Three Keys to Thanksgiving

As I mentioned, Thanksgiving is in less than two weeks, and we are having our Thanksgiving dinner here as a spiritual family. Over the next few weeks, we will prepare, and many of us will have Thanksgiving dinner with our physical family and extended family and friends as we keep this American holiday, a truly American holiday. Thanksgiving is a unique feature of the American history and American scene. Other nations have days of Thanksgiving, but this is a unique one, I think, in many different ways.

And certainly within the land of America and of the land of such bounty and prosperity and abundance that we have as a land, it reflects something that we understand is far deeper than just physical material wealth. It reflects the hand of God and the blessings of God. It's a good time of year, and it's a good season. I admit that deep at heart I am a courier and Ives type of person. You don't see too many courier and Ives prints these days, but early on in our married life we bought some courier and Ives foil prints of the seasons, I remember.

We had them hanging in our home for a number of years until we realized that it was time to put something else up there. You know how it is. You decorate once when you're young, and then you decorate again when you're middle-aged and whatever.

But we had some courier and Ives prints, and the ones that we had that really attracted us, they were prints of the seasons. But each season they depicted always had a scene of home, and somebody coming to a home. Usually it was a type of a farm farming scene, and that's one of the images that courier and Ives cultivated a great deal.

But it was always a sense of a warm, nostalgic scene of home and hearth and people gathering for an occasion. And it just evokes some sentimental memories, but I guess that's the type of painting or picture or image that I always have liked to have about America, and particularly its connection with Thanksgiving. I know when I was young I always would make sure that we had Thanksgiving dinner, and it was always nicer when we got together with our family.

But I remember many times I would plan out the meal, and my mom would cook it. I wouldn't try to do it, but I would plan out the meal to make sure that we had all the right things, and green beans, and corn, and cornbread stuffing. You've got to have cornbread stuffing, and turkey, and everything else. But it just always resonated in my mind when I was young as a very important thing.

I used to sing to the boys when we would take them to their grandmother's house for Thanksgiving earlier years. I would always sing the song over the river and through the woods. To grandmother's house we go. I always connected that with Thanksgiving. I don't sing that too much anymore, but everybody's glad about that. But this year, grandmother's coming here. I don't know if she'll sing it on the way, but the last few years Debbie's parents have come out, and they'll continue.

They'll be hopefully God willing here in a few days for Thanksgiving as well. But it is a time and a season for that. Now, Thanksgiving is not something that should just be relegated to one day or to one season. We should be thankful as a way of life every day and on a continual basis in the good times as well as the lean times. Because Thanksgiving, in its truest sense, is to God. And we should be and need to be always aware that our blessings, our life, all that we are and all that we have comes from God.

And we should be able to give thanks to that. So I'd like to go through a few things today that should remind us and frame this concept of Thanksgiving for us. In our mind, I'd like to go through three points. That's all that I have to give you here this afternoon, or three points on Thanksgiving. And how to be thankful and to what we should be thankful. To frame our minds in a spiritual sense for the season so that we are sure that we focus on more than just the food and more than just the football that will be there on the day as well.

I think, don't the Colts play on Thanksgiving this year? So there'll be even more football to watch. But let's all be sure that we have our minds and our hearts framed for an attitude of Thanksgiving. The first point that I want to cover is being thankful toward God. We understand the fullness of God's purpose and plan for mankind. And when we understand that, as we should, we should be thankful.

That is where our Thanksgiving starts. It is ultimately to God. That knowledge is the core of our calling, and it is a major point of Thanksgiving. Thanking God for the fullness of His purpose, and that we understand that. You know, when we really break down the concept of our calling and what God's Spirit has opened our hearts and minds to understand about His plan, His purpose, what we collectively call within ourselves the truth, you know, we say, when did you come to understand the truth? And we talk about living the truth of God. And certainly the Scriptures reveal God's truths. And when you have that miracle of conversion take place, and that's the only way you enter into that understanding and that relationship with God is through the conversion and the miracle that God performs where He opens our hearts and minds, and He chooses in His time and His way, and He does that.

But when it does, it opens our mind to a fullness of God's purpose and plan. And for that we should be humbled and thankful. It should never make us feel superior to someone else. There are a lot of people who understand aspects of God and Christ and yet are not called at this point in time and have not been brought into the body of Christ. I think we have over the years grown in our wisdom and our understanding of how we approach that topic.

