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As a young couple was strolling down the street, the fellow said to his traveling companion,

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I'm going over and pick up my unemployment check. Then I drop in at the university to

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see what's holding up my check for my federal education grant. After that I'll pick up our

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food stamps. Meanwhile, you go over to the free clinic and check your tests, pick up

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my new glasses at the health center, and then go to the welfare department and apply for

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an increase in our eligibility limit. Then I'll meet you at 5 o'clock at the federal

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building for the mass demonstration against the rotten establishment. I like that. I

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think that summarizes the typical feeling these days of the average person in America

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as we approach this national holiday of Thanksgiving. Sometimes I wonder if we wouldn't be better

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off reversing the custom and having one day a year for griping and having the rest of

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them for Thanksgiving. Someone has wrote the poem, too many a discontented mourner is spending

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his days on Grumble Corner, sour and sad, whom I long to entreat to get a house on Thanksgiving

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Street. A lot of us would better off building a home on Thanksgiving Street and staying

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right there. All of the believer's life should abound with gratitude to our God. The world

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may be guilty of ingratitude, but never let one of us who has trusted Jesus Christ be

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guilty of such a sin. If you have nothing for which to be thankful, make up your mind

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right now that there's something wrong with you because God is so abundant in his goodness

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toward us. Charles Spurgeon said, so long as we are receivers of mercy, we must be givers

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of thanks. That's essentially what Colossians chapter 2 verses 6 and 7 say. We're not going

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to expand upon these verses, but we'll use them tonight as a jumping off place into our

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subject Thanksgiving times. Colossians chapter 2 verses 6 and 7. So then, just as you have

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received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened

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in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. His believers should have

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hearts that are flooded to overflowing with thankfulness to our God. As I was thinking

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about this subject, I began to consider those activities mentioned in the Bible, which are

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said should be accompanied by Thanksgiving. Hence the title for tonight's message, Thanksgiving

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times. What are the times, the activities in our lives that should be accompanied with

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Thanksgiving? Well, let's note several of them. We begin by turning to the song book,

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the hymn book of the Bible, the book of Psalms, to Psalm 100. This of course is one of the

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favorite of the Psalms, especially at Thanksgiving. I think it's the only one that's titled for

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Thanksgiving. Now it says in verse 4, enter his gates with Thanksgiving and his courts

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with praise. The first activity that I see in the Bible that should be accompanied by

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Thanksgiving is going to church. We should go to church with Thanksgiving. Now obviously

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there is not a direct corollary between the temple of the Old Testament and the building

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that we call the church today. For this structure does not house God as did the temple in the

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Old Testament. Our bodies now are the temples of the Holy Spirit, and when we meet together

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corporately like this, the Holy Spirit dwells here in this, his holy temple. Nonetheless,

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I think it is a legitimate application to say that we are to come to our services in

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this church with Thanksgiving. Psalm 100 is supposed to have been sung as a part of the

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piece or fellowship offerings described in the seventh chapter of Leviticus. Those offerings,

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it is said, were to be offered up with Thanksgiving. Tradition says that it was this psalm that

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was a part of that ritual of worship when the offering, the peace offering or the fellowship

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offering, whichever you want to call it, was offered unto the Lord. It was with the words

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of this psalm, enter his gates with Thanksgiving and his courts with praise. We today as believers

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in Jesus Christ do not bring animal sacrifices or sacrifices of cakes or flour or other things

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like that as did the Jews in the Old Testament. Those sacrifices have all been fulfilled in

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one sacrifice of Jesus Christ for all time. All of those many sacrifices pointed toward

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his coming. It is no longer necessary for us to offer up thanks to offer up sacrifices

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as did they. We, however, do have sacrifices that we are to offer up as believer priests

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in the New Testament. And tonight we've already had one suggested to us, and that's the one

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that's in my mind too, in Hebrews 13.15 it says that we should offer up the fruit of our

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lips giving thanks to his name. One of the sacrifices that you and I as believer priests

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in this age offer up is the sacrifice of Thanksgiving to God. As we come to church together, our

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heart should be filled with thanksgiving to the Lord. Our attitude, of course, regarding

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any service makes a real difference as to how that service impacts us. There have been

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times when I have gone to church in the past and I've gone away saying, well, I got nothing

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out of that service. And I must confess that as many times as not, the reason I got nothing

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out of it was because my own heart was not properly prepared to receive anything. As

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we come together to the Lord's house, it is important that we come with hearts prepared

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and ready to receive what God has to give us. One of the ways that we can prepare our

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hearts is to cause them to be filled with thanksgiving to the Lord. In the Old Testament

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and the Tabernacle and later the Temple, there was incense used in part of the worship.

