Thanksgiving

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The only thing God ever wanted to be was a Father. God loves family.

 

For centuries families existed only on what they could harvest and naturally preserve from the woods and fields within walking distance from their homes. From creation, over 6,000 years of recorded history to about 100 years ago, each winter claimed lives in mass from nothing more than the cold which made it impossible to grow or forage for food.

 

If a family or a community had a good harvest and had a supply of salt to rub on meat or got ahead and made enough of dried beans, corn, or jerky to last through the winter, they considered themselves very fortunate. Life depended on it. All they had to do was to keep it safe from critters and thieves, and both were an everyday challenge.

 

In September, in the year of our Lord 1620, a group calling themselves Pilgrims sailed from England and 65 days later landed at Cape Cod in New England towards the end of November. Together, under the Mayflower Compact, they established Plymouth Colony and set about forming what American tradition holds as the first permanent settlement in the Americas. They were tough and determined but woefully unprepared for the harsh winter of 1620/21. 

 

By March 1621, with little food and less adequate shelter, more than half of those 102 passengers, along with about half of the Mayflower crew, had died. There wasn’t a family who had not suffered the loss of a loved one and yet they felt chosen by God to carry on. Deeply committed to their faith and to the principles of God’s Word, the Pilgrims welcomed the Spring of 1621 as their opportunity for a new day.

 

The remaining colonists formed a relationship with the neighboring Wampanoag Tribe of Native American Indians, who taught them how to survive by fishing, planting and hunting. By the autumn of 1621 the Pilgrims had collected and preserved enough food to last them through the next winter.

In the fall of 1621 Governor William Bradford declared a time of Thanksgiving. The Indians and the Pilgrims joined together for a 3-day celebration in honor of their bountiful harvest. The Wampanoag’s supplied the venison while the colonists provided wild birds, most likely including roast turkey, goose and swan, along with corn and lobster for the feast.

This is considered to have been the first Thanksgiving in America. Year after year many other colonies concluded the harvest season with a festival in celebration and thanksgiving to God for His bountiful supply.

 

In 1863 President Abraham Lincoln signed a proclamation declaring the last Thursday of November as our nation’s annual Thanksgiving Day. The rest is history … as will be the Approximately 1,400,000 turkeys which will be consumed on Thanksgiving Day this year in the US.

 

According to one source, (https://financebuzz.com/thanksgiving-data):

• Over 32 million dinner rolls will be served;

• More than 40 million boxes of stove-top stuffing will be prepared;

• Over 20 million American homes will consume 40% of all the cream of mushroom soup sold this year on Thanksgiving Day in their green bean casserole.

• Ocean Spray predicts it will sell 56 million cans of cranberry sauce for this year’s Thanksgiving tables.

o The costs of a Thanksgiving meal will rise 5% this year over last year.

o One factor: The steel needed to make the can for the jellied cranberry sauce costs 200% more than it did in 2020.

• What kind of pie will Americans choose for Thanksgiving this year?

o 16% choose pecan pie, 

o 11% apple pie, 

o 10% sweet potato pie, 

o 6% chocolate pie, 

o 4% cherry pie.

o Nearly 45% of people will choose pumpkin pie.

 

The Pilgrims could not have foreseen the positive impact they would have on our lives in America and around the world today. No matter where I and my family have lived around the world, from Asia to Europe, we have always kept Thanksgiving Day in memory and respect of how much God has blessed us.Life in America has not been without hardships and challenges but overall, life here is better than life anywhere else in the world.

 

That’s evidently how the Pilgrims felt too. History records that even in spite of all the difficulties and disappointments they faced, one of the Pilgrims, William Brewster, who was the most educated man among the colonists and the senior ruling elder of Plymouth Colony until his death in April of 1644, encouraged the others by leading them in a song. The song came straight from the Psalms.

 

Can you imagine standing on the deck of the Mayflower at Plymouth, Massachusetts in late November, early December, after more than 2 months crossing the Atlantic in rough seas, with 102 Pilgrims and 30 to 40 crew members, destined for a winter that would claim the lives of more than half of those present? It was in that cold and lonely moment of life that William Brewster lifted his voice, and others began to sing along with faith and thanksgiving for what God had done and all He would yet do, despite the perils at hand. He began to sing this song:

 

“Make a joyful noise unto the LORD …”

• What??? 

