Well, you know, we've gone through a political season and, uh, you know, so much to be thankful for. We are approaching Thanksgiving and this will be the week of Thanksgiving. This program airs and it will air all through. You can listen to it through the week. And, uh, I always want to try to take us back. And I think it's so very important that we go back to the word of God, especially at the time of Thanksgiving. We all have so much to be thankful for. Well, I talked to our broadcast partners on a regular basis, and I called my good friend, Paul Scharf, and I found out that he has a message that he's been preaching on Thanksgiving, and it comes from the Book of Psalms. So I thought, man, I gotta get you on the program, Paul. So Paul, welcome back to the program today. Hey, thank you, Jimmy. It's so great to be here, and especially for this wonderful time of Thanksgiving. So let's talk about this. Why is, and you know, Psalm, and I think you said the Pilgrim Psalm. Tell us all about what is the Pilgrim Psalm? Well, Jimmy, it's Psalm 107. It's the Pilgrim Psalm. I call it the Pilgrim Psalm of Praise. That's my own little addition that I've made. But the Thanksgiving pilgrims looked to this psalm, and Governor Bradford wrote about it in Of Plymouth Plantation. And he paraphrased from Psalm 107. And some even believe that the pilgrims meditated on this text on the Lord's Day as they were, you know, in the harbor, disembarking from the Mayflower and coming into what would become Plymouth Colony. And if you read Psalm 107, Jimmy, you'll get a clue as to why it's called this and why the pilgrims really thought this psalm pointed to them. Now, I want to be careful and say I don't believe the pilgrims are prophesied in Psalm 107, because I don't believe that the New Testament, the church age, is foretold in that way in any prophecies. I don't think it's talking about the pilgrims. In fact, the section that talks about, that sounds like it talks about the pilgrims, some commentators believe it's talking about the prophet Jonah. But as you read it, it really sounds like a description of what happened to the pilgrims. And I'm talking about Psalm 107, Jimmy, beginning in verse 23, through 32, which is one of four parallel sections in this amazing Psalm 107. you know, the very first verse, Oh, give thanks unto the Lord for he is good for his mercy endureth forever. What a great thought about thinking and sitting around the table this Thanksgiving and, you know, thinking about Psalm 107. Well, so our, you know, I think that, uh, if we go back, isn't Psalm 105 and 107, 105 through 107, how do they fit together? Well, they're called a trilogy, Jimmy, and it's amazing because they're not written at the same time. Psalm 105 is written, apparently, commissioned by David through Asaph, and we know that because it copies verses from 1 Chronicles 16, when the ark came back to a tabernacle that David built for him. This is 1 Chronicles 16, And there was a special celebration at that time, and God's people rejoiced at the return of the Ark of the Covenant in that way. But this Psalm 105 is probably written then, and Psalm 106 and 107 seem to be written later after the return from the Babylonian captivity, and yet they're placed together in the Psalter And it seems that from ancient times, there was a connection drawn between these three Psalms, different as they are in their original writing. And you hit on one of the keys, Jimmy. Look at the beginnings of each of these three Psalms. Oh, give thanks to the Lord. Psalm 105, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the peoples. Psalm 106, praise the Lord, O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endures forever. And as you mentioned, Psalm 107, which seems to describe the pilgrims, talks about Thanksgiving. That's appropriate, isn't it? O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endures forever. And so these three Psalms, and as you read them, it's not only that the first verses are similar, but the Psalms go together and really give a comprehensive survey of the history of Israel and God's working in his people through the centuries, all built on God's faithfulness to the Abrahamic covenant, which is such a key. In fact, let me read to you from the lead into Psalm 106, excuse me, to Psalm 107, is the end of Psalm 106, where the psalmist writes, verse 45, for their sake, God remembered his covenant. He remembered the Abrahamic covenant. And then it says in verse 47, save us, O Lord, our God, and gather us from among the Gentiles to give thanks to your holy name, to triumph in your praise. And that seems to be, Jimmy, a prayer Perhaps for what we would call the final future restoration of Israel that we're still awaiting, when God regathers all his people Israel, Jesus said he would send his angels to gather the elect from the four winds. And the psalmist ends Psalm 106 saying, blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting, and let all the people say amen. Praise the Lord, and that's the prelude that takes us into Psalm 107, the Pilgrim's Psalm. Wow. You know, a lot of people tie the Feast of Tabernacles to the Pilgrims and that the Pilgrims modeled that dinner, the time that they were celebrating and giving thanks to the Lord after the Feast of Tabernacles. So when you're talking about the restoration of the land and the people, the Jewish people and those covenants, when those covenants are fulfilled, that will take place during the time period of when we will be celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles or when Jesus Christ comes back to the earth. So let's talk about this. What's the structure of Psalm 107, and what groups