What Do You Say?

"WHADDAYA SAY?"

TEXT: NUMBERS

INTRODUCTION

I remember growing and being taught by my parents a very important lesson. And that lesson was to say thank you when someone did something for me or gave me something. They would say to me if I forget, or If I was slow in saying thank you, "whaddaya say?", to which I would reply thank you.

Today I am a parent and I’m trying to teach my children this same valuable lesson. I want my children to grow up showing appreciation for what people do for them rather than just expecting people to do things for them or expecting people to give them things. So I make it a point whenever they don’t remember to say thank you, to say those now famous words OF REMINDER, "WHADDAYA SAY". To which they reply "thank you".

I see a tragic trend running through our culture where people don’t say the words thank you very often. People do things for people, sacrifice for people, and yet, many fail to at least say thank you. It is as if people feel they have a right to expect others to take care of and do things for them.

Ingratitude is a serious problem that needs to be dealt with.

{Illustr}

Many years ago, a boat was wrecked in a storm on Lake Michigan at Evanston, Illinois. Students from Northwesteren University formed themselves into rescue teams. One student, Edward Spencer, saved 17 people from the sinking ship. When he was carried exhausted to his room, he asked, "Did I do my best? Do you think I did my best?

Tears later, R>A. Torrey a well know evangelist was talking about the incident at a meeting in Los Angeles, and a man in the audience called out that Edward Spencer was present. Dr. Torrey invited Spencer to the platform. An old man with white hair slowly climbed the steps as the applause rang. Dr. Torrey asked him if anything in particular stood out in his memory. "Only this, sir, he replied, "of the 17 people I saved, not one of them thanked me" Not only do we have difficulty in saying thank you to each other, but we have difficulty in saying thank you to God.

This coming thursday is Thanksgiving Day, and to prepare our hearts and our minds for this traditional day of thanks, Today, we are going discuss several incidents in the book of Numbers and through our study we will learn, how we can really show God that we are indeed thankful for all He has done.

We once again will take seriously Paul’s admonition in I Corinthians chapter 10 to learn from the those of the O.T. so that we will not make the same mistakes ourselves. Remember he who fails to learn from history is doomed to repeat it.

I. THEM

A. THE ISRAELITES HAD REASON TO BE THANKFUL.

1. For over 400 hundred years the Israelite people were slaves of the Egyptian empire. They were treated harshly by the egyptians and were forced at the end of a slavemaster’s whip to build great cities for the mighty Pharaoh.

Towards the end of their captivity they were forced to helplessly stand by as they watched their young baby boys were throw into the Nile river and drowned.

These years in bondage were without doubt a time of despair, a time of discouragement and a time of fear and hopelessness.

But God did not forget them and God did not forget His promise, And God demonstrated his Almighty power through great signs and miracles that brought the proud and mighty Egyptian empire to her knees. And god guided his people to freedom as he removed the chains and shackles of slavery from around their hands and feet.

2. The Israelites had great reason to be thankful to God. God had done something for them that they were powerless to do for themselves, they could win their own freedom. God delivered them from slavery and gave them their freedom. in Egypt they were slaves without hope and now by the power of God they were free, and their hope was overflowing.

3. Not only did God deliver His people, but God also provided for His people. God’s care and concern for his people did not end as they passed by the walls of the crippled Egyptian city. No God’s concern for them continued as they journeyed through the desert sands.

God provided food and water for the people. Every day God would send down manna (bread) from heaven and all the people had to do was just pick it up. God provided water for them and He provided quail for them to eat. God also provided clothing for His people as he caused their clothing and shoes to not wear out for 40 years.