Worship God With Thanksgiving

Well, brethren, in just five days from today, this country will be celebrating the National Day of Thanksgiving. I noticed as we came into the Tri-Cities and got off at our exit over here, the lane we were in was backed up well beyond the light, and I thought, what's going on? Is it another rally? And I realized, no, it's the right-hand turn to Winco Foods. You know, people are stocking up. They have plans.

Families will be getting together. Friends will be fellowshipping. There'll be all kinds of food and drink that people enjoy together, likely a number of games. Maybe football is on the roster for Thanksgiving Day. There's a national game or two that is generally broadcast, and I know when our family gets together, oftentimes relatives like to throw the football around the backyard if it's a clear day. Just something to do as interaction together Maybe you have a favorite movie that you put on in the background on Thanksgiving.

Maybe you're like Darla who enjoys the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade and and watching a number of the floats that go by there. Thanksgiving, of course, is not a biblical holy day, but it is a day that's set aside nationally to acknowledge the blessings of Almighty God. And while we know we should make every day a day of thanks to our Father, this season does give us an opportunity to stop, to reflect, and to ask ourselves the question, how thankful am I? How thankful am I? But the question should not stop there because it goes beyond simply being thankful. Furthermore, we should ask, how diligent am I in expressing my thankfulness to God?

How thankful am I in expressing openly, clearly, directly my thankfulness to God? Psalm chapter 100 verse 4 instructs us to enter into his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise.

It's a posture that we're to have as we come into God's presence. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise. Psalm 100 verse 4. You know, it's in its context, it's referring to approaching God, you know, in his tabernacle, at his temple, as the people would approach in that way, up to his very dwelling place, not only with a thankful attitude, but with an outward expression of thanksgiving.

It's a reminder to us that thanksgiving is not simply good manners alone, but actually it is a form of worship. Expressing thanksgiving to God is a form of worship, and that's what I'd like to focus on in the message today. The title is Worship God with Thanksgiving, and again, this is not a holy day that's upcoming, but I think it's a good time of the year to reset our focus on how we express these things to God.

It's my intent to remind us that our thankfulness must not stop just with an attitude or with a feeling. Those things are important, okay, when you've received blessings and you hold thankfulness in your heart. That's an important focus to have, but it has to expand even beyond that into open expression towards God. Again, that's a part of our worship. Now the Bible warns us that in the last days humanity's attitude will shift dramatically away from gratitude. Okay, so I do want to start there because it's a warning for you and I never to head down this road.

2 Timothy chapter 3 and verse 1, if you'll join me there, 2 Timothy chapter 3 and verse 1, and the Apostle Paul writing, and he says, But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come. Says, For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents. I think we can see the slide in all of these things in society around us.

Unthankful, he says, unthankful and unholy. Here the Apostle Paul describes a generation that will live in open opposition to the ways of God and among the attitudes that will be prevalent at the end of the age will be an attitude of unthankfulness. Unthankfulness. Just think about that for a moment. Being unthankful and an unthankful heart is not simply forgetting to say thank you.

Okay, it goes deeper than that. To say thank you is what springs from the heart. So this actually becomes literally a heart issue in and of itself. It's someone who doesn't stop long enough to even recognize the blessings of God in their life. That's literally what this word means. This word translated unthankful from the Greek essentially means a refusal to recognize indebtedness to another. It's refusal to recognize indebtedness to another. It's a feeling that you're entitled.

That you have the right to something. That whatever it is that you've been blessed with, you had it coming to you, and you don't owe anyone anything. At least of all gratitude. It's a spirit that will be prevalent at the end of the age, and Paul tells us to have nothing to do with such people. Because when we stop seeing blessings as a blessing, brethren, the danger becomes we stop seeing God as the giver. I'll say that again when we stop seeing blessings as blessings.

Oh, I just had it coming to me. It means then we run that danger of stop seeing God as the giver. As the giver of all good things. And indeed when we recognize a blessing as a blessing, and God as a giver, that's what will bring forth that flow of thanksgiving and praise and worship to Him. This is what will be lacking in the age to come, and it's what you and I must never allow ourselves to venture down the road of an unthankful heart.

That's why thanksgiving is so important. It's not optional to the people of God. It is an essential part of our relationship with Him. Now interestingly, the Bible shows that there's a distinction between being thankful and giving thanks, and I think we've already touched on that to a degree already. It's a distinction here between being thankful and giving thanks.

