Thanksgiving P1 – Bob George (11-22-23)
Jesus is Our Thanksgiving
~ We have much to be thankful for today, but the biggest thing to be thankful for if you are in Christ Jesus is the fact that the Holy Spirit lives in you, gave you eternal life, and will never leave you. We are to focus on him, and his righteousness, and his life living in and through us. We cannot live his life, and he never expected us to. Satan wants you to think that you personally can live the Christian life. Satan will go out of his way to show you how to clean up your flesh. He will induce pride in you based on you thinking that God is pleased with you when you get this sin or that sin “taken care of” yet that is when you are the most vulnerable. Because there are people that go around pretending that they have repented of ALL of their sins when in reality they don’t have a clue what repentance really means. They have trusted in the teaching of man instead of the teaching of God.
~ Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. Colossians 2:6,7
~ Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:4-7
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~ “So guys, God doesn’t want us to be anxious. He says, Don’t be anxious about anything. But in all things, all things, prayer and supplication, what’s that mean? Talking to God. What are you going to talk to God about God, you’ve already told me that you’re going to provide everything for me according my riches and glory. And so I really don’t have to worry if you are going to do that. And I do believe that you’re going to do that. So I’m not gonna have to worry about today. And I certainly don’t have to worry about tomorrow. But he said in all things with prayer and supplication and Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving, be thankful for what you do have instead of worrying about what you don’t have, be thankful that you’ve got food in your mouth today, instead of worrying about that you might not have it tomorrow. And for most of us, if we didn’t have it tomorrow, it would not be a catastrophe. Don’t be anxious for anything. But in all things with prayer and supplication, thanksgiving, let your requests be known onto God, God, you know, my will is you know what I would like to see, but I don’t want my will. It’s not my will on him after I’m after your will. And so in as much as I can trust my life today with your will for me today and your will for me tomorrow, then what’s the use of me sitting around and worrying? You know, there isn’t anything glamorous about a worrying person. You know, I got the joy of Jesus in my heart.” ~ Bob George
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Well, we’re going to talk today about Thanksgiving and how it ties in to the Word of God as it relates to these passages in Romans. But they’re attitudes of love and attitudes of thankfulness that I think we need to continually be reminded of, in Philippians, four, six, we have a passage of scripture that we all know Be anxious for nothing. But in all things, that not some things, but all things with prayer and supplication and thanksgiving, let your requests be known onto God. And then the peace of God that passes all understanding will quiet in your heart and your mind in Christ Jesus. You know, you have world peace, you can go out to to the beach. And you can look at the beautiful ocean, which Amy and I had an opportunity of doing. And there is temporary peace that you have by looking at God’s creation and being around God’s creation. But the peace of God that passes all understanding cannot be duplicated by anything here in this earth. It has to be produced internally by the Holy Spirit of God, who is the author of peace, love, joy, and peace is a fruit of the Spirit that can only be produced by God. And so we understand the truth of these things. And it’s only when we abide and yield to the Spirit of God that we can experience things like love, the kind of love that God gives. But the kind of love that passes all understanding is only available to us by the source of that love. And that source is Christ Jesus on him alone. So until we learn to abide in Him, we’re never going to experience love, we can talk about it, you can talk about lust, you can talk about attraction. But the kind of love that the Bible talks about agape love can only be produced by God himself. But he says to be anxious for nothing. Now, you say, Well, what is anxiety? Well, anxiety is basically produced by worrying about what never takes place, the future. And how many of you have wasted unbelievable amounts of time in your life worrying about something that never happened? How many of you have done that? And that’s quite frankly, that’s the that is the, the bulk of our worry is over stuff that never takes place. And again, the anxiety and the worry, is a terrific contradiction to faith. Because you cannot walk by faith and be worried at the same time. You know, we love to talk about the filthy five, the dirty dozen, and the nasty nine. But you know, worry is just as much as a sin as any of those things. And remember, think about that, that I’m sinning by worrying. But he said anything that is not a faith is what? Sin. So when I’m worrying, am I exercising faith? No. So I’m sinning. And so the whole issue is that not that that sin has not been taken away from the eyes of God, just like all sins, but the issue is, is what God is saying, I don’t want you to do that. I want you to live in peace. I want you to live with a quietness of spirit and love in your heart. And I cannot do that when I’m preoccupied with me. And what’s going to happen in the future.
