A Recipe for Thanksgiving
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Introduction
Introduction
We have come a long way since Governor Ballard decreed the first Thanksgiving in 1621, or since George Washington proclaimed a National Day Thanksgiving on November 26, 1789. The Holiday was not repeated on a national basis until Abraham Lincoln named a National Harvest Festival on November 26, 1861. It was proclaimed annually by the President and governors of each state until congress passed a bill in 1941 naming the 4th Thursday of each November as what we now know as Thanksgiving Day.
On Thanksgiving Day this week, ABC News tells us that the average American will consume 4500 calories. 45 million turkeys will be consumed. 81 million pounds of cranberries will be eaten. Butterball says they are anticipating over 100,000 calls into their turkey-talk line. 3.5 million people will line the streets of New York to watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade and 53 million of us will watch it on TV that morning. 164 million will start Christmas shopping either in stores on online Friday morning and go throughout the weekend.
Many recipes will be used to make this day a great celebration. What if we put as much effort in our actual giving thanks as we did in the preparation of the meals in which we over eat? What if we had a recipe for giving thanks? Would we have a cup of gratitude with a pinch of sincere appreciation? Would we set a timer on it to determine how long it should cook or let it simmer all day? Would we be able to write it on a note card and pass it along to our family members from one generation to another?
Jesus said in :
Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
The Bible, being the word of God, gives us many things to consider, including a recipe for thanksgiving!
Give thanks to the Lord, call on his name;
make known among the nations what he has done.
Sing to him, sing praise to him;
tell of all his wonderful acts.
Glory in his holy name;
let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.
Look to the Lord and his strength;
seek his face always.
Remember the wonders he has done,
his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced,
1 chronicles 16:
As we think about the food we will consume this week, let’s make time to look at this passage for a recipe of thanksgiving.
Words to Consider
Words to Consider
In the context of this passage, David is celebrating the Ark of the Covenant being brought into the Tent that he pitched. They offer sacrifices to God and blessed the people in the name of God. David sees to it that each Israelite man and woman receive a loaf of bread, a cake of dates, and a cake of raisins. He asks the priests to give thanks and praise the name of the Lord. They celebrate with music and regularly blow the trumpets before the ark of the covenant of the Lord.
David then presents this Psalm of Thanksgiving where he says,
Give thanks to the Lord, call on his name;
make known among the nations what he has done.
1 Chronicles 16:8
What words would you consider to give thanks to the Lord and to make known to the nations what He has done?
Have you thought about what God has done in your life this past year?
He has blessed us in many ways!
One writer penned “The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count your blessings.”
The paraphrase of the Bible called The Message says, “Thank God! Call out His Name! Tell the whole world Who He is and What He has done!”
What has He done and Who is He in your life? What are you telling the world?
Perhaps you can say that God has blessed you with your health good enough right now and that you are able to attend this worship service this morning. Perhaps you can say that God has blessed you financially and all your needs are being met. Perhaps you can say that God has blessed you in the fact that you have a warm and dry place to lay your head down at night. Perhaps you can say God has blessed you with a family that loves you and cares for you. Perhaps you can say God has blessed you by giving you life through Christ and you are free from the penalty of sin. Perhaps you can say God has blessed you by giving you life and giving it to you abundantly.
What words would you use to describe the blessings of God?
How would you make it known to the nations what God has done for you? I see a correlation from this verse 8 to another well known verse 8 in the Bible:
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Jesus is commissioning the disciples to start where they were and tell the good news. We are to start in our neighborhoods, our county, our state, our country and our world. What have you done this year to share the good news of God’s love and redemption to those in your Jerusalem? What about your Judea? What about your Samaria? What about your world?
I am convinced more than ever you and I have to be about sharing the good news. What words will you use? Do you have a recipe of thanksgiving? Do you have words that talk about the richness of God’s mercy? Are you able to share of God’s goodness? Or are you stuck on the bitter things of life? We have lots to be thankful for this day and I am choosing to focus on the good things that God has done in my life. I am choosing to celebrate with you God’s love and how He has poured out the riches of His mercy on us! We are not done. We cannot stop. We must go on making sure that everyone in our community knows the love of God.
When I think of the words I want to use to celebrate the things that God has done, it leads me to our next point we see in this beautiful passage:
Worship to Confer
Worship to Confer
When you and I give thanks to the Lord and call on His name; and make known among the nations what He has done, how can we not worship?
Sing to him, sing praise to him;
tell of all his wonderful acts.
1 Chronicles 16:
Why do we sing hymns and choruses in our worship?
Sing to the Lord, you saints of his;
praise his holy name.
Psalm 47:
Sing praises to God, sing praises;
sing praises to our King, sing praises.
