Three Reasons to Give Thanks to God - Pastor Daniel Batarseh

Father, we are so thankful for this day to be gathered together in your house. We ask, Lord, for your mercy that we may be able to give you wholeheartedly our minds and our hearts in response to this word. And, Lord, we're praying for a a true word from you. Lord, may it be given in the power of the Holy Spirit. May it truly help us, Lord, be more like Jesus and see Jesus more clearly.

And so, Lord, in in the midst of all the busyness that we have today, all the plans and all the events that are happening even after this service, Lord, we just choose right now to be like Mary and to sit at your feet and to receive from you. Lord, we wait on you, and we are eager to hear from you. Would you do so through the scriptures in such a way where we know that you are speaking to us? This is our heart's cry, Lord, this morning. In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen. If you're a part of this church, you know, even if you're not a part of this church, that we're planning to spend Thanksgiving together as a family to just reflect on the goodness of God, to worship him, and to just be in each other's presence with the hopes that Christ would be so real in our presence. And not only us, but we know that this week, this entire nation is gonna be celebrating this thing called Thanksgiving. And there's gonna be time off, and there's gonna be people off school and people off work, and they're gonna be gathering together, believer, nonbeliever alike. But here's the reality about the Christian.

Even though the world is going to be celebrating some form of Thanksgiving, and to the unbelieving, my question is how terrible Thanksgiving must be if you don't know who to give your thanks to. But for the believer, when it comes to not just a a celebration, not just a week, not just some holiday, we have a unique relationship with God in comparison to the rest of the world, even other religions. We have the true and living God, and because of that unique relationship with God, it demands that we display a unique expression of thanksgiving. So this whole world is gonna show some form of thanksgiving, and they're gonna maybe, maybe, maybe not express some kind of thanksgiving. But regardless of that, the Christian, because of his or her unique relationship with God, it demands and should cause them to display a unique expression of Thanksgiving.

And what's that unique expression? To be thankful at all times for all things, regardless of whatever's happening in their lives. Be thankful in all circumstances for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. And for the true believer in this house, I hope that's all of us, If we were to go one by one and ask for a reason why you were thankful in light of your relationship with God, I'm sure that every single person can come up with a unique reason why, I hope at least. And if we've run out of reasons, the scriptures have given us hundreds of reasons why we should not only be grateful, but be grateful at all times no matter what's happening in our lives.

But, oh, how we forget them even if there's hundreds of them. Did we not forget them so easily? And this morning in this very simple, maybe even perhaps short message, one goal, that as we celebrate Thanksgiving together as a family, that we wouldn't go with our hearts unstirred, but stirred, realizing some, not all, but just even some of the glorious benefits that you and I have received and been bestowed upon because of Jesus Christ, because of our relationship with God. Here are three reasons why. You and I cannot just give thanks between now and 6PM tonight, but we can remain in a state of thankfulness to such a degree that it should stagger a broken and hopeless world that's watching you and me.

Three reasons why you and I, as Christians, should remain in a state. Not the only reasons. I'm sure you and I can come up with many more. We can make this a 100 reasons, but here's three. Number one.

Number one, the God that we serve is a God of second chances. The God that we serve is a God of second chances. Oh, how can we how can we just choose one? Where can we go in the Bible to see that this God is a God that is eager to show mercy and to restore and to rebuild and to renew? Shall we go to the Israelites?

Shall we go to the rebellious people that were delivered from slavery who continually, if you're with us on Fridays, continually show their displeasure and give false accusation to the perfect one that we just sang to? Shall we go to Peter? Shall we go to Peter who boasted in his devotion and when it came to show it, he denied his devotion before a servant girl and then Christ still calls him and not just calls him, but uses him to preach the first Christian sermon and to see 3,000 come to Christ? Shall we go to David? The man after God's heart, the one who wrote so many songs, yet committed adultery and murder, and still God kept his covenant with such a man?

Where can we go? Well, for the sake of this morning, we're gonna go to a man that perhaps you and I have not thought was an object of mercy, a man by the name of Judah. Judah. Genesis chapter 38. Genesis chapter 38.

We know that Judah is one of the what? 12 sons of Jacob. And Judah was the fourth one in line. After Reuben, Simeon, and Levi, we have this man named Judah. And when you read about Judah in Genesis 49, when Jacob gives his blessings to his sons, you realize something quite amazing about how God prophetically speaks through Jacob to bless this man.

