Why We Have More to be Thankful for Than Anyone Else

Well, thank you, Mr. Blakey. It's great to be loved. I can feel the love.

Well, happy Sabbath to all of you once again, a beautiful sun cascading through those windows.

What a wonderful Sabbath day indeed it is.

In a few weeks, we are going to be celebrating something that is partly religious and partly secular. It's a holiday in the United States we call Thanksgiving Day. It's a national holiday also celebrated in Canada and some of the Caribbean islands and in Liberia and in other nations, including in Europe, Thanksgiving is celebrated though it's not a national holiday.

Is it possible that between turkey dinner, football games, and the eve of Black Friday, the buying frenzy of Black Friday, that most Americans completely miss the purpose of a day called Thanksgiving Day?

Well, I believe that's true, but I do hope and pray that those of us in God's Church respect that day, but realize that every day we should have an attitude, a mindset of thankfulness. Thankfulness is defined as having feelings and an expression of gratitude, satisfaction, and appreciation for the things that we have.

Unfortunately, raw carnal human nature has a lot of dark, sinister qualities. As Paul said in Romans chapter 8 and verse 7, human nature is enmity against God, meaning it is hostile towards God and hostile towards everything that God represents. And one of the most, in my mind, glaring things about human nature is an obvious lack of thankfulness.

Unfortunately, that is wired into most human beings, and it can be wired into us if we're not careful. Let's take a look at 2 Timothy chapter 3 verses 1 through 5. 2 Timothy chapter 3 verses 1 through 5. And see what Paul told us would occur in the last days. It's interesting because in the past I've often heard this applied to people in the world, but to be frank with you in verse 5, he describes these individuals, and he says, having a form of godliness, but denying its power from such people, turn away. Paul was writing to a minister, and what I always got out of this is that he was writing about how some people who wanted to appear to be religious, on the outside, at least, how they would be conducting themselves in the end or in the last days. Let's take a look here beginning in verse 1. But we notice that in the last two days, perilous times will come. In the kingdom of God seminar last week, we talked about what a powder keg exists in so many ways in this world today. Perilous times will come. For men will be lovers of themselves, just selfish, self-absorbed, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, not really respecting God, respecting his name, disobedient to parents, in other words, they don't respect the culture they inherited or the disciplines or the things that they were taught from their parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control. They just do what feels good. They just do what they want to do.

Brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God. Having a form of godliness on the outside is kind of a facade of being righteous, being interested in God, being a Christian, perhaps, having a form of godliness, but denying its power. When you get beyond that cheap thin veneer, what they're really like on the inside are these very negative qualities that we just talked about. He says, from such people, he's telling Timothy, turn away.

So, as Paul mentions here, in the latter days, in the last days, people would even be more ungracious, more unappreciative, thankless, and more ungrateful than ever before in human history.

And I think we are living in days when I look at what has happened to our lack of civility in our own culture, due to, you know, social media, due to a freedom that many people now have. It's amazing how bold someone is behind a keyboard.

They'll say things anonymously, right, or over the Internet on the keyboard. They'll be very bold.

They'll say things they wouldn't dare say to someone face to face, because there might be consequences if they said those things face to face, but they feel so emboldened to be uncivil, to be crude, to be foul, to be judgmental, because they're hiding behind a keyboard 5,000 miles away.

What I want to emphasize today is that an attitude of thankfulness is a godly quality, and we as God's people have more to be thankful for than anyone else on earth.

As I've said before, I want to reiterate, if you were fortunate enough to be born in North America, the United States, or Canada, you actually won the lottery twice in your life. Congratulations!

First of all, when you were born in the United States, though it has many flaws, and I could spend the rest of this sermon talking about the flaws that the United States has, though it has its problems and its flaws, when you were born here, or you were born in Canada, you won the lottery.

You had the ability to live in a land in which you could practice your religion freely, you could speak freely. They had economies that would allow you to express yourself, to make a good income to provide for you and your family.

You know, for most of us, if you took us and the exact same talents we have here, and you planted us in some other area of the world that is economically deprived, we'd be hungry. Same talent, same person, we'd be struggling to make ends meet, because we're there and not here.

So the first time we won the lottery is when we received the blessing of being a minority of people born that very day on earth and being born in this country, and all the opportunities that it provides. And again, I understand it's not perfect. I totally understand his flaws and weaknesses and sins, national sins.

And then, when God looked down upon you, sometime in your life and said, I'm gonna call that person. I'm gonna reveal the truth of that person. I'm gonna strip away the spiritual blinders, and I'm going to make my truth known to that person and give them a chance to respond. And you did.

