Should We Complain or Should We Always Be Thankful?

Well, good morning, everyone. It really is great to be here with all of you. We're going to be staying around today. I've got other arrangements for Flint so we can stay here to enjoy this special meal that's been prepared here and be able to stay around in fellowship and not have to rush off quickly after services to make it up to Flint. So, I'm looking forward to that. I just want to let all of you know, I mean, comments were made and I made an announcement in Flint too.

Some of them were concerned because of what happened in Texas, the church in Texas, and you know, it's a very dangerous world we live in. So, we do have to take precautions, but we will take precautions here as well. You know, we'll just watch the back door, maybe close it during services or lock it. If somebody comes in there, we know we'll let them in. But we will take precautions that way too, but certainly do pray for God's protection.

We need that not only while we're at services, so we can have peace and fellowship, but also as we travel to services too and home. Traffic can be dangerous sometimes as well. So, it is a very dangerous world. We're living in and it shows how much we need God's kingdom. So, appreciate you just praying about those things and keeping those in your prayer.

But like I said, and I made a comment in Flint as well. We had a member in Flint at one time who had a permit to carry a concealed weapon, and he would come to services, and I went to him. He asked me, he told me he had this permit, and he said, is it okay if I bring my gun into church? I thought, well, I don't know what the church policy is on that, but I thought, well, I don't know that we really need to have somebody with a gun in church.

So, I said, well, I think I'd prefer if you just leave it in the trunk of your car, and we'll lock the back door. We'll have somebody watch the front door just to make sure somebody's not somebody's friend is coming to the parking lot, something strange going on, and and then we can lock it if that's the case and warn everybody. But I think we can look for God's protection and not have to have that. So, anyway, that was, I don't, church has a specific, excuse me, a specific policy on that or not. I would tend to think they would probably think they'd prefer not to have guns in church.

Probably be a better way to do it. So, anyway, but we should all just pray for God's protection in the world we live in, that He would give us peace and be able to fellowship together in peace. And that has always been the case in the history of man. There have been very difficult times for some people down through the ages.

But we are here, you know, it's a very special Sabbath to 7 before Thanksgiving. And, you know, I think I'm hearing about the Mr. Hobbs prayer requests, you know, and that some of the situations people face. And they are facing some very difficult trials. You know, if we had a young person, relatively young, that is, you know, like Keeley, and being told you only have two, a couple of weeks to live. That's devastating for the family as well. And a lot of difficult health problems are aging. We're naturally having problems that way, but certainly pray for each other. But, you know, this life is temporary. We're all looking forward to a permanent life.

We don't have to worry about these things. We won't have to worry about getting sick or these kind of things that we worry about death. But certainly, it's been a wonderful blessing to be called and have this opportunity now to understand these things and know that God is going to work all things out for the good and the long run. In fact, that's a scripture I'm going to use later on in the sermon. But this coming Thursday, of course, is Thanksgiving.

It's a time we really, really enjoy being together with family and special food and fellowship, as we're even going to have here today after services as well. It's a tremendous blessing to be able to enjoy that. Peace is one feast that we can all really enjoy with our families along with the people of the world because there's no conflict there with the world's celebration of this feast as well.

So it's a wonderful time all this and God's Church can enjoy and partake in along with everyone else. But the name of this holiday actually gives its meaning today for giving thanks. Thanksgiving. And that's an extremely important principle to apply in our lives.

You know, you stop and think, no people in the world I don't think that I can think of. Of course, God made a promise to Abraham. He's going to make it his descendants, a great nation. But I don't think any people in the world have more to be thankful for than the people of the United States of America. We have received those latter-day blessings promised to Abraham's descendants. And it's just been a wonderful, wonderful, I mean, the years that I've had here in this country going through different decades and things change. But it never has been just a tremendous blessing to be a part of this country and to have the blessings that have been given to us by God that we can all enjoy. But I wonder, you know, the world's changing.

