Morning. It is a great Thanksgiving month we're enjoying together, I trust, and we have many reasons to give thanks. My central verse for today will be in First Thessalonians chapter five and verse eighteen, where Paul tells the Thessalonian believers, in everything give thanks, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. In everything give thanks, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. An impossible injunction? In everything? The Thanksgiving special bouquet is a little illustration I found, uh, that I think will, uh, speak to our point this morning and draw us in. Sandra found- felt as low as the heels of her Birkenstocks as she pushed against a November gust and the florist shop door. Her life had been easy, like spring breeze to this point. Then in the fourth month of her second pregnancy, a minor automobile accident stole her ease. During this Thanksgiving week, she would have delivered a son. She grieved over her loss. As if that weren't enough, her husband's company threatened to- threatened a transfer. Her sister, whose holiday she always coveted, called to say she couldn't come. What's worse, Sandra's friend infuriated her by suggesting her grief was a God-given path to maturity, and that would allow her to empathize with others who suffer. She has no idea what I'm feeling, she thought. Thanksgiving. Thankful for what, she wondered? For a careless driver whose truck was hardly scratched when he rear-ended her? For an airbag that saved her life but took that of her child? Good afternoon, may I help you? The shop clerk's approach startled her. Oh, I need an arrangement, she, uh, stammered. For Thanksgiving. Do you want a beautiful but ordinary, or would you like to challenge the day with a customer favorite I call the Thanksgiving special? I'm convinced that flowers tell stories, she continued. Are you looking for something that conveys gratitude this Thanksgiving? Well, not exactly, Sandra blurted out. In the last five months, everything that could go wrong seems to have. Sandra regretted immediately that her outburst and was surprised when the shop clerk said, I have the perfect arrangement for you. Then the door's small bell rang, and the shop clerk said, Hi, Barbara, uh, let me get your order. She politely excused herself and worked to, uh, and walked toward the small workroom, then quickly reappeared, carrying an arrangement of greenery, bows, and long-stemmed thorny roses, except the ends of the rose stems were neatly snipped. There were no flowers. Want this in a box? She asked, and Sandra watched for the customer's response. Was this a joke? Who would want rose stems with no flowers? She waited for laughter, but neither woman laughed. Yes, please, Barbara replied with, uh, an appreciative smile. You'd think after three years of getting the special, I wouldn't be so moved by its significance, but I feel it right here all over again, she said as she gently tapped her chest. Um, stammered Sandra, that lady just left with, uh, no flowers. Right, said the clerk. I cut off the flowers. That's the special. I call it the Thanksgiving thorns bouquet. Oh, come on, you can't tell me somebody is willing to pay for that, exclaimed Sandra. Barbara came into the shop three years ago, said the clerk, feeling much like you do today. She thought she had very little to be thankful for. She had lost her father to cancer. The family business was failing, her son was into drugs, and she was facing major, major surgery. That same year I had lost my husband, continued the clerk, and for the first time in my life had spent the holidays alone. I had no children, no husband, no family nearby, and too great a debt to allow me to travel. So what did you do, asked Sandra? I learned to be thankful for thorns. I've always thanked God for the good things in my life and to never ask him, uh, why those good things happened to me, but when the bad stuff happened, then I was always asking madly for blessing and for help. It took time for me to learn that dark times are also important. I've always enjoyed the flowers of life, but it took thorns to show me the beauty of God's comfort. You know, the Bible says that God's com- God comforts us when we're afflicted, and from his consolation we learn to comfort others. Sandra sucked in her breath as she thought about the very thing her friend had tried to tell her. I guess the truth is I don't want comfort. I've lost a baby, and I'm angry with God. Just then, someone else walked into the shop. Oh, hi, Phil, she called out. My wife sent me in to get our usual, our usual Thanksgiving arrangement, twelve thorny, long-stemmed, uh, roses, uh, without the roses, he laughed. Those are for your wife? Sandra butted in. Do you mind me asking why she wants something that looks like that? No, I'm glad you asked, Phil answered. Four years ago, my wife and I nearly divorced. After forty years, we were in a real mess, but with the Lord's grace and guidance, we slogged through the problem one at a time. He rescued our marriage. Jenny here, the the clerk, told me she kept a vase of rose stems to remind her of what she learned from thorny times, and that was good enough for me, so I took home some of those stems, and my wife and I decided to label each one one of our problems and work through them. I don't know if I can