So, Take two, they're free. Good morning. Good morning. OK, we're going to be competing with all those delicious aromas coming up the step here today. All right. OK. Well, we want to welcome you here. Hopefully, everybody will be able to stick around for dinner and enjoy the fellowship downstairs. We're having our Thanksgiving a couple weeks early. We don't want to have you to do back-to-back turkey, so. Yeah, this is the practice for the other Thanksgiving, OK? All right, we're going to start singing a couple of songs that talk about Thanksgiving later on today, maybe after the lunch. We'll give you an opportunity if there are things that you want to thank the Lord for. But let's start out, and Tyler's going to come and lead our songs here today. Come Ye Thankful People Come, 559. If you want to stand up, we'll sing 559. Come Ye Thankful People Come. All the city gathered in, ere the winter storms began. God's own term will come, praise the song of love bestowed. All the world is God's own field, put unto His praise to yield. Wheat and tares together sow, Unto joy or sorrow now. First the blade and then the ear, Then the fulcrum shall appear. Lord of hope is man and we, Wholesome, green, and pure may be. For the Lord our God shall come, And shall take his power his own, From his field like the other day, Provence's spiritual way. If his angels charge at last, In the final tares to cast, From the fruitful years to store, In this garner evermore. Even so, Lord, quickly now, To thy final harvest know, And then if you'll turn forward to 98. 98, Jesus, we just want to thank you. Jesus, we just want to thank you Jesus, we just want to thank you Jesus, we just want to thank you for being so good to us Jesus, we just want to praise you. Jesus, we just want to praise you. Jesus, we just want to praise you. Praise you for being so good. Jesus, we just want to tell you Jesus, you just want to live. Jesus, you just want to live. And everything's so good. Savior, we just want to serve you. Savior, we just want to serve you. Savior, we just want to serve you. Serve you for being so good. Jesus, we know you are coming. And then 561, we gather together, 561. As Lord's blessing, he chastens and hastens his will to make known. The wicked, oppressing, now sees no distressing. Sing praises to his name, he forgets not his own. design us, to guide us, our guide, with us joining, ordaining, maintaining, as King. Amen. You may be seated. All right, a couple of things. This is a reminder for those members. You had a nomination sheet put in your mailbox. You'll want to pick that up and fill it out if you can. I'm just suggesting maybe you fill it out while you're here. Many times it goes home, never makes it back. So we need that back in by December, the first Sunday there in December. Okay, then we've got the Operation Christmas Child shoe boxes. We've got them back out there. We don't have them all put together, but if you need help with that, we can do that before you leave. But it's a good idea to take one, and then wherever you go, to get stuff for it, take it with you. Then you know what fits. Nothing like getting home and thinking, oh it's an inch too long. I've had to put stuff diagonal and everything else trying to get it in there. And then others have asked, if you're writing a check, just make it out to Samaritan's Purse. If it's cash, just put it in the envelope, stick it inside. Good idea to put rubber bands around it, OK? And I hollered over there on Monday, or the, OK, it's, was it the 24th, I guess, I think I said, that you have to have it here, or you've got to take it to the drop-off place, which is Probocols. But if you can bring it in sooner than that, just put it on one of the shelves out here or downstairs and we'll take that over to them. And again, if you get one of those little slips, don't put chocolate, all that stuff in there because it might be going to Saudi Arabia or someplace and they probably won't let them hand those out there but other places that are hot and it just turns to mush. They do, don't wrap it up, don't tie, because they're going to look inside just to make sure that there's nothing in there that's not supposed to be in there. Okay, so I mean if you want to decorate it or something that's fine but just don't seal it all shut because they're going to have to open it up and look at it. And they'll get the money out. They're not giving the ten bucks to the kids. And if it's American dollars, they probably don't spend anyway. Alright, that's probably enough for announcements here. What's Monday? Veterans Day, okay. And for those veterans, there's all kinds of free stuff out there. Richard Hunter used to be the king of Veterans Day. He'd get a haircut, he'd have breakfast and lunch and a snack in the afternoon. He had it all planned out where he was going to go. And we'll talk more about that next Sunday. It's not that we don't want to mention it. It's just trying to cram Thanksgiving and Veterans Day and whatever else that we come up with into one day. It gets a little crowded. And we'll sing the songs that you like to hear on Veterans Day. So we just got started on Wednesday night for our study in Revelation. Just kind of getting our feet wet. It's kind of general information here to start with, but we'll get into deeper stuff as we go along. But I would invite you out on Wednesday night. It's only an hour, seven to eight. We take a half hour, study the scriptures, and then we take a half hour to take prayer requests and to pray. We need to keep them we'll talk about that in another message, but to be praying for our