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Morning and night, the priest would offer incense upon the altar of incense. And then

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when the high priest would enter into the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement, he

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would first fill that Hall of Holies, the inner sanctuary, with the sweet perfume and

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the fog, as it were, the shroud of incense. The purpose was so that he would not accidentally

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look upon the very shekinah, the very glory of God. Incense was a part of the worship

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today. We offer up no incense. But could I suggest to all of us tonight that the incense

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we do offer up is a spiritual incense of thanks to God. As we come together for worship and

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fellowship in God's house, we should be offering up from our lives incense, the sweet perfume

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of thanksgiving to God. Spiritually, we are encouraged to draw near to God. No longer

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do we have to have a veil between us and God. No longer is there incense necessary so that

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we will not look upon the essence of God. God has opened the way into his own presence

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through the offering up of Jesus Christ for our sins. And now instead of saying, stay

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away, God says draw near. That very fact alone, that we may come and draw near to God, is

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reason enough for thoughtful things. And so we ought to go to church with thanksgiving.

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And then as long as we're in the Psalms, turn over to Psalm 147. Psalm 147, verse 7. And

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then we find a second activity that should be accompanied with thanksgiving in our lives.

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It says sing to the Lord with thanksgiving. Make music to our God on the harp. Now the

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word for thanksgiving here is the same as the one that we saw in Psalm 100. Literally

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it means a song of liturgical worship. And it says that we ought to sing to the Lord

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with songs of liturgical worship giving thanks to God. I feel sorry for the individual who

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does not enjoy music. I had a friend in another church that I pastor, a dear friend a pastor

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never had. He was a deacon for a period of time. We had disagreements and sometimes they

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would come up. But honestly he was one of my best friends. But George hated music. And

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I never could understand that. He did not like our music director, maybe because our

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music director dealt with music. And when it was time to sing, George would stand there

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with the most awful scowl on his face. And he used the excuse, I can't sing. Now I know

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better than that because occasionally he would sing a song that was apparently one of his

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favorites and his face would light up and he would sing. Just a month ago George went

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to heaven. And I'm just wondering if he's still standing around with a scowl on his

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face with the music up there. Because you know music is a part of worship. And that's

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why we believe strongly in music here. It's an integral part of our whole worship experience.

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And our music, our singing should be with thanksgiving. Our singing is one way that

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we can allow our souls to express themselves as a body. Singing with thanksgiving is evidence

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that the Holy Spirit is in control in our lives. Let me remind you of these verses from

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the New Testament. Be filled with the Spirit. Speak to one another with spirit. Be filled

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with the Spirit. Speak to one another with songs, hymns, and spiritual songs. Sing and

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make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything

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in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. So music, the soul expressing itself to God with thanksgiving

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is simply the outflow of the Holy Spirit filling the heart, controlling the life. It doesn't

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mean that we necessarily sing as well as some people do. But nonetheless opening our mouths

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and allowing our tongues to express thanks to God in songs. Have you ever created a song?

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Composed a song? You say, well I've never taken music lessons. I don't know how to

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compose anything. I didn't ask that. Have you ever, by yourself probably, to start with,

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ever just begun singing and created your own hymn? You ought to try that sometime. Make

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up your own tune, your own words, and just sing a song of praise to the Lord. I tell

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you, that's a lot of fun. Like I say, you want to do it by yourself, perhaps the first

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time. Then you will enjoy that. It will be good for you. Don't worry about rhymes, words

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sounding alike and everything. But just allow your heart to express to God how you feel

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and sing it. Have you ever gone to the book of Psalms in the Bible and sung one of the

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Psalms? I'm glad that there are a number of contemporary Psalms that are based upon the

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Psalms. Some verbatim write from the Psalm book. A cassette of music, a great way to

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memorize the scripture by the way. Why don't you turn to Psalm 100 before this week is

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over and make up your own tune to Psalm 100 and sing it to the Lord. Sing with thanksgiving.

