In his sermon 'Give Thanks Always,' Douglas Campbell explores Ephesians 5:15-20, emphasizing the importance of living wisely and making the best use of time in an evil world. He discusses the need for believers to be filled with the Spirit, sing psalms, and give thanks to God in all circumstances. Campbell highlights the significance of thankfulness, not only for blessings but also for sanctified afflictions, viewing them as tools for spiritual growth. He encourages the congregation to engage with scripture to understand God's will and to live a life that glorifies God. The sermon also touches on the cultural tendency towards ungratefulness and the need for Christians to stand apart by living a life of gratitude, focusing on God's eternal promises rather than temporary worldly concerns.

If you would turn with me this morning to Ephesians chapter 5. I want to look specifically at 19 and 20, but I want to read 15 through 20 for context. So that's Ephesians 5, 15 through 20. The word of God tells us, look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise, making the best use of the time because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish but understand what the will of the Lord is and do not get drunk with wine for that is debauchery but be filled with the Spirit addressing one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we come to you this morning in all of your wonder, in all of your blessings, Father, that you bestow upon us, whether the greatest blessing we will ever have, Father, that you have made way for us to come to know you, that you have sent your Son to die upon the cross, to take the punishment for our sin, to take your wrath upon Himself, that we might be delivered. That we might be delivered as slaves of sin and slaves to bondage. That we might be delivered and brought forth to be your adopted children. Father, if that was all you have ever done for us, it would be infinitely more than we deserve.

And so Father, we, as we sing, Father, as we ponder you, we are in awe of an awesome God. And yet you continue to bless us beyond that and you give us beautiful Sundays like Sundays like today. You give us amazing food and shelter and heat and families. You provide for us. You give us this day our daily bread.

And Father, to even ponder more, we look at those whom are your enemies, and yet you still provide the rain for them you still provide the food for them you still provide the air for them. Father who can ponder your majesty who can ponder your grace your mercy. And Father, this morning as we remember, always you give us your word that we might know you. So Father today we come to you and ask that your Holy Spirit would give us understanding that He would change these hearts, that He would help us to conquer this flesh, that God above all we might live lives that give you glory, because you alone are worthy. Father this morning, help us that we might know you more.

Give strength to me, Father, I would ask, that I would give you glory in the proclaiming of your word. And Father, this morning let us worship you in our hearing of your word and our living it out. We pray in Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Well again this morning as we come to Ephesians 5, 15 through 20.

I want to look at just a very small part of this with the theme of give thanks always. To come to this section of text though and only to pick that out is almost like picking out an ear of corn out of an entire field. We could spend much time here looking at each of these verses and I'm sure, Dave, I could preach all afternoon on just one of these verses. And so I'm gonna just give you a great, or not a great, a quick overview of some of the verses as we come to the one that I would like to focus on this morning. So let's look first at Ephesians 5.15.

It says, Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise. Now understand, young people, as you read through the Proverbs, especially young people, young men, Proverbs is especially good for you, but it's good for all of us. Often Proverbs uses this analogy of walking. I think it's Proverbs 13-20 that says, He who walks with the wise will grow wise, but a companion of a fool will suffer harm." And we see that much through Proverbs and throughout different parts of the Bible. And so we have to understand what does it mean to walk?

What does it mean when we come to this? And it simply means, look carefully then how you live out your life. What is your normal day? What are the places you go, the people you talk to? How do you live life?

And so with that understanding, we come to this, and we can say, look carefully then how you live your life. Not as unwise, but as wise. Who is it that are unwise? It's all those whom don't have Christ. And so often I come against this godless culture that we all live inside of, and the things that this culture values as important and not important, and the ways that they spend their time, is all the way of this culture.

And we're warned in Colossians, I think chapter 3, to not be essentially, and this is paraphrased, don't be assimilated into this culture. Don't be like them. And so we come to Ephesians 5.15 and with this understanding, it says, look carefully how you live, look carefully how you walk. To look means to examine, to see. If you were ever, I really don't want to use woods illustrations today because I'm not a fan of the woods today, but If you've ever walked barefooted through the woods, what do you do?

You have a very different focus, right? If I'm walking barefooted through the woods, I'm no longer distracted by a squirrel chewing on nuts. I'm like not like, oh where's the squirrel at, right? Because my feet are in immense danger and so I watch. I watch everywhere I walk.