Such a blessing it was that Judah was set apart and marked for what? That the Messiah would come through his family tree. Jesus Christ is from the tribe of Judah. And now here's the natural question we can ask, and some of you might remember this from our series in Genesis. Why did God choose Judah for Christ to be born through?

You had 11 other sons. Why Judah? Why did you skip Lord through Reuben? Why did you skip through Simeon? Why did you skip through Levi?

Why Judah? And maybe the simple answer is, well, that's because God is sovereign and He can elect who He wants for His service. That's up to Him. But I believe there's a more profound reason why. And I believe if we take the time to study it, we would realize again there's a there's a picture here of God's mercy, His blessing even upon a man like Him.

Because when you realize Judah, not just why Judah, when you read about his life and how scandalous he was, it begs even the question to a more serious degree. How could you choose Judah? Never mind why. Genesis chapter 38. Before this chapter, we know that in Genesis chapter 37, if you're familiar with the story of Joseph, Joseph was sold into slavery by his own blood brothers.

And who was the mastermind behind this thing? Judah. Judah. He was the one who planned and schemed this whole thing to come to pass. And then we come to Genesis 38, and there seems to be this weird interlude.

We see this just random scene thinking that we're gonna find out what's gonna happen to Joseph, but no. The the chapter is dedicated to this man, Judah, and it just really unveils more how ugly this person really is or was. What happens here with Judah after he sells his brother and then goes to his father and lies and says, yeah, we believe that some beast ate him up. Here's his coat and here's some blood on it. So there's some deception with this man.

Verse one, it happened at the time that Judah went down from his brothers and turned aside to a Surna Dlamite whose name was Hirah. First thing we can notice about Judah is that he went down. That's a physical picture of a spiritual state. This guy was going down physically. He moved, but spiritually, he was headed down as well.

Read Jonah, and you realize that when he walks away from the call of God, notice in the first chapter how many times it says he went down. He went down. He went down. He went down. He goes down, and what does he do?

Verse two, there Judah saw the daughter of a certain Canaanite whose name was Shuah. He took her and went into her, and she conceived and bore a son. What does this man do on top of the fact that he sells his brother into save slavery? He deceives his own father. He now comes to a point in his life where he marries a Canaanite.

Now if you're familiar with Genesis, you realize that the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and even Jacob, that was not a part of their plan for their children. Do not marry somebody outside of the family. Don't marry foreigners. Don't marry these people who worship false gods. And so what does Judah do the exact opposite of that?

He actually marries somebody that would have broken the hearts of their parents. He marries a foreign woman, a false God worshiper, and it doesn't stop there. He now has these children, finds a wife for one of them in verse six. And Judah took a wife for Er, his firstborn. He had three children, Er, Onan, and Shelah, and her name was Tamar.

And what happened? Was a wicked man. He marries this woman, Tamar, and God kills him because of his wickedness. So what did he do? He he did at least something that was right.

He took the other son and says, fulfill your job as a brother and marry her and let her have a child. Get her pregnant. So the other one comes in and what happens? He realizes that this wasn't a good deal for him and so he does not get her pregnant. And because of this wickedness in the sight of the Lord, verse 10 says, he put him to death also.

So what does Judah do? Something unlawful, something conniving. He tells to Tamar, I'm not gonna give you my last son because he's not old enough yet. And so wait till he grows up, and then I'll give it to him. But the scripture tells us that he did that because he was afraid that she was some kind of bad luck, that she's just killing off all his sons.

So he's gonna hold her back. He's gonna hold him back and say, listen. Just wait till he's older. Now that's cruel especially in this context because here's this woman now in that kind of a society who needs a husband and it doesn't have a husband. If she's a widow, she at least has a son or a child that can take care of her, and she has none of that.

And Judah's withholding that from her because he's afraid for Sheila. So I just want you to just paint this man in your mind as we're reading this chapter. So it goes even deeper than that. Finally, after Sheila does grow up, he comes to a point of age where he can actually marry Tamar. Judah's wife dies, and what does he do?

He goes on a little trip. And the idea here is that he's going to some sheep shearers, but it's not really the reason why he's going. It's a business trip, but he's really going to find something to fulfill his lust. And so what happens? Verse 13.

When Tamar was told, your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep, she took off her widow's garments and covered herself with a veil, wrapping herself up, and sat at the entrance of Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah. For she saw that Sheila was grown up, and she had not been given to him in marriage. So she's gonna come up with a plan. She's gonna take things into her own hands realizing that Sheila has grown up. She has not conceived.

