Thanksgiving 2016
NAS Psalm 100:1-5 A Psalm for Thanksgiving. Shout joyfully to the LORD, all the earth 2 Serve the LORD with gladness; Come before Him with joyful singing. 3 Know that the LORD Himself is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. 4 Enter His gates with thanksgiving, And His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him; bless His name. 5 For the LORD is good; His lovingkindness is everlasting, And His faithfulness to all generations.
I HAD SOMEONE ASK ME THIS WEEK IF THANKSGIVING WAS BIBLICAL… Given
the historical (i.e., pilgrims) and political overtures that orchestrate Thanksgiving in America, that is an understandable question. My answer was Thanksgiving is, of course, from the Bible. Maybe not the day so much, but the concept and certainly the attitude is entirely biblical…
THANKSGIVING IS FOUND THROUGHOUT THE BIBLE… But primarily from the book of the Psalms… Here are 11 more selections from the book of Psalms…
NKJ Psalm 18:49 Therefore I will give thanks to You, O LORD, among the Gentiles, And sing praises to Your name.
NAS Psalm 26:7 That I may proclaim with the voice of thanksgiving, And declare all Thy wonders.
NKJ Psalm 30:4 Sing praise to the LORD, You saints of His, And give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name.
NAS Psalm 30:12 That my soul may sing praise to Thee, and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks to Thee forever.
NAS Psalm 50:14 “Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, And pay your vows to the Most High;
NAS Psalm 69:30 I will praise the name of God with song, And shall magnify Him with thanksgiving.
NKJ Psalm 75:1 (A Psalm of Asaph. A Song.) We give thanks to You, O God, we give thanks! For Your wondrous works declare that Your name is near.
NKJ Psalm 95:2 Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving; Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms.
NAS Psalm 106:1 Praise the LORD! Oh give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; For His lovingkindness is everlasting. (This particular refrain is repeated a number of times in the Psalms, e.g. 107:1; 118:1, 29; 136:1)…
NAS Psalm 107:22 Let them also offer sacrifices of thanksgiving, And tell of His works with joyful singing.
NKJ Psalm 147:7 Sing to the LORD with thanksgiving; Sing praises on the harp to our God,
THANKSGIVING IS BIBLICAL… In spite of the fact our present culture has turned Thanksgiving into a single day of celebration referred to as “Turkey Day” as much as “Thanksgiving,” a day in which heavy eating and drinking are the rule, and football is the focus, Thanksgiving is biblical…
IN THE N.T., “THANKSGIVING” IS ALSO PROMINENT…
ON AT LEAST ONE OCCASION RECORDED IN SCRIPTURE, JESUS, God the Son, gave
thanks to God the Father… Jesus gave thanks to God when He raised Lazarus from the dead…
NAS John 11:41 And so they removed the stone. And Jesus raised His eyes, and said, “Father, I thank Thee that Thou heardest Me.
PAUL THANKED GOD REPEATEDLY THROUGHOUT HIS LETTERS to the churches…
NAS Romans 1:8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, because your faith is being proclaimed throughout the whole world.
NAS 1 Corinthians 1:4 I thank my God always concerning you, for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus,
NKJ Ephesians 5:20 giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
NKJ Philippians 1:3 I thank my God upon every remembrance of you,
NKJ Colossians 2:6-7 As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, 7 rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.
WE ARE TO BE “ABOUNDING IN OUR FAITH WITH THANKSGIVING”… “Abound”
means plentiful, well supplied, to contain something in large amount…
BELIEVERS IN GOD ARE GIVEN EXAMPLES AND COMMANDS IN SCRIPTURE to be
thankful people…
NAS Colossians 3:15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful.
