Turkey, dressing, football, family, friends etc all make Thanksgiving more than just a meal. The act of thanksgiving is more than turkey as well. Marcel Hall helps us to see how important giving thanks is to God and our own lives.

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OC Church of Christ

Those who don't know, I'm a

USC fan, and uh, Sorry, yeah.

2

Some of that doesn't

feel genuine right there.

3

Some of those things feel, uh,

like you're more poking fun than

4

you're actually mourning with me.

5

Uh, it has been a terrible season,

uh, as far as expectations go.

6

But, anyhow, we're gonna

get through this, amen?

7

And so my name is Marcel Hall

and, uh, grateful to be able

8

to speak God's word here today.

9

Let's go ahead and, uh, we already, I

think we thank the worship team, right?

10

Can we go ahead and thank all the

people behind the scenes doing so much.

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We appreciate all that you are doing.

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We got Thanksgiving this week.

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Are you excited about Thanksgiving?

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Ready to get your grub on?

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What's your favorite

part about Thanksgiving?

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Let's go.

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I know some people it's

food, some it's not.

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Well, what's your favorite

part about Thanksgiving?

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Okay, someone said my family.

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Okay, that's good.

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All right.

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Yes, Jason You said deviled eggs.

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Wow, okay It's so cool to talk

about Thanksgiving food and

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see the different cultures.

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You know what I'm saying?

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I don't think we've ever

had that at my family.

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So that's that's really good.

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Okay.

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Yes Taking a nap.

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Is that pre food or post food?

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Post food, okay.

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You're looking forward to that

good Thanksgiving nap there.

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Yes.

34

The Macy's Day Parade.

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The Macy's Day Parade.

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I like parades.

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You like parades, okay.

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You're one of the few on the West

Coast that probably watches that.

39

Amen, that's awesome.

40

Alright, yes sir.

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The 49ers Seahawks are playing back.

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The 49ers Seahawks game, so,

so football and the 49ers,

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okay, come on, appreciate that.

44

Yes.

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Yes, Corey.

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Um, being able to help somebody.

47

So

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being able to help somebody out who

needs some, come on, give it up for

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Corey, the only spiritual one up in here.

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We're talking about naps and deviled eggs.

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He's over here serving.

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I'm just playing.

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Everybody, it's all good.

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That's good stuff.

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Yes, as we can see, Thanksgiving, there's

a, there's a lot more to Thanksgiving

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than just some food, isn't there?

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And, uh, we know there's football,

there's, uh, there's time with

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family, sometimes we're playing

football, whatever the case may be.

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Um, you know, it's funny, um, that when

it comes to Thanksgiving, obviously I'm

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American and I'm very familiar with the

pastime and the tradition, but the actual

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word Thanksgiving, it really didn't, like,

it didn't really sink in until I was in

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college where the idea is you give thanks.

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I know that's in the word

Thanksgiving, but it didn't hit me.

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We're praying one time and the

brother says something like, God, you

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know, it's Thanksgiving or whatever.

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And I really do want to give you

thanks and I go, Oh, that's right.

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Thanksgiving is about giving

thanks, hence the name.

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I, you know, obviously I understood

the gratitude of the season.

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And, uh, but it hit me.

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And in fact, I looked it up

yesterday or the other day.

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And Thanksgiving, the term, the

actual, not the celebration,

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but just the definition.

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The expression of gratitude,

especially to God.

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The expression of gratitude,

especially to God.

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To God.

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So even as we think through

Thanksgiving, as we think of the

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act of Thanksgiving, we know this,

is that there's more than turkey.

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Thanksgiving, especially giving thanks,

there's more to it than just some turkey.

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Even our celebrations that we mentioned,

nobody in fact even mentioned turkey.

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We had some deviled eggs in here.

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Okay, alright.

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And so we know even our celebration,

but the act of Thanksgiving.

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There's more to it than just a

feeling, than just an appreciation.

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And so, in fact, we're going to do a

little two part series here, today and

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next week, in which we're going to dive

more into this idea of giving thanks.

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Let's go to the Father in prayer.

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Father, I thank you so much, so, so much.