You won the lottery the second time. Congratulations.

So we, of all people on earth, have more to be thankful for than anyone else.

What I'd like to do today is look at some biblical examples and see what the Scriptures tell us about this quality called thankfulness. We're going to start with David because David was different than most people in that he did virtually everything with enthusiasm and passion.

He did right things with enthusiasm and passion, and unfortunately, he sinned with enthusiasm and passion.

But he was wired to be an individual with enthusiasm and passion. Did he have the right perspective about being thankful for his life and all the things that he received? Let's take a look at some examples. We'll begin by going to 2 Samuel 22 and verse 1. If you'll turn there with me.

2 Samuel 22 and verse 1.

It says, Then David spoke to the Lord the words of this song. Now it's a long song. We're going to cut into the middle of it. We're not going to read it all, but this is a song that he wrote and sang to the Lord on the day when the Lord had delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. So he had something to be thankful for, people who wanted him dead.

He had been removed and he was alive. Let's take a look now. If you'll drop down to verse 47 again. It's a long song, so we're just going to cut into it. Drop down to verse 47. He says, The Lord lives. There is a God. And he's alive and he cares about you and I right now. The Lord lives. Blessed be my rock. He's a rock. He's stable. He's there to protect us. He's a sure foundation. Blessed be my rock. Let God be exalted, the rock of my salvation. It is God who avenges me and subdues the people under me. He delivers me from my enemies. So also lift me up above those who rise against me. You have delivered me from the violent man. Even though Saul wanted him dead, he said, Look, I had all the odds against me, stacked against me. I had enemies everywhere. People that would have been traitors and sell me out to Saul or anyone else. But you, God, you lifted me up. You took me beyond that. You are my vengeance. You're my vindicator. And he says here in verse 50, Therefore, I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the Gentiles, some translations, say among the nations, and sing praises to your name. What David is saying here is that everyone will hear me give thanks, O Lord, for all you have done for me. I'm going to give thanks to you and praise you even to the Gentile nations, even to people whether they want to hear it or not. I'm so excited. I'm so thankful that I'm going to give thanks to you, O Lord, among the Gentiles. Everyone is going to hear me. Thank you and praise you for your goodness and for your love. David didn't care about what other people thought about his religiousness of being thankful to God. He was just going to do it. How often do others hear us give thanks for the blessings we have and for the great Father who makes all of it possible? Are we open in our families, open in our church environment, even open at work about how thankful we are for the blessings that we have received? Let's go to 1 Chronicles 16.

Let's see another example of David. 1 Chronicles 16, verse 7. David gave thanks. He gave thanks a lot. Quite often. How about us? 1 Chronicles 16, verse 7. It says, On that day David first delivered this psalm into the hand of a staff and his brethren to thank the Lord. What was the purpose of this song? To thank the Lord. Verse 8. O, give thanks to the Lord. Call upon his name. Make known his deeds among the peoples.

Sing to him. Sing praises to him. Talk of his wondrous works. Glory in his holy name. Let the hearts of those rejoiced who seek the Lord. So you see here, as an individual, David is recorded in scriptures as offering thankfulness to God. As a matter of fact, he offered thankfulness to God more than any other person recorded in the scriptures.

There were words that constantly flowed from his lips, from his writings, from his songs. Many of David's expressions of thankfulness are in the book of Psalms. So let's take a look at a psalm. Let's take an example, a look there in Psalm chapter 107, beginning in verse 1. Psalm chapter 107, beginning in verse 1. See what David can teach us about being thankful, being appreciative for the things that we have received. So important for us to think about these things, since we are in a culture that is centered around me, a selfish culture.

Psalm chapter 107 in verse 1. O give thanks to the Lord for he is good, for his mercy endures forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so. What's he saying here? He's saying, let those who are redeemed of God give thanks to the Lord. Let them say it. Not just the... I meant to say it, not just, I felt it, but let the redeemed of the Lord give thanks.

Let them say it, whom he is redeemed from the hand of the enemy, and gathered out of the lands from the east and west, and from the north and the south. I'm going to stop right there, because I want to draw a metaphor here of my calling and your calling. There was a time in which we were stumbling through life confused, hopeless. We were in a spiritual darkness. We were slaves to the God of this world, saint and the devil. We didn't have the answers, and we were just wandering. Wandering through this life, wondering about what God and what the purpose of life was all about.

And this is exactly what David is talking about here, to the point that God, again, took those blinders off of our eyes. And we saw and understood that there is a God, and that there is a purpose for our lives. So let's now read these verses, understanding that background here. Whom he has received from the hand of the enemy, and our enemy, of course, is Satan the devil, verse 3, and gathered out of the lands from the east and 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 in them. We were called from many different walks of life, different races, different ethnicities, different areas from around the world.

And we were all struggling. We were all bumbling through a wilderness. We were spiritually hungry and thirsty. We wanted to know more about the purpose of this life. And God made that possible for us. When we were hopeless, when we were condemned, when we were wandering through this life without any genuine level of fulfillment, God decided to call us. Verse 6, then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and He delivered them out of their distresses, and He led them forth by the right way.

You see, God took those blinders off. He revealed to us the truth of His way of life, and we began to build a relationship with God, to the point that we could repent of our sins and be baptized, become the children of God for the rest of our physical lives, that they might go to a city for a dwelling place. Right now, that city that we dwell in is a spiritual Zion, because we await for the Kingdom of God on this earth.

Continuing here, oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness and for His wonderful works to the children of men. So I have to ask the question, how thankful are we for our calling, for our conversion? Or has it been just so long ago that we just take it for granted?

If we were to look at verses 15, 21, 31, we don't have time today, we'd see He uses the same phrases over and over again. Again, David was open and frequent in his attitude of thankfulness. How about us? Are we open about how thankful we are to God and to our families, to our co-workers?

Let's now go to Ezra chapter 3 and verse 8. We'll leave the example of David, which is an outstanding one, but we'll see that it continued to linger. We're going to see what happened spontaneously when a new foundation was laid for the second temple after the captives had returned to Jerusalem in about 535 BC. Just to give you a little background, of course, first Israel sinned against God, it went into captivity. Then Judah, because they didn't respect the covenant, they didn't respect the temple, God said what He often says to people who are unappreciative. You know what? I'm going to take it away from you. You don't value it. You don't appreciate what you have. You know what? I'm going to take it away from you. And that's exactly what He did. Then Judah went into captivity. The temple was destroyed. But God, out of His great mercy, allowed the Persians to declare that Jews could return to Jerusalem. And in about 535 BC, they went back and they laid the foundation for the temple. And we're going to read about that here in Ezra chapter 3 verses 8 through 13. Now, what they didn't quite understand yet or appreciate was that because of opposition, that the temple that they laid the foundation for here wouldn't actually be finished for another 20 years. But they're happy here. They don't know that yet. All right? So we're going to cut into their joy when the foundation of the new temple, the second temple, is laid. And in the second month, the second year, of their coming to the house of God in Jerusalem, Zerubbabel, he was the governor, appointed governor, the son of Sheletel, Jeshua, the son of Josadech, and the rest of their brethren, the priest and the Levites, and all who had come out of the captivity, Jerusalem, began work and appointed the Levites from 20 years old and above to oversee the work of the house of the Lord. Verse 9, then Jeshua, with his sons and brothers and Cadmiel, with his sons, the sons of Judah, arose as one to oversee those working on the house of God. So there was organization, and these individuals were very smart and organized and good managers, so they pooled their resources together and led the building of this foundation. The sons of Hennadad, with their sons and their brethren, the Levites. Verse 10, 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, with symbols to praise the Lord according to the ordinance of David, king of Israel.

Wow! You know whose example they're following? They're about to praise. They're following David's example. They go back to the book of Psalms. They say, hey, you know what? This is the model that we should be following. Verse 11, and they sang responsibly, praising and giving thanks to the Lord. This is their natural, spontaneous response to seeing the foundation of this Senkah temple laid. Giving thanks to the Lord for He is good, for His mercy endures forever towards Israel. Guess where they got that phrase from? They got it from David, from the earlier example of thanks given by King David. 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 head of the father's houses, old men who had seen the first temple, wept with a loud voice when the foundation of this 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 sound was heard afar off. So here they are. They're in joy. They're celebrating, and they're following the example of what King David taught them from the book of Psalms they're mentioned in verse 10, even again quoting from the book of Psalms. As we see here in the case of this new temple foundation, some people were shouting with joy and exaltation. Other people were weeping because it brought back memories. I might also add that this new temple was just a small footprint compared to the majesty and the size of Solomon's temple. So they looked at it, and for some of them it pricked their hearts, and they wept. They realized what they had been lost because they didn't appreciate it. They realized what God had taken away from them because they didn't appreciate God's blessings, including the temple that he had given Israel.