I asked sometimes people, would you be this concern over what you’re concerned about? If that was happening to me instead of you? The answer is no. I can give a flip what’s happening to you, I’m interested in what’s happening to me. And a whole interested is that’s where this self centeredness comes in, that God wants us to get rid of to become God centered instead of self centered. But you see, we all have that tendency, do we not to go back to the Garden of Eden and try to be God? And what does God do? Controls things. What do we want to do? Control things, including my future. And I want to be sure that my future is secured. And so in as much as I can’t do anything about the future, then the only thing I do is worry about today, worrying about the future, which is God’s country. That’s not my country up there. That’s God’s country. I have no idea what’s going to happen tomorrow. Do you? I don’t know what’s going to happen five minutes from now. And again, if if I had the ability to know what was going to happen five minutes from now, I can become a millionaire in the stock market. So we don’t know we have not a clue. And so God says What are you doing up there? But guys, all anxiety is dealing with fear over tomorrow? Am I going to have enough money to take care of my kids? Am I gonna have enough money to send my kids to college? Am I going to have enough money to do this? Am I going to keep my job? Because there’s been a lot of layoffs. And the issue is that whatever happens to you, God said, I will supply how many of your needs? All of your deeds according to my riches and glory, not according to your savings and glory. So God wants us to quit worrying. And to quit continually being in a state of worry and depression, because worry brings about depression. I mean, if I’m worried that something’s bad’s gonna happen to me tomorrow, how can I not be depressed today? Because that’s depressing. I tell people sometimes if I said about you what you’re saying about you, you would hit me in the nose. Is that right or wrong? We just tell each other how bad we are and how bad things are gonna be and just do that joyfully. If someone else said that to you to get away from him say, I don’t want to be around a person like that. They’re, they’re negative.
So guys, God doesn’t want us to be anxious. He says, Don’t be anxious about anything. But in all things, all things, prayer and supplication, what’s that mean? Talking to God. What are you going to talk to God about God, you’ve already told me that you’re going to provide everything for me according my riches and glory. And so I really don’t have to worry if you are going to do that. And I do believe that you’re going to do that. So I’m not gonna have to worry about today. And I certainly don’t have to worry about tomorrow. But he said in all things with prayer and supplication and Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving, be thankful for what you do have instead of worrying about what you don’t have, be thankful that you’ve got food in your mouth today, instead of worrying about that you might not have it tomorrow. And for most of us, if we didn’t have it tomorrow, it would not be a catastrophe. Don’t be anxious for anything. But in all things with prayer and supplication, thanksgiving, let your requests be known onto God, God, you know, my will is you know what I would like to see, but I don’t want my will. It’s not my will on him after I’m after your will. And so in as much as I can trust my life today with your will for me today and your will for me tomorrow, then what’s the use of me sitting around and worrying? You know, there isn’t anything glamorous about a worrying person. You know, I got the joy of Jesus in my heart.
And I sing that song. I got the joy, joy, down in my heart, nothing glamorous about that. A big smile. A free spirit is evidence of a person who’s walking in dependency on the Lord doesn’t mean that you’re saved or not. You’re saved, obviously. But you’re saved and sorry. And saved, but not trusting the Lord with what you trusted him for the biggest thing that ever happened to your salvation. I ask people sometimes Who are you trusting for your salvation? Are you trusting yourself? You trusting in Jesus? Oh, man, I’m trusting Jesus. I couldn’t say myself if I wanted to. Well, you are saved, aren’t you? Absolutely. So if he could do such a big thing is give you eternal life. Guys, that’s a life that’s gonna last forever. Don’t you think he’s big enough that you don’t have to worry about the the things we’re worried about today? Don’t you think you can trust him with these things? If you trust him for something that big, don’t you think you can trust him for today? And so that’s why those passages are there is to enable us to get rid of the stinking thinking that we’ve been plagued with in our lives in the negative thinking. And it’s not whether it’s negative or positive, it’s whether it’s truth or not. Because negative thinking is not truth. Negative thinking is thinking things are negative is going to happen to you and you don’t know what’s going to happen to you. But the issue is, is to think