We're thankful for what God has called us to understand, but we also know that there that other people have understanding of God to the degree that they do. I'm not saying they're called and converted. I'm not saying that that's where God's Church is.

That's not what I'm saying at all. But we have to realize that the greatness of God and the overarching greatness of God, that what God has called to us to is a fullness of His understanding, of His purpose, and of His plan. And that is the miracle of conversion. That is the heart and the essence of the truth, and that is the core of our calling. And whatever brand of faith we had prior to that, we were, you know, reflected off of us. We were good people. We were God-fearers. You read the book of Acts of people who were God-fearers that had the gospel brought to them, and then their minds were opened, and they accepted the fullness of the gospel.

But they feared God as they knew Him at that point in time. It wasn't a full understanding. They went to their church just as you went to your church.

My mother was a good, God-fearing Methodist woman when she was called. She wasn't a pagan. She wasn't cursing God. She was living her life, faithful to God, as best she knew at that time, when God called her. And she, you know, taught me, and, you know, that's my story, and we all reflect that from varying ways. God in His mercy calls us and opens our heart and minds to understand the truth, and we certainly want to share that with all others, but we also understand that God has to open their minds just like He's opened ours. We learn that too soon, too late sometimes, as we try to bang people over the head with our Bible and say, you know, wake up and understand the Sabbath or the Holy Days or this or that, and unless God's doing it, it just doesn't happen. So we understand the fullness of our calling, and it's a major point of thanksgiving.

In Ephesians chapter 1, there is a prayer that is Ephesians the first chapter, that is a prayer of thanksgiving. Ephesians the first chapter, I'd like to go through that. Do you know that Ephesians 1 was Mr. Herbert Armstrong's favorite chapter in the Bible? I don't know if I ever mentioned that to you. I heard him give a Bible study on it one time when I was a student and a call ambassador, and he went through Ephesians 1, and he just was sharing that that was his favorite book in the Bible, or favorite chapter in the Bible, I should say. And the reason he said it was because it extolled the fullness of Jesus Christ. And you read chapter 1 of Ephesians, and you understand that. But it's also a prayer of thanksgiving, as Paul lays it out here. Beginning in verse 3, he says, "...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." And so it begins by talking about the Father. Blessed be the Father of Jesus Christ, for what He has done. The focus here in this first part of the chapter then is on the Father. Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. Chosen of God. The plan of God worked out even before the foundation of this present world. But there would be a group of people called to holiness without blame, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself according to the good pleasure of His will. So it's the Father's will that through Christ, sons would be adopted, would be brought into a relationship with Him as the Father, and we His sons, that's what was predestined. That was what was planned. And Christ would be the mechanism, the Word would become Christ, give His life so that that could take place. Verse 6, "...to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace, which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence." Time to time it's always good for us to stop and be thankful to God for the forgiveness of sins. Just to say to God and ask God to forgive us for sins.

That's not just a Passover event, that's a regular event. How regular? Well, only you know, don't you? And only I know for me. But I'll tell you for me, it's pretty regular. But we should ask God forgiveness and ask His pardon and be thankful that it is available, that the blood of Christ, and the riches of that grace are there, and they abound to us in His wisdom and prudence.

Verse 9, "...having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Himself." So God has made known to us the mystery of His will.

And again, that's why it's not understood by all. Because God has to make it known.

And that is the miracle of conversion. The greatest miracle that could ever be imagined and discussed.

Healing is a miracle. The opening of a sea or body of water is another miracle. The stopping of time as we read the time of Joshua is a miracle. There are other miracles that some are known and others are not necessarily known that happen, that occur. But the greatest miracle is the opening of a mind, a human mind, to understand the mystery of God's will. And God is the only one who can do it.

The stubbornness, the intransigence, the hard-headed flint, four-headed ideas and attitudes of human nature cannot be bridged without God's Spirit doing it, without God working on the heart and on the mind. My arguments, yours, the cleverest writer, can't do it. It has to be done by the Spirit of God, and that is a mystery, and that has been open to us. And to understand that fullness is a great source of thanksgiving. In verse 10, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times, he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth in him. In him also we have obtained an inheritance being predestined according to the purpose of him, who works all things according to the counsel of his will. And so we have been granted an inheritance. It is set, it is sealed, it is there, it is waiting for us, according to his purpose, to be his sons, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of his glory.

We are among those firstfruits. We are among the first who trusted in Christ. And we're not the first, nor will we be the only. The first go back a long time before us. We read about them in the book of Acts. And in another sense, we read about them, some of them in the Old Testament. People like David, Moses, and Abraham will be a part of that resurrection as well.

