God has created us in his image and likeness; provided us our food, clothing and shelter for which we owe God a deep debt of gratitude. We most of all owe God a deep debt of gratitude for providing us with a Savior, by whose sacrifice we can be forgiven our sins and receive the gift of eternal life. As we renewed our covenant with God the Father and Jesus Christ on the Passover, we memorialized Christ's death as we observed the Passover about a month ago.

An Old Testament personage who showed her deep gratitude to God for the miracle son that He gave her was Hannah. Hannah demonstrated her gratitude and thanksgiving by lending her son to the Lord for the rest of his life, his entire life. Today I would like to cover the example of Hannah's gratitude and also cover some of the scriptures to see what God has to say about the subject of gratitude. I have a list of eight items that we should have deep gratitude for. The title of this message is "Deep Gratitude". In my introduction, I mentioned Hannah as an example of someone who demonstrated her gratitude and thanksgiving by lending her son to the Lord for her entire life. 1 Samuel 1:1 ..there was an Ephraimite named Elkanah.." verse 2 "And he had two wives, one was named Hannah and the name of the other was Peninnah; and Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children." Each year when Elkanah and his family, his wives and his children, Peninnah's children, went up to worship the Lord of hosts in Shiloh, he would give offerings. In verse four we see that he would give portions to Peninnah, his wife and to all her sons and daughters. (So she had multiple sons and daughters.) But he loved Hannah and he would give her a double portion, but the Lord had closed her womb as we read in verse 5, and Peninnah really rubbed it in. A woman having children in those days was a big deal and there was a stigma attached to any woman who was barren and didn't bear children. Think of Abraham and Sarah; Sarah was barren and so she made the mistake of offering her maid Hagar to Abraham so she could have a child by extension and she didn't wait on God to provide that son. And, so there was a real stigma attached to a woman who did not bear children in those times. Peninnah would rub it in, she would pick on Hannah about it and provoke her. You read in verse seven that she wept and wouldn't even eat. Notice what Elkanah said in verse 8 "..Hannah, why do you weep, and why do you not eat and why is your heart grieved? Am I not better to you than ten sons?" I mean, he really loved her, but she was barren, so Hannah went to the tabernacle of the Lord and in verse 10 "And she, being in bitterness of soul , prayed to the Lord and wept in anguish." She was really hurt down to the quick and she prayed from her heart, from the depth of her being. Verse 11 "And she made a vow, and said, "O Lord of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your maidservant and remember me and not forget your maidservant, but will give your maidservant a male child, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor shall come upon his head." She was giving him to the Lord and he was going to be a Nazarite. Eli saw her lips moving, but she wasn't saying anything out loud so he thought she was drunk. Verse 14 "Then Eli said to her, 'How long will you be drunk? Put your wine away from you.'" Verse 15 "But Hannah said, 'No, my lord, I am a woman of sorrowful spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor intoxicating drink, but have poured out my soul before the Lord."' Verse 16 "Do not consider your maidservant a wicked woman for out of the abundance of my complaint and grief I have spoken until now.' Verse 17 "Then Eli answered and said, 'Go in peace and the God of Israel grant your petition which you have asked of Him.'" God did grant her petition. After Hannah and Elkanah got back home, God remembered her and she conceived and she bore a son. Verse 20 "And it came about in due time, after Hannah had conceived, that she gave birth to a son, and she named him Samuel, saying, 'Because I have asked him of the Lord.'" Samuel means 'heard by God'. Then they go up for another sacrifice. Verse 22 "But Hannah did not go up, for she said to her husband, "I will not go up until the child is weaned; then I will bring him, that he may appear before the Lord, and stay there forever." That's what she did. She stayed and nursed her son until she had weaned him; I guess they did that when they were two or three years old, longer than a mother would tend to nurse a baby today. They went up in Verse 24 and they brought Samuel to the house of the Lord in Shiloh and the child was young; he was probably two, three, or four years old or whatever the age was. They did a sacrifice and notice what she said. Verse 26 "And she said, 'Oh, my lord, as your soul lives, my lord, I am the woman who stood by you here, praying to the Lord.'" Verse 27 "For this child I prayed, and the Lord has granted me my petition; which I asked of Him." Verse 28 '"Therefore I also have lent him to the Lord, as long as he lives, he shall be lent to the Lord'. So they worshiped the Lord there." Samuel grew and developed and became a very important prophet of God. God remembered Hannah and He blessed her with five more sons and daughters. 1 Sam. 2:18 "But Samuel ministered before the Lord even as a child wearing a linen ephod." Verse 19 "Moreover, his mother used to make him a little robe and bring it to him year by year when she came up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice." Think a moment what Hannah was willing to give up with this special child, this miracle child of hers. She missed watching him grow up day in and day out; getting to see him only once a year when she goes up for the yearly sacrifice. Verse 20 "Then Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife and say, 'the Lord give you descendants from this woman, for the loan that was lent to the Lord.' Then they would go to their own home." Verse 21 "Then the Lord visited Hannah so that she conceived and bore three sons and two daughters. Meanwhile the child Samuel grew before the Lord." We see here that Hannah was very thankful and grateful for God providing this son and she vowed to God that she would lend him to the Lord for the rest of his life, which she did, she was faithful.

