November 16, 2009

"Now, our God, we give you thanks, and praise your glorious name." I Chronicles 29:13

One of the things we give thanks to God for is His provision for us. Here is a great story of how God provides.

There is a true story of an old man who visited an old broken pier every Friday on the eastern sea coast of Florida until his death in 1973 his name was Eddie Rickenbacker whilst at the pier he would feed the sea gulls with a bucket of shrimps. Many years before in 1942 Eddie was a captain on board a B-17, he was on a mission delivering important documents to General Douglas Mac Arthur. On route there was an unexpected detour which would hurl his crew into a most harrowing adventure. Somewhere over the south pacific they lost radio contact and the fuel ran dangerously low as a result they had to ditch the plane into the ocean. For nearly a month the crew of the flying fortress would fight the water, the weather, the scorching sun. They would spend sleepless nights as 10 ft sharks would ram into their 9 ft by-5ft rafts. But out of all their enemies’ one that proved formidable was starvation. Eight days into their dilemma all food and water was out. It would take a miracle to sustain them. A miracle took place. In Eddie's own words he said that “Cherry” who was the pilot read the service that afternoon and we finished with prayer and deliverance and hymn of praise. There was small talk but with the oppressive heat it tapered off with my hat pulled over my face, I dozed off. Now something landed on my head, I knew it was a seagull I don’t know how I knew, I just knew, everyone else knew too. No one said a word, but peering out from under my hat brim without moving my head, I could see the expression on the faces of the men. They were staring at the gull because it meant food....If I could catch it.” And the rest as they say is history. Captain Eddie caught the gull the flesh was eaten and the intestines were used as bait for fishing. The men were sustained and their hope renewed because of a lone seagull hundreds of miles from land offered its life as a sacrifice. Of course you know that captain Eddie made it... and you also know that he never forgot that lone seagull that saved his life and his men that day. With his bucket filled with shrimp every Friday you would find him feeding the gulls – in remembrance of that lone gull who gave himself for them without a struggle... like manna in the wilderness. That reminds me friends that so often it is our encounters in the past that shape our futures, for many of us its the reason why were here today because of the past deliverance out of sin and death, through the Lord Jesus Christ, through his sacrifice we are rescued from sin – death and hell and are recipients of eternal life. Isn’t that a cause of real thankfulness?

God IS good! He WILL provide! Trust Him and be thankful!

November 15, 2009

"Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men." Psalm 107:15

God doesn't have to do anything to prove His love to me! He has already done everything He can. It is up to me to recognize it and receive it - and be thankful!

He doesn't have to demonstrate His wonderful deeds. He has already done far more than I deserve and it up to me to realize it and to be thankful.

BUT, He does! He continues to demonstrate His love for me and He continues to accomplish wonderful deeds! And I AM thankful!

Just this morning at worship service we were recognizing our military veterans when one of our couples mentioned that their son was being deployed to the Middle East on Tuesday - so we prayed for him.

Minutes later, as I was preparing to preach they interrupted me to say that they had just received a message via cell phone from him saying that his wife had gone into labor about six weeks early and her water had broken. They were having trouble getting a heartbeat from the baby. So, they came forward and the good people of our fellowship surrounded them and we prayed for them.

"Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men."

Not too long ago I received a phone call from that couple with a happy update! The doctors decided to take the baby via c-section. The little girl weighed a little over 3 pounds and is 16" long - and healthy! She is being moved to the neo-natal unit. Furthermore, when they did the c-section they discovered that the placenta had partially torn away from the uterus and had her water not broken and had they not taken the baby, the detachment would have become worse and potentially life-threatening for both. Wow! Thank you, Lord!

And, due to these circumstances the military is likely to postpone his deployment temporarily so he can remain with his wife and daughter! Thank you, Lord, for your unfailing love and your wonderful deeds to men!

I am thankful that even though God does not have to prove His love or His faithfulness for me to have faith in Him, He does! I guess He can't help it. It's Who He is!

November 14, 2009

"Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done." Psalm 105:1

I just returned from two days of interviewing ministerial students and evaluating their progress in their ministerial studies. Some are just out of college and a few are just short of retirement. A few have just a few courses to complete while others a justing beginning the journey.