But we are among those who first trusted in Christ, to his praise and glory. In him you also trusted after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and whom also having believed you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. And so we are sealed with that spirit of promise. There is a sealing that takes place when we are baptized, we receive God's Spirit, we start that process of growth and maturation and development toward full birth into the family at the resurrection. But we are sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. God is going to do what he's going to do. And we will not die, we will not pass from this physical life. Once we are in that relationship with God, we will not die until God knows that it is time for each one of us.

Sometimes we always worry about death, and we think about it at times as you grow older.

Faced with a tragedy like happened with Steve Price, it sobers us for a time, and hopefully works a purpose for all of us to think soberly about a number of things.

Safety and being careful. Our calling and what we are doing and the time with one another and the relationships that we have. The care that are the deepest to us. But we think about those.

And we realize, and we should understand, that our lives are in God's hands, every one of us. And we will not die before our time. We can be assured that when we do die, God knows it is our time. It is the fullness of our time, because we are sealed until then by the Holy Spirit of promise.

The work that God is doing within us is going to be done, and that that work will not be cut short.

Verse 14 says, who is the guarantee of our inheritance, and sell the redemption of the purchased possession to the praise of his glory. Therefore, I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and your love for all the saints, do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers. And so, Paul talks about here giving thanks for each one of us. And I'll come back to that thought in a minute. But the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation and the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe according to the working of His mighty power, which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places. You should never take for granted the working of the power of God that, as He says in verse 19, is working toward us who believe. His power is within us by the Holy Spirit, and it works for us. Sometimes we forget that. We think that it's our power and our abilities and our wisdom, and we're doing the work, and in some cases we are doing it. And that's why sometimes it's we're not going too far, and we maybe seem to be running in circles, and we're not going, we're not making any progress in our life because we are just working on our own efforts and not really drawing on the power of Christ and of the Father toward us as it works as it is a mighty power. And then sometimes God gives us a little bit of encouragement as we've prayed, as we've thrown up a prayer maybe in haste or spend a little bit of time and put some heart and soul into it. God gives us a bit of encouragement. If we have eyes to see that He is listening, that He is working, sometimes that can be semi-dramatic, sometimes it can be rather quiet, take a bit of discernment. But when we see it, when we see it, when we know that it has happened, we need to be sobered by it and recognize it for what it is, the power of God.

And step back and be thankful for it, but also realize that all too often we're trying to do it ourselves. And we're trying to work it out by our scheming or our efforts and our work, whatever it might be, on our jobs and our families and the church. You know, the things that swirl around us that occupy our lives and time, we often think that we're the only ones that can make it work. And in reality, it's God's power. Never ever forget that. It worked in Christ to raise Him from the dead, and it is a portion of that power that works in our lives in many miraculous ways.

It goes on then to end this chapter to extol the office of Christ who is far above all principality and power and might and dominion in every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in that which is to come. And He put all things under His feet and gave Him to be the head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

And that belief that Jesus is the head of the church, having been given that power and that authority by the Father, and He is the head of all over all things to the church, is again, a miraculous and awesome thing to consider and to never forget.

Those like myself, my full-time effort and work is within the church, working within the congregations and doing other things. And we all have our hearts in the work of the church. We want to see it succeed. We want to see it grow, and we want to see it develop. Always one of the biggest challenges is to keep our eyes fastened on the reality that Christ is indeed the head of the church, and to submit ourselves to Him, and to be humble and not filled with pride, and let Him do His work, and allow ourselves to be instruments and tools to whatever degree we have a part to play in whatever part of the spiritual organism of the body of Christ, the Church of God. And do that, to do it well, and to see to its ends, and see to its care. Which leads me to the second point to be thankful for, and that is for the fellowship of converted minds. Think on that during the season of Thanksgiving. Be thankful for one another, and be thankful for the part that you can play within the body of Christ, and let Christ the head over all things work through His power in you.

When you have opportunity, where you have reason to help one another, to build up the body, to serve, to care for, to pray for, to help, find that role, find that niche. But above all, be thankful for one another for what is called the fellowship of converted minds. I haven't looked through the songbook yet. There's one song that, well, it's Bless Be the Tie, I think it is.