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In the Old Testament, singing and music are inevitably linked with worship. For example,

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when the ark was placed in Jerusalem, there was a great deal of music by command of the

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king, read about it in 1 Chronicles chapter 15. By the way, there was emphasis placed

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upon the fact that it should be done well by skilled people and it should be done with

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joy. Now there is a place I would grant you for people to get experience singing. But

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I don't think the place for that is in the worship service of a church. I believe that

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when we gather together for worship as a church body, what is done needs to be done as well

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as we can possibly do it. And that skilled singing done well and with joy as it says

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in 1 Chronicles 15 is what pleases God. Then David appointed 288 musicians who were to

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serve the Lord according to 1 Chronicles chapter 23 verses 1 through 7. That was their job.

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They were musicians full time serving the Lord in the tabernacle, in the temple, in

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the worship of Israel. And then you find in the national revivals of Israel when the Spirit

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of God was moving among his people. For example, under Jehoiada, the high priest who served

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as high priest with Jerosh. In that great revival that came under his leadership, there

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was singing and music connected with it. And then again when revival came under the reign

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of Hezekiah, 2 Chronicles 29, there was music and singing with thanksgiving to God. You

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cannot separate thanksgiving and music. The two just go together and that's the way that

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God's ordained it as it ought to be. Now let's go to the New Testament and look at Philippians

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chapter 4. Notice another activity that should be connected with music in our lives. Philippians

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chapter 4 verse 6. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and

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petition with thanksgiving present your requests to God. So here we see that we should pray

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with thanksgiving. Now in the verse there are three kinds of communication with God

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mentioned. There is prayer mentioned. That is a word that is a general word for praying.

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It includes devotion, worship, adoration. And then he uses the specific word petition.

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Those are our requests. Those things are in our hearts. We ought to offer those unto God.

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But they ought to be mingled with, notice, thanksgiving, praise, giving of thanks to

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God. Have you ever noticed the prayer life of the Lord Jesus Christ? It would do you

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well to go through the gospels and to look at the times that Jesus prayed. More times

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not, the gospels record Jesus giving thanks to the Father as he prays. Thanksgiving was

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a part of his praying. Look at the example of Paul the apostle. As by the inspiration

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of the Holy Spirit he pins his epistles to the churches. In every single case except

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the Galatians. He gave thanks to God as he began to pin the epistle. Normally it was

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thanks to God for the church he was writing to. Giving of thanks is a part of praying.

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We have the example of the word. And as we pray it is so easy to fall into the routine

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of just asking God for things. Let us also add to that giving of thanks in prayer.

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And now turn to 1 Timothy chapter 4. 1 Timothy chapter 4 verses 3 and 4. As the apostle looks

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to the future and the events that will come and the characteristics of the last days.

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He says in verse 3, 1 Timothy 4, they forbid people to marry, that is the false teachers,

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and order them to abstain from certain foods. Have you noticed what he says? Which God created

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to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth. For everything

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God created is good and nothing is to be rejected even if it is received with thanksgiving.

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And so we ought to eat with thanksgiving. I enjoy a good ham, a good pork chop, as well

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as a good steak now and then. And whatever we eat it is to be received with thanksgiving.

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I know that there are some men who feel that their wives offer up burnt offerings and reward

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continually. We can even give thanks for those. We should eat with thanksgiving. God is the

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creator of our food and all that he has created is intended for our good. Not our gluttony,

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but our good. And again you will notice the example of the Lord Jesus Christ in this.

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As he sits at a meal with his disciples he offers thanks to God and then he breaks the

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bread and shares the cup with them. And on other occasions when he performed the miracles

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of feeding the 4,000 and the 5,000 the clergy says that first he gave thanks for that food.