And I wonder how many people, citizens of the United States now I'm talking about, on this Thanksgiving Day, really appreciate the blessings God has given us, or even understand how this nation was founded, or the blessings that we had that were given to us by God. I wonder how many will stop and reflect on historical meaning and significance of the holiday and history behind it as they partake of their Thanksgiving meal this coming Thursday. But I want to start here. Here's a brief history of the origin of Thanksgiving in America. And this is just from a encyclopedia I had at one time, Funk and Wagonals Encyclopedia, under their article on Thanksgiving. I just want to read a portion because we'll get a history of it. A legal holiday in the United States celebrated in early colonial times in New England.

The actual origin, however, is probably the harvest festivals. After the first harvest was completed by the Plymouth colonists in 1621, Governor William Bradford proclaimed a day of Thanksgiving and prayer, shared by all the colonists and neighboring Indians. In 1623, a day of fasting and prayer during a period of drought was changed to one of Thanksgiving because as they were praying and giving thanks to God during that drought, the rain came. Right where they were praying started raining and the drought was broken. So they turned change into a day of Thanksgiving.

That was in 1623. This is gradually the custom prevailed in New England of annually celebrating Thanksgiving after the harvest. During the American Revolution, a yearly day of national Thanksgiving was suggested by the Continental Congress. In 1817, New York adopted Thanksgiving Day as an annual custom. By the middle of the 19th century, many other states had done the same. In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln appointed a day of Thanksgiving. President Lincoln, if you look at the history, he designated the last Thursday in November as a Thanksgiving Day. Although sometimes in November you'll have five Thursdays. And so it was later changed to the fourth Thursday in November by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1939. And that was passed by Congress in 1941. Interesting. Go to a website. The website mayflowerhistory.com backslash Thanksgiving states this. The Pilgrims' first Thanksgiving began at some unknown date between September 21 and November 9th, most likely in very early October. I find that very interesting. Very likely it was in early October. But there's something that ties into that that I'm going to mention, I think is very, very interesting. Because the first part of October is probably much closer to when William Bradford first proclaimed the Day of Thanksgiving in 1621 than when we celebrate it today. Because as we just read, it probably originated as a celebration of their first fall harvest, or as a harvest festival. Now, it's interesting. You could take, of course, we go by the Hebrew calendar. And we go by the Hebrew calendar with both formant rules. That's such a fascinating subject to look into. But it's interesting because the Hebrew calendar is a calculated calendar. It's probably been used by a lot of God's people for many, many, many centuries. But it's a calculated calendar. You can calculate when the Feast of Tabernacles would occur for any given year. You can calculate it. And it's interesting to note that in 1621, the Feast of Tabernacles, on the 8th day, fell in early October. It would have been observed from Thursday to Thursday. So it is impossible that either knowingly or unknowingly William Bradford proclaimed that first Day of Thanksgiving during the Feast of Tabernacles, which, of course, portrays God's spiritual fall harvest. Just interesting thoughts. But today, I want to talk about being thankful. And I want to talk about why we should be thankful and when we should be thankful.

So in addressing why and when we should be thankful, we will look at two historic time periods, two very contrasting historic time periods. In one case, at one time here, we'll look at the people of God had everything to be thankful for, but they were not. In the other historical time period, they had everything to complain about, but instead they were thankful. Very contrasting.

So my title then is in the form of a question, should we complain or should we always be thankful? Let's see. Oh, it's okay. I'm going to start by complaining. No, where's my water? No, it's okay.

I can get by without it. But why should we complain or should we always be thankful?

Again, to answer that, I want to look at two historical time periods. One occurred about 3,500 years ago and the other occurred about 400 years ago. Oh, here it comes. Now, I'm very thankful. Thank you, John. Appreciate it. Now, if I can get the top off without spilling water all over myself. Ah, thank you very much. But to answer the question, should we complain or should we be thankful? I want to look at two historical time periods. Again, I said the one occurred about 3,500 years ago and the other about 400 years ago. So first, let's go back and look at Israel's deliverance out of Egypt, what may have occurred probably about 3,500 years ago.

And I want to begin by noticing how the lives, the people of Israel and Egypt, how their lives begin as they come under a new king. Let's begin in Exodus chapter 1. And Exodus chapter 1 verse 8. So now there arose a new king over Egypt who didn't know Joseph, didn't know the Israelites, didn't know their history. And he said to his people, look, the people of children of Israel are more and mightier than we are.

