Thanksgiving Eve Service

Tonight I'm only going to share for a few moments in preparation for Communion, so you can relax. And turn with me to 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. I will not be doing the study in Romans. I'll pick that up again next Wednesday night. We're having a wonderful time in the book of Romans, but I want to look for just a moment at one verse. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. Actually, it's three verses in one sentence. Are you there? 1 Thessalonians 5, verses 16, 17, and 18. Be joyful always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. You know, Thanksgiving for us as believers in Christ is far more than a day that we celebrate. It's a lifestyle that the Lord would have us learn to live. I returned from India on Sunday morning, and for those of you who were in worship at that time, I recounted that my whole trip could be summarized really in one verse, and that was John 10, 10. The thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy. Jesus said, but I have come that you might have life and have it abundantly. You see, the same thief that's stealing and killing and destroying in India is, as Alan Muckle recounted a moment ago, seeking to steal, kill, and destroy our lives. But Jesus said, I've got another plan for you. I have a plan that you might have life and have it abundantly. Satan wants to steal our joy, steal our peace, destroy our families, crush our hope. Jesus said, I want to come and give you life, peace, joy, fullness, purpose. How does he do that? What are we doing to participate in the establishment of that? Well, I want to submit to you tonight that nothing is more important in the establishing of the rule of Christ than a spirit of thankfulness. There is such a contrast in a person or a group of people that are thankful than those who are not that it's worth noting every time I see it. One of the things that's just coming forth again and again in my recollection of my visit was a village that two years prior to our visit had been solely a village of snake worshippers where the people in this remote area simply had found this cobra. How many of you know what a cobra looks like? You know, it's the kind where the little crown opens up when it's ready to strike. And these people thought, well, God must inhabit this snake, and so they built a temple to it. And they would regularly worship the snake. And when one Indian missionary came to that village and introduced the leadership to Christ and others in the village turned to Christ, it wasn't long before the presence of God in that village began to change everything. And what I witnessed was that the majority of the people in that village now believed in the one true God through his son Jesus. And the contrast in the people who were still snake worshippers and the people who knew Christ was visible in everything that they did. And the joy that emanated on the faces, you know, poverty doesn't need to take away your joy. And though these people lived in what we would classify as poverty, they had a joy that was radiating. They were thankful for what God had done to redeem them. And they were on the road to progress because of the Word of God at work in their midst. Thankfulness, for me, does two things. You may want to jot this down. Number one, when you're thankful in your spirit, number one, you banish a spirit of complaining. The greatest antidote to complaining and criticism is being thankful. Someone can say, amen. Those two things don't reside together. If you're thankful, you won't be able to complain and find fault and to criticize. Well into our trip, we were to fly from Delhi down to Bombay. We were at the mercy of Indian Airlines. It is not comparable to the American airlines that you're used to. We got up very early in the morning as we normally did. We arrived at the airport hours before the flight was to leave. We got all of our stuff together. We were sitting in the terminal, and we heard the news that our flight had been postponed. That was not really a big surprise. So we waited. Then hurriedly, the leader of our group rather got together and said, quick, they've made room on the next plane. So we went running out on the pavement. All of us just piled together with our stuff, running out. And here we're out looking up at this big aircraft, hoping to get on. We stood out there on the pavement in the sun for about 45 minutes, knowing that the people up there were laughing at us down there, this group of men waiting to get on the plane. And another busload came, and then another busload. So there was about 200 people waiting to get on this plane that was already full. Now, how many of you know what spirit wanted to come upon me right then? But I was with pastors, see? And we went back in the terminal, and we waited all day long. About 2 o'clock in the afternoon, the airline sent us away from the terminal to get something to eat. And we got on the bus, and one group got on the first bus, and the other bus said it was going to be there in a minute. Never came, never came. 30 minutes, an hour later, the other bus came. We got on the bus. The driver got off to go to lunch. What spirit wanted to come on me right then? Suddenly, from my seat, I tell you no lie. From my seat, the song started. I've got a river of life flowing out of me. Because I'll tell you what, I was about to be consumed by the spirit of complaining and criticism. I started singing that song. The guy next to me started singing. And pretty soon, all the English-speaking people on the bus, which was just the pastors, were singing. Makes the lame to see, walking blind to see. You know, we started really going with this thing. And all the other people were looking at me. What are we being crazy gringos doing? You know, we were having this time. What were we doing? We were banishing the spirit of complaining. And at 6.30, when our flight finally took off, we had won a victory. We wasted a whole day, but we won a victory. We'd not been consumed. When you're thankful, when you're praiseful, you banish the spirit of complaining. Try it in your homes. Try it. It's not always easy, you know, when things come out of the oven. A little strange. You have a choice to make. But sing for your supper. It'll make a big difference in what happens. Be careful which song you choose. You can send hidden messages about things like this. All right. The second thing that happens when we're thankful? Is that we bring forth the rule of Christ. We banish the spirit of complaining. That spirit leaves when you begin to be thankful. But number