What Thanksgiving Really Means to Me!

Well, thank you again for that very beautiful special music. I was thinking how they're all descendants of my late father-in-law, John Wozicki, how proud he would be to see his daughters and grandchildren standing up here praising God's name like they did. That was very, very beautiful. Added a lot to our Sabbath service today, and a special thanks to everyone.

Well, this past Thursday was a holiday in the United States. Hopefully you didn't miss it.

We call it Thanksgiving Day. As I mentioned earlier, my family was blessed to have Thanksgiving on both Thursday and Friday, different sides of my family. So we celebrate it each and every year. And for many Americans, what does Thanksgiving mean? It means watching the traditional football game on television. It has come to mean the most important day of the year that follows it. Of course, Black Friday, the day to go out and buy stuff, which is just followed a couple of days later by Cyber Monday, another opportunity to go out and buy stuff.

And unfortunately, that is how our Thanksgiving concept has degenerated in our country. But how did we come to celebrate Thanksgiving in the United States? Well, it all started in 1621. The Plymouth colonists joined together with the Wampanoag Indians, and they shared an Autumn Harvest Festival. And that is acknowledged today of being the very first Thanksgiving that occurred, was celebrated in the colonies. Now, if the Indians had known what we were going to do to all the Indian nations throughout North America, maybe they would not have been as friendly as they were.

But that is considered to be the very first Thanksgiving. For more than two centuries, Thanksgiving was celebrated by individual states on different days. Some northern states, New England states, southern states were not into Thanksgiving Day all that much. But it wasn't until 1863, in the midst of the Civil War, when there was a lot of carnage going on, as this nation was at war with itself, that President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national Thanksgiving Day to be held each November.

And the reason he did that, he was prompted by a magazine editor. Her name was Sarah Josepha Hale. And at 74 years old, she wrote a letter to Lincoln in September of 1863. And here's what she encouraged him to do. She said, quote, Have a day of annual Thanksgiving made a national and fixed union festival. She explained, quote, You may have observed that for some years past there have been an increasing interest felt in our land to have the Thanksgiving held on the same day in all the states.

It now needs national recognition and authoritative fixation only to become permanently an American custom and institution. And Lincoln read that, and he was motivated and inspired by that. And he decided to do it. And I want to read part of his proclamation for Thanksgiving Day. The first half of his proclamation, he outlines the blessings that the United States received. And the second half is very religious, in which he acknowledges where our blessings come from. And this is the half of the proclamation I would like to read.

I quote, No human counsel has devised or has any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who while dealing with us in anger for our sins, has nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed fit to me and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and one voice, by the whole American people.

I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are so journeying in foreign lands, to set apart and observe. The last Thursday of November next has a day of thanksgiving and praise for our benevolent Father who dwells in the heavens. As I recommend to them that while offering up the assumptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverance and blessings, they do also with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commanded to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners, and sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty hand that heal the wounds of the nation, and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility, and union.

In testimony whereof I have here unto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed, done in the city of Washington in the third day of October in the year of our Lord, one thousand eighteen hundred and sixty-three, and the independence of the United States the eighty-eighth by President Abraham Lincoln. So President Lincoln, unlike the individuals we have today who have been our presidents, President Lincoln was a deeply religious man, and he knew that we had a nation that was a nation filled with sin. It was a nation that needed to repent of its sins.

It was a nation that had gotten far off from understanding and appreciating and worshipping its God, and had become materialistic, even to the point that we were at war with our own brothers and sisters in our nation. He understood that when you divide a people, that you weaken a people. And sadly, we live in a world today that is just filled with greed. We live in a world today in which a prominent attitude of entitlement exists among far too many people. Too many people have lost any real appreciation for the things that they have in life.

For these people, the glass is always half empty, they expect everyone else to fill the other half of the glass up for them. It's a result of a dysfunctional culture that we have where everyone and everything is disposable. Everything that we make in this country is meant to last anywhere from one year to twenty years, and you throw it away. My wife and I were commenting on that this week, in which we had a hot water tank leak.

And my wife and I were remarking how our parents had refrigerators that they handed down three generations. Refrigerators had worked for twenty-five, thirty years. And today you go out and buy a refrigerator and they tell you, well you can expect this the last ten to fifteen years, and ninety percent of the refrigerator is plastic on the inside of it. And we were just remarking how everything in our culture today is disposable. Relationships are disposable. That's why our marriages in our country are in such a sad state of affairs.

Everyone and everything in our nation has become disposable. We're a materialistic people.