• I’m cold; I’m hungry; I’m wet; I’m sick; I’m tired; I’m afraid …

• I suppose I need God more now than ever before …

• I’ll sing with you … And they all sang:

 

Psalms 100

1 ¶ Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all you lands!

2  Serve the LORD with gladness; Come before His presence with singing.

3  Know that the LORD, He is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.

4  Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.

5  For the LORD is good; His mercy is everlasting, And His truth endures to all generations.

 

If they had only known … what a smile it would have brought to their faces and strength to their next steps. But they didn’t know, yet they got off of the boat anyway and with faith for the future, some waded to shore in the cold waters ready for whatever the opportunity afforded.

 

Today, We don’t know the future, but we know Almighty God. The LORD is good; His mercy is everlasting, And His truth endures to all generations. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And enter His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.

 

Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, and serve Him with gladness.

 

God loves you and God loves your family. He has a plan for your life. Go forward in faith and embrace every challenge as an opportunity to please Him and leave things and others better than you found them.

 

Happy Thanksgiving week!

Strong in Grace

 

Paul the apostle is at the end of his life. He is imprisoned in Rome for the third time, but this will be the final time; as he will not be getting out. In fact, he is headed for his death. Paul senses this. Although he was not sure in times past, this time felt different. It seemed that he knew that his life was coming to an end. Therefore, he decides to write his final letter to a son in the faith, Timothy. 

 

The book of Timothy is filled with powerful truth for us as believers as it marks the final words of the Apostle Paul. Paul begins chapter 1 by reminiscing the last time that he saw Timothy and encouraged him to fan into flame (stir up) the gift of God that is in Him through the laying on of hands. As he was a young man, leading a church in a wicked city, Paul reminded him not to be afraid. For fear is not of God. He reminded Timothy that God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power, love and a sound mind. What a great reminder that is for us today as well!

 

Paul continued by challenging Timothy to not be ashamed of Jesus and to not be ashamed of him. People of faith had become ashamed of Paul since he was in prison. For whatever the reason, they began to desert him, and some possibly even walked away from the faith. However, Paul encouraged Timothy to not be like these people, but to guard the truth and not be afraid of suffering for Christ like he had.

 

That brings us to our scripture for today found in chapter two:

 

2 Timothy 2:1

“You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.”

 

Paul encourages Timothy to be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. In other words, there is a grace that is given to us through Christ. There is a grace that is available for us as believers. This grace allows us to be faithful followers of Jesus. It allows us to live a victorious Christian life. It also allows us to fulfill the call of God on our life. Not by our own strength, but by grace.

 

So, what is grace? Grace is God’s unmerited favor. But that is a broad description of what grace is. So what does it mean in this context?

 

Grace = An enabling agent of God that gives people the ability to accomplish His will

 

Grace gives us the ability to love, serve, forgive, witness, etc.

 

Grace is a tool that God uses to save, transform, and empower you.

 

If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, then grace is operating in your life. In fact, grace operates in our life in 3 ways:

 

1. Start in Grace
By grace you have been saved…

2. Stand in Grace
We continue in grace; we grow as believers in grace

3. Strengthened in Grace
Grace gives us the ability to remain faithful under pressure

• Hardship, temptation, persecution, etc.

 

Paul tells Timothy to be strong in this grace. To say that we can be strong in grace means that we can also be weak in it. To be weak in grace is to be strong in yourself. However, to be weak in yourself is to be strong in grace. However, we must rely on it. We must lean on it. We must walk in it.

 

To be a fruitful Christian, you must be strong in the grace that is in Christ

 

So Paul encourages Timothy to be strong grace. For what purpose?

 

2 Timothy 2:2 - “The things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.”

 

Paul challenges Timothy to pass on the same message that he heard from Paul to “faithful men.” Faithful men are not just people who simply believe in God. Instead they represent believers who would faithfully raise up disciples in sound doctrine as well. Paul encouraged Timothy to invest in the next generation of faithful followers of Christ.

