GIVE THANKS TO THE LORD: The act of giving thanks 11-27-22

GIVE THANKS TO THE LORD: The act of giving thanks 11-27-22

 

“Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord tell their story— those he redeemed from the hand of the foe, those he gathered from the lands, from east and west, from north and south.”

                              Psalms 107:1-3 NIV

 

(4 mics for 4 sections)

 

91% of Americans have turkey for Dinner. And so... I was thinking about Butterball Turkeys. Did you know they have an online help page? Well I went to that computer page and I found some of the problems that people have with cooking turkeys. You may be flabbergasted at what I found. Here are just a few of them:

 

1. All in the Family

A woman in her seventies, cooking Thanksgiving dinner for the first time, called for help because her mother said it was time she learned how to prepare the Thanksgiving meal.

 

2. It’s a Wrap

A proud gentleman called to tell the staff how he wrapped his turkey in a towel, laid it in the floor and stomped on it breaking the bones so it would fit in his pan.

 

3. Carving the Turkey

Another gentleman called to tell the operator he cut his turkey in half with a chain saw and wanted to know if the oil from the chain would adversely affect the turkey.

 

4. Upside Down Turkey Surprise

A disappointed woman called wondering why her turkey had no breast meat. After a conversation with a Talk-Line operator, it became apparent that the woman’s turkey was lying upside down.

 

5. Keeping it Cooking

One mom called in and told the Help Line operator about how her little girl had asked if they could slow-roast the turkey for three or four days because she liked how it made the house smell. The experts at the Butterball Turkey Talk-Line told her that the turkey should only stay in the oven for a few hours and that it wasn’t a good idea to leave it cooking four days!

 

6. Turkey Treasure

After discovering a turkey from 1969 in his dad’s freezer, a man called the Talk-Line at Butterball to ask about the best way to cook the 30+ year-old bird. Although the Talk-Line staffer recommended the open roasting pan method to cook most turkeys, but this time she suggested that the first step was to purchase a fresher fowl!

 

7. State Bird

When a Talk-Line staffer asked a caller: “What state is your turkey in” (meaning how thawed was it) the caller responded with, “Florida.”

          *Reference: http://www.rd.com/slideshows/funny-thanksgiving-help-line-calls/#ixzz3JRR6nTJS

 

“Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song. 

 

For the Lord is the great God, the great King above all gods. In his hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to him. The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land. 

 

Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker; for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care. 

 

Today, if only you would hear his voice, “Do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah, as you did that day at Massah in the wilderness, where your ancestors tested me; they tried me, though they had seen what I did. For forty years I was angry with that generation; I said, ‘They are a people whose hearts go astray, and they have not known my ways.’ So I declared on oath in my anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest.’ ””

                              Psalms 95:1-11 NIV

 

I.  PROCLAIM

 

It was Thanksgiving season in the nursing home. The small resident population was gathered about their humble Thanksgiving table, and the director asked each in turn to express one thing for which they were thankful. Thanks were expressed for a home in which to stay, families, etc. One little old lady in her turn said, ’I thank the Lord for two perfectly good teeth, one in my upper jaw and one in my lower jaw that match so that I can chew my food.’

 

               A.  Sing for joy

               B.  Shout aloud

               C.  Come with thanksgiving

               D.  Extol with music

 

“For the Lord is the great God, the great King above all gods. In his hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to him. The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land.”

                              Psalms 95:3-5 NIV

 

II.  PROSTRATE

 

Back in 1860, an excursion boat on Lake Michigan collided with a freighter and began to sink less than a mile from the shore.

 

Hundreds of passengers began screaming as they leaped into the icy water.

 

Edward Spencer was a student at a nearby seminary, and he ran down to the beach to see what he could do.

 

A strong swimmer, for six hours Spencer swam out and back, pulling people ashore, battling stormy waves and the powerful undertow. By dawn, he had personally rescued 15 people in as many trips. Exhausted, he sat down until someone spotted two more people still in the water.