Very powerful message here. The understanding and importance of being thankful is so essential and so important that in the Old Covenant there was a special offering that was associated with being thankful. Did you know that? We don't often go into the meaning of all the sacrifices in the Old Testament. If you'll turn with me to Leviticus chapter 7 and verse 11, I don't have time to spend a tremendous amount of detail on this particular sacrifice that was called the sacrifice of the peace offering or sometimes called the fellowship offering.

It had two parts, and one part of this offering was called the thanksgiving or the thanks offering. Let's take a look here at Leviticus chapter 7 and verse 11. It says, this is the law of the sacrifice of peace. Some translations say fellowship offerings, which he shall offer to the Lord. If he offers it for a thanksgiving, that was one of the two purposes of that offering, then he shall offer with the sacrifice of thanksgiving unleavened cakes mixed with oil, unleavened wafers anointed with oil, or cakes of blended flour mixed with oil.

So, unfortunately, again, for the sake of time, I can't go in tremendous detail here. A few things that were unique about this offering. First of all, it indicated that the offeror was already reconciled to God and in a covenant with him. This is not an offering to forgive sin. Many of the other offerings were offerings trying to appease God to forgive sin, but this offering was not.

It was simply to praise God and to publicly display gratitude. That was the sole purpose of this sacrifice of the peace offering. The thanksgiving offering, which was one of the two types of that peace offering, unlike other sacrifices, were not ordained to be offered at fixed and regular times. Most of the other sacrifices, God clearly mandated that on certain days and certain sins and certain events that a particular sacrifice had to occur. With this sacrifice, it was a free will offering. Some of the translations, again, call it a fellowship offering.

So the general principle of this offering seems to be that it should be entirely spontaneous. And that's what Leviticus tells us. It was offered as a spontaneous occasion should arise from someone who was thankful. And they said, you know what? I'm going to go to the temple and I'm going to give a thanksgiving offering. Totally spontaneous, not to appease sin. It was truly unique in the types of offerings that God described. So here we see an offering whose main purpose was to give thanks to God and praise His goodness on behalf of the individual providing the offering.

In the New Covenant, of course, we don't make offerings because Jesus Christ fulfilled all the offerings and because we're living sacrifices. Paul reminded us of that in Romans chapter 12 and verse 1. But I want to ask this question. Do we frequently show thankfulness to God and others in the way that we live? Is our thanks spontaneous?

Is it daily? Is it part of our mindset, part of our attitude? Does it reflect by the words that come out of our mouths? By the way that we treat others? Let's take a look at an example from Daniel. If you'll turn with me to Daniel chapter 6 and verse 1 and see what made him truly unique. Something he did when his back was against the wall. The other governors and the other administrators in the kingdom of the Medes and the Persians wanted him dead, wanted him out of the way.

So they did something to him and his response to what they did to him is remarkable. So let's go to Daniel chapter 6 and pick it up in verse 1. Daniel chapter 6 and verse 1. Please, Darius, said over the kingdom 120 satraps. Now these were regional administrators and they were on a local level to take care of the administration of the kingdom and then above them would be three governors of which Daniel was one. Let's read about that. And over these three governors of whom Daniel was one, that the satraps might give account to them so that the king would suffer no loss.

So that was the hierarchical structure of the king in his administrative role and then the three governors of which Daniel was one and then under them all of the satraps. So let's continue verse 3. Then this Daniel distinguished himself above the governors and satraps because an excellent spirit was in him. So what do you think it means when it says here an excellent spirit was within him?

Do you think he walked around all the time complaining? Do you think he walked around all the time saying to the king, I should be number one? I should be higher, I should be better, I should get more respect, I should have more gold, I should have a bigger home, I should have all of these things I don't have, the glass is half empty, I'm being denied.

Do you think that's what it means when it says he had an excellent spirit? No, what it means when it says he had an excellent spirit is that he was positive. He had a can-do approach to getting things done. As we'll see, the king already had enough politicians surrounding him. He already had enough yes men. He already had enough manipulators. He already had enough of that kind of spirit within his kingdom.

What made Daniel stand out is that an excellent spirit was in him. A positive spirit that attracted the king to the wisdom of Daniel. It says, and the king gave thought to setting over him the whole realm. He was so impressed with Daniel that he was going to reorganize the structure of the kingdom. So the governors and satraps sought to find some charge against Daniel concerning the kingdom, but they could find no charge or fault because he was faithful, nor was there any error or fault found in him.

Do you think we could say that about the politicians in our nation today? You know, one of my favorite sayings, dog tics, deer tics, politics, they're all parasites.

But when they examined Daniel, they couldn't find bribery. They couldn't find, where he was taking money on the side, they couldn't find him talking out of both sides of his mouth, they couldn't find corruption around him, intrigue, they couldn't find any of that around this man. He was blameless. Verse 5, then these men said, we shall not find any charge against Daniel unless we find it against him concerning the law of his God. We can't get him on anything else, so we're going to have to get him on the religious card. That's the only way to corner him, to get rid of him. So these governors and satraps thronged before the king. I love that word. It's like a bee, like a hive of bees coming around the king. And said to him, King Darius, live forever. All the governors of the kingdom, the administrators and satraps, the counselors and advisors, have consulted together, more like conspired together, consulted together to establish a royal statute and to make a firm decree that whoever petitions any God or man for 30 days except you, O King, shall be cast into the den of lions. Now, O King, establish the decree and sign the writing so that it cannot be changed according to the law of the Medes and the Persians, which does not alter. Therefore, Darius signed the written decree. Now, when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went home. Let's just stop there for one second. What are all the things that he could do to set an example, to make a statement here to these people? A lot of different things he could have done. He could have read from the book of Psalms. He could have sang a Hebrew hymn. He could have done a number of things, but he does something that ties in with our topic today that is so important and so powerful. Let's see what it is. It says, Daniel knew that the writing was signed and he went home and in his upper room, with his windows open towards Jerusalem. What he's about to do, he's not going to do it in a shy way. He's not going to hold back. He's not going to be introverted or afraid. He's not going to be shamed into doing it privately. No, he's going to open his windows towards Jerusalem and he knelt down on his knees three times that day and prayed and gave thanks before his God. And it wasn't the first time because it says, as was his custom since the early days. Nothing on earth was going to stop Daniel from giving thanks to God.

Even if it cost him his life.

Are we that committed? Are we that open about our level of appreciation, gratitude, and thankfulness for the gift of life itself? For our great God and our calling? For our families? For the spiritual family that God has provided for us? For the material blessings that we've received?

Again, he wasn't shy about it. He opened his window. How about us, brethren?

Let's take a look at another example. Luke chapter 2 and verse 36. Anna the prophetess.

Luke chapter 2 and verse 36.

Jesus is brought to the temple. Anna, age, a very, very old woman, named Anna, sees him there. He says, now there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Feniel, of the tribe of Asher. She was of a great age and had lived with a husband seven years from her virginity, and this woman was a widow of about 84 years. Now, the Greek is a little bit muddled, and people can debate on the calculations here, but if she were married for seven years, and then became a widow, and was a widow for 84 years, and let's say she was 15 when she got married, which wouldn't have been unusual in that age, that means she was 106 years old. That's a pretty old woman, especially at this time in human history. It says, and this woman was a widow of about 84 years who did not depart from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day, and coming in at that instant, Jesus Christ shows up, the parents show, bring this child to the temple. It says, and coming in at that instant, she gave thanks to the Lord and spoke of him to all those who looked for redemption in Jerusalem. So when they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own city Nazareth, and the child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him. So we see here that Anna, who was very old, the first reaction, it says that instantly, in an instant, she gave thanks to the Lord. It was spontaneous. It was part of how she was wired. Something wonderful happened, something wonderful she would see, she would give thanks to God for it. How are we doing in that? Another example I just might add is a little bit of a sidebar. You know, she was too old. She couldn't serve anymore in a physical way. Not if she were around 106 years old. Just like some of us in this congregation, we can't serve in a physical way anymore because we've become old, because of diseases. We can't come in here and clean the hall every three or four weeks. We can't mulch the yard. We can't paint a wall. But you know what we can do, no matter what our situation, we can be like Anna, who served God with fastings and prayers night and day. Now that doesn't mean she prayed continuously night and day, but it means a number of times throughout the day, and when she woke up at night, she would say a prayer, pray for God's people. And no matter what our condition, we may not be able to serve any longer physically, but if we're conscious, we can serve spiritually. We can fast. We can pray for those within the congregation. That's the contribution that we can make, even if we're aged, even if we're infirmed, even if we're handicapped. That's something we can do. That's what she did and set a marvelous example. Luke chapter 17 and verse 12. If you'll turn there with me, Luke chapter 17 and verse 12.

Even Jesus marveled in his time at the lack of thanks, the lack of gratitude, the lack of appreciation that he found among people in his very own ministry.

Luke chapter 17 and verse 12. Then, as they entered a certain village, there met him. Ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off. I'm sure you understand it in that culture. You were an outcast. You were unclean. So, if you had that terrible skin disease, you had to remain apart. You were isolated. You were shamed from being a part of that community. That's why they stood afar off. And they lifted up their voices and said, Jesus, master, have mercy on us. So, when he saw them, he said to them, go show yourselves to the priests. And they understood what he's saying. He's saying, look, if you have faith, during the journey, from right here until you see the priest, you'll be healed. And that priest will look at you and examine you and say, I see no lesions. I see nothing wrong. You can come back into the community.