What does gratitude or being grateful mean? According to the "Merriam Webster Online Dictionary" gratitude is: a feeling of appreciation or thanks. The state of being grateful, thankfulness. "The words gratitude or grateful do not appear in the King James Version of the Bible, however 'thanks' and 'thanksgiving' occur many times. Most often the word translated 'thanks' in the Old Testament is translated from 'Strong's' 3034 'Yadah' which according to 'Vine's Dictionary' means 'to give thanks, to laud, to praise.' Wrapped up in gratitude to God according to what 'Vine's' stated includes these three definitions of 'Yadah'. That's the word for thanks and thanksgiving in the Old Testament. It includes giving thanks to God, lauding God,as the great Creator as the life giver as One who blesses us in every way and praising God. According to 'Strong's' thanks in the New Testament most often is translated from 'Strong's' 2168 'eucharisteo' which means to be grateful, to express gratitude. So we have much for which to express deep gratitude to God.

Let's consider eight of our blessings for which we should have deep gratitude.

1. WE SHOULD HAVE DEEP GRATITUDE TO GOD FOR HIS PERFECT, DIVINE NATURE.

God is love as we read in 1 John 4:8, and all his law and prophets are founded on or based on LOVE. Matthew 22:34 "But when the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together" Verse 35 "and one of them a lawyer asked Him a question testing Him." They were always trying to trip Christ up and get Him to say something that they could use against Him, because they were jealous of Him, of his popularity and following. Verse 36 "And saying, "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?"" Verse 37 "Jesus said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind."" We have to love God with all our being. Verse 38 "This is the first and great commandment." Verse 39 "And the second is like it 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'"' We love God by keeping the first four commandments; we're showing our love to God by being here on his holy Sabbath day. It is holy time, it's a commanded assembly. We're loving God by keeping those first four commandments and putting God first. The second commandment is like it, 'you shall love your neighbor as yourself'. We love our neighbor as ourselves by keeping the last six of the Ten Commandments. Verse 40 "On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." All of the law and prophets are founded on love. God is righteous, holy, just, good and perfect. His nature encompasses all the fruits of the Spirit, which are listed in Galatians 5:22-23. I'll summarize them: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. God's nature encompasses all the fruits of the Spirit and there is no law against any of these components of the fruit of the Spirit. Have you ever considered how bleak and hopeless our existence and future would be if God ruled with Satan's nature and approach? Instead of love, there would be hate; instead of joy, sadness; instead of peace, war; instead of longsuffering, impatience; instead of kindness, hard heartedness; instead of goodness, evil; instead of faithfulness, unfaithfulness; instead of gentleness, harshness; and instead of self control, unconstraint. All of these antonyms came from "The Merriam Webster Online Thesaurus". If God ruled with all of these antonyms as the fruit of the spirit, what a nightmare it would be for all of us and all of mankind!! So we need to have deep gratitude that God's nature is the exact polar opposite of Satan's nature and that God is holy, righteous, good and perfect. God wants us to become perfect as He is perfect. Matthew 5:48 "Therefore, you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect." Every day of our lives we need to be striving to reach perfection. So, point number one is: We should have deep gratitude to God for his perfect, divine nature.

