An atheist was taking a walk through the woods, admiring all that evolution had created.
"What majestic trees! What powerful rivers! What beautiful animals!", he said to himself. As he was walking along the river, he heard a rustling in the bushes behind him. When he turned to see what the casue was, he saw a 7-foot grizzly charging right towards him. He ran as fast as he could. He looked over his shoulder and saw that the bear was closing, He ran even faster, crying in fear. He looked over his shoulder again, and the bear was even closer. His heart was pounding and he tried to run even faster. He tripped and fell on the ground. He rolled over to pick himself up, but saw the bear right on top of him, reaching for him with his left paw and raising his right paw to strike him.
At that moment, the Atheist cried out "Oh my God!...." Time stopped. The bear froze. The forest was silent. Even the river stopped moving.
As a bright light shone upon the man, a voice came out of the sky, "You deny my existence for all of these years; teach others I don’t exist; and even credit creation to a cosmic accident. Do you expect me to help you out of this predicament? Am I to count you as a believer?"
The atheist looked directly into the light "It would be hypocritical of me to suddenly ask You to treat me as Christian now, but perhaps could you make the bear a Christian?" "Very well," said the voice.
The light went out. The river ran again. And the sounds of the forest resumed.
And then the bear dropped his right paw ..... brought both paws together...bowed his head and spoke: "Lord, for this food which I am about to receive, I am truly thankful."
The verse for this month is found in your bulletin. It’s from 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 18. I’d like you to read that verse with me this morning, in fact, let’s read it together. “18give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
Let’s break down that verse—what is the apostle telling us to do? GIVE THANKS. When is he telling us to do it? IN ALL CIRCUMSTANCES. Why should we do it? IT IS GOD’S WILL FOR US. Does there seem to be any situation in which we can weasel our way out of it? NO.
So let me ask you a question. How easy is it to give thanks when it seems like life is out to get us like the bear in that story? Would we be able to give thanks when everything seems to be going wrong?
We call the fourth Thursday of the month of November Thanksgiving. It’s a time set aside to honor the first pilgrim’s and the first dinner—and let’s be honest. Who can tell me the true story of Thanksgiving? All we know is that we are supposed to eat turkey, and watch football, and then go shopping. And at some point, be thankful.
But what if life is not letting you be thankful? What if everything seems to have gone wrong? Maybe for you the bills are racking up, and you don’t know how you are going to make it. Maybe this year you’ve experienced the loss of a loved one, and you don’t know what the holidays are going to be like, except that you already know you’re lonely.
This past week, two people associated with this church have passed on to glory. I presided over my fourth church funeral in less than three months. How can we be thankful in times like these? At times when we are reminded of the uncertainty and frailty of human life? Why should we be thankful? We know God commanded it, but why? Why doesn’t he just always give us good times and good situations—it’s easy to be thankful in those times, and we can understand that we should be thankful when things are good. But when things are bad? Why should I be thankful?
This morning, we are going to answer that question—why should I be thankful?
The first reason is this—God is always with you. God is always with you.
I’ve shared this truth with others. When God chose to reveal Himself , He used different terms to describe Himself. In the Bible, God calls Himself by many different names. Each one of those names is a description of His character. Each one of those names is a promise to you.
At the end of the book of Ezekiel, God gives one of His names. He says “I am Jehovah Shammah.” In Hebrew that means, “I am the God who is always there.” There is no place that God is not. There is no place you will go that God isn’t. God has been in your past. He’s in your present. He’s going to be in your future. He’s in the good times and the bad times. He’s in the good places. He’s in the evil places. He is everywhere.
If you look in your notes, you will see this phrase from Hebrews 13, verses 5 and 6. It says this, “God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." 6So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.”
Notice how that works. God says, “I’ll never leave you alone. I’ll never forsake you. I’ll never forget you.” That should bring about a confident response—I will not be afraid.
Listen, things may look bad on this earth, but never forget this one fact—you are not alone.
I want you to listen to a song this morning that Lynelle will sing for us. SING SONE—Sometimes He Calms the Storm.
You may be dealing with the storms of life, unsure of how you will make it. I want you to know—God will carry you through the storms of life.
You might be familiar with the poem Footprints. Where a man looks back on his life and walk with Christ and sees two footprints—one his own, and the other Christ’s. Yet, during the darkest times there was only one set, and that’s when Christ carried him. We think that it’s just a touching poem. It’s more than that—it is a biblical truth you can rely on, that during the darkest times on earth, God says to you, I will never leave you, I will never forsake you. IN that, you can be thankful.