We listened to their stories. We heard their struggles. We were warmed by their passion and excited by their dreams.

They come from small towns and tiny churches. They come from large churches in cities. Some have overcome amazing headships and heartaches. Others have had a pretty smooth path. But all of these came before us with a sense of awe that God would choose to call them for ministry and a deep sense of gratitude for what God is doing in their lives.

They are eager. They are anxious. One part of them is thrilled about God's calling on their lives and another part of them is overwhelmed by all the responsibilities of Local Church Ministry. That is precisely how it should be.

Each of them had different dreams, different talents, different agendas, various spiritual gifts and they alternated between acting very self-confident and entirely inadequate. But one thing was evident, they were unspeakably grateful for the work God had done in their heart and they were praying for the day that they could take leadership in a church and "make know among the nations what He has done".

We ministry veterans find it encouraging and envigorating to see this next generation of pastors who will stand beside us in the work of the Gospel and then someday come behind us to . We count it a great privilege to come long side them and share in their development. Someone did it for us and we are thankful for the chance to shape the next generation of ministers.

I left those meetings after hours of interviews and climbed into my car extremely grateful to God for these who have answered the call to "...make know among the nations what He has done!" I thanked God for calling them and I thanked God for their obedience. I praised God for their eagerness to do anything, go anywhere and give up anything in order to follow their calling. And I thanked Him for calling me and giving me the great privilege working with the called.

"Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done!"

November 13, 2009

"It is good to give thanks to the LORD, and to sing praises to Your name, O Most High; To declare Your loving kindness in the morning, and Your faithfulness every night." Psalm 92:1-2

Being thankful and counting your blessings this Thanksgiving may help you mentally and physically -- recent research shows it's healthy to be grateful.

"Depending on your view of history, the holiday of Thanksgiving is either a commemoration of an event that changed North America for the better or for the worst; but the idea of Thanksgiving itself -- of reaching across the table, of being thankful for the good things that have happened throughout the year, particularly around the harvest time -- actually has a very important scientific basis in making us all feel better. It's going on inside of us, mentally, physically.Jeffrey Froh, Assistant Professor of Psychology at Hofstra University, is on "The Takeaway" (NPR radio program) to talk about research into the scientific biological basis of Thanksgiving itself.Froh's research focuses on being grateful as a continuing behavior, and the benefits that accrue by doing that: "The one particular study that we did was we had students count blessings, which is essentially focusing on the things they were thankful or grateful for, and we had them journal that daily for two weeks."We followed them up three weeks later to see the benefits, and we found that students who counted blessings reported feeling more optimistic, more satisfied with their lives, more school satisfaction -- and actually, the trend for being more satisfied with school not only occurred immediately after the experiment, but actually lasted up to three weeks later. "There's a broad literature emerging in science and psychology that is attempting to measure the benefits of certain consistent behavior, like praying and being thankful, and there are some surprising findings. Froh: "It's beyond feeling good, and beyond happiness ... we found that grateful kids tend to report less physical complaints; bit also in the adult literature ... they found that grateful people who counted blessings were more likely to exercise, more likely to report better sleep; less likely to report these physical complaints. There's even some research done, we're looking at, when you have a sense of appreciation your heart rhythms are more coherent and smooth, which of course is healthy."

There you have it! A liberal scientists agrees with the Psalmist - being thankful is good for you! It will preserve your mind, soul and body!

You know you have much to be truly thankful about, so don't be a turkey - be thankful. It's beyond being right - it's healthy!

November 12, 2009

"Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful." Colossians 3:15

Thankfulness is first and foremost an attitude. You attitude determines your perspective. Here's a story that illustrates that truth.