THE OLD KING JAMES SAYS, “BE YE THANKFUL”… I love that…
THANKSGIVING IS A COMMAND… THANKSGIVING IS A RESPONSIBILITY…
AND THANKSGIVING IS A PRIVILEGE AFFORDED TO BELIEVERS by a gracious
God…
AS I ASK EACH THANKSGIVING, “TO WHOM DO UNBELIEVERS GIVE THANKS on
Thanksgiving?…
“THANKSGIVING” IN HEBREW IS USUALLY THE WORD הדָ וֹתּ (to-dah)… [There are
several words translated “thanksgiving” in the O.T. When you study the word “thanksgiving” in the O.T., you see that its meaning is very close to that of praise, in that it is spoken about often as being vocal…
THE ROOT OF הדוֹתּ (to-dah) IS ידה(ya-dah) which means praise, give thanks, confess,
thanksgiving… The two words, “thanksgiving” and “praise,” are used almost interchangeably in the
O.T. Both are usually vocal expressions of joyful appreciation for the greatness of God and His wonderful works…
THANKSGIVING IN THE O.T. IS SOMETIMES SPOKEN OF IN TERMS OF its being a
song; you may have noticed this in the selections from the Psalms I just read to you. Listen to these passages from the book of Nehemiah concerning the dedication of the rebuilt wall…
NAS Nehemiah 12:8 And the Levites were Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel, Sherebiah, Judah, and
Mattaniah who was in charge of the songs of thanksgiving, he and his brothers.
NAS Nehemiah 12:27 Now at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem they sought out the Levites from all their places, to bring them to Jerusalem so that they might celebrate the dedication with gladness, with hymns of thanksgiving and with songs to the accompaniment of cymbals, harps, and lyres.
THE O.T. SPEAKS ABOUT THANKSGIVING AS BEING A SACRIFICE, an offering; I
think that is beautiful. I have a sermon I call “The Sacrifice of Thanksgiving.” Listen to this beautiful verse from the book of Jonah…
NAS Jonah 2:9 But I will sacrifice to Thee With the voice of thanksgiving. That which I have vowed I will pay. Salvation is from the LORD.”
AND AGAIN FROM THE PSALMS…
NAS Psalm 50:14 “Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, And pay your vows to the Most High;
NAS Psalm 50:23 “He who offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving honors Me;
NAS Psalm 107:22 Let them also offer sacrifices of thanksgiving, And tell of His works with joyful singing.
THANKSGIVING IS A BEAUTIFUL THING, A JOYFUL THING, IN THE BIBLE…
“THANKSGIVING” IN GREEK IS εὐχαριστία (eu-ca-ris-tee-a)… Beautiful word, don’t you agree?… εὐχαριστία (eu-ca-ris-tee-a) means as an attitude: gratitude, thankfulness;
as an act: thanksgiving; Lord’s Supper. The Lord’s Supper, as we have noticed many times in our sermons, is a meal of thanksgiving…
“THANKSGIVING”… THE GIVING OF THANKS… Thanksgiving is a gift we give God; have you ever thought about it that way?…
THERE IS ONLY ONE PERSON TO WHOM WE MAY TRULY GIVE THANKS, and that,
of course, is God… A true understanding of Thanksgiving will lead the thinking person to God. God is the source of all good things and it is to Him and to Him only that we give thanks…
NAS James 1:17 Every good thing bestowed and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation, or shifting shadow.
THE BIBLE SAYS WE ARE TO BE THANKFUL PEOPLE in all situations at all times…
KJV 1 Thessalonians 5:18 In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
OUR THANKSGIVING TRADITION WAS INTENDED TO BE a continuation of the thanksgiving offered to God by the God-fearing Pilgrims in the early 17th century, officially declared a national observance as a result of Abraham Lincoln’s Thanksgiving Proclamation of 1863…
THE JEWISH HOLIDAY OR FEAST OF SUCCOT (or Sukkot) could – I would say “should” – be thought of as the Biblical origin of Thanksgiving… The Jewish festival of Succot, also known as the Feast of Tabernacles, among other things, commemorates the forty-year period during which the children of Israel were wandering in the desert, living in temporary shelters. Sukkot is also a
harvest festival, and is referred to in the Bible as “Chag Ha-Asif” (ףיסִ֔ אָ הָֽגחַ ), the Feast of Ingathering…
NAS Exodus 23:16 “Also you shall observe the Feast of the Harvest of the first fruits of your labors from what you sow in the field; also the Feast of the Ingathering at the end of the year when you gather in the fruit of your labors from the field.
