Psalm 145:1-4

Credit for the Powerpoint Content and Thanksgiving research are from the Family Research Council, Thanksgiving Sermon Starter, 2013

INTRO: What happened to Thanksgiving?
Seems like we went from HALLOWEEN to CHRISTMAS
STARBUCKS put out their Christmas line earlier than ever.
For many Americans, Thanksgiving is becoming little more than a speed bump between Halloween and Christmas.
There is a cartoon of a Frustrated Pilgrim complaining that we should finish Thanksgiving dinner before putting up the Christmas Tree!

This year, OPEN on THANKSGIVING: Wallmart, Sears, K Mart, Best Buy, Old Navy, Target.

THANKFULNESS is a CHARACTERISTIC of godliness. Our national day of Thanksgiving is a call to give God thanks for his blessings.

THIS is WHY secularists want to replace Thanksgiving with SHOPPING.
THIS is WHY secularists want to shift attention from THANKSGIVING to FOOTBALL and TURKEY
THIS is WHY secularists pretend to ignore the TRUE HISTORY of THANKSGIVING in America

A WARNING Against INGRATITUDE
ISRAEL forgot to give thanks!
Our fathers, when they were in Egypt, did not consider your wondrous works; they did not remember the abundance of your steadfast love, but rebelled by the sea, at the Red Sea.” (Psalm 106:7, ESV)
and have forgotten the Lord, your Maker, who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth, and you fear continually all the day because of the wrath of the oppressor, when he sets himself to destroy? And where is the wrath of the oppressor?” (Isaiah 51:13, ESV)
“They did not say, ‘Where is the Lord who brought us up from the land of Egypt, who led us in the wilderness, in a land of deserts and pits, in a land of drought and deep darkness, in a land that none passes through, where no man dwells?’” (Jeremiah 2:6, ESV)

INGRATITUDE characteristic of the WICKED “For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.” (Rom 1:21)

PROSPERITY leads to INGRATITUDE. “The more they increased, the more they sinned against me; I will change their glory into shame.” (Hosea 4:7, ESV)

A PILGRIM Thanksgiving
They were a Godly people
Separatists. separated from the Church of England.
Met secretly in a town called Scrooby. King James I demanded that groups like them conform to the official church of he would: “Harry them out of the land.”

They were a Persecuted people.
ENGLAND: Under the 1559 Act of Uniformity, it was illegal not to attend official Church of England services, with a fine of one shilling (£0.05; about £16 today[3]) for each missed Sunday and holy day. The penalties for conducting unofficial services included imprisonment and larger fines.
Under the policy of this time, Barrowe and Greenwood were executed for sedition in 1593.
Persecuted in England, they left for HOLLAND
Lived in Holland 12 years, ut life was difficult and their younger people were being lured into worldliness.

They were a DETERMINED people
Saved their money and hired TWO SHIPS to take them to America. The SPEEDWELL took them to ENGLAND to meet with the MAYFLOWER, but the SPEEDWELL was leaking. Down to just one ship, 20 had to stay behind. The rest (103) set sail on September 6, 1620 in the Mayflower.

TWO MONTHS at sea left everyone sea sick and malnourished. BUT …… Before they disembarked, they huddled beneath the deck and drafted a self-governing document they called the Mayflower Compact that begins: “In the Name of God” and gave this reason for their coming: “For the Glory of God and the Advancement of the Christian Faith.”

They GAVE GOD THE GLORY from the beginning.

The PILGRIMS faced great HARDSHIP
The FIRST WINTER. Cold – ½ died

SPRING – Desperation.
They were out of food.
SAMOSET came out to meet them. He introduced the Pilgrim’s to SQUANTO.
Squanto would be a messenger from God for the Pilgrim’s
He was a PAUTEXET Indian who was captured and sold as a slave. A Spanish monk reportedly rescued him and taught him the Christian faith.
Squanto eventually made his way to England and then back to America in 1619, a year before the Pilgrim’s.
Squanto helped the Pilgrim’s with PLAITING, FISHING, and KNOWLEDGE of the woods.

FALL 1621. The Pilgrims gathered a bountiful harvest.

Ninety Wampanoag Indians joined the fifty Pilgrims for three days of feasting (which included shellfish, lobsters, turkey, corn bread, berries, deer, and other foods), of play (the young Pilgrim and Wampanoag men engaged in races, wrestling matches, and athletic events), and of prayer.12 As was their custom, Elder William Brewster would have led them in a prayer of thanksgiving to God for His goodness. This celebration and its accompanying activities were the origin of the holiday that Americans now celebrate each November.

EARLY THANKSGIVINGS in the US
The Massachusetts Bay colony and neighboring colonies followed the Pilgrims’ example of calling for days of thanksgiving. They also adopted their practice of calling for times of prayer and fasting.
The New England colonies typically called for a day of prayer and fasting in the spring and a day of prayer and thanksgiving in the fall.
During the REVOLUTION, Continental Congress issued eight proclamations for a Day of Thanksgiving and Prayer. It is also worth mentioning that the same Congress also issued seven proclamations for a Day of Fasting and Prayer, for a total of 15 official prayer proclamations during the American Revolution.

The BILL of RIGHTS was apporved by Congress on Sept 24, 1789
The NEXT DAY, Sept, 25, 1789, Congress adopted the following resolution: Elias Boudinot: “…could not think of letting the session pass over without offering an opportunity to all the citizens of the United States of joining, with one voice, in returning to Almighty God their sincere thanks for the many blessings he had poured down upon them.” Congressional Resolution: “Resolved, That a joint committee of both Houses be directed to wait upon the President of the United States to request that he would recommend to the people of the United States a Day of Public Thanksgiving and Prayer…” Annals of Congress September 25, 1789

President George Washington issued the first federal Thanksgiving proclamation on October 3, 1789, declaring in part: Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the Providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; and Whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me ‘to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness;’ Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the twenty-sixth day of November next, to be devoted by the People of these United States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; That we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks, for His kind care and protection of the People of this country…; for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of His Providence…

President Abraham Lincoln…
During the Civil War, at a time where the UNION was losing many battles, Lincoln called the American people to adopt the attitude of gratitude:
The year that is drawing toward its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the Source from which they come, others have been added which are of so extraordinary a nature that they can not fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever-watchful providence of Almighty God. . . . No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, Who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy…20

Thanksgiving Day Today
In 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt began celebrating Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday of each November,
in 1941, Congress permanently established that day as the national Thanksgiving holiday.

We have MUCH to be thankful for

Let’s remember these blessings as we celebrate THANKSGIVING
“One generation shall commend your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts. On the glorious splendor of your majesty, and on your wondrous works, I will meditate. They shall speak of the might of your awesome deeds, and I will declare your greatness. They shall pour forth the fame of your abundant goodness and shall sing aloud of your righteousness. The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. The Lord is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made. All your works shall give thanks to you, O Lord, and all your saints shall bless you!” (Psalm 145:4–10, ESV)