This year marks the 400th anniversary of that Thanksgiving celebration that the Pilgrims had, that had survived that first year. Now we don't know the actual date other than it was prior to the coming of the fortune, the next, right after that, and that was in mid-November. And it was certainly before Edward Winslow's letter of December 11th in which he described to a friend in England what is now referred to as the first Thanksgiving. But the truth is the Pilgrims did not have the first Christian Thanksgiving in the Americas. That would actually have to go all the way back much earlier than that, because biblically-based people have been giving thanksgiving to God for a long, long time. In fact, feasts set aside in the law of Moses, the Feast of Booths and the Feast of Firstfruits, were Thanksgiving feasts. And so Christian people have done the same thing. We have set aside time, a special event occurs, something significant happens, and a day of thanksgiving is generally set aside for it. So these practices trace way, way, way back The first thanksgiving actually held in the Americas by those that were affected by Christianity was by Spanish explorer Francisco Vasquez de Coronado, and he held it in Palo Duro Canyon, Texas. Yeah, way out in Texas. That surprises most people. French Huguenots, those were the Protestants that had come here in the early 1500s. They held one in 1564 in what is now Parris Island, South Carolina. The first English colonists to hold a Thanksgiving celebration was 1607, Cape Henry. These were the settlers who eventually formed Jamestown. Not too long after them, December 4th, 1619, 39 English settlers at the Berkeley Plantation, Virginia, also celebrated one. So what makes this Thanksgiving held by the pilgrims so special? Well, simply because the American tradition of a Thanksgiving holiday traces to them and not to the other ones that were held. And what made that particular Thanksgiving special was they held it after a year, actually many years, of incredible suffering. They demonstrated a heart of Thanksgiving. Something that's not seen a lot, but something that certainly is, something should be within us. And so they're a good model for us. It's been a good one to follow, and I think even more so in present times. Now normal life has a lot of personal hardships. There's health concerns. Those pop in and out all the time. And I want to personally thank you for praying for my wife, Diane. Though the diagnosis isn't wonderful, it's better than I know it could be. It is apparently some form of stiff person syndrome. Used to be stiff man, but we've gotten politically correct now, so stiff person syndrome. And it's a lot of nasty stuff that goes with it, but it's not as bad as if she had the full-blown case. It's some form of it. Those make life hard. We don't like hearing those things. Flues are bad, and we have to have several people out with that. Or you get hit with surgery. Andrea's mom had brain surgery, and then get hit with, OK, it is malignant. She's got to see a cancer specialist. Those are normal, hard things of life. We don't like them. There's grief. Like I said, the Marchetti family are grieving over Louise not being with them anymore, just as they grieved two years ago when her husband Richard had passed away. There's relationship struggles. The kinds of stress we've been through has increased the kind of relationship struggles that are common in life, but it's escalated. And then there's financial problems. That's kind of normal to life, too. But all these normal stresses have certainly been aggravated in the last 18 months due to rapid changes in our society. We're not the same country we were just a year and a half ago. Restrictions on normal freedoms, political upheaval, supply chain constrictions. It's a little weird. We're not used to that. There's international threats we haven't had before. And now there's the threats of job loss unless you kowtow to the COVID czars. I did get a letter from Lance Schrader. He's the Air Force chaplain. And he's going on his third appeal. And they're even telling him, the chaplain, that he doesn't have a sincere religious belief. Yeah. So he's fighting it, he has an incredibly good letter, I will be posting letters, he's fighting this. But what has been going on is enough to make a normal person cynical. And it would make a cynic happy if a person with that kind of pessimism was capable of joy and humor. But that's where we're at, right? Well praise the Lord, we as Christians, we're not normal people. Aren't you glad about that? We have the Holy Spirit indwelling us, and we have the promises of Jesus Christ as our foundation of hope, and that enables us to live a very, very different life than those who are around us, no matter what the circumstances. Paul explains in Philippians 4 not only how he rejoiced always, and again he said he rejoiced, but how to get there with a peace that passes all understanding as he would present his petitions before the Lord with Thanksgiving and how he learned to be content in all circumstances. We can rejoice even when everything seems to be falling apart because we know that our God does not lose control. He is working all things together for good to those that know him, that love him, that are called according to his purpose, because that's his promise, Romans 8, 28. And his promises include that nothing, he lists it out in Romans 8, 38 and 39, death, life, angels, principalities, things present, things to come, power, height, depth, any other created thing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. Nothing. That enables us to live a different way. And so we have reasons to be optimistic when everything else seems to be pessimism around us. The thankfulness of the pilgrims follow the general thankfulness seen in God's people throughout the ages. And it demonstrates the reality of God in their