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I think that we should do that not just as a habit but out of sincerity. Whenever we

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sit down to a meal to offer thanks unto God it is appropriate that we do so. And not just

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at home but in a restaurant too. What a good testimony it is to people around us when they

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see us pause before we dig into that food and have prayer giving thanks to God that

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they will be able to eat this food. It would mean more to us if we lived in Mali, Central

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Africa. We have such an abundance of food and we take it so for granted. How quickly

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all of that by the way could be reversed? I was reading recently the statistics that

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they are calculating for the population of the earth in the year 2000. They are expecting

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that our population will double by the year 2000 from what it is now. And unless there

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were some major breakthroughs in agriculture and the raising of food there is going to

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be food worldwide by the year 2000. That and the United States included. How we have to

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give thanks to God for the abundance that we enjoy now. And the good stewards of that

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which he has given to us. It is a good testimony when we do it in a restaurant. I remember

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one occasion when our staff, our church staff was eating out of some kind of a steakhouse

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for lunch one day. This is in another place, another church. And as we were eating there

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were some ladies that came through the line with three or four kids and they sat down

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at the table next to us there and before they ate they bowed and prayed. And I thought that

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is such a great example. I have to say something to commend them. So as we finished and got

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up to leave I stopped at their table and I said ladies I noticed that you gave thanks

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before you ate your food and I want to commend you for doing that. The one day they looked

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at me and said well we always do that, we are Jehovah's Witnesses. I said well I am

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a Christian and left. I got caught on that one. How we have to give thanks to God. As

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a genuine expression of our thanks even for our food. For all of us are dependent upon

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his providence and his care. And then one final thing that I would like to mention tonight

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is from Ephesians chapter 5 verse 20. Ephesians 5 verse 20. I have read this to you, would

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you turn there with me. It says that we are always to give thanks to God the Father for

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everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Giving thanks to God for everything. How can

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we do that? Because we believe that God is sovereign and God is in control. It was 108

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years ago tonight, November 22nd 1873, that there was a collision of two ships in the

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Atlantic and the four children of Mr. and Mrs. H.G. Stafford went down and drowned there

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in the ocean. And you know the story how she was rescued and went on to Europe and wired

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back to her husband those words, S.A.W.D. alone. And our Stafford was crossing over

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the Atlantic to join his wife in Europe. Being awakened in the middle of the night when they

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were over that spot where his children drowned 108 years ago tonight, he began to formulate

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in his mind the words to the hymn that we sing, It is well with my soul. And he speaks

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of peace like a river that attends his way. Those sorrows like sea billows roll. Whatever

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my lot, God has taught me to say, It is well with my soul. How could Stafford write those

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words? Because he believed in the sovereignty and the goodness of God. He was able to give

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thanks to God for everything. The story actually doesn't stop there. That poem remained filed

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away I suppose for a number of minutes. Until one day it was given to a man named Philip

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Paul Bliss to set to music. And so he worked on it and set it to music. And 105 years ago

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this Tuesday, November 24th, 1876, it was sung for the very first time in public at

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a meeting in Chicago. Out of a thousand pastors, Bill Moody was preaching and Philip Paul Bliss

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sang this song that Stafford had written the words for and he had written the music for.

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It is well with my soul, he sang. A month later, on December 29th, 1876, Bliss along

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with his wife was traveling back from New York where they had spent Christmas with his

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mother and his mother. His wife had left behind their four year old son, their one year old

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son. They hardly had to return to Chicago where Bliss was going to participate in a

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large meeting with Bill Moody. There were 11 cars in the train, two engines, pulling

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it through a blizzard in northern Ohio. And just outside of Arstabula, Ohio, there was

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a crossing of a ravine and the train collapsed through that ravine and crashed 75 feet into

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icy water below. Bill was amazed for sure how many were on the train that night. There

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were very few accounts as to how many died, but within five minutes, because of the crossing

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lamps that were on the train, of course, the whole train was in flames and those blizzard

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winds fanned the flames to fury. Bliss was able to climb out of a window to escape and

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yet his beloved wife was trapped and pinned in the wreckage of that train. He returned

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to the area where she was trapped and tried to extricate her from the flames. Both of

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them died. Just a month after he had sung in the great meeting in Chicago, it is well

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with my soul. And that night, the two of them joined the Stafford children in heaven, singing

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praises to God. How can we give thanks for all of life's issues? We can give thanks to

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God because God is good and God is in control. We may not always be able to understand what

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God is about. The end of the world may be hidden from our vision, but we can trust him.