be that thankful for thorny stem- uh, thorns in my life, Sandra said to the clerk. I- i- it's all too fresh. Well, she replied, my experience has shown me that thorns make roses more precious. We treasure God's providential care more during trouble than at any other time. Remember, it was the crown of thorns that Jesus wore so that we might know his love. Don't resent the thorns. And tears started to roll down Sandra's cheeks. For the first time since the accident, she started to loosen her grip on resentment. I'll take those twelve long-stemmed thorns, please, she managed to choke out. Oh, I hoped you would, the clerk replied gently. I'll have them ready in a minute. How much do I owe you, was the response. Nothing, nothing but a promise to allow God to heal your heart. The first year's arrangement is always on me. She smiled and handed a card to Sandra. I'll attach this card to the arrangement, but maybe you would like to read it first. And it read, My God, I have never thanked you for my thorns. I've thanked you for a thousand times, uh, for my roses, but never once for my thorns. Teach me the glory of the life I bear. Teach me the value of the thorns you give me. Show me that I have climbed closer to you along the path of pain. Show me that through my tears, the colors of your rainbow look much more brilliant. Lesson? Praise him for the roses, yes, but also thank him for the thorns. And at this Thanksgiving time, as we come to reflect on all that the Lord is and all that he's given us, there are negative things in our life. There are difficulties, there are burdens, a- and we don't just try to come along and put an icing over the cake of problems and try to ignore the fact that they're there. As we grow in the Lord, one of the maturing aspects of a growing saint is to learn, like Sandra had difficulty in trying to ascertain, is that we need to give thanks for the thorns as well. The thorns aren't coincidental. The thorns aren't always God's judgment against us. The thorns are- aren't always, uh, th- there because, uh, they just happen. What about the thorns in our life? Now, over the last couple of months here at Arbor Oaks, we've been thinking about some of those in a prophetic sense, haven't we? On Wednesday nights, we went through the Olivet Discourse. Uh, on the last month of Sundays, we've been looking at the, uh, uh, tribulation passages of Rome, uh, Revelation six and seven. And, uh, you talk about thorns that are going to be in people's lives one day. Those are a reality. And and we've been shaken, uh, somewhat considering the judgments of God that are coming, uh, on this world, on those that don't know him. And as we come to this little book of Thessalonians, a new church, one of the early churches in Paul's missionary journeys that he planted, one that he was with with for a very short time, and so was quite concerned about, and wrote two letters back to them over the course of his journeys. And one of the central themes in hi- this these two books, of course, is this very theme of what's to come. The prophetic nature of the work of God, uh, how he's going to react, what he's going to do in the future. And of course, in chapter four of Thessalonians here, if you have your Bible open, you see the central passage on the rapture of the church in verses thirteen through eighteen. And then as he moves into chapter five, he moves into the day of the Lord that we were considering, uh, in both series, uh, over the last couple of months here. But praise God, if you flip back one page to chapter one and verse ten, before he tells us of the day of the Lord that's coming upon those who refuse to believe, who will not become the, uh, children of God, verse ten tells us, and to wait for his son from heaven. That's us. We're waiting, aren't we? With anticipation, and for that we can give thanks. Whom he raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come. Ah, that's good news. Go over to chapter five at the end of the book, in the midst of this description of what the day of the Lord is, he tells us very similarly that we as believers are saved from that day. For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. See, this is the third degree, the third perspective salvation that's mentioned here. To those of us who have salvation, at the moment we are being saved. It's the Lord that keeps us saved, not ourselves. And we anticipate being saved when he will snatch us out of the thorns of this existence and take us to be with himself. Are you looking forward to that? Is that a reason for thanksgiving during this month of Thanksgiving? But if you don't have that, the thorns of eternal judgment are real. But the Lord offers here that we may obtain salvation, not through our own merit, not through what we do, not through what we are, not through what we can purchase or obtain or, uh, or gain in this world, but through the simplicity of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so Paul comes and writes to this church. If you go back to chapter one again, we see that this is a church that Paul could give thanks for. As Paul anticipated this church, as he thought about this young group of believers, we don't know if there were twenty or forty or a hundred of them, uh, by this point, but he reflects on his time with them. He reflects