lives. They understood the reason they existed. and why God had extended mercy to them to redeem them from their sins, and it had everything to do with God and nothing to do with them. It was God's grace extended to them. And so they held to the things of this world lightly, yes, even their own lives, because they could see beyond the present to what would lie in the future, or the possibilities of the future, and even more importantly, for eternity. Now the history of the Pilgrims is important in America for many reasons. Now the most obvious would be is they founded the first colony in what is now Massachusetts. So that's an important thing. That's the obvious thing. But the most important thing they did is writing the Make Flower Compact. That established elements in their government that got extended and embedded in the American system of government. They landed, and I'll just add this to it too, especially in the whole idea of freedom of conscience, because that's the whole reason they had come to the Americas. They landed outside the area of jurisdiction they were supposed to go to, because they got blown north. And that enabled them to create a system that would establish their purpose and enable them to function. A key statement of purpose and organization in that compact reads as follows. Having undertaken for the glory of God and the advancement of the Christian faith, in honor of our king and country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia, do by these presence, as solemnly and mutually in the presence of God and one another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil body politic. for a better ordering and preservation and furtherance of the ends aforesaid, and by virtue hereto to enact, constitute, and frame such just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions, and offices from time to time as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the colony unto which we promise all due submission and obedience. It was signed by 41 of the 65 adult male passengers on November 11th, 1620. Now this particular history is important to me personally, since I am a descendant of three of the men who signed that compact and two of the women who were on the Mayflower. Now I could be pretty proud of that, except estimates are that I'm one of about 30 million. So there's a lot of descendants for the Mayflower. And maybe that's another aspect of the importance of this little group of people. The heritage of this nation, really in the world, has been affected by them. Many significant people in this nation's heritage, in every kind of aspect of life, whether it's government, business, military, exploration, inventions, literature, education, they're descendants from this little group of people. In fact, even England has been affected by it, because Winston Churchill is a descendant of the Mayflower passenger John Howland, who probably should have died because he fell overboard, but he was rescued. A little panda people has affected the world so much. But pilgrim history does not start with the arrival of the Mayflower in Cape Cod Harbor, no, well, They got close enough, they're looking at landing, but they first decided to land November 6th. It actually begins many years earlier. Because what they went through, both in England and Holland, explains a lot about their character, and why these were a people who had a real heart of thanksgiving. The Pilgrims, so-called because of their journeys, were a church of religious separatists, originally from an area in scruby Nottinghamshire, England. Now the Reformation was suppressed in England until Henry VIII established the Church of England and broke away from Rome. That was in 1536. But the church remained largely Roman Catholic in its doctrine and practices. Reformation theology was starting to creep in, but that official church still had basically those kind of practices. Roman Catholic Queen Mary brought great persecutions against Protestants during her reign, 1547 to 1558, and that included martyrdom, and it caused a lot of folks to flee to the continent. Now many of these returned during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, 1558 to 1603, and they're developed within the Church of England, people who wanted to see it reorganized, reformed according to the ideas of the reformers. They were called Puritans. There were also those, they agreed with the Puritans theologically because they also were following the doctrines of the Reformation, but they could not in good conscience continue to abide in the Church of England because it was controlled by government and an ecclesiastical body, which many of these were not even Christians. And so they couldn't, in good conscience, continue. They wanted to worship independently, and so they formed independent churches. They were called separatists or nonconformists. And they were often persecuted, and that increased with the coming of King James I, 1603 to 1625. And I will quickly note here, this particular church, its theological ancestry goes back to those very separatists in England. Now, William Bradford wrote about this in his retrospective history. It's called Of Plymouth Plantation. And he noted that Richard Clifton and William Brewster organized a separatist congregation in Scrubing-Nottingham Shire. Bradford started attending that very church in 1602 and he became a member in 1606 when he was 16 years old. Bradford wrote that they were, quote, hunted and persecuted on every side so as their former afflictions were but flea bitings in comparison of these which now came upon them. For some were taken and clapped upon in prison. Others had their houses beset and watched night and day and hardly escaped their hands. And the most were feigned to flee and leave their houses and habitations and the means of their livelihood. The people of the church, quote, notwithstanding all the