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God knows what he is doing. As we face all of life's issues, we should give thanks.

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Matthew Henry was robbed. He was mugged. They didn't call it that back in those days. After

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that experience when he lost his money, he went back to his room and these are the words

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he wrote after his difficult experience. Let me be thankful. First, because I was never

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robbed before. Second, although they took my purse, they did not take my life. Third,

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because although they took my oil, it was not much. And fourth, because it was I who

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robbed who was robbed and not I who robbed. There is always cause for giving thanks.

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That's why the Psalmist says, I will extol the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually

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be on my lips. Bill Pierce and Dick Anthony used to produce a radio broadcast, I think

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it's still here on some stations. The theme song for that was a chorus written by Wendell

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Loveless, which said, Keep praising, keep praising when the days are dark and drear.

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Keep praising, keep praising. God will guide you, never fear. Keep praising, keep praising

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and thankful hearts to him be raising. Has the Lord not said there is glory on a head?

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So keep on praising him. The thankful heart can always find some reason for being grateful.

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Henry Ward Beecher, a preacher of another generation wrote these words, If one should

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give me a dash of sand and tell me there were particles of iron in it, I might look for

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them with my eyes and search for them with my clumsy fingers and be unable to detect

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them. But let me take a magnet and sweep through it and how would it draw to itself the almost

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invisible particles by the more power of attraction? He continued, The unthankful heart like my

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finger in the sand discovers no mercies. But let the thankful heart sweep through the day

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and as the magnet finds the iron, so will it find in every hour some heavenly blessings

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only the iron in God's sand is gold. Let our hearts be that kind of a magnet so that as

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we sweep through tomorrow and Tuesday and every day of life, attracted to us will be

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those mercies of God. Let's bow together in prayer. Thank you Father. Thank you.

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Tonight as we consider those activities that will be accompanied by thanksgiving, we are

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reminded of the importance of this act and so we offer unto you our gratefulness. I pray

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tonight if there is any of us who is struggling with some issue in his life and is having

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a hard time looking into your face and saying thank you, that tonight you would settle that

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discomfort. May there be sweet peace as that individual releases the anger perhaps or the

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ungratefulness that causes that stirring within his soul. Please allow all of us to rest well

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tonight upon a bed of thanksgiving that our souls may be at peace with you. We pray this

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in Jesus' name, amen. In just a moment we are going to sing a hymn, but we are first

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going to receive this second offering of the evening which is given only for the starving

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people of Mali, Africa. We don't want you to feel obligated to have a part in this and

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that I know you well enough to know that especially at this time of year you want to do something

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to express gratefulness to God for our bounty and to share with those people who are truly

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and literally starving to death every day. The incredible hunger we saw pictured for

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us during the missions conference and we heard the report and so tonight we share with them

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in a tangible way some of our income so that they may live. It is because we are able to

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feed them that then our missionaries can preach the gospel to them for hungry bellies have

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no ears as a recent film production says. Men would you come please to the room and

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give tonight for this purpose and give to only God in it. Let's bow together. And my

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father I pray that that which is given right now will be sealed to its intended purpose

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and I pray that through the food that is given to these hungry people there will be an openness

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in their hearts to receive the bread of life even the word of the gospel of Jesus Christ

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that they may be saved eternally. Amen.

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Amen.

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Amen.

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Amen.

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Amen.

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Amen.

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Amen.

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Amen.

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What an appropriate time of the for an individual here tonight who has never trusted Christ

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to give his heart to the Lord. The Bible says that God has given to us an indescribable

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gift. How ungrateful it is for God the maker of heaven and earth to offer to an individual

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a gift and for that gift to be refused. God's gift is eternal life through his son Jesus

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Christ and who so ever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. As we close

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our service tonight if you've never trusted Christ as your savior will you at this thanksgiving

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time open your heart and receive that gift that God has for you. We're going to sing

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the third verse in number 36 as our closing hymn tonight. Before we pray with you and

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talk with you about spiritual things answer the questions that are in your heart. I would

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love to do so. I encourage you to slip out from where you are and come right to the front

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and we'll talk with you personally. Let's now sing the third verse in number 36.

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I'm going to sing the third verse in number 36.

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Now may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ rest and abide upon each of his own. Amen.

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Good night.