leaders Okay, it's not over. Where did we have? Well, there's a whole lot left to go here. So keep praying for them All right, a lot of selections to be made in the new government and so on get the right people in the right spot Okay Do pray for was brought up about the Alpha Women's Center. Just got an email last night that somebody had put a resume in for us to look over. We're having a meeting on Tuesday night. So be praying. I don't know this lady, but we'll find out more about her on Tuesday night and see if that's something we're going to follow up on or not. But at least there's somebody thinking about being a director, OK? And that's needed. All right, how about one more song? Can you sit down and sing a chorus? I know we don't usually do that. Then you have to stand up, shake hands, but at least you can, you've been standing a while, so. All right, so we're gonna sing Give Thanks to the Holy One. Jesus Christ I am strong. All right now you can greet one another all right Oh, sorry. Good morning. Okay. Yeah. Okay. OK, my turn. I'm glad you all get along. All right. Just so nobody. Nobody gets shocked when they turn around. We haven't turned the clocks back. I haven't really preached that long. Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the day you've given us. Thank you for each one here. Thank you that we have a holiday that we can celebrate with Thanksgiving. We're doing a little bit early, but really Thanksgiving ought to be something that we demonstrate year-round, not just in the month of November somewhere. So we just pray that you'd guide us as we look at your word here today, challenge our hearts, we pray, and we'll thank you for it now in Jesus' name. Amen. Okay. How's Lewis doing? Oh, no. OK. All right. So if you've got any home remedies that are legal, sometimes people come up with ones that we don't really want to recommend. OK. All right. So we're talking about Thanksgiving here today. And again, we'll almost pretend, if we will, the Sunday before Thanksgiving, but what is Thanksgiving? What does it mean to you? Is it just a couple of days off of work? Turkey in the trimmings with family and friends. For some, it's football games until you pass out in that turkey-induced coma. Marie used to talk about that. We'd always meet at her folks' house, and they'd always have the football game on, and then after dinner, there'd be another game or something, and you look in there, and all the guys are... Kids are outside, but yeah. So, just a couple things from history. I know not everybody likes history, but I do have two things I wanted to share with you. And the first one was the first proclamation after the landing there at Plymouth, the governor Bradford of Massachusetts made his first Thanksgiving proclamation three years after the Pilgrims settled in Plymouth. The first two years were pretty rough, but now we're into year number three. And he says, inasmuch as the great father has given us this year an abundant harvest of Indian corn, wheat, peas, beans, squash, garden vegetables, has made the forest to abound with game, and the sea with fish and clams, inasmuch as he has protected us from the ravages of the savages, has spared us from pestilence and disease, has granted us freedom to worship God according to the dictates of our own conscience. Now I, your magistrate, do proclaim that all ye pilgrims, with your wives and little ones, do gather ye at the meeting house on ye hill, between the hours of nine and 12 in the daytime on Thursday, November 29th of the year of our Lord, 1,623, and the third year since ye pilgrims landed on ye Plymouth Rock, to listen to your pastor and to render thanksgiving to the almighty God for all his blessings. You notice anything there? They're gonna be there from nine till noon. Now maybe there was a lot of personal sharing, I don't know, but I won't preach for three hours today, I promise you that. Okay, so anyway, that was the first Thanksgiving, all right? And we fast forward for 150 years, and now we've got independence from England, and we've become the United States of America. And George Washington is the president then, 150 years later. And Washington also had a proclamation. He says, 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 to humbly implore his protection and favor. Whereas both the House 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 and 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 recommend next to be devoted by the people of the 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." George Washington. And so, got a little bit of background there. There's a lot of things that we could talk about here today. We want to see more, though, than just tradition, what has happened through the years. We want to see biblical basis for Thanksgiving. And we're going to look at a practical side here. This is something you can put to use in your day-to-day life. And again, more than just a day, but really a way of life. And it ought to be a part of our lives every day. Now, we saw here, again, the pilgrims were thankful. And they went through quite a bit those first couple of years. A number of people died in the process. George Washington was thankful in his day. Again, many had died through the Revolutionary War to gain our freedom. But the thing is, God is the one that we want to direct our thanks primarily for. Now we can thank people, and we should along the way, but God's the one who made it all come together. He's the source of our blessing. And just as kind of a reminder, we find there in James 1, verse 17, Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. So