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For this opportunity to dig into your

scriptures God you have encouraged my

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soul I'm excited about the material

that we're covering God I pray that

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you allow us to connect with you in a

profound way right now father that we

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can come away transformed whether it

be our thinking in our hearts or in

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some type of way in our decision making

Father, we want you to be glorified.

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We want to commune with you, God.

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We want your will to be done, and

I pray that it's done right now.

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God, you are a God who is worthy of our

praise, and we don't have enough time

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or even the energy, uh, uh, Father, to

be able to give you thanks for all that

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you have, are, and will do, not only

in our lives, but in those around us.

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We pray in Jesus name, amen.

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We're going to go ahead and look,

you know, there actually is a

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Thanksgiving meal in the Bible.

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It's actually the, the first

Thanksgiving meal, if you will.

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And so it's God's Thanksgiving meal.

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And so we're going to go ahead and look

at this right now and we're going to

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see something really important here is

that giving thanks is important to God.

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Giving thanks is important to God.

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And so we're going to go on

over to the book of Leviticus.

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When's the last time you had a

sermon out of the book of Leviticus?

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It's been a long time.

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Some of you are like, how are we going

to get a sermon out of Leviticus?

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Okay.

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All right.

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So we're going Leviticus here.

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And my friend Chad Hoffman told me it's

good to put some timelines up here.

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And so I want us to understand at

what point in, in, as far as our faith

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goes, that this was written down.

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It takes.

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Place and so during the time of exile the

prince of egypt the movie there, right?

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They move and they're going over to the

promised land And so god is establishing

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his people a culture of government an

understanding of how to relate to him and

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how to be the light To the surrounding

nations and we're going over in leviticus

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chapter, uh seven we're going to go

to and it's important here that we

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understand in the book of leviticus

god establishes a sacrificial system A

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system in which they would have offerings

and give sacrifices and really, this

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was to communicate spiritual truths.

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So these were physical manifestations

of spiritual realities.

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And this side of the cross, we understand

that a lot of these offerings that

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were prescribed for God's people

were foreshadowing of Jesus and

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what He is, does, and would fulfill.

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And so there was five main sacrifices

or offerings when it came to

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the book of Leviticus and for

God's people before Jesus's time.

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And if one was the burnt offering,

the grain offering, the fellowship

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offering, the sin offering and

the trespass offering, that

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fellowship offering can also be,

uh, considered the peace offering.

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And I want us to look at this fellowship

offering today over in Leviticus

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chapter seven, because within this.

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Fellowship offering there is something

that's called the thank offering

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which again is really the God's first

and Established Thanksgiving meal.

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So we're gonna go over ahead and go

over there to Leviticus chapter 7

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and study this out and again Have

some application for our lives.

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So brothers sisters.

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Are you ready?

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Let's go ahead.

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Let's get into a Leviticus

chapter 7 in verse 11.

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It says These are the regulations

for the fellowship offering Anyone

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may present to the Lord If they offer

it as an expression of thankfulness.

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Then along with this think offering,

they're to offer thick loaves made

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without yeast and with olive oil mixed

in thin loaves made without yeast,

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and brushed with oil and thick loaves

of the finest flour well needed, and

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with oil mixed in along with their

fellowship offering of Thanksgiving.

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They're to present an offering with

thick loaves of bread made with yeast.

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They're to bring one of

each kind as an offering.

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A contribution to the Lord.

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It belongs to the priest who

splashes the blood of the fellowship

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offering against the altar.

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The meat of their fellowship

offering of thanksgiving must be

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eaten on the day it is offered.

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They must leave none of it till morning.

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Boy, oh boy, did that make

a lot of sense to you.

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You're like, what, what

was all that about?

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And we're going to get, not get into all

the specifics of this offering, but we

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will look at some of these things here.

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But there's a couple things here that we

have to understand and that we can grasp.

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From this text here is that again

number one giving thanks the act of

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thanksgiving is important to God There's

an offerings and he says hey look there.

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I want to have something for you.

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That's going to be called the thank

offering and what is God doing with

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this God is training the Israelites

on how to Express their gratitude

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to him He's training them Why?