2. WE SHOULD HAVE DEEP GRATITUDE THAT GOD CREATED US IN HIS OWN IMAGE AND LIKENESS.

Genesis 1:26 "Then God said, 'Let Us make man in Our image according to Our likeness; and let them have dominion over all the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over the cattle over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.'" Verse 2 "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God He created him, male and female He created them." We have hair and a head and a face, chest, torso, hips, legs, feet; what do you read in the scripture where God is described? We look physically like God looks spiritually. You see God described with the same spiritual features that we have as physical features. Since God created us in his own image and likeness, we have some of God's characteristics; we have the spirit in man, a gift from God that gives us intellect, the ability to think and to plan to dream to invent to create. Animals live and operate according to God-given instinct. GOD CREATED US AFTER THE GOD KIND, not the monkey kind or cosmic slime kind. God's plan for all of us..that we observe in the Holy Days every year..for all of mankind, is for each person to be offered the opportunity to become a member of the family of God, that the human family is a parallel of. Those being offered the opportunity in this age are referred to as the first fruits in the holy scriptures. We're going to be observing the Feast of Firstfruits, as Mr. Martens mentioned during the announcements, on June 8th, the Day of Pentecost. We should all be thankful, be extremely grateful that we have been called and chosen to be among this tiny little group of firstfruits in this age. Point number two is that we should have deep gratitude that God created us in his own image and likeness, and offers us the gift of eternal life in his family.

3. WE SHOULD HAVE DEEP GRATITUDE THAT GOD HAS CREATED A PLAN OF SALVATION TO REDEEM US FROM OUR SINS.

The apostle Paul said in Romans 3:23 that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. We've all done wrong; we've all broken the Ten Commandments. The apostle James said when we break one, we are guilty of breaking them all. So, God created a plan to redeem us from our sins before the foundation of the world, before He created Adam and Eve, before this age started. 1 Peter 1:20 "For He was foreordained before the foundation of the world.." 1 Peter 1:17 "And if you call on the Father who without partiality judges according to each one's work, conduct the time throughout your sojourning here in fear." We need to fear God, which means to deeply honor and respect Him. Verse 18 "knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold from your aimless conduct received by traditions from your fathers." We can't buy our way into the Kingdom of God. Verse 19 "but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot." He indeed was foreordained, before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you. GOD HAD ALREADY CONCEIVED A PLAN OF SALVATION BEFORE HE CREATED ADAM AND EVE. Rev. 13:8 (this is speaking about the beast) "And all who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the book of life of the Lamb, slain from the foundation of the world." When the Lord saw, the One who became Jesus Christ, that Adam and Eve had eaten of the forbidden tree and sinned, He knew that He would have to come as the Messiah and be sacrificed to pay the penalty for all of mankind's sin. We should have deep gratitude that we were chosen in Jesus Christ before the foundation of the world. God knew He was going to call out a group. Ephesians 1:3 "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ." Verse 4 "Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world," ( before the foundation of this age) "that we should be holy and without blame before Him, in love." So, God conceived the plan before the foundation of the world and we were chosen in Him before the foundation of the world. Point number three is that we should have deep gratitude that God has created a plan of salvation to redeem us from our sins.

4. WE SHOULD HAVE DEEP GRATITUDE TO GOD THAT GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD THAT HE GAVE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON SO THAT WE WOULD NOT PERISH BECAUSE OF OUR PERSONAL SINS BUT HAVE ETERNAL LIFE.