again, every good and perfect gift comes from the Lord. We need to keep that in mind. And again, there are several areas that we want to express thanks. And we're going to narrow it down here today to people, people that God has sent into our lives through the years and want us to stop and think for a little bit. who has had the greatest influence, the longest influence on our lives. And I think there is an outline if you want to use that to follow along here today. In case you're wondering why I'm here instead of there, there's a picture I want to show you. Actually, it's just a much larger picture than this one. Because you're more than about three rows back, you can't see what's going on here. But hopefully you can with the other one later on here. But our fathers, okay, and I'm not putting dits and mom here at all. It's our parents, if you will. Okay. Dad might have been the first one to see us. I don't know. Depends on what was going on in that delivery room. But it fits my outline and my thoughts. And so when I say fathers, I'm talking about our parents, our moms, our dads. And it's kind of interesting, sometimes scary, as we grow older and the way that we think, the way that we act, maybe even the way that we speak, more often than not, is similar to that of our parents. And sometimes it's shocking when you're going along and you say something to your children. Wow, that sounds like my mom or my dad, you know. Yeah, it's filtering through. And again, the thing is they don't always just copy the good stuff. You know, you only have to say something wrong, something that's inappropriate or whatever once, that seems to be the thing that they pick up on. And so, and they decide to copy it. But we do have a responsibility as parents to pass on biblical truth to our children in everyday life situations. And in Deuteronomy chapter six, verse six to nine, it says, these words, which I command thee this day shall be in thine heart, and thou shalt teach them diligently to thy children, and shall talk of them when thou settest in thine house, when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, when thou risest up, thou shalt bind them as a sign upon thy hand. and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes, and thou shalt write them on the posts of the house and on the gates." The point is we're to share God's Word in everyday life situations. When you get up in the morning, when you go to bed at night, during the day, you know, you take things that are going on in their life, maybe explain, you know, this is why we do this, this is why we do that. and according to God's word, and that they see it in action. It's not just something in a book somewhere, all right? So when the clerk gives you back too much change, and you recognize that and you give it back to them, all right? And you explain to them, you know, that would be stealing to take something that doesn't belong to you. We're giving it back. You know, God wants us to be honest with people. And we take it as a teaching moment. And so parents have a tremendous ability to influence their lives kind of 24-7, if you will, for those first four or five years. After that, and they're in school for long periods of time, you know, the teachers are part of that. And that's why it's important to have Good teachers. But question is, do our children develop that thankful attitude that they need to have towards God and others? Because they see it in us. And I guess that's a little bugaboo of mine, you know, and my children picked up on it. My grandkids picked up on it. say thank you, you know? And come across a number of people, some in my neighborhood, never thank you for nothing, you know? And it's like, okay, I'm not doing it just to get the thanks, but it, you know, would be nice to be acknowledged somewhere along the line. But then often, too, we express our thankfulness to our parents and how much they mean to us. and do it while they're still alive, right? I remember reading about some lady that used to give out flowers to people, and she says, I believe in giving flowers to people while they're still alive and can appreciate them, not just giving it to them at their funeral. Well, Louis Pasteur, you may remember that way back from school days, French scientist, chemist, medical, involved in the medical industry, developed a vaccine for rabies and pasteurization of milk after his name. Uh, and he said this, uh, gave a bit of a tribute to his father. And, uh, just, first of all, there was a quote from a French poet whose name I have difficulty trying to pronounce and it wouldn't mean much to you anyway, but he says he who remembers the benefits of his parents. is too much occupied with the recollections to remember their faults." In other words, we're so flooded with all the good stuff coming in from our parents that we don't get hung up on some of the faults. And face it, we all have faults, all right? Everybody in the world may not know it, but our kids probably do. But he went on to say, He said that this was characteristic of Louis Pasteur. He loved and appreciated his mother and father. He was busy working on his silkworm diseases in 1865 when he received a telegram with the news that his father was seriously ill. By the time he arrived, it was too late for him to see him alive. That night, the great scientist wrote his wife and children from his boyhood home. He says, I've been thinking all day of the marks of affection I've had for my father. For 30 years, I have been his constant care. I owe everything to him. When I was young, he kept me