DO YOU KNOW HOW THANKSGIVING DAY CAME INTO EXISTENCE?
Illus: The crew of the Mayflower had set their sites to land in northern Virginia, however, things did not work out that way. The Mayflower landed at Plymouth Rock, off Cape Cod, in November 1620. Once they landed, half the ship's crew and pilgrim passengers died from pneumonia in that first winter. Later, when things began to look better, they were blessed with a bountiful harvest. Governor William Bradford declared that a feast would be held to give thanks for the harvest.
The thanksgiving feast held in 1621 lasted 3 days, however it was not repeated until 1623, when a severe drought, which led the Pilgrims to invoke divine intervention, was ended by providential rains.
In the next 200 years, thanksgiving feasts were held intermittently throughout the New England area although many, including Thomas Jefferson, were opposed to celebrating what was viewed as a strictly local religious observance, as a national holiday. The custom caught on, however, and in 1863 Abraham Lincoln proclaimed the fourth Thursday in November as a national day of thanksgiving.
Each president thereafter annually proclaimed a Thanksgiving Day holiday, usually designating it as the fourth Thursday in November, until 1941 when Congress officially made the fourth Thursday in November a national Thanksgiving Day holiday.
Thanksgiving Day is a religious holiday. But like so many of our religious holidays, the devil does all he can to sidetrack the purpose of observing them.
For example, the day that has been set aside to give thanks unto the Lord for His bountiful blessings in our lives, is quickly being changed to:
• Turkey Day
• Parade Day
• Football Day
We can’t help but wonder how God feels about blessing us the way He has, and having people celebrate Thanksgiving without even taking time to stop from what they are doing, and look up and say, “GOD, THANK YOU FOR YOUR BLESSINGS ON MY LIFE, HOME, NATION, AND MY CHURCH!”
But let the world in which we live decide which way they are going to celebrate Thanksgiving. We cannot do anything about that as much as we wish we could, but let us celebrate it the way it should be celebrated.
Let me show you three things.
I. THANKSGIVING SHOULD BE CELEBRATED DELIBERATELY
Look at Luke 17:11-17, we read, “And it came to pass, as he went to Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off: And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go show yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan. And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine?”
Notice, in this passage of scripture, the Lord healed ten lepers of this deadly disease called leprosy. This is one of the most horrible diseases that mankind has ever had to encounter. The flesh literally rots off the body. Those who are attacked by this disease die a tortuous death.
The Lord healed ten of them, and only one came back to express his gratitude. He was so grateful for what the Lord had done for him.
Look at verse 16, we read, “And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan.”
The Lord was pleased that he returned, but He said this in verse 17, “Where are the nine?”
The Lord then, and the Lord now is looking for people that will show gratitude for His blessings. Being grateful is not a gift that we are born with, it is something that we have to teach ourselves to do.
Illus: Have you ever watched parents with a small child, when a man, out of the kindness of his heart, gives the child a lollipop? The parents stand there saying, “What do you tell the nice man?”
The child slides the lollipop in his/her mouth, and the Mother is really getting embarrassed as she says with a different voice again, “What do you tell the nice man who gave you the lollipop?”
The child takes a look at the nice man and does not have the slightest idea of what to say. Finally, the mother says, with a stronger voice, "Tell the nice man THANK YOU!”
And the child very reluctantly pulls the lollipop out of his/her mouth and finally says, “Thank You!”
I want to ask you something. Do you really think the child is thankful, or did the child just say “THANK YOU”:
• Because he/she could tell from Mom’s voice he/she had better say it
• Because he thought if he did not say it, the nice man might remove the lollipop from his hand
Most likely the child said it because of one of these two reasons. We live in an age when you do not hear “THANK YOU” very much.
It has not always been this way. There was a time when you went to the store to buy something that:
• They had people who smilingly asked “Can I help you find something?”
It seems to me that when you go into some of these stores today, the people that work there see a customer looking for something and they make a mad dash to get away from the customer.
You find yourself in this large store and you cannot find what you are looking for and you cannot find anyone to help you. And if you do find someone, you want to apologize for disturbing their rest.
• They had cashiers who smilingly took our hard earned money from our hands and said with a smile, “Thank you for trading with us, and please come back!”.
Why were they thankful and wanting you to come back? Because they recognized that they would not have a job if it were not for people like us who bought from them. And if they did not have a job they could not feed their families.
But today, in a country like America, there are so many jobs available that people are not worried about losing their job. If they lose the one they have, they can find another one tomorrow.
Did you know that if jobs were not available in this country, people would be much more grateful for the jobs they have? When someone traded with the company that gave them a job to feed their family, they would smile and say, “Thank you for trading with us, and please, please come back!”
When you live in an affluent society like ours, where many are given all kinds of entitlements, people can see no reason to be thankful for something they feel they are entitled to receive as Americans.
We have people in this country that are convinced they should not have to:
• Work
• Make House payments
• Pay medical bills
• Pay for college tuition
• Pay for water, heat and air conditioning
These are things they feel they are entitled too. Why should they be grateful for them?
THANKSGIVING SHOULD BE CELEBRATED DELIBERATELY.
We know that God has blessed us, and these blessings did not just pop out of thin air, they came from God.
We PURPOSELY and DELIBERATELY express our gratitude to God for these blessings. Also-
II. THANKSGIVING SHOULD BE CELEBRATED WITH DETERMINATION
When we are given anything by ANYONE, it should be a natural thing that we are DETERMINED to go to that individual and express our gratitude.
There are two things we should express gratitude for.
A. FOR THE GOOD THAT COMES INTO OUR LIVES
When God graciously blesses us, we must be DETERMINED to express our gratitude to God.