She's not been given a husband. I'm in big trouble here, so I gotta come up with a solution. And so what does she do? She pretends to be a prostitute. And in hearing that Judah is going on this little trip, She can ask a scheme to come to a place where she will be on the side of the road and Judah will come along and she will seduce him, and he's actually gonna he's gonna actually sleep with this prostitute, which says something about the character of the man for his own daughter-in-law to so have studied him thinking that this plan will actually work.

So it says something about Judah that he was a sensual man. He was a lustful man. He was a man that couldn't control his own desires, that he had to just give himself up to a prostitute, and Tamar played on that And said, okay. That's gonna do it. She wasn't doing it for a lustful reason.

She wasn't doing it for vengeance. She was doing it because she wanted what was rightfully hers. I need children. So Judah comes along the scene. Sure enough, he sees her, and it says in verse 15, she he thought she was a prostitute for she had covered her face.

And then he says, come. Let me come into you. For he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law. And then she says, well, what's the deal here? To paraphrase, he says, I'll give you a a young goat as a payment that's not with me now, but I'll give it to you.

And she says, give me a pledge. Remember that word. Give me a pledge until you do. And he says, what do you want me to give you? And look here in verse 18.

He said, what pledge shall I give you? She replied, your signet and your cord and your staff that is in your hands. So he gave them. Now we think what's so important about that? A signet and a staff and a cord.

What does that mean? Well, it's equivalent to today's perhaps Social Security number and your driver's license. There would be some form of identity on those pieces. And she says, give me those things and then we can do this. And he says, sure.

No problem. This man was so consumed with lust that he was willing to give up those valuables just for a one night stand. He gives these items to her. So we see this man. You're thinking Jesus chose this?

Jesus chose Judah to be born through, to have that kind of a heritage, so to speak. It only goes deeper than this. Comes to a point where he goes now. He finds this he finds out that this works out. He he goes back to get a goat, and he wants to find this prostitute again nowhere to be found.

Asked around, no such a prostitute around. He goes, you know what? This is getting embarrassing. Let's just move on with life, and I'll figure out those things later. Few months later, he hears that his daughter-in-law is pregnant.

And not only pregnant, but pregnant by immorality. And look at verse 24, how he responds to such an accusation. Moreover, she's pregnant by morality, and Judah said, bring her out and let her be burned. Immediate judgment for the very same sin that he committed, not the same sin that he committed, with the same person that he committed it with, not knowing. Says, let's kill her.

Let's burn her. This is hypocrisy at its finest. Jesus chose Judah. Why? How?

Lord, aren't you holy? He is holy, but he's also a God of second chances. What happens at this scene? Tamar comes out right before she's about to be executed, and look what she says here in verse 25 in the latter part. And she said, please identify whose these are, the signet and the cord and the staff.

Notice what she did not say. She did not come up to Judah and say, these are your staff, your signal No. She didn't say this belongs to you. She gave him the opportunity to identify it. So she comes up and says, can you identify who's these belong to?

Knowing that she's pregnant and they're about to kill her and the baby? And Judah in that moment had an opportunity to deny it, kill her off, and he can go off scot free. Be honest. What would you do in that position? Please identify these items.

You know what he does? He does. Then Judah identified them in verse 26 and said, she is more righteous than I. Since I did not give her to my son, Sheila, first thing he does, confesses. He confesses his wrongdoing and acknowledges his lack of righteousness and integrity, and he grants it to her confession.

Oh, now now this is making a little bit more sense. He confesses his sin. Not only does he confess his sin in that moment, he repents of it. Why? Because the next part, and he did not know her again.

So he didn't commit that act again. He was sobered in the reality of himself, his lack of holiness, his lack of righteousness. He confesses and he repents. And just in case anybody might be confused or might dismiss that reality, we see that later on this man's repentance was true. This man really did have a turning point in his life.

Judah was never the same after this moment. And here's proof of that. Fast forward, you realize that Joseph comes into that place where he is sitting as a second of command of Egypt. A famine breaks out. We know the story that it affects even Canaan.

So this family goes to Joseph not knowing it's Joseph. Joseph places a test. He wants to know if they've really changed, if they're really sorrowful for selling their brother himself at the slavery. And so he says, if you want to continue in this, you need to send back your brother Benjamin because they told him about the brother Benjamin. Now Jacob, the father is already terrified because he had lost Joseph.

So he already has this post traumatic thing going on. And now they come back and a famine comes again, and you could turn to Genesis 43, and they run out of food. And Jacob says, guys go back. Go back to this man and ask for food again. And this is you don't understand.