are addressed there? Well, Jimmy, it's fascinating. It addresses four different groups and people, if they mark their Bibles, they might want to highlight. And these sections become very evident because you see a repetition, verse 6, verse 13, verse 19, verse 28 of Psalm 107. Talk about, in their distress, they cried out to the Lord, and He delivered them, He answered them, He saved them. And then verses 8 and 15 and 21 and 31, also, oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness and for His wonderful works to the children of men. So we see these four sections that each contain basically the same verses two different of them in each of the four categories. And people can read this psalm and see those four groups for themselves, but the first group is really a group of poor people who are fainting and really starving and hungry and without a place to dwell and so forth. Maybe we have some listeners who can relate to that in some way, Jimmy. The second group begins in verse 10. The first group was verses 4 through 9. The second group is verses 10 through 16. These are really prisoners, and maybe we're reaching some today, Jimmy, who've had to go down to a low place where the Lord could reach them. They're described in these verses and how God brought them up out of their darkness in the shadow of death and broke their chains in pieces. But then, Jimmy, I'd like to spend just a moment on the third group, verses 17 through 22, because all of us fit here at some point or another. This is us when we make just some really foolish choices. And I don't know about you, Jimmy, but I'll raise my hand and say I've done that. Me too, Paul. And maybe during this last year, maybe there's something we just need to kind of wash through our souls here at this Thanksgiving time. when we've done something that brought us even to the place where we abhorred all manner of food, verse 18, and drew near to the gates of death. But then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble and he saved them out of their distresses. And notice verse 20. This is how we find healing in those times when we've been foolish. He sent his word and healed them. He healed them by His Word. He delivered them from their destructions. He rescued our lives from destruction, and therefore they're to sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving and declare His works with rejoicing, verse 22. Wow, what great, I mean, Justin, I love the Psalms. And whenever I go to Israel, I start out each day by reading the Psalms. I think it's so very important that we should read the Psalms on a daily basis and really look at it. Why is it important to study the pilgrims? And this is a time of the year when we would do that. Why is it so important that we see and understand the pilgrims? Well, Jimmy, it's so important for us who live in America to understand our history, what a heritage God has given us. These incredibly brave, strong people, the fathers and mothers of our country, who came here to seek religious freedom and to share the Gospel in the new world, and there are so many lessons we can learn, and it just To me, it's just a wonderful thing to think about at Thanksgiving time. I love studying the pilgrims. I've been teaching about the pilgrims for almost 30 years now, and I just love learning more about them. And, Jimmy, to wrap up our idea from Psalm 107, they're the fourth group here. Again, it's not a prophecy of the pilgrims. I don't believe specifically, but let me just read a couple of the statements, beginning in verse 23, those who go down to the sea and ships, who do business on great waters. And it talks about God commands and raises the stormy wind, verse 25, which lifts up the waves of the sea. They mount up to the heavens. They go down again to the depths. Their soul melts because of trouble. They reel to and fro and stagger like a drunken man at their wit's end. That sounds like the Mayflower Voyage, doesn't it? If people know anything about it. And yet God delivered them. And that's the story of the pilgrim journey to come here for freedom in the new world and to come here to share the gospel. And just in spite of overwhelming odds against them in every trial, really, you could imagine the pilgrims decided they wanted to launch into a worldwide evangelism program. and what a model they are for us down to today. It is, it sure is. Well, Paul, excellent stuff, excellent. I'm going to ask you, if you do me a favor, if you hang around to the end of the program, I want you to come back when we take a look at the book and I want you to explain to us and all of us, explain to me and all of us, why is Thanksgiving so important? In the scriptures, we find things related to the issue of thanksgiving nearly from cover to cover. Individuals offered up sacrifices out of the gratitude in the book of Genesis. The Israelites sang a song of thanksgiving as they were delivered from Pharaoh's army after the crossing of the Red Sea and Exodus. Later in the Mosaic law set aside three times each year when the Israelites were to gather together. All three of these times, unleavened bread, also called the Feast of Passover, harvests or Pentecost and the feast of in gathering or tabernacles involved remembering God's provisions and grace. The book of Psalms is packed full of songs of thanksgiving both for God's grace to the Israelite people as a whole through his mighty deeds as well as for his individual graces to each of us. Well, we've got to take a break and when we come back, we'll talk more about the blessings that God has provided for us and why we should be so thankful at this Thanksgiving. That's all ahead right here on Prophecy Today Weekend.