JOHN 3;16 "FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD THAT HE GAVE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON THAT WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM SHOULD NOT PERISH BUT HAVE EVERLASTING LIFE." There's the alternative there of believing and having eternal life or not believing and perishing. Notice the love that God had and that Jesus had. Verse 17 "For God did not send his Son in the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved." Jesus put his eternity on the line to come to this earth as our Savior. He put his eternity on the line to come to this earth as a human being. Notice what the apostle Paul said. Phil. 2:5 "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus." That is a good prayer for you and I to pray every day, 'Help me to have your mind Father; help me to have the mind of Jesus Christ.' Verse 6 "Who being in the form of God (His Father was God and his mother was Mary..so He was part human, part God) did not consider it robbery to be equal with God," ( When He was the Logos or the Word or the YHWH of the Old Testament.) Verse 7 "But made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a servant.." ( got down on his hands and knees and washed the disciples feet that last Passover) "..and coming in the likeness of men." Verse 8 "And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross." He said, 'If it be possible, let this cup pass from Me, but if not..Your will be done.' And He said, 'Father, forgive them because they don't know what they are doing' as they were crucifying Him. Verse 9 "Therefore God has also highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name," Verse 10 "that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE SHOULD BOW, of those in heaven and of those on earth, and of those under the earth," Verse 11 "And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father." Sending His only begotten Son to die as the perfect Passover sacrifice was the epitome of God's unfailing, infinite love. Every Passover lamb sacrificed beginning with the Passover in Egypt, pictured, pointed to the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ. His death was worth more than all of our lives combined so He could pay the penalty for all of our sins. What Jesus endured was horrible; what He had to go through: the illegal arrest, the humiliation, the ridicule, the taunts, the blows to his face, the torture with scourging that turned his back side to 'hamburger meat', and the excruciatingly painful death of crucifixion. What He went through was horrible and He knew what He faced. He is the One who inspired the prophesies to be written, like in Isaiah. He knew what was going to happen to Him. So, as I mentioned earlier, He asked, 'O Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me, nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.' (Matt. 26:39) And when the Roman soldiers crucified Him, He said, 'Father forgive them for they do not know what they do.' Stephen said the same thing as he was being stoned to death. He said, 'Do not lay this sin to their charge.' Acts 7:59 "..as he was calling on God and said , 'Lord Jesus receive my spirit.'" Verse 60 "Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, 'Lord do not charge them with this sin,' and when he said this, he fell asleep." Stephen exhibited the same kind of attitude that Jesus had when he said,' Father forgive them for they do not know what they do.' Because Jesus was the perfect Passover sacrifice, we were blessed and privileged to observe the New Testament Passover about a month ago with the new symbols of bread and wine. We are further privileged to observe the remaining Holy Days; Pentecost is coming up on June the eighth and the Feast of Trumpets and the Day of Atonement, the Feast of Tabernacles and the Eighth Day. These Holy Days picture God's wonderful plan of salvation which is ALL founded on the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Without the perfect Passover sacrifice of Jesus Christ, none of the rest of the Holy Days would mean anything or be able to occur. Point number four is that God gave his only begotten Son so that we would not perish because of our personal sins but have eternal life.

5. WE SHOULD HAVE DEEP GRATITUDE THAT OUR LORD AND MASTER JESUS CHRIST SERVES AS OUR GREAT HIGH PRIEST MAKING INTERCESSION FOR US TO THE FATHER.

We're forgiven our sins and reconciled to God through the sacrifice of Christ, but we are saved by his life. WE ARE SAVED BY HIS LIFE. Romans 5:10 "For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more having been reconciled, we shall be saved by his life." We're forgiven all of our past sins through the blood, but He's bringing us along and perfecting us by his life. He serves as our great High Priest making intercession for us to the Father. Hebrews 7: 25-26 "Therefore, He is able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He ever lives to make intercession for them." Verse 26 "For such a High Priest was fitting for us who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens." When Satan accuses us to the Father, as revealed in Rev. 12:10, Jesus makes intercession for us to the Father. Jesus knows what it was like to be a human being, therefore He can empathize for us with the Father. He can sympathize with our weakness. He was tempted in all points as we are, yet without sin. We read a couple of pages back in Hebrews 4:14 "Seeing then we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God; let us hold fast our