 

Spencer dove in again and found a man and a woman clinging desperately to a piece of wreckage. He brought them in, too, and collapsed on the beach. Out of 393 passengers, only one-quarter were rescued, and 17 of them were saved by Edward Spencer.

 

His own health, however, was permanently damaged by his act of heroism. He was never able to return to school and ultimately lived out his days as an invalid. Years later, a reporter doing a story on Great Lakes tragedies found Spencer at a nursing home in California and asked for his recollections of that night.

 

Spencer said bitterly, "The only thing I remember is that not one of the 17 ever thanked me."

 

               A.  Bow down in worship

               B.  Kneel before the Lord

 

“for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care.”

                              Psalms 95:7a NIV

 

III.  PAY ATTENTION

 

A lady purchased a parrot whose previous owner had taught him profanity and decided that she would reform him. The parrot learned a number of Christian words and Bible verses to replace the cuss words. However, the owner caught him cussing one day and grabbed him and said, "I'll teach you to never talk that way again!" So she put him in the deep freeze and slammed the door.

 

A few minutes later, the owner took the parrot out of the freezer and asked, "Have you learned your lesson now?" The little bird shivered and replied, "Yes', Ma'm."

 

After a couple of months, the lesson was forgotten and the little parrot was caught saying cuss words again. The owner returned him to the freezer and left him in there for a long time. The little parrot almost froze to death. The owner took the bird back to his cage to let him thaw out. When he began to move a little bit, she asked him again, "Did you learn your lesson this time, buster?"

 

The parrot said, "Yes, Ma'm, I sure did!" Then he just sat there in the cage quietly for a few more minutes shivering and thinking about what just happened to him. Then, the parrot looked at his owner and said, "Ma'm, may I ask you a sserious question?" The owner answered, "Yes, you may."

 

The parrot thought for a moment and then said, "I thought I knew all of the bad words there were in the world.....but just what exactly did that turkey in the freezer say?"

 

“Today, if only you would hear his voice,”

Psalms 95:7b NIV

 

               A.  Do not harden your hearts.

                   1.  Complaining

                            2.  Testing

                      3.  Forgetting

               B.  Do not be like them.

 

“So I declared on oath in my anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest.’ ””

                              Psalms 95:11 NIV

 

CONCLUSION

 

After-Thanksgiving Poem

 

I ate too much turkey, I ate too much corn,

I ate too much pudding and pie.

 

I’m stuffed up with muffins and too much stuffin’

I’m probably going to die.

 

I piled up my plate and I ate and I ate.

But I wish I had known when to stop,

 

For I’m so crammed with yams, sauces, gravies, and jams

That my buttons are starting to pop!

 

I’m full of tomatoes and french-fried potatoes

My stomach is swollen and sore,

 

But there’s still some dessert so I guess it won’t hurt if

I eat just a little bit more!

 

Proclaim our God, prostrate ourself before our God, pay attention to our God

 

CHALLENGE

 

What will you do with what you have just heard?  How will you respond to the Holy Spirit working within you?  The Challenge is intended to give us an opportunity to contemplate what God is calling us to do in our lives.  Consider these questions and write down your answers.  

 

               1.  What is your favorite form of proclamation (sing, shout, thanks, music, etc.)?

               2.  What is your preferred worship position (stand, kneel, prostrate, etc.)?

               3.  How often do you worship outside of “worship”?

               4.  Of the three (complaining, testing, forgetting), which is your kryptonite?

               5.  What is God’s voice saying to you today?

 

INVITATION

 

It is our custom to offer an "invitation" following the preaching of the Word.  You may want to follow Jesus.  You may want to proclaim your faith.  You may want to repent (stop doing ungodly things and start doing Godly things).  Perhaps you want to be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  Possibly, if you have already responded to God’s call in these ways, you would like to become a member of Kenwood Church.  If you have been moved by the Holy Spirit to make a decision in your life, you can come forward now.  If you would like, I would be honored to speak with you following the service about what God is doing in your life.