If we don't bring back Benjamin, it's not gonna happen. And so after convincing their father, look who steps in to make sure that this is actually going to happen, that nothing wrong will happen to Benjamin. And just in case if somebody something did, verse eight shows us, and Judah of all people and Judah, what does he do? Said to Israel his father, send the boy with me, and we will arise and go that we may live and not die, both we and you and also our little ones. Look at verse nine.

I will be a pledge of his safety. Remember that word pledge? I will be a pledge of his safety. From my hand, you shall require him. If I do not bring him back to you and set him before you, then let me bear the blame forever.

Pledge. We we read that back in Genesis 38 where he gave a pledge, and that word pledge can be translated as deposit. It can be translated to step in. And the only time we see that word reoccur again after Genesis 38 is in Genesis 43. I'll be a pledge for him.

Then we go to Genesis 44. They face Joseph. Joseph comes up with another plan to put Benjamin in a dangerous position. And what happens after they realize that Benjamin's gonna be kept back? Genesis 44 verse 32.

Judah steps in again. And what does he say in verse 32? He says, for your servant became a pledge of safety for the boy to my father saying, if I do not bring him back to you, then I shall bear the blame before my father all my life. Now, therefore, please let your servant remain instead of the boy as a Judah, before his confession and repentance, made a pledge. What kind of a pledge?

He made a deposit to secure something that would satisfy his flesh. Now Judah, post confession, post repentance makes a different kind of pledge. The same man that sold Joseph into slavery was willing to pledge himself to be a slave for his brother Benjamin. Turned around person, different man. And we think, why did God choose Judah?

I believe this reason. Because you look at Reuben, the firstborn, he committed his sin. He slept with his father's concubine, but you find nothing in the scriptures where he confesses or repents of it. You go down to Simeon and Levi, and what do you see? They tear up an entire village in their wrath.

No confession. Then you come to Judah, sells his brother into slavery, deceives his father, marries a Canaanite woman, holds back his son from rightfully giving it to his daughter-in-law, sleeps with his daughter-in-law, hypocritically judges her, but he confesses and he turns. And when it comes to Genesis 49, I believe God was going down the list to see who would carry the seed that would be a blessing to many nations, and then it stops at Judah because he came to a point where he says, I'm a sinner. I'm not righteous. And God says, that's a person that I can rewrite the script of their life.

You need to know something today whether you're a Christian or not. If you are not a Christian in this place, God can rewrite the story of your life when you confess and repent and acknowledge that you need a savior. But even if you are a believer, no matter how much of a mess that you've made with your life, no matter how dark, no matter how deep you've gone, realize this. The moment you just confess and repent, that's the secret. You confess it.

You repent of it. You look at it and say, I don't want that anymore. You will not even know. You cannot even imagine how God can rewrite the story of your life because we serve a God of second chances and third chances and fourth chances and five chances. I'm thankful.

I'm thankful for this kind of a God that doesn't cut you off when you show a moment of faithlessness. That even some people even in here, perhaps even in your attempts to serve God, you have fallen short. You've proven to be inconsistent. You've proven to do something wrong because you had the zeal, but you didn't have the wisdom. And even there, I can tell you I've been there especially in the younger years of my walk with Christ where I felt like a failure because I've I let that zeal go and I didn't necessarily have the wisdom.

And God looks at somebody like that, and we can feel so guilty even in those kind of attempts. And God says, you have no idea. I can rewrite the story. I can rewrite the script. That's the kind of God that you and I serve, and all it requires is for you and I to acknowledge it and to repent of it saying, Lord, here I am.

God says, oh, I want to bless you. See the only thing that will withhold his blessing and the rewriting of the script of your life is when you don't confess it, when you keep it to yourself, and you kinda minimize the issue, and you make all these justifications for why it happened and why you did it and you make yourself the victim. God says, I can't I can't rewrite the story of your life until you come to a place where you you know that apart from my grace, you have nothing. We serve a God of second chances. Second reason to be thankful amongst the hundreds of reasons in the scriptures, we serve a God that turns everything in your life for your good.

We serve a God who turns everything in our life for our good. We know the scripture, do we not? Romans eight twenty eight. For we know for those who love God, all things work together for the good, for those who are called according to his purpose. Sometimes we can so rehearse and regurgitate scriptures that we forget the power that is pregnant in those truths.

Think about it. You coming into relationship to with God through Christ puts you in a position that in this life, not just promises for the next life, that in this life anything that is thrown at you, anything that you experience, God can take, turn around, make it for your good, for my good, for His glory, for His purpose. Now that is not automatic for every Christian. You say, how can you say that? Because it says, we know that for those who love God, for those who love God, all things work together for the good.