Come and let us deal truly with them as they multiply and it happened in the event of war that they also join our enemies and fight against us and so go up out of the land. Therefore, he said, set task-maskers over them to afflict them with their burdens and they built for feral supply cities, Pithom and Ramses. But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew.

And they were in dread of the children of Israel. So the Egyptians made the children of Israel serve with rigor. They made them into slaves. And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage in mortar and brick and all manner of service in the field. And all their service in which they made them serve was with rigor. Then the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives of whom the name of one was Shipra and the name of the other, Pu'ah. And he said, when you do the duties of a midwife of the Hebrew women and see them on the birth stools, if it's a son, then you shall take his life. Kill him! Kill every son that's born. But if it's a daughter, then she can live.

Verse 22, so feral commanded all his people, saying, every son who was born you shall cast into the river, and every daughter you shall save alive. I'll go back to verse 17.

These very two brave women who are named here, these brave midwives, who names, their names are so courageous that they're named down in history in the buck of word of God, Shipra and Pu'ah. But the midwives, they feared God.

And they did not do as a king of Egypt command them, even though if they'd been caught, if they found that they were behind it, they probably would have lost their lives.

But they saved the male children alive.

So these were very courageous midwives. Their names are preserved for us.

But can we even begin to imagine what life was like for the Israelites under these conditions?

They were crying out day and night for deliverance. Their lives, their horrible, they were slaves being treated horribly, put to death.

God saw their oppression and he heard their cries. Let's go to chapter 3. Let's go to chapter 3.

Just 3, verse 1.

And the Lord said, I see their tears. I know what they're suffering and going through.

I know their sorrows.

So I've come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites and Hittites and Amorites and Parazites and Hivites and Jebusites.

Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to me, and I've also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppressed them. So come now, verse 10, and therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh, and that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt, deliver them out of slavery. You know, these horrible conditions.

Of course, as we know, God did deliver them with a mighty hand through tremendous miracles.

Moreover, God destroyed the entire Egyptian army in the Red Sea, so they would never have to worry about being slaves in Egypt ever again. Tremendous blessings He gave them. Tremendous deliverance.

So you would think, and they lived through those miracles. They walked through the Red Sea. They saw all this. They saw the dead bodies who walked up on the shore on the other side of the Red Sea, after they were all died in the Red Sea. They saw all that. They witnessed this. They lived through it. You would have think that they would have been extremely thankful for the miraculous deliverance and for the freedom they now had and enjoyed because of God's deliverance.

They had everything to be thankful for and nothing to really complain about.

What happened? Shortly after their deliverance.

Let's go to the book of Numbers. Numbers 1. Let's begin in verse 1 first. Numbers 1 verse 1. Now the Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai in the tabernacle of meeting, and He gives us a time period. That's why I want to read it. It was on the first day of the second month in the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt. So this is right after they met the body, a little over a year after they'd been delivered. In fact, the book of Numbers begins just a little over one year if they're delivered out of Egypt. It then covers a 40-year period of time that they wandered in the wilderness before entering the Promised Land. In fact, the original Hebrew title of this book is in verse 1. The original Hebrew title was In the Wilderness. That was the original title in Hebrew.

The first 10 chapters of the book of Numbers cover only about a 19-day time period. So the real story begins in chapter 11. Let's go to chapter 11.

This is where the real story begins. Chapter 11, verse 1.

This is a year after they've been freed and delivered. Notice how the real story of their time in the wilderness begins in Numbers 11, verse 1.

Now when the people complained, wow, I'll soonly forgot all the blessings. And when the people complained, it displeased the Eternal. For the Eternal heard it, and his anger was aroused. So the fire of the Lord burned among them and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp. Then the people cried out to Moses, and when Moses prayed to the Lord, the fire was quenched. So he called the name of the place Tabera, which only means burning, because the fire of the Lord had burned among them.

So how did it begin? Instead of being thankful in spite of some of the hardships they went through, it began when the people complained. Earlier, as we just read, God had appeared to Moses out of a burning bush to save and to deliver them, and the bush was not consumed by fire.

Now the Israelites, who have everything to be thankful for, begin to complain, and God becomes a consuming fire to destroy some of them. What a difference it would have made if they had just been thankful instead of complaining.

