Thanksgiving for the Ceaseless Blessings

A Minute of Thanksgiving to God Scripture reading: Ps. 95:1-7a By: Denn Reed B. Tuvera Jr. | Church of Christ | We thank God for another year full of wonderful blessings that He showered over us. We thank Him for His guidance in our daily activities in life. We thank Him for the fellowship weve had for the years that weve been together in this congregation (as for my case, I thank God for bringing me here in this congregation and I am very happy for the past months that Ive been with you). Thanksgiving Day is I think a special day for us. It is the time when we come together to share our meals, pray, worship, and sing to God some spiritual songs and hymns. Every Sunday for me is a thanksgiving day. I thank God for bringing me safe in this house of worship and for giving a brand new day. I consider every day of my life as a thanksgiving day. When I wake up every morning, I thank the Lord for a new day that He had given me; for another voyage in my life as I continue to live in harmony to His will. Before I enter the classroom, I always thank the Lord for giving me the chance to go to school and learn so many things about this world. After every class, I thank the Lord for the knowledge that Ive learned. I also thank the Lord God for bringing me in this world through parents. Had it not been for my parents, I wont be here. I thank them for their support and guidance as I discover so many things in this world. I thank God and them for bringing to me my sister, whom I prayed a lot when I was young. I prayed that Ill be having brother. But the Lord gave me my sister and Im very happy for it. But most of all, I thank the Lord every time I spent my time going to church to serve Him. For this morning, our lesson would be about thanksgiving based on Scriptures. What is Thanksgiving? Thanksgiving means:
a) Rendering thanks for the good things that we received.

b) It is the act of rendering thanks or expressing gratitude for favors or mercies. c) A public festivity of divine kindness; d) Also, a day set apart for religious services, especially to recognize the righteousness of God, either in any extraordinary freedom from calamities or perils, or in the usual indulgence of his bounties. e) The practice of appointing a yearly prayer whose origin is in New England. According to 1 Tim. 4:4, Every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if received with thanksgiving. What does this verse mean?
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Thanksgiving for the Ceaseless Blessings

1) For every creature of God is good - For food; and must be taken and used for that

purpose, at all times, without distinction; even every creature which is made for food, and which is easy to be detect by men: 2) and nothing to be refused; or rejected as common and unclean, or to be abstained from at certain times: 3) if it be received with thanksgiving: if not, persons are very ungrateful, and very unworthy of such favors; and it would be just in God to withhold them from them; and this they may expect at his hands, who reject them with contempt, or receive them with unthankfulness, or abstain front them in a religious way he never enjoined. In the Philippines, we have this public celebration of divine goodness, as they say, what they call as Christmas day. It was taught to us by Spain when were still a colony of them. It will be on December 25. This is the time when families are gathered together to eat the delicious foods that are set on the table. They would sing with a karaoke, they would play their guitars, some would attend an evening mass, and other fellowship that they could think of. Christmas appears to be a good occasion of thanksgiving. But, we can never separate its religious significance. Whenever they speak of Christmas, they always relate it to the birth date of Jesus Christ. We cannot find any basis from the Bible concerning his birth. All we know we know was the fact that he was born in a manger. Historical accounts speak of Christmas as the birthday of the sun God, a pagan baby by the name of Horus, born of Isis and Osiris (Egyptian gods). This was adapted by the Romans from the Egyptians. This was what they call the holy family. But for us, we do not celebrate Christmas. In Gal. 4:11, gentile Christians were reminded to forget all the days that they used to celebrate with regards to its religious background. For instance, in the early Rome, they have this day of Jupiter. They would offer foods, candles, and other materialistic things. Christians should not be like that. If we have a day to celebrate with thanksgiving, it must be during the Lords day when we are gathered to remember his death, resurrection, and his promise that he will return for us to take us with him in heaven. So, what is thanksgiving as stated in Scriptures? To best describe what thanksgiving is in Scriptures, I think it is an essential to provide examples of thanksgiving. 1) The thanksgiving of Daniel Daniel is known to be the fourth of the greater prophets of the Lord in the Old Testament. We do not know anything about his origin or family. He appears, however, to have been
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Thanksgiving for the Ceaseless Blessings

