Millions of people, this coming Thursday will pause from work tO OBSERVE Thanksgiving DAY. HOWEVER as a nation, how thankful will we be?

I’m Dennis Finnan, host and speaker on the World the Word & You! Broadcast and in a moment we’ll talk about this tradition filled holiday called Thanksgiving…

… Everyone who has lived for awhile in America has probably seen that famous painting of the First Thanksgiving as imaged by Jenny Brownscombe in her 1914 painting. Her popular interpretation of our First Thanksgiving has become a symbol of the holiday for many Americans. It reached a wide audience and influenced the national understanding when it was printed in LIFE magazine.

 

This nationally known painting hangs in Pilgrim Hall in Plymouth Massachusetts and is owned by the Pilgrim Society. In the picture overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, is a long table set with much food. Around the table are pilgrim families and children with heads bowed. Off to the right sit a group of watching Indians. At the head of the table stands a lone man, a pilgrim father, whose hands are folded toward the sky, with his eyes closed as he lifts toward Heaven, a prayer of thanksgiving for all they have. I tell you if you can examine this picture closely, it will bring any red-blooded God fearing American to tears.

Yet for many, such a scene today has little value or emotional appeal. For the idea of giving thanks to anyone let alone the Creator God, is the farthest thing from America ’s secularized minds. I wonder, when this Thursday rolls around and millions of workers will have a day off for Thanksgiving -- how thankful will we be? Well today on the broadcast I want to share with you my thoughts on Thanksgiving, but before I do, let's pause again to listen to this…

… It has been many centuries since the first thanksgiving in the year 1621, when a small band of men and women joined hands and hearts in America 's first public Thanksgiving. With Indian guests these Pilgrims gathered around a long table in the wilderness, for the New World 's first Thanksgiving dinner. For us today, they did not have much, but the harvest was in and they were grateful to God for all they had received. In essence, that is what "Thanksgiving Day" has always been about, being grateful to the sovereign Creator God who watches over us.

Now the Pilgrims, that first Thanksgiving, had many needs. The first winter would take its toll on them as cold, hunger and sickness would strike down more than half of them. However, through the recorded writings of the Pilgrims, we discover that they still were thankful to God for everything they had. Now today in comparison to these early settlers, we surely have no life threatening needs. Yet, by retrospect, today's American and their families perhaps have more and greater needs than the Pilgrims ever had! How's that you say? Well, look around you. The winds of moral and spiritual pollution, economic global instability due to terrorism, social and religious unrest – all are blowing hard against us. At such a time as this, "real" thankfulness may be just what each of us needs to turn the tide and bring us full swing back to the mind and heart of those Pilgrim families long ago who honored God and gave thanks to Him. Today we are living in a thankless society, and Thanksgiving Day should really be called THANKLESSGIVING DAY!

Yet the question before us is – “Why should we give thanks?” Well the Bible gives us some thoughts on this matter. For instance in the Old Testament, we read,

Prov 3:9-10 (NLT)  “Honor the LORD with your wealth and with the best part of everything your land produces. 10 Then [God] will fill your barns with grain, and your vats will overflow with the finest wine.”

Deu 8:10 (NLT)  “When you have eaten your fill, praise the LORD your God for the good land he has given you.”

Psa 106:1 (NLT)  “Praise the LORD! Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever.”

Indeed, throughout the Bible we discover that the Creator Himself, commands His “creation,” that is all people to be thankful for all that one has. Why? Simply because all that we have ¾ comes from God. Why the very first verse in the Bible tells all of us why we are to be thankful.

Gen 1:1 (NLT)  “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”

Indeed, God created all things, and all that we have is are "gifts" from Him to His creatures whom He loves and cares for. Now I realize some will contest and cry out, "what about all the suffering, loss, depravity and hurt this world experiences?" Look at the victims of Hurricane Katrina, the Christmas Indonesian Tidal Wave disaster, the Pakistani earthquake! How can God be a loving God when He allows so much "not" to be grateful for, to happen to us? Of course, that is an unanswerable question in light of the fact that God has not given us privy to His plans and workings of the creation. But one thing is sure. God is sovereign and in control, and He has proven to us all of His abiding and sacrificial love for this world and its inhabitants;  And, it is beyond question, for if one carefully reads the Bible and understands who God is and what He has done, a new perspective of God will emerge in your thinking. But for the moment let's think about Thanksgiving. To begin, the psalmist said,

Psa 107:1-2 (NLT)  “Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever. 2 Has the LORD redeemed you? Then speak out! Tell others he has saved you from your enemies.”

Why should we be thankful? As we come to celebrate yet another Thanksgiving, there are two important reasons for all people worldwide, to be thankful for.  First of all, we should be thankful because of,

1.  OUR UNDENIABLE DEBT TO GOD 

In the New Testament, in the last book of the Bible that reveals to us a scene from the future, we read these words,

Rev 4:11 (NLT)  “”You are worthy, O Lord our God, to receive glory and honor
and power. For you created everything, and it is for your pleasure that
they exist and were created.””