diligence and malice of their adversaries, they seeing they could no longer continue in that condition, they resolved to get over into Holland as they could, which was the year 1607 and 1608. And so they tried to, different small groups would try to go to Holland, but it wasn't easy and extremely difficult. Several groups got stranded. because they were swindled. Their goods would be taken and they're stranded there. They'd end up being thrown in jail. There was a couple of cases where the families ended up being separated. Some were on the boat, the boat had to flee because the authorities were coming. Again, those remaining thrown in jail, lost all their goods. But eventually, many did make it to Holland. They eventually settled in a place called Leiden, which was a college town. And by 1620, it actually numbered four to 500 people. The church had grown. It would have been a lot more, but the immigrants, as immigrants, life was hard. There was a language problem, there was a cultural differences, and they were not able to get good jobs. They were taking low-end jobs of hard physical labor. These factors kept many immigrants from joining them, and it caused others to leave. Bradford wrote, quote, yea, some preferred and chose the prisons in England rather than this liberty in Holland with these afflictions. It gives you an idea of how hard it was for them. As the years in Holland progressed, it also became recognized that these difficulties were a cause of those who were laboring and older to age very quickly. They also saw that some of their young were becoming, and the words that Bradford used were, bowed and decrepit. even when young. Others of the young people would depart to try and find some better job. Then there's the temptations of the Dutch society that were much more loose than what the pilgrims desired to do. And so it's a taking a toll on their youth. There was also a very strong missionary desire within the church. They desired to go to foreign lands, far off places and plant churches to spread the gospel. in the remotest parts of the world. To those factors was added that the 12-year truce that the Netherlands had with Spain was ending and the beating of drums and the preparation for war had already started. If Spain would win the war, then the Low Countries would again come under the cruelties of Roman Catholic authority. Now the result of all these factors, it was decided that a portion of the church would venture to establish a colony in the Americas, despite the known risks and hardships they know they would have to endure. Others could then follow. The pursuit of those ideas actually began in 1617, but it wasn't until 1620 that investors and contracts were made. That's three years of frustration. Then on July 22nd, 1620, a portion of the group from Holland left on the Speedwell to go to Southampton, where it would be joined by the larger ship Mayflower and some in England who would go on this venture with him to establish a colony. Again, when they got there, they were swindled. The fees that were supposed to be paid for the port hadn't been. They actually had to sell off some of their goods to pay the fees that would have an effect when they would finally get to the New World in order to pay these fees. It also delayed their departure until August 5th. By August 8th, the Speedwell was leaking. They had to pull into Dartmouth Harbor for repairs. Those were completed August 22nd. They left the very next day. By August 25th, the Speedwell was leaking again. It later turned out to be sabotaged by the crew. Ships returned to Plymouth. The Speedwell had to be abandoned, and that left them with less people for the colony. That's a serious factor. It left them with less goods that they would need, supplies for it, and it left them without the ship they would need in the colony, because Speedwell was supposed to stay here. The Mayflower finally left September 6, 102 passengers and 50 crew. The eight week trip took nine weeks, actually nine and a half weeks, because it was battered by autumn storms, they would have avoided it if they left on time. One of those storms actually cracked the ship's main beam. One of the amazing stories of the ingenuity that the Pilgrims had, not the people of the ship, they tried all sorts of things for two days. How are we going to fix this? but they had a printing press, an old screw type metal printing press. Why would they have that? They were planning to print things, gospel literature to distribute and spread in the new world. That was that important to them, but also as a means by which they were able to brace this beam. Otherwise they certainly would have sunk in the middle of the ocean and we never would have known anything about them. The storms also left them wet and cold and sickness began. And yet in all that, only one very profane member of the crew and one pilgrim, a young man named William Button, died in the crossing. But at the same time, a baby named Oceanus, for obvious reasons, was born. Land was sighted November 6th, but they were far north of where they had planned to be. They made efforts to sail south, but it was considered to be too dangerous from all the shoals around the Cape. So they finally decide they're going to have to overwinter somewhere in the Cape Cod region, and the Mayflower Compact was drawn up and signed November 11th. After a month of exploring for a suitable place for settlement, they finally found one December 11th. That's a month later. By then, seven pilgrims had died in the harbor. Two more would die before they'd be able to begin constructing a common building on December 25th. Now that usually surprises people. December 25th, they'd start on Christmas Day, Christmas wasn't any big deal to them. The death and resurrection of Christ was a big deal, the birth wasn't. Weather and accidents would hinder their settlement efforts, and several more would die before they could even inhabit that one building. Pilgrims then endured a very harsh winter. They had scarce food. They starved. Sickness, death plagued them. Yet, they were still able to establish a small settlement in Plymouth. By March, with the first signs of spring, Bradford wrote this, quote, the spring now approaching, it pleased God the mortality began to cease among them, and the sick and the lame recovered a pace which put it as it were new life into them, though they had borne their sad affliction with much patience and contentedness. 