One day a father of a very wealthy family took his son on a trip to the country with the firm purpose of showing his son how poor people live. They spent a couple of days and nights on the farm of what would be considered a very poor family. On their return from their trip, the father asked his son, "How was the trip?" "It was great, Dad." "Did you see how poor people live?" the father asked. "Oh yeah," said the son. "So, tell me, what did you learn from the trip?" asked the father. The son answered: "I saw that we have one dog and they had four. We have a pool that reaches to the middle of our garden and they have a creek that has no end. We have imported lanterns in our garden and they have the stars at night. Our patio reaches to the front yard and they have the whole horizon. We have a small piece of land to live on and they have fields that go beyond our sight. We have servants who serve us, but they serve others. We buy our food, but they grow theirs. We have walls around our property to protect us, they have friends to protect them." The boy’s father was speechless. Then his son added, "Thanks, Dad, for showing me how poor we are."

Isn’t perspective a wonderful thing? Makes you wonder what would happen if we all gave thanks for everything we have, instead of worrying about what we don’t have.

How's your attitude?

November 11, 2009

"For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers." Ephesians 1:15-16

Paul lived with an attitude of gratitude. It shaped his ministry, it influenced his writing and it sustained him through his sufferings.

His gratitude formed around his understanding of what he deserved from God - judgement; and what he had received - grace. Once that realization got into his consciousness it never left. Instead, it grew and flourished and deepened.

On this Veteran's Day I want to zero in on a specific area of his thanksgiving. Paul was thankful for the saints, those people of God who had gone before and those who stood with him in the work of the ministry.

Are you? When was the last time you thanked God for those saints who have gone before you? When was the last time you thanked those ministry veterans or those well-seasoned saints who have shaped your life? Paul was very aware of the place he occupied in the history of the Church. He knew that he stood on the shoulders of many faithful men who had gone before and he appreciated that he stood shoulder to shoulder with the current generations of saints. And, he also knew that future generations of the faithful would stand on his shoulders.

Today as you stop to thank God for the many brave veterans who have fought to defend our freedoms, those who came home and those who died on foreign soil, will you also take a moment to thank God for those saints - veterans of the faith - who have defended the faith through praying and serving and sacrificing to build churches or strengthen churches so that the hope of salvation could be shared with a new generation?

Will you commit to become one of those for the next generation? Will you stand on the shoulders of the saints and shoulder to shoulder with you pastor and the saints at your church? Steve Green sang this song years ago, but on this veterans day will you make it your prayer?

Oh may all who come behind us find us faithful

May the fire of our devotion light their way

May the footprints that we leave lead them to believe

And the lives we live inspire them to obey

Oh may all who come behind us find us faithful

After all our hopes and dreams have come and gone

And our children sift though all we've left behind

May the clues that they discover and the memories they uncover

Become the light that leads them to the road we each must find

Amen!

November 10, 2009

"Our God, we thank you for being so near to us! Everyone celebrates your wonderful deeds." Psalms 75:1

Our awesome God is the sum total of a number of incredible attributes. One of His attributes is omnipresence. Omnipresence refers to the fact that God is fully present everywhere in the universe at all times. God has always existed and has always filled every square inch of His creation! He can do that because He is a spirit - an amazing, eternal, holy, powerful, and loving spirit.

If that were not true, then God could only be at one church on a given Sunday. That would mean that if He showed up at your church He would be absent at mine. But, fortunately, He is able to be fully present at every church everywhere.

That is what the Psalmist is giving thanks about! He is thankful that God is near! Not only is He near to you but He can be near to me at the same time! God is ever near everyone! His presence fills the universe. As the Psalmist celebrated:

"Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me," even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you." Psalm 139:7-12

The Psalmist is thankful that God is near, but who would't be?

It would seem that only a person who is not living well or who is self-willed would not be excited by the knowledge that God is near. For those who are seeking to serve God and to know Him, it is a blessed thought that God is near.

So, how do I know when God is near? How can I be sure? I can't see Him or touch Him, so how can I know that He really is near. The Psalmist answers that in the second part of this Psalm - God's presence is accompanied by His wonderful deeds. He does not hide Himself from us.

Why then does it seem sometimes He is not near when, by His very nature, we know He has to be? Could it be that we don't see or recognize His wonderful deeds? Could it be the deeds that He is currently doing is a work within you and you cannot yet see what He is doing?

It is impossible to have His presence and not have His deeds. Be thankful that He is near! And because He is near, He is at work accomplishing His wonderful deeds!