Bless Be the Tie is in this new songbook, isn't it? And it talks about the fellowship of converted minds. There's a phrase in there. I remember that from a kid singing that song at the Feast of Tabernacles. Yeah, that is in the book, because two weeks ago up in Grand Rapids, when we were concluding Sabbath services up there, they sang it. I thought, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, don't say that. That's the last song you sing at the Feast of Tabernacles. On the last great day, that's when you sing Bless Be the Tie. So I don't know if I want to make a decree about that, but let's say that until the last great day and sing that one at the Feast of Tabernacles. That's one of the things I remember. That's a three-hanky song right there. But it talks about the fellowship of converted minds. And let's be thankful for that. Let's give God thanks for one another. And ask ourselves going forward, do we care for one another in the church? Do we really care for one another? In John 13, it marks this as one of the keys of the church. John 13 and verse 35. Or I should say as a marker of one of the disciples, because it says by this, let's read verse 34, a new commandment I give to you that you love one another, as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this we all know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another. It is a sign among the followers of Jesus Christ.

To have care, concern for one another. And how is that manifested? How is that distributed among ourselves? How do we show that? Many different ways. Many different opportunities that come up, certainly to pray for one another. We should never take any prayer request or any offer that we might give to someone where we say, I'll be praying for you. We should never do those things lightly. And just say that as something to salve over and to help us move on to the next conversation, or to get out the door to the coffee pot. When we say to someone that we will be praying for you, we should mean that, and we should do that. And whatever tool you and I have to use to remember that, writing it down on a piece of paper, writing it down on a card, we should make sure that we go home and do that. And we do it more than once. And we do it in such a way that we write it in our hearts. And we make a difference with God, and we remember it. And it moves us to a follow-on. Maybe a phone call, maybe a card, maybe a letter, maybe a note of encouragement.

But we follow on from that, because there is this need among Christians for caring, supportive people. Psalm 142.

Psalm 142, verse 4.

Let's read verse 3. Psalm 142, verse 3. It says, When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, that's depression.

Ever had your spirit, your feelings, your emotions overwhelmed within you?

I have. Most of us have. That's discouragement. That's disappointment. That's depression.

Then you knew my path. In the way in which I walk, they have secretly set a snare for me. So David is looking at others and seeing other human beings involved in his particular predicament. But he goes on in verse 4. He says, Sometimes when we are down and overwhelmed in spirit, we don't think anyone does care.

Let's face it. We have all been in that path of thought. I've been there, and I've been guilty of it, too. I've been the source of that being caused by others as well.

But we will feel sorry for ourselves. Sometimes we may not just reach out to someone, and sometimes people just don't know. If you don't tell anyone, if you don't share your needs to a good friend or to a counselor or to someone, then you can't blame someone for not caring.

But nonetheless, that sometimes is how it's arrived at. Verse 5 says, Sometimes that's what it comes down to. It's only what we have with God and ourselves.

And what we feel about God, He says, So David even ends this particular prayer in an upbeat fashion, looking forward and expecting God to deal bountifully with him. But this Psalm here can be something that we all relate to, because we all need caring and we all need support, and we all need that help.

James speaks of pure religion and undefiled are those who visit and help the fathers, the orphan, and to be aware of and to look after their needs. To help people who are widows, who are orphans, or the fatherless in that case. Now, that's not one of our fundamental doctrines. You don't see that in the 18 or 20 fundamental doctrines that we have listed in our booklet, but it's a practice.

It defines what we are and what we should be. That we practice pure and undefiled religion.

And sometimes we need to practice that to make sure that when we need it, there are those who will turn to us and help us in our time of need. Let's face it, we all live very busy lives.

And though we are a caring people, busyness and activity and the hectic pace of our life is very, very distracting from some of these fundamental aspects of Christianity.

And prayer and a phone call, a card to follow up on someone, or to see how they are, where they've been, or to go out of our way to care for one another and to care for the stranger within our midst from time to time and may walk through the door and is a completely new person, or someone who hasn't been here for a while. It falls on our duty, on our shoulders. And we have to help those sometimes who perhaps have forgotten how to help themselves. And that's the point of true Christianity, the pure religion for us to think about. No matter who we are, adult, long-time member, young adult, teenager, it's a matter of looking out for one another. It is a matter of being concerned and being caring for one another. Our young teenagers today had a Bible study, and you just saw them come in. They were reflecting on some thoughts.

Most of you don't realize there was a young person in the Church of God, United Church of God, this week who committed suicide.