So if you're walking in willful disobedience, if you're not walking according to his ways, if you don't love God which is manifest in a major way in walking in his commandments, that promise is not necessarily given to you. Only for those who love him, who've said it in their hearts to say, I want to live for the glory of God. I want to obey Him. I want to do what He's called me to do. That person in Christ can guarantee for themselves and sleep well at night because everything has been ordained and whatever wickedness, evils, what it God takes it, filters it, and makes it for your good and His glory.

And if there's any example we can see in that is the person who experienced Romans eight twenty eight in the Old Covenant, and he had his own version of the verse in Genesis fifty twenty. We know the scripture, right? What Joseph said, what you've meant for evil, God has turned for good. What you have meant for evil against me, God has turned it for the good. That is the Old Testament version of Romans eight twenty eight.

And Joseph's life is riddled with these truths. You can see it from the beginning to the end. And there's one place that I believe we can all relate to to some degree. Perhaps not because I don't think anybody in here has been thrown into jail. I don't think anybody in here has been sold into slavery by their family.

Anybody? Okay. I know I haven't. So we're talking about a man in his teenage years that has been sold into slavery, that has been falsely accused of rape, and that is now in a prison in Genesis 40. And that's where we need to turn.

Genesis 40. What happens at this point? He is now in a prison for false accusation, And there are two men at one point who join him in prison, a chief baker and another person who was a cupbearer. And it says in verse five, in one night they both dreamed. They were thrown into prison by Pharaoh, two men, and they both had a dream on the same night.

And the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were confined in the prison, each in his own dream and each dream with its own interpretation. When Joseph came to them in the morning, he saw that they were troubled. I love that. Because here you have a man who was in prison, and if there's anybody who should have been in a bad mood, it was Joseph. And I'm sold by my brothers, falsely accused when things were looking good in Potiphar's house.

And I thought, you know, I can make maybe make a living out of this thing, and maybe I have my own family here in Egypt. I'm not in my hometown, but, yeah, things look promising. In one moment, everything's turned, goes into prison. If there's anybody who should have been a negative individual, it was this person. If anybody had should have had their shoulders down and their heads low, it was Joseph.

But I love what the scripture says that Joseph took his eyes off of himself, and he was able to see others who were distraught and in need. And because of that, that was the beginning point of something that would now, as a second consequence, benefit him. So because Joseph's eyes weren't on himself and on his own situation, he looks up and he sees two men that are distraught, and he approaches them and says, what's going on? Please never forget that in your own life. When things don't go your way, when things are actually against you, by the grace of God, don't look at yourself too much because there's people around you that need grace, that need what God has put in you.

And Joseph shows us that. He comes to a place where he sees them, and he asked them, why are your faces downcast today? And verse eight, they said to him, we have dreams, and there is no one to interpret him. And Joseph said to them, do not interpretations belong to God. Please tell them to me.

So you have two men who have two different dreams, and they give the interpretation. You have the cupbearer who gives the interpretation, and it's a favorable one. Then you have the one who was a baker. He gives a dream and he saw that it was favorable and he saw the interpretation. Oh, maybe that's gonna be good for me too.

Gives his dream, it's not. You're gonna lose your head in three days. But back to the one who was a cupbearer, he interprets the dream and he realizes that this person who was thrown into prison by Pharaoh is in three days gonna be restored to his position and serve Pharaoh again. And in this moment, can you imagine what goes through Joseph's mind? Who was thrown into prison, who as we just read received that interpretation from God?

I don't know about you, but if I was Joseph, this is what I would be thinking. This is my opportunity to get out. Oh, God. Look how wise you are. You you you put me in here.

I get it. You're in control. These circumstances didn't go my way, but here I am now. You brought this person and I get to interpret their dream because I can't interpret dreams. You're the one who gives me interpretations, and this is my escape route.

God, you're so wise. God, you're so good. And he says, please do not forget me when you get out of here. Remember me. Be favorable to me.

Mention me. Plead my case. Why? And he says, verse 14, only remember me when it is well with you and please do me the kindness to mention me to Pharaoh and so get me out of this house. For I was indeed stolen out of the land of the Hebrews, and here also I've done nothing that they should put me into the pit.

I'm not here for the right reason. I was sold into this place. Would you be favorable to me? And surely the man must have responded to to something to give him some kind of confidence. And think about Joseph.

Okay. Any day now. Any day now somebody's gonna open up this cell and they're gonna tell me that I have a meeting with pharaoh and I can explain. Three nights go by. Nothing.

