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BACK

Introduction: In 1923, a devastating earthquake destroyed much of Japan. Over 300,000 deaths occurred, destruction of 75% of Tokyo and nearly all of Yokohama. Disease and starvation caused many to say that it was the greatest disaster of all times.

America sent shiploads of supplies and over 10 million dollars to them. The Japanese said, "We will never forget," but on Dec. 7, 1941, they did.

A. How soon we can forget the blessings of God if we do not remain close to him.

B. At this time of the year we call Thanksgiving, let us count our blessings and truly offer prayers of thanksgiving to God.

C. How did our observance of Thanksgiving Day begin? See article.

A. It would be good if we could read every verse where the words, thanksgiving, thanks and thankful are mentioned. But time would not allow the reading of the 137 occurrences.

B. Ephesians 5:20 states: "giving thanks always for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God…"

1. I Thes. 5:18

C. This suggests that we need to be thankful for negative things as well as positive things.

1. A class of 4^th graders was asked to give thanks for some things. One boy was thankful he wore glasses. He said, "It keeps the boys from hitting me and the girls from kissing me."

2. Not only should we be grateful for what we have, but also for the things we have escaped from happening.

3. Read the Poem On Thanksgiving.

A. We need to thank God that we are not the slaves of sin (Romans 6:17,18).

B. We need to thank God that we are not unprofitable servants (Luke 17:7-10).

1. Be ready to go the second mile if necessary (Matt. 5:41).

C. We need to thank God daily for His unspeakable gift (2 Cor. 9:15).

D. We need to thank God for victory over death (I Cor. 15:57).

A. Paul serves as a great example in this category.

1. Rom. 1:8 "I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you."

2. He and others were thankful for Aquila and Priscilla (Rom. 16:3,4).

3. Paul was thankful and prayed for the churches in Ephesus and Philippi (Eph. 1:16; Phil. 1:3,4).

B. We need to pray for one another and be thankful for our brothers and sisters in Christ.

1. This will help us to be more thoughtful to each other.

2. It will help us not to be easily offended. It will help us to be more patient and kind to our fellow-Christian.

A. This is a good time to stop and count our many blessings. See the article: Thankfulness for what we could not afford.

B. Thankful for our families and loved ones.

C. Our Dwellings or places of abode. Many people in the world live in huts, lean-tos, on the street, etc.

D. Our food in abundance, even to the point of wasting it at times, eating too much at other times, etc.

E. Our Clothing is so much better than what so many have.

F. Our Medical and Health facilities are great. We have made so much progress over diseases and live longer lives.

G. Our Transportation and Communication equipment. We use more energy than any other Nation.

H. Our Freedoms and Opportunities in a Democracy.

1. When we stop and thank God for all of our blessings, then little time will remain to complain or murmur about something we do not have!!

I. Offer a prayer of Thanksgiving.

A. Become a Christian today.

B. Renew your intention to serve Him and rise to greater heights of service in light of all He has done for us.

Thanks to God for my Redeemer. Thanks for all Thou dost provide. Thanks for prayers that Thou hast answered. Thanks for what Thou dost deny!

Thanks for roses by the wayside, Thanks for thorns their stems contain! Thanks for storms that I have weathered, Thanks for all that thou dost supply!

Thanks for home and thanks for fireside, Thanks for hope, that sweet refrain! Thanks for pleasant, balmy springtime, Thanks for dark and dreary fall.

Thanks for pain and thanks for pleasure, Thanks for comfort in despair! Thanks for hope in the tomorrow, Thanks through all eternity!

Thanks for tears by now forgotten, Thanks for peace with my soul! Thanks for time now but a memory, Thanks for Jesus by my side!

Suppose God charged us for the rain, or put a price on a songbird’s strain of music, the dawn-mist on the plain. How much would autumn landscapes cost, or a window etched with winter’s frost, and the rainbow’s glory so quickly lost!

Suppose that people had to pay to see the sunset’s crimson play and the magic stars on the Milky Way. Suppose it was fifty cents a night, to watch the pale moon’s silvery light, or watch a gull in graceful flight?

How much, I wonder, would it be worth to smell the good, brown, fragrant earth in spring? The miracle of birth—How much do you think people would pay for a baby’s laugh at the close of day? Suppose God charged us for them I say.

Suppose we paid to look at the hills, for the rippling mountain rills, or the mating song of the Whippoorwills, or the curving breakers of the sea, for grace, and beauty, and majesty?

And all of these things He give us free!!

Governor Bradford of Mass. made the first Thanksgiving Proclamation three years after the Pilgrims settled at Plymouth:

"In as much as the great Father has given us this year an abundant harvest of Indian corn, wheat, peas, beans, squashes, and garden vegetables, and has made the forest to abound with game and the sea with fish and clams, and in as much as He has protected us from the ravages of the savages, has spared us from pestilence and disease, and has granted us freedom to worship God according to the dictates of our own conscience.

Now I, your magistrate, do proclaim that all ye Pilgrims, with your wives and ye little ones, do gather at ye meeting house, one ye hill, between the hours of 9 & 12 in the daytime, on Thursday, November 29^th, of the year of our Lord one thousand, six hundred and twenty-three and the third year since ye Pilgrims landed on ye Plymouth Rock, there to listen to ye pastor and render thanksgiving to ye Almighty God for all His blessings."

William Bradford declared a day of Thanksgiving for the early settlers of this nation. As his proclamation suggest, they had a lot to be thankful for, and he wanted them to show it. Of all people, God’s people should be thankful. God has blessed us immensely. In fact, God had given us a Thanksgiving Proclamation to be found in Psalm 95.

This Thanksgiving Psalm is divided into two parts—worship and warning. It points out that the thankful child of God is a worshipping being. You see, you can easily identify a thankful Christian. He is always "praising God from whom all blessings flow" (vv. 1-7).

The thankful Christian worships gratefully, "with thanksgiving" (v. 2). We should gratefully recognize God’s gracious dealings with us. God has given freely and generously for our good, and we should give the glory to Him.

The thankful Christian worships reverently. "Let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord our maker" (v. 6). These expressions are indicative of true reverence to God. Reverence to God should fill the hearts of the thankful.

The thankful Christian realizes that God is supreme. "The Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods" (v. 3). Our motive for worship and praise is easily understood when we realize that God is far above the highest position. He is worshipped because He is supreme over all—the ruler over all.

We should be thankful because God is the Creator and the sustainer of all. "In his hands are the deep places of the earth" (v. 4). He was the creator of the mountain summits and cavern depths, sea and land—all were made by Him.

Robert L. Brown
Great Oaks Church of Christ