Thanksgiving

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Pray for Pastor Jim and for the sermon

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Psalm 100 “A Psalm for giving thanks. Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing! Know that the Lord, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.”

After reading that Psalm I feel like I should be able to just step down and wrap it up. What a great sermon David. Thanks...

If only you were that lucky!

As we head into our holiday of Thanksgiving let us consider what it truly means to give thanks.

Now I love sitting down with my family and friends and eating Turkey, potatoes, stuffing, green bean casserole and yams with all the fixings and giving thanks to the LORD.

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Celebrating the harvest and setting aside time to thank God for his provision is very Biblical.

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Maybe you are familiar with one of the festivals God had commanded Israel to celebrate in the Old Testament which was called the Feast of Tabernacles otherwise known as the feast of Booths. All Jewish men were expected to come and gather at this festival and so families would gather and set up tents or booths to celebrate the harvest.

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This lasted for 8 days.

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It was a time of joyous celebration as the Israelites celebrated God’s continued provision for them during the harvest season and they remembered His provision and protection during the 40 years in the wilderness.

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A side note on the Fest of Tabernacles is that this feast is one of the two feasts that Scripture talks about continuing during the Millennial Kingdom when the saints reign with Jesus Christ for 1000 years.

So technically speaking celebrating and giving thanks for God’s provision and protection will continue even after we are raised from the dead.

I am not quite sure how taking eight days off of work for thanksgiving would go over in our busy fast paced world but that was God’s plan for Israel and it is his plan for us in the future.

Today the holiday season for many can be stressful and overwhelming rather than a time of thanksgiving and rest.

Family conflicts are often brought to the forefront and our culture promotes and endorses a celebration around material things rather than around God and each other.

When I think of what Scripture teaches is at the heart of being thankful, it goes must deeper than Turkey and potatoes, it goes even deeper than God’s physical protection and provision. In fact it even goes deeper than family and friends.

When I think of what we should be thankful for, my mind goes to God’s provision for our sin through Christ Jesus.

That God proved his love that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

What if we are in the wilderness and the only thing I have to eat is mana, can we still be thankful?

What if our family and friends reject us because they reject the message of God’s love through Jesus Christ, can we still be thankful?

What if people label us as hate mongers because they see us as an obstacle to fully embracing their sinful lifestyles, do we still have a reason to be thankful?

Amen and Hallelujah we do! For God’s provision and protection for us through Jesus Christ is all we need.

While we as believers should be doing all we can to live at peace with our enemies, it does not mean compromising the message about Christ.

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Listen to the last four verses of the Beatitudes

Matt 5:9-12 ““Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

Now it is not my intention to turn this into a sermon on persevering in trials but my friend we have reason to be thankful even in the darkest of times. Did you hear our Lord’s words

Rejoice and be glad!

Rejoice and be glad for your reward is great in heaven, for they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

When we stand in Christ Jesus we always have reason for Thanksgiving!

I want to take a closer look at Psalm 100 with you.

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The Psalm starts out

Psalm 100:1-2 “Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing!”

Here we begin to see what it looks like to be thankful.

If we are thankful we should be rejoicing! We should be making a joyful noise. We should be singing songs to the LORD!.

You will notice that this Psalm begins by God commanding “all the earth” to make a joyful noise. It begins by declaring that God is the creator and that all the earth should praise him.

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It reminds me of ...

Phil 2:10-11 “so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

My friends either we choose to bow our knee now to Jesus as Savior or we will bow our knee in fear when Christ comes as the Judge.

The words “joyful noise” in verse 1 of Psalm 100 could be translated “shout triumphantly”

We are to shout triumphantly to the LORD!

The word means figuratively “to split the ears”, and if you have ever heard some of us sing.... David is just about right.

I don’t know how many times I have heard people grumble about music at church.

I don’t like that style of music, or the music is to loud, or I they should use that instrument.

But none of these things bother God, what does bother him is our grumbling about it.

He is not upset if you cannot carry a tune, or if you like the piano or the guitar, or if you sing a psalm , a hymn , or a song of worship.

In fact he commands you to “make an ear splitting sound” for him. Now thankfully we have gifted people that can lead our worship that tend not to split out ears, but don’t expect everyone to sing like this talented team.

God is looking for a heart that is thankful. He is looking for a people that rejoice at who He is.

That’s why He tells us to make a joyful noise .... because making noise is all some of us can do.

So let it be joyful about it!

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The Psalm continues

Psalm 100:3-4 “Know that the Lord, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name!”

These two verses are amazing to me, there is actually a call to repentance here.

In verse three there is a transition being made from verses 1 & 2 where God had commanded the entire earth to make a joyful noise.

And now, there is a command to Know that the Lord, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his

The God of the Bible, He is the creator of the heavens and the earth. He is the God who knit us in our mothers womb. He is the one who upholds the universe. You, me, you family, and every person on earth are His.

Here we see in the general sense that God owns all of creation. There is nothing outside of His sovereignty.

then it transitions to “we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture”.

God’s people and his sheep are those who believe in the Messiah. Today we know that they are those who have trusted in the name above all names, in the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, Jesus Christ.

This is a call for those who are God’s through Genesis to become God’s through grace.

This is a call for those who are God’s through formation to become God’s through faith.

To turn from their rebellion and trust in the Creator that made them and has made a way to reconcile their soul.

Come and “Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name!”

Only those who are God’s children by grace can enter his gates. Only those who by faith in the Redeemer and can come into his courts.

Only His people know that He is Lord.

Praise His name and give thanks to him children of Christ! Bless his name!

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Psalm 100:5 “For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.”

For the Lord is good

Now it is impossible to understand the good news until we understand the bad news.

We live in a dangerous world and what is good is called evil. For many, especially our younger people understanding what is good can be a very complicated issue. Our media and our schools are indoctrinating them into dangerous theories.

Today those who stand on Biblical marriage are seen as bigots, those who believe in saving the unborn are seen as oppresses of women and those who believe that God is sovereign over all nations are called racists.

Yet, God is good! No earthly authority can change the unchanging nature of God. These issues are not political issues. They are spiritual issues.

The word for good here in Psalm 100:5 could be translated godly, pleasing, or desirable.

All of mankind is lost in sin, all people are ungodly, unpleasing and undesirable before a good God. There is no one righteous among us.

And because God is good the just punishment for our sin is death. The Scripture says the wages of sin is death.

The harsh reality is that before a good God all of us deserve eternal damnation.

We live in a world of suffering and death not because God is cruel but because God is merciful.

We have life today not because you deserve it but because God in his mercy has given you another day to wake up and draw breath.

God who is good has given us a way of reconciliation back to himself, though the death of his Son, Jesus Christ at the cross for your sins.

And He has shown that he is good by his power over death and the devil when he rose from the dead.

To all who believe on him he gives forgiveness of sins. and those that know of God’ forgiveness know that God is good.

His steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.

The love that God has shown us through the Messiah Jesus was not just for a specific time or specific people, it is for all time and for all people.

One of God’s name means faithful. God is the faithful One. It is an attribute of who He is. God cannot be faithless, he is always faithful.

I have a little plaque in my garage that says “God always keeps his promises” as a way of reminding me of God’s faithfulness.

God is faithful to all generations. There is never going to be a time when God will not be faithful to accept someone that repents of their sin and puts their faith in the Messiah.

If this is you today, please come and see me after the service.

At the end of the Great Commission Jesus says “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

I am so thankful to know the goodness of our God and his steadfast faithfulness in Jesus Christ.

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And I hope this will be the central part of your thanksgiving celebrations this week.

God bless you all today.