Thanksgiving Message

Conversational English Class

First Baptist Church

11/21/2024 9:30 am

Introduction

Good Morning and Welcome. This is my first time to come and participate with the Conversational English group and its my pleasure to be with you this morning.

Please share someone the various countries that are represented here this morning.

As I understand that many of you are here due to the fact your family member might be here at the Air War College or either here in a University capacity and a myriad of other reasons I am sure I’m not aware of.

Let’s begin to raise hands if you are here due to a family member serving the armed forces and you are here as they are training at Maxwell or Gunter?

How many in this group are here due to the fact someone in your family is working or in classes of higher learning at some of our area universities?

Alabama in recent years have expanded in Manufacturing with international companies, how many of you have moved here from job opportunities?

Please raise your hands if you are here from some other background I did not consider and share your reason for being here.

This morning I want to share that my name is Luke Finkelstein, I am the Pastor of Mt. Zion Baptist Church in South Montgomery County which is halfway between Montgomery and the Ramer/Grady area. I want to say I am thankful to be with you and meet you this morning.

That is our subject today, Thanksgiving. And I want to say “thank you” for you choosing America as a place to come and whether it is as an ally in our military efforts in protecting our freedoms or coming here for higher learning or for your livelihood, thank you for your support of America and its my prayer that we in turn support you as you are here.

There may be some here this morning that does not recognize the reasoning as to why America has a national holiday called Thanksgiving. Good question and and interesting question.

If anyone has introduced you to our American history, the idea of Thanksgiving was a part of our history before the fact our country was even formed.

History of Thanksgiving

The Pilgrim’s journey

Some of you may be aware that there were pilgrims who came over from England on the ship called the Mayflower and landed at Plymouth. They landed in modern-day Massachusetts about 40 miles south of Boston along Cape Cod. Specifically, those pilgrims were English Christians on the journey. There trip was motivated by a desire to worship God according to their faith.

We sit this morning in this church where we have the freedom to assemble and worship due to the desire instilled in those pilgrims over three centuries ago. Specifically, the were Separatist who desired to worship God in different manner than was dictated to them in England. The Church of England was closely tied to a monarchy and imposed strict religious practices.

So, these Separatist fled England and initially went to the Netherlands in search of religious tolerance.

They did in fact find worship was free there, but life was challenging. The pilgrims struggled with low paying jobs, there were cultural differences and they were concerned that their children were losing their English identity.

Well, in the God they loved and had hope in, 102 people boarded the ship called the Mayflower and set sail for America. The ship was small and the conditions were poor. They said for two months across the Atlantic in perilous conditions. Quarters were cramped, they faced seasickness, food and clean water was scarce.

Once they arrived at Plymouth, they arrived to face the harsh New England winter and faced even greater challenges. In the first year, extreme cold, lack of shelter, and disease claimed one half the lives that first year. Despite the hardship, their faith in God remained strong. Native Americans, the Indians, we called today Indigenous people of the land aided and helped the pilgrims by teaching them survival skills by farming and fishing and general survival skills.

When the pilgrims harvested their first crops in 1621, they decided to hold a feast to thank God for His blessings and provision. They invited the Native Americans to join the feast. This became the foundation for the Thanksgiving celebration we enjoy today.

Later, President Abraham Lincoln made the holiday and official National Holiday in 1863 as a way of unifying the country after the Civil War and expressing gratitude to God.

We all sit here this morning in this climate controlled room with a shelter over our heads, we enjoy the freedom here in America to assemble as we assemble this morning. You did not have to ask anyone permission to come here today to enjoy this time together of your own free will. I do not know all of your backgrounds nor I’m sure I do do not understand all the ways in the countries from which you come, but be thankful for the freedoms you enjoy here in America.

The Gospel Message

God Created Us

The one blessing we can all enjoy together this morning that regardless of our own pilgrimage in coming to this place is that we are here. Not that we are just here in this locale, but that we are alive and breathing and have life.

What can make us all thankful this morning? God created us.

Genesis 1:27 “27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”

Psalm 139:13–14 “13 For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb. 14 I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well.”

God’s at Work Around Us

Furthermore, some of you are finding reason this morning to be thankful, but you are out of your comfort zone. Maybe this place does not feel like home for you. Maybe some of you are felling a void from the familiar and that place you call home.

Acts 17:26–27 NKJV

26 And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, 27 so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us;

The Apostle Paul shared these words to a very diverse group as He was led by the Lord to share with a people that was different from Him. Paul shared as I share with you this morning that as we come together to celebrate Thanksgiving, regardless of those things that are different about us, the one thing we can be thankful for is that God is at work and in control of all of our lives. He is sovereign God that is at work in all of humanity, all of geography, but more importantly, He is seeking ways that you can encounter Him.

Philippians 2:13 “13 for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.”

Let me be a little more specific. Everything you are enjoying today and in these days are because of God.

The Bible says:

James 1:17 “17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.”

Oh listen to me, God loves you, God created you and God wants His best for you.

Everyone of us were created by God, but as well, everyone of us at one time or another were separated from God.

God loves you and wants a relationship with you, but the one common denominator between all of us is that we have done wrong.

Holy and Righteous God will have no part with sinful man.

Romans 3:23 “23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”

There is a price to be paid for our wrongs, our sin.

Romans 6:23 “23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Oh listen to me this morning, that is why we can be thankful today. God in His great love for you gives you a gift today just for the asking.

Romans 5:8 “8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Romans 10:13 “13 For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.””

Why should we be thankful today?

John 3:16 “16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”