## Happy Thanksgiving

## Psalm 95:1-11

Psalms 95:2 Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms.

Thanksgiving was proclaimed by George Washington for Nov. 26, 1789. The custom was revived by Lincoln in 1863. The present custom of the fourth Thursday in November was set by a joint resolution of Congress in 1941. It commemorates the harvest of the Plymouth Colony in 1621, following a winter of great hardship.

Thanksgiving is as close to a "Christian" holiday as any holiday Americans celebrate. Surely Christians should observe Thanksgiving differently than do lost American citizens!

Thanksgiving Forecast:

Turkeys will thaw in the morning, then warm in the oven to an afternoon high near 190F. The kitchen will turn hot and humid, and if you bother the cook, be ready for a severe squall or cold shoulder.

During the late afternoon and evening, the cold front of a knife will slice through the turkey, causing an accumulation of one to two inches on plates. Mashed potatoes will drift across one side while cranberry sauce creates slippery spots on the other. Please pass the gravy.

A weight watch and indigestion warning have been issued for the entire area, with increased stuffiness around the beltway. During the evening, the turkey will diminish and taper off to leftovers, dropping to a low of 34F in the refrigerator.

Looking ahead to Friday and Saturday, high pressure to eat sandwiches will be established. Flurries of leftovers can be expected both days with a 50 percent chance of scattered soup late in the day. We expect a warming trend where soup develops. By early next week, eating pressure will be low as the only wish left will be the bone.

You Know You've Over-Done Thanksgiving If...

- Paramedics bring in the Jaws of Life to pry you out of the oversize Lazy-Boy
- Your after dinner moans are loud enough to signal Dr. Kevorkian
- The amount of potatoes you ate set off another famine in Ireland
- Pricking your finger for a cholesterol screening only yielded gravy
- That rash on your stomach turns out to be steering wheel burn
- You get grass stains on the seat of your pants after you've gone for a walk, but you never sat down!

Thanksgiving is a wonderful time of the year, but as believers, we should be observing thanksgiving every day! Thanksgiving is the will of God:

1 Thessalonians 5:18 In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

I. Always Pray With Thanksgiving

Colossians 4:2 Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving;

Philippians 4:6-7 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. 7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

A. Notice the prominence of thanksgiving

1. "in EVERY thing ... with thanksgiving"

2. I know that, like Rom. 8:28, this is a tough verse to apply sometimes, but we should try!

B. Notice the prayer of thanksgiving

1. It will put happiness in our prayer life

2. It will put our heart into our prayer life

3. It will put hope into our prayer life

C. Remember God's blessings!

1. If God has blessed us in the past…

2. He can and will do so in the future!

II. Always Pay Tithes And Offerings With Thanksgiving

Read: 2 Corinthians 9:6-11

A. Thank God for provision of our own needs

1. He certainly provides for us doesn't He?

2. We should daily, stop and count our blessings.

3. From our most basic need to the specific needs to our own circumstances, truly God provides.

Php 4:19 But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

B. Thank God for the ability to give to the work of God

1. Sometimes I hear folks pray, and ask God to bless those who give and those who cannot give.

2. I understand what is meant, but all of us can give back to God…perhaps not financially, but we can all give.

3. But we are talking about tithing and giving.

a. I have been in situations where I had very little money to give.

b. Now I am in a position to give much more than I have ever given before…

c. But God in His wisdom has never made it about the amount…it has always been (and still is) about the heart.

Ac 20:35b "….Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive."

2Co 9:7 "Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver."

C. Thank God for the promise of God

1. To provide OUR needs in the future as we give.

2. To provide the needs of the church as we give!

Malachi 3:10 Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.

3. God's plan for financing His work has always been through the free-will offerings of His people

III. Always Praise God With Thanksgiving

Psalms 26:7 That I may publish with the voice of thanksgiving, and tell of all thy wondrous works.

Psalms 100:4 Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.

Psalms 69:30 I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving.

Nehemiah 12:46 For in the days of David and Asaph of old there were chief of the singers, and songs of praise and thanksgiving unto God.

A. Thanksgiving should make us Praise God with sincerity

1. Notice here the connection between praise to God and thanksgiving.

2. I am sincerely thankful that God has saved me.

3. And I am sincerely thankful that He has showered me with His blessings!

4. Sometimes 'thank you' becomes a meaning- less phrase that we use in conversation, but it shouldn't be that way with the Lord.

B. Thanksgiving should make us Praise God with song.

1. The reason why many Christians don't sing with zeal and energy is that they are not thankful!

2. When God saved us…He gave us a new song!

Ps 40:3 And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the LORD.

C. Thanksgiving should make us Praise God with shouting

1. Amen!

2. Praise the Lord!

3. Hallelujah!

IV. Always Present The Gospel With Thanksgiving

Acts 26:2 I think myself happy, king Agrippa, because I shall answer for myself this day before thee touching all the things whereof I am accused of the Jews:

A. Thank God for the privilege of being His witness.

1. Sometimes I think we are like the characters on police dramas.

2. People are afraid to be a witness…

3. People are too busy to be bothered by being a witness…

4. But once in a while you see someone who is not afraid, someone who is willing to step forward and do the right thing.

5. What a privilege is ours to be His witnesses!

B. Thank God for the power of the gospel

Romans 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

1. No matter how difficult the individual's life might be … the gospel will deliver them.

2. God specializes in hard cases…

3. It is simple enough for all to understand, and believe.

1 Corinthians 15:3-4 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:

C. Thank God for the Promise of the Gospel.

1. It is good news "to every one that believeth"!

2. Whosoever surely meaneth me!

3. No expiration date on this promise!

- Always Pray With Thanksgiving
- Always Pay Tithes And Offerings With Thanksgiving
- Always Praise God With Thanksgiving
- Always Present The Gospel With Thanksgiving