properly. It’s not a good self image that we have or a bad self image but a proper self image the image that God has given you. And if you’re a child of the living God, you have a promise from him I’ll cause all things to work together for good to those who love the Lord and to those who are called according to His purpose. In all things give thanks for this is the will of God concerning you in Christ Jesus. I have people out of times last Bob what is the will of God? I’d like to know what the will of God is? Well I’ll tell you one thing it’s the will of God give thanks at all things. Have you done that? No well then why seek the will of God some someplace else until you’re willing to do that one why seek in something else? That’s an easy one to get a hold up? In all things give thanks, trials. Tribulation. You know, guys, when you look back on your lives, as we all do, and that seems to be more of a of a pastime when you get older. You don’t have much future laughs. All you got is look back on the past. But you think more about the past, and you look back on the life and the mistakes, you made the trials and tribulations that you went through. And you look back on that and you say, you know, and I look at that with proper in a proper sense. Those are the things that made me what I am today. Those are the things that I learned to trust God. Had I not been through the trials and tribulations of life, I wouldn’t have known what it was to trust Jesus. And I think that’s why the apostle Paul, in the Scripture said, to thank God for your weaknesses, to rejoice in your weaknesses. Because if you didn’t have weaknesses, you wouldn’t know the strength of God. And if you didn’t have any weaknesses, you’d forget Jesus in a New York minute. You realize the truth of that, that it was not for your weaknesses and your tendency to sin, not encouraged, you’re gonna don’t need to. We sin quite well without encouragement. But the issue is that many times you’re sinfulness is what keeps you the sinful attitudes that come out of us, are the very things that keep us dependent on Christ to say, Lord Jesus if it wasn’t for your mercy and your kindness and your goodness to me, I’d be a goner with the way I think. And so we have to, these are attitudes of Thanksgiving, I think of many things that I have to be thankful for. And I know if you sit here today that there are many things that you can be thankful for. Thankful for grandkids that need taken care of. Bye bye.
I was very touched. By a note that I got many of you know how much major Thomas major Ian Thomas meant to me. Here was a dear man of God that when you were around him, you didn’t have to wonder if you’re in the presence of somebody who knew Jesus. You’re in the presence of a man that you knew knew Jesus, and he had a presence of a man who knew how to trust Jesus, an inspiration. At his funeral that was held in, in Cape Henry in England. He wrote on the back here that as a young evangelists, my love and enthusiasm for Christ as my Savior, kept me very, very, very busy. Until out of sheer frustration, I finally came to the point of quitting. This was a turning point which transformed my Christian life. In my despair, I discovered that the Lord Jesus gave himself for me. So that risen from the dead, he might give Himself to me, he who is the Christian life, instead of pleading for help, I began to thank him for all that he wanted to be, sharing his life with me every moment of every day. And I learned to say, Lord Jesus, I can’t, you never said I could. But you can and always said you would.
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This is all I needed to know. From that moment on life became the adventure that God always intended it to be. That was the beginning of the Torch Bearers. And this continues to be the main thrust of our ministry around the world, teaching people about the saving life of Christ. Major Thomas went to be with the Lord a number of months ago. And I got this letter in a letter from his wife, Joan, very, very sweet lady. She said, Dear Bob, excuse this little note, but I do want to thank you personally for your tribute to Ian Ian Thomas, on your radio program, which was kindly mailed to me. You were so right. And all you said about my Major, and all the results of his ministry, as they are seen in my email, phone calls, etc, every day. I’m glad that you too continue to preach Christ, so alive and available to every believer, and to the answer to all human needs, the church must hear and from whom the truth if there is to be any impact on the world that they need to hear this if there’s any impact is going to be it on the world. Thank you for your faithful ministry and the Lord bless you in Christ, Joan Thomas. Those are things that encourage us. Those are things with Major Thomas was a man that made a big impact on my life. And I’ll always be deeply indebted to him for that. But equally important, or that is a man like I said that when you’re around him, you didn’t have to wonder does this guy really know the Lord, there was no religious playing in his life. He was just a man dedicated to the Lord Jesus Christ.
