Happy Thanksgiving

This holiday is about giving thanks to God for all the blessings that He has given us this year!

The Pilgrims and the Natives came together to celebrate and give thanks for all the bountiful harvest.

We live in a world that thinks Thanksgiving is all about the Turkey

Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above!

We are not entitled!

Even perfect gifts can be used wrongly

Father of Lights

Realize this, the light from the Sun never fades, the world turns away.

With whom there is no variation

God never changes! He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow

His light does not create a shadow. In His light, there is no darkness at all.

In His will, He brought us forth by the Word of truth

Salvation doesn’t come because we want it to come,

In fact, natural man would never seek salvation

It is by His will, through His Word, that salvation comes

First fruits

The first fruits were an offering back to God for His blessings

As first fruits, our job is to glorify God by living for Him daily

This year, like every year, we have much to be thankful for indeed

Do you know the God of salvation?

Let this truly be your first Thanksgiving!

A little history on Lamentations

Also called the Lamentations of Jeremiah

The Book of Lamentations is the collection of five poems or songs mourning the conquest of Jerusalem and the Kingdom of Judah.

The tone of the book of Jeremiah is very heavy as God’s Judgement had come

However, today’s text is Jeremiah remembering Hope in the hard times

I recall hope

The Lord’s Mercies

His compassions never fail

They are new every morning

Great is Your faithfulness

The Lord is my portion

I Hope in Him

Wait for Him and seek Him

Hope and wait quietly

Waiting is excruciating for today’s "2-day delivery" generation

However, if we take the time of waiting to examine and seek and spend time quietly listening to the Lord,

The pain of waiting will become joy in the Hope of Christ.

Psalm 64:1-4 NASB

As we go through this Psalm today, notice the similarities of our world today.

Hear my voice O Lord!

Preserve my life from the dread of the enemy!

Hide me from the secret plots

They attack suddenly

Evil purpose

They devise injustices

Men’s hearts

God’s arrow

Suddenly

They will stumble

They will fear

The righteous will be glad!

The righteous will take refuge

Dread will become Joy!

Do you know the God that can turn dread to joy?

Philippians 2:5-8 NASB

"Have this attitude"

KJV
"Let this mind"

This is a choice

Jesus existed in the form of God

He didn’t cling to His Deity but embraced His humanity

In His humanity He became as a bond-servant

Remember, a bond-servant was one who chose to serve, even though they were free to choose not to

Being made in the likeness of men

He humbled Himself when He became obedient

Jesus humility was one of suffering

He served even when it was hard and humiliating

Today’s Christian needs to remember that humility is not weakness

Jesus humbled Himself as a man to be obedient to God

To show us exactly how we should serve God

Today we can serve in many ways even in our own church

Jesus humbled Himself and was obedient even to the point of death on the cross

He obediently suffered for the whole world to see

Are you willing to obediently serve God today that others may see Jesus?

Toddlers under 18 months don’t often recognize themselves in the mirror

We notice things in the mirror

This passage is describing the mirror which is the Word of God

If we are doers of the Word, when we examine ourselves, we see the Word

When the world looks at self-proclaimed believers today, how many reflect the Word?

Do you see the Word when you look in the mirror, or something else?

Ever looked in a funhouse mirror? It is still you, but looks wierd

Perhaps a version of the Word, yet distorted

Perhaps you see something broken that needs repair

When things are broken, they are not able to function properly

Some people hate to look in the mirror, but do nothing to change that

The only way to see Jesus, when you look in that mirror, is to be that doer of the Word

This is what our world needs today, believers who do what they read in God’s Word

Only you have the option to change what you see in the mirror

Do you want to see Jesus?