Here’s another reason you can be thankful this morning: God is always for you. God is always for you.
Romans 8: 31What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? God is for you this morning, and you can have no better one on your side.
I need little Matthew to come up here this morning. He’s going to do something for us. GO INTO THE WALKING ROUTINE.
He did this, because I was for him. I was supporting him. I was encouraging him. I was there to keep him. And guess what. God is there for you. He wants you to do well. He wants you to finish strong in life. He is encouraging you to continue the fight and not give up.
Listen to Psalm 118:6—“ The LORD is on my side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me? (KJV)”
Do you remember the days of kickball, and competition? There was always one or two people that the captains wanted on their team, because they were the best players. And for me, I was never one of those people. But guess what—those old friends of yours might not have wanted you, but God does—he’s on your side. The Lord is for you.
Listen to 2 Chronicles 16:9—“ For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.” God is looking to strengthen your heart this morning—if you are his child, if you are committed to him.
He is on your side. The Lord is for you, and working for you.
I want you to listen to this intriguing passage found in John chapter 5. 16So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jews persecuted him. 17Jesus said to them, "My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working." 18For this reason the Jews tried all the harder to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.
Here’s what was going on. The Pharisees, the Jewish leaders, they made some rules and regulations above and beyond the law. They recognized that one of the commandments was to keep the Sabbath, but they went above and beyond the call of duty in saying what one could and could not do. So to attack Jesus, they accused him of not keeping the Sabbath because he broke one of their rules, one of their traditions. Notice Jesus’ response? "My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working." My Father is always at his work. That means that he is always strengthening, always working, always for us. He doesn’t take a break. He doesn’t rest. Psalm 121: 3 He will not let your foot slip- he who watches over you will not slumber; 4 indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.
If God is for you, who can be against you this morning? You may be in the fight of your life, trying to survive. Remember, God is on your side. He watches over you, he will strengthen and encourage you, and give you the strength to accomplish all that he has set for you to do.
Can I give you a final reason you can be thankful this morning? God is always loving you. God is always loving you.
We are all familiar with John 3:16—“ For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” That’s just the beginning. Listen to 1 John 3:1—“ 1How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!”
We put such silly attachments to the word love, that we don’t really understand the word anymore. A wealthy old man had just recently married a lovely young lady and was beginning to wonder whether she might have married him just for his money. He asked her, "If I lost all my money, would you still love me?" She said reassuringly, "Oh honey, don’t be silly. Of course I would still love you. And I would miss you terribly."
You see, the love that God has for us, motivated him to send his son to die for us. And it motivated him to adopt us as children. The Bible tells us that he did this at a time when we were most unloving; in fact, Romans 8 tells us that it was while we were considered enemies of God that he loved us most.
38For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[13] neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
You know what that verse says? There is no where you can’t go that God will stop loving you. There is nothing that you can do that will make God stop loving you. God so loved the world, and he so loves you this morning.
Maybe you are unfamiliar with a love that would go to such lengths. Maybe your experience with love has left you cold and bitter, estranged in relationships that were meant to last forever. Maybe you’ve only known love with strings attached. God doesn’t know that kind of love. He only loves us with a perfect love. And that’s what God calls us to, an intimate love relationship with him, as a perfect father to his child.
Maybe you’ve never heard of it that way, that God desires such an intimate relationship with you, but it’s true. It’s because he loves you so much. I’ve said it before—we cannot begin to grasp the love God has for us. Do you remember a few weeks ago the prayer of Paul to the Ephesian church? 17--And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19and to know this love that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Maybe you’ve been spurned by someone who said they loved you, and then acted unlovingly toward you. God loves you. Here’s a description from 1 Corinthians 13—“ 4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8Love never fails.”
A man who was experiencing financial hardship got angry with a friend who told him he had much to be thankful for. "Don’t be absurd," he said. "What have I to thankful for? I am thousands of dollars in debt and I can’t pay my bills." His friend said, "Then be thankful that you aren’t one of your creditors."
Maybe everything seems to be going wrong today, and there seems to be nothing to give thanks about. Remember these three things, God is always with you, God is always for you, and God is always loving you. God desires a love relationship with you.