And they're related, we understand, but one lives quietly inside us. It's a feeling. It's an attitude. You know, it's a feeling of the heart, and it's a good thing, but if we don't express it, if we don't give thanks, then that's where it will remain. So there's a difference between being thankful and openly expressing and declaring that thanks to God. Both are important, but they're not exactly the same. Let's go to Colossians chapter 3 and verse 14 and see how the Apostle Paul kind of shows us the print, the transgression, not transgression, progression that needs to take place in this process of thanksgiving.

Colossians chapter 3 and verse 14. Paul actually has quite a bit to say about thanksgiving in his words. In Colossians 3 verse 14, he says, bearing with one another and forgiving one another. All right, he says, if anyone has a complaint against another, even as Christ forgave, so you must do. Verse 13. Verse 14, 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 are called in one body, and be thankful. Be thankful, Paul says. Be appreciative. Recognize the blessings in your life and the source of those blessings. But notice how the passage then progresses. It starts with be thankful, but it doesn't stay there. Verse 16, he says, let the Word of Christ dwell richly in you in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your heart to the Lord.

And whatever you do in word or deed do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks, giving thanks to God the Father through him. So we see the focus here shifts from being thankful, or we could say maybe it progresses from being thankful, onto then the outcome of that, giving thanks. Giving thanks. There's a movement from the internal attitude in the feeling to an open and external expression of words and actions.

Being thankful is where it starts, but it can't end there. It can't end there. It's like if someone's ever sent you a gift, right, and it comes delivered UPS and you open the box, and inside that cardboard box is this beautifully wrapped gift with a bow, and you take that out, and you open it up, and you unwrap the gift, and it was a very thoughtful, very personal gift. You might be full of thanks, but to not send a card of gratitude to the person who sent you to gift, something will be lacking.

You're full of thanks, and you appreciate what has been done, but think of the joy that comes when someone actually receives thanks given unto them in response. And this is the same way in our relationship with God. If you do a biblical search, what you're going to find is that there are only a handful of scriptures that actually pertain to being thankful. Now you can find them, and we just read through one of them, but if you do a study, there's actually many more scriptures pertaining to the giving of thanks, or thanksgiving, or offering the praise of your thanks to God, taking what you have and expressing it outward in a form, again, of worship.

Of worship, because it gives back to God what is truly the joy of our heart. Now to illustrate the difference, Jesus gave us an example himself. Luke chapter 17 and verse 11. Again, consider the difference between being thankful and giving thanks. Luke chapter 17 and verse 11 says, Now it happened that Jesus went to Jerusalem, or as he was, that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. When he entered a certain village there met him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off.

And they lifted up their voices and they said, Jesus, master, have mercy on us. And so when he saw them he said to them, Go, show yourselves to the priest. And so it was that as they went they were cleansed. You know, it doesn't really appear there was some great ritual of any kind around this healing. He just simply said, Go show yourself to the priest. And as they went it says, They were healed. They were cleansed. Verse 15 says, In one of them when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God.

Says he fell down on his face at Jesus' feet giving him thanks. And he was a Samaritan. You know, Christ oftentimes highlighted the fact that what the Jews should have been doing, you have the parable of the Samaritan, we might call the good Samaritan, he would highlight this contrast that that maybe in some ways made a point directly.

You know, this was the one that you Jews looked down on, a Samaritan, and yet they upheld the standard. This is not a parable, this is a reality. The one who returned was a Samaritan. So here we see ten men healed, ten lives restored, ten futures given back. Because I want you to imagine and understand what it would been like to be a leper in that time and place.

Leprosy was a contagious disease, okay, with something that made somebody not only physically unclean, but ceremonially unclean. And so to become a leper, suddenly you were put out of your home, separated from your family. You weren't allowed to own land. You were removed from being part of a job, part of a profession. It was a life of isolation. And in many ways, the lepers were looked down on as people who had come under the curse of God.

So this was a very hard circumstance to live under. Oftentimes they were put into what we would call a leper colony. They went around and begged for what it is that they received. And if they were venturing down the roadway and somebody was coming along and ventured a little too close, they would have to cry out.

Unclean, unclean, just to give the warning. And that person would give them a wide berth of avoidance. You didn't go to the synagogue. You weren't allowed to the synagogue. You were literally cut off socially, religiously, living your life in a way of shame. This is what was healed. This goes beyond just a physical restoration. These lives were given back to these ten men. Yet only one returned to give thanks. And we might say, how can that be? How can that be? Well, verse 17, so Jesus answered and he said, Were there not ten cleansed, but where are the nine?

Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner? And he said to him, Arise, go your way, your faith has made you well. You know, were the other nine grateful? I'm sure they were. The leprosy left them. Their bodies were restored.

Their lives were restored. I'm sure they were grateful, but they didn't take the extra step, the step of worship, to openly express that thanksgiving to God. They merely went their way. You know, we can hope that in their own private time they did that, but the example of Christ says, Where are they? Were there not ten healed, only one returned to openly express this thanks. Brethren, how often has God blessed us, helped us, provided for us in various ways in our life, and yet we carried on as though it were simply life happening to us rather than God's divine mercy and care.

We might have been thankful for the bonus at work, you know, the blessing that came along, whatever that would be, thankful. And I do hope that we are among the one in attitude who then turns and expresses that to God. But the point is we need to be mindful of these things. The story teaches us that thankfulness is good, but giving thanks truly honors God.

Giving thanks, expressing that thanks of your heart truly honors God. The other nine were surely thankful if you ask them, if you caught up to them on the road, are you grateful for what has occurred? They would have said, I'm sure, yes indeed, this is a blessing. This is a blessing, but only one gave thanks. We would call this one a thanksgiver, a thanksgiver to God. Again, this matters because thanksgiving is a part of our worship. When we bow down before God's throne in prayer, He desires to hear our gratitude expressed, not occasionally, not when we feel like it, but actually as the Bible instructs continually.

1 Thessalonians chapter 5. Again, back to the words of Paul. Notice the frequency in which God desires to hear our thanksgiving. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. We'll pick it up in verse 16. 1 Thessalonians 5 and verse 16 says, Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. So here we see God's will plainly stated. He says, give thanks in everything, which I would dare say is different than give thanks for everything.

Okay, if I'm heading down the road and somebody runs a red light and smashes into my car, I'm not going to say, thank you, Father, for putting me in the middle of this wreck. But if I get out and walk away from it, I give thanks in that, even in the midst of the challenge and the trial and the tragedy. Give thanks in everything. Find the silver lining, even in the trial of circumstance, to see where God's hand is, even in the midst of that, and give Him thanks.

Just as praying without ceasing means that we live in a continual attitude of prayer, giving thanks in everything means living in a continual attitude of thanksgiving. That no blessing is too big or small. That we're always living with a mindset of being thankful. And it is a conscious choice. You know, we've probably all met people who maybe seem like they zero in on the negative, as opposed to the positive. And maybe they're always finding something to complain about. If you look around, you can find all kinds of things to complain about. But let's just flip down around and realize, as you look around, you can find all kinds of things to be thankful for and rejoice in.

And indeed, that's what God has called us to do. Give thanks in everything. If you're not exactly sure how to express that thanks to God, and if you're finding it difficult to come up with the words, a good place to start is in the Psalms. I keep finding myself going to the Psalms and directing other people to the Psalms, because Psalms are writings of life. Right? A man, David, who's a primary author of Psalms, but not the only author, had life experiences, ups and downs, blessings and trials. And it's an open expression to God of crying out for mercy and expressing follow-up of thanks. King David repeatedly poured out his heart of thanksgiving to God, and the Psalms are a model of how you and I can do the same.

So if you're struggling to maybe put a thanksgiving list together, if I can use that term, go to the Psalms. Psalm 118, verse 1, let's go there.

Indeed, if there are times that you're searching, Google Psalms of thanksgiving. You'd be amazed how many you'll find. Psalm 118, in verse 1, this whole chapter, in fact, is a chapter of thanksgiving. Verse 1 says, Let Israel now say, His mercy endures forever. Okay, that's verse 2. Let me back up. Verse 1 looked like an introduction. Oh, give thanks. Psalm 118, verse 1. Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good. Says, For His mercy endures forever. So if you're ever unsure about where to even start, this is a good place with the goodness of God and the mercy of God. And indeed, how that has impacted your life. Verse 2, now, let Israel say, His mercy endures forever.