Or maybe he has to get comfortable at home first. Seven nights go by. Nothing. One month goes by. Nothing.

Six months go by. Still no answer. How long did Joseph wait in prison? Chapter 41 verse one. After two whole years.

Not two weeks, brothers and sisters. Not two months. Two whole years this man wait in prison. You know what I don't see between him asking in chapter 41 verse one? I don't read of this man complaining or whining.

This is the staggering thing about this man. He's just waiting. And what happens? Joseph gets called after these two years to interpret a gene for pharaoh. Why?

Because all things work together for the good for those who love him. You know what the most loving thing God could have done for Joseph was keep him in prison for two years. You say, how? If Joseph would have gotten his way and after just a few days of interpreting that dream, he would have left. What do you think Joseph would have done?

Thanks, Egypt. It was a great time. I'm going back home. Next ride up. Going to Egypt, going to Israel, going to Canaan, take me with you.

Or maybe he would have just established his own life in Egypt. You know, I'm not gonna go back home. I kinda like it here. I'm just gonna do my own thing. Normal family, normal job.

That could have happened if he had left early. But what did God do in his wisdom? I'm gonna keep you in this place. Why? Because while you're in prison, I'm preparing you.

And while I'm preparing you, I'm preparing Pharaoh and I'm preparing Egypt for you to serve. And I'm gonna keep you right in this place where you might feel stuck because at the right time when Pharaoh has his dreams, Pharaoh's cupbearer will know exactly where to find you when he needs a man to interpret the dreams for him. So I'm gonna keep you right there. So you think about a faithful follower of the living God who might feel stuck in life and doesn't understand why, and God is working in the background. Where if we would have it our own way, and even if we were to interpret the events like Joseph could have, this is my way out.

You've given me the wisdom. God, you're awesome. I'm out of here. God says, hold on. Two more years.

Because I can't have you go somewhere else. I need you exactly where you are right now until I prepare the scene for you to go up and to glorify my name. So we serve a God that when things don't make sense, he is drawing out exactly how we need to live for him in such a way where you could at the end of the picture say what Joseph said, every evil that has been thrown at me, God, you have turned it around for my good. You might not feel that right now. You might not see that right now, but that's okay.

Wait till you get to the other end. And this is why you and I can be thankful this morning, thankful every single day even when you have a bad one, even when your emotions are lying to you, even though all hell is breaking loose in your house. God, you've promised me that all things are gonna work out. Let that be your pillow at night when you sleep. Lastly, we see something wonderful concerning God.

We serve a God of second chances. We serve a God who turns everything for our good and for his glory. And lastly, we serve a God who is the source of every good thing in your life and mine. James one. James chapter one.

James chapter one. James wants to let the Christians know something about the goodness of God. He says in verse 16, do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Do not be deceived about what? We have to read the verses before when he talks about how temptation works.

And he's teaching the believers that temptation in life, your struggle against sin, is never authored by God. God has never been tempted, so he cannot tempt you. And so you and I can never come to a place where we struggle against sin and look at God saying, why are you doing this to me? And so he comes to the point in verse 16 where he says, do not be deceived. He says that right after he talks about what sin will do.

Temptation will lead to sin. Sin will produce death. Do not be deceived about this truth, my brothers. But that verse is not just talking about those verses before it. It's the hinge to the next verse where he says, Do not be deceived, my brothers, about verse 17 as well.

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above coming down from the Father of lights. So his audience perhaps are in such confusion where they're beginning to look at their problems and specifically their sin issues and saying this is because God. He says, hold up. Don't be deceived. That's because of your sin nature.

And not only that, do not be deceived of this latter truth that the only thing that you do receive from God is anything that you can label in your life as good and as perfect. Do not be deceived about this. You know what that tells me? That we walk in some form of deception when we fail to realize everything that is labeled and categorized as good and perfect is from God. When we fail to see God as the ultimate source of these things, we're walking in deception.

And God says, through this word, you need to know that no matter how it came into your life, you know how no matter how it was packaged or whatever human vessel it came through, you can trace it back to me delivering it from my hand. I'm the one who gives everything that is good and perfect. Don't be deceived about that. How how should that change the way we live? Because you think everything is from God?

You're talking about everything? You know how I worked hard for that? Do you understand how I got to my promotion? Do you understand what I had to do to get that meal? Everything is from God.