If you got the Sunday plane dealer like I did, you may have noticed there were three and a half pounds of printed advertising ads in the Sunday plane dealer. They even told you on the front of the plane dealer, there are three and a half pounds of ads in the paper today. So we've become a people that are very shallow. We've become a people that are very materialistic, a people frankly that are spoiled, a people that think they are entitled to everything. And this was prophesied, of course, by Paul. If you'll turn to 2 Timothy chapter 3 verses 1 through 5, we'll see here that the attitudes that exist among many people Paul warned about almost 2,000 years ago. 2 Timothy chapter 3 and verse 1. Paul wrote to Timothy, of course, the young elder, he says, but know this, that in the last days perilous times will come. We obviously are in these last days. For men will be lovers of themselves. It's all about me. It's gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme, all about me. And mind do we see that portrayed in our media today in the so-called celebrities, what they call celebrities in our culture today. Men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers. You know, it's GD this all over the radio and they use God's name in vain just so flippantly. It is just absolutely unbelievable how secular our country has become and the disrespect that it shows towards its great God. Proud, blasphemers, disobedient parents, unthankful. Again, when you're in a culture in which I am entitled and everybody owes me, then the result of that is unthankfulness, a lack of appreciation for the things that you do have. Unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers without self-control, brutal despisers of good. Somebody tries to do something good or you have tried to present a good message on television or in your magazines and you're mocked and ridiculed. You're goody two shoes or you live in an Aussie and Harriet world and this isn't reality anymore and people just mock you because they have become haughty. They become headstrong. Again, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power and from such people turn away. And my, as a nation, do we have a form of godliness every time we have a national tragedy like what occurred at 9-11 or something and all the politicians gather at the so-called National Cathedral in Washington and they look so grand standing there imploring God to help heal the wounds of this nation and then the next day they're back in Congress and they're back looting the public till and they're back to the divisiveness and the same problems that has plagued our government from the very beginning.

He says, from such people turn away. Being thankful, brethren, for what we have is an expression of love and it is an expression of appreciation towards God and towards the people that we love. The opposite of being thankful is to be ungrateful. The root of being ungrateful is just selfishness. You can't get any more deeper than that understanding that it all begins with selfishness. If we have an attitude in life that is all about me, what I want, then a lot of problems are going to generate from that that ultimately will consume and destroy your life. The root of ungratefulness is selfishness and this leads one to becoming unappreciative towards anything, ultimately anything, and they begin to think that they are entitled to everything that they have.

They develop a mentality that everyone owes me something and this can be a real problem in my own business. As a consultant for other businesses, oftentimes a long-term employee, 25, 30-year employee oftentimes will have to be let go. Why? Because they morphed into being appreciative for the job that they had into thinking they're entitled. They no longer contribute anything to the company. They no longer do the things they once did that made them profitable and beneficial to that company. And over a period of time, due to human nature, they have a sense and a feeling of entitlement and the company has to let them go. I have to tell you that I have seen more ministers destroyed by an attitude of entitlement than virtually any other cause or any other reason. Let's go to 1 Chronicles chapter 23 and verse 27. 1 Chronicles chapter 23 and 27.

The concept of giving thanks to our great God, the being thankful for the things that we have, is firmly rooted in Scripture. I'd like to discuss what being thankful is, some of the ways that we can be thankful. I'd like to talk about what I'm thankful to God for this year and to give you some things to think about and why you should be thankful. 1 Chronicles chapter 23 and verse 27.

This is an interesting Scripture because after many years at the Tabernacle wandering from here and there, David finally gets the Tabernacle to Jerusalem, which becomes the capital of Israel.

And he's excited and he brings the Tabernacle to Jerusalem. And David is the one who was responsible for setting up a lot of the maintenance routines of taking care of the Tabernacle. And I've often found it interesting in the church where I think people have not understood correctly who the priests were. There was the tribe of Levi and only a small portion of that tribe of Levi, those who were the descendants of Aaron, were actually priests. The rest of the tribe of Levi were maintenance workers. What they did is they took care of the physical maintenance needs of the Tabernacle and later of the Temple. Here's what David established, something that he established when the Tabernacle finally came to Jerusalem. 1 Chronicles chapter 23 beginning in verse 27, provide these last words of David, the Levites were numbered from 20 years old and above, because their duty was to help the sons of Aaron in the service of the house of the Lord. So the sons of Aaron were the priests. Those other Levites who were not of the lineage of Aaron were maintenance workers and they did various tasks in the Tabernacle, in the house of the Lord, in the courts and in the chambers, and in the purifying of all holy things and the work of the service of the house of God, both with the showbread and the fine flour for the grain offering, with the unleaven cakes and what is baked in the pan, for what is mixed and with all kinds of measures and sizes.

Verse 30, I want you to pick up on this, to stand every morning to thank and praise the Lord and likewise at evening. So David says it is so important to be thankful as a people and as a nation that I'm going to stand Levites who every morning begin the day thanking and praising the Lord. And every evening as we end the day, we end the work within the Tabernacle that the Levites return again and thank and praise the Lord. It was King David who organized this official service of the Tabernacle and its daily maintenance. The descendants of Aaron were the priests. The other descendants, as I've mentioned, of Levi were to do the physical tasks and duties of maintaining the Tabernacle. One of these duties David felt was very important and that was to stand every morning and every evening to thank and praise the Lord. There's a good principle here for us because this is how our prayers should be. Oftentimes, brethren, because we're human, we have human nature. Our prayers degenerate over time into, oh God, gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme some more.

