The Bible's Biggest Thanksgiving Turkey | November 16, 2025 AM

Welcome to the Liberty Baptist Sermon Archives.

The message you're about to hear was preached at Liberty Baptist

Church in Easton, MA. You can find out more about us

or contact us at my libertybaptist.org or just look

us up on Facebook. And now we hope that this

message from God's Word will be a blessing to you.

Luke chapter #18 And I will, as I mentioned, not be here for the

Sunday before Thanksgiving. So I thought it'd be appropriate

for me today to preach on more of a Thanksgiving theme.

And so that's what we'll do here this morