St. Paul's United Methodist Church
“Guard Your Heart with Thanksgiving”
Rev. Richard W. Gray
November 20, 2005
Romans 1:21
A turkey farmer was always experimenting with breeding to perfect a better turkey. He had six children who always fought over the drumsticks every Thanksgiving. So he worked on developing a six-legged turkey. At last he was successful and told his farmer friends he was going to surprise the children on Thanksgiving with a turkey leg for each of them.
After Thanksgiving one of his friends asked him, “How did the six-legged turkey taste?” The farmer replied, “I don't know. I could never catch it.”
A lot of turkey has been eaten since the Pilgrim's time. On December 21, 1620, the Pilgrims made their new home in Massachusetts. That winter, half of the Pilgrims died. When spring came, and they had the opportunity to sail back to England, not one of them left to go back.
John Brewster said, “We are not men to whom small circumstances and discouragements turn them aside from their commitment under God.”
At the end of the first summer they had a little church. At the heart of that church was the Bible. They had a little street and seven houses lined that street. At the heart of each house was the Bible. The third thing they built, after the church and homes, was a school. At the heart of that school was the Bible, a far cry from today. They had cleared twenty-one acres and they had a harvest that fall from the hands of God.
Governor William Bradford proclaimed a time of thanksgiving.
In 1789, after the terrible days of the Revolutionary War, and after the Continental Congress had framed the Constitution of the United States, the first thing the two houses of Congress did, the House of Representatives and the Senate, was to request President George Washington to proclaim a national day of thanksgiving to God. Our Congress did this. How things have changed today. President Washington proclaimed a national day of thanksgiving.
We were a small nation of less than four million people when this first national proclamation of thanksgiving was made. We have grown into a great nation and a great people all because of the blessings of God.
All of us sitting here today have ancestors who came to this country as immigrants. Most immigrants came with little or nothing.
A young man was feeling good about himself. As a new college graduate, he had taken the CPA exams and passed with flying colors. Now he was a Certified Public Accountant.
His father had been an immigrant to the U.S., and now owned a little business. Filled with self-importance, the young man began to criticize his father's way of keeping books. He said, “Dad, you don't even know how much profit you have made.”
The father answered, “Son, when I came to this country, the only thing I owned was a pair of pants. Now, your brother is a doctor, your sister is an art teacher, and you are a CPA. Your mother and I own our own home. We have a car and we own this little business. Now add that up, subtract the pants, and all the rest is profit.”
Add it up. That is what we need to do at Thanksgiving, and every day. We came into this world with nothing. Everything we have came because of God's blessings. We can never give too
too much thanks to God. Let us not forget God!
Harry Ironside, preacher and author, went into a crowded restaurant. Just as he was about to begin his meal, a man approached and asked if he could join him. Ironside invited him to have a seat. Then, as was his custom, Ironside bowed his head in prayer. When he opened his eyes, the other man asked, “Do you have a headache?” Ironside replied, “No, I don't.” The other man asked, “Is there something wrong with your food?” Ironside responded, “I was simply thanking God as I always do before I eat.” The man said, “Oh, you're one of those, are you? I never give thanks. I earn my money by the sweat of my brow and I don't have to give thanks to anybody before I eat. I just start right in.” Ironside said, “Yes, you're just like my dog. That's what he does, too.”
We need an upward look to remember who is the real cause of all that we have.
McDonalds has a great profit-maker, the Happy Meal. Hamburger, fries, a drink, and a cheap toy. That kind of happiness does not last long, not even for children.
A lot of people have so much, and are unhappy. Their happy meals are a lot more expensive than those from McDonald's. For many people, the more they have, the more they want. There is always something new and improved that promises happiness.
Then we worry about debt, buying what we hope will make us happy. We dig a deep hole of debt. Someone once said that credit cards let you start at the bottom and then dig yourself a hole.
Then we are afraid someone will try to steal what we have, so we worry about protecting it. A carjacking was foiled in a Northern Virginia shopping mall. It seems that an elderly grandmother was given a gun by her son to protect herself. One day after she had finished her
her shopping at a mall, she returned to the car where she found four men seated inside. She put down her shopping bags, drew her handgun, and proceeded to scream at them at the top of her voice that she had a gun and knew how to use it and to get out of the car. The four men jumped out and ran off as fast as they could. The lady put her bags in the trunk of the car and got inside.
Then she discovered a small problem. Her key would not fit inside the ignition. Then she realized it was not her car. Her car was identical and parked a few spaces farther down. She loaded her bags into her car and drove to the police station.
The sergeant to whom she told the story burst into laughter and then pointed to another area of the station where four frightened young men were telling another officer about a crazy old lady with a gun that hijacked their car.
We have a preoccupation with things, with getting them and with keeping them.
We say we are thankful with what we have, but we keep wanting more, which seems to contradict our saying we are happy and thankful with what we have.
What do you think is the favorite pastime of teenage girls? In a recent survey, 93% of teenage girls said shopping was their favorite pastime.
One father said, “If my daughters don't go to the mall for three days, the mall sends them a get well card.”
The constant desire for more or for better or to keep what we have leaves many people unfulfilled and depressed.
Marty Seligman, professor of psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania, conducted a study of depression. He found there has been a sharp increase in depression since the end of World War 2. People born after 1945 are ten times
times more likely to suffer depression than people born earlier. That is strange since we have so many more possessions and life is so much more comfortable. He also noticed that you do not find much depression as we know it in non-Western cultures, until they adopt our western culture. Most primitive cultures do not show many signs of depression.
Seligman says there is so much depression today because people are caught up in the middle of almost complete self-centeredness.
They are so focused on getting what they want that it leads to unhappiness and depression.
The Apostle Paul discovered the secret to happiness. He was content with whatever happened to him and with whatever he had, because He had the Lord.
Do you know what is the most toured house in America? The White House. Do you know the second most toured house in America? Graceland, Elvis Presley's house. Go fifty yards from the backdoor of Graceland and you will see a tombstone. Elvis died at forty-two years of age of a drug overdose. He had more than most people, but he said, “I would give a million dollars for one day of peace.”
The Apostle Paul wrote in Philippians 4:12-13, “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry. Whether living in plenty or living in want. I can do everything through him who strengthens me.”
He found that contentment was not found in possessions or circumstances. Contentment comes from learning to appreciate and be thankful for what we have in Christ and for what God has given us.
Dr. Dale Robbins writes, “I used to think people complained because they had a lot of problems. But I have come to realize that they have
have a lot of problems because they complain. Complaining doesn't change anything or make situations better. It amplifies frustration, spreads discontent and discord.”
The Psalmist said in Psalm 77:3, “I complained and my spirit was overwhelmed.” Complaining makes us miserable.
The Bible says, “Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you,” 1 Thessalonians 5:18.
The secret of a happy life is not to get what we want, but to live with what we have. So many people spend their lives concentrating on what they want rather than thanking God for what they have.
The Bible says in Romans 1:21, “For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.” There are people who have seen the evidence of God's power and love but have not responded in gratitude. If we do not respond to God with gratitude, then our minds will be darkened.
We are to guard our hearts with gratitude so we will not feel unfulfilled or depressed.
The secret to a happy life is not to get what we want, but to live contentedly, with thanksgiving, with what we have
335 Smyth Road
Manchester, NH 03104
Sunday School: 9:00 a.m.
Sunday Worship: 8:00 a.m. and 10:15 a.m.
603-647-7322