Thank you for taking the time to listen to one of the recent sermons preached at Wilton Baptist Church. It is our desire as a church to strive together in building a faith, family, and future that honors and glorifies our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. If we can be a help to you in any way, please visit our website at wiltonbaptistchurch.com. It's Timothy chapter 4, verse Timothy 4. Thank you Natalie for singing along and playing there. Hope you had a good week. You're starting out your week in church, that's great. Thank you for being here this morning. Good to see each of you today. 1 Timothy chapter four is our first text. I heard about a little fourth grader who stood up to give a report in school concerning the origins of Thanksgiving. Here's how he began. The pilgrims came here seeking freedom of you know what, Then they landed, when they landed, they gave thanks to you-know-who, and because of them, we can worship each Sunday you-know-where." Truly, Thanksgiving is all about God. It's all about the Lord and giving thanks to Him. It's not football and turkey, though those things can be good. Turkey in moderation, football in moderation as well. But truly, we should be thankful to God every day. At the age of 23, John became a millionaire. By the age of 50, he was a billionaire. Every decision, attitude, and relationship was tailored to create his personal power and wealth. But three years later, at the age of 53, He became very ill. His entire body became wracked with pain and he lost all the hair on his head. In complete agony, the world's only billionaire could buy anything that he wanted, yet he could only digest milk and crackers. One associate of his wrote that he could not sleep, he would not smile, and nothing in life meant anything to him. His personal and highly skilled physicians predicted that John would die within a year. John had been active in his church as a young man. By his early 20s, he'd begun chasing after wealth. He called all of his attorneys, accountants, and managers, and announced that he wanted to channel all of his assets to hospitals, research, and mission work. Something changed in his life after the time that he got sick, and he started to recognize that all the wealth in the world was meaningless. especially using it on himself. On that day, John D. Rockefeller established his foundation. This new direction eventually led to the discovery of penicillin, cures for strains of malaria, tuberculosis, and diphtheria. The list of discoveries resulting from his choice are enormous. But perhaps the most amazing part of Rockefeller's story is that the moment he began to give back a portion of all that he had earned, his body began to heal. Instead of dying at the age of 53, he lived to the ripe old age of 98. What a change, having gratitude made in his life. Of course, a thankful person is a happy person, like I mentioned just a moment ago. Now, in our relationships, have you ever known somebody, maybe it's one of your children, don't point at them if this is true, but have you ever known anyone that has selective hearing? Selective hearing. Some of you are nudging your spouse like, yeah, you have selective hearing. Maybe you have selective hearing. Other people have selective memories. And what are you going to recall? And what are you going to think about or constantly think about? Now, some things are good to remember, and some things are good to remember no more. Some things you just want to forget about. Hebrews chapter 8 verse 12 says, I love that verse. Another verse just a couple chapters later where God is describing for us that in spite of our sin, God knows our lives, He knows our sins, He knows our attitudes, He knows our actions. In spite of our wrong, God looks at us and says, their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. The God who knows everything and He can't forget anything. And by the way, we don't forget much either. We don't forget much, but we can choose not to think about it. We can choose not to think about whatever has been wrong in our life. Maybe you were used at one point, or you felt abused or were abused, maybe misused by someone. These are not events or circumstances that we want to keep thinking about. If we keep thinking about it, it'll grow betterness in our life, and then the betterness will bring out all these other resentment type and difficult issues in relationships. If we think about the abuse or think about the hurt, it will damage and hurt our spirit, damage our emotions, and dampen our perspective on life. I like to tell people that I have a good forgetter. I want to have a good forgetter. There's things that I just don't want to remember in life, and maybe that's true for you, that there's some things that's happened, and I'd like to be able to think that, or not think about those things, and that's good. But let me tell you the opposite side of that. There are some things that we must remember. To be the Christians that God wants us to be, to be the people that God wants us to be, there are some things that we must be thinking about constantly, Thankfulness goes a long way with this message, a remembering man. Look in this passage in 1 Timothy 4 and verse 6. If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine, whereunto thou hast attained." Paul's writing to Timothy, a young preacher, and he tells him, if you could help your congregation and your Christians remember these things, then you'll be doing good in ministry. And Paul was thankful for the life of Timothy, and God used Timothy in a great way. I would encourage you today with this idea that we are more thankful when we have specific memories. when we have specific memories. So, well, if I'm thinking about this bad thing, and this bad thing, and this wrong here, and this pain here, and this hurt over here, then that may consume all of my time and emotion and thoughts to the point that I can't count the good things in life. I can't remember the good things because I keep thinking about the bad things that have taken place in my life or all around me. And so we are more thankful when we have very specific memories, very specific memories. Paul is a good example of this. In 1 Corinthians 4, verses 16 and 17, the Bible says this, Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of me, for this cause have I sent unto you Timotheus, who is my beloved son and faithful in the Lord, who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways, which be in Christ, as I teach everywhere every church. So Paul said, I'm sending Timothy over to you, and just like Paul told Timothy in the passage that we just read in 1st Timothy chapter 4, there are some things that you'll learn and some things that you need to remember for everyday Christianity. Now just from reading 1st Timothy Corinthians 4, verses 16 and 17, there are three truths that jump out of that passage. First is this, listening to preaching helps us to think right. Listening to preaching helps us to think right. We can process right by listening. I'm not talking about just hearing it in one ear out of the other, but actually listening and applying to my circumstance and to my specific life. Number two, hearing the Bible, even if we already know the truth that's being preached, Even if I already know what doctrine is being taught about, hearing the Bible will help remind us of how to think, how to live, how to love, and how to serve the Lord. And number three, being in church, it can help us be more grateful. hearing a Bible message like this, gathering with other believers, bearing one another's burdens, encouraging one another, the fellowship, all the things that we do, singing to God and gathering around the Bible, praying together, these things encourage us and help us in our walk with God as well and can help us become more Now, we're going to highlight just several examples of thankfulness in the book of 1 Timothy. So look in chapter 1, if you would. 1 Timothy 1, and we'll read in verse 12. in verse 13. Paul is used of God to write this letter to Timothy, and there's also 2 Timothy and Titus. In the Bible, these are called the pastoral epistles. If you're interested in ministry, these are the books to read. And so, as Paul is starting to tell Timothy some things here in chapter 1, by the time you get to verse 12 and verse 13, notice his perspective. I thank Christ Jesus, our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry. Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious, but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith, and love, which is in Christ Jesus. Now, there are some things in life we will never forget, and I understand that. There are some things, however, that we would like to forget but can't forget, and those are things that we can choose not to remember and choose not to think about, maybe a tragic circumstance or an event. But there are other things that we should recall from time to time to ensure that we're still headed in the direction that God wants for us to go. And this is a perfect example of that. As Paul is writing to Timothy, he says, I thank Jesus Christ, our Lord, who has enabled me, counting me faithful, to put me in a ministry. Why is that such a big deal? It's a big deal because of who he was before. The next verse. He was before a blasphemer, persecutor, injurious. Paul was remembering his previous life. Previously, before Jesus, before I met Christ, before I was a believer in the Lord, before I was saved, this is who I was. Previously in my life, I was a blasphemer. Now, the word blasphemer, if you were to look it up, a word that's part of the definition is the word scurrilous, scurrilous. Don't you like that word? Scurrilous, scurrilous. Did anyone say, I don't want to be scurrilous today when you woke up? None of us use that word. Here's what it means. It means impious or railing. Scurlious means making or spreading scandalous claims about someone with the intentions of damaging their reputation. Even using or giving to coarse language, vulgar and evil Speaking, scurrilous, that's the word. That's what the word blaspheme has to do with. Now the word blaspheme, we generally connect that towards God, don't we? Someone's blaspheming God. But sometimes when it's used, it also has to do with blaspheming God by blaspheming other people. Think about Goliath when he came out and cursed Israel and cursed God. That's a good example of that. He was blaspheming the Lord and blaspheming God's People, Paul did the same thing. Now, what's interesting with Paul is, he felt the entire time when he was murdering Christians, carrying them off to prison, separating homes, putting people into prison, he felt the whole time, I'm serving Jehovah God. But in fact, he was against God's people, and finally he realized, I've been against God this whole time. He was vehemently against God and against God's people. He was a persecutor. That means to show hostility, to demonstrate ill treatment. This is a person who oppresses or victimizes other people. He said, I was a blasphemer, I was a persecutor, I was injurious. That means insolent. or violent. Remember that first martyr who died? Who was standing there holding the clothes while other people threw rocks at him? It was Saul before he met Christ. And so he was an injurious person. We could summarize this and say he was rude and crude to Christians. He was rude and crude to Christians. But something happened. His sin met mercy. Aren't you glad when your sin met mercy? Or when you met mercy? Thank God for the mercy of God. That's what he speaks about. But I obtained mercy. And notice the mercy doesn't just stop with that. Verse 14, the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love, which is in Christ Jesus. He met the Lord Jesus Christ, he obtained mercy, he obtained grace, he obtained love, he obtained faith, and what an incredible combination, and what God did in his life with those four things. Ephesians 3.8 tells us, unto me, whom less than the least of all saints is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. The apostle Paul said that. He said, I'm the least of all the saints. He said, I'm the chiefest of sinners, in another passage. This is a man who was used of God to travel around the world, planting churches, preaching the gospel. He was used of the Lord to etch onto parchment the inspired living word of God in these letters to churches and letters to preachers. He was used of God in a great way. He said, I'm the chiefest of sinners. I'm the least of all the saints. You know what, friends? It's good for us to remind ourselves where we come from. who we were before we trusted Jesus Christ. Sometimes we forget. Sometimes we forget, we kind of look down on other people, we were just like them before we were saved. Most of us were worse than they were in many ways before we were saved. All of us are sinners, no matter what level of sin you may think, well, I didn't sin like this sin, I'm not as bad as that. That's human thinking, that's not God thinking. To offend in one point, the Bible says, makes us guilty. of all. By the way, if there's tragedies in your life or terrible circumstances, let the past refine you, but don't let it define you. Let it refine you. Let it make you into a stronger, more faithful Christian that God wants you to be. Let it help you in your interaction with other people as you grow and develop. Don't let the past define you. Paul didn't say, well, that's who I was. I'm always going to be a blasphemer. He didn't say that. He said, that's who I used to be. But now, by God's grace and by His mercy, I'm a different person. I'm a new man in Christ. Think about this old spiritual song. It's about 100 years old, I guess. The things I used to do, I don't do them anymore. And I used to travel around as an evangelist with teenagers. A lot of times, this is one of the songs that we would sing. It goes like this. The things I used to do, I don't do them anymore. The things I used to do, I don't do them anymore. The things I used to do, I don't do them anymore. There's been a great change since I've been born again. Sometimes they start clapping right in the middle of it and you kind of go along. It's a fun song to sing. And the chorus goes like this. There's been a great, great change, change since I've been born. There's been a great, great change, change since I've been born. There's been a great, great change, change since I've been born. There's been a great change since I've been born again. And you could make other verses. Here's the other verse. But you could add to it. Make a lot of good singing out of this. The places I used to go, I don't go there anymore. You get the idea? The things I used to say, I don't say them anymore. You can just add on to that. I'm a changed person. You know what? It's good to remember. This is who I used to be. but now I'm at mercy, thank God for it. Grace, love, faith, these things have changed my life. How about presently then? He describes his life now, presently in his life in the text. Verse 12, I thank Christ Jesus, our Lord, who hath enabled me. Presently, Paul was saying, I have been enabled by God. For that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry. He was enabled. Jesus is the one who enables us. And by the way, we are enabled and equipped by the Holy Spirit of God to be the Christians God wants us to be. We have the spiritual gifts that God has imparted and given to us, and we can use those all for the honor and glory of Jesus Christ. God has enabled me. Jesus equips those He calls. He gives the spiritual gifts of salvation, and then you can use those gifts and utilize them in your walk with the Lord among other people in church. Christians can live in ways that they could not have lived before, all because of Jesus. God has equipped you. He has enabled you. You can run from sin now. You don't have to sin. You don't have to be held in bondage to that sin. You can choose to serve the Lord. You can do right by God, right by other people, and it's not because, well, I'm just a really nice person. It's because of the work of God in you. Listen to this. Our works before you were saved, my works that I did that would be considered good works before I was saved, They were considered dead works before salvation. They were of naught, they were of no good, they were of no use. Listen to this, Hebrews 6, verse 1, Therefore, leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on to perfection, that is, maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works. and of faith toward God. Before a person trusts Christ, the good works that they do, they could be good, they can result in good things, they can help some people, but when it comes to God's estimation of those works before salvation, they were dead works. So Paul was saying, I did a lot of things before I was saved, I thought I was serving God, I thought I was making a difference, you know, kill the Christians, get rid of them, put them in prison. But his works before salvation were absolutely dead works. So he's encouraged. And we're to be encouraged as well. Notice how he says that God counted me faithful. Here was a man faithful, faithful before he was faithful to kill and destroy, like the old nature of the father, his father, the devil. How about this? Before he was to work, putting those who love Jesus, he was putting them to death and putting them in prison. Before he was working against those in ministry, now he's in the ministry of Christ. The ministry before he thought he was in the ministry of Jehovah, but actually he was against the Lord. And so now he's giving his life and yielding his life daily to Christ. One person said that thanksgiving, to be truly thanksgiving, is first thanks and then giving. Isn't that just the natural progression of the word? First, to give thanks, and then to be giving. Friends, we need to be giving thanks to God. He's enabled you, he has equipped you to live the Christian life. And Paul is very appreciative. He says, I thank Christ Jesus, our Lord. God gave me mercy. I deserve death and hell and judgment, but I did not get what I deserve. There are sins of ignorance that needs mercy. There are sins of bliss that needs mercy. There are sins of sincerity. All that time he thought he was serving God, and that needs mercy as well. Sin, in any form or fashion, needs to meet mercy. What a truth that is. In 1 Timothy 1, his introduction, he says, grace, mercy, and peace. By the time you get to 2 Timothy 1, the introduction, he says, grace, mercy, and peace. We need the mercy of God in our lives. So look at the past and remember when you met mercy and when God's mercy changed your life and salvation. Number two, let's look at the prayers. Verses one and two of chapter two, I exhort, therefore, that first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men. Giving of thanks be made for all men. For kings and for all that are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. Notice the prayers here. There's an exhortation, prayers of thanks for other people, in particular, prayers of thanksgiving even for the leaders. Now, we can give thanks to God for everybody that we know. We can give thanks to God for all the leaders that God has placed over us. Even if we don't like those leaders or care for their style or care for their decisions, we can give thanks to God for those people that God has put around us, in spite of their human issues and problems. Now, why? Why should we give thanks to God, even for the leaders that he's given to us? Why should we do that? I'll give you just two thoughts with this. Leaders are either a reflection of the people they represent, or, and this is also true, God has given us our leaders. He's given us our leaders. So they are a reflection of the people they represent, And I would suggest even if there's a good leader, God's answering the prayers of his people and showing mercy. If there's a bad leader, the Lord perhaps is judging the lack of faithfulness in his people and the lack of righteousness in the land. Either way, either way, however you would interpret they get there, either way, we're to give thanks. Either way, that's the command. When we complain about the leaders, we're complaining about God. Exodus 16, 8, the Lord hears your murmurings, which you murmur against him. What are we? This is Moses speaking. Your murmurings are not against us, but against the Lord. Now, when Paul wrote this to Timothy, Paul and Timothy and all these other Christians living in that first century, they had a lot of difficulties that we are very much unfamiliar with in America today. There's a man named Nero. Nero became the emperor of the Roman Empire at the age of 16. At that point, he was the youngest in history to be the emperor, and that was in 54 AD. His father and grandfather were known to be violent men who loved the gladiator games. Irrascable and brutal was a description one person said. They enjoyed chariot races, this is his father and grandfather, the theater performances to a degree not befitting their position. Nero's father died and Nero then was adopted by Emperor Claudius because Claudius had married Nero's mother Agrippina in 49 A.D. Now when Nero becomes the emperor. He's 16 years old. His mother tries to control him and thus, in a way, is trying to be the empress, if you would, of the world empire of the Roman Empire. And so, she controls him for a while until he kills her in 59 AD. So, he kills his own mom. He leads some dark days in the Roman Empire. It was said by historians and people in his day he had no sense of right or wrong. He set fire to Rome and blamed the Christians for the fire. Then he set fire to the Christians. He dipped them in tar and oil and used them as street lamps in his gardens and around the city. Others he had wrapped in animal skins and then sent dogs to chase after the people who were running away in animal skins. Of course, they were ripped to shreds. He was a cruel and a violent leader, but he was the leader at the time when Paul said, you need to pray for your leaders and you need to thank God for your leaders. Isn't that an amazing thing? That's beyond human comprehension. How can that happen? It's something only God can do. It's only God working in you to be able to say, I'll pray for you, and I'll give thanks to God for you. You don't have to agree with everything you're doing, but to give thanks and to pray for them. Now, Paul met Nero, his last trial in Rome, and he told Nero about Jesus. That was the, I wanna go see Caesar! I wanna go see Caesar! That's the man. That's the one. Philippians 4.22, this is what Paul wrote from that timeframe. He said, all the saints salute you, chiefly they that are of Caesar's household. Some of Nero's advisors and servants and people there, when Paul gave testimony of Jesus Christ, believed in the gospel. And they formed a church right there under the nose of Nero, right there in Rome. You see, Paul wanted to appeal to Caesar, he wanted to meet this corrupt man, not to condemn him, but to witness to him. And many people then, in that government, trusted Christ. What an amazing thing. Notice the exercise that goes along with this exhortation. It's a prayer of thanks for the leaders. Verses 2 and 3 speak to this, for kings, for all that are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life. Wouldn't it be good to pray? for the leaders, and in return a peaceable and quiet life comes about, in all godliness and honesty, for this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior." The exercise is to pray Thanksgiving prayers even for the leaders, pray for their leadership. Verses 2 and 3 make that clear. Their leadership could result in peace, and quietness. This praying can also lead to godliness and honesty. By the way, have you noticed in the news recently that a lot of truth is coming out about people that perhaps you've had questions in your mind about for a long time, talking about Hollywood elites? and politicians, and criminal, and violence, and immoral, and sinful behavior. A lot of this is coming out lately, and we can thank God for that. Notice how they are to pray. Verse 4, he continues, he spoke about Christ in verse 3, who will have all men to be saved and to come into the knowledge of the truth. to pray for their salvation, to pray for them to know then and to live the truth. We should pray like that. We should pray like that. And so pray for those leaders, the past, the prayers. Number three, the provision. Look in chapter four, just across the page or two for you there, verses one through five. Another example of thankfulness. Now the Spirit speaketh expressly that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils, devilish doctrines. Speaking lies and hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving. For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer." Let's think about the provision for just a moment. The provision. God offers every Christian a balanced Christian life. And Paul starts to describe some things that would happen in the latter times, and Timothy experienced that, and we see these same things in religious groups even today. You have these same extremes that are happening all around us, but we can have balanced. Paul said in the last times, the doctrines of devils will be more prevalent. You'll see very convincing lies that will seduce people, and we see the same type of