Thanks Giving

II CHRONICLES 29:1-36

A. Opened the doors of the House of the Lord. v.1-3

Hezekiah became king at 25 years of age. He must have had some Godly training because the first thing he did was open the doors of the Temple that had been closed for so long, due to Judah's idolatry. v.2 " He did all that which was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that David his father had done." Now David was not his immediate father, but years ago David had set such a good example of serving the Lord, that his influence was what the Holy Spirit included here to guide the new king. All men should realize what a responsibility we have to serve the lord so even years to come people will be able to say "He followed the Lord as his great grandfather Walter (or your name) did!

Notice in verse 3 that in the first year, in the first month of his reign he opened the doors of the house of the Lord - AND repaired them. He didn't waste any time in serving the Lord. I like that saying that says "This is the first day of the rest of your life." Let's take an example here and start today to open the doors of the Lord to all our family and wherever we have influence. Let people know the you believe in the Lord. Also, let's repair any damage that has been done because of our lack of enthusiasm for the Lord.

B. Set the Levites (Priests) in Place. v. 4 - 15

He gathered the priests on East Street. (v.4) Let it be noted that the Prince will enter at the East Gate. Could this revival be looking towards the coming of the Lord?

He told them to sanctify themselves and set themselves to the work! v.7 says that the fathers had trespassed in that they had turned their backs on God (v.6) and had shut the doors of the porch, put out the lamps, not burned incense to the Lord God, nor offered burnt offerings in the Holy Place. Verse 12 - 14 lists the names of the Levites who did the work.

C. Cleansed the Temple. v. 16-19

The priests were able to say, "We have cleansed all the house of the Lord."( v18) also they brought back all the vessels that king Ahaz had cast away.(v19). It is time that we bring back some of the old fashioned ways of worship that many modern churches have cast away as not needed! We need to serve the Lord with fear and trembling, as well as with joy and peace.

D. Thank Offerings. v.31-36

Hezekiah set the Levites in the house of the Lord with cymbals, psaltries, harps, and trumpets. He commanded burnt offerings (v27), and music and singing (v.28), and worship (v.29). Moreover he commanded to sing words that David and Asaph had written. "And they sang with gladness, and bowed their heads and worshipped." (v.30)

"And the congregation brought in sacrifices and thank offerings; and as many as were of a free heart, burnt offerings." (v.31) (v.35 in abundance) "And Hezekiah rejoiced, and all the people, that God had prepared the people: for the thing was done suddenly." (v. 36)

What a wonderful day of Thanksgiving they had. Now we'll look at some New Testament passages of Thanksgiving.

II. NEW TESTAMENT PASSAGES from 4 BOOKS OF THE N.T.

A. SPEAKING, SINGING, and THANKING. EPHESIANS 5:19-21

This passage tells us to "Walk circumspectly, Redeem the time, Be not unwise, Be filled with the Spirit" v. 15,16,17,18. When we are filled with the Spirit we willl want to speak, or sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. We will be singing and making melody in our hearts to the Lord. (v.19) There is a joy that God puts within us that sustains us through all our troubles. So it is proper that we have a day set aside for Thanks - Giving.

Verse 20 "Giving thanks always for all things." This tells us that we must not save our thanks for one day of celebration, but be thankful all year long. And our thanks must be directed to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Make no mistake in this. We don't thank an unknown God. We don't have to search within ourselves to find a god that we make up. Nor do we search other religions hoping to find peace in some false god. NO! "But what saith it? The Word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is the word of faith, which we preach. So may our thanks be directed to our wonderful God in Heaven, through the name of our wonderful Savior, Jesus Christ, by the power of our wonderful Holy Spirit, who lives within us.