 

Like Timothy, we are called to invest in the next generation of believers. We bear the weight and responsibility of discipling those around us. 

 

Get them:

- Saved

- Baptized

- Involved in church

- Teach them to read the Bible

- Teach them to pray

- Worship

- Giving

- Love others

- Being a light

- Witnessing to others 

- Etc.

 

However, we cannot do this in our own power, we do this through the grace of God. We can teach what we know, but people catch who we are. If we are operating in our own strength, then we will only raise up people who are like us. However, if we are walking in grace (strong in grace), then we will raise up followers of Jesus Christ. Why? Because we are leaning on grace. We are leaning on the power of the Holy Spirit. Then it is no longer us, but the grace and the anointing working both in our life and in theirs.

 

1 Corinthians 15:10 NIV

“But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.”

 

Paul had traveled the known world at that time leading people to Christ and planting multiple churches. He saw miracles take place, lives transformed, and communities no longer the same. Yet, Paul says that it was not him and what he was able to do in his own ability, but rather the grace of God that was working in and through his life.

 

The grace of God is upon your life as well. He is strengthening you to invest into the next generation what it means to follow Jesus and to make disciples. Therefore, walk in that grace and be strengthened by it. God strengthens us when we take a step of faith and begin investing in others. So let us go and begin raising up faithful men and women for Christ.

 

How do we raise up faithful men and women? It only comes through the process of making disciples. There are people that I have discipled who are serving the Lord. However, there are some who seem to be doing their own thing. It is hard not to imagine, “what did I do wrong?” However, I am reminded that even Paul had people who even fell away from the faith. However, amongst the ones who reject his message and those who ended up falling away, there were those who became faithful followers of Christ. However, he had to scatter his seed. And from doing so, believes like Timothy, Priscilla, Titus, Epaphroditus, Philemon, and more. All faithful men and women of Christ.

 

Let us invest in the next generation of believers just as Paul did.

 

So how do we make disciples?

 

I. Go
Pray, witness, share the gospel/ testimony)

II. Baptize
Get them plugged into church, community, etc)

III. Teach them
To be a follower of Christ, to obey His teachings in God’s Word, etc.

 

Do so, not in your own power, but through the strengthening power of God’s grace in your life. His grace is enough!!

Dealing With Disappointment

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There is a man who loves you and has loved you every day of your life. He will not turn His back on you, lie to you, or let you down. If you trust and follow Him, you will be a better person and you will make a better living, build a better life, and make a greater difference. You will be more at peace and have more joy in your life, just from doing what He said.

 

His name is Jesus and He is the Son of God. The Bible is the truth and contained within it are the keys to life. 

 

If what I am telling you turns out to be wrong, you have lost nothing. You will still be a better person from trusting Jesus and following the Bible. If however, what I am telling you turns out to be true, you cannot afford to live your life without trusting Him and following His Word.

 

We have just come through a stressful time in America with virtually half of the voters in the nation voting for Kamala Harris to become president of the United States and half of the voters voting for Donald Trump. Things got heated with name calling and cutting remarks from both sides. There was no way everyone could get what they wanted, what they prayed for, and what they truly felt was best for the country.

 

If we live long enough, each one of us is liable to encounter a circumstance in which we feel we have lost.

• Something we wanted didn’t happen

• Something we prayed for turned out the other way.

• Something we felt like we should have, we just didn’t get.

 

Let’s turn to the Old Testament Book of Second Samuel, chapter 12, where we will find God’s instructions for what we should do when we are disappointed. The Bible is our guide for life. God highlights moments in the lives of others in the Bible to show us both what we should do, and what we should not do. 

 

The moment we are going to use for our lesson today comes from the life of David. By the time we get to this part of David’s life, he is already the King of Israel, and he has fought great battles, killed Goliath, conquered Jerusalem, and had many sons. The army of Israel was so great and so capable, they felt they no longer needed their King to go to war with them. This turned out to not be the best idea.  