Let the house of Aaron now say, His mercy endures forever. Verse 4, Let those who fear the Lord now say, His mercy endures forever. Says, I called on the Lord in distress, and the Lord answered me and set me in a broad place. The Lord is on my side. I will not fear. What can man do to me? You know, thanksgiving can even be an acknowledgement that, you know what, even when everyone else and everything else seems to be against you, God is on your side, and He upholds you by His righteous right hand. We can express that praise to Him, knowing that we're in the shadow of His care and provision every day. Verse 28, dropping down, Psalm 118, verse 28, You are my God, and I will praise you. You are my God, and I will exalt you. O give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, for His mercy endures forever. Again, thanksgiving flows from a recognition of who God is and what He has done in our lives, and it is a form of worship towards Him. If you're struggling to find the words, just maybe even on your knees, open your Bible, and in prayer to God, read Him these Psalms. And then relate, connect, bring out what it is similar that God has done in your life. When we give thanks, we acknowledge God as the source of every good thing. We humble ourselves, and we recognize our dependence upon Him, and we proclaim His goodness, even when circumstances are uncertain. Because, you see, this isn't just in the good times, sort of an expression.

These are at all times. David found himself in some very deep, some very dark, trying places. And yet he said, In the midst of all this, you are my God, and you uphold me, and you surround me with this hedge of protection. And he offered that thanks continually and repeatedly to God. Let's look at another Psalm of thanksgiving, Psalm 136. Psalm 136, verse 1.

It says, O give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, for His mercy endures forever. This is a similar rhythm to the Psalm we just read. In verse 2, O give thanks to the God of gods, for His mercy endures forever. O give thanks to the Lord of lords, for His mercy endures forever. Verse 4, to Him who alone does great wonders. Verse 5, to Him who by wisdom made the heavens, to Him who laid out the earth above the waters, to Him who made great lights. Verse 8, the sun the rule the day. Verse 9, the moon and stars to rule the night. It's expressing the awe of God, His magnificence. Simply even the creation, the fact that we are a part of it. When you look up into the sun, moon and stars, and see the handiwork of God. It's an awe, and it is a thanksgiving. As David said, who is man? You're mindful of Him.

Verse 10, to Him who struck Egypt in their firstborn, for His mercy endures forever, and brought out Israel from among them, for His mercy endures forever. These verses go on to touch on God's merciful dealings with Israel, and it's a reminder that their thanksgiving was rooted in God's covenant blessings to them.

Well, you and I today are in covenant with God, and those covenant blessings extend out from Him into our lives as well. Verse 23 says, who remembered us in our lowly state, for His mercy endures forever. You know, we can take this description. It's not just for Israel, it is for us today. Who remembered us in our lowly state, poured out blessing upon us. He saw us in our spiritual weakness, and He delivered us. And the question is, how willing are we then to turn to Him in thanks? Verse 24, and rescued us from our enemies, for His mercy endures forever. Who gives food to all flesh, for His mercy endures forever.

Verse 26, O give thanks to the God of heaven, for His mercy endures forever. The Psalms, brethren, are just saturated with words of thanksgiving to God, and reading through them daily trains our minds and our focus to do what God desires, express our gratitude to Him openly and continually.

Again, it's sort of like receiving a gift and being very thankful for that, but never expressing it to the person who gave it, never sending the card or picking up the phone or giving them a hug when you see them next time at church. God desires to hear this thanksgiving from our own lips. Of course, David and the other psalmist were masters at putting these things to quill and ink and paper.

We sung a number of them today, right? Songs of praise and thanksgiving. They're all throughout our hymn book. Sometimes we can sing the words and we know the melody, think about what we sing, and recognize that those words are an expression of our heart to God, indeed in worship. We call it a worship service, and that is a part of our expression to Him.

Maybe each one of us has our own unique ways of declaring our thanks to God. Again, David wrote psalms and he cried out with his lips, maybe you write poetry, maybe you journal, maybe you write songs and music, maybe you sing songs to God. Maybe your thanksgiving is in quiet prayer on your knees before Him, but whatever form it takes, we need to find what it is that works for us to express to God, to move out of our heart into open expression, that thanksgiving. And when you find what works for you, practice it and perfect it so that God truly hears from you how much you value His blessing in your life. Thanksgiving can even come in the form of sacrifice. That's an interesting thought. But thanksgiving can come in the form of sacrifice. You remember, under the Old Covenant system, thanksgiving was not only verbal, it could also be expressed through the bringing of an offering. Let's look at that. Leviticus chapter 7, verse 11.

Sometimes when we think of sacrifice and offering, maybe our mind just automatically ties it to sin. But there were free will offerings for expressing wonderful things from the heart to God.