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Because you and I, today, and anyone

who lives, we need training on

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how to express thanks, don't we?

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I know with my kids, I have to

train them on how to express thanks.

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If Dominique receives something,

hey, hey, what do you say?

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You say, well thank you,

you say thank you, yes.

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Parents did a good job of

training, there you go, alright.

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But we express thanks, right, because he

wouldn't naturally do that on his own.

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He might feel something, he might be

excited about it, but yet he needs

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training on how to express his thanks.

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And so God is helping his people here

learn how to express their thanks to him.

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And so we know that giving thanks

is right and proper, isn't it?

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As human beings, we know it is

proper, it is the right thing to do

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to express thanks when you've been

blessed with something by someone.

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But it's more than just being good

or doing the right thing and we're

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going to look some more into this

But this is interesting that God

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did not command his people How often

they should have this thank offering?

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He didn't tell him what time of the

year they should do this And so God

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Expected gratitude, but he didn't

command his people to be grateful

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His goal and his aim is, out of

their gratitude, they would want to

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spontaneously, on their own, initiate

a time in which they can, in a special

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and profound way, express gratitude.

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And so he allows them this opportunity.

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He's training them to go ahead and have

a special time to express their thanks.

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And so I started to think, okay,

So why is this so important to God?

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We get it as, as regular human beings.

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Yes, this would be something

that, that we should do.

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It's proper.

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It's the right thing to do

with the appropriate response.

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But as I started to think more to it,

I believe the Spirit started to give

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me a list of things, of why this is

important to God and vital even for us.

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And so this isn't an exhaustive

list, but this is a list of things

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for our time that we have here.

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And so a number of things, reasons

why giving thanks is important to God.

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I believe one, in no particular order, it

helps us to be grateful versus ungrateful.

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When you are given and provided

something, hopefully we feel

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a little bit of appreciation.

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But when we decide to express that,

it helps our appreciation even more.

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It's on the forefront of our mind,

and we're doing something that is

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good and is right, but allows us

to be grateful for what we have.

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As opposed to the opposite

of being ungrateful.

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How many like being

around ungrateful people?

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None of us do, right?

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We've seen the spoiled child or maybe

we were the spoiled child at some point.

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And so we know being around those who

are ungrateful, nobody likes that.

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Why?

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Because it will lead to

complaining, arguing, bitterness

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and a lack of appreciation.

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And the worst thing that can happen when

we are not grateful is we become entitled.

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Expecting people to give us things

or expecting even when we do it

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with God, God, you owe me this.

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He owes you that.

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And so what we can get entitled that puts

us in a really bad spot, not only in our

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thinking and our choices, but also in

our relationship to our Heavenly Father.

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But expressing, giving thanks helps us

to be grateful and not be ungrateful.

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Let's look at another one here.

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It strengthens our souls,

our very being, our faith.

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When we express gratitude, not just

feel it, that's a good starting point,

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but when we actually decide to act

upon the gratitude that we have.

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It helps us during trials,

tribulations, testing.

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We can have a sense of peace

and joy, encouragement, strength

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to persevere and overcome.

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Look at this scripture that most

of us are very familiar with.

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It says, do not be anxious about anything.

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Wow, that's a tough call.

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I get anxious about a lot of things.

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It says, do not be anxious.

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Well, how can we do that, Lord?

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We says, here's what, here's a step.

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But in every situation, by prayer

and petition, with thanksgiving,

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Present your request to God and the

peace of God which transcends all

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understanding will guard your hearts

and your minds in Christ Jesus.

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This stood out to me a couple

years ago and it hit me recently.

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As we are praying about things that we

are tempted or we're struggling with,

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we're feeling anxious, we're nervous

about the future, we're battling

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fear, whatever the case may be.

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God says pray to me about this.

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Bring every prayer, every petition to me.

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But when you do this, you need to

have some thanksgiving in there.

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You go, wow, that's interesting.

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I'm praying to God, help

me out, help me out.

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But when I incorporate thanksgiving

into that same prayer, it now puts

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me in a position and a posture in

which the divine supernatural peace

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of God can come into my life which

transcends all my understanding.

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Because what happens, I start

to get perspective about things.