B. WITH THANKSGIVING. PHILIPPIANS 4:4-9

"In everything by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto god." (v.6) "And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."(v.7) I know we don't thank God, or pray, in order to get blessings, but according the this passage we get the blessing of peace, that will keep our hearts and minds through all our trials of life!! Not anly that, but it is a peace that passes understanding. We can't always know why we have peace. There's no natural cause for it. In fact usually just the opposite is true. Of course the suggestion that we keep our thoughts on the six things mentioned in v.8 will certainly help to bring peace to our hearts. Not only do we have peace in our hearts, but the God of peace will be with us. (v.9)

C. BE YE THANKFUL. COLOSSIANS 3:12-17

After reminding us that we must put off the Old Man with his deeds, and put on the new man (v8-10) God gives us a list of godliness that we should put on in verse 12. In verses 8&9 the Lord says, "Put off", two times. In verses 10- 14 He says to, "Put on", three times. So we do have something to do with the kind of life that leads to Thankfulness. We can take God's advice and live a happier life. Notice in this passage, too, that we are to "Let the peace of God rule in your hearts, and be ye Thankful" v15. Also "Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly." v16 Notice that Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual songs is part of the Christian life here, too. Hey, Christians will be "Singing in their hearts to the Lord." V.17 tells us that whatsoever we do in word or deed, do ALL in the name of the Lord Jesus. This MUST mean more than religious deeds, and words. Yes, in all our deeds and words - at work, in the home, by ourselves - wherever and whenever , we must do it in the name of Jesus and also give thanks to God the Father, by Jesus Christ, all the time we're doing it!!

D. IN EVERYTHING. I THESSALONIANS 5:18

Another reminder to be Thankful in all things. I remind you that we don't have to be Thankful FOR all things, but to be Thankful to God IN all things. While we go through the trials, when times seem hard, when we go through things like Daniel and his friends went through, We find that God is faithful to us, as He was with them, and we CAN be Thankful. Because we know that His way is best and we can trust Him to do right. So though trials beset us, may we have thankful hearts, knowing that will bring better things for us as we continue to trust Him and "In everything give Thanks"

III ENCOURAGING EXHORTATION I TIMOTHY 2:1-8

A. PRAYER AND GIVING OF THANKS v.1

The writers of the Bible found no problem with exhorting others. Paul, in this letter, exhorts people to pray and be thankful. May we accept the exhortation and exhort others to join is in this Thanksgiving season to pray and thank the God of Heaven for all our blessings!

B. KINGS AND EVERYBODY v.2-4

There are four kinds of prayer mentioned here; supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks. Can we be thankful for all men? Especially for Kings, and for all in Authority? Well, we should be. Notice that v.2 says that the purpose of this praying is that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life. Not only that, but (v3) "This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour." So let's do that which is good before God and really have a Thanks-Giving this year. After all it IS God's will that all men come to the knowledge of the Truth. (v4)

C. ONE MEDIATOR BETWEEN GOD AND MEN v5-7

One God and One Mediator between God and men - The Man Jesus Christ. God calls Jesus The Man here because He's talking about how important it is to give Thanks. When we complain that we have so many problems it is hard to be Thankful, we just need to look to Jesus and see what He suffered for us, yet without sin, and without complaint. Jesus gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified by us that He is worthy of our praise and Thanksgiving. Paul mentions that this affected him so much that he became a preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher. I pray that it will effect us so much that we will join Paul and all the other saints down through the ages in praising and worshipping our wonderful God with Thanksgiving.

D. MEN PRAY EVERYWHERE v.8

Paul could see that his exhortation to prayer and Thanksgiving was so important that he said, "I will that men pray everywhere." That was his desire those many years ago and it should be our great desire today. I will that men pray everywhere!! Lifting up Holy hands - keep our life clean so we can, without shame, call on God for our needs and Thank Him for when He does. and let our prayers and Thanksgiving be without wrath (don't have any grudges) and doubting (Believe God!!)

This message is longer than some, because it is the actual text of the message given in church. There I speak for about 40 minutes, so it does take a lot of space to give all that information I hope this will be a help to you and encourage you to come to church and get the blessing first hand!! May this Thanksgiving season be one of the best you've ever had!!

Your Friend in Christ,

 Rev. Walter Ray