I watch everything that's on the path Because I don't want to step in the wrong place because it can ruin your month But is the same true of how we live in this world? Are we examining where we go? Where we are walking? Are we examining the path that we're going down? Because if you walk the path of this world, if you walk the path of the godless culture, there are many thorns among the path.

And in fact, if you stray off of the path, if you notice in the woods, animals make paths, deers make paths, But also people make really good paths, right? Because they have mowers and all kinds of good things. And you can walk down a deer path and your feet are fairly safe, but a deer path is very small. And you have to be very careful to stay on it. And in this world, the same is true.

What does Jesus say? It's the narrow path that leads to life. It is the broad path that leads to destruction. And if you are not looking carefully about how you live and how you walk, you will soon stray from the narrow path. And you will soon find, to be true in Proverbs, where it says, the way is hard for the transgressor.

Life is hard for the transgressor. It's hard for those whom aren't trusting in Christ. And that's what it's saying here. Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise. Are you looking carefully at the path you are on?

Is it a wise path or is it an unwise path? Next is Ephesians 5 16. It says, making the best use of the time because the days are evil. I believe this is one of the most underrated topics for preachers in Christianity or people in Christianity. It says making the best use of the time because the days are evil.

Are you making the best use of your time? What are you doing with your time? God is concerned with what are you doing with your time. In our culture we seem to have lots of time. We discussed that in Sunday school.

Just a few generations back to be able to survive the winter, you were working from sun up until probably way into the night to be gathering food and saving food and doing this or that, that you might have enough food to survive the winter or firewood or whatever it is. And in our day and age, we have machines and we have combines and we have bigger combines and we have all these things that have made this, in a sense, and I'm not trying to offend any farmers here, but has made this easy. And I'm not saying your job is easy, but I bet Pete would say, compared to when he was a kid, farming is easy. Would you affirm that, Pete? Yes.

Much easier. But as a result, we're farming lots more land. And so I'm not saying a farmer's job is easy. That is not true. But it's easier.

And In fact, you and I, or most people in this world, I'm not going to go down that road, but I avoided the rabbit trail, Dave. But there are some, There are many in this world whom we would work a 40-hour week. And when I was younger, just a few years back, I worked with French colleagues, and I would go to France, and I think their average week was about 32 hours or something like that. And they would look at us and they would say, you Americans, you just work all the time. But in reality, a 40-hour week, open your ears kids, a 40-hour week is a week.

That leaves so much extra time. In America and through most of the first world countries throughout the world, that time is almost entirely wasted on entertainment and silly things. Now, it's okay to participate in entertainment, but in the first world countries we've taken it to such an extreme that for those to to to go deep into it would seem normal, and it wouldn't seem outrageous. Are you making the best use of the time? Now, I like the second part of what he says here.

He says, do this because the days are evil. Now if you turned on the TV or you look at a newspaper, you would have to conclude that we live in days that are evil. And so even more, are you making the best use of your time? Are you wasting it away? So often throughout my time in ministry, I have above all encouraged people to read the Bible.

And the reason that I encourage that is because the Bible says that is how people are transformed. That is how people come to know God. And over and over and over again people would tell me, well I just don't have time for that. Now I don't doubt that there are some who are so busy with so many things that they may not have time for that, but they do have time to quit some of that stuff. But for the most part, Most of us are too busy with TV shows and this and that and games and on and on and on.

All these things which are so subservient to the Word of God. And yet if you looked at how we spent our time, we wouldn't get that idea. Jonathan Edwards and his famous resolutions, one of his resolution was, it says, he has resolved never to lose one moment of time, but to improve it in the most profitable way I possibly can. How can you use your time better as a believer? As you examine how you spend your life today, is there time of discipling your children?

Is there time of discipling your children? Is there time of discipling your grandchildren? When your grandchildren visit, do they look at grandma and grandpa and do they say, what they say in their minds, this Word of God is very important to my grandmother or my grandfather? If you're not reading it to them, why would they believe that? If they don't know you to even be associated with it, how would they believe that?

Is the best use of your time as a parent or a grandparent to put the latest cartoon on when your kids or grandkids come by and then go about doing whatever it is that's more entertaining for you? Or is it to sit down with them and read to them the Word of God, to tell them about the God who will save those who repent and turn to Him, and repentance of faith in the work of Christ. Young people, How are you using your time? Is it good? Is it giving God glory?

Or is it the same as the world? I've made some people in my family, young people in my family, unhappy with me in the past because I've stood firm on the rule that if you're going to come to my house And you're always welcome to come to my house. You're always welcome. They're you know people that are my kids age I want to play with my kids They want to see the the the farm animals and this or that But if you're coming to my house and you bring your phone This is where we put them and you will get it back when it's time to leave because I'm not feeding you to come here and play on your phone. I'm not feeding you to come waste your time here.