Imagine that! The Bible tells us “all humanity” is to be indebted to God for He is the very One who created us and all that we have and enjoy. Oh yes, we've all worked for the things we have, but even our work, and the ability to perform it, and the place to accomplish it comes from God. So the psalmist rightly shouted…

Psa 100:3 (NLT)  “Acknowledge that the LORD is God! He made us, and we are his. We are his people, the sheep of his pasture.”

Have you ever stopped to deeply ponder this truth – you have a debt of thankfulness to God? Probably, like most of us we complain much about life, and what it has offered us. The recent rise of gas prices, home heating bills, inflation, even the weather bothers us. Yet, no matter how much or little we have, remember the Pilgrim families who recognized the strength they had, the food they ate, the shelter they lived in, the healthy bodies they enjoyed and the very time they lived ¾ were indeed the Creator God's doing and gifts! In such a mindset they had real deep inner joy! Say friend do you have the same joy? Such is not dependent upon wealth, position, or even health. Joy is dependent upon the frame of mind and our thankfulness to God for all we have. Truly, we are indebted to God and this Thursday all of us should pause and give such thanks. Now there a second reason all Americans should be thankful and that is,

2. BECAUSE OF GOD'S GOODNESS & LOVE  

Yes, there is good and bad in life. When an airliner goes down and hundreds are lost, when storms strike our shores and thousands of lives and homes are lost ¾ one wonders, how can we give thanks for God's goodness and love? However, we must remember one thing. We are created in the image of God,

Gen 1:26-28 (NLT)  “Then God said, “Let us make people in our image, to be like ourselves. They will be masters over all life—the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the livestock, wild animals, and small animals.” 27 So God created people in his own image; God patterned them after himself; male and female he created them. 28 God blessed them and told them, “Multiply and fill the earth and subdue it. Be masters over the fish and birds and all the animals.””

Yes, God made man to be the highest form of life on the earth. As such, He placed us "in charge" of everything and gave us the responsibility to care for and manage the world! Now with oversight comes responsibility and accountability too. God is not going to step in and overrule and override our position of ruling authority. We are in effect, sovereign creatures in the sphere of our influence and control. As such, God allows us to succeed and or to fail, for it goes with the job. Now much of the failure we see about us in our nation and the world for that matter, the poverty, wars, strife, crime and bloodshed are a direct result of sinful rebellious human beings out of control. It is our responsibility to control society according to God's Laws and teachings. 

Alas, we have failed to follow His Word, making up our own, so why do we complain about the problems we face? America ’s economic woes, our social inequities, ethnic squabbles, health and disease problems – all are a direct result of disobeying God’s laws for life and living! But then someone will say, “OK, what man is able to control, for that he is accountable; But, what about the things he cannot control such as the weather, accidents, and the sufferings that come upon us unexpectedly?” The answer to that is, man is still responsible. How? Listen to God's Word,

Rom 1:18-25 (NLT)  “But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who push the truth away from themselves. 19 For the truth about God is known to them instinctively. God has put this knowledge in their hearts. 20 From the time the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky and all that God made. They can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse whatsoever for not knowing God. 21 Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks…. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became utter fools instead…24 So God let them go ahead and do whatever shameful things their hearts desired…. 25 Instead of believing what they knew was the truth about God, they deliberately chose to believe lies. So they worshiped the things God made but not the Creator himself, who is to be praised forever. Amen.”

You see, the world is in the state it is in because of mankind’s over all rebellion to God! In the first two chapters of Genesis we are told God originally created the world in a perfect state. This perfect state was made by God and maintained by God too. However, when God gave man the ability to rule, man in his sinfulness chose to rule "without God." As such, God honored mankind's request, but in so doing, God also took His hand of control and order off much of the “creation,” and placed it fully in the hands of fallen sinful man. The storms we see, the catastrophe's we experience are all in effect the result of a world fallen and under sin's dominion. It was our forefather's choice!

God was willing to "control" everything for us, but the human race through Adam said "NO!" Yet, regardless, all of us should be thankful. Remember, God's charge against us. In the beginning when God created us, Adam and Eve knew God! But they chose not to worship or submit to Him, or even "give thanks." From the very first day of sin, humankind has said "no" to God and has not, given Him the praise and worship due Him. Again the Bible says this,

Rom 1:21 (NLT)  “Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. The result was that their minds became dark and confused.”

Getting back to home ¾ America needs to get back on the road of thankfulness as our Pilgrim Fathers were. It's the only place of blessing, care and provision that will continue to bring us all the unbounded measures of satisfaction, joy and contentment in the midst of life's ups and downs. Remember, God is a good God, He of course has proven this in the most fantastic way. You see all of us are sinners. That means we are not what we should be or can be. In God's eyes we are creatures gone bad and astray. What God intended for us to be we refused and became something else. Of course, God knew this before He created us, but it was within His plan to give us autonomy, sovereignty and free will at any cost. 