I got another note I want to share with you. This came from a girl that I was in a Bible study back in 1980. And she said, Dear Bob, I met you in 1980, you were teaching a Bible study that was held in a Chris Wells Carriage House, we taught a senior or a high school and early college Bible study in the garage of Dr. Chris Wells house. And he’s in the carriage house each, every evening each week. It was the college class and I came even though I was still in high school, and you hired me to illustrate a couple of books that you are having printed, I was amazed that you hired me to do that I was so young. And he talks about yours, your son and I dated for a short time during that summer. I don’t remember this, but I’m sure he will. Anyway, you have been on my heart for the past week, because there was a specific night during one of those Bible studies that I truly felt God called me to teach for him. It seemed like he highlighted highlighted the evening, and you were teaching me, I remember wanting to run and hide from the highlighting, and waiting to soak up all the teaching, I could at the same time. So why are you on my heart? To say thank you for teaching me. I have run from Lord’s calling for half of my life, and I finally surrendered to him. My life is his. It begin to be his in the carriage house under your teaching. Thank you for teaching me so long ago. And it’s signed by this girl who is teaching today. She wrote an additional on the back of this, she said My heart won’t rest until I obeyed this strange prompting to get in touch with you. I found your website when I Googled your name. I ran into you once at the First Baptist Church about eight years ago, but I had no idea you were pastoring, pastoring a church. I’m beginning to teach and speak where my precious Lord leads. And it says me leads me in these little towns in central Colorado. It has only started as May of 2007. And quite a journey. It has been. It just makes me take a deep breath and hold on to the Lord tightly. I’m grateful for that highlighted moment. Because when I asked the Lord, if he really wants me? He reminded me that was the time when he called me. He was so faithful. And this These are letters like this that you get from people. There’s a girl that I hadn’t seen since 1980. But God is faithful. And he keeps working with people said she kind of ran from the Lord for half of her life. But God brought her back. And he always will. It just doesn’t make any difference. He always will bring you back.
Amy and I had the opportunity of having lunch and spend some time with Dave Boyer and his wife when we were in Florida. And, and again, it was just an example of a man who grew up in this Christian home his dad as a pastor, his brother was a missionary in France and whole family involved in in Christian work and activity. And yet he was the prodigal son. And he ran and had a beautiful singing voice. And there he was in Atlanta city, Atlantic City and got all tied up with the mob and, and alcohol and drugs and women and everything under the sun, wife left him for a period of time with their daughter. And all of these things while he was running, trying to find happiness and success in the world, which was not able to be found. One night was out on a railroad track, waiting on a train to come to take his life and saw a phone booth over there and finally went over to the phone booth and called his brother who was back from France and a missionary field kind of taking over the church because of a death of his father. And he called his brother and said, I need your help. And his brother said You stay right where you are, and came and got him and took him to the church that night and prayed through the night. And at the end of that night, Dave became a born again believer. Here he was a very, very popular singer, hobnobbed with the Sinatra’s and, and all of the people some of you don’t know who he is. He was a singer and an old singer but a singer and Sammy Davis and all those guys called The Rat Pack and gave it all up in order to devote his voice to the Lord. And he’s been doing so now for well over 30 years. So it’s like it’s like you’ve heard me say before people that we’ve met, where they say that God restored the years that the locusts ate away. So it really doesn’t make any difference guys where you are or what you done, God is ready to restore you. And He will restore you, if you’ll let him. And that’s one of the reasons that we have to give thanks again to be thankful people. Because whatever we’ve done, it doesn’t make any difference what we’ve done or where we’ve been. We know that Christ Jesus is there to restore people, and to lead us into a path of righteousness. And that’s the greatest news on the face of the earth.