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I start to view how I'm actually very

blessed in spite of the situation or

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even in the midst of this situation.

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Brothers and sisters, you

get what I'm saying here.

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When we're praying, God, help me, help me.

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But then we say, but God, thank

you so much for what you are doing.

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Thank you that I have you to pray to.

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Thank you that you're with me as

I go through this and thank you in

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advance for getting me over this.

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I might be a little different

in my attitude after the

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prayer is over, won't I?

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You see, God is so cool.

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And so as we express this

thanksgiving, it strengthens our souls.

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You know, another thing is, it

helps us remain faithful to God.

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When we keep thanking God, when

we're mindful, we're being thankful,

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and we're deciding to act upon that

gratitude, it helps us remain faithful.

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Look at this scripture.

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It hit me the other day in

Romans chapter one in verse 21.

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He's talking about the fall of mankind

and he says something really profound.

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It says for although they knew

God, they neither glorified in

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this God nor gave thanks to him.

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But their thinking became futile and

their foolish hearts were darkened.

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Think about that for a second.

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The fall of mankind, the fall of us,

the fall of you and me, those who

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came before us, those who are present

with us, those who will come after us.

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It says, hey, they knew about

God, but they decided they

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weren't going to glorify God.

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And they decided they weren't

going to give thanks to God.

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And it led to what?

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Their thinking became futile.

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Start having some stinking thinking.

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And then it says their

hearts were darkened.

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And now what does that do?

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That disconnects us from

our relationship with God.

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But where did it start?

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Well, it started with just temptation.

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Yes, all that came through.

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But I decided at some point I wasn't

going to glorify God and I wasn't going to

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thank God for what he's done in my life.

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And now what has it led to?

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My heart being darkened, my

thinking off, and what will I do?

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Walk away from my relationship with God.

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Those of us who have been around in the

faith, we've seen people fall from grace.

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We've seen people fall away from

God and decide to leave Him.

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Think about this for a second.

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Has anyone you've ever known who

has decided to leave God, did they

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do it while they were thanking God?

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Of course not.

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It's pretty much an oxymoron.

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Because if they were, yes, thank

you God, thank you for all you've

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done for me and I'm gonna leave you.

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Wouldn't make any sense, would it?

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But it draws us nearer

to God when we thank Him.

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Brothers and sisters,

are you with me here?

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And so we can see here how it

helps us to remain faithful.

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This isn't just a good thing to do.

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This allows us to hold on to our

father in the midst of temptation and

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trial and struggle and tribulation.

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Let's go to another one here.

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I know many people will appreciate this.

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The mental and physical benefits

of expressing gratitude.

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I saw the Mayo Clinic,

they had a little article.

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And this article said that the studies

have shown that feeling thankful

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and expressing it can do this.

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Improve sleep, mood, and immunity.

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Decrease depression, anxiety,

difficulties with the chronic pain and

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risk of disease, and release oxytocin.

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Does that sound good to you?

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Does anybody want to sign

up for that afterwards?

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That, that pill will be

over at the welcome table.

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I'm sure it will be

stacked over after service.

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What does it say here?

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Man, just even God knows He

loves His creation so much.

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He's like, look, if you have a

consistency of being thankful, it

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will not only help you be faithful

to me, it will help you be grateful.

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It's going to affect your very

being, your livelihood, your

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mental and physical health.

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So I want to thank all of you.

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Thank you.

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Thank you.

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Thank you.

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Thank you.

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Thank you.

335

Thank you.

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Thank you.

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And I want to thank you some more.

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It does something to us.

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And even this oxytocin, that's the

hormone that helps us connect with people.

340

Which is interesting.

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Which leads to this one.

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Is that giving thanks is important

to God because it's relational.

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And this is to me the one that I

want to spend a couple minutes on.

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Is that giving thanks is relational.

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We tend to not see that on the

surface, but as we delve a little

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bit into this and we put on our

thinking caps and start to analyze

347

this, we'll see it is so relational.

348

You know, even when we go back

to Leviticus chapter seven, this

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thank offering, it was under the

category of the fellowship offering.

350

Now that's interesting.

