Giving Thanks To The LORD For What We Know

Giving Thanks To God For What We Know Psalm 106.1-2 1 Praise the LORD! Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; His love endures forever. 2 Who can proclaim the mighty acts of the LORD or fully declare His praise? Beyond measure. Psalm 107 1 Give thanks to the LORD for He is good; His love endures forever. 2 Let the redeemed of the LORD tell their story— those He redeemed from the hand of the foe, 3 those He gathered from the lands, from east and west, from north and south. This is Thanksgiving Week in he United States. It is part of our heritage, our heritage as a nation which acknowledged from before its inception that God Almighty had blessed this land we call America. President Abraham Lincoln's First Thanksgiving Declaration: Washington, D.C. October 3, 1863 By the President of the United States of America. A Proclamation. The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequalled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom. No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union. In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed. Done at the City of Washington, this Third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the United States the Eighty-eighth. By the President: Abraham Lincoln William H. Seward, Secretary of State There are many material blessings we enjoy here in our country. We live in abundance, sometimes wretched excess. This year the LORD has drawn me to give thanks for the spiritual blessings we have in Christ. Like Peter wrote in his first epistle to the church : Praise be to the God and Father of our LORDJesus Christ! In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, (I Peter 1.3-4) Or Paul wrote the Church at Ephesus: Praise be to the God and Father of our LORD Jesus Christ, Who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. (Ephesians 1.3) The Psalmist leads us in giving thanks to God for what we know about Him. No one can proclaim the mighty acts of the LORD- Infinite, but give Him thanks for what we know. 1. Give Thanks For His Goodness and His Love. v.1 Good= *Pleasant- It is pleasant to be with Him, sing to Him, share His Word. We see His goodness and we are deeply blessed. *Delightful and Joyful- Zephaniah 3.17 The LORD your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior Who saves. He will take great delight in you; in His love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.” *Beneficial Psalm 103.2 Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all His benefits— His goodness is seen in the benefits He gives. We are urged here not to forget them. How easy it is. How easy to get caught up with life even ministry and serving Him and to forget all His benefits. The LORD is good. He is pleasant, delightful and joyful. Morning by morning new mercies I see. Psalm 68:19King James Version (KJV) One of my Nana's favorite verses. Blessed be the Lord, Who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. Selah. love= *Kindness He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities *Faithfulness To all His Promises Psalm 145.13 Forever Even when we are faithless II Timothy 2.13 2. Tell Your Story: Psalm 107.2 Let the redeemed of the LORD tell their story: Sheets in your bulletins this morning. Use them this week, perhaps during the time we would normally meet in Bible Studies, before Thanksgiving Day. It is a busy week for many. Take some time out to just give Him thanks. This will help you 3. Give Thanks for those redeemed from the hand of the foe. You and others Jesus has saved. Romans 5.15 But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! 16 Nor can the gift of God be compared with the result of one man’s sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification. 17 For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ! Give thanks for those you know who have come to Christ. They will enjoy heaven with you forever. 4. Give Thanks for What He is doing around the world today East and West, North and South. Haiti Peniel All over the world! *Chicago Cub Ben Zorbrist, World Series MVP, spoke out about Jesus, his LORD -Jon and Margaret Scott in their 70's in Angola right now. * In the least likely places today, God is at work! -Think of where the Shoeboxes are going! So much we do not know about the work of God around the world right now Psalm 106.2 Who can proclaim the mighty acts of the LORD or fully declare His praise?