on the news that he's just received from Timothy, who had been his letter b- uh, carrier and had brought him good news of what was going on in the church. And he says in cha- uh, chapter one and verse two, we give thanks to God always for all of you, making mention of you in our prayers. That's an interesting verse, isn't it? When you think of me, I hope you do once in a while, do you immediately start praying on your knees, begging God to forgive that man, to rectify all the evil and wrongdoing in his life, to fix all his attitude problems and, uh, all his health problems and, uh, uh, or when you think of me, do you think of reasons to give thanks? Now, I'm not asking for an answer to that. I might not want it. But when you think about our Baroqs, is is it a group of believers for which we give thanks? Is that, is that our first attitude? Is that our first reaction? Paul first gave thanks, and then he carried on in the petition, in the asking, in the intercession part of prayer. Give thanks. And Paul could think of, when he thought of the Thessalonians, he gave thanks. He opens the second, uh, letter, uh, a while later when he wrote back to them, uh, once again in verse three of second Thessalonians one, we ought always to give thanks to God for you. We ought to. Why? Because you've grown in grace, you've grown in love. You're being that you're a sanctified, growing congregation of people that are reaching out to others. And if you go through chapters one and two and three of the first Thessalonians, uh, he talks about his ministry with them. He reflects on how they have grown in Christ and accepted his ministry. He talks about the encouragement that Timothy received when he was with them. Timothy went to teach them, and instead he was the one that was encouraged, and he comes back and tells Paul about it. And then they end of chapter three, and as he moves into chapter four, he he says, okay, now let's build on this. Let's grow in this. And then he says there's a reason for growing in Christ. There's a reason for life in Christ, and that's because he's coming again. He's coming to take his church out of this scene. For all that they have labored, for all that they have, uh, spent in serving him, he's going to reward them, and there's going to be a great day called the judgment seat of Christ, when they will be judged for what they did, and I will reward them. But there's the other side of the issue too, and we have to be realistic. And there's chapter five, the day of the Lord for those that'll be left behind. And then after he's explained that and, uh, and and got them settled in their minds on that, because some of them actually were so excited about the coming of the Lord that they were leaving their jobs and going sitting on top of the hill, uh, waiting for him to come back. Uh, if some of you that are have been around as long as I have, remember back in nineteen eighty eight, there was a great flurry that the Lord was going to come that year. They had done their mathematical, um, uh, calculations on scripture, pulling things well out of context and finding all sorts of wrong mathematical formula. Uh, they must have put some calculus into it, and they calculated wrong. But anyway, there was this book called eighty eight Reasons Why Christ is going to Come in nineteen eighty eight, And the author made himself a bundle of money off it, and he, there was some date, I remember, I don't remember what it was, uh, whether it was, uh, uh, August eighth, uh, ninth uh, of nineteen eighty eight or something to get eight eight eighty eight in there. Uh, but he bought himself a ticket to go sit on the Mount of Olives to be right there when Christ came. Mm, well, that's not where Christ is coming. He's coming into the air to start with, so we had that one wrong as well. Um, but the interesting fact is Christ didn't come, as we, uh, at least I don't think he did, do you? And I don't think he came. Uh, he didn't come. We found out months later he had bought a return ticket. You see, we don't know when Christ is coming, and so he ends his little book here in chapter five. the last, uh, short segment is one of these famous Pauline lists of succinct do's, be's, fulfill. Verse twelve, but we request you, brethren, that you appreciate those who diligently labor among you and have charge over you in the Lord and give you instruction, that you esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Live in peace with one another. We urge you, brothers, to admonish the unruly, encourage the faint-hearted, help the weak, be patient with all men. See that no one repays another evil for evil, but always seek after that which is good for one another and for all men. This is what we do as a congregation. This is family life. This is what w- we're supposed to be active at doing Monday through Saturday, and then come together to worship on Sunday. And then look at this little trilogy he puts right in the middle of this list. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and everything give thanks. And then he continues going on in verse nineteen: Do not quench the spirit, do not despise prophetic utterances, but examine everything carefully and hold fast to that which is good. Abstain from every form of evil. Now, and he sums it all up in verse twenty three: may the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely, and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete without blame. What? That anticipation, that hope, but also that judgment day at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Ah, if we could only fulfill, if we had nothing else for church life but this list, we'd be a pretty good church, wouldn't we? If we just did these things and nothing else, we didn't add Romans fourteen and Romans sixteen and Ephesians four and Colossians three and the many other lists that there are out there, just, just this list. And in the middle of it, there's this little trilogy. Ah, and it's so necessary as we live in what I call the three N society of church so often, which is negative, nagging, and nasty. Paul says, rejoice, pray, and give thanks. I prefer those. Wouldn't that change things? Now, we're not dealing with the power of positive thinking here, and if we just, uh, I had one of my daughters tell me that the, uh, the other day when I was giving her a hard time about something. Dad, you just need to think positively, and it would change our little interaction here. And I'm going, no, you do what I say. Um. No, we're, we're not dealing with psych pop here, or pop psych, rather. We're de- we're dealing with injunctions of scripture. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks. We need this type of i- instruction to help us in our attitudes, in our understanding of what the Lord wants us to do. And notice how important it is. And this is all part of one clause here, one, one long, uh, three parts of, uh, one thought that Paul has here. Don't divide them up. And he ends up by saying, this is God's will for you. I have young people coming to me, I, uh, fairly often asking me to understand something about God's will. I enjoy eating lunch at, at the school with students that are willing to put up with me, uh, for a few minutes over lunch, and often the subject comes up, how do you know the will of the Lord? Well, here's one. Let's start with that. Yeah, you want him to give a, a, a second step to you before you fulfill this one? Well, here's a very clear injunction. In fact, if you go back to chapter four and verse three, you'll see another one. For this is the will of God. Oh, here it is, rather blank, uh, uh, black and white. Your separation, your sanctification, being set apart to do what God wants you to do. Your sanctification, that is that you abstain from sexual immorality, that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor. And then it's interesting, if you, if you tie this together, after he goes on to explain how to do that, and then explains the consequences, you're either going to be raptured for reward, or you're going to be left down here for the day of the Lord to find out about the thorns of wrath and judgment. He gives them this list of practical injunctions as believers to fulfill, and in verse twenty three, he says, now what's the hope of all this? What's the purpose of all this? Your sanctification. See, I'm working at developing your character. I'm molding your person. I'm making you into the image of my son. My purpose is to make you a useful vessel for me. This is like I've told you that I want to do back in chapter four and verse three. And in in bo- so spirit, soul, and body are involved in this sanctification process. Hmm? How are we doing in this? How far along are we in this process? Well, we don't have the relative scale of our God, so we don't know. It's one of those, uh, areas of ignorance that we're glad of. I don't know how much more sanctified Dr. Smith is than I am. Now, I could give a pretty good guess, but then he would say, but there's somebody so much more sanctified than I am, and he would name some other believer deep in his following of the Lord. Mm? So we don't, we're not playing with relativism against each other. Our standard is Christ himself. And we follow him. And he calls on us in the midst of this trilogy of what he wants to sanctify in us, spirit, soul, and body. He he gives us this little trilogy of how we should respond to him. Rejoice, pray, and give thanks. Now, I'd like to take you to three pa- passages that are all very close, so you don't have to travel very far, so your fingers probably can handle it. Let's go back to Ephesians chapter five and verse twenty, and we'll see the first of these. So you see, Thanksgiving will change your spiritual focus. I- if we learn to, uh, fulfill, to get involved with this trilogy of rejoice, pray, give thanks, we'll find that Thanksgiving will change our spiritual focus, that I, we will be sanctified, we'll be drawn closer to the Lord Jesus spiritually as we exercise the simple work of giving thanks. Paul here in chapter five, of course, picking up the context in verse eighteen, is talking about this filling of the spirit, of this being God-centered, of this being spirit-controlled. Do not be drunk with wine, that's an illustration. Rather, be filled with the Spirit, be drunk with Him, be controlled by Him. And what does that look like? Well, then you'll be speaking to one another in songs and hymns, spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your hearts to the Lord. Is that how your conversation was, uh, half an hour ago when you were outside? I- I- is, was that the