sermon

Below is a sermon I preached for a community thanksgiving service. I found this by Andy's bed.
I read it to him. I had no idea when I wrote this sermon, how the words would come back to comfort me.


Two things to be thankful For

Do you know what I like about Thanksgiving? It's the least commercialized of all the national holidays. The stores cash in on Halloween, Christmas, Valentine's Day, and Easter, but there's not much of a Thanksgiving windfall for retailers. As a result, we don't suffer from Thanksgiving overkill. We're not expected to buy Thanksgiving candy, or send Thanksgiving cards, or pass out Thanksgiving gifts. There's no "hot point" in this holiday for advertisers to exploit. (At least not yet. I'm sure, as we speak, some of the brightest minds of Madison Avenue are working to develop a way to commercialize the fourth Thursday in November.)
As you know, the day after Thanksgiving kicks off the busiest time of the year for the shopping malls, and it kicks off the busiest time of the year for most of you, too. In the next 4-5 weeks there will be parties to attend, shopping to finish, gifts to wrap, cookies to bake, cantatas and programs to go to, special services at church, visiting relatives, and on and on and on. For most of us, the next several weeks will be the most hectic days of the year. Before the insanity begins, we can look forward to Thanksgiving Day.
Though Thanksgiving isn't specifically a religious holiday, it can be spiritually uplifting if you let it -- because a thankful heart opens the door to God's blessings in your life.
Sir John Templeton, the billionaire investor, was once asked what is the secret of wealth. He said, "Gratitude. If you're not grateful, you're not rich -- no matter how much you have." The flip side of that is, "If you're grateful, you are rich -- no matter how little you have."


KJV 1 Chronicles 16:34 O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever.


KJV Psalm 106:1 Praise ye the LORD. O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever. {Praise...: Heb. Hallelujah}


KJV Psalm 107:1 O give thanks unto the LORD, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.
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KJV Psalm 118:29 O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.

KJV Psalm 136:1 O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.

We have a lot to be thankful for. Thanksgiving is a time when families get together and we give thanks for the bountiful food, for our families, for our health, and many other things. But there is two things in the passages we have read that the we should be thankful for above all other things.


God is Good Acknowledge that God is the source of all good things in your life.
(Psa 16:2) "I said to the Lord, 'You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing.'"
The book of James says, "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights..."(James 1:17)
All of the good things you have in your life, you can thank God for. Not just the spiritual blessings, but also the material blessings, the sociological blessings, the relational blessings -- every good thing in your life is a gift from God.
I.
Nearly every church is familiar with the Echo:
God is good (all the time)
All the time (God is good)

Now that is easy to say, but not so easy to believe.

Life is easy when you're up on the mountainAnd you've got peace of mind like you've never known.But then things change and you're down in the valley.Don't lose faith for you're never alone.For the God on the mountain is still God in the valley.When things go wrong, He'll make it right.And the God of the good timesis still God in the bad times.The God of the day is still God in the night.You talk of faith when you're up on the mountain.Oh but the talk comes easy when life's at its best.But it's down in the valley of trials and temptationThat's when faith is really put to the test.For the God on the mountain is still God in the valley.When things go wrong, He'll make it right.And the God of the good timesis still God in the bad times.The God of the day is still God in the night.

It is difficult for our mortal minds to understand why God allows suffering in the world. This is the cry of the Atheists. How can a loving God permit such suffering in this world. To this question, there is no easy answer, because there is not a person in this room who has not wondered the same thing in their hearts.

Did you know . . .
· One out of every eight children under the age of twelve in the U.S. goes to bed hungry every night.
· Every year 15 million children die of hunger.
· Every four minutes a child is sexually abused.
· 93% of victims know their abuser.
How do we reconcile our understanding of a loving God with these kind of horrific things going on in our world?
I can’t comprehend the mind of God. But I know this. We see the here and now, but God sees past, present and future. The Bible says that one day, we will stand before him, and he will wipe every tear from our eyes. We may not understand the reason for the pain until we are raised in his likeness.
Job was a man who was afflicted with extreme physical and emotional pain. Most of us have not experienced the kind of pain that this man did. His wife is often ridiculed for telling him to curse God and die. But she could not stand to see the man she loved suffer so much. She was willing to give him to death in order to end the great sufferings he endured. Job said

KJV Job 19:25 For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth:
KJV Job 19:26 And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: {And...: or, After I shall awake, though this body be destroyed, yet out of my flesh}

Even if I die from this affliction, I will someday be raised to life again.
To you and I the suffering seems like an eternity, but to God, it is only but a moment in time.

“I know my redeemer lives”. God will eventually rescue me. Whether God heals me now or in the next life, he will come to my aid.

Paul said:

KJV Romans 8:18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

KJV Psalm 31:19 Oh how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee; which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men!


Someday, we will be like the sailors who endure the great storms of the voyagee. Once we reach the shore forget all about the storms.

But until then, my heart will go on singing, until then, with joy I’ll carry on. Until the day my eyes behold that city, until the day God calls me home.

II. God is merciful

Why God would take an a hillbilly like me, the son of a bootlegger from Paintsville Ky and use him for the work of the ministry is a mystery to me. I do not deserve to stand on this platform tonight. But God loved me enough to send his son to die for me. . .

Look ahead to better days.
(Ps 16, v. 6) Surely I have a delightful inheritance.
He's saying, "What the future holds for me is even better than what I have right now." In the Psalms, whenever David speaks of the future, he always speaks of it with optimism.
(Psalm 23:6) Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life.
“I’ve got more to go to heaven for than I had yesterday”