Peuther Chapel – Clintwood, VA      November 21, 2010 Sunday before Thanksgiving

“What Then? Who Will You Thank?”
I want to tell you how this message came about. Because this will show you once again exactly what an amazing God we serve.
It was in the night hours of October 26-27 that I had some tightening in the chest. At about 2:30 am, I got up, took an aspirin and went to sit down in the living room in the dark, for a few quiet and peaceful moments ‘til the pain subsided.
One of our precious cats whose name is Fanny Crosby came onto my lap to comfort me as she always does. In a few minutes the pain went.
Then God gave me these words: “What Then? Who will you thank?” and told me it was for my Thanksgiving message. It was 3 am when I went to the office to write down what God had spoken to me.
At that moment I did not have any invitation to preach a Thanksgiving message.
At 9 am I got a message on my voicemail that Joe Glenn Sluss had called to see how we were and when I could come to preach for you all. I called him back and he invited me to come and preach this very day.

What a mighty God we serve! Amen? Do you know that chorus? Sing it with me. “What a mighty God we serve, What a mighty God we serve. Angels bow before Him, heaven and earth adore Him, What a mighty God we serve.”
So here’s the message God gave to me for you today: “What Then? Who will you thank?”
*** Will you thank the God who created the heavens and the earth? Genesis 1:1 says: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”
Friends, there are this very day even in pulpits all over America speakers that deny the creation, even denying that God exists and denying the validity of His word in this Book we call the Holy Bible.
Listen! My God exists, my God’s word is real and literal and inerrant. And my God created not just heaven and earth but ALL things. Amen?

*** Will you thank the God who gave you life? Genesis 2:7 says “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.”
I tell you there are an untold number of people, especially young people who are worshipping and, if you will, thanking the devil who stole life in the Garden.
*** Will you thank the God who speaks to you? Genesis 21:2 tells us “For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him.”
God spoke to Abraham, and there are many other instances in Scripture where God spoke to an individual. God in Christ spoke to Saul the killer of Christians on the road to Damascus. In Acts 9 verse 4 we are told: “And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?” That voice was Jesus himself, God incarnate. Then Jesus converted him who became Paul the greatest Apostle. Therefore, is it not possible that God can speak directly to you or me? I wonder if we don’t hear God speak to us because we are not speaking to Him? Or are we constantly begging Him and calling it prayer– buy me, get me, do me?
Let me remind you of Buddha, Muhammed, Baal, to name just a few, and other false gods who are ever silent.
*** Will you thank the God who knows all your needs? God’s word says in Matthew 6:8 “For your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.”
Let me make clear that asking is perfectly ok. John 16:24 says: “Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.” But I want to tell you that trusting is more effective and begging is absurd.
*** Will you thank the God who is truth? Numbers 23:19 says: “God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?”
Jesus himself told us in John 14:6 that He is the TRUTH: “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”
Therefore can there be any doubt that our beloved God in Christ is the truth?
Let me remind you that there is one who opposes God, who hates us, who is described in John 8:44 as the father of lies.
But our Jesus, the TRUTH who lives in me and you if you are saved, is greater than this evil one whose name I don’t even want to cross my lips.
“Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.”(I John 4:4)
*** Will you thank the God who heals? God says: “For I am the LORD that healeth thee.” (Exodus 15:26)     You know as well as I that the doctor can diagnose, he can prescribe, he can cut, he can sew, he can even replace parts, but only God can heal our bodies.  Need I say more?

*** Will you thank the God with whom all things are possible?
I was recently sharing with another Christian how God has spoken to me and this led to a discussion of whether that is even possible in this day and time.
Allow me to give you just 5 verses confirming this issue.
I  give you Luke 1:37 the beautiful verse that says: “For with God nothing shall be impossible.”  
I give you Matthew 19:26: “But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.”
I give you Mark 9:23: “Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.”
I give you Mark 10:27: “And Jesus looking upon them saith, With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible.”
          And I give you Mark 14:36: “And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt.”
I don’t know about you but I sicken when I hear the words “that was for then but this is now”. God is now and His word is now and He does what He did now!
*** Will you thank the God who saved you?
Shall I give you all the verses referring to salvation? No, there’s not enough time. But allow me to share just one brief portion which to me is especially precious: “Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner:” (II Timothy 1:8)
I don’t know about you, but I want to be a prisoner of Jesus.
The second half of that verse says: “But be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God” 
I recall being in Romania in 2000, running 5 miles and back to the end of the village where I was staying, and praying to suffer as Christ suffered. And I could virtually feel those sufferings.
Verse 9 says: “Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.”
And verse 10: But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel:”

*** Finally, as we prepare for the one day we call Thanksgiving, allow me to remind you that every day, every hour, every moment, every breath, ---- should be one of thanksgiving to our heavenly Father, ---- the only living God who gave us Christ, ----          the Lord of all who gave us everything, ---- and even sent His Holy Spirit, the everlasting Comforter to convict us of our sin, ----  then to call us to salvation, ---- then to guide us and lead us through this life on earth ---- that we may be presented to the Father, purified under the blood of Jesus, on that special day when we shall see Him as He is.
In Psalm 100, verse 4 God’s word commands us: “Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.”
Please stand and sing with me if you will:
We shall enter His gates with thanksgiving in our hearts,
We shall enter His courts with praise,
We shall say this is the day that the Lord hath made,
We shall rejoice for He has made us glad.
He hath made us glad,
He hath made us glad,
We shall rejoice for He hath made us glad.
Let’s pray