tacitly believe that we deserve the mercies we enjoy.
A perverse teaching propagated from a growing number of evangelical pulpits appears to be sweeping contemporary congregations. What makes this teaching so dangerous is that those promoting it seem oblivious to the danger posed. This doctrine makes man sovereign while reducing God to an ancillary role in salvation; and therein lies the seed of future destruction of the Faith. This twisted teaching is pragmatic, utilitarian and embodied in the appeal for people to “make a decision” for Christ and for God. But if salvation lies within my power and is dependent upon my choice, why should I feel gratitude toward God? Why indeed ought I be thankful to God since I can achieve everything in my own strength? If I will know God’s salvation, He must extend me mercy, calling me and supplying even the desire to know Him. His mercy seems to be activated when I begin to give Him thanks, recognising His goodness.
A thankful heart lies at the beginning of the journey that leads to salvation. For the one already saved, a thankful heart is the precursor to the repeated instances of deliverance which arise in the life of one who knows God. Recount the times when God intervened in your life to do good to you and to rescue you from your fears; remember the incidents when there appeared no possibility of deliverance, whether a time of severe financial reversal or whether a time of extreme illness or whether a time of domestic pressure. In every instance, I daresay that God's gracious deliverance was preceded by an attitude of gratitude on your part, and assuredly did you praise Him after the fact. Whether in desperation or in full confidence, you were disposed to praise God even before He intervened.
Each of us as followers of the Christ will be well advised to take to heart the wonderful old hymn, “Count Your Blessings.”
When upon life’s billows you are tempest tossed,
when you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,
count your many blessings—name them one by one,
and it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.
Are you ever burdened with a load of care?
Does the cross seem heavy you are called to bear?
Count your many blessings—ev’ry doubt will fly,
and you will be singing as the days go by.
When you look at others with their lands and gold,
think that Christ has promised you His wealth untold;
count your many blessings—money cannot buy
your reward in heaven nor your home on high.
So amid the conflict, whether great or small,
do not be discouraged. God is over all;
count your many blessings—angels will attend,
help and comfort give you to your journey’s end.
Count your blessings—name them one by one;
Count your blessings—see what God hath done. [4]
I know that some who listen will say, “You don’t know the scars I carry!” And that is true. I can never know the trials you have endured; but I know the God who has delivered you so that you bear scars and not raw wounds. Having been snatched from the jaws of the dragon, tooth marks are to be expected! God has demonstrated His mercy again and again, rescuing you and delivering me. The Lord has shown Himself faithful; and His faithful deliverance deserves our finest praise. Rejoice in Him; praise Him joyfully in the presence of your family.
Paul challenged the Corinthian saints, “What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it” [1 CORINTHIANS 4:7]? Consider that vital question: What do you have that you did not receive? God gives us all that we have. James writes, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change” [JAMES 1:17]. Your abilities, your strength, your equipping for service—all alike come from God. Thus, your heart should be filled with gratitude toward Him for His mercy.
As you gather around the Table for the Thanksgiving observance tomorrow, I urge you to take stock of all that God has done for you. Your family is His gift; give Him thanks in the presence of your family for each one. Your friends and the support you enjoy day-by-day is from His hand; tell your friends often of how grateful you are for their friendship. Let your friends know you do not take for granted the friendship you share. In fact, it is appropriate to take someone by the hand even now and tell that one how you thank God for their presence and especially how you are grateful for their friendship. Your work and even your willingness to be engaged in that work is a divine gift; don’t neglect to tell the Master of your gratitude. Set aside time to focus on the goodness of the Lord to you and to your family. Invest time in praising Him for His mercy. Indeed, count your blessing. Amen.
[1] Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2016. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
[2] “Jesus doll brings with it hope that’s huggable, designer says,” November 30, 1992, Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, published in The Baltimore Sun, http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1992-11-30/features/1992335209_1_discover-jesus-doll-design-mary-doll, accessed 3 June 2018
[3] “History of Independence Day,” John Adams letter to His wife, Abigail, July 3, 1776, https://www.nps.gov/subjects/nationalmall4th/history-of-independence-day.htm, accessed 3 July 2018
[4] Johnson Oatman, Jr., “Count Your Blessings” 1897
[*] A final PDF version of this message will be available after 6 October, 2018 at https://newbeginningsbaptist.ca/category/sermon-archives/.