Psalm 59:6
But I will sing of your strength,
in the morning I will sing of your love;
for you are my fortress,
my refuge in times of trouble.
I will sing of the Lord’s great love forever;
with my mouth I will make your faithfulness known through all generations.
I will sing of your love and justice;
to you, O Lord, I will sing praise.
Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord,
Ephesians
Sing to the Lord!
Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations 7569 Story of J. C. Penney
In 1929, J. C. Penney’s business was highly unstable. And so he began to worry and became sleepless. He worried to the extreme and contracted the shingles, which is the severest pain known to man. Into the hospital, Penney was given medicine to tranquilize him, but it was no help. He still worried about his business.
One night, he felt that he would die before morning, and so he started writing farewells to his wife, son, and friends. But by the next morning, as he was lying on bed, he heard singing from the hospital chapel next door: “No matter what may be the test, God will take care of you …”
Suddenly he leaned up, thinking: “It is real! God loves and cares for me.” In no time, he had jumped out of his bed and entered the chapel. And then a miracle took place in his soul, as if he were a little bird suddenly freed to fly out of the dungeon into the sunlight, from hell to paradise.
In my own life, I was sitting home alone many years ago after having my second knee surgery. I was down because I realized that I would not be able to play the sport of basketball again. I loved the game and my knee injury was making me realize that it would be no longer part of my life. I had the TV on and was sort of watching the show ER when one of the characters picked up a baby and started singing to the baby...
Why should I feel discouraged, why should the shadows come,
Why should my heart be lonely, and long for heav’n and home,
When Jesus is my portion? My constant Friend is He:
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me;
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me. Refrain:
I sing because I’m happy, I sing because I’m free,
For His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.
By the way did you know that singing was really good for you?
I am reminded as we are studying the passage that when you and I develop a recipe for thanksgiving, we are going to include a cup of songs! And, when we do, we will do what verse 10 and 11 speak of,
Singing helps you have better heart and lungs.
Singing makes you happier.
Singing makes you have better balance.
Singing makes you live longer.
Singing helps you have better posture and look younger.
I am reminded as we are studying the passage that when you and I develop a recipe for thanksgiving, we are going to include a cup of songs! And, when we do, we will do what verse 10 and 11 speak of,
Glory in his holy name;
let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.
Look to the Lord and his strength;
seek his face always.
1 Chronicles 16:1
Glory in his holy name;
let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.
Our words to consider will lead to our worship conferred which will lead to wonders to contemplate.
Wonders to Contemplate
Wonders to Contemplate
Remember the wonders he has done,
his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced,
1 Chronicles 16:12
Have you experienced anything this year that has made sit back in awe of God? Have you seen the wonders of our Lord? Oh my from sunrises to sunsets our Lord has been spectacular in our lives! We have seen some of our folks go from life to death and back to life again this year. We have seen new birth both physically and spiritually. We have seen miracles that are new each and every day. We have celebrated even in death the glorious homecoming of many of our saints. We have seen how flooding in our state has destroyed homes but yet you gave over $2000 in gift cards to help a congregation minister to the needs of their community. Pastor Joe Washburn from First Presbyterian Church in Whiteville sent this note:
Thank you for the gift cards your church has sent. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate y’all reaching out and helping some of the families in need in Columbus County. It has been a pretty tough month to month and a half. First we had Hurricane Florence, then a scare from another hurricane, then one of the Highway Patrol troopers in our community was shot and killed. Your generousity will go a long way to helping some folks heal.
God used a storm on the coast to have people in the mountains respond. God wants us as a church to do more of that. Many of you have asked about families that might be in need for thanksgiving meals or Christmas needs, and we are at work to make sure those needs are being met. That is one of the wonders of God and how He works in our lives! We are called to remember the wonders He as done, His miracles and His judgments He has pronounced.
When we are about God’s business we will be blessed beyond measure if we remember the good things he has done. Why do you think that God tells us throughout scripture to remember? You and I have a propensity to forget. That is why God is adamant about His people remembering His goodness. Remembering helps us to know that God is good all the time and all the time, God is good! We could learn lots from our Pilgrim ancestors. They saw God in every drop of rain and in every ray of sunlight.
If you and I spoke more about the wonders of God, it would mean that you and I are observing better and watching more of God at work! Charles Spurgeon said, “If we talked more of the wondrous works of God, oh how our gratitude would grow and what an impulse would be given to our entire life?
You and I have a circle of influence that no one else has. If we shared more about the wonders of God in that circle of influence, we would make every day thanksgiving and in doing so, make others realize that everyday was thanksgiving. We would use our words to thank Him, which leads to our worship of Him, which leads to Wonder about Him!