Leviticus chapter 7, verse 11, it says, This is the law of the sacrifice of peace offerings, which ye shall offer to the Lord. If he offers it for a thanksgiving, then he shall offer with the sacrifice of thanksgiving eleven cakes mixed with oil, eleven wafers anointed with oil, or cakes of blended flour mixed with oil. So there was this specific offering that could be brought when someone wanted to express specific thanksgiving to God. Verse 13, it says, Besides the cakes as its offering, he shall offer leavened bread with the sacrifice of thanksgiving, of his peace offering. And from it he shall offer one cake from each offering as a heave offering to the Lord. You know, lift it up in recognition before God. A heave offering to the Lord. It shall belong to the priest who sprinkles the blood of the peace offering. It says, So again, very specific and special set of instructions if someone said, God has blessed me tremendously. And I want to express to him in a very special way my thanks.

This was brought in a very ceremonial and serious sort of way to be delivered up unto him. The thank offering, though, I understand, was voluntary. Right? Voluntary. It was a free will offering motivated by a grateful heart. And it was given simply because the giver wanted to express their gratitude to God. This is something in the Old Testament, but it's not completely cut off compared to what you and I can do and offer to God today as well. You know, David refers to this offering in the Psalms. Psalm 107, verse 8.

Psalm 107, verse 8.

David says, Oh, that man would give thanks to the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men. Says, For he satisfies the longing soul, and fills the hungry soul with goodness. Dropping down to verse 21. Oh, that man would give thanks to the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men. Let them sacrifice, David says.

Let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare his works with rejoicing.

Here, thanksgiving is described as a sacrifice that's given in acknowledgment of the blessings of God. Now, today, you and I are under the terms of the New Covenant. So, in that sense, we're not bringing up a physical sacrifice to the tabernacle or the temple to be slaughtered at the altar and offered up in that way before God. But we are given opportunity to offer sacrifices of thanksgiving to him through our relationship, because God has left in place the ability for us to offer these things. We worship God in spirit and truth, and it's through that relationship that our opportunity to make free will offerings to him is still available today. Let's notice Hebrews 13, verse 15.

Hebrews 13, verse 15.

How can you and I offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving today?

Hebrews 13, verse 15 says, Therefore, by him, let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name.

This is powerful.

The author of Hebrews is talking about the sacrifice of praise, which he describes as the fruit of our lips. It's the very words that we speak, the songs that we sing. It's the praises to God that are on our lips and the prayers that we offer up to him. It is a sacrifice of praise. Indeed, the Bible links praise and thanks very closely together in a number of places. They're not the same thing exactly, but they are very similar.

It's been said that praise is thanksgiving in motion.

It's been said that praise is gratitude that has found a voice, as in, you have that within you, but it has to come out. And it comes out in the form of praise. And acknowledging God as the source from which all of our blessings flow is how that sacrifice of praise is offered. Again, the fruit of our lips before him.

So the question for you and I becomes, once again, how are we doing with expressing our thanksgiving to God? We're coming up on a national holiday of thanksgiving, designed to turn our focus back to giving thanks to the one who has given all. But this is a 365-day-a-year matter for you and I as the people of God.

How are we doing? Over the years, I've often found myself being more thankful in times of challenge than times of ease. And that might seem maybe a little backwards. I don't know if it's the same for you, but honestly, when I'm walking through difficult circumstances and I'm walking through trials, it is actually when it's front and center before my eyes, God, I need you in your hand of blessing. And thank you, Father, for being there. I'm not going through this alone. To me, the ability to have thanksgiving just spring forth to my mind comes easier through times of dependence, more so than times of prosperity. When life gets difficult, God's presence becomes more real in ways we don't quickly forget.

I'm more thankful to God when I'm in Africa than when I'm home. You might say, well, that's silly. Aren't you thankful to get home? I am. But that's stimulated by what I've seen over there. Now, I hope I'm always thankful for what I have, but you see, we can become very comfortable. We can take our blessings for granted. So when I travel to Africa and I see how people are living there, and I see the economic challenges, and I see the heartache of certain situations, I've encountered situations over the years numerous that literally have brought me to tears because it's like, that could have been prevented.

That life could have been saved. This child need not have gone through that. Had they been somewhere, it could have been recognized, diagnosed, easily treated here. And it's heart-wrenching to be in places and circumstances at times where you see, from an American perspective, what could have been different. But again, it brings me to the point where I give God thanks for the blessings that I've seen in my life. The fact that I live here, I did nothing to be born here.