47 out of the 102 that had left England the previous September were now dead, and that's what's on this slide. The faint ones are those who passed away. Half of them are gone. The ones with the little green stripe are my relatives. I gotta put that in there. Within the next couple months, several more would die, including the governor, John Carver. The coming summer would have its own challenges. They develop relations with the surrounding Indians. They've had to learn to plant, harvest, how to catch fish, because they didn't have any fish hooks. That was one of the things they left behind. All the hardships, the suffering, the death the pilgrims had gone through would be a tale of woe if it were not for their continued trust in God. That enabled them to overcome with hope for the present and for eternity, because they could see God's hand at work. even in the harshest of things they went through. Because where natural man only sees troubles, trials, and oppression, the godly also see mercy, grace, and love. The pilgrims who settled Plymouth understood God's character. They understood who he was, and they believed his promises. Nothing could separate them from God's love, and he indeed was working all things together for good for them, whether they understood that at the moment or not. The title of Jonathan King's book on the Pilgrims is The Mayflower Miracle. Fitting description. The story of the Pilgrims and the established Plymouth colony really is a miracle. He explains, quote, they were the wrong sort of people to create the settlement and generally made a mess of it. He continues, it was a miracle that these simple and disorganized country folk overcame the obstacles that fell in their path. No other group could ever have had tenacity and good fortune to overcome them. Perhaps no other group would ever have been prepared to sacrifice half their number to achieve their goals either. But what King calls good fortune is God's intervention and his providence. You see, the persecution they had in England and Holland, it deepened their faith and it bound them together to work through problems and care for one another. And they did care for one another. One of the things that was marked by the pilgrims was how they handled sickness. Both among the people on the ship, the crewmen and the Indians, when there was a plague and it may have been smallpox had gone through, there definitely was some kind of a flu going through. When the pilgrims were sick, the other pilgrims would take care of them. It got down to the point there was only seven left able-bodied enough to care for the rest, and that's what they did. The crew would leave whoever was sick alone for fear they might get sick. The Indians, well, the next year in their exploration, they would find bones, outside teepees, scattered around, because they'd also be abandoned. They wouldn't take care of each other. These hardships formed them into really a family, which is what a church should be. The hardships also caused those controlled by fear and selfishness to depart and back out of being part of the colony, and that included some who stayed in Holland, and some that otherwise would have been on the speed well. Yes, they were exploited, and they also, though, found others who sympathized and helped them. They had gifted leaders who not only had a vision for the future far beyond mere survival, but skills to inspire others to sacrifice and pursue that very vision. They were creative in finding solutions and using whatever they had, and they lacked a lot in overcoming difficulties. I mentioned John Howland, he fell overboard. There happened to be a rope trailing, he grabbed it. Someone happened to see him and with much effort, they finally got him back on board. Without John Howland, there would not be Winston Churchill. I wonder what England would be like now without him. The storms themselves proved to be God's providence and pushed them north where they could establish an independent colony. Then there's the spot they eventually chose to settle in, Plymouth. It is the only location, probably along that whole eastern seaboard, they could have had a settlement and not been wiped out by the Indians. You see, the tribe that had lived there, the Pawtuxet, only a few years prior had died off from smallpox. The village was there. There was even corn that had been buried in ladders, but no people. A very full cemetery. That corn helped them avoid complete starvation. In mid-March, 1621, Samoset, he was a Pemiquid Indian from Maine. He had heard about the Pilgrim's Landing, and he came all the way down. He had learned some English from traders. And so he introduced himself, and he became a friend and a liaison to the Indian Shechem, the chief, Massasoit, and they developed friendly relationships with each other. I won't go into detail here, but even the political things going on, the Indians all enabled a friendly relationship for Massasoit to develop with the Pilgrims. Samoset also introduced Squanto. Squanto was a Patuxet Indian. He actually had been in England when his tribe was wiped out by smallpox. He'd only arrived back the year before, and he spoke very good English. Squanto is the one who taught them how to plant the local crops that would be able to sustain them. He taught them how to fish without fishhooks by