In fact, Paul uses that very same truth when he evangelizes in Acts chapter 14. You need to see this verse with me. In Acts chapter 14 verse 16, look how he speaks to a group of idolaters when trying to preach the gospel. He includes this truth because this goodness, though it is bestowed upon the believer, it's bestowed upon all of humanity. Now the world might not see that, but we know that.

And that's why it demands us to display a unique expression of thanksgiving. So in Acts fourteen sixteen, look what Paul says. In past generations, he allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways, yet he did not leave himself without witness. For he did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons. Look at this word.

Satisfying your hearts with food and gladness. Did you have a good lunch the other day? Know that God satisfied your heart. Had a nice cup of coffee? God satisfies your heart.

Do you realize that God is the author of all those wonderful things that we enjoy and oftentimes we partake of and completely keep God out of it in our minds? How true is that? Think about God even in his wisdom in creating something as insignificant as food. That he could have made everything taste bland and everything have the same color, but he goes, no. I want to satisfy.

I want you to enjoy. Here's different flavors. Here's what happens when you take these flavors and put them together. Look at these colors. And God says through Acts, as he's evangelizing, Paul's evangelizing, he's the source of those things.

Why don't you turn from these false gods and come to the God who bestowed these blessings upon you? You don't see it because of your ignorance, but you'll realize it when your eyes are open in Christ. And if you want to enter into a thrilling relationship with God, ask him for the ability to see him as the author of every good and perfect thing in your life, whether it's a relationship with a friend or the fact that you had a nice lunch at that restaurant the other day. He did not leave himself without witness. So you know what these truths up to this point leave us?

The fact that we serve a God of second chances, the fact that we serve a God that turns everything around for our good, the fact that we serve a God who is the source of every good and perfect gift, you know what where that leaves us? It leaves us without excuse when it comes to Thanksgiving. It should bring us to a place that to not give thanks in every moment is pure craziness. And if there's any man as we close who displayed that, who actually experienced all three of those things that we spoke about, it's the Apostle Paul. There's a a chunk of the scriptures in the book of Acts that dedicates Paul's journey to Rome, and it's a lengthy text.

And there's one point where he gets onto the ship, and the ship is going towards that direction, and all hell breaks loose. I mean, it is despairing beyond belief. In fact, if you wanna see how despairing it is, this is where we're gonna close in Acts 27. In Acts twenty seven twenty. Acts twenty seven twenty.

This is a a scene about the shipwreck that Paul experienced in his desire to go to Rome. And look at the scene that it gives us in verse 20. When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days and no small tempest lay on us, all hope of our being saved was at last abandoned. So you're in a place where you're in the middle of the ocean. There's such strong wind and rains, and it is so pitch dark.

Picture it with me. You can't see the sun. There is no natural light from the stars. Total darkness. Let's spiritualize it without getting into trouble.

Physical picture can happen in our lives as well with the soul. You don't know the warmth of the sun per se. You don't know the direction that you're heading into. It's literally you in the middle of you don't know where being pushed around by the wind, and in your life you're being pushed around by whatever is pushing you around, where do you go from that place? What kind of attitude do you and I harbor in that moment?

I'm with you in this. Listen, if there's one pointed at you, there's three pointed back at me. Please remember that. Where do we go in that moment with our hearts? Because you might be in that moment right now with the smile this morning and everything else, nicely dressed and all.

You scroll down and you see how it just gets even more chaotic for everyone on board. But there is one man, one man, because he had a revelation of the goodness of God. Because he was a man who knew that this God was a God of second chances. That when in his zeal thinking that he was serving God was actually planning to destroy the church, Jesus shows up and says, Let me use you. A man who in this very moment is about to experience how God takes anything and everything around for our good.

This man experienced those things that we're speaking about and look how he responds to this moment. Verse 34, You had other guys on board that didn't eat for two weeks. It's crazy what anxiety can do to you. It's crazy what life without hope can do to you, can drive you mad. I look at some people in life, and I and I think to myself, how in the world are you doing this thing called life without the revelation of the goodness of God?

No wonder our suicide rates in this generation are increasing. No wonder people are going absolutely mad. No wonder why people are thinking that their only hope in life is that if they cut it off early because of the pain that they're experiencing in their hearts. No wonder. But yet one man in the midst of many, over 200, that had a revelation of the goodness and the faithfulness of God.

And so he says, why don't you guys eat? You've been starving. And he leads charge. He takes bread in verse 35. And when he said these things, he took bread.

This blows me away. I'm trying to visualize it. I'm trying to see the picture. It's complete darkness. It's probably deafening because of the wind.