And that's not a very effective prayer. Certainly God wants to hear our needs. He wants to hear our supplications. He wants to hear our request for His intervention in our lives. But the way to start our prayers is with praise and thanksgiving for the things that we do have. We need to start our prayers reminding ourselves through the prayer and acknowledging to God all the good and wonderful things that He gives us. And then after we've done that, we certainly can get to the point in our prayer where we can make our request known before God. But before we conclude that prayer, it is also a good thing to go back once again and remind ourselves and to let God know that we acknowledge, that we appreciate, that we are grateful for all the many good and wonderful things that He gives us. An excellent example here that David established in the Tabernacle, and something that's very practical for us today. Let's now go to Psalm chapter 100.

I'm going to read the entire chapter of Psalm 100 today. Oh, by the way, it only has five verses.

Just saying if you're paying attention.

Psalm 100. It says, Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands, serve the Lord with gladness.

Come before His presence with singing. And that's what we did here today. That's what we do each and every Sabbath day. Know that the Lord, He is God. Only He is God. Our material possessions aren't God. The things that we hold most dear in this physical life are not God. There is only one true God. And it is He who has made us and not we ourselves. We are His people and the sheep of His pasture enter into His gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him and bless His name for the Lord is good. His mercy is everlasting and His truth endures to all generations. So when we come here on the Sabbath day to worship, have you ever noticed that we begin this service with prayer? And we believe that between the opening prayer and the closing prayer, we ask God's presence to be among us. And it's as precious as it was in the Old Testament if you walked into the Holy of Holies and stood before the Ark of the Covenant where God's presence was.

We don't have to do that because we're under the New Covenant because Jesus Christ is our great High Priest who tore that curtain and gave us direct access to the Father. But we believe in our religious services that between the Amen's, that God's presence comes among His people.

At that time, we are entering His gates as the phrase David uses here. Come here with presence, with singing. It says, enter into His gates with thanksgiving. That means we should leave our cares and our problems and our personal issues outside that door. Because we've come here into the presence of a king, the King of Kings, Jesus Christ. And this is our sanctuary. This is where we find rest from the stresses and the cares of this world. And we need to leave our problems, our aggravations, our agendas, and everything else outside that door. Because when we come in here, it's all about Him. It's about worshiping and serving the King. And that's a very important principle that we're reminded of here in the book of Psalms. We should come here with an attitude of thanksgiving and a desire to praise our Father who David says is good and is merciful. Psalm chapter 107. Just a few chapters back. Chapter 107, verse 1. It says, Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, for His mercy endures forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so. You are the redeemed of the Lord. And that's why we get up and we sing praises. We say so. We sing hymns together.

We listen to prayers and we acknowledge and accept those prayers. We say so when we say Amen. And when we get up and give praises and thanks to God during the hymns of our services, whom He has redeemed from the hand of His enemy and gathered out of the lands from the east or from the west, from the north and from the south. They wandered in the wilderness in a desolate way.

They found no city to dwell in, hungry and thirsty. Their soul fainted at them. Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble and He delivered them out of their distresses. What does this mean? Well, we are the redeemed of the Lord. You and I have been spared from being enslaved to Satan, the God of this world. Most of us, before we were we were called, we were bouncing around. We were trying to put the puzzle pieces together. There's got to be more purpose to my life than this. There's got to be something meaningful in life. If there's a God, what does He require of me? We were stumbling around. We were looking for answers. We had a hole in our heart.

But God called us and He opened up our minds and He dropped the blinders off. And He gave us a purpose. He gave us a new expanded family. He gave us each other. And He took us from wandering.

He took us from being lost. And He gave us a home. Let's go to verse 7. It says, And He led them forth by the right way, that they might go to a city for a dwelling place.

O that men would give thanks to God for His goodness and for His wonderful works to the children of men. For He satisfies the longing soul and He fills the hungry soul with goodness.

So there was a time before God revealed the truth to us where we had a hole in our heart.

When we were anxious. When we just couldn't figure things out. We couldn't understand what the purpose was in life. And then there came a time when He satisfied that longing soul.

So, oh, God is building a family. God wants me to live forever as part of His family.

He wants to give me an eternity of fulfillment, of growth, of development, of joy. These are good things that God wants to give me. Verse 10, those who sat in darkness and in the shadow of death bound in affliction and irons. And that's the way we were when we were enslaved to sin.

When Satan controlled our lives, when every thought and every attitude and every action of our lives were evil and wicked, we were slaves to sin. Because they rebelled against the words of God and despised the counsel of the Most High. So again, we should give thanks to God for His goodness that He called us and that He released us from the shadow of death. Satan had us bound.

He had us in His hooks. He had us controlled by Him. Our sins separated us from God. But we came to a knowledge and understanding of who and what Jesus Christ is and understood that by His shed blood that He sacrificed Himself for us so that we could be reconciled to our great Father. Let's go to verse 15 now. Drop down to verse 15. Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness and for His wonderful works to the children of men. For He has broken the gates of bronze and He has cut the bars of iron in two. So Satan had control of us. He had a hold on us and God has cut those chains spiritually and those gates and He has set us free. I want you to notice that God doesn't only perform good things for Jews. He's not only good and merciful just to Jews or to Israel. It says, oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness and for His wonderful works to the children of men. You see, that's everybody. He performs wonderful works of mercy for all of the children of men. Everywhere around the world, the sun shines on everyone.

Well, that's unless you live in northern Ohio in the wintertime. But usually the sun shines on everyone and the rain falls and the crops grow and everyone experiences God's goodness. Jesus said in Luke chapter 6 and verse 35, He said, for He, referring to His Father, is kind to the unthankful and evil. You see, God is kind and merciful to everyone. What are some of the things that we can be so very thankful for? I'm going to mention just a few things here and make it personal. Some things perhaps going on in my life. First thing we can be thankful for is physical life.

What an incredible gift to even have an experienced physical life. There was a time when there was nothingness and then there was a time when we drew our first breath and we entered into this world. And over time our minds grew when we began to understand the world and we understood a sense of consciousness, of self-awareness. Who and what I am. That is a gift. It's an incredible gift. So we can be so very thankful for our physical life. For those of us who have our health, we can be thankful for that no matter what kind of health trials that we're going through. You know, a number of years ago now, eight, nine years ago, I was diagnosed with a form of leukemia that's a blood cancer. Well, I'm very fortunate because it hasn't affected me very much. But about the same time that I was diagnosed, a man in Cleveland known, a very prominent announcer known as Jim Donovan, was diagnosed with the exact same disease that I went through. And he went through periods of chemotherapy. He went through all kinds of treatments. Last summer he had have a bone marrow transplant or he would have died. So on one hand you can say, I have cancer. That's terrible.

But on the other hand, you can realize that by the grace of God, so here I am. I've been blessed.

I've been protected. God has had mercy on me. And I'm sure in your life, no matter what health issues that you've been going through, you can look at it in a positive way and see God's intervention in your life. Another thing that we can be thankful for is the choice of being happy.

You see, happiness is a choice. You wake up every day and you get to decide. Either today I'm going to be happy or today is going to stink and breed worms. And every one of us have that choice.

We really do. Some people think that happiness is a destination. I'll be happy someday when I get married. I'll be happy someday when I get retired. I'll be happy someday. No, brethren, happiness is intended to be the journey. It's not a destination. It's intended to be each and every day and we get to make that choice. We should be happy and thankful about family and friends.

And we all have loving family. We all have friends. When you come into the church, you have a new and expanded family. You have a family of people, different ethnicities and different backgrounds, and they've learned things and experienced things you haven't. So they have something to offer you, to help you, to round out your personality and character if you just listen and spend time and learn to love them. We can be happy that we are Americans. I like to say that I won the lottery twice. I won the lottery the day that I was born in the United States because a lot of other children were born November 16th, 1953, in other areas of the world like Africa and Asia and other areas of the world and most of them died before they reached adulthood.

I won the lottery when I was born in the greatest nation on earth because that nation provided me opportunity. It provided me an education and a chance to go from one class or one level of society to another. If only you're willing to work hard enough and be diligent enough, it opened up opportunity. We're blessed to live in a nation that has basic freedoms, including the freedom to be a seventh day Sabbath keeper and not have to check with the KGB outside the door, not have to worry about somebody barging in the door, a police state, five minutes from now hauling all of us down to some gulag somewhere. We are blessed to live in a nation of relative safety because of our strength, our military strength. We're blessed to live in a nation with a social safety net.

We lose our jobs. There's unemployment insurance. There's health care provided. There's social security. We live in a nation that has built at least a structure of some type of a social safety net compared to the way it was many years ago. That is a blessing. How about things we take for granted? Shelter. I think everybody here lives in a home or an apartment. We have good food to eat.

We have heat. We have clothes. You know, the greatest kings of England. Henry VIII didn't have the ability to go to a little box hanging on his wall and make his entire castle 72 degrees.

Now, I've been in those castles. They had to have a fireplace in every room. You either were too hot standing next to the fire or, trust me, six feet later you were cold. They were dank, dark, and cold places to live in. And here we are just common Americans with the ability to throw a switch and lights come on. You adjust the little box, heat comes on, or in the summertime cool air blows out of that little hole. We are just so blessed. It's just incredible. Our material blessings. We can indulge ourselves in our hobbies, whatever that may be. Our technology, internet, phones, iPads, all of these things that have become a way of life for so many of us. Our cars. We've been blessed with so many cars. I'm still trying to figure out how, on a typical Sabbath, we can have 45 people attend and we can have 58 cars in the car lot. I still can't. Some of us must park, go back home, drive another car here. We're just so wealthy. We just, we don't worry about carpooling. We don't have sign-up lists for carpooling. We just live in a nation of incredible wealth and we hop in our car and we go wherever we want to go. Hot water. Just the little things that we take for granted. You turn a little dial and hot water comes out of a tube. How about indoor plumbing? You know that plush thing? I remember stories my mother telling me who grew up during the Depression, what it was like on a cold winter morning to wake up at 6 a.m. and come out of those warm little snuggie comforters and to walk outside through two feet of snow to you-know-what in that little building out there. And we just take the things we have for granted. It's just incredible. Let's go to verse 21 here. We're already in the book of Psalm, chapter 107, verse 21.

O that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness and for His wonderful works to the children of men, let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving and declare His works with rejoicing. One way we can give thanks to God is to show our willingness to be a living sacrifice.

You see, we no longer have dead sacrifices. We don't do that anymore. We stopped a couple of weeks ago.

Now, it was about 2,000 years ago. We stopped doing that. But now we are living sacrifices.

Every time we deny ourselves something that we shouldn't think or shouldn't do, we're being a living sacrifice. Every time we put someone else's needs before our own, we're being a living sacrifice. Every time we stop what we're doing, we say, oh, I didn't get prayer in today. I'm going to stop right now. I'm going to get some prayer in. We're being a living sacrifice. Those are the kind of sacrifices that God wants. Those are sacrifices of thanksgiving and declaring his works with rejoicing because we understand what God wants us to do.

John Kennedy once said, and I quote, as we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words but to live by them. That's the greatest way to show appreciation, to live by them. Instead of just telling someone that you love them, show them by your actions that you love them. That's much more powerful than just words. Verse 31, oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men.

Let them exalt him also in the assembly of the people and praise him in the company of the elders. So another way we can give thanks to the Lord is to exalt him again during worship services. We exalt him by reading his word attentively. We exalt him by listening to the messages with an open and humble mind.

We give thanks to him by singing with enthusiasm, by fellowshipping with encouragement and love towards others, by showing respect between those two Amen's. That is how we give thanks to the Lord and how we can worship him. Let's go to Ezra, chapter 3 and verse 6. God has a special message for any of us, a nation or us as individuals who are not thankful. And here's God's special message. If you are not thankful, I will take away what you have. If you are not appreciative, I will take away the things that you have. And when they're all gone, then you'll find time to be thankful.

Then you'll find time to look back and say, I didn't appreciate the things that I had. This is what happened in Ezra's time when the Jews returned from captivity through the proclamation of Cyrus, and they decided to rebuild the foundation of the Second Temple.

It dawned on them when this was going on what they had lost. Why? Because they took God for granted, they took the First Temple for granted, they took the gift of a bountiful land of Israel for granted. And because they were not thankful, because they had an attitude of entitlement, they were unappreciative to God, he allowed them to go into captivity, and he took away everything that they had. Ezra chapter 3, beginning in verse 6. So they come back to Jerusalem to lay the foundation for what would be the Second Temple.

It says, from the first day of the seventh month they began to offer bird offerings to the Lord, although the foundation of the temple of the Lord had not been laid. They also gave money to the masons and the carpenters and food and drink and oil to the people of Sidon and Tyre to bring cedar logs from Lebanon to the sea to Japa, according to the permission which they had had from Cyrus, king of Persia.

So they're getting ready to rebuild the temple. Now in the second month, in the second year, of their coming to the house of God in Jerusalem, Zerubbabel, the son of Shetael, Jesuwa, the son of Jositic, and the rest of their brethren, the priest and the Levites, and all those who had come out of captivity to Jerusalem, began work and appointed the Levites from 20 years old and above to oversee the work of the house of the Lord.

So once again, the Levites were maintenance workers. In this case, they were going to build, rebuild the temple. Verse 9, then Jesuwa and his sons and brothers, Cadmael and his sons and the sons of Judah, arose as one to oversee those working on the house of God and the sons of Hanodad and their sons and the brethren of the Levites. And when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, the priests stood in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, and symbols to praise the Lord according to the ordinance of King David of Israel. And they sang responsibly, praising and giving thanks to the Lord. They were thankful.

We're back. We weren't thankful before, and we paid a terrible price for it. It was all taken from us. They said, but we're thankful because we're back and we're laying the foundation of the next temple. And they even quote from the book of Psalms, for he is good and his mercy endures forever toward Israel. Then all the people shouted with a great shout and they praised the Lord because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. But many of the priests and Levites and heads of the father's houses, old men who have seen the first temple, wept with a loud voice when the foundation of the temple was laid before their eyes.

Yet many shouted aloud for joy so that the people could not discern the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people.

For the people shouted with a loud shout and the shout was heard afar off. Now people, some people are weeping because they remember the grandeur of the first temple. And here they're weeping because it was all taken from us. We took it for granted. We were not thankful, but I've lived long enough to come back and see the second temple being rebuilt. And they wept. They were just overcome with emotion. Other people were just excited that this breakthrough had occurred. So when the foundation of the second temple was laid, the people spontaneously sang and they praised God and they gave thanks to Him for another chance, for another opportunity to do it right. Some who remembered that old temple, they just wept bitterly because all those memories flooded back of everything that they had and everything that they lost. And others were thankful for what they witnessed.

But those are powerful examples and things that we can learn from the Old Testament about being thankful. But the New Testament also tells us a number of things about being thankful. Let's go to 1 Thessalonians chapter 1 verses 1 through 4. 1 Thessalonians chapter 1 verses 1 through 4.

Paul actually starts many of his epistles showing thanks to God. Here in this particular example, 1 Thessalonians chapter 1. Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy to the church of the Thessalonians in God, the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace to you and peace from God, our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. We give thanks to God always for all of you or for you all making mention of you in our prayers, remembering without ceasing your work of faith, your labor of love, and your patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of God our Father, knowing, beloved brethren, your election by God. He prayed. He mentioned them daily in his prayers. He was thankful for who and what they were. He was thankful for their contribution.

And I try to do the same thing as well. I'd like to tell you some of the things that I am thankful for. If you'll bear with me for a few minutes, this is from my own personal perspective. I'm thankful for art. I'm thankful that he shares his musical talents with us and he serves us as a song leader, even though he often forgets my name. I'm very thankful for Bob and Nancy. They have remained faithful. Bob, as time has permitted, has done some great things on our website and he works a lot and it's been difficult for him to keep up with that. But I'm very thankful that he's part of our congregation. And, of course, Nancy recently chose to be baptized, and I'm thankful that she made that decision. I'm thankful to Ron and I'm thankful to Martha. Ron has been positive through a very difficult health trial. And no matter how dark it was, whenever I would send him an email or we would talk, he always found a way to add humor to the trial, and I admire him for that. I'm thankful that Martha has shared her musical gifts to all of us in the Church of God, and I'm thankful for her elegant hosting skills. I'm thankful for Mark and Taya. Mark has returned to serve the Church of God with enthusiasm. He serves us with music and teen studies, with sermonettes, and Taya remains a long-time pillar of faith, who serves God's people in many ways, including serving in food and fellowship as a greeter and just being a friend to people who need a friend. I'm thankful to Sharon. Sharon has sent me some of the most positive and encouraging cards during this last year that I ever received, and they usually arrive just when I need to read something uplifting. And her cards aren't just cards. She writes on the outside of the envelope, the inside of the envelope. There is no white space when she sends you a card, because there's another opportunity to say something encouraging to someone, and she does it.

I'm thankful for David, and he jumped right in to fill a number of needs when everything began here about a year ago. He's filled a lot of gaps in our congregation, sermonettes, song leader, various hall duties. I mentioned before the importance of maintenance duties, and so many do that within our congregation. I'm very thankful for David. He's someone who can always be relied upon to do a wonderful job. I'm thankful to James. I'm thankful to Denise. I will be forever appreciative and thankful to Jim for the willingness to play the piano last January on our very first Sabbath after the departure of some. We needed a piano player desperately. He wasn't used to playing the hymns.

He's a piano player, but he wasn't used to the hymns. But he said, I'll do it! And he did a great job, and he's served us ever since. It's been a pleasure to see him growing so many different church duties over the past 11 months. And I'm thankful for Denise. She's a very warm and friendly, recent addition to our congregation, and we all look forward to getting to know her a little bit better. I'm thankful to Joe and Sue, who have been examples of steady faithfulness for decades.

Joe serves in a number of ways, again, in maintenance duties, including during a lot of our church services. We had an opportunity to hear Sue perform special music today. That was very beautiful. I'm thankful for Joe and Tina. Both of them are the epitome of service to others. Joe, he speaks, he leads songs, he performs a number of physical duties on most Sabbath days. Tina coordinates our weekly refreshments. She serves as a greeter, and she's part of a team that helps keep our church hall clean. You know, we walk in here, the floors are vacuumed, the seats are clean, the restrooms are pristine. Someone has to make that sacrifice to do that. And she's one of a team of individuals who does that so that we can have a great place to call our own. I'm thankful for Rallin and Carolyn. I don't think I've ever seen Rallin without a smile on his face. One of the fruits of the Holy Spirit is joy. And Carolyn prefers to serve many of the brethren behind the scenes. She doesn't like a lot of attention drawn to what she does, but I know with her warm hospitality and preparing and delivering food for those in need, that she loves God's people.

I'm very thankful for Steve. Steve is a remarkable example of someone who will not be broken.

He's been through some difficult trials this year that would have destroyed the faith of others. And I've seen the kind of things that he went through break other people. Yet he endured the attacks of Satan this past year, and he's standing strong. I'm thankful for Joe and Kelly. They're incredible examples of loving Christian parents. They patiently teach their children about God's way, about the truth, and they serve the congregation as positive examples of great parents. They coordinate our youth activities. I'm very thankful for Lois. Lois has remained steadfastly faithful through many difficult situations over the years. I've known her since we were teenagers.

She has a loving and a gentle spirit and a strong love for God's truth without compromise.

I'm very thankful for Lillian. Lillian has diligently cared for an aging mom for years, and that is not an easy task. This past year she also endured knee surgery, which wasn't easy.

Lillian is a logical person. She's a person who loves other people, who is concerned about her Christian life. She is, according to my statistics, our senior baptized member, having been baptized in August of 1968. I know she doesn't look that old. She must have been five years old when she was baptized. But I'm thankful for her, and of course for the two sons that she reared that serve our congregation so well. I'm thankful for Chuck and Maria. They have a very, very strong dedication to family, and they've demonstrated great personal sacrifice to provide their children with outstanding educations and good careers. I'm thankful to them for that.

I'm thankful to Anne, who isn't able to be with us today. She is the aged patriarch of our congregation. She also was baptized in 1968 and has earned a deep respect for the faithful legacy that she has lived for many years. Anne is a person I can count on to tell me what I need to hear, whether I want to hear it or not. I'm thankful to Mike Roman. Mike is a soldier of service to all of us. He serves in the sound crew. He does maintenance to improve our building, including our walkway that we had out there, things inside our building. He also makes CDs during the week to add to our library for our spiritual benefit, and I'm so very thankful for his service to God's people. I'm thankful to Bob and Jody. They add a tremendous amount of zeal and excitement to our congregation, from promoting the gospel on social media, to serving as greeters and opening prayer, and providing warm hospitality to others. That's a great example that they both set for all of us, and I'm so very thankful for both of them. I'm thankful to Mark and Lisa, one of the warmest couples I have ever met. I call them my ambassadors for Christ because of their lifestyles, their example of faith, and the way that they welcome visitors who walk through the door. They're usually one of the first people to go up and introduce themselves and make someone feel warm, make someone feel at home. I'm thankful for Karen and Nick. They are young professionals setting a good example. Karen, my daughter, is a loving and kind-hearted woman.

Nick is a generous person who likes to help others and likes to help other people solve their problems.

I'm thankful for Tim and Becky, our deacon and our deaconess. They both serve in so many ways.

That's an inspiration to me. I could not do the things that I do without their help. They do it all from speaking, sounds, printing bulletins, connecting with others weekly on the telephone, encouraging other people constantly. The lists go on and on because their heart is committed to serving God's people. I'm thankful for Bob and Jan. They're a faithful couple who are steadfast in their dedication. Bob has served in new ways this past year, including at camps. In spite of the pain when many other people would have said, I can't do it, I won't do it, I hurt too much.

He stepped outside of his box. He saw a need and he said, I am going to feel that need in spite of difficult health issues. Jan is a positive and encouraging friend to many. I've been told by many people how warm and friendly that she is. She has a special love for horses and she shares that passion with her family and with her friends. Linda, my mother-in-law, is the unofficial custodian of the church. She not only helps clean the building regularly, but she often stops by during the week to take care of various needs. Again, if something is out of place or if something needs to be done, I can be sure that I will hear about it. So I appreciate her service in that way.

Gene and Diane are a couple you can rely on to serve in any way that you ask them. I'm very thankful for Gene and Diane. Gene has served oftentimes this past year on a moment's notice to do something that I asked him to do. He put all of these chairs together like a couple of days before our first Sabbath service here and he's done a number of things throughout the year to make himself available to serve. He is the treasurer of our congregation. He does a lot of other physical duties and of course Diane is an organizer. She's a planner who always can be counted on to get things done and get things done well. Sheldon, I'm thankful for him. He has a special nurturing instinct for children. He has bought a number of new toys for them to play with in their little area this year after services. He has a special interest in the study of dinosaurs.

You just ask him, he can tell you who and what they are. He's our resident scientist and expert on dinosaurs. He's a collector of several types of toys. I'm thankful for Daniel. Daniel is a gentle and kind-hearted spirit. A while back he found out what my favorite candy bar is. So sometimes spontaneously, it's Mr. Thomas! I have your favorite candy bar here! So I appreciate that he understands the truth and he embraces it. I'm very thankful for Frank. Frank is a breath of fresh air.