attitude of your conversation? Would n- now as we sang to each other, um, d- d- I don't know how that all ties in. Yesterday we were up in Cincinnati while watching the practice of the Messiah that Sue is singing in this afternoon, and in that beautiful, uh, Catholic auditorium, uh, the seats face each other, and the, uh, bleachers where the choir is singing is up there, and the seats are set up so you can either turn sideways or face each other. Now, that seems a little strange to us from our tradition, but what it would be like here to to set up our our our chairs and look at each other and sing to each other and admonish each other and encourage each other? I don't know how that would be done, uh, but there's an interesting context there. What- w- what's this all involved in? Verse twenty, always giving thanks for all things in the name of the Lord. You see, as we focus on the Lord, as we're spiritually filled, as we take our eyes off just all the problems in the, around us, and we quit talking only about sports and politics, and we think about the deeper things of life, we will give thanks. And as we give thanks, we will start to focus on the things of God. Isn't that true? Can you be giving thanks and be complaining at the same time? Can you be giving thanks for the things that that we have in Christ and be complaining about the the lot he's given you in life at the same time? It will help you, it's an exercise that will spiritually help you to focus in on the person, the nature, and the working of God. Give thanks for my ill health. Give thanks for my wayward children. Giving thanks for the problems I have in my marriage. Pray for Sharon. Hm? They will help us. They will help us. And and if you'd been here in the first service, I don't need to read a a number of my scriptures because they were already this morning, uh, read this morning. Giving thanks, entering his gates, worshiping him, giving him praise. And so we'll move to the second one, which is thanksgiving will change your self-focus. As you give thanks, you will not only grow closer to the Lord and have a deeper understanding and a, uh, and a brighter, more color-filled view and, and appreciation of him, that as you give thanks, you will change your inner or yourself, your soul focus. Flip over to, uh, 1 Timothy chapter two. First Timothy chapter two. Paul writing here to his young disciple Timothy. First of all, I urge that entreaties and prayers and petitions and thanksgiving be made on behalf of all men, for kings and for for all who are in authority, in order that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. Now, isn't that what we're all after? Don't we all want the American dream, which is this life of quietness, of tranquility, of dignity, of being peaceable. I grew up, grew up in a generation that, uh, uh, is really been a very blessed generation. I'm too young to have gone to Vietnam, as some of you had to face, and all the problems there. I'm too old to have gotten sucked into Iraq and all that situation, and and so I've grown up never having served in the military. I've never seen war. I've never seen anybody, uh, shot. I've never, uh, been on the battlefield and a- asked the questions of why of all this carnage and the, and those kind of questions of life. Uh, life really has been fairly tranquil and peaceful and peaceable, and I thank God for that. But even in the midst of the situations we do have in life, and we all have them, that may not be open battlefields of Vietnam, but the inner battlefields we m- face day by day can be even more difficult. They can be even more bloody, if you want to use that nasty term. And how do we deal with those? Well, Paul says, h- here it is, it's not a formula, but it will help. We can pray, we can petition God, we can entreat God, but it's with thanksgiving. You start giving thanks and things will change. Chuck Sundahl says this about these verses. We are invited, in verse one to pray, to entreat God, to make our petitions to him, but add to that thanksgiving, and we have a formula that is powerful, a formula we don't take advantage of enough. The formula of finding how to lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity by the continual act of giving thanks for everything that we're praying about, taking our cares to God and thanking him for them. Is it possible? Leon Morris writes in his commentary, when a man comes to see that God is in Christ and he has been saved by him, everything is altered. He realizes God's purpose is being worked out even in those events which he is not inclined to welcome at all. When he sees God's hand in all things, he learns to give thanks for all things. Tribulation is unpleasant, Morris continues, but who in the midst of tribulation would not give thanks when he knows that the Father who loves him so greatly has permitted that tribulation only in order that he might, that his wise and merciful purpose might be worked out. So Paul calls on his friends to practice the continual giving of thanks. Thank you, Lord. And your situation is named. Ah, in Colossians, Paul says that, you know, if you practice this, it'll end up, uh, developing an attaining of all steadfastness and patience. This is verse twelve of Colossians one. joyously giving thanks to the Father. Hm, in the midst of the patience, in the midness- in the midst of this steadfast day in and day out, the problems in society, the problems at work, the problems with my employees, the problems of my employer. You know, we can become joyously thankful, hilarious, cheerful. Hmm? It will change our perspective, and that might even draw us to Philippians four six, where Paul tells us, be anxious for nothing, but in everything with prayer and supplication and thanksgiving, or with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. You starting to get the idea that Paul thought this was a fairly important theme? It comes up over and over and over again in almost all of his epistles to saints on how to live the Christian life, on how to get through the Christian life, in one sense, if you want to be negative about it. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving. That'll change your attitude. That'll change your perspective. That may change what you're asking for. Hmm? Because I'm just one of these people that wants to get out of a problem. I am a type A personality. I see a problem, I see a solution, and I want it fulfilled now. And if it's, uh, if that means having to, uh, ice it over and, uh, just be- ignore it, well, that might be a solution, and I- and I'm out of here. Um, living in the third world, the temptation to pass a five dollar when the policeman unjustly, uh, stopped me in traffic was very high for my type of personality, just to get out of the problem. Mm? And there's all sorts of similar situations that we face every day. Thanksgiving will change our inner self. Thanksgiving will change our focus on how we think, on how we understand our own situation. And so we need to draw on this great injunction. Give thanks. Thirdly, not only is it to be, will it help our spiritual focus on God, changing our understanding of him, drawing us closer to him, it'll change our inner focus, our self focus, but it'll also change how we serve. If you give thanks in the midst of serving, you know, you look at the bulletin, you go, oh, I'm not coming out tonight. The bears will be done by six o- by six thirty, by the way. Okay. Uh, uh, I'm not go- I can't, I'm not capable. Yeah, well, start giving thanks. Thank you, Lord, there's a meeting tonight. Thank you for Tom. Thank you for the gift you're developing in him. Thank you for the sincerity. You just might find yourself wanting to come tonight. Hmm? Think about it. No, don't think about it, do it. Pray. Thanksgiving will change your outer, your, your, your service, your, your activity. Turn over to Colossians chapter three. Colossians three. just one book before our First Thessalonians there. And Paul here, once again giving them good, deep, sound teaching in verses chapters one and two. turns to the practical, the putting on the new self in chapter three, finding out who you are in Christ and, and practicing it. And we'll pick it up in verse fifteen. and then once again, another list of his very practical, uh, ways to follow Christ. Let the peace of Christ. That's what we were just talking about, wasn't it? Wanting that peaceable life. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body, and be thankful. Sixteen, Let the word of Christ dwell within you richly, with all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. That's not with nagging and nastiness and all those other bad ends, but rather with singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And then, in verse seventeen, and whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father. Not a, a, a fascinating way that Paul brings about the same subjects here. He starts off with the self-focus here that we want this peace. How do we get it? Give. And verse sixteen, we want to know God. Well, let his word dwell richly in you. Meditate on it, understand it, allow the spirit of God to speak it into your heart, and as that dwells richly within you, then you give thanks, and you appreciate Christ and his word for who he is. Ah, but if that's really a reality, see, there's a lot that want to stop there. I, I just want to be a Christian philosopher, a Christian meditator. I just want to, I just want to h- have a thousand books in my office and uh, and I, I, I just... No, no, no. Verse seventeen is there too. If you really do the first two, you will want to do the numbers, uh, verse seventeen. Whatever you do in word or deed, whether it's counseling somebody or teaching in the classroom or working in the factory or serving in the church. Your service will be altered as you give thanks. You give thanks for your boss. You give thanks for your job. But I only get nine seventy five an hour. Well, give thanks for nine seventy five. You could get seven twenty five. Hm? Give thanks. It'll change the way you see life. It'll start to help you want to serve God. It'll give you an, a motivation to come and give yourself in service to God. Give thanks. It's central to your activity as a Christian. It's central to making Thanksgiving this year the best Thanksgiving you've ever had. Any of you ever stress over Thanksgiving? Oh, grandma's coming into town, you know, or the turkey. I, I hate roasting turkeys, or why do we have to have twenty two people over, or why do I have to go? It, it... We ever get caught up in this kind of negativeness and this pressure, and it becomes