But I do consider it God's blessing that I live here and what it is that He has supplied into my life. And those things are brought to mind quickly. Africa is the prod for me in many ways. When I'm at a hotel or somewhere that I'm staying and the power goes off, then it comes on and it goes off, and the internet goes off and it comes on and it goes off. It stays off, you know, and you turn on the tap and the water comes out, whatever color is going to come out.

You know what? I thank God for bottled water. There. Here I can turn on the tap and I just take a drink and I don't think twice about it except that I should give God thanks for that. But when I'm literally in Africa brushing my teeth at the hotel with bottled water, you know, thank you, Father, for bottled water. This is life-changing in the moment. Okay, so we're here and we have blessings, and yet it's easy to forget to be thankful for things that we take for granted. Again, thanksgiving is what we must be as the people of God, a people who are thankful, not like the end of the age, unthankful, feeling like we owe nothing, feeling entitlement.

There's a few practical ideas to keep thanksgiving in mind. So just consider this. It's very simple. Point number one, start each day giving thanks to God. Sounds simple, doesn't it? When you wake up in the morning before you engage with the activities of the day, before you pick up the phone and start scrolling, maybe you're still in bed. You open your eyes and you give thanks to God as part of your wake-up routine.

Even if it's brief, set your focus on thanksgiving before you ever collide with all the other matters of life vying for your attention. Start each day with thanksgiving, and doing it sets our spiritual focus to move throughout the day with a mindset of thankfulness. We recognize our blessings big and small. Thank God for the breath of life. Father, thank you.

I woke up this morning. It's a good start to the day, I do believe. Thank Him for another day closer to His kingdom. Thank Him for the physical peace and safety He's provided in your life and in your home.

Most of us, if not all of us, don't have to lay down at night with great fear for our environment and our circumstances. Honestly, that is something that is a rarity, I would say, in the world in many ways. So thank God for those blessings. Thank God for the opportunity He's given you to be a light in the world, to go out there and live this way and be an example, and ask Him to help you embrace that, so you can shine forth the blessing of your life to the world, that they may know the source is God.

Point number two, give thanks to God throughout the day. I told you these are easy points, but it's remembering to do it that is the point here. Give thanks to God throughout the day. When you encounter blessings, when you see the hand of God's mercy in your life, even when you're going through challenging times and circumstances, give God the thanks. Again, medically speaking, in Africa, the availability of decent healthcare is for the few, not the most. And there's so many things I've seen that, again, I think, you know, back home that would have been fixed.

And I even think in my own personal life, things that have been done, just very minor procedures in my life that have been life-altering. When I was four years old, I had an operation because I was going cross-eyed, and, you know, if that had been done, I'd be up here looking at you like this right now, right? Or not up here at all. Simply even my ability to read notes. And I've gone through my entire life being able to look straight, see what's going on, generally. But, you know, again, I forget about that.

That has changed my life. But I see people walking around with ailments that are life-changing that is an easy fix when you're a child. Or someone broke a leg and it wasn't set properly. And they've gone through life now. They're 50 years old and their legs bowed, and they walk with a limp, and it limits what they can do. People with polio that are working many of the intersections that you go through. Somebody with withered legs crossed on a skateboard, and they're just moving their way through traffic.

They've got flip-flops on each hand that they're paddling their way and going up and down between the cars. And you just roll the window down and give them a little token of something. But again, things we don't see day to day that, frankly, is daily life there. Give thanks, even in our challenging times of opportunities that God has provided. Give thanks for knowing that He is there and that you're not going through these things alone.

Point number three, you maybe have figured it out by now. Give thanks each... well, actually, each day give thanks at the end of the day. Right? You start the day with Thanksgiving.

You give thanks throughout the day. Conclude each day with Thanksgiving. When you go to bed each night, recount all the ways God's presence and blessing was with you that day. Maybe He gave you the right words to speak at the right time. Maybe He provided the opportunity and ability to make a living that day.

It might sound simple, but God, thank you for the strength. I used to pray that often when I had my landscape business. Thank you for the strength to get done what needed to get done today. And for seeing us through another day. Maybe He provided you a level of protection that you didn't even know about. That wreck that didn't even happen, that you weren't even aware was coming. But again, God guides and directs and is with us throughout the day. Remember to give God thanks at the conclusion of each day.

There's countless things that we can direct our gratitude to God for. And the goal, again, is to train our mind and our focus to be thankful and to remember to give Him that thanks. Because, again, it is a part of our worship.