You are healed. That's what Jesus is telling them here. Go show yourself to the priest. And so it was, as they went, and again, walking and obeying what Jesus said and heading towards the priest and taking that action was an act of faith. It says they were cleansed. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned. And with a loud voice glorified God and fell down on his face at his feet. This is the feet of Jesus Christ. Giving him thanks. He'd just been healed. His whole life, his whole future, had been changed from being an outcast to now being a full member of the community. Giving him thanks, and he was a Samaritan of all people. So Jesus answered and said, were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? He said, were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner? What about the nine people who were of Jewish descent, who probably listened and followed and heard the messages of the Pharisees, and maybe occasionally went to the temple and performed duties at the temple? Where are these people at? Where's their thanks? Where is their appreciation? Jesus asks. And he said to him, go arise, go your way, for your faith has made you well. So where were all the healed individuals of Jewish descent who knew better? The one who comes back is a member of the most despised community there was. The Samaritans were so despised that religious Jews would not even travel through their country. They would walk around it to avoid traveling through Samaria. And who comes back? The Samaritan. To draw an analogy from this, are other people more thankful and appreciated to God than we are? Are there people out there in the community in the world who are really genuinely more thankful to God every day in their prayers, in their actions, in their lifestyles than we are? Does the Father give us blessings that we just take for granted? Have we gone to the point where we think we're just entitled to receive God's blessings? Because after all, we are His children and He loves us. And indeed, we are His children and He does love us. So do we think that somehow that makes us entitled? Or do we lack appreciation for the life and the calling and the gifts we've been given? Is the glass always half empty in our life? It's never good enough. I'm unhappy. I'm always critical. Everything is bad. Everybody's bad. Every situation is bad. The world is bad. Churches are bad. Everything's bad. Is that our perception on life? You know what that shows? A deep lack of gratitude and appreciation for what you do have. That's what that shows. That's what it reflects. Let's take a look at Jesus Christ Himself, John, chapter 6 and verse 5. If you'll turn there with me, John chapter 6 and verse 5.

Jesus here feeds 5,000, but before He distributes the food to 5,000 through a miracle of multiplying the bread and the fish, He does something very powerful that reflects who and what He was as Jesus Christ. He says, "...and Jesus lifted up His eyes and seeing a great multitude coming toward Him. He said to Philip, where shall we buy bread that we may eat? But He said this to test Him, for He Himself knew what He would do." So He knew He was going to perform a miracle. He knew exactly what His plan was, and Philip answered Him, "...200 denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them that every one of them may have a little." He says, that's all we've got, 200 denarii, and that's not going to buy nearly enough bread to feed 5,000 hungry people. One of His disciples, Andrew Simon Peters' brother, said to Him, "...there is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many?" So there was one little entrepreneurial lad who put together a big crowd of people, hunger. I think I'm going to show up with barley loaves and with fish. Then Jesus said, "...make the people sit down." There was much grass in the place. So the men sat down in number, about 5,000. And again, if that's the men and you had the women and children, you could have a huge number of people where fettier could be far more than just the 5,000 men who sat down. And Jesus took the loaves. And when He had given thanks, He distributed... What was important to Him before He just distributed the food? He gave thanks to God for the blessing of the food. And when He had given thanks, He distributed them to His disciples and the disciples to those sitting down and likewise of the fish, as much as they wanted. So when they were filled, He said to His disciples, "...gather up to fragments that remain, so that nothing is lost. Therefore, they gathered them up and filled 12 baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves, which were left over by those who had eaten than those men." When they had seen the sign that Jesus did, said, this is truly the prophet who has come into the world. So we see a remarkable example from Jesus Christ here who gave thanks before He distributed this blessing to all of these people. Jesus often gave thanks to God before He ate food. We see an example of that a number of times in scriptures. He gave thanks when He resurrected Lazarus in John chapter 11 verse 41. He gave thanks when He instituted the New Covenant symbols of the Passover. It says He gave thanks. He blessed the bread. He gave thanks. He blessed the wine. So Jesus Christ set a wonderful example of someone who was thankful and took the time out to publicly declare His thankfulness to the Father for what He had.

Let's go to Revelation chapter 11 and verse 15. Revelation chapter 11 and verse 15.