I've learned about Frank that when God leads him to understand the truth and he embraces it, he decides to do it with zeal and enthusiasm, and that is a remarkable quality. So I'm very thankful for Frank and his presence in our congregation. I'm thankful for Dean and Marianne, who are not able to be here due to an accident that Dean had many years ago. They're an uncanny example of faith in the face of affliction. Honestly, with Dean's chronic severe illnesses due to an accident, many other people that I've known would have become bitter and blamed God long ago. Would have dropped out, would have had no interest in the Sabbath or the Holy Days or the doctrines of the truth. They would have just become angry and bitter and dropped out. But their desire to remain faithful to the end is uncanny. Their confidence and belief in God and in God's providence is remarkable. I'm very thankful for them. I'm thankful for my daughter Kathleen, who's visiting us today from Cincinnati. Her determination and commitment to God in his word is an inspiration to me. And her high degree of self-discipline. She's a very disciplined person. It is a hallmark of her character. I'm very thankful for her. And of course, I'm very thankful for my dear wife BJ.

I don't know what else I could say, except that if it weren't for her, I wouldn't be here serving as your pastor. I can guarantee you that a lot of things in life I would have fallen far short and failed miserably. So she has been my shining light and beacon for many, many years.

And finally, I'm thankful for the young people in our congregation. Too many of them, the mention by name that God has brought into the faith through their parents. They're not only the future of our church, they are the future princes and princes in the world tomorrow. So they are very important to us. Very special in our eyes. So like Paul, I give thanks to all of you. And I do mention you daily in my prayers. You are God's special treasure. You are his chosen ones being prepared to serve in his kingdom forever. Let's go to 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 and verse 13. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 and verse 13. In this case, again, Paul mentions how thankful he is for the brethren. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 13. But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. That's what makes you so precious. That's what makes all of you so special.

Verse 14. To which he called you by our gospel for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or by our epistle. Now may the Lord Jesus Christ himself and our God and Father who has loved us and given us everlasting consolation and good hope by grace comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work. So you see again, brethren, Paul mentions how thankful he was for the brethren that he thanked God for the brethren that he had whom God had called.

Everyone, every one of you, has a part to play in the body of Jesus Christ and you play a role in the body of Christ functioning properly. Give all that you can, serve all that you can, and serve even more with an attitude of thanksgiving, with an attitude of appreciation for all the good things that God has given us as a people. Colossians, let's go to that scripture now, Colossians chapter 2 and verse 4. This is an important principle because we build on the foundation of others. I was called in the early 70s and I'm here today because that generation, sadly most of whom have died in the faith but they died, that generation gave in the late 60s and early 70s. When I was receiving literature, when I was receiving magazines, when I was asking for literature and it was arriving, people made that possible for me.

A generation that went before us, gave tithes and offerings and personally sacrificed so that the good news of the kingdom of God could go out the mind generation in the early 70s. And we continue that legacy today. But we are just a continuation of generations of people of faith. Colossians chapter 2 and verse 4. Now this I say, lest anyone should deceive you with persuasive words, for though I am absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ. As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and build up in Him, and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving. Beware lest anyone should cheat you through the philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, not according to Christ. For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. So another thing to be thankful for is the truth that we were given by a generation that went before us. The baton was passed to our generation. And we have a responsibility. We have an obligation to pass that baton to the next generation, so they can continue the legacy of faith and the truth that we have come to understand. Our final scripture, again in the book of Colossians chapter 3 and verse 12. Colossians chapter 3 and verse 12.

Again, Paul wrote very encouraging words here in this scripture. Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, long suffering, bearing with one another, and forgiving one another. You know, we're all human beings. We all have quirks. We all have idiosyncrasies. And as much as we're a loving family, given enough time, it is possible for us to get on each other's nerves. What a shock! And when that happens, remember what Paul said, long suffering, bearing with one another, and forgiving one another.

If anyone has a complaint against another, even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. But above all these things, put on love, which is the bond of perfection. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which you were called in one body, and be thankful. Well, we all have a lot to be thankful for, don't we? If you think about it, if you take a little time and ponder it, God has given us physical life. He's offered us eternal life. We have family members to love. We have friends to love. We have brethren to love. We have the shelter of warm homes and clothing, good food.

We have relative security. We have many material blessings. Most of us have far more material blessings than we need, but yet we are blessed. The blessings continue. For these reasons, and more, every day for you and I should be a time of thanksgiving. Let's remember the example that David established in 1st Chronicles chapter 23 and verse 30. It said there that the Levites were asked to stand every morning to thank God and praise the Lord, and likewise in the evening.

Above all people who have ever lived of any generation on earth, we have more comforts.

We have more blessings than any generation that ever lived before us. Let's make sure that we're thankful. Let's be appreciative for the gifts that God has given us both spiritually and physically.

Let's be a people who, as lights to this world, show everyone that to us the glass is always half full.

That blessings come unmeasured each and every day of our lives, and that our God is a God that we can be thankful to and thankful for the great and wonderful blessings that he gives us.

Have a wonderful Sabbath day, and be thankful.