thinking in lies even today. Now, some people thought no pleasures in life. No pleasures in life. Don't enjoy anything. No pleasures in life. People like that, they would say, you should never laugh in church. You know, we should always be real somber and like that all the time. They would actually teach things like that and say things like that. That's called asceticism. Asceticism. That's an unusual term. We don't use it all the time. That term has to do with an ancient Greek term, and it means training or exercise. That's how it originated. And Greek Olympians, they would use asceticism. They would discipline themselves to become the best athletes they could be. That was where it started at, physical training for athletes. But then it varies, and it varied from there. to in religious circles then, if I'm an aesthetic, then I'm going to focus on no pleasures in my life and as if that is a higher plane of spirituality. You see what I'm saying? If I deny this, if I stop this, if I live in this way, then I'm going to be super spiritual because of some of those things. And Paul says there are two areas in particular, marriage and what you eat, that people will try to control with this idea of asceticism. I'll not continue to define that, but you can see how it changed and how it developed, and even people have unnatural asceticism, which means they'll even go a step further and they'll hurt themselves in order to, in their mind, achieve a higher spiritual plane. It could include cutting. It could include cutting, or marks, or, you know, I'm going to hurt myself to punish myself so that I have some kind of higher spiritual standing with God. By the way, it does nothing to that effect. Nothing to that effect at all. That's human reasoning and human thinking. So, there's this idea of asceticism. Then the opposite of that would be excessiveness. Some, it's like a pendulum, they're on this side over here, some are way over here, and very excessive. The term indulgences was developed and used by the Catholic Church in the Middle Ages. In the Middle Ages, Indulgences were frequently sold, and the teaching on indulgences was very distorted. Here's a sample of that. You can send all that you want to, just make sure that you pay us where you're sent. and they would have special collections just for that. That's called indulgences. Now, Paul and Peter, in their day, they saw excessiveness as a problem. And 1 Peter 4, verses 3 and 4 tell us, For an entire pass of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles when we walked in lasciviousness. lust, excess of wine, revelings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries, wherein they think it strange that you run not with them to the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you." So Paul, as well as Peter there, the first Peter, they saw the whole gamut of this. Some people are just even to the point of hurting themselves to try to get to a higher spiritual place, and other people over here are extremely excessive. Do what you want, you can make up for it later, just make some kind of payment later, and just do whatever and live however you want. Now, the two main areas that Paul tells Timothy about in this passage is marital relations and meal regulations, like you can only eat certain foods and things like that. Now, You perhaps know people that would say that even today. Some people, some, quote, churches, some religious groups will say, if you want to be a more spiritual person, then don't get married. You know people that talk like that? Sometimes you'll hear people talk like that, don't get married to them. You'll hear other people say, well, you need to refrain from this type of food. Well, I know it's just a cheeseburger, but we need to eat fish, or we need to eat this, or we need to eat something else. and it'll start to try to regulate those things as if it would change its standing with God. Listen, there's great balance in the Christian life. We don't have to go from this extreme to this extreme. We can just go right down the middle with what the Bible teaches us here. So, we are truly blessed. Notice, if you would, in verse four. So, he goes from these different extremes here. Mary forbidding to marry, commanding to abstain from meats, but God created those to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth for every creature. So, if you're gonna eat bacon or ham or whatever it is you want, every creature of God is good. and nothing to be refused. Notice that if right there. If, if it be received with thanksgiving. If I can't thank God for it, I shouldn't eat it. Okay? That's the condition right there. The only condition is if. If I can thank God for it, I should be able to do it. Well, should I get married or not? If I, if I can be thankful for it, You see the application of that word, if, there. Here's a good test for you. Here's a good test. Can I pray and give thanks to God for this food or for this drink? or for this event, or for this activity, this is how it applies in our life, for this film, for this book, for this, what I'm about to