from bad company and instilled into me the habit of working and the example of the most loyal and best-filled life. My dear father, how thankful I am that I could give you some of that satisfaction." So we pause, and I realize not everybody grew up in a Christian home. Not everybody had parents who were born-again Bible-believing believers, and yet I'm sure that they did the best that they could, maybe without the Lord's help. But for those who had godly parents, I'd especially be thankful for the way that they sought to bring you up. I realized it wasn't always fun and games, Sometimes you felt they were too strict or whatever. But let me suggest you thank them while they're still alive. And let them know how much you appreciate them. We look here, and I'm kind of relying on your memory. I'm not gonna read the whole passage. But out of Luke 15, there's a story of the prodigal son. And he, like many others, wanted to go his own way, do his own thing. He wanted to be free from mom and dad's rules. And when I think of that, I still kind of laugh inwardly, because I remember being with a couple, this was a number of years ago. I don't know if any of you would even remember them. They had a daughter that was out of high school. And she was wanting to spread her wings a bit and was getting kind of tired of mom and dad's rules, you know, you have to be home a certain time or whatever. So, you know what she did? She went out and joined the Army. I would like to have been a fly on a wall, you know, about a few weeks into that and say, how do you like those rules they have? But anyway, sometimes, You know, it's a little bit, I mean, and we've all went through it to one degree or another, but it's kind of like mom and dad robbing or sparrows and let the little ones fly out of the nest. Well, some fly, some of them hit the ground with a thud. And this young fellow in Luke 15 hit the skids. And when the money ran out, so did his friends. So let me read for you, and I don't know if any of you are looking any of this up. I don't even remember. I did the outline, but it seems like it was a while ago. Luke 15, 11 through 19, I'll read for you. It says, and he said, a certain man had two sons, and the younger of them said to his father, give me a portion of the goods that have fallen unto me. In other words, I want my inheritance now. I don't wait till you die. I want it now. And he divided unto them his living. And not many days after, the young son gathered all together and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living. And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in the land. And he began to be in want or in need. And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and sent unto him to the fields to feed the swine. Now, if you didn't think about that, you wouldn't maybe, you'd just keep on going. Now, this is a Jewish boy, and feeding the swine, that is about as low a job on this face of this earth as you could get, okay? But that's what he had, okay? And he would feign to have filled his belly with the husks of the swine to eat. No man gave unto him. He's hungry. He's ready to eat whatever the pigs eat. And when he came to himself, he said, how many hired servants of my father's house have enough, have bread enough to spare? And I perish with hunger. I will arise and go to my father and I will say unto him, father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee, I am no more worthy to be called thy son. Make me one of thy hired servants. Well, if you know that passage, when he does come home, he doesn't get a big long lecture from dad and finger waving in his face. Dad greets him with open arms. And that dad represents God. God greets us when we come back to him with open arms, okay? And he's made a mess out of his life, but he's smart enough to know that if he can get back to old dad, dad will help him get his life back in order once again. And if he could just get back to dad, and in this account, again, dad represents God. He's the one who will help us get our lives back together again. And some of you may need to go to your heavenly Father and to let Him help you put your life back together again. And maybe your earthly mom and dad were there to help you, to help get you back on track, and encourage you to thank the Lord for them. Because they're the ones who, well, they say you can choose your friends, but you can't choose your parents. But it wasn't bad luck or accident of some kind. God chose your parents. He knew what he was doing. And some of us, myself included, somebody said sometime I should share a bit of my testimony. Well, you're getting a little bit of it here today. But some of us were like that prodigal son who wandered away from the Lord, away from our families. But we could still thank God that we could come back home and get the help that we needed. And sometimes the Lord has to let us hit bottom before we look up and look for help. Some of you may have been there. And this fellow was hungry, not only for food, but I mean, he's, he's ready to eat whatever the pigs eat. Okay. That's, that's scraping the bottom of the barrel here, isn't it? Well, the Lord may allow difficulties to come into our lives so that we will be motivated to come back to him and to look to our heavenly father for help. And you can get back on your feet physically, mentally, spiritually. And again, let me encourage you, don't to be independent or another word would be stubborn, thinking, oh, I don't need Lord's help. I can do it all by myself. Well, if the Lord brought some trials into your life and that didn't seem to get