351

There were sin offerings, there were

all kinds of different offerings.

352

But the thank offering fell under the

category of the fellowship offering.

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What does fellowship mean and imply?

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Relationship.

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So this thank offering is embedded

in this idea of relationship.

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And it's interesting, even when you

look at it in Leviticus chapter 7, it

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comes right after the guilt offering.

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So after we've had our sins atoned for,

we now can express our thanks for our

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sweet fellowship that we have with God.

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And this thank offering that's

prescribed in Leviticus chapter 7.

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It's the only of all the offerings

that a meal, that there was a

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meal that took place in which the

person offering participated in.

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All the other offerings were here.

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We're going to give an offering and

then they would not participate in it.

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Okay, this is my time of, you

know, spiritual reality here.

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But there wasn't a time any other than

the thank offering in which it was a meal.

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And it was a symbolic meal

in which the person offering

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would be there with the priest.

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And symbolically it would

also be God present with them.

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And so now there's this offering, this

Thanksgiving meal in which the person

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was celebrating the relationship.

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Celebrating the blessings that

God had provided in their lives.

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Not told when, where, because it

was supposed to be prompted when

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we recognize our relationship.

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And blessings in God, there's

some applications for you

376

and I with this, isn't there?

377

When we thank God, when we remember

God's blessing, we want to spend

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time with God and relate to God

so that we can draw near to God.

379

Think about this for a second.

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When you give thanks, Or when

somebody gives thanks to you, what

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does that do in your relationship?

382

When you've given something to somebody,

and they sincerely, not just with empty

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words, but they sincerely express their

gratitude, how do they make you feel?

384

You feel good, don't you?

385

You, you're like, wow, this is awesome.

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And then what happens?

387

Some oxytocin is going out, and you

start to feel what with that person?

388

A closer bond.

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What about when you express gratitude?

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You're like, man, I'm just so grateful.

391

You're like, thank you so much.

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Some oxytocin is going across.

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And now what?

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You're building a closer relationship.

395

You see, this giving thanks, there's

all these great reasons, but I believe

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maybe the most profound and the

biggest reason is that it's relational.

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And God is a relational God.

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Wanting us to have a relationship with

Him and have a relationship with Him.

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with the rest of his creation.

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And so this idea of giving thanks

will allow us to connect with each

401

other in profound and deep ways but

guess what happens when we express

402

our thanks to God continually?

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It produces a greater walk with Him.

404

So I want to stay faithful.

405

I will enjoy my relationship.

406

I will have times in

which I'm truly grateful.

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And even my mental and physical being.

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We'll be blessed by this.

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Brothers and sisters, this is

some cool stuff right here.

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Come on, Leviticus!

411

As we can see here, this

idea is so profound.

412

You know what?

413

It's this magnetic force that

pulls us closer to one another.

414

You know, I had breakfast,

uh, I mentioned Chad.

415

I had breakfast with Chad the other day.

416

Uh, maybe this was about two weeks ago.

417

I don't know what it was.

418

But Chad, I thought like, you know, Chad

calls me like, Hey, wanna get breakfast?

419

I'm like, Okay, cool, Chad.

420

Uh oh, Chad got a problem with

me, you know what I'm saying?

421

And I thought that for a quick second

but then I, you know, I went away

422

like, Nah, I don't think he does.

423

At least I hope not.

424

And we get together and he's like, Hey,

I just wanted to take you out, man.

425

You and your wife, we did

something for my family.

426

And I just want to say thank you.

427

I was like, what?

428

I was like, well man,

can we go get some steak?

429

No, I'm just playing,

you know what I mean?

430

But it was so cool and so here

we are, we're talking over

431

this meal because of what?

432

Because of thanks.

433

This meal, we're enjoying each other's

company, we're laughing, we're getting a

434

chance to have depth in our conversation.

435

This was relational.

436

Appreciate the Langeleers and, and

Sonja and just expressing her gratitude

437

for certain things and being there for

the family with Luke and, and Luke's

438

parents and, and it was just like,

wow, the, the bond that we have just

439

because of gratitude for one another.

440

You see, giving thanks, it's relational.

441

It's not just the right thing.