Young people are you wasting your time? Continuing on Ephesians 5 17, Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. Now this is a question that I've heard many, many times, and it's a question when I was younger, I asked many, many times in my life, well how do I know what the will of the Lord is? And yet the Bible is very clear in many different spots of how do we know what the will of the Lord is? We come to some of the best verses in the Bible, Romans 12, 2.

It says, do not be informed of this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind that by testing you may discern what the will of God what is good and acceptable and perfect so we understand here the will of God is for you as a believer to not be conformed to this world. Don't be assimilated into just the average American, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind. So understand this, the renewal of your mind. How is your mind renewed? We talked about this in the past.

It's renewed by reading the Word of God, and in turn the Holy Spirit transforms it. If you go outside of the way God has chosen to do things, if you say, well, God could transform my mind apart from the Word of God, you're absolutely right, He could. But that's not how He said He normally works. And if you won't do what He has called, what he has told you to do, and knowing his will, it's very likely that you will never know the will of God. You cannot know the will of God apart from reading the Scripture.

You cannot know the will of God apart from diligently studying the Scripture. Now understand, just as in all things, God can work in different ways, in different cultures. In some cultures, possibly who don't have the Scriptures, then that's when oftentimes we see God will step outside of what he does normally, and he will supernaturally transform a mind. But that's not normal. And if you're counting on God to do that in your life, It's very likely you will count on that until you die and end up in hell apart from God.

You must come to the Word of God. You must have your, you must seek God until he changes and renews your mind, that he gives you a new heart. You must continue even after that point to to dive into his Word that he might make you more and more like Christ for his glory. He changes you not primarily because of you, He changes you for His glory. And so if you don't care about His glory, what good would it do for Him to change you?

Amen. 1st Thessalonians 5, 16 through 18 says, rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances For this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Let me read it once more rejoice always Pray without ceasing give thanks in all circumstances for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. What is the will of God for you? What is part of his will for you?

We see it right here in his word. It's for you to rejoice always. It's for you to pray without ceasing. Now that understand that rightly that doesn't mean I have to walk around with my eyes closed and my hands like this and and running into stop signs and crashing my car into people because I'm trying to pray while I'm driving, I can pray with my eyes open. You can do it too.

You don't have to have special training to do it. It just simply means that my walk or my life is essentially recognizing that God is always with me. That wherever I'm going, whatever I'm doing for His glory, that He is right beside me, and remembering throughout the day that He is right beside me, because He is. And when I go into a hard situation, I can maybe walk into a room to talk to somebody about something hard, and I can say, Christ, give me wisdom. Help me to know what to say.

I can, I don't even have to say it with my mouth? It can just be going on in my mind. And as I sit with a person, and as they share with me, I might be having a second conversation with God in my mind. Now, I try to listen very intently. I obviously have to hear what you're saying, but if you're...so the next time...

Actually, that's not nice. I'll use one of my children because they'll forgive me. Sometimes if one of my children are telling me something that's incredibly foolish, I might be saying, God, please give them wisdom. God, please give me patience to be able to explain why that's wrong. Maybe I'm driving down the road and I say, Father, could you please get through to the guy behind me that he's not going to get there any faster by being this close?

Now that seems silly, and there can be, you can take this to a silly extent, so don't do that. But praying without ceasing is just understanding that God is with me. I'm going through this day with God by my side, and He is right there, and He is my best friend. And I can anything, whether it's good or bad, I can share with Him, because He is right there to listen. Is that you?

Is that how you are living your day? It is the will of God for you to know Him to the extent that He is your best friend. Next, give thanks in all circumstances. And this is where we're going to go here in just a minute. It's the will of God for you to give thanks in all circumstances.

Now, I hit these all words a lot, especially when we get into Romans 8.28, where it says, God works all things together for the good of those who love him. Many of you I might have done this with if you're going through a hard time and I say, what does this all mean? Does it even mean in hard times? Does God care for me? Is He directing my path when things are hard?

But interject this into this, Give thanks in all circumstances. When I'm at the dentist, I should give thanks to God. That seems silly to you, but I don't like the dentist. When I'm at the DMV, I should give thanks to God. Amen?