you to look to the Lord, God knows how to turn up the heat just a tad bit to get our attention. He knows what buttons He can push in our life. And so we owe a great debt to our earthly parents, but also to our Heavenly Father, because He's always there. It's like that song that we sing once in a while, Just As I Am. You know, God didn't say, clean up your life and then come talk to me about it. No, because we can't. We messed it up, and we need His help to straighten it out. And so, but we come just like we are, and he takes us in all messed up, dirty with sin, and cleanses us and makes us whole again. And I trust that you're not too proud to admit when you've made a mess out of your life. Thing is, other people know it, and God knows it, and we need to admit it. and come to the one who can meet our needs, and that's our Heavenly Father. And thank Him for being there. And some may need to take that first step of coming to their Heavenly Father, and that's to come and trust Jesus Christ alone for your salvation. Others may have done that, and yet drifted away, become that prodigal son or that prodigal daughter, and may need to seek forgiveness to be restored to a right relationship with God. And God knows just exactly what you need, but you need to be willing to come to Him and let Him do a little bit of operating on us, okay? Well, that brings us to another group of people to encourage you to be thankful for, to thank God for, okay? And that's giving thanks for others. And looking beyond the parents, they deserve thanks for their help, but there were other people involved in your lives other than just your parents, and we can thank God for them. Winston Churchill said after World War II, their country and their cities were in shambles from the bombings of the German planes, German bombings. And he expressed indebtedness to the Royal Air Force. He says, never in the field of human conflict was there so much owed by so many to so few. The people of England owed their lives in many cases to those pilots in the Royal Air Force that went up and went after those German bombers and fighters and fought them off from the attacks that were given. And sometimes something similar goes on in our own lives. We have debt of thanks to other people that have come into our lives and God has allowed to come into our lives to help meet some particular deeds. They were there when we needed them most. And the Lord can and does use other people. Sometimes they're kind of like his hands and feet, okay? He sends people in to do some of his work. And sometimes to encourage us when we're down, discouraged for one reason or another, they can lift us up. And in many ways, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, financially, there's a whole lot of different ways that people can be of help. But they were there to help us out when we couldn't do it by ourselves. And they were there to come alongside of us to help them when we needed them most. And to help lift us up and point us in the right direction. They might be the ones that you call or have called when you're on the way to the hospital. Or you're in the emergency room. Or you've been in some kind of auto accident. or you need help with some kind of project, the ones that you reached out to. You've done all that you could do, but it wasn't enough. You needed the help of other people. And you're grateful. And sometimes, though, we get so busy that we don't pause long enough to stop and think about what others have done and to thank others because, again, we didn't put as much thought into it as we ought. And you remember those that helped you out through some difficult times. And there were big things, no doubt, in your lives. Maybe it was a job or something else that was needed. Sometimes it's little things along the way. Might be little and insignificant to many people, but it was a big deal in our own life. And one of those little things, I was thinking about it, that was helpful to me, it was back in my sixth grade teacher. That's a long time ago. But Mr. Fitzgerald, he was the only man teacher that I had in elementary school. But he helped me do something that nobody else up to that point was able to help me out with. I was left-handed. Any other lefties here today? Oh, good. You know, they say the left-handed people are the only ones in their right mind. We're going to take the world. No, seriously. I don't know if any of you, the rest of you, had problems with that, but I wrote like they say, backhanded. I wrote like this. Well, if you're writing with a pencil, like most of the time you're doing in the elementary ages, that lead in the pencil in your hand smears all the way across. So you turn in these papers that look like somebody went like this to them, you know. And then that was about the time Bic pens come out. Remember those? And they'd leave that little drop of ink every so often. Well, then you get the ink smeared along with it, you know, and then your hand, you know, it's just nasty. And once a week we had penmanship and we had these little cards and we had to write. So I had to get my hand down here instead of like this, you know. And then I had to lay it over the top to make sure that my A's look like A's and so on. But by the end of the year, I was able to write well. Like I said, most of you, that's no big deal. But I wrote a lot of papers and stuff in the next 11 years of school after that. I'm thankful that I wasn't doing this stuff. I went back junior high, you know. Went back and I thanked him and another teacher. That other teacher is another story. I won't take time