What a difference that would have made. So it seems obvious that being thankful instead of complaining is a great quality. It's extremely important to God that we can kind of derive from this day of thanksgiving. We think about being thankful. Now after the fire consumed some of them, who had been complaining, what did others do? Did they learn a lesson from that and quit complaining and become thankful instead? Or did they continue to complain? Verse 4, Numbers 11, Now the mixed molders who were among them yielded to intense cravings, the children of Israel also wept again and said, Who's going to give us meat, Pete? Man, I know God's providing for both. We want something different. Because we remember the fish which we ate freely in Egypt, and we remember the cucumbers and the melons and the leeks and the onions and the garlic. And forget about the slavery. We forgot all about that. One of the good things?

But now, verse 6, Our whole bean is dried up, and there's nothing except this horrible manna day after day after day. Same thing.

They totally forgot how bad it was. Verse 10, Then Moses heard the people weeping throughout their families and everyone at the door of his tent, and complaining and griping. And the anger of the Lord was greatly aroused. Moses also was just pleased.

So this tells us what? Tells us we want to arouse God's anger. And I have to wonder, is God's anger being aroused by some of the people in the United States today who are just fighting something to complain about all the time? Not thankful for the great blessings He's given us in this country. Tells us that if we want to arouse God's anger, just complain a lot and forget about being thankful. And it seems a lot of our people in this nation have done that, and that concerns me. But why does complaining arouse God's anger? The answer lies in understanding why we always need to be thankful, which we'll get to later. But what happened next? After the spies came back, they sent spies out to spy out the land after, you know, the very beginning of numbers. They sent the spies out to look at the land of Canaan. Tell us the first part of numbers. It's just, you know, from where Mount Sinai was to Cadees Barnae. Cadees Barnae was where you entered the Promised Land, the land of Canaan. It was just an 11-day journey. It took them 40 years to get there.

But what happened next after the spies came back to report what they saw in the land of Canaan? Chapter 13, Numbers 13, beginning in verse 25, they returned from spying out the land after 40 days.

Now they departed and came back to Mosinir and all the congregation of children of Israel in the wilderness of Parram at Cadeesh. And they brought back word to them and to all the congregation. They showed them the great fruit of the land. Then they told them and said, We went to the land where you sent us. Flows with milk and honey. Here's his fruit.

Nevertheless, verse 28, the people who dwell on the land are strong. There's going to be some challenges. You're going to have to live by faith.

Because the people are strong. The cities are fortified very large and more. We saw the descendants of Anak there. And the Amalites dwell on the land of the south and the Hittites and Jebusites and Amorites and the mountains and the Canaanites dwell by the sea and along the banks of the Jordan.

But then Caleb acquired the people before Mosin. Let us go up once and take possession. For we were out with God's going to be with us. We don't have to worry about that. God's stronger than all them. We're all able to overcome it with God being with us. Verse 31, but the men who had gone up with him said, We are not able to go up against those people. For they are much stronger than we are. Verse 32, Have they gave the children a visit of the bad report of the land, which they had spied out, saying, The land through which we have gone despised, to a land that is a land that devours its inhabitants. And all the people whom we saw are men of great stature, which resulted in what? Chapter 14, verse 1. So all the congregation lived up their voices and cried, and the people wept that night. And all the children of Israel complained against Moses and Erich, so they complained again. And the whole congregation said to them, If only we had died in a land of Egypt, or if only we had died in this wilderness, why has the Lord brought us through this land to fall by the sword, that our wives and children should become victims? Would it not have been better for us to return to Egypt?

Maybe we ought to go back to Egypt. They kind of forgot how bad it was.

So they said to one another, Let us select our own leader and return to Egypt. Wow!

So all this complaining and looking things in a very negative light, it led to complaining and to the thought of even insurrection.

How did God react to that? Verse 11. And the Lord said to Moses, How long will these people reject me, and how long will they not believe me?

Why won't they trust me? Didn't they remember my deliverance through the Red Sea?

With all the signs and wonders I performed among them? So now he says, Verse 12, I will strike them with the pestilence, and I'm going to disinherit them. And I will make you view Moses. I'm going to make a view of great nation greater and mightier than they. I'm going to start over with you, Moses.