Remember the reminder in the Old Testament. God spoke through Moses, telling the children of Israel how they would prosper in the promised land that they were preparing to enter.
How delightful this news must had been after they had been living in slavery, and living in the wilderness for forty years.
Look at Deuteronomy 8:7-19. We read, “For the LORD thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills; A land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey; A land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack any thing in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass. When thou hast eaten and art full, then thou shalt bless the LORD thy God for the good land which he hath given thee. Beware that thou forget not the LORD thy God, in not keeping his commandments, and his judgments, and his statutes, which I command thee this day: Lest when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein; And when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied; Then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the LORD thy God, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage; Who led thee through that great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought, where there was no water; who brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint; Who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not, that he might humble thee, and that he might prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end; And thou say in thine heart, My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth. But thou shalt remember the LORD thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day. And it shall be, if thou do at all forget the LORD thy God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day that ye shall surely perish.”
Notice, if they FORGOT where these blessings came from, the Lord said, “I testify against you this day that YE SHALL SURELY PERISH.”
This is why many believe America is in trouble with God. WE HAVE FORGOTTEN WHERE OUR BLESSINGS CAME FROM.
Illus: We have too many today who write books, hold seminars, and brag on national television about how they have pulled themselves up from POVERTY TO RICHES by their own boot straps.
Listen, Ted Turner, Bill Gates and all the wealthy people in this society could not accomplish a thing in this life, if God had not blessed them with the things He has blessed them with.
I know we have a lot of folks in this country that gripe and complain, but we do not need to sing “GOD BLESS AMERICA” anymore, we need to sing “GOD HAS BLESSED AMERICA!”
We need to be DETERMINED that we are going to make time in our lives daily to express our gratitude.
We should be DETERMINED that we are going to take time to thank Him for all the good He sends our way. Also, we should be DETERMINED that we are going to give Him thanks-
B. FOR THE BAD THAT COMES INTO OUR LIVES
When good things flow into our lives we say “GOD IS WORKING IN OUR LIVES” , but when the bad things sweep into our lives, we say that “GOD IS NO LONGER WORKING IN OUR LIVES”.
Did you know that God in His wisdom sends GOOD and BAD into our path, because He knows what is best for us. And sometimes it is the BAD He sends that is exactly what we need.
But make no mistake about this, we should be thankful for the BAD THINGS THAT HE ALLOWS as much as we should be thankful for the GOOD THINGS.
Look at 1 Thess. 5:18. We read, “In EVERY THING give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”
Why should we be THANKFUL for everything, even the bad in our lives?
• Because there is so much going on in our lives, that we do not have the slightest idea of what is taking place.
• Because there is nothing going in our lives that God does not know about.
God is moving behind the scenes of our lives doing what is best for us. And sometimes, it is not the doors that are being OPENED but the doors that are being CLOSED that we should be THANKFUL FOR!
Illus: A Christian man was going through the mountains of Tennessee and he had a flat tire. Naturally he thought, “Lord, why did you allow me to have a flat tire here?” But he maintained his composure and replaced the flat tire. After about thirty minutes he got in his car and drove down the road, and discovered a large rock slide. Several cars had been covered, and some of them had been knocked off the side of the mountain. All this took place about the same time he had a flat tire. While he did not thank the Lord for the flat tire, he realized that if he had not had that flat tire, he could have been one of those who got seriously hurt or been killed. He then was thankful for the BAD that came into his life because it could have been much WORSE!
THANKSGIVING SHOULD BE CELEBRATED DELIBERATELY, THANKSGIVING SHOULD BE CELEBRATED WITH DETERMINATION, and …
II. THANKSGIVING SHOULD BE CELEBRATED DAILY
Illus: A magazine polled some famous people around the world. They were asked this question, “If you could be granted one wish that would come true right now, what would that be?”
Many of them said, “I wish that I could be given an even greater ability to appreciate all that I really have.”
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if all of us had a greater ability to be more appreciative.
• It would solve a lot of the family problems we have
• It would solve a lot of the school problems we have
• It would solve a lot of the neighborhood problems we have
• It would solve a lot of the church problems we have
• It would absolutely revolutionize the world in which we live
Many times we complain about things and we do not have reason to complain.
Illus: One afternoon a shopper at the local mall felt the need for a coffee break. She bought herself a little bag of cookies and put them in her shopping bag.
She then purchased some coffee, found a place to sit at one of the crowded tables, and then, taking the lid off her coffee and taking out a magazine, she began to sip her coffee and read. Across the table from her, a man sat reading a newspaper.
After a minute or two, she reached out and took a cookie. As she did, the man seated across the table reached out and took one also. This stunned her, but she did not say anything.
A few moments later she took another cookie. Once again the man did so also.
Now she was getting a bit upset, but still she did not say anything.
After having a couple of sips of coffee, she once again took another cookie. So did the man.
She was really upset by this - especially since now only one cookie was left. Apparently the man also realized that only one cookie was left.
Before she could say anything he took it, broke it in half, offered half to her, and proceeded to eat the other half himself. Then he smiled at her and, putting the paper under his arm, got up and walked off.
Was she steamed! Her coffee break was ruined. Thinking ahead of how she would tell her family about this offensive incident, she folded her magazine, opened her shopping bag, and there, discovered her own unopened bag of cookies.
Many times we complain about things we have no business complaining about.
Conclusion:
I. THANKSGIVING SHOULD BE CELEBRATED WITH DELIBERATELY
II. THANKSGIVING SHOULD BE CELEBRATED WITH DETERMINATION
III. THANKSGIVING SHOULD BE CELEBRATED DAILY