using traps. Without Squanto, that next year probably would have been just as bad. God had already arranged all these things. This is his providence. Edward Wenzel's letter of December 11th, 1621, printed in Mort's Relation, describes the first Thanksgiving as follows, quote, our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fouling so that we might have a more special manner to rejoice together after we gathered the fruit of our labors. They, four in one day, killed as much fowl as, with a little help beside, served the company almost a week. At which time, amongst other recreations, we exercised our arms. Many of the Indians coming amongst us, and amongst the rest, their greatest king, Massasoit, with some 90 men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted. And they went out and killed five deer, which they brought to the plantation, bestowed on our governor and upon the captain and others. point out here that Bradford also notes this feast and that it was a good harvest. They expected to sustain them throughout the winter. They had about a peck of corn meal each to make it through the winter per week. But right after they had this, the fortune showed up. They had 36 more people for the colony And Bradford comments, quote, the plantation was glad for the sedition of strength, but could have wished that many of them had been in better, a better condition and all of them better furnished with provisions. But that could not be now helped. They had no food and they had poor clothing and no supplies. You could say the fortune, which is supposed to be a relief ship for the colony. Well, there was no relief from the fortune, but those on the fortune were relieved to get off it. The colony would be hungry the following winter, but they wouldn't be starving, and so there was cause for rejoicing, and they did. You see, the focus usually at this time of year is on the celebration, the feasting, held in mid-autumn 1621. But the real proof of the pilgrims' thanksgiving is that Sunday after Sunday, while sick, while bearing their dead, while starving, they met together to give public thanks and worship to God. That's the real character of these people. They would thank God for what he had done for them and petition him for his grace and mercy. That is the heart that every Christian really should have. Because that's the way we should view life, even as we go through trials and tribulations. Now traditions can be helpful in the development of a thankful heart, both by providing a reminder of its importance and setting aside the time to do so. Now that actually is the purpose of Thanksgiving holiday, though I fully recognize that on Thursday, there will be very few that will actually do that. My wife says I'm unusual. I agree. I hold a Thanksgiving service here on Thanksgiving day because I think somebody somewhere in America should do so. And if it's just me by myself, I'm still going to do it. because that really was the purpose. And I recognize on Thursday there's gonna be people who are going to be stuffing themselves and never even give thanks for the food they're getting, much less God's other's mercies to them. And it's gonna be a day of obligations for a family to get together. Some who will greatly enjoy it, and other, it's an obligation they don't even wanna go to. That's a tragedy. Then there's gonna be football. I don't know how that ever got tied with Thanksgiving, but it did. And then there's preparing for the Christmas shopping season. Yeah, that flips the whole holiday from one of Thanksgiving to one of a quest, what more can I get? For remaining time this morning, I wanna point out a few things can help you develop a thankful heart and not succumb to what has gone on in our society of taking a wonderful holiday and ruining it. Number one, recognize your true condition. In Luke 7, 36 through 50, Jesus uses the response of a sinful woman and how she was trying to take care of him and honor him to teach a very important lesson to some Pharisees that he gathered. Those who were forgiven much would love much. Many scriptures make it very clear, we are utterly sinful. Both Psalm 14 and Romans 3, 10 through 18 is clear. There are none righteous. Not one, there is none that even seeks after God on their own. that biblical truth is known as total depravity. And it forces us as humans to acknowledge the truth. God owes us nothing except eternal punishment for the sins we have committed against him. Now that removes the complaints about God allowing bad things to happen to you. And it escalates exponentially the joy of thanksgiving, the blessings God has granted to you. You deserve nothing except bad. And yet God has given you so much good. That heightens it. The response of gratefulness for an unexpected undeserved gift is very different than receiving a gift of obligation or wage. True thankfulness begins with the humility of being poor in spirit, as Jesus points out in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-4. So first, recognize your true condition. Second, God is good and good things come from Him. The majority of our culture seems very willing to blame God for everything and glorify Him for nothing. It should be the exact opposite of that. It is man's rebellion against God that is the cause of sin and the trouble it brings due to the consequences of your own sin, the sin of others, and the fact we live in a sin-cursed world. The humble know that God is holy. He doesn't tempt anyone to evil, much less be the cause of it. James points this out, James 1.13. The humble also recognize, James 1.17, that every good and perfect gift is from above coming down from the Father of lights, from whom there is no variation or shifting shadow. Goodness is an attribute of God. And the greatest demonstration of that goodness is Jesus Christ himself. who became the price of sin, he bought our redemption with his