Moses was a very humble person.

Then this amazing, amazing section of Scripture. I'm not going to read it. You can read it for yourselves. Verses 11 through 19. Or, 1st 13 through 19. It's an amazing section of Scripture. What does Moses do? He begins to reason with God. He says, God, no! Don't do it! I don't want you to start over with me. You made this promise. You want to keep your promise. You don't want anybody to come back and say, well, God didn't keep His promise. And He reasons with God. And what happens? He gets God to change His mind.

Amazing! Verses 13 through 19. Dropping down to verse 20.

Then the Lord said, I have pardoned according to your word, Moses. I'm going to forgive him.

God was persuaded by Moses to change His mind. Wow! I think we can do that in our prayer sometimes.

But truly as I live, verse 21, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord. And because all these men who have seen my glory and the signs which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, they have put me to the test now these ten times and have not heeded my voice. They certainly shall not see the land of which I swore to their fathers, nor shall any of those who rejected me see it. But my servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit, he has a different attitude, a different outlook, a different type of faith, because he has a different spirit in him and he has followed me fully, I will bring him into the land where he went and his descendants shall inherit it. Then dropping down to verse 30. Except for Caleb the son of Jephunah and Joshua the son of Nun, you should by no means enter the land where this war I would make you dwell in. So, Caleb and Joshua, they're the only ones.

While were Caleb and Joshua told they would enter the Promised Land?

Because they had a different spirit, a different attitude, a different frame of mind. Verse 24.

What was the difference? See, instead of complaining, Caleb and Joshua, they trusted God. They said, we know God can do this. He can deliver it. God can do anything. And they were thankful. This is what a tremendous blessing this is. You're going to give us this land. Give us our freedom. You're going to make us a great nation.

They looked at the positive instead of the negative. It result both Caleb and Joshua entered the Promised Land. Let's not move forward a few thousand years to another historic time period. To a period when another group of the descendants of ancient Israelites were about to enter into the wilderness of another new land that is also flowing with milk and honey.

About to embark on a journey that will take them to a rich and fertile land that is just waiting for those riches to be tapped. Let's now just go back about 400 years.

Let's go back to the pilgrims of Plymouth Colony and to the origin of our modern-day holiday of Thanksgiving. Their journey began in England also to escape from bondage, to escape the religious bondage of the Church of England. So let's begin by looking at the conditions they experienced as they embarked on their journey to the Promised Land, a new Promised Land they were looking for. The conditions led to that journey. Let's go back and start in England.

This is from a book. It's out of print now, but I know I've clicked it up and you can still get used copies of it on Amazon. It's a book titled The Pilgrims and Plymouth Colony by Feeney Zinn, and George Wilson. This is a quote from pages 39 and 40 and page 72.

So September 30th in 1607, William Brewster, who's admirer and follower of William Bradford, the first governor of Plymouth Colony, William Brewster lost his job as postmaster.

Then William Bradford writing, he said, after these things said Bradford, they could not long continue in any peaceable condition, but were hunted and persecuted on every side because they were not supporting the king of England. So as their form of afflictions were but as a flee-biting, in comparison to those which they now came upon them, for some were taken and put in prison. Others had their houses invaded, and they watched night and day and hardly escaped. And most were said, fain to fly, in the old English language, to leave their houses and habitations, yet seen themselves as molested, and they found that there was no hope of their continuous there where they were in England. So by joint concession they resolved to go to the low countries where they heard was freedom of religion for all men.

So they sold their lands and goods, and they took themselves and their wives and their children. They went to Amsterdam, Holland, to escape England. That's where they went first.

