"Thanks The Lord Anyways!"

In just four days, we Americans will once again celebrate Thanksgiving!

Yet, the real question for us is, “What does Thanksgiving really mean?”

I ask that because I think we have all seen THANKSGIVING morph into something that it didn’t originally start out as.

-Which is common for most things in America…

• Of course, for the majority of us, Thanksgiving is all about the preparation and consumption of huge quantities of food. I love that part! No other pretense – it’s just all about the feast! ☺ Yum!!!

• There is another part that Angela loves though… She loves to start her day off with the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, as she begins her preparations for the meal. So, Thanksgiving has also been marked by watching parades in the morning...

• Then, my father-in-law – and most guys – get charged up about the afternoon TV schedule. FOOTBALL is on the agenda!

• However, it isn’t just TV or food that clouds our perception of this day… Thanksgiving has been over looked again by businesses! It has become simply a time to really kick off the Christmas season - specifically, shopping! Hence, Black Friday which starts earlier and earlier every year. This year, Wal-Mart even had PRE-Black Friday deals, that started on Friday.

Now…none of those activities have anything to do with Thanksgiving.

Yet, they have just been added into our traditions and they can make our day more special and relaxing for us.

-Which isn’t necessarily wrong.

-But because of them, we can easily over look the value of this day if we aren’t cautious…

→And that purpose is to be THANKFUL!!!

ILLUSTRATION:

President Abraham Lincoln’s intention, when he made this a legal holiday, was to set aside time to “give thanks and praise to our benevolent Father who dwells in the Heavens.”

→And that my friends, is what we cannot miss!

-We cannot miss an opportunity to GIVE GOD THANKS FOR ALL HIS ABUNDANT BLESSINGS!

*In the good times, and even in the bad, we need to THANK THE LORD ANYWAYS!

Now… As most of us know, our Thanksgiving holiday traces its origins from a 1621 celebration at the Plymouth Plantation, where the Plymouth settlers held a harvest feast after a successful growing season.

-It is this event that is generally referred to as the “First Thanksgiving” and where we model our Thanksgiving feats today…

What is interesting is that the “First Thanksgiving” followed a very terrible time for the Pilgrims…

-The Pilgrims came to this new land in November 1620. And if anyone knows New England in the Winter, you know that it is not the best time to try to setup a new

colony! It was obviously a very hard time to find any kind of food or to find shelter.

-Because of that, by the time Spring arrived, half of them had died through the harsh winter…

Yet, they forged ahead and soon learned how to plant crops and how to trap animals.

-Then, by the time Fall came, the Pilgrims were able to get a good harvest, which led to that “First Thanksgiving” as they THANKED GOD for His benevolence and

provision!

From that thought, I want us to see something in them, that we need to have ourselves – THANKFULNESS!

→That in spite of their difficulties they THANKED THE LORD ANYWAYS!!!

That is just the kind of attitude that God wants to develop in you and me! To…

“THANK THE LORD ANYWAYS!”

Big Idea: True Thanksgiving reveals Supernatural Power in your life!!

STAND & READ - Habakkuk 3:17-19

Though the fig tree should not blossom and there be no fruit on the vines, Though the yield of the olive should fail and the fields produce no food, Though the flock should be cut off from the fold and there be no cattle in the stalls, Yet I will exult in the Lord, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength, and He has made my feet like hinds' feet, and makes me walk on my high places.

PRAYER!

INTRODUCTION:

Now, in a sermon before Thanksgiving, it could be expected to hear from verses in the Bible like…

I Thessalonians 5:18 that tells us, “in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”

And for as much as it may seem cliché to hear that once again - it is still surprisingly applicable!

-Maybe more than we would like to admit.

-But, being THANKFUL in all situations is a challenge for all of us!

ILLUSTRATION:

Real life example…

We just bought our house. Had all the inspections and we expected to not have any issues for a little while with anything…

Yet, my furnace has continually broke down… Three times I have had the repair man over and it always seems to be another thing.