 

While the army was at war, David stayed home alone. The Bible paints a picture of a bored man sitting on his rooftop overlooking his kingdom in his prime but idle. From his rooftop David could see the roofs of other houses nearby. One house was the house of Uriah, a captain in David’s army. Uriah was away at war and Uriah’s wife, Bathsheba, was at home, bathing on the roof of her house within sight of King David. You get the picture … so did King David!

 

If you are not familiar with the story, I recommend you read the account straight from the Bible. And, the 1951 Twentieth Century Fox epic film produced in Technicolor, staring Gregory Peck as David, and Susan Hayward as Bathsheba, is probably my favorite thus far, but it still misses so much you can get from just reading it straight from the original manuscript.

 

Once through the adultery, the pregnancy, the conspiracy, the betrayal, the murder, and the birth of their child, God judges their sin in open forum by sending a prophet and informing David that the child shall not live.

 

2 Samuel 12:14  “However, because by this deed you have given great occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme, the child also who is born to you shall surely die.”

 

This was not what David wanted to hear or wanted to happen. Let’s read what happened … it reads so much better than it preaches.

 

2 Samuel 12 NKJV

15 ¶  Then Nathan departed to his house. And the LORD struck the child that Uriah’s wife bore to David, and it became ill.

16  David therefore pleaded with God for the child, and David fasted and went in and lay all night on the ground.

17  So the elders of his house arose and went to him, to raise him up from the ground. But he would not, nor did he eat food with them.

18  Then on the seventh day it came to pass that the child died. And the servants of David were afraid to tell him that the child was dead. For they said, “Indeed, while the child was alive, we spoke to him, and he would not heed our voice. How can we tell him that the child is dead? He may do some harm!”

19  When David saw that his servants were whispering, David perceived that the child was dead. Therefore David said to his servants, “Is the child dead?” And they said, “He is dead.”

 

This is certainly not:

• What David wanted …

• What David prayed for …

• What David felt was best for everyone.

 

What did David do when he didn’t get what he wanted, what he prayed for, and what he felt like a gracious God might give? Let’s continue to read:

 

2 Samuel 12:20  So David arose from the ground, washed and anointed himself, and changed his clothes; and he went into the house of the LORD and worshiped. Then he went to his own house; and when he requested, they set food before him, and he ate.

 

1. He got up.

a. He didn’t get down.

b. He didn’t stay on the ground.

2. He washed and anointed himself.

a. He didn’t just get off of the ground, he got the ground off him.

b. He washed away the dirty feeling and soothed himself with oil.

3. He made himself presentable.

a. He took off the sackcloth.

b. He discarded the garments of sadness and mourning. 

4. He went to Church and worshipped God.

a. He didn’t stay at home all lonely and alone … 

b. He didn’t get mad at God.

5. He recovered himself.

a. He went to his own house.

b. He ate and continued his life.

 

If this is how we are supposed to act when we are disappointed and didn’t get what we wanted, what we prayed for, and what we felt was best for us and others… how much more should we follow these steps when we feel we did get what we wanted, prayed for, and what was best.

 

God is a good God, but we should never forget that He is God!

 

The day after God decides what He will do, is the day we pick up our lives, present ourselves before God and others as thankful to Him and supportive of His decision.

 

Without regard as to how you voted, whether you got what you wanted or not, let me encourage you from the scriptures to keep going to Church, keep going to your own house, and keep taking baths and smelling good and eating delicious food together with family. 

 

Don’t stay down. Get off the dirt and get the dirt off of you!

 

We can start this process right now. Let’s pray and tell God we will trust and follow Him.

 

The Rest of the Story:

 

2 Samuel 12 NKJV

21  Then his servants said to him, “What is this that you have done? You fasted and wept for the child while he was alive, but when the child died, you arose and ate food.”

22  And he said, “While the child was alive, I fasted and wept; for I said, ‘Who can tell whether the LORD will be gracious to me, that the child may live?’

23  “But now he is dead; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.”

24  Then David comforted Bathsheba his wife, and went in to her and lay with her. So she bore a son, and he called his name Solomon. Now the LORD loved him.

25  and He sent word by the hand of Nathan the prophet: So he called his name Jedidiah, because of the LORD.