The young man was in our camp program at Heritage as a younger person, was at the Feast of Tabernacles this year, and earlier this week decided, for whatever reason, that his life needed to come to an end, and he took his life. And his family is left picking up the pieces. Teen suicide is an epidemic in our society today. Statistics don't come to mind. I've read them and used them in the past, but you would be shocked. But it is classified as an epidemic in our society. And it's so ironic, because young people today, from what I've observed in the culture of the youth today, young people are more tied to each other than it seems that I was with my friends. And I had close friends as a teenager. You had buddies in high school, and you ran around and did these things. But to me, they are closer. There seems to be things that bring people closer together. I tend to think of the long-running television sitcom, Friends, that was on for a number of years, that set around a group of young adults who were friends. And all of the storylines that came in and out of that made that a long-running hit television show. But it focused off the fact of friends. And I've noticed that. When I was a camp director, I'd see the kids come in every year, and they hugged. I didn't hug that much when I was a teenager. You knew those things. But the kids hugged, and they hugged a long time. And sometimes I'm looking and saying, okay, time to come apart here or whatever. But there is a genuineness there, and there is a desire to be together. You have these social interactive sites today called MySpace and Facebook. How many of you know what MySpace and Facebook are? A few of us do. I've got a Facebook account. Every time I tell somebody I've got a Facebook account, they say, you do?

You really do? So I don't have that many friends, but I've got a Facebook account.

I'm fascinated by it, by the technology. It's a fascinating piece of technology. And, you know, I was telling some of the kids at the Feast, you know, most of the friends I got picked up at the Feast this year because we were talking about it. And you look at some of their sites, and you see they've got hundreds of connections on there. And friends. And, you know, it's a form of communication.

And there's pictures, and there's comments, and there's email. And I guess they use, many of them use Facebook to email. They don't use email anymore. They use Facebook to communicate back and forth.

But isn't it ironic that even with these, the emphasis on friends and these social networking technical tools that we have, that we still all too often come face to face with the tragedy of a young person who's not connected. Who's not connected emotionally with someone, a good friend, a parent, a minister, a counselor, a teacher, someone that can be the one to turn them around at a moment in their life when they're overwhelmed in their spirit, and they can't see beyond that minute. And they tragically take their life. You know, at some point we all have to come to the point where we recognize the forces that are working around us in our life, and in this world, the forces of evil that are ripping us apart, and call them and name them for what they are, and not tolerate and not let them get close to us, to our children. I've spoken so many times about the fact that our children are at risk, that every time I look at some of those notes and think, maybe I should give a message, I say, no, I've covered that so many times. But our children are at risk. We are at risk in this present evil world, as Paul calls it. And there are spiritual forces that are working to rip us apart, to rip our young people and their lives out of our orbit and away from us, and to rip us apart among ourselves. We battle it on so many fronts, so that when we do come together, and when we do have the moments where we can share, when we can talk, when we can laugh, when we can love, we should be thankful for that. We should give God all the credit and all of the blessing for it. And recognize just as those trees knit themselves together. And a story that I told some years, some, it's probably been a few months ago, when I gave a story of the aspen trees and the redwood trees that grow in groves. So when you go to Colorado, you don't see one aspen tree. You see a grove of aspen trees, and they're very beautiful when when their leaves are turning. When you go to Northern California, you don't see one redwood tree. You see a grove of redwood trees, because those types of trees have to depend on one another, and their root structures are intertwined, and they feed off of one another. They protect one another. They they wind together, and the winds don't blow them over, and they grow together.

We're like that. We're like those groves and stands of trees with that peculiarity about them.

We are tightly knit together, families, intermarriage, experiences and relationships, week after week, year after year, of our stories together in the Church of God, and our experience in this epic of the Church's history, and what we've lived through, and what we have contributed to it, what we've taken away from it, how we've interacted with it. We're all intertwined together with our stories, and we'll show the pictures tonight of our times at the feast this year, and it's just a small part of the scrapbook of memories and people that we've met, and that we've gotten acquainted with, and we will share those. And God willing, we'll have more of them next year to go over as well, but we have one another, and we have to cultivate those relationships. When we make decisions that sometimes take us away from one another, I pray to God that there's someone, some Barnabas or Barnabette, who can reach out and draw people together, and can help those bridges to be rebuilt, or those root structures to kind of come back together. Sometimes it only takes just one person to do that, with someone who's opposing themselves, creating problems for themselves, or someone who is sick or elderly, or for whatever reason is apart.

You notice someone is missing? Give them a call. Find out who, why, show some concern.