So Mankind had the right and ability to say "no" to God upon creation. God honored that, but also warned us that if we ever became ungrateful, it would be manifested in increased sinfulness and selfish rebellion. This I believe characterizes the people of our nation and the world today! Since we removed god from our minds, our hearts, our laws, and our society why celebrate Thanksgiving as a holiday? There is no one and nothing to be thankful for! As evolution teaches we are just a mindless existence of atoms randomly come together, we are alone and worthless. This is why the bible teaches us this is wrong and deadly thinking. We did not evolve, we were created by a good and omnipotent God who loves us. So, how good is this God of our creation? The answer is found in Scripture,

Rom 5:20 (NLT)  “God’s law was given so that all people could see how sinful they were. But as people sinned more and more, God’s wonderful kindness became more abundant.

Rom 5:8 (NLT)  “God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.”

The great proof of God's love and kindness towards us all is found in the fact that although the human race should be scrapped for its failure to be what God intended us to be, God has not done so; nor will He until He rescues a good portion of us for His eternal plans. To do this, God has offered to all, the greatest gift one can ever receive! God has given us His life in death so that all might live eternally with Him.

America 's deepest problem is not economic, political, educational, nor military. It is blindness to the goodness and power of God's love. Unthankfulness blinds individual eyes, and an unthankful nation is no better. Look how we glorified Halloween, and barely acknowledge Thanksgiving Day. It has become a lost and meaningless “holiday” between Halloween and our secularized Christmas; virtually, a THANKLESSGIVING DAY!

Yes, an unthankful nation is and unthinking nation and as such is in great mortal danger. We are living on the edge of oblivion! How fragile America is. If we were to be inundated by severe crippling drought, killer storms, massive earthquakes, atomic or biological terrorism – our economy would burst and collapse! In fact, due to the high petroleum prices, we are headed for a serious recession in 2006! Can we go to God to save us? How much longer will God suffer our sinful, ungrateful hearts? We thumb our noses at God, we laugh at His Word and truths, and we ridicule those who trust Him and love Him. Yes, this Thursday could be America ’s "last" Thanksgiving Day before the din of God’s judgment falls on our thankless society.

You see, God has warned us in the bible that all ungrateful, sinful nations won't be tolerated forever. We read this warning in the holy Scriptures,

Psa 9:17 (NLT)  “The wicked will go down to the grave. This is the fate of all the nations who ignore [are thankless] God.”

To ignore God is to be unthankful and ungrateful. My friend the price of unthankfulness is always high. We cannot continue to ignore God's rights, God's sovereignty, and God's loving-kindness in His universe. Remember God made it all, and all of it belongs fully to Him! We are just tenants here, and like all landlords, when the tenant refuses to abide by the rules of occupancy, eviction is inevitable. Can Americans be evicted? Can America as a nation slip off into the darkness of sin and judgment? The answer is “YES!”

Now, regardless of what you think is our nations’ great problem today, God's Word tells us it all stems from "unthankfulness" and the "folly of forgetting God."

We’ve made the fatal error of thinking we can be wise and good without God, that we can be happy and content and still reject God's greatest gift to all mankind ¾ His salvation through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ who died on a cross for us all.

I tell you as I think about this coming Thanksgiving Day this Thursday, I wonder how many of us will truly give thanks to God? How many of us will worship the Lord and give back to Him, the gift of our lives in return for His greatest gift  -- His Son who save us from our sins?

Thankfulness is indeed the road back to God, and it is a road millions must take if we are to be saved not only from an eternal judgment to come, but also the temporal ones of life that fall on ungrateful people and nations. Be thankful this Thursday, and of course every day, but at least this one day pause from the busyness of life and truly as our Pilgrims Father's did, rise up and give thanks to God for everything you have. The Bible says,

Psa 106:1 (NLT)  “Praise the LORD! Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever.”

Col 2:6-7 (NLT)  “And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to live in obedience to him. 7 Let your roots grow down into him and draw up nourishment from him, so you will grow in faith, strong and vigorous in the truth you were taught. [So] let your lives overflow with thanksgiving for all he has done.”

Our nation once again stands at a crossroads of its history. It's been many centuries since that first thanksgiving, but the essence of it can still be the joy and rejoicing of every heart. God is good, God is love, but He is also holy and just and will judge all sin and ungratefulness. He has shown that love by sending to us a Redeemer for our sins. Yes, the Bible says Christ died for us. Why? Because God loved us so much, that He paid the price to redeem us. Does God care? Does He love us? Indeed, He has proven that love in all the good things around us. Have a happy and blessed thanksgiving ahead!

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·         Radio talk #4705

·         Broadcast date: November 20, 2005

·         Speaker: Dennis L. Finnan, Commentator

·         Program: The World, the Word & You! Radio Broadcast

·         Address: P.O. Box 60033 Grand Junction, CO 81506

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The World, the Word & You! Broadcast is a non-denominational ministry based on the historic fundamental evangelical interpretation of the Scriptures. A copy of our doctrinal statement is available upon request. These weekly radio commentaries are not exhaustive studies of any particular subject due to the time limit of broadcasting. Actual broadcasts can be heard in selected areas around the nation, as funding provides. Dennis Finnan has been the speaker for over 25 years, and serves as General Director.

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