two, we bring forth the rule of Christ. You see, that's why this verse says, Give thanks in all circumstances. Now, be very careful here, because there's an inclination in most of us to interpret that verse as meaning, Whatever happens, I'm thankful for it. Now, listen. When that truck pulled in front of Alan's car, when Jeff's baby came forth nearly dead, when others here tonight heard that their job had been terminated suddenly, when someone else fell and broke an ankle, whatever it might be, the Bible's not saying, Give thanks for that occurrence. God is not up there manipulating things to hurt you. God isn't ordaining things to keep you low. What the Bible is saying is that in the midst of that circumstance, in the middle of it, give thanks. Because what you do when you begin to speak praise and thank God for His perfect presence in your life, you begin to push back the encroachment of the spirits of darkness into your life. You set a hedge around yourself. You stop the charge of the enemy to kill you and destroy you and steal from you. What happens when you begin to give thanks is you stop the waves of evil in your life. And the kingdom of God begins to be set up. I love that, don't you? You become a person that puts the brakes on evil and begins to see good stand around you. Your praise, your thanksgiving establishes the rule of God. And so when Paul says, Give thanks in all circumstances, he's saying be a person that brings the rule of God. Don't be one who tries to just gut it out and fumble through it. But be one who says in your praise, I believe God is here. I believe God's going to see me through this. And I've seen this happen so many times, church. I want you to know from personal experience, it works. When we first started as a church, we didn't have any place to meet. But we met to pray in a little office and we gave thanks for what we didn't have. We said, Lord, we know your rule is going to be here. This building opened up. Four years later, we tried to buy the building. It didn't work. We gave thanks to the Lord in all circumstances. Four months after that, they couldn't wait to sell it to us. Three years later, we're running out of space. We're looking all over the North Hills for a place to go. Nothing's opening up. We give thanks to the Lord. And the property right next to us suspiciously becomes available. Why? Because in the midst of what isn't going well, we give thanks and we bring the rule of God. And it's just as true for your personal life as it is for a life as a church. As we move to communion to conclude the service tonight, I want to seal what we're going to do with communion. But I want you to respond to this message in a very personal way. All of you should have a salmon-colored sheet that looks like this. If you don't have one, the ushers will run one to you right now. I want you to do something. If your children are with you, they can participate if they're able to write. I thought it was wisdom to us tonight to do something in response. Listen carefully while others are being helped. Just listen carefully because I want to keep moving here. If you need one, just wave your hand and someone will get it to you. Now listen carefully. Listen even while your hand is up. They'll see you. Folks, I want you to write on this sheet one of two things. I want you to write and write out the circumstance in which you want to give thanks. Maybe you're in a living situation that is not conducive. I want you to thank God. I thank you in the midst of this, Lord. I want you to write out that which you believe in God to change. Or number two, now listen, I want you to write a note of thanks to someone that maybe you have never been able to articulate your thanks to or maybe someone that's done a good deed for you and you wanted to thank them and you've forgotten to do it. I want you to do that right in this sheet. I want you to say, you know, Dear Mom, thanks for your love. Dear Dan, thanks for the way that you helped me in this circumstance, whatever it is. Either make it a personal thing to God or a personal thing to another individual. But write it out and seal it here tonight before we go. Would you do that? I'll say it one more time for those of you who are just getting your sheets. Write out the circumstance in which you want to give thanks tonight. Say, Lord, I give you thanks tonight in the middle of this. Bring your rule, bring your righteousness, bring your deliverance or write a note to someone and say, I want to give thanks for you. I want you to know how thankful I am for what you've done for me. All right? Just take about three minutes now, not a long letter, just a couple of paragraphs. We still need a few more up here in the front. Ushers, are we out? Fred? Ben, over here, please. If you need a pen, they'll come right to you. Just take a moment and do that. Lord, I'm thankful tonight for this circumstance in which I find myself because you're going to be here. I give thanks to you. If the ushers now will prepare for communion, please. You treasure that little letter that you've just written. If it's for the Lord, you keep it in your Bible or someplace where you can refer to it. Mark it down. This is the day you began to give thanks in this circumstance. And if it's to another individual, you seal it up and send it to them or give it to them tonight or tomorrow. Let them know how you feel about them, that you care for them, that you're thankful for them. Church, we are going to participate in Holy Communion together. The word in the Bible for the Lord's Supper is Eucharisto, which means thanksgiving. Isn't it wonderful that we celebrate tonight with thanksgiving for what God has done for us? By the very participation, we are saying thank you. To not participate in communion is to not give thanks to the Lord for what he's done for you. To participate is to say thank you. I receive it, Lord. Ushers, would you now serve, please, while I continue? Hold your portion while we continue here for just a moment. As you receive your portion of the bread tonight, I want you to be reminded of that for which you're thankful in Christ for what he's done for you. And believe that the power that's been loosed in his death and resurrection is sufficient in whatever circumstance you find yourself. As you hold your portion, go ahead into prayer and just give thanks to the Lord for what he's provided for you. Now, if your children are with you, if you've explained communion to them, they may participate. If you've not done that, then you should just go ahead and wait until such time that you've explained communion to them.