We have to get to the point where we don't look over our shoulders waiting for someone else, but we look into our hearts, and we follow the prompting of God's Spirit, and we act in our sphere of influence, and that is our work. That is our work. That is our calling.

That may be all that God is looking for us to perfect in our life, is to be that caring person.

It may not be in some other world.

I had someone give me a wonderful topic at the Feast of Tabernacles for a sermon, and I'm beginning to think about it, beginning to work on it, and going to give it here sometime in the next couple, three months, hopefully, about being a priest.

A priest has a meditative, intervention-carrying role within the plan of God. The Bible tells us, and we go over that Scripture in Revelation 5 every year, that we are going to be kings and priests. It doesn't say priestesses, but the Scripture is aimed at everyone, all sexes, all of us. We are going to be priests, and it's a matter of finding our role in our place, and doing it, and fulfilling it, and acting in our sphere of influence in that way. That's a challenge to us, but let's be thankful for one another, and let's ask God for the help to truly love and to care for one another.

And if we do, that power that works in Christ can work in us, and it will.

The third point to be thankful for is the land in which we live, and the freedom, and the liberty, and the abundance that we receive. This land, the United States of America, is blessed by God. We are blessed by God, not because of our greatness and who we are, but because of the obedience of one man named Abraham.

And he obeyed God, and he said, yes, sir, and he did God's will, and God fulfilled his promises to that man and to his descendants. The blessings have been bestowed upon us, and it is indeed a fair land. In Genesis 49, we read of a part of that promise and how it was going to be extended down into our time. In Genesis 49, it is a fruitful bow. A fruitful bow by a well. A tree or a vine that is bearing fruit, and it is a bow by a well, so there's a plentiful source of water. His branches run over the wall. Joseph here is described as a source of plenty, and the course of the biblical story of Joseph bears that out. His actions and his deeds saved not only Egypt, but his own family. And so he was conducting an international relief project in his day, and it resulted in tremendous blessings there. The descendants of Joseph today continue on.

I've written and spoken on that a great deal this year and read a great deal about it, because there's a need for us to say that, to certainly bring out the blessings of this land and to talk about this nation, and to point out the good things and to point out the bad things in a message of repentance as we take the gospel to this land and as we fulfill our job. But to just stop and to think about what this verse means and what this promise is to this country, it's an amazing thing. It is very fashionable today in international circles and so much, and unfortunately so much even in our own country, to bash America and to talk about its mistakes.

I was surprised, I guess, at some of the vehemence that I just casually received this year, being overseas for the feast in Jordan, and Jordan especially, and some of the comments that people made about the foreign policy of the United States and the war in Iraq.

But the level of feeling of hatred toward America is growing. Sometimes it's one thing to read about it, it's another thing to hear about it when you're visiting a foreign country and someone is speaking to you or you're talking in the conversation, and you sense that indeed they are very, very upset.

With certain aspects of this country, while at the same time, they also have been benefited by aspects of this nation as well. So much of the negativity comes from even within our midst of people who do not understand fully the role of this country. I read a book and wrote an article on the history of the English-speaking peoples this year, and the book goes against the grain of conventional wisdom in the political field and historical field about America and Britain and the way they've conducted themselves over the last couple of hundred years.

And it pointed out basically the article was showing all the historical details that really proved verse 22 here of Genesis 49, where Joseph has been a fruitful bound, the benefit that this world has had from America and Great Britain and the English-speaking peoples.

Wherever Britain went, wherever America has gone, by and large, in spite of all the mistakes, people have prospered. You look at the top ten economic indicators, or top ten nations with their economies in the world today, I think seven or eight of them, either or the United States and Great Britain, or their countries that were once very closely tied, either as colonies or benefited from America or Great Britain's presence. And that includes the Philip, it includes South Africa, Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand. It's a matter of historical record.

America and Great Britain have made mistakes in the world seem as they've not been perfect, but they have, by and large, the record is one of blessing in a material sense. And you can go right down the list. And we see that. We are a part of that. Whenever we keep Thanksgiving every year, we are reflecting on that. And yet at the same time, those blessings bring responsibilities because the scriptures also show that because of some very deep moral sins and problems that we have, our country is going to go the same route of curses and ultimately captivity that ancient Israel experienced as well. We cannot be the inheritors of those same blessings and the fullness of those blessings without also having the responsibility of obedience to the to the will and the word of God and not suffer the consequences that books like Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28 and many other prophecies show will take place because of our sins. And while at the same time we have a highest standard of living that has ever been experienced by any other nation in the world, we also have some very deep moral problems and sins, national sins, that are going to be called to account one day. And that is at the heart of the inability, it seems, at times for us to really get certain things done on the international level to the degree we once did and why we seem to be bogged down in areas and people beginning to turn against us. There's another prophecy in Micah chapter 5 that is sobering to think about at this time as well in Micah chapter 5. It carries on from Genesis 49 verse 22, but in Micah 5 and verse 7, again it talks about the bounty and the blessings and the abundance that we have.