But for the past nine years there had been, in effect, a law designed to stop the immigration of non-conformers. They wouldn't conform to the king of England. There's a law that says you can't you can't leave. You can't leave where you are now. You have to stay there. We're not going to give any passports to leave. And those who don't want to conform by attending the Church of England, and who wish to leave the kingdom must obtain a license from the king in order to leave. They're prohibited from leaving. King James would never give them a permit to leave. They had to get a permit from the king, but he wasn't going to give them a permit. So the pilgrims left their homes and lieden on July 21st, 1620 at the start of their journey to America. They said, well, we're going to take a journey. We're going to get away from this land. We're going to go across the ocean, try to find a new land, a new promised land. Many members of their families, for one reason or another, had to be left behind. Mary Brewster, one of the three people from Scrooby, who finally did sail on the Mayflower, was making the journey to England with only two of her five children. And without her husband, William, William was hiding somewhere in England because they had to warn out for his arrest, throw him in prison. So he was hiding somewhere in England, and was to slip aboard the ship later in Southampton, because he had been a hunted man since he had offended the king and the bishops with pamphlets he had printed. Mary had her two youngest sons with her when she left Lyden. Notice their names, interesting their names. The name of one was Love, probably short for Love of God, who was nine years old. And her other child was called Wrestling, short for Wrestling with the Devil, who was six. But Mary had left behind her oldest son, Jonathan, who was 27, and her two daughters, Patience, 20, and Fear, 14, because they had patience, but they lived in fear. Name the children of the conditions they were living in. Wow! William and Dorothy Bradford decided to leave their five-year-old son, John, behind in the care of the Robinsons. They feared perhaps that so young a child could not survive the journey. Other men, can you imagine that? They leave you with a five-year-old child while you're going to go across the ocean to Newland, not simply when they'd ever get back again to retrieve their son. They left him with a good family they knew was a good family, but they had to leave a five-year-old son. Could you do that? That'd be pretty hard, wouldn't it? But that was five years on if he can survive the journey or not. Other men took their children and left their wives at home. A few of them took their entire families. No matter what sadness they felt, the pilgrims were a determined band. They had left their homeland, England, to settle in Holland. Now they were ready to leave their adopted land behind them as well, and to set out across the western sea to find a new Zion, a new promised land, in the wilderness, which of course was in the United States, where it became the United States.

A voyage to America on the Mayflower took 66 days. It wasn't a comfortable journey. Traveling on a ship then was a lot different than ship traveling on a ship today. If there wasn't any hot food, they had to sleep in the open hold of the ship, where seawater sprayed on them continually.

They were continually cold and wet. On their voyage to America, they encountered several severe storms. It was the fall of the year, so the seas were stormy. Almost everyone got sick, and one man died near the coast of Massachusetts before they actually arrived. Yet the historical record of that voyage indicates there's no record that they ever complained.

Instead, they sang psalms of praise and thanked God throughout their voyage to America. That's part of the record of a sail on the Mayflower. On December 21, 1620, they sent 12 men ashore. They finally arrived off the coast of Massachusetts. They sent 12 men ashore to file the land as an exploring party. Why did they do that? They chose 12 men in order to follow the example in Deuteronomy 1, verses 23 and 24, where Moses sent 12 men, one from each of the 12 tribes, to file the land of Canaan as an exploring party. They wanted to follow the example in the Bible. When they went ashore on December 21, 1620, the 12 men from the Mayflower encountered Indians, and they found conditions extremely harsh, as Winard already said in.

But in contrast to the 10 spies, the 10 spies that complained, not including Joshua and Caleb, but in contrast to the 10 of the 12 spies sent by Moses, these 12 spies, their explorers, brought back a good report. Only a good report. And on December 25, this is interesting, December 25, 1620, they began building their new settlement on the shores of America at what is now Plymouth, Massachusetts. Knows what happened that first winter of 1620 to 21. Again, this is from the programs and Plymouth colony, pages 93 and 94. It was Christmas Day, 1620, when the work of the new settlement actually began. But it wasn't a holiday, not to them, because the pilgrims did not believe in celebrating Christmas or Easter or any of the other traditional holidays observed by most Christian churches. Many of the men had already become too ill to work ashore. Guts of snow, sleet, and rain interrupted the work, and men fell ill so suddenly that often they could not be taken back to the ship. They were lodged in the colony's first structure of the common house, which measured about 20 feet square. So January passed in February, and each day others were overcome by the terrible disease, which was probably pneumonia or tuberculosis aggravated by scurvy. The living are said to have buried the dead at night in unmarked graves to hide their losses from whatever Indians might be watching. The 11th edition of the Encyclopedia, I've got an 11th edition at home. 11th edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica has this in its article on Plymouth. Few, if any, other places in America contains so many interesting landmarks as Plymouth. The famous Plymouth Rock on which the pilgrims are said to have landed from the Mayflower lies on the harbor shore to the site of the first houses built on Leiden Street. Rising above the rock is Coles Hill, where during their first winter in America, the pilgrims buried half their number.