I'm not a fan of that place either. But all, every circumstance, give thanks to God, for this is the will of God and Christ Jesus for you. Ephesians 5, 18-19, it says, do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart. Now to hit briefly on this, we could go way into this too. Essentially it's the culture of this time, even those who claim to be religious of this time, were very much delved into sin.

And they would go on these, maybe we would call it a party or whatever it is, but it would be involved with the temple and prostitutes and all these things. And Paul is correcting them and saying, this isn't good. And in fact, he warns even more just before this text in Ephesians to don't even give the appearance of sexual sin, don't even give a hint of that. And he's saying, this isn't good, this is against God, This isn't glorifying God. Don't get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery.

But be filled with the Spirit. And we can go into this a little bit, but let's save that for another day, because that's a big topic to go into. Addressing one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart. Understand that verse 19 is another ordinance of the Bible. We are not, When we gather together, we gather together not in my church, not in your church, but in Christ's church.

It's His church. Amen? He gets to call the shots. And this, when we come to this text, we have to understand that He has told us when we come together, we should be addressing one another in Psalms and Hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart. And that's what we did just before I came up to share the Word of God, that we sang together, that this is an ordinance, this is a command, this isn't optional as we come together.

Ephesians 5, let me give one more comment, but this also goes further than that. This is referring to Christian fellowship, that we are more than just singing songs together, but that we are in a sense doing life together, and we are encouraging each other. And that this singing, this singing of the hymns and the singing of spiritual songs and psalms, this is more than just what happens at church. This should be happening at home in your families. This should be happening as brothers and sisters gather together or just visit each other and maybe one is sharing a burden and we conclude with singing a song together or maybe one family with another family.

That this is, this was, this design is more than just what's inside the church, but it is an overall, overall command to believers. Are you singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs as a family? Because it's one way that we give thanks. It's one way that we plow our hard hearts. It's one way that we remain thankful.

It's one way that we remain living and walking with the Lord. Ephesians 5 20, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now let me, before we go too much into this, let me give you a clarifier here. Let me read the verse again. Giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

So we have two instances here where we should give thanks or two items of thanks or two directives of thanks. The first is we should give thanks how often? Always. Correct? And then the second is what do we give thanks for?

Everything. All things. Correct. So but with this all things there's a clarifier here because we have to understand this rightly. It says, everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

So as we dig into this, we understand that we give thanks for everything. But it's everything in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so this again can be taken to such an extreme that it becomes wrong. And this is where it becomes wrong. We know that God uses evil to accomplish his will.

Amen? He uses it. He used the Pharaoh. The Pharaoh was a mean guy. But God was using him to accomplish what God's will was.

But, on the other hand, so we can thank God that God used the Pharaoh. But on the other hand, God is not the author of evil. I can never look at evil and say, well, this is God's fault. God's not the author of evil. He only uses evil.

And so there's a limitation. We thank God for many things, but I won't thank Him for evil, because that's not His. That's not in the Lord Jesus Christ. So just understand that, because there are some who can go so far down this road that it can become simple. If we ever accuse God of evil, we are in deep sin.

Amen? So first, let's look at giving thanks always. Shakespeare wrote in King Lear, he said, How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is to have a thankless child. Think of that. Many of you have had children or know of children.

In our culture, the culture of prosperity, many children have been brought up with the understanding that they essentially are provided for in everything. This is a recipe for a thankless child. A culture where I've visited people's houses where they have this over for supper and they fix this really great supper. And we're here eating the supper and the mother is still at the stove making hot dogs or something for their kids to eat because they won't like what they're being cooked. Brothers and sisters, it's okay if your kids don't like something.

It won't kill them to eat it. Our ancestors, we're coming to Thanksgiving. Do you know what? Thanksgiving has a lot of detail into it, but it was, and for many years after, it was the one meal of the entire year where we were getting everything out. It was going to be, it was one meal after the harvest where we could have this big meal and we could reassure each other that we have enough food to make it through the winter because look at this feast we have before ourselves.

And there wasn't typically going to be a person that said, well you know I just don't like turkey dinners so I'm gonna go back to whatever. People were thankful for food because it was survival. And it wasn't that they went to the buffet every weekend. It was that this is the only buffet of the year. Because the rest of the year, they had to ration and to only eat what they needed, because if not, they may run out.

Again, I said over and over and over, prosperity never lasts forever. If your children aren't accustomed to eating things they don't like, they might find themselves in a very bad position if prosperity ends in America. Not only that, every food, Every kind of food that we have is ultimately provided by God, and we should be thankful for it. I didn't really mean to go down this road, but are your children thankful? If they're not, it's often because too much is being provided.