442

It's to draw us closer to our creator.

443

And draw us closer to one another.

444

Can I get an amen?

445

So what should our response be?

446

I think it's pretty, pretty,

pretty simple and clear.

447

We should be giving thanks.

448

You know, 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 18.

449

Look at what it says.

450

It says, Give thanks in all circumstances.

451

For this is God's will

for you in Christ Jesus.

452

Jesus.

453

It stood out to me.

454

It didn't say give thanks

for all circumstances.

455

He's like, look, if you're

in a bad spot, don't be like,

456

thank you, God, it's terrible.

457

I can't do anything.

458

He didn't say that.

459

He says, but to be thankful

in those circumstances.

460

Ooh, that's something

right there, isn't it?

461

No matter what the circumstance, I still

have something I can thank God for.

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He says, because this is God's

will for you in Christ Jesus.

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This is what he designed for you.

464

Why?

465

Because that thankfulness will

create a closer connection with him.

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But there's some things that prevent

us from doing this on a daily, right?

467

On a consistent basis.

468

I know for me, there's a number of things.

469

Maybe you can relate to some of these.

470

The problem is we can't maintain this.

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So some things stop us.

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I know for me, maybe the biggest one

is I can take things for granted.

473

I get so used to just

having so many blessings.

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I'm just like, man, this is just life.

475

I should just expect this.

476

You know, I took, you know, I should

take, uh, take for granted my, my mom.

477

She used to, you know,

I got to brag to my mom.

478

And this is crazy.

479

Some of y'all look down on me,

but even in high school, my

480

mom used to make lunch for me.

481

Yeah.

482

Come on.

483

Y'all like, wow, she did that.

484

I thought every mom did that.

485

And then one day me and

her got into an argument.

486

She decided I'm not going

to do this for you anymore.

487

And I got mad and I started

complaining to the homies at school,

488

like, Man, my mom, man, she ain't

even making me lunch anymore.

489

They were like, what?

490

You complaining because your mom

don't give you lunch anymore?

491

I was like, yeah, your

mom don't give you lunch.

492

They were like, no!

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I said, oh, I better be quiet then.

494

You know what I'm saying?

495

I could take granted for Karina and

she just does so much I'd be like, Oh,

496

that's just what all wives do and then I

realize no, that's not what all wives do.

497

And so it makes me grateful and

that's why I need to be grateful.

498

But I just take things for granted.

499

Maybe you can relate or maybe you can't.

500

God, you just do so much for me

so I just take it for granted.

501

Another thing that maybe stops is we

focus more on the gift than the giver.

502

Thank you God for giving us and we

just hold this gift, whatever it may

503

be, and just forget to truly express

gratitude, not just with words, but

504

with our life choices, our actions.

505

Another area or another way in which we

could do this is we, again, going back to

506

what I said earlier, we can feel entitled,

believe that we deserve something.

507

Another way in which we can.

508

Stop the stop us from being thankful

as we think we've earned it.

509

I've caused this.

510

It was my hard work, my determination,

my intellect, my skill, my ability,

511

my talent that got me to this point.

512

Therefore, we're deceived.

513

Thinking it was all about us.

514

You know, no person is self made.

515

You know, there's a

self made millionaires.

516

No person is self made.

517

Because even if you're a self-made

millionaire, there was a system in place

518

in which you were to take advantage of it.

519

You didn't create the system.

520

You're, I'm a self-made a musician.

521

Well, somebody on YouTube

showed you how to play.

522

Somebody made that guitar,

you didn't make that guitar.

523

You get what I'm saying?

524

And that's no shot at anybody in here.

525

Okay.

526

But this idea that we've earned it.

527

No, there's always been some form

of a blessing through somebody

528

in which we were able to take

advantage of and be able to excel in.

529

And so we should never have a posture of I

deserve and I've earned this because we've

530

all been the beneficiaries of someone,

someone, but ultimately of God's blessed

531

kindness and unmerited favor upon us.

532

So then what's the

remedy to get over this?

533

I've been, you know, learning

a lot of things recently here.

534

But one of the things I've been

learning is this idea of reflection.