Let’s turn now to the 12 chapter of Romans. And beginning in verse nine. He says, because of these truths, in other words, were at the beginning of that chapter, he said, I urge you brothers in view of God’s mercy to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice. In other words, Christ says, I came to live in you. Think about that for a minute, guys. Jesus, through His Holy Spirit has come to take up residence in you, and in me to live there. And it says that we have the privilege of participating in that divine nature, that lives in us, Christ lives in us. It’s our hope of glory. We have someone no longer to follow. Because if I’m following Jesus, then he’s out there someplace isn’t he? S,o I don’t follow Jesus anymore. I followed him to where he was going, where was he going? To the cross, and then where? To the resurrection. So I followed him to where he went to his death, burial and resurrection. And then was indwelt by him no longer to follow him, but to be led internally, by him. You see the difference? There’s a difference between trying to follow someone trying to imitate their steps. And someone living in you guiding you as when to take your steps. There is a world of difference in that. It’s the idea of well, what would Jesus do? Well, that he did what he Father told him to do. And what are we supposed to do? Follow what Jesus what the Father told Jesus to do know, to follow what Jesus tells you to do. If he lives in you, He is there to guide you and me into all truth, not to imitate somebody else’s steps, but to individually guide you and me into the steps of righteousness that God called us to. And so he’s saying that there is love, but then there’s love that is sincere. And again, guys, us you see a lot of insincerity, don’t you and you see a lot of it, unfortunately, and in a lot of Christian realms. I just love you, brother. Gotta stab you in the back tomorrow, but I love you. He said love must be sincere, that love is something that I want to come out of the heart. I don’t want to just with words. And you know, guys, there are many times people have trouble loving. Do you know what I’m talking about? There are people that have trouble loving. Sometimes they’re afraid to love because they’re afraid they’re gonna get hurt. There are people that have loved in their early life, and have been hurt so dramatically by that, that they say no one’s going to get close to me again. And we put a wall around us and say, no one’s gonna penetrate that wall. Well, I will tell you, if that’s the truth, you’re gonna be one sad creature. Because again, you’re not trusting the Lord with that. If you were hurt by somebody, what makes it important is that you keep thinking about it. Outside of that it’s over, isn’t it? If someone has ripped you off, it’s over. And the only way it’s going to be important in your life is you insist on continuing to think about it. And so the issue is, let go of it. leave the past behind. And and realize that the future is God’s, and learn how to live, what? One day at a time, you’re not being holy, by putting up a wall up against yourself and saying, no one’s going to penetrate this sucker. Because I’m just not going to love because I’ve been hurt before. Well you see what is that? Selfishness, selfishness, it’s saying, I don’t want to be hurt, will go away and think how many times Jesus was hurt. Do you think maybe he might have been a little bit disturbed when they were crucifying him at the cross? But it never stopped him from loving. He said, I know that there’s a danger to loving. God so loved the world. There’s a there’s a chance on that there’s a gamble connected with that, for me to love you unconditionally. There’s a gamble connected with it. You might hurt my feelings. You might walk out. But God doesn’t say so. Don’t love anybody. Satan says that to you Don’t Don’t get close to somebody. God wants her love to be sincere. He wants to have a sincere love for one another to get rid of this attitude of fear because guys fear is the opposite of love. That perfect love drives out all fear and fear drives out perfect love. And so God doesn’t want us fearful that I’m gonna get hurt or fearful or what’s this going to do? And a lot of times people live in fear and I will tell you, they’re hard people to live with. When you’re always living in fear, always fearing this and fearing and fearing this and fearing that and fearing this, because you’re never free. You’re never free to just be. You’re always wondering what What’s the motive of this person? What are they thinking about and wonder what their wonder what they’re trying to get to me and wonder if they’re trying to rip me off. And all of those kinds of thoughts. They don’t come from God. God says, well, they rip you off. So what? Said to be wise as a serpent, gentle as a dove. Don’t walk around saying hey, here I am. rip me off. But the issue is, is quit living in fear of that. Because it ain’t gonna do you announce a good until your love is sincere and you can’t have sincere love when you’re fearful. Or when your cell phone goes off either one of those hate what is evil and claimed who God is good. I’ll show you. I’ll give you so some genius here. Before you can hate what is evil and cling to what is good. You got to know first of all, what is good and what’s evil. And you got to cling to what’s good and what’s evil. That’s what’s going on in the world today. People don’t have stopped even dealing with what’s good and what’s evil. They just don’t think there’s think there anything evil. Everything’s okay, gotta be tolerant. Isn’t that what we’re told? To be tolerant, just accept everyone. There’s no such thing as bad. No such thing as good. Everything’s relative. Is that true? Not according the Word of God. He said, there’s evil. And there’s good. Our role is saying what is good and what is evil? Well it tells us in the Scripture, what is good and what is evil. We don’t have to wonder about it. It tells us in the Scripture, the things that are good, and the things that are evil. And he says hate what is evil, and cling to what is good.
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Thank you so much for tuning in to Classic Christianity with Bob George. We hope you’ve enjoyed today’s program. We truly hope that today’s message has inspired you to walk a life of faith in the Lord find more information online at BobGeorge.net. There you will also find available CDs, DVDs and Bible studies available for purchase. It’s through your help that we are able to spread the good word of Jesus Christ. Until next time, walk in faith be good to one another and praise the Lord. Amen.