Are you thankful? If you're not, it's often because we're living too prosperous of conditions. Now we brushed on this a little bit in Sunday school. We live in a culture where where there is much depression. There, as when I was a youth pastor, we would have youth camp and and every year youth camp until towards the end when I was done with it, the box got bigger and bigger and bigger for the pills that had to be distributed to all the kids.

And I would say in America we have, I would in my opinion, we have a pill problem. And it's brought on much by the amount of depression that's in our culture. And I've talked to people, I've talked to some, and I will say, Well, what do you have to be thankful for? In Philippians 4, it tells us to think on what is good. What can you think on that's good?

And sometimes people will say, well, I don't have anything in my life that's good. And if that's you this morning, I want you to understand and take this from me, from a loving pastor. If you believe there's nothing good in your life, you are ungrateful and you are unthankful. Why? If the only thing that you had was Jesus Christ, if it's it, if the only thing that you had is that God changed your heart and He adopted you into your family.

And you one day will look forward to being with Him for all of eternity. You have enough in your life that you should be thankful for the rest of your life. Even if you are starving and laying in a prison, freezing, you have an infinite amount to be thankful for. Matthew Henry puts it, he looks at it in two different ways. He says we should be thankful for our salvation, and he puts it in two ways.

If you are saved, you have blessings in the hand, and you have blessings in hope. And so If you know Jesus Christ today, you have all to be thankful for, because Christ died for you, and He has changed you, and He has provided air for you, and He has provided... We are immensely blessed in America. All these things that we have in our hand that so often we can be so blessed that it corrupts us. But then also we have blessings and hope that if we had nothing in our hands, if we had if we lost everything today as Job did, If we lost everything and we were thrown into prison, we have blessings and hope because we know that this is only temporary.

This is only gonna last for a little bit and when we are with our Savior 10, 000 years from now, we will look back and say, well that was just a blink of the eye. All of you who have kids already know the feeling of that seemed like that was a blink of an eye. I have a 17 year old man living in my house and I still remember just yesterday when I was with him in the hospital. Life is a blink of an eye you have blessings and hope Don't put your faith and and happiness into the things of this world you have infinite better and more and more amazingly great blessings of the future Let alone what you have today you are deeply blessed as as born-again believers you have everything to be thankful for. Everything.

And then he goes farther, And in spite of our wickedness, he gives us good wives. He gives us good children. Now, good as far as human standards, they still are like their dad. He gives us houses, he gives us shelter. I don't have to go collect wood every weekend and get up in the middle of the night and put wood in the furnace.

I just push a button on the wall and my house becomes warm. 200 years ago, you would have been the most blessed person in your town if you had that. And today, we look at all that we have and we say, ah, life is so miserable. But let me read, Matthew Henry really does a good job of looking at this verse as far as this goes. Let me read it.

He says, we must continue it throughout the whole course of our lives. And he's talking about thankfulness. And we should give thanks for all things, not only for spiritual blessings and joy and eternal ones expected, for what of the former we had in hand and what of the other we have in hope, but for temporal mercies too, not only for our comforts but also for our sanctified afflictions, not only for what immediately concerns ourselves, but for the instances of God's kindness and favor to others also. It is our duty and everything to give thanks unto God and the Father, to God as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and our Father in Him, and whose name we are to offer up all our prayers and praises and spiritual services that they may be acceptable to God." Now, let me point out one thing that he he listed so many things here that we're to be thankful for. But let me point something else out.

He says, not only for our comforts, but also for our sanctified afflictions. As believers, we know that Romans 8.28 says, for God works all things together for the good of those who love him, who are called according to his purposes. Everything that you go through is a sanctifying affliction, because it's for your good. If life is rough, God is using it for His good, for your good. God's using it for His glory.

If your back hurts, God's using it. Amen, Jake? And your brothers hurt with you, But it's good for us. The only way I can say that with a straight face is because I'm afflicted with poison ivy right now. But it's good.

I'm in no way comparing that to your back. That's not true. As you get older, you suffer afflictions. You suffer through surgeries and things hurting and all these things. Brothers and sisters, we should be thankful, because God has designed it to draw us closer to Him, to make us more like Him, to break our affection with this world, to understand that it's only temporary.

It's all good. It's all good. Now while God may allow evil and he may use it for our goodness, we can't, if Hitler is killing your wife, we obviously aren't thanking God for evil Hitler, amen. But we are thanking God that I still have hope. I'll see my wife again.