535

And I believe the remedy for us is to have

times of reflection and intentionality.

536

Times where we reflect upon

the blessings from God.

537

We just sit back and we reflect upon it.

538

And as you go there, you actually

start to go, Wow, I need a lot

539

more time than I had anticipated.

540

Because I am so richly blessed.

541

But then we need times of intentionality.

542

In time in which we're

intentionally thanking God for

543

the blessings in our lives.

544

And deciding I'm going to

act upon my gratitude for all

545

that you are doing in my life.

546

So let's get real practical

here for this week.

547

So let's get some action steps here.

548

All right.

549

We love lists.

550

Go ahead and write down

a top 10 gratitude list.

551

Okay.

552

All right.

553

And do this by tomorrow.

554

You can do this tonight or, or, or,

or tomorrow, but right now your top 10

555

gratitude list mean the top 10 things

in your life that you are grateful for.

556

And then thank God, be very

intentional and thanking God

557

for those things in your life.

558

And then I want you to do here is

keep that list for future reference.

559

Hold on to it.

560

Be able to use it.

561

Maybe you edit it as time goes by.

562

But you'll be able to have an opportunity

in which you go over and you're going

563

to be so filled with appreciation.

564

It's going to come out in expression.

565

But it should come out

in the way that we live.

566

And then lastly, another cool

tip here I learned here is that

567

consistent Thanksgiving only prayers.

568

And what I mean by that is you

have a prayer time in which

569

all you do is you thank God.

570

You don't ask Him for anything.

571

Now this is really hard.

572

He'll be like, well, God,

I'm thankful, but if you can

573

also work in this situation.

574

But you just want to refrain and

God, I'm just going to thank you.

575

In fact, I was praying yesterday.

576

I was walking around.

577

I was like, God, I just want

to have a time of Thanksgiving.

578

And I was like, but can I

just squeeze in two requests?

579

Can I just get those two?

580

I said, I apologize.

581

I'm going to squeeze those in

and then I'm going to thank you.

582

You know what I'm saying?

583

So I'm just being honest with you.

584

It was tough for me yesterday,

but man, those times are good and

585

I need to incorporate them more.

586

So I'm grateful for God

revealing this to me.

587

But times in which you just thank God.

588

But again, this is being intentional.

589

All I want to do.

590

I don't want to ask you for anything

because you've been so good to me.

591

I just want to acknowledge and thank

you for your presence, for your

592

relationship with me, for my salvation,

for the word, for your spirit.

593

Thank you for the spiritual

people who influence you guys.

594

See what I'm saying here.

595

And so at time where you consistently

thank God only as we close here, the

596

act of Thanksgiving is important to God.

597

It deeply affects our souls.

598

It affects our faith.

599

But most of all, I believe

giving thanks is relational.

600

And this thanksgiving should

lead to thanks living.

601

And that'll be next week.

602

We're going to have Kyle come up and

he's going to preach next week on

603

from thanksgiving to thanks living.

604

But as we consider the thank offering

that was explained in Leviticus chapter

605

7, I want to give you one more note here.

606

This thing offering it had

to be eaten all that day.

607

And so as they sacrificed the, the,

the animal and they had this offering,

608

there was too much food, but it

had to all be eaten in that day.

609

So what did that mean?

610

That the person who offered it had

to include others with them to enjoy

611

and participate in this celebration.

612

Again, the Thanksgiving meal.

613

And as we have time this week with friends

and family, let's have a Leviticus.

614

Seven style thank offering

meal in which we have time with

615

friends in which we celebrate.

616

We acknowledge.

617

We recognize, and we express our thanks to

our heavenly Father who's been good to us.

618

Let's close out in Colossians

chapter three, verse 15.

619

Let the peace of Christ rule in your

hearts since as members of one body, you

620

were called to peace and be thankful.

621

Let the message of Christ dwell

among you richly as you teach and

622

admonish one another with all wisdom.

623

Through psalms, hymns, and songs

from the Spirit, singing to God

624

with gratitude in your hearts.

625

And whatever you do, whether in

word or deed, do it all in the name

626

of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks

to God the Father through Him.

627

Thanksgiving is more than church.