do, can I stop everything and say, Lord, thank you for bringing this person into my life, or thank you for this drink I'm about to drink, or thank you for, can I give thanks to God while I start to partake of whatever it is. Can I give you glory for it? Lord, thank you, I glorify you for this. If an activity or what we're doing would make it difficult to give thanks or make it awkward to tell someone about Jesus and the forgiveness of sins, a witness to them, then it's a good task to give because it's probably not something good for me to be doing. If I can't give thanks for it. So, look at your life as being blessed. Whether you're married or single, whether you believe there's some kind of dietary restriction or not, we should be able to give thanks for, and when we pray, the opportunity is blessed by God, and when we pray and commit whatever that opportunity is to God, then we're less likely to abuse it or to misuse it, whatever it is. I can thank God for it. For example, I like Snickers bars. I could eat them all day, every day. I mean, I really could. Oh yeah, some people are waving their hands. Yeah, me too. Wave your hanky on that one. My grandmother at her church, my great-grandmother, when she'd get excited at church, she'd pull out a little hanky like that and just wave it like that. So if you do that when I mention Snickers bars, we understand. So I could eat that all the time. I could eat a Snickers bar all day, every day, but you can have too much of a good thing. But if you pray and say, Lord, thank you for this, it's a Snickers bar. I know, if I can give thanks for this, I'm less likely to abuse it and eat 25 pounds of it. when we give thanks, we're more likely to be thankful for it, to use it the right way rather than misuse it. You apply this in marriage as well. When I'm giving thanks, I'm not going to abuse, I'm not going to hurt, I'm going to do everything I can to do what's right towards that person. If I'm giving thanks like I should. If I'm giving thanks to God like I need to be. And so, whatever your decisions are, whatever you're facing this week, and be careful, look at verse five if you would. For it is sanctified by the Word of God and prayer. It's set apart, it's sanctified by the Word of God and prayer. So, if it's something that the Bible says is right, then I can do it. If it's something the Bible says is wrong, listen, I can pray about it all that I want to, but if the Bible says it's wrong, it doesn't make it right. just to pray about it. So it's sanctified by the word of God and prayer. This is the balance for you. This is where the balance is found. Can I thank God for it in prayer? And is it accurate with what the Bible says? So some people say, well, if you don't get married, you'll be more spiritual. Or if you don't eat this bacon for breakfast, you'll be more spiritual. People have added things like this and people actually still believe things like this today. It doesn't impact that at all. If it doesn't violate the Bible, and if you can give thanks to God for it, you can use it the right way, and it'll be a help to you, and it'll be a good testimony to those people around you. So Paul is telling Timothy this. You enjoy the blessings that God has given, but you better make sure that you give thanks. Friends, we need to be thankful. Men, women, teenagers, children today, let's be a thankful people. There was a man who said, I'm thankful for mosquitoes. I don't know if you would say that, but you may after the story. In February of 2000, Mozambique experienced its greatest and largest rainfall in more than 50 years. By March 2nd, there was an estimated 100,000 people who needed to be evacuated, and around 7,000 of those people were trapped in trees. The flooding was so vast and so severe, they were in these treetops just to avoid being washed away and drowning. One Mozambique minister named Samuel gave thanks to God for the mosquitoes for saving his life. As Samuel, along with 16 other people, clung tightly to the tree limbs for two days, He began to preach. All of them hoped his preaching would keep them alert to their surroundings. They were in the trees and did not want to fall asleep after so many hours of being awake so they wouldn't fall in the water and be drowned. He said, I helped some people climb into the rooftop of my house. I climbed into the trees with other people, said Pastor Samuel. He said, we saw televisions, we saw furniture, we saw dead cows floating past. Everything was destroyed. The people asked me to preach to them so that they would stay awake. He said, today, I thank God for the mosquitoes because they prevented me from falling asleep and falling into the water. He had so many mosquito bites on him after the end of that. but he thanked God for it. Whatever's happening in your life, we need to stop everything and give thanks to God. You see, we can be more thankful when we have specific memories. Specific memories. We need to be able to think about the past. Who were you before you met mercy, before you met Christ? Can you pray for the leaders God has given and pray for