We've just followed the Feast of Tabernacles and perhaps we will recall with this scripture a very powerful prophecy about the seventh angel sounding and the kingdoms of this world becoming the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ. Revelation chapter 11 verse 15. Then the seventh angel sounded and there were loud voices in heaven saying the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ and He shall reign forever and ever. And the 24 elders who sat before God on their thrones fell on their faces and worshiped God, much like that Samaritan fell on His face when He came back to give thanks to Jesus Christ for being healed. And here's in verse 17 what the 24 elders sang or said, we give you thanks, O Lord God Almighty, the one who is and the one who was and who is to come because you have taken your great power and reigned. That's truly something to be thankful for, the ushering in of the literal kingdom of God.

Brethren, it is time for some of us to be more zealous and look at the example of David and Daniel who was facing death and boldly opened up those windows and said three times, thank you. I thank you, God, for who and what you are. I thank you for having a relationship with you and being your servant.

Some of us more zealously need to follow the example of the 24 elders and learn to openly express our daily thankfulness to God for who He is and for the grace that He has shown us. That is so important because in a world where many people walk around with a chip on their shoulder, thinking that they're entitled to something that someone else has, let's be thankful to our God for all that He gives us.

Let's be thankful for our family, thankful for our friends, thankful and appreciative for the things that we do have. Yes, we may live in a house that the roof leaks. We may live in a car that's held together by faith and duct tape. We may have clothes that have holes in them. My wife is teasing me this morning about the pajamas I was wearing. I had a big hole in the elbow. Yes, we may not have everything, and some of the things we have may be old and fading, maybe not working as well as they used to, but let's be thankful and appreciative for the things that we do have, because the truth is there are billions of people on earth right now who would trade their life for yours in an instant.

Billions of people on this planet today in a heartbeat would trade their life for yours. So we have so much to be thankful for. I just want to mention a few things before our final scripture, some things that we can be thankful for. This is just food for thought. We can be thankful for God's calling because nothing else gives greater peace and hope for an awesome future. We can be thankful for good friends, and it's the quality of friendships that's important, not the quantity.

We can be thankful for freedom of religion, the ability to come here on the Sabbath day, counterculture to what this world does, and do it without fear, and do it without retribution. We can be thankful for the ability to learn from mistakes. If we never make mistakes, we wouldn't learn as much as we can, and we also wouldn't learn about the things that we should be thankful for if occasionally we didn't make some mistakes. We can be thankful for having shelter, whether you live in an apartment, a mansion, or a tent. Having a place to call home is something to be thankful for.

We can be thankful for the ability to read. Think about the avenues that it opens up in life, if you have the ability to read a book, how it literally takes you somewhere else, how it takes your mind and expands it into areas and levels that it would never go before.

We can be thankful for breathing fresh air. Now, our air may not be pure, and I really don't want to get into that discussion, but being able to step outside and breathe the fresh air is a good reminder of how many little things we should be thankful for. We should be thankful for a bed to sleep in. A bed is one of those things that it's easy to take for granted until you stay at a motel.

You wake up the next day, oh man, my back aches, oh this hurts. If you think your bed isn't important, just spend one night in a tent with your grandchildren, laying on that tent floor, and you'll appreciate that you have a bed to sleep in. Something we can be thankful for is laughter, because without laughter, the world would be a very sad place. We can be thankful for safety and security, being able to wake up without immense fear.

That frees us up to live life to its fullest. We can be thankful for living in a nation that has a very strong military. Well, we don't have to worry about some nation invading us. The next growing season has happened for thousands and thousands of years on planet earth. We don't have to worry about being invaded and living in fear. We can be thankful for sunshine. The sun's warmth can brighten any day. It's a natural high, allowing the rays of the sun to shine on us. We can be thankful for time. Even if we don't think there's enough of it, time is something that we should not take for granted.

We should have gleaned what we can from every minute. We can be thankful for clean water. Again, I'm not saying pure water. Our water isn't pure, but many people on earth lack access to clean water. How many times have you heard me talking about us drilling a borehole somewhere in Africa or another place on earth so that a village, so that a group of people can have some clean drinking water? We can be thankful for love.

If you have a family, and I hope you do, if you obviously your spiritual family here, love brings an additional dimension to our lives. It's something we should be thankful for. We should be thankful for art. I don't mean Art Blakey. We should be thankful for Art Blakey. But I mean... See, I remembered his name.