Much of the news today, much of the information we receive is negative. And again, if that's pulling your focus away from being positive in the things of God, turn it off.

Don't make that your focus. Make the blessings of God your focus. Focus on what is noble and just and pure and lovely and of a good report. And be thankful for those things. Thanksgiving is a choice. It's a choice. You can choose to be positive or negative. You could choose to be a complainer all the time or someone who gives thanks all the time. It's not always determined by our circumstances, determined foremost by our mindset towards God and what He has chosen to do with us, even in spite of whatever we might go through physically, mentally, spiritually. It is a choice and a deliberate decision of will. I choose to be thankful. I choose to be thankful.

Therefore, by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name. Again, that's Hebrews chapter 13 and verse 15. And of course, above all these things we have talked about, the thing that most matters, that we must give God thanks for daily, is the blessing of our calling. First Peter chapter 2 and verse 9.

Let us never forget the incredible blessing God is working out in our life. Express to Him that thanks. First Peter chapter 2 and verse 9. It says, But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation. He's writing to the church, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. Don't ever forget your identity, brethren. This is who and what we are.

A chosen generation, called out of darkness into the light, that we might declare the praises of God. Each and every day our thanksgiving should include appreciation for God's calling, for His truth, for His loss, for His spirit. These have spared us from untold heartache, and they placed us on the narrow path of life. Where would you and I be apart from the calling of God?

What kind of decisions would we have made in our lives? What were the consequences of broken homes and broken families have been? Were we not grounded in living God's Word? Thank God for the blessing of His Word. It is the perfect law of liberty. In no way is it bondage. Verse 10 says, To be called by God, to be forgiven, to be redeemed out of this world, to be given God's Spirit. Again, this is the greatest blessing any human being can receive. And how can we not be thankful? How could we be like the other nine lepers who did not return to give God the thanks and the glory and the worship? Indeed, we must be like the Samaritan, the one who returned and fell down at Jesus' feet and cried out to God, giving Him glory and giving Jesus thanks for this blessing. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise. It's a vital part of our worship and our relationship with God.

Again, Brethren, Thursday, next, is the national holiday of thanksgiving.

Days of thanksgiving have been celebrated off and on following the times of the pilgrims. In 1789, President George Washington proclaimed a national day of thanksgiving. His proclamation made it clear that the day should be dedicated to prayer and giving thanks to the Almighty God. Let's not forget the purpose of which this day was initially established in this country. It's not a holy day, but I do believe its intentions are pure if we remember this day. It's not just Turkey Day. It's a day of thanksgiving. In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln designated the last Thursday of November as a national day of thanksgiving, with Congress adopting a joint resolution setting the date on the fourth Thursday of November in 1941.

And so I'd like to conclude my sermon today by reading to you the Thanksgiving proclamation. It was written by President George Washington in 1789, because again, I believe and hope, it grounds us into the original intent and purpose of this day. I want you to notice the tone of praise and thanksgiving towards God that so often gets lost in our modern society, because this is the intended focus of this holiday in the United States of America. Praise and prayer and thanksgiving to the God of all nations. By the President of the United States of America, a proclamation says, Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will and to be grateful for His benefits, and to humbly implore His protection and favor, whereas both houses of Congress have by their joint committee requested me to recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness. It says, Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these states to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficial author of all that is good, that was, that is, and that will be, that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country, previous to their becoming a nation, for the signal and manifold mercies and the favor, able interpositions of His providence, in the chorus and conclusion of the late war, would have been referring to the Revolutionary War, for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed, for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted, for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and defusing useful knowledge, and in general, for all the great and various favors which He has been pleased to confer upon us. And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and ruler of nations, and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions, to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually, to render our national government a blessing to all people by constantly being a government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed, to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations, especially such as have shown kindness to us, and to bless them with good government's peace and concord, to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us, and generally to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows His best. Given under my hand at the City of New York, the third day of October, the year of our Lord, 1789, President George Washington. Nobody speaks this way anymore. Indeed, they should.

Brethren, thanksgiving is a foundational part of our history as a nation, and it is a basic principle of our worship of God. Let us strive to always maintain a heart and action of thanksgiving towards Him, not only on the fourth Thursday of November, but on every day that God gives us the opportunity, on every day that God gives us the breath, to offer up to Him our sacrifice of praise.

Thank you.