all the people that God has placed into your life and give thanks for them? And can you be thankful for the provision that God has given that you can live a balanced Christian life? I'm thankful for all three of these things. Let's bow together in prayer. Thank you for your good participation in the service here today. Are you a thankful Christian today? When you look at the past, Do you think just about the bad things or do you think, oh, Lord, thank you, that's who I used to be. But I met mercy and you changed my life. How about praying? Are you praying for the leaders, giving thanks? It can result in a quiet and a peaceable life. We don't have to live lives of drama. We can live lives of peace and quietness. How about the provision? Lord, I do thank you. You gave me food or you gave me a spouse. You gave me this relationship, you gave And I'm thankful for it. I'm going to give thanks. That way I can do what is right in that relationship. I'll give thanks so I can do right with this food and the moderation things such as this. Take just a moment today and think about some things that you're thankful for. I'll lead us in a word of prayer in just a moment. The piano will begin to play. Maybe think about 10 things over the next few days. Maybe right now just think about three things you're thankful for. It's something that God has done in your life. Maybe start with one of those characteristics of God, his majesty, his might, his power, his mercy or grace, his holiness or righteousness. Lord, thank you for who you are. And then give thanks for some of these other ideas that we've talked about today. Father, we pray that you would accept these prayers of thanks and gratefulness Let us be a thankful people today and truly every day. Let us have specific memories that trigger moments of praise and rejoicing in our lives. We pray this in Jesus' name. Would you please stand, the piano is going to play, and however God's worked in your life, you want to give thanks for a moment, why don't you do that? Heavenly Father, we do thank you for you being our God and we worship you today. We come with grateful hearts recognizing how great and mighty and wonderful you are. And as we look around at our lives and see how you brought us to this point on a Sunday morning in 2017, We can look back and see who we used to be and who you want us to be and the direction you have us going now in our walk with you. Let us be thankful for these things. Lord, we can look back and see that moment where we met mercy and we trusted Christ and believed in the gospel for salvation. Lord, we rejoice and are thankful for this. Let us remember these specific great and wonderful things that you've done. And Lord, we do give you thanks and we do give you praise. Let us practice giving thanks, not just today or this week or on Thanksgiving, but Lord, help us to have this idea and this mindset of being thankful in everything. Lord, bless each Christian here with the thoughts in their heart right now, the decisions on their mind, that they'd be a thankful people. Lord, we pray if there's one here that's not yet met Christ, they've not yet been born again or trusted Christ, we pray that they would know how they can be saved today and they can be thankful then for the salvation you've afforded them. We pray now for safety as we go. Bless us, we pray, as we go from this place and bring us again to worship you, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Terrific Sunday. Happy Thanksgiving coming up as well. Here's a couple of announcements. Thank you. Immediately following this morning service, if the teenagers who currently are serving and those that are interested in serving in kids life would meet Brother Jacquard, that meeting will be up in the JBEZ room. And so please plan on meeting him there again, those teenagers that are helping or would like to help in the future. This Tuesday, we invite you all back to our give thanks service. And that is a special service we have out in the foyer. We'll have some finger foods, give some testimonies and have a short challenge from God's word. And so plan on being a part of that. It's a great time of fellowship and just a relaxed service. There won't be a Wednesday night service or a patch club or SWAT because of the give thanks service. So pay attention to that as well this week. Next Sunday night, after the evening service, we do have the church business meeting. There is a proposed budget out on the table for you, if you would like to take that and look at it, as well as we'll be voting on next year's deacons as well. And then last announcement, we do have the kids' Christmas program coming up in just a couple weeks, and so plan on being a part of that. It's a great time that they get to put on this play for us and sing as well. And so that'll be the first Sunday of December, December the 3rd at six o'clock, and the theme for this year, or the title of it, is A Peanut Butter Christmas. And so plan on being a part of that for that Sunday evening service. Let's sing our closing song. What a day, glorious day that will be.