of royal or noble descent, according Daniel 1:3; and to have possessed considerable personal gift (Dan. 1:4). He was taken to Babylon in the third year of Jehoiakim in circa 604 B.C. and was trained for the kings service. He was divinely supported in his resolve to abstain from the kings meat for fear of defilement (Daniel 1:8-16). Daniel had an opportunity of exercising his peculiar gift (Daniel 1:17) of interpreting dreams, on the event of Nebuchadnezzars decree against the Magi (Dan. 2:14ff). In effect of his success, he was made ruler of the whole province of Babylon (Daniel 2:48). He afterwards interpreted the second dream of Nebuchadnezzar (Dan. 4:8-27), and the handwriting on the wall which distributed the feast of Belshazzar (Dan. 5:10-28). At what point in time did he offer his thanksgiving to God? In Daniel 6, we are told of the story when Daniel was delivered to the lions den. Before it happened, some of the priests of Babylon went to the king to have him order a decree that prohibits any man from praying to any god. This is because these priests appear to be very jealous because Daniel has found favour before the king. So it happened that the king signed the decree prohibiting praying to any gods. One morning, Daniel offered his prayers to God, as he always do. The other priests have been watchful of Daniel because of their jealous hearts. They saw Daniel offering prayers to God and they immediately went to the king and told him that Daniel violated the decree. In short, even though it was against kings heart, he had to do it because it was his decree. So he ordered his guards to throw Daniel in the lions den. Early morning the next day, the king immediately went up from his bed and he went directly to the den to check whether or not Daniel was still alive. At his surprise, Daniel was still alive. Daniels remark was this: My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lions' mouths, and they have not hurt me; forasmuch as before him innocence was found in me; and also before thee, O king, have I done no hurt (verse 22). Daniel was very thankful to God because God delivered him from the savage lions and their stomach. 2) The Thanksgiving of Paul Paul was one of the Apostles of God. He was chosen and sent by God to be His minister unto the Gentiles. He was charged as a transgressor of the Law of Moses because he was preaching the name of Christ unto the entire world. He was preaching that Jesus Christ,
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Thanksgiving for the Ceaseless Blessings

whom the Jews crucified, resurrected from the dead. This was against the teachings of the Jews. Paul was imprisoned first in Jerusalem. He appealed to Agrippa that time that he was innocent and he was just preaching Jesus Christ as the fulfilment of the Holy Scriptures or of the Law of Moses. He almost converted Agrippa to become a Christian. He almost has been freed from imprisonment if he did not appeal to Caesar. But he appealed to Caesar so he was taken to Rome. The voyage to Rome and shipwreck (autumn, A.D. 60). -- No formal trial of St. Paul had yet taken place. After a while, arrangements were made to carry "Paul and certain other prisoners," in the custody of a centurion named Julius, into Italy; and amongst the company, whether by favour or for any other reason, we find the historian of the Acts, who in chapters 27 and 28 gives a graphic description of the voyage to Rome and the shipwreck on the Island of Melita or Malta. After a three-months stay in Malta, the soldiers and their prisoners left in an Alexandria ship for Italy. They touched at Syracuse, where they stayed three days, and at Rhegium, from which place, they were carried with a fair wind to Puteoli, where they left their ship and the sea. At Puteoli, they found "brethren," for it was an important place, and especially a chief port for the traffic, between Alexandria and Rome; and by these brethren, they were exhorted to stay a while with them. Permission seems to have been granted by the centurion; and whilst they were spending seven days at Puteoli, news of the apostle's arrival was sent to Rome. (Spring, A.D. 61). Paul suffered shipwreck. He was bitten by a snake. He was maltreated by his enemies. Yet, at the end of all these sufferings, he was still thankful to God because he endured these trials in his life. From these examples, to whom, therefore, should we offer our thanksgiving? Thanksgiving, therefore, must be offered:
a. To God (Psalm 50:14); b. To Jesus Christ (1 Tim. 1:12);

c. d. e. f. g.

Through Christ (Rom. 1:8; Col. 3:17; Hebrews 13:5); In the name of Christ (Eph. 5:20); In private worship just as Daniel did in Daniel 6:10; In public worship just like what we are doing right now (Ps. 35:18); In prayer, before and after partaking of the meal, for the conversion of others, for the grace of God, for our salvation, etc. h. It is also offered by means of psalms and hymns and spiritual songs (Eph. 5:19). Therefore, my brethren, thanksgiving must always be rendered unto God ONLY. Not to any idols in general. Concerning Christmas and the other religious holidays, we must
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Thanksgiving for the Ceaseless Blessings

treat it as a time for us to be with our families. It should not be treated as a religious celebration as some people and some of our brethren are doing. Let us now thank the Lord for this wonderful day that He had given us to thank Him for all of the blessings that he gave us for the past years. We must be like Daniel and Paul that regardless of their circumstances in life, they still offered their thanksgiving unto God. It seems to be easy to give thanks every time. True faith to give thanks when times are rough! Now I live this verse for us to ponder: 1 Thessalonians 5:16, the Bible says, Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus to you-ward.

Denn Reed B. Tuvera, Jr. | Church of Christ |

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