Thanksgiving Greetings

Thank you for coming to our Thanksgiving Service. We are gathered to give thanks to God. Both in song and in testimony. We will begin (and end) with songs of praise and worship and thanksgiving. If you look at both the Old Testament and the New Testament: 1. we are to live a lifestyle of thanksgiving 2. It is to be done along with worship and praise:

Then on that day David first appointed that thanksgiving be sung to the Lord by Asaph and his brothers. Oh give thanks to the Lord; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the peoples! Sing to him, sing praises to him; tell of all his wondrous works! Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice! I Chronicles 16: 7-10

I will praise the name of God with a song; I will magnify him with thanksgiving. Psalm 69:30

And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ Ephesians 5:18-20

Thanksgiving orients our hearts and minds rightly. It reminds us that we are the creatures and God is the Creator and that all that we have comes from his gracious hand

Thanksgiving as a holiday or remembrance in our country goes back to 1789 when George Washington issued a Thanksgiving Proclamation. In it he said it was the “duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits and humbly to implore His protection and favor. He went on to say that we should acknowledge with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God. One of the many things we can give thanks to God for is that we live in a nation where Thanksgiving is a national holiday. 

Praise the Lord. I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart, in the company of the upright, in the congregation. Psalm 111:1

Over the years it has been a tradition of our church to gather Thanksgiving Day to give thanks to God. We know a lot of people are out of town for the holiday and for some that are in town it conflicts with their plans. But for those of us who are able to make it we always come away having been edified by hearing what God has done in other people’s lives. Scripture calls us to rejoice with those who rejoice and this is an opportunity to do so. We have the opportunity to give thanks with others for God’s goodness to them. 

We have divided our time up into a couple of categories. They are:

• Spiritual Blessings

• Health and Healing and Grace To Endure

• Provision: Financial and Other.

• Relationships

• The Church

• Spiritual Blessings: Ephesians 2 tells us that God is rich in mercy and love towards us. Ephesians 1 tells us we have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. The blessings of coming to know the Lord and growing in our knowledge of Him and his ways is the biggest blessing of the Christian’s life. 

• Health and healing. Healing is a gift of grace that God often gives His people and we rejoice when that happens. But also 2 Corinthians 12 tells us that God’s grace enables us even in our weakness and sustains us in sickness.

• Provision: Philippians 4 tells us that God provides for us and in a similar way His grace equips us to live in times of need and in plenty.

• Relationships: Our family and friends are a major means of God blessing and providing for us. The Apostle Paul often would thank God for the folks in the churches that he was addressing in his letters. 

• Church: And speaking of the local church it is the family of faith that God uses to help us grow in Christ and in which we often experience many of the one anothers of the Christian life. Serve, love, pray, encourage, care, exhort, hospitality. 

• And if you have a thanksgiving to give that doesn’t fit into one of the above then that’s fine, just give it. 

Before we begin just two encouragements. One is the KISS concept: Keep It Simple Saints! We do want to hear the ways God has blessed you. However remember there are many others who would like to as well. So try to be concise as you share.

This year we are not going to go through each category separately. When you share just tell us maybe what category you are sharing about and then begin. Also we are asking that each person only share one time. That way we can allow as many people to do so and still keep our service within a reasonable time frame.

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Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever! Let the redeemed of the Lord Psalm 107:1-2a