But I mean art like the arts, music, entertainment, paintings, dance, what we usually would call the arts. The world is a beautiful place because the arts exist. We can be thankful for waking up today. There were probably 10,000 people who went to bed last night and didn't wake up this morning, for one reason or another. So we can be thankful for waking up today. We can be thankful for indoor plumbing. My mother told me the story. She grew up in a small little town called Meenert, Ohio. They didn't have indoor plumbing, and she told me once what it was like to have to go wee-wee... Am I allowed to say wee-wee?

To have to go wee-wee at three in the morning and leave your home and go out to the outhouse, walking through the frost and the snow, to sit down on a seat that was 20 degrees.

You know, that's how most of the earth lived until the last hundred years. For thousands of years, we just take it for granted. We can be thankful for indoor plumbing. We can be thankful that wisdom comes with age. Yes, a lot of us have been struggling with that our whole lives, trying to develop more wisdom, and if we're paying attention, it does come with age. We can be thankful for eyesight. You know, my father-in-law was blind. It can be really difficult to be blind. It's a struggle. You lose out on all the richness of being able to view the world's beauty. We can be thankful for sunrises and sunsets. I caught the sunrise this morning from where I was sitting in the living room, and it was beautiful. It came up, and the purples and the yellows, and all of those beautiful colors cascading through those trees as the sun was rising. That's a gift, something to be thankful for. We can be thankful for entertainment. It gives us a way to relax and enjoy life. We can be thankful for our minds, being able to think and remember and solve problems. We can be thankful for electricity, for natural gas, and for the internet. Some of us couldn't live without the internet. We'd be hyperventilating in a bag if the internet went down for more than a couple of hours. It's become such a part of our lives. We can be thankful for hearing, being able to hear your loved one's voice is something not everyone gets to do. And as we get older, we lose some of the ability to hear, but something to be thankful for if you can hear. We can be thankful for the ability to learn new things. And in essence, we have endless potential because we can constantly be learning new things. We can be thankful that there are people who are willing to teach. Earlier in your life, it may have been your grandmother, it may have been your parents, it may have been a teacher. You know, most teachers in our cultures are not compensated according to what they give to society. Most teachers are poorly compensated compared to other professions, but they do it because they love teaching. So we can be very thankful and appreciative that people are willing to teach. We can be thankful for modern medicine. It's extended many of our lives. I wouldn't be here today if it weren't for modern medicine. And I know many of us sitting out there, if it weren't for God, great creators, unlocking some of His creative secrets and allowing and creating the human mind to discover those things and discover those principles and those biological laws that God designed from the very beginning. The doctors can unlock and can understand how the process works. We can be thankful for modern medicine. We can be thankful for warm clothing. It was a little nippy today as we walked out the door to come here for services. We can be very thankful that we have warm clothing. We can be thankful for food. You know, we again, we take it for granted because we live in a land of plenty, but again, there are billions of people who woke up today who had one goal in mind. They don't need to worry about their future. They don't need to worry about art or any of those great esoteric things that we have time for. They woke up this morning and they had one goal, and that was to sell a service, labor, or to sell something that they made so that they could get enough money today to buy food to feed their family. And tomorrow, when they wake up, they get to do the same thing all over again for the rest of their lives.

So we should be very thankful that we have food and a lot of it. Finally, we should be thankful for challenges. You might say, you nuts Mr. Thomas challenges! Yeah, thankful for the challenges we have, because if it weren't for the challenges in life, we wouldn't be the people we are now. Challenges stretch us. Sometimes, in ways that we don't desire, yet they stretch us. They take us to another level. And long term, they're good for us, even though for a season it may be painful, it may be something we don't want to go through. So I just wanted to mention a few things that we can all be thankful for. Our final scripture today, Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 17. If you'll turn there with me, final scripture, Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 17.

Let us remember the instruction here from the Apostle Paul to the church at Ephesus. Let us remember what the will of the Lord is, because he's going to tell us.

And hopefully, what he says here, we'll take to heart and we'll demonstrate more at home in our families. We'll demonstrate more in the job and hopefully we'll demonstrate more right here among God's people. He says, therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. Do not be drunk with wine, which is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit. So he's saying, be careful that you have the right Spirit. God's Holy Spirit. He says that's what's really important. Verse 19, speaking to one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. Verse 20, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father. I'm going to read that again. Giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another in the fear of God. So in a couple of weeks we're going to be celebrating a partly religious, partly secular national holiday that we call Thanksgiving. But as God's people, let's be sure that the attitude of Thanksgiving is reflected each and every day in our prayers and in our praise, in the words that come out of our mouths, in our families, at work, at church. Let's show God and show the world that we truly are a people who appreciate His love, His grace, and His blessings. And that above all people on earth that we are most thankful. Have a wonderful Sabbath day.