God obviously knew that this was better. It's obviously better for her. But as hard as it is to say it, it's also better for me because God knows best. That's really hard to say, but if you know God, if you know Him, if you're being made like Him, you can agree with Job. You can say, I can't curse this God.

I won't turn on Him. And because Job was showed, at the end of what God tells him, he says, I know nothing. Right? God asked him a series of questions, correcting Job's thinking he's smart, and Job has to say, I know nothing, God. I just have to trust you.

Colossians 2, 6 through 7 says, therefore as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him, and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. It is the will of God brothers and sisters that you abound, you overflow with Thanksgiving. We honestly shouldn't need a holiday to remind us, but as we come to this text, and obviously I came to this for a reason, I would apply it in a couple of ways in this coming week. The first way is if you are thankful for the blessings in your hand and the blessings in your hope, as you gather with your families, They should see it. They should know it.

Use this time to glorify God. So the temptation is this. It's this way in my family. We come together and we all do exactly what we were kind of told not to do in Sunday school, and that is we talk about every politician and how terrible things are and how the world is falling apart and how evil things are and we all leave there feeling this much better because we got to get all that off of our chest and about a hundred thousand times worse because we're all reminded of this world that we live in but looked at from the wrong angle. Amen?

Understand that it's looking at it from the wrong angle, because I'm called to be thankful. I'm called to abound in thanksgiving. I'm looking at the glass half empty, and when I point, I have fingers pointing back at myself. And I would urge you, as you gather this week with your families, let Thanksgiving abound. Be the guy that is thankful.

Be the lady that's thankful. Be the child or the young man or the young lady that's thankful. Thankful for the food that's put in front of them, but even more so thankful for the Savior who has saved them. And in spite of an evil world, we look forward to a time when Christ will fix it all. He will come back and He will set it all straight.

And we will be a part of his kingdom and not only a part of his kingdom but an adopted child Christ will be my brother adopted brother he's still the brother he's still the son I'm just an adopted son. But God has adopted me. God has adopted his enemy. He has changed me. He's given me life and breath and all these things.

Are you thankful for that? I would say take it even farther. Because One of the jobs of the pastor, and I'll be honest, it's not my favorite part of my job, is that I get to do funerals. And you know when I hear from secular people and Christian people, And I look at myself and I look at my grandparents and and times that I grieve over I wish I would have spent more time with them. I wish that I didn't get into this big argument with my sister about politics every Thanksgiving.

That's what people say at funerals, but we go to Thanksgiving while they're alive and we say, well let's stir them up a little bit. Let's talk about politics. I'll win this argument this time. Anybody else like me? I would challenge you brothers and sisters, make this Thanksgiving be different.

Thank God for your family. Overbound, be abounding in Thanksgiving for the aunt or the uncle that you just look forward to arguing with. And don't argue with them. Just love them. Just appreciate.

And just share the hope that lies within you. Share why you are so thankful. It's more than just a turkey. It's that Jesus Christ has saved you. And that He offers to anyone who would come to Him in repentance and faith, He offers them eternal life.

He offers them to be adopted into the family. He offers them the same hope that lies within you. And He will in no way turn away anyone who comes to Him in repentance and faith. Amen? Amen.

Share the good news of Jesus Christ with your family. It's way more important than what the governor's up to. You'll have a way better Thanksgiving. Amen? Amen.

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you again for this beautiful day you've given us. Thank you for my brothers and my sisters. Father, as we prepare, Father, this week to be a week of especially being thankful. Father help us to cultivate thankfulness in our hearts towards those whom don't think like us or maybe are of a different political affiliation than us or or even that we might all agree and point out our windows at the world and say how terrible it is.

Father, help us to be disciplined to not do that. Father, I would pray even this week we would put aside the things that are going on in the world and that we would focus wholeheartedly on simply being thankful. Being thankful for what you have done for us. That you have chosen to love us. That you have given us family that build us up.

That you have given us family that causes us to exercise the gifts that you have given us, whether it be in patience or love or joy or these things. But Father, I pray that this Thanksgiving, we would glorify you above all, that you would be the one whom we are most thankful for, and that Father we would love our families, That we would love them enough to not care about our point of view being right. That we would love them enough to open the Word of God and to share with them. That we would love them enough to show them, to demonstrate to them that you are worthy of being thankful for. And that your love conquers every negative thing that could drag us down.

Father, help us to abound in thankfulness we ask in Jesus name amen