own life, that we might be able to gain a relationship with God, be forgiven, and adopt into his family. God is good. Don't let society try to persuade you to the opposite. Third, God wants you to change. And change begins with repentance. That's a change of mind about self, sin, and the Savior, so that you turn from self-righteous in sin to place your faith in the personal work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And God uses both good and bad things to push you to that direction. In fact, Romans 2.4 states that it's the kindness of God, which includes his tolerance and his long-suffering patience, that should lead you to repentance. His goodness should push you there. But Jesus also commonly warned people about consequences of sin and tragedies that happen and pointed those things out and warned people unless they repented, they could expect likewise. Luke 13 is an example of that. Those that respond to the gospel, God continues to change them because His goal is to conform you to the image of Christ. And for that purpose, He wants you to be holy and blameless because Christ is that way. And so God brings about change through several means, but he wants you to become holy. We use the term sanctification to describe this. I'm ever becoming more set apart to God. I'm becoming more and more like Jesus Christ as every day goes by. Yeah, I know, sometimes it's three steps forward and two steps back, but you're still progressing toward what God wants you to be. And there are several means by which he does that. One is his word, sanctify them, in truth, thy word is truth, John 17, 17. Second Timothy 3, 16 and 17, God's word is inspired by God, it's God breathe, it's prompt for doctrine, reproof for correction, for instruction in righteousness, the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. So God's word moves us that direction. First Corinthians 6, 11, First Peter 1, 2, and many other passages, the Holy Spirit he gives us moves us to a greater holiness and righteousness. But He also uses trials in our lives to do that. Those things that come upon us, they may be consequences of sin. It could be your sin, somebody else's sin. It could be the consequences. Yes, it's a sin-cursed world, and yet God is so powerful He can use those things too for your good. That's the promise of Romans 8, 28. The pilgrims understood that, and that's why they could be thankful no matter what terrible things were happening to them. They were still a thankful people. James 1, 2 through 4 is very direct on this point. Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials. Knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance, let endurance have its perfect result that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. Romans chapter five has the same theme. Starting in verse 1, therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand. We exult in hope of the glory of God. And then he goes on. Not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations. That word exult is a very strong word. I must lie among those who breathe forth fire, even the sons of men whose teeth are spears and arrows and their tongue a sharp sword. Be exalted above the heavens, O God. Let your glory be above all the earth. They have prepared a net for my steps. My soul is bowed down. They dug a pit before me. They themselves have fallen into the midst of it, Selah. My heart is steadfast, O God. My heart is steadfast. I will sing, yes, I will sing praises. Awake, my glory. Awake, harp and lyre. I will awaken the dawn. I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the peoples. I will sing praises to you among the nations, for your loving kindness is great to the heavens, your truth to the clouds. Be exalted above the heavens, O God. Let your glory be above all the earth. David was not in a good situation, but there's his response. He trusted God. We can do the same. So what is your own heart of Thanksgiving? Do you want to have that kind of heart developed within you? History serves both to inspire us in our own lives and to teach us. The pilgrims serve as a really good example of godliness by the response they had throughout their lives in thanksgiving to God, the blessings he bestowed on them, even while they were suffering greatly. Their example is only one of the many repeated throughout history and in the sacred text. These stories abound. Let them be the example for you. That should be your heroes. Thursday is the national day of Thanksgiving here in America, and again, most Americans are just going to stuff themselves and not even express thanks for the food. Don't be like them. Don't be like them. I pray that you're going to be like the pilgrims of 1621, who gave thanks not only for a bountiful harvest, but the midst of whatever difficulties they were going through. And for them, it was starvation, sickness, and death. They were grateful for God's mercy, for his grace which saved them from their sins, and was changing them even in their trials. They recognized God's goodness and his manifest blessings upon them. They counted their blessings. May you do the same. Father, we are grateful for what you've done for us. And in a couple minutes, as we're gonna be celebrating communion, we're reminded of this sacrifice on our behalf that our sins could be removed, that we can stand positionally righteous before you even now, to have the Holy Spirit indwell us, continue to change us, that that positional righteousness may be matched by actual righteousness with a sure promise that the day that we see the Lord Jesus Christ either from the departure of us from this world or Christ's return to it, that there will be no sin in us left. We are looking forward to that. Fathers, we celebrate communion maybe with thankfulness that you'd prod us by your Holy Spirit to rejoice over what you have done for us in Christ. In Jesus' name, amen.