today, but yeah. You don't always appreciate what you got at the time until you get down the road a little ways and you realize that they weren't just being a mean teacher, they were trying to teach you something. And there are other people who helped us along the way. There were other couples through the years that my dad didn't go to church. for most of the years, well, since when I was at home. And another couple or two through the years would pick my mom up and myself and take us to church until I got to the point where I could drive. Our Sunday school teachers along the way, still remember some of them. You know, and you learn your memory verses and you get some. Still, for a long time, I don't know what's happened to it now, but, you know, I got a comb in this little case, and it was fingernail clippers, you know, in this little case. Had those things for years. They probably work the fingernail clippers better than the ones you get nowadays. Yeah, people that built into your life, little bit, little bit, week after week, year after year. And by the time I got out of high school, the draft was on, and I signed up for the Air Force because I didn't think I wanted to go to Vietnam. And that's where pretty much everybody was going that got drafted. And that's about the point that I started drifting away from the lore. When I was in boot camp in the States, there were some pretty good chaplains, and I went to those. But after I went overseas to England, they had liberal chaplains that didn't preach the gospel. It was, you know, be a nice guy, do the best you can, you'll be all right. I knew that wasn't right. I should have went on my part and went and found someplace in downtown I'm to begin with I didn't have a car, but I Could have put more effort into it, but I didn't and I just decided I was doing shift work I could use the sleep more than listening to those guys so I just quit going to church and So I became that prodigal son and pretty much forgetting about God, doing my own thing for a number of years. And I'm sure my mom and those at our church back home were praying for me. I'd get turned around. She probably didn't, I know she didn't know all the stuff I was doing at the time, but start living for the Lord. And while I was in England, I Got married to an English lady over there, and we were there for a year. Moved back to the States. We were here for a little over a year when the Lord chose to shake up my life. And we were in an auto accident, and she died soon after that from the wreck. And I was pretty messed up for a while. And hadn't been to church for about four years, so there wasn't any spiritual strength there. And so I was just trying to do it on my own, and I wasn't doing very good. And kind of like a guy that can't swim, and he's out there just flashing or battling the water. And others were trying to throw me a life preserver, and I appreciate their help. I knew I had to make a choice in my life. What's the future going to be? And I sat down and I was thinking about it. And I probably didn't do this all in one day, but I was thinking about, what am I going to do with my life now? It's like I went back to the starting gate all over again. And it was kind of like a fork in the road. And I had to decide, what am I going to do? And I could, well, I could follow my dad's footsteps and pretty much drown my troubles in a bottle. That's what he did for the most part. when I was at home. He did finally quit drinking, got saved, and he was going to church when I wasn't. So, but I thought, well, I didn't know as I wanted to end up like that. And then I look around at some of my friends at that time. This is, you know, early 70s. You know, and most of them were getting high every chance they got. And I didn't know if I wanted to get into that. When the painkillers wore off, they were just in as bad a shape they were before they got started, usually with a little less money. Or I could go back to church and try to get my life straightened around. Well, it took me a couple of months, but I started going back to church. And I thought I was on the right track. And I remember one Sunday, I don't remember what the message was about, but I came forward and I shook the pastor's hand, and I just said, I'm back. He probably wondered, what was he talking about? He's the one who had the funeral for my wife. But I knew it was kind of like that prodigal son. I'd come back home. And I was going to need some help getting my life back together. And I'd stop by his office from time to time and talk. He'd give me some advice and I'd be going on my way. Other people were around, Sunday school teacher, couple of, there was about three families that kind of took me under their wing and they all had kids and everything else. I was kind of the odd man out, but they had Bible studies in their homes and invite me in and feed me. So I wasn't eating my own cooking. You know, God brings people into our lives for a reason, for a purpose. And we ought to thank the Lord for them. And I was thinking about some of those couples. One of them in particular was my Sunday school teacher at that time. You know, and he's, looked him up on the internet. I thought he was still in Hannibal, Missouri. And I'm going to give him a call. Talk to him a little bit. It's been quite a long time since we talked. But there's another fellow that was a real help to me, and that was my best friend growing up, Bobby, him and his wife. They were friends of ours, and they were there at the hospital with me. And he didn't always have a lot to say, but he was a good listener, him and his