NKJ Exodus 34:22 “And you shall observe the Feast of Weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering at the year’s end.
THANKSGIVING IS A HOLIDAY THAT HAS STRONG BIBLICAL ROOTS…
Thanksgiving Day is not “Turkey Day.” It is not a day to focus on football. Rather, it is a day to both joyfully and solemnly give thanks to God for His goodness to us…
WHEN WE CONSIDER THAT FACT, when we consider our very relationship with God, thanksgiving should be not only a pillar of our understanding, but the word should be on our minds and lips continually through every day…
“THANK YOU, LORD”… Allow me to ask you, how many times a day would you think you say those words?… I believe they should be said over and over again everyday of our lives, for both the good and bad circumstances we experience…
AND AS I SAY TO MY CLASSES EACH YEAR, “THANKSGIVING IS A MINDSET”…
The mind is the battlefield. We have to train our minds to recognize the positive and not allow ourselves to focus on the negative. We have to train our minds to be consistently thankful…
NAS Philippians 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things.
THANKSGIVING IS A CHOICE; THANKSGIVING IS A MINDSET… Thanksgiving is a
discipline…
THANKSGIVING SHOULD BE OUR ABIDING ATTITUDE…
NAS Colossians 4:2 Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving;
GOD WANTS US TO BE JOYOUS LIGHTS IN THIS DARK WORLD, thanking Him
continuously for the blessings He mercifully and graciously gives us…
PSALM 69:30 SHOULD BE AN ACCURATE REFLECTION OF ALL CHRISTIANS…
NAS Psalm 69:30 I will praise the name of God with song, And shall magnify Him with thanksgiving.
WE WILL NEVER CEASE GIVING THANKS TO GOD… In Revelation 7 we see the awesome picture of believers around the heavenly throne…
NAS Revelation 7:11-12 And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures; and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, “Amen, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might, be to our God forever and ever. Amen.”
WE COULD SAY THAT FOR THE BELIEVER THANKSGIVING IS ETERNAL… We will
never run out of reasons to be thankful to God…
… IF YOU WERE STRANDED AT SEA IN A LIFEBOAT, HUNDREDS OF miles from
shore, alone, and out of water and food; and then suddenly a ship appeared and threw you a rope saving you, you would be very thankful… You would never stop talking about your salvation from certain death until the day that you did die. You would tell your children about the miracle and your grandchildren. You might even have asked the captain of the ship what you might do for him in return, so grateful were you to be alive…
BEFORE CHRIST MIRACULOUSLY CAME INTO YOUR LIFE AND SAVED you, you
were spiritually lost at sea, floundering with no hope… and so, of course, was I…
WHY IS IT, THEN, THAT SO MANY CHRISTIANS SEEM NOT TO BE especially thankful
people?…
SOME DOUBTLESS SAY, “HOW CAN I THANK GOD FOR MY CANCER?”… We may
not be able to honestly be thankful for the cancer, but we can be thankful that God is with us in the experience. We can be thankful to God for the opportunity to glorify Him in the trial…
IF YOU HAVE NOT MADE THANKSGIVING A HABIT, Thanksgiving 2016 – today – is a great day to begin…
THANKSGIVING CAN TRANSFORM YOUR PERSPECTIVE ON LIFE…
NKJ Psalm 100:4 Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.
NKJ Psalm 136:1 Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.
THANK YOU, LORD! THANK YOU, LORD! THANK YOU, LORD!… Thank You, Lord!…
Thank You, Lord! Thank You, Lord!…
– Professor Thomas A. Rohm