stress, and then Christmas is worse because you have to add presents on top of that, and, and, uh, what in the world do you buy Ken Fleming? Because he, if he wants it, he goes and buys it, and, uh, and on it goes. So we give him another candle that my mother can burn or something. Um, stress. How about stopping and giving thanks? How much time during Thanksgiving Day do we actually give thanks? Takes about two minutes to give thanks for the turkey, and and then what? Hmm? Uh, this is not just Thanksgiving Day. This is Thanksgiving life. This is Thanksgiving life. You go back to uh, First Thessalonians five, Rejoice always. Based on that rejoicing attitude, you'll want to pray. Uh, uh, praying without ceasing is possible. It's an attitude of practicing God's presence. He's in everything. He's with you at all times. He'll help you the decisions. He's your, he's your, uh, uh, your companion when you're driving long distance alone, whatever it be. Pray, just enjoy his presence in all things. And as you do, give thanks. Give thanks to him. Hmm. A little story that I came, or it's actually a little bit of prose here that, uh, I've always enjoyed. Uh, it's obviously got some British source to it. As I read it, you'll understand that. A lady that's, uh, we don't know, uh, her name, but she wrote this. Today upon a bus I saw a lovely maid with golden hair. I envied her. She seemed so happy, and how I wished I were so fair. When suddenly she rose to leave, I saw her hobble down the aisle. She had but one foot and wore a crutch, but as she passed, a smile. Oh God, forgive me when I whine. I have two feet, the world is mine. And when I stopped to buy some sweets or candy, the lad, the lad who served me had such charm, he seemed to radiate good cheer. His manner was so kind and warm, and I said, it's nice to deal with you, lad. Such courtesy I seldom find. He turned and said, oh, thank you, sir. And then I saw that he was blind. Oh God, forgive me when I whine. I have two eyes. The world is mine. And then walking down the street, I saw a child with eyes of blue. He stood and watched the others play. It seemed he knew not what to do. I stopped a moment and I said, why don't you join the others, dear? He looked ahead without a word, and then I knew he could not hear. Oh God, forgive me when I whine. I have two ears. The world is mine. With feet to take me where I go, with eyes to see the sunsets glow, with ears to hear what I would know. I am blessed indeed. The world is mine. O God, forgive me when I whine. And if we confess that and put it aside, let's refocus on the person of the Lord Jesus in this Thanksgiving season. Let's start to give thanks to him. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. Give thanks to the Lord for his loving kindness. Give thanks to the Lord for his mercies endure forever. Give thanks to the Lord and add another two, three pages. I, I challenge you, that's your homework. Make a list. Give thanks to the Lord. Give thanks for your situations. Give thanks for your circumstances. Give thanks for who you are. Give thanks for those that you're in relationship with, even those that are difficult to deal with. In fact, it's well known that if you don't like somebody, start giving thanks for them, and you know, in a few weeks or months, you might start to soften. It might be a little easier to deal with that person. I- I- if you, because there are things in their lives you can find reason to give thanks for. And as you focus on those things and truly take them to the throne of grace and thanksgiving, it will change your inner self. It'll change your soul. And then as you serve day by day, whether it's dealing with a child, a child who might have ADHD, WY and X, or whether it's, uh, wor- working at a job that underpays you, or whether it, you know what it is. Whether it's a you you're three years into ministry at ch- at church, and there's nobody to replace you, and you just have to slog it out. Well, start giving thanks. Start giving thanks. All my childhood, we had a little plaque on the window in front of our kitchen sink. I had the joy of drying dishes for the forty five years of my childhood. There were only four words on the little plaque, but it must have helped my mom because she put it there, and it said, not somehow, but victorious. Father, we thank you for your word. May we live life not somehow, but giving thanks for the victory we have in Christ, for who you are as our king, as our savior, as our eternal redeemer, who has promised to come back and call us up to be with you. Oh, we look forward to that invitation. We look forward to hearing those trumpets sound. In the meantime, we're here, but we're not alone. Your spirit lives in us, and so we can give thanks for all that we have, the thorns as well as the beautiful rose, roses. Remind us this Thanksgiving to put our emphasis on you and give thanks for what we have in you. And as we live life, as we serve you, as we serve our community, as we serve our employer, it's all spiritual in nature. May we give thanks. And may we, at the end of this Thanksgiving season, be infected to continue to give thanks for the rest of the year and until you come. Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift. We start there, and may we continue to give thanks. Thank you. Amen.