Things are flying around. You got a bunch of people curled up in fetal positions, and here you see Paul. You guys wanna eat? He didn't go onto the ship as the captain but you can believe that he left it as the captain. Why are you guys starving?

Why are you guys so anxious? Why are you guys so fearful? And he takes bread and he realized, you know what, Lord? In the midst of all this craziness, we still have bread. And he gave thanks.

Says it right there. And giving thanks to God in the presence of all. What were those people thinking when they saw Paul doing that? You're giving thanks to God? Do you not see what's happening to this boat?

It's falling apart in pieces. Yeah. But I have bread, and we're gonna eat it together. Oh, about this whole ship thing? Yeah.

God had already revealed to me that we're all gonna be saved because all things work together for my good and yours if you're in him. Jump out of the ship and see what will happen, but stay in the ship. You'll be just fine. That's what he says. And in the presence of all, he breaks bread.

I remember reading that saying, Lord, wherever I'm at in life, would you be able to help me identify something that I can give thanks for? And you know who's watching? The world is watching. And as they're watching your life and mine and they see perhaps the storm that you and I are going through, and you and I are still able to pause being controlled because of his mercy and grace with the revelation of the scriptures, we can still give thanks. What a testimony that is.

What a testimony that is. I'm sure these 276 people were absolutely stunned by a man of faith such as Paul. We have no excuse not to give thanks this morning, not just this morning, even tomorrow when the stir stirring of our hearts kind of kind of dwindles down because there's no emotional preaching in it. Three reasons amongst hundreds. We serve a God of second chances.

Where are you in your walk with Christ today? Don't wait too long in your state of unbelief or your state of rebellion or your state of disobedience. God wants to rewrite that script as soon as possible. Give him the room to rewrite it. Don't take that truth and say, oh, if that's right then I can live however I want then I'll give God all the messy pieces and he gonna do something mosaic with it.

Listen, if you only give him so much of your life, you can only do so much with it. There's one thing that God cannot reverse and that's time. Never forget that. In the midst of all the miracles that he can do, when it comes to your life and mine, there's something that can never be re retracted again. There's something that can never be regained again, and that's your time and mine.

So if you're in a place where you're not right with God, don't take that truth and wait till you're later on in life and say, okay, here's the Lord of my life. Let him rewrite it now. Let that story be all the more longer and all the more more glorious. Give him room in that book of your life to write something amazing with it. Two, everything, not somethings, everything in your life and mine turns around for our good.

And you say, well, what's that good? It's not your version of good or mine. Because for those who love God you know what one of the main cries of a true Christian is for those who love God? Amongst many other cries, here's one of them, make me like Jesus. I hope that's a prayer.

Make me like Jesus. The Lord says you don't have to worry about that because I predestined everything in your life for that purpose to come about. Because in the next verse of Romans eight twenty eight, Romans eight twenty nine, for those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son. So here is the lens that you and I can have in light of all events of life. Whatever's thrown at me, okay, God.

You're gonna use this to make me more like Jesus. And that should make us happy because that should be the cry of our hearts. God is not waiting for you and I to be like Jesus when you die and stand before him. He wants to make you as much as a son in your life now. Lastly, we serve a God who is the source of not some things, of all good things.

If we don't see that, we're deceived to some degree. But if we realize that even amongst the unbelievers he showers his blessings, how much more should we realize it and show to the world that he is worthy of our praise? And Paul shows us something, that God is worthy of that thanksgiving no matter what. No matter what. You can identify something today to give thanks to God for even if it's a piece of bread.

And I'm sure you have much more to thank God for. Let's pray. Before we sing, I want to share a story. It's a very short one. Some of you have heard this before from a hymn writer named Fanny Crosby.

A few people approached Fanny Crosby who was born blind and said to her, how can such a beautiful musician and writer such as yourself experience this from God and be so joyful? Wouldn't you have asked the Lord at one point in your life for a sight? You're not gonna be able to ever see the sunrise. You're never gonna be able to see the crystal sea. You're never gonna be able to see the faces of those that you have relationship with, even your own family.

How is it that you have such a heart as you do? Born blind. And she said, listen. I'm actually at the most advantage of those who have sight. You know why?

Because the first face that I will see is Jesus's face. What a revelation that if we really want to, in light of our relationship with God, we can see even something such as blindness as a blessing. How can a person say that with such confidence? Because she knows who her God is. God is not the author of evil.

God is not the author of all the bad things that happen, but God is the master at taking those and turning them around for your good and mine. Believe that. Believe that and you will not have to force yourself to give thanks. Would you stand as we sing to the Lord?