confession." Verse 15 "For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin." When we do wrong, when we sin; according to the apostle James it starts in the mind, and we don't bring it under the captivity to the obedience of Christ, we keep thinking about it and eventually, we do it. Jesus never gave in to that process; He was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Because we have this great High Priest, Jesus the Son of God..Verse 16 "Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need." Since Jesus was Immanuel, God with us and had the Holy Spirit without measure, Jesus never sinned when He was tempted and He qualified to be our Savior and High Priest. We should all have deep gratitude that we have the great High Priest Jesus Christ sitting at the right hand of the Father making intercession for us to the Father for us when we're accused. Point number five is that we should have deep gratitude that our Lord and Master Jesus Christ serves as our great High Priest making intercession for us to the Father.

6. WE SHOULD ALL HAVE DEEP GRATITUDE FOR THE RIGHTEOUS ANGELS THAT GOD PLACES ABOUT US FOR OUR PROTECTION AND BENEFIT.

We read in the book of Hebrews that they're all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation. Hebrews 1:13-14 "But to which of the angels has He ever said, 'SIT AT MY RIGHT HAND UNTIL I MAKE YOUR ENEMIES YOUR FOOTSTOOL'?" This is what He spoke to the Word, the YHWH, the Lord of the Old Testament..the One who became Jesus Christ. Verse 14 "Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation?" It's going to be neat one of these days to find out how many times we've had an angel protect us, prevent an accident, intervene for us. Who knows how many times that's happened and we go right on along unaware of it. Jesus also spoke of the angels of the little ones always seeing the face of their Father in heaven. The little ones have their angels. Matthew 18:10 "Take heed that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that in heaven their angels always see the face of My Father who is in heaven." Jesus is here speaking of little children or people that are new in the faith and immature in the faith. Matthew 18:1 "At that time the disciples came to Jesus saying, 'Who then is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?" The disciples were hung up on which one of them was going to be the greatest; it kept coming up. Verse 2 "And Jesus called a little child to Him and set him in the midst of them" Verse 3 "and said, 'Assuredly, I say to you unless you are converted and become as little children you will by no means enter the Kingdom of Heaven." Father, please help me to be like a little child; help me to be child-like. Verse 4 "Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven." Verse 5 "And whoever receives one little child like this in my name, receives Me." Verse 6 "But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were drowned in the depths of the sea." Verse 7 "Woe to the world because of offences; for offences must come, but woe to that man by whom the offence comes." Verse 10 "Take heed that you do not despise one of these little ones for I say to you that in heaven their angels always see the face of My Father who is in heaven. So point number six is that we should all have deep gratitude for the righteous angels that God places about us for our protection and benefit.

7. WE SHOULD HAVE DEEP GRATITUDE FOR OUR FOOD, SHELTER, AND CLOTHING PROVIDED FOR US BY A GENEROUS, LOVING, MERCIFUL GOD.

God has promised to provide for all our physical needs if we seek first his Kingdom and his righteousness. Matthew 6:33 "But seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you." Now, Jesus has just gotten through going through a section about 'do not worry' (as the heading says in the New King James Version). He says in verse 25 "For this reason I say to you, do not be anxious for your life, as to what you shall eat, or what you shall drink; nor for your body, as to what you shall put on. Is not life more than food, and the body than clothing?" Verse 26 "Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?" Verse 27 "And which of you by being anxious can add a single cubit to his life's span?" Verse 28 "And why are you anxious about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin," Verse 29 "yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory did not clothe himself like one of these." Verse 30 "But if God so arrays the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more do so for you, O men of little faith." You see, the 'do not worry' part of it is because of 'O you of little faith'. Verse 31 "Therefore do not worry saying, 'What shall we eat? what shall we drink? What shall we wear?" Verse 32 "For after all these things the Gentiles seek, for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things." Even before we ask, but the scripture says we ought to ask. Verse 33 "But seek first the Kingdom of God.." Keep seeking God first; keep that goal of being in the Kingdom of God more important than anything else in our lives and seek God's righteousness and all these things He said don't worry about will be added to you. God promises to provide all of our physical needs if we seek first his Kingdom and his righteousness. We need to work like one hundred percent depends on us and we need to depend on God like one hundred percent comes from Him. We could also, because of this land in which we live have deep gratitude for the mighty physical blessings that have come down to the USA and the British Commonwealth because of the faithfulness of Abraham. These blessings were passed down through Isaac, through Jacob, through Joseph, through Ephraim and Manasseh; blessings on fields and farms and the list goes on and on. Sadly, there are punishments spoken of because of our national sin and God is stripping away those blessings and it's painful to watch it happen. So, we should have deep gratitude for the physical abundance that God has richly provided for us. So point number seven is that we should have deep gratitude for our, food, shelter, and clothing provided for us by a generous, loving, merciful God.