wife both. And oftentimes, I just need to talk to somebody, so I go to their house. sat and talked until I was done. I'd play with her little daughter at that time. Kind of funny in a way, because it seemed like more often than not I'd go home and wear one of his shirts. And they said, why? I accused them of giving her orange juice before I would play. And I would put her on my shoulder and pat her away and all of a sudden, nothing like recycled orange juice, you know. I need another shirt. You know, but they were there. And praise God, you know, he redirected my life. He greeted me with open arms and helped me to get right on the right path. And just because I did this doesn't mean everybody else that gets straightened around with the Lord ends up off at Bible college somewhere. But that's, I had a real hunger and thirst for spiritual things when I finally got straightened around and I didn't have any other responsibilities. And people at John Deere that I was working at at the time thought I was crazy. Why would you quit that job and go off to a Bible college? That's what I think the Lord wants me to do. But it was a blessing of the Lord because after I was there a couple years, I noticed this cute little lady behind me with curly hair. We were in alphabetical order and she was a white and I was a wooden, so we weren't too far apart. And I got- this isn't in here, I got to cut out some of the stories, but it was kind of funny because it was a big- I mean there's over 100 kids in this class and there's two exits, you know, or doors. And so, she always went out the back door and I'd go out the front door. and run down the hall, so I just happened to be there. And she parked her car over in the lot kind of close to mine, so I, well, hi, how you doing? And then I really stepped into it, you know? So we got talking one day, and she says, what do you think of that Ron Alexander? He was a music teacher there. And I said, oh, you mean that little short guy that tells bad jokes? She says, yeah, that's my brother. Oh boy. But anyway, you can see it. It still worked out. He's still a short guy, tells bad jokes, but we love him. He's the one we go see in Arizona once in a while. But the thing is, you know, we can thank God for others that he brings into our lives. And, you know, this is, I got this a little out of order here, but appreciate, you know, Friends at church, you know, I mean, you guys are our family. And how you prayed for us, well, there's a lot of people prayed for us when we went off to our first church. I mean, one thing to study about it in a book, something else to go do it. Well, at Christmas time, it'll be 44 years ago. So we've been doing this for a long time. But over here, you know, we come over here with two little kids. And you watch Laura and Jonathan grow up. Prayed for Laura when she started teaching, working in the inner city. Just checking with her here last night. 15 years it's been that long. been doing that, you know, but we're still praying every day because she's still driving through a rough part of town. And keep them safe, getting there and once you get there because the police are often at the school and praying for Josh when he was over in Afghanistan for a year. I remember at the wedding he would say, I think Laura was in more danger than I was. But he was just being modest about it because he was working in the ammo dump while they're shooting rockets into the base. Well, you don't want to be in the ammo dump when they're shooting rockets in, okay? That's a big bang. But again, don't take them for granted. Everybody doesn't have that. I've shared that with you folks, how much it means to Maureen and I when she was going through this chemo stuff. We didn't know how things were going to work out. We're not necessarily over with it yet now. A lot of people are just going through it all by themselves. Maybe a couple of friends that will wish them their best or whatever. But that's about it. Proverbs 18.24 says, a man that hath friends must show himself friendly. And, you know, it's a two-way street. We have to demonstrate friendliness towards others, but we reap the benefits of being friends. And I thank the Lord for drawing me back to himself. And the question is, how long has it been since you thought of those who led you to the Savior and to those that told you that they were praying for you? And for some of you, it might have been your pastor, you know, here or some other church, other, your parents. Special love for those who were instrumental in directing you towards coming to know Christ as your personal Savior. Or for those who, like me, ended up taking a detour and off the path, become the prodigal son, doing their own thing, ending up far away from the Lord, pray for those folks. And you can be thankful for those that will greet you with open arms when you finally decide to get back and head in the right direction, and help you get connected with your Heavenly Father. You know, we know when we joke about guys who never want to admit that they're lost, and won't ask for directions. But the question today is, where are you heading? You don't have to ask directions to know how to get to hell. Folks, we're all on that highway to hell when we start out in this life. And you don't have to do anything to end up there. That's the path we're all on. But you don't have to end up there. I like to think of it as you can take an exit off of that highway to hell. And there's only one exit. And that exit is labeled Jesus. Picture here, I don't know, see if we got a red dot here somewhere. There we go. Okay, if