There were about 100 that came ashore that made it in the Mayflower. Half of them died that first winter. Welling the graves, but they, they, welling the graves and they leveled the graves and sold grain over them in the spring in order to conceal their misfortune from the Indians.

So that first winter was so harsh that half the pilgrims died.

Of 18 married women, only five survived. Of 29 single men, only 10 survived. Half of the Mayflower's 100 passengers died that first winter. There were only three families that didn't suffer the death of at least one of their family members. So they had every right to complain and become bitter or disenchanted, assuming nothing to be thankful for.

Their situation was far worse than that of the ancient Israelites. And yet there is no documented record that they complained and became bitter.

Instead, in very early October, we just read, one year after their deliverance, they, from their oppression and persecution in England, they set aside a day of thanksgiving.

They gave thanks to God for their survival and for the first crops that they were about to harvest from the soil over the graves of their family members that they had buried there that first winter.

Talks to you, there's other articles going back to what they had. Of course, they had about 90 Indians celebrate that with them. There were actually about two, 90 Indians, about 50 of the programs. And the Indians actually provided a lot of the food they had there. Five deer, they went out and shot five deer and brought to them large numbers of turkeys, waterfowl, cod, bass. Plus, the harvest that they got from over the graves was the ones they buried, wheat, corn, and barley.

Had different kinds of nuts and fruit as well.

But from that humble and thankful beginning, God established his nation of the United States of America, which became the greatest nation in history. So with that background, let's now address the two questions I asked at the beginning of the sermon. Why should we be thankful? And our subject should say, when should we be thankful? And why should we be thankful? First, when should we be thankful? We need to understand that first, because understanding that will show us then lead to understanding why we should be thankful. So, when should we be thankful? Only when things are going well, or should we be thankful at all times, even when things are not going well?

See, because there's always going to be times when things don't go well.

And there are a lot of times in the life of the apostle Paul where things didn't go well. But what did Paul tell us as recorded in his letter to the saints who were in Ephesus when it comes to being thankful? Let's go to Ephesians chapter 4. Ephesians 4 verse 31.

Where Paul wrote, He says, Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, evil speaking be put away from you with all malice. Don't let those kind of emotions and feelings ever get to you. So, as they come, put those aside. But what's the best way to do that? Verse 32, Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you. Chapter 5 verse 2.

And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given himself for us.

Verse 11. And have no fellowship with the unfillable works of darkness, but rather expose them.

Verse 14. Therefore, He says, Awake, you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light. See then that you walk circus-firably, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. What is the will of the Lord? Especially when it comes to being thankful. Verse 18. Do not be drunk with wine, which is in dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit.

That is, do not be drunk with wine, in which it leads to harming yourself or others.

But instead, be filled with God's Holy Spirit. Now, how can we demonstrate that we are being filled with God's Holy Spirit? Especially at times when things are not going well.

Verse 19. Speaking to one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. Giving thanks always for all things to God the Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. So, won't you be thankful? Give thanks always for all things.

Now, that doesn't mean we should necessarily be thankful for everything that goes wrong in our lives. But it means that we need to find things to be thankful for, to give thanks for, no matter what happens in our lives. No matter what adverse circumstances we might be facing or living with.

And why is it so important? Because it will counter and dispel any resentment or bitterness that could then come into our hearts. It will dispel that. And those kinds of things, that resentment and bitterness can destroy us. See, you can't harbor bitterness or resentment if you give thanks always for all things. But there's another important reason why we should also give thanks always for all things. When we do that, we are displaying our love for God and our confidence in God, which will result in what in the long run? Let's go to Romans. We know this scripture very well, but Romans 828, you probably don't have to turn, you probably know it by heart. Romans 828, but we know that all things can work together for good, no matter how bad might be, no matter what we're going through. It says, all things can work together for good to those who love God and do so are thee called according to his purposes all others are. This can result in all things working together for the good in the long run. So we shouldn't complain about how bad things seem to be, as Israelites did some 3500 years ago. Instead, always find something to be thankful for, as did the pilgrims of Plymouth colony. So we've already touched on the answer to the other question, but let's expand on a little bit more, and that is, why should we be thankful at all times? Why?

And you have to think about that. Why did God get so angry?

And why does anger get so aroused when the Israelites complained? His anger really rouse God's anger. Why? Why did God prevent those who complained and who were unthankful? Why did he prevent them from entering the Promised Land? What lesson can we learn from that? But why? Why did God get so angry? Why does anger get so aroused? God Himself answers that for us in a very, very simple Scripture, once we understand it. Let's go back to Exodus 34. Just one Scripture. It answers that. You might not connect this to it, but it is really. It tells us. Exodus 34, and just one verse. Exodus 34, verse 14, it just says this, You shall worship no other God for the Eternal, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.

So it tells us here God is jealous for His people. He wants to protect them from anything that would harm them or might be destructive to their well-being and might prevent them from entering the Promised Land. Or they can prevent them from fulfilling their calling and purpose.

And there's nothing that can be more destructive than finding things to contend they complain about and continually being unthankful when we have so many blessings that God has given us. God knows that it's a dangerous attitude. If those things go unchecked, they can eat away at us. When we get resentful, something happens. They can eat away at us until it destroys us.

We destroy our relationship with God and our relationship with one another. We get bitter and resentful about things. Seek a plan and being unthankful is an attitude of Satan, actually.

And Satan himself can try to afflict us with that with the intent of destroying us, if he can, and try to prevent us from being in God's kingdom and family. So why should we be thankful for all things at all times? Because God is the jealous God who wants to protect us from anything that might potentially harm us or keep us out of his family. Now, what can guard our hearts to make sure we're never afflicted with that kind of an attitude? Let's go to Philippians chapter 4.

Philippians 4 verse 6, excuse me, Philippians 4 verse 6, where Paul wrote, Be anxious for nothing, don't worry about things. There's a lot of things we can worry about. But in God's hands, don't worry about things. God will work it out. He will call things out for good in the long run. So be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, everything is bothering you. Just present it to God and do it with thanksgiving, because that will put you in a positive frame of mind. It will prevent you from ever getting resentful or bitter about what you're troubling you. In everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. So, let's say, with thanksgiving, let your requests be known to God, which will result in what? Verse 7, it will result in the peace of God which surpasses all understanding guarding your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. It will result in guarding our hearts and minds to make sure we never develop resentment or a root of bitterness, to make sure that Satan can never be able to get to us and try to destroy us through negative emotions, which can be very powerful. One final quick question.

How can we be thankful when everything seems to be going wrong? How can we be thankful when everything seems to be going against us? The pilgrims who were playing with colony were how did everything seem to be going wrong with them? None of our situations are even half as bad as theirs were. We can always find things to be thankful for if we just do one thing, just one thing. All it takes is one thing to always be able to find something to be thankful for.

Here's a key. One scripture gives us a key. How we can always find something to be thankful for, even when everything seems to be going wrong. That's right. Just a couple pages forward. Colossians chapter 3, verse 2, verses tells us, Colossians 3, 1, If then you are raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. Don't set your mind on all the troubles you're having, all the uncertainties, all the problems. Set your mind on God and God's promise and God's kingdom and God's future. He has the store for us. You can always find things to be thankful for if we just do that. And if we do that, we can then be thankful even when everything seems to be going wrong and seems to be going against us.

So in conclusion then, regardless of our circumstances or what happens in our life, you can always find things to be thankful for as the pilgrims of Plymouth colony did.

So be thankful always for all things because that will guard our hearts and minds from in Satan trying to get to us to get in still a root of bitterness or resentment in us. And if we do that, if we always find a way to be thankful to God and set our minds on things above, if we do that then, unlike the majority of the Israelites, we will make it into the promise land and we'll make it into the kingdom of God. So then, should we complain or should we always be thankful? As the Apostle Paul exemplified in his own life and as he instructs us, give thanks always for all things.