8. WE SHOULD HAVE A DEEP GRATITUDE FOR ALL THE PROMISES AND BLESSINGS OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD.

THERE'S A LOT MORE COMING IN THE KINGDOM OF GOD THAT WE SHOULD HAVE DEEP GRATITUDE FOR AND LOOK FORWARD TO WITH EAGER ANTICIPATION.There's the marriage supper of the Lamb in Revelation 19 ; being among the witnesses observing the binding of Satan and his demons twice, before the millennium and after the millennium in Revelation 20. Serving as kings and priests during the millennium in Revelation 20; serving during the Great White Throne Judgment period, also in Revelation 20. Witnessing the coming of the new heavens and new earth and the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21. Being able to see God the Father face to face and reign for ever and ever in the New Jerusalem and have a dwelling place there. When we get to the end of the Revelation, we don't know a whole lot about what's coming after that; but isn't it going to be great to be there when God the Father reveals what He has in store for the rest of eternity? He has some things in store that are better than we've ever dreamed of, hoped for, thought about. 1 Cor. 2:9 "..EYE HAS NOT SEEN, NOR EAR HEARD, NOR HAVE ENTERED INTO THE HEART OF MAN THE THINGS WHICH GOD HAS PREPARED FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM." What we do understand, we read in Verse 10 "For to us God revealed them through the Spirit.." We all need to be there to find out what God is going to be doing for the rest of eternity to where his peace and his kingdom is going to expand forever and ever. How is that even possible? God told Abraham he was going to have children as the stars of heaven; there are trillions of stars up there. Does that scripture mean what it says? He will have a lot of children if he has as many as there are stars. We should have deep gratitude for all the promises given to those who remain called, chosen and faithful. Point number eight is that we should have deep gratitude for all the promises and blessings of the Kingdom of God.

Today, we have considered the gratitude that Hannah showed God for the miracle of Samuel's birth. She lent him to the Lord for the rest of his life and he served God as a mighty prophet. As God's called out ones, we have much for which to have deep gratitude. Gratitude is a feeling of appreciation or thanks; the state of being grateful; thankfulness. We have many blessings for which to have deep gratitude: we serve a divine perfect God who is love. We should have deep gratitude that we have a super genius Creator who has created us in his own image and likeness. This super genius Creator deeply desires that we join his God family as eternal spirit beings. We should have deep gratitude for the plan of salvation that's pictured by the Holy Days. And for the perfect light and perfect sacrifice of our savior and Passover Lamb, Jesus Christ, Who makes the fulfillment of all the Holy Days possible. We should have deep gratitude that God loved us so much that He sent his only begotten Son to die for us that we might be forgiven our many sins. We need to be thankful and grateful that our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ is currently sitting at the right hand of the Father serving as our great High Priest making intercession for us to the Father. Physically, we should have deep gratitude for our many physical blessings; many of which have come through God's promises and the faithfulness of Abraham.. including the coming of the Savior, Jesus Christ. Then there are more spiritual blessings to come in the Kingdom of God: the marriage supper of the Lamb; the witnessing of the binding of Satan and his demons; serving as kings and priests during the millennium and the great white throne judgment; the new heavens and new earth; the New Jerusalem; and on in to eternity. May God help us all have deep gratitude for all of these blessings that God promises to his saints now and forever in the Kingdom of God.