you can make this out, okay, this is the cross that leads from this world to heaven. And down here's the hell, okay, with the flames. You notice the broad way, the easy way, everybody's on it. Okay, and you end up in hell without even realizing what happened to you. If you wanna be on something different than that, you gotta take the exit off of that and see this is the Jesus way. He's the only way. He says, I am the way, not one of the ways, but the way, the truth, the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. He's the only one who's able to forgive your sin. He's the only one who's able to give you that gift of eternal life. You can't get to heaven and ignore Jesus. A lot of people talk about God. Well, that's fine. but you can't ignore Jesus. He's the one who died on the cross for your sins. There's no, it's not like our border where it's just anybody that walks through, okay? A lot of people there figure we're all headed for heaven. Yeah, well, that's not true. You go to funerals, you ever hear anybody, you think as they talk about them, it sounds like they went to hell? No, they're all good guys, right? But that's not reality. But there's no, you can't climb over the wall, you can't dig under or any other, ignore Jesus. There's only one way. And he's the only one who's able. The thing is, we're all sinners. Each and every one of us. And the Bible tells us the wages of sin is death. Not just six foot under, but eternal separation from God. And there's nothing we can do to get rid of our sin. You know, you can use shout, you can use lava soap, you can use tide, gasoline, whatever else you think, nothing's gonna get rid of your sin, all right? No amount of good works deducts your sin, okay? It doesn't work that way. And the only way that we can get rid of it is through the shed blood of Jesus Christ. And he says the wages of sin is death, so we ought to die for our sin. The thing is, Jesus Christ became our substitute. He died on the cross for us, in our place. That doesn't mean we're all going to heaven because Christ died on the cross. He did everything that was necessary to provide salvation. But what we have to do is to believe, to trust in Jesus Christ alone, not in ourself, not in our baptism, church membership, anything else that we can come up with that we think might impress God. It's his blood that was on the cross that is capable of cleansing away our sin. And we're made perfect in his sight. How about it today? Do you need to come to your heavenly father today to accept his son, the Lord Jesus, as your personal savior? Do you? Are you? Have you been like that prodigal son, just kind of out there doing your own thing, not paying a whole lot of attention to God, and you need to come back to the Lord and get a right relationship established? See, these are decisions that can change your life. They changed mine. And what he did for me, he can do for you. And he can put you onto the road to recovery so that you can end up being a thankful person for all that God has done for you. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your love for us. We thank you for the way that you have worked in each of our lives to bring us to the point that we're at today. We thank you, Lord, for our parents, the input that they had into our lives, how they cared for us, tried to get us started outright in this life. We thank you for the other people that you brought along along our life's journey, and even yet the people ahead of us that will come into our lives for a reason, for a purpose. And Lord, we pray that you might help us, each one of us, to have come to that point where we've trusted in Jesus Christ alone for our salvation. And that if we have made that decision, and yet straight away, kind of again, doing our own thing, kind of ignoring God the best we can, pray that you would continue to work in our hearts, help us to have that awakening moment, even as the prodigal son did and saying, I'm a mess. I need to get back to dad. I need to get back to the Lord. Let him help straighten out my life. Pray that you'd through decisions here that need to be made today that you would impress those upon our hearts. Help us not to go away and forget about what we've talked about here today. We thank you for loving us. We thank you for the salvation that you provide to us through Jesus Christ. In his name we pray, amen. I'd like for us to sing a closing hymn, if you would please. Count your blessings, 563. Sorry. That's a chord, not a jump. Discourage thinking all is false. Count your many blessings, take them one by one. Give them grace and virtue, what the Lord has done. Count your blessings, take them one by one. Count your blessings, see what God has done. Count your blessings, take them one by one. Count your many blessings, see what God has done. First of all, we will comfort you, and free your soul. And now may the Spirit enter over all. Count your many blessings, angels will attend. And we'll comfort you through your tears. All right. I assume that they'll have things ready here momentarily downstairs. But why don't we ask the Lord's blessing on the food and the fellowship. Again, you're all invited. I hope you're able to stay. And Chris, with you, best blessing on the food. and the things that happened behind the scenes by you. And thank you for this station and our privilege to be able to vote for those that we believe both are best represent us. Thank you for this food, for the fellowship that you give us, for these brothers and sisters in Christ. And we praise you in the name of Jesus, amen. All right, easy all of us.