And it says in verse 7, Then the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many peoples like the dew from the Lord. I'll wait for a minute. Some of you are still turning your pages, I can tell.

Micah chapter 5, right in the middle of the minor prophets.

Verse 7, The remnant of Jacob, and that speaking of us, shall be in the midst of many peoples like the dew from the Lord, like showers on the grass, that wait for no man, or tarry for no man, nor wait for the sons of men. Here it's speaking again of being a source of abundance, like Joseph being a fruitful bough. Jacob is in the midst of many peoples. The American footprint is all over the world and has been for decades, especially since the end of World War II. We have gone here, we have gone there, we have been in the midst of many peoples like a dew from the Lord, and showers on the grass. In other words, we have been a benefit. Three years ago, when there was a tsunami off the coast of Indonesia and thousands died, it was American ships who were the first on the scene, because we were there and because it is, again, within the nature of our people to help.

But American naval ships were the first on the scene. Australia was right there, too, to begin to provide relief aid for the victims there. Time and time again, you know and read stories like that. Verse 8 says, "...the remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles in the midst of many peoples, like a lion among the beasts of the forest, like a young lion among flocks of sheep." Lion is the king of the beast, a very powerful animal. And here, the remnant of Jacob are described as a lion among many peoples, among other nations. And that, again, represents the military power and might that we have had, who if he passes through both treads down and tears in pieces and none can deliver. We are a very formidable power when we gather ourselves up, as we have done in recent years. Unfortunately, we have not been able to carry through and affect the far-reaching changes in Afghanistan or Iraq that have been envisioned. And I doubt that we will. We can sweep in and knock a dictator off their throne. We can sweep in and clear a patch of terrorists out of Afghanistan. But we can't set up the conditions to keep them out. History will eventually repeat themselves in that part of the world. They don't have that for a number of reasons. I won't go into all of that. But verse 9 it says, Your hand shall be lifted against your adversaries, and your enemies shall be cut off.

And that has happened. And it shall be in that day, says the Lord, that I will cut off your horses from your midst and destroy your chariots. Verse 10 talks about a reversal.

There's a sudden shift in the emphasis here. The chariots and horses will be cut off.

And I'll cut off the cities of your land and throw down all your strongholds.

So this very short section of the prophecy of Micah talks about the power, and then overnight it turns and it changes. And our might is ineffective, and our cities are thrown down in all of your strongholds. We've all been watching the stock market in recent days.

You know, we watch the stock market anymore because we're all tied up in the stock market, with IRAs and 401s or retirement accounts. In the last 20 years, Americans have bought into the stock market more than we ever did before. And it has taken a tumble. The dollar abroad is weakening and has been on a steady decline since 2001, and it's really taken a beating in recent weeks. Those of you who think you want to go to Scotland for the feast next year, count on paying if it keeps... I mean, even today it would be more than double what the dollar is. It's going to be twice the price. And who knows what's going to happen in the next year? I'm not an economic forecaster, but if it continues to change, it's going to cost an awful lot of money to go not just to Scotland, but any place overseas for the feast or any travel there. The American dollar is losing ground. Things can turn around. The crude oil is up. That's impacting our pocketbook. And so for a period of time in here right now, we're seeing some rough waters, choppy waters on the economic scene as a result of all this was triggered in August with this subprime mess. Now, things can stable out. Stock market can go up. They can go down. That's what Ronald Reagan used to say. He says, in the stock market, it goes up. It goes down.

It is not the only indicator you look at. Next week, things could go back up. The losses could be recouped. Who knows? But we are in an interesting period of time. What I look at, and I tend to think that we're in a period before a major change, but we are seeing the signs of change right in front of us. That's why I wrote the article about being in a 9-10 economy.

The signs are there of an impending dramatic change, just like you see from verse 9-10 here in Michael Fine. From a time of far-reaching power and abundance to a time when things are reversed. And the reversal comes not only because of economics or military setbacks or political matters. At the heart of all of those, and behind all of that, there's a deeper spiritual reason. And that's where we are focused, and that's what we should understand. Because in verse 12, God says, "...I will cut off sorceries from your hand, and you shall have no soothsayers. Your carved images I will cut off, and your sacred pillars from your midst. You shall no more worship the work of your hands. I will pluck your wooden images from your midst, thus I will destroy your cities. And I will execute vengeance and anger and fury on the nations that have not heard." Here in a very few short verses, Micah talks about some of the problems that we see that are at the heart of our modern culture that represent the sins against God and affront to God for which He will ultimately remove those blessings. He hasn't done it yet, but He says that He will.

And look at what He says. He mentions idolatry, sorcery, soothsingers.

Witchcraft, He said at one point, was as a sin of idolatry, in the case of Saul, if you recall that phrase. Because actually, He said rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft and idolatry. Here He talks about idolatry and sorcery. And we don't have so much of that. I was stunned at the figures I saw about Halloween this year, of how much money is spent on Halloween.

And over a billion dollars was spent just on animals, dressing up animals in Halloween costumes. But it has become something far more than what I got. Kids, believe me, it was not like this when I was growing up in the Middle Ages.

It really wasn't. It kind of snuck up on you. And if you just threw on a sheet and went door to door, this is in my pre-church days, you know, you did it for a few of, you know, that day, and it wasn't on and on and on and on. And the adults didn't do it. They always carried a little can for UNICEF. Remember? It's collecting money for UNICEF for hungry children. And so you got, you got a, hopefully you got a candy bar and a nickel or some pennies put in for for charity. But then it was over. And it wasn't a big, wasn't that big a deal other than getting a sack full of candy and, you know, a few cavities down the road. But it has mushroom, and it is what we see today. And it's deeper than that. It has become some sorcery, witchcraft has become such an acceptable part of our society. And we wonder sometimes why even some of our own kids have problems that take them to the extremes that we do. Because it is, it is an accepted part of our society and so much, too much except, accepted even within the Church of God. But God says that for those matters there will be a reversal. Now that hasn't happened yet.

But we are, as I said, in some choppy waters. And we are in a time where we can still reflect on the abundance that we have. And it may cost us a few more dollars to gas up the car to go wherever we're going for Thanksgiving this year. And the cornbread stuffing or the flour or whatever we might buy the bread, it's going to cost a few dollars more because they're turning that coin into other things now. My bird feed has doubled in price. Literally. I mean, you realize, you know, we were plowing it all into ethanol, but I went to buy some corn. It was twice the price it had been a few months before. Because, you know, who knows? But we can still buy it. We can still have it because of the abundance of the land in which we live. So we gather on this Thanksgiving.

Unless, let us truly think our blessings. Hug your kids. Love your wives. Tell your close friend that you appreciate them. Send them a card. Send them a note. Give them a call.

Mend some bridges. Reach out.

Do what we can do. Ephesians chapter 5.

And verse 8. For you were once darkness, but now you were light in the world. Walk as children of light. For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth, finding out what is acceptable to the Lord. Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them, for it's shameful to them even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret. But all things in verse 13 that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light. Therefore, he says, Awake you who sleep. Arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light. See them that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wives, redeeming the time because the days are evil. Examine our time, and let's make sure we redeem the time. The days are evil. There's enough evil around. There's enough bad things that happen to us, bad things happen to other people. Sufficient to the day is the evil thereof, another verse says.

But Paul says, walk circumspectly. Consider our ways. Don't be foolish, but be wise, and redeem the time, which means to use it wisely. To use our time to be children of light, to count our blessings, and to serve God in that way. If we can do that, if we can thank God for one another, if we can thank God for the calling that He has given us, as we reflect this year on the bounty of a land, a fair land, a good land that has a tremendous amount of even potential yet, you would hope to God that our nation could repent, that it could come to its knees in a repentance. And sometimes there's a faint flicker of hope that that could come about, and the desire should always be there. And it is, in my mind, that our country would repent and change, so that those prophecies don't have to come to pass upon them. But for now, it is still an opportunity, and there is still light.

The days are evil, but there's an opportunity to walk wisely and to use our time to give God thanks, to be thankful for one another, and to be thankful for the land in which we live, and to use all of those together for the fullness and the purpose of God, and to make sure that we indeed are doing our part within that work, as God has placed us within the body of Christ.

So let's enjoy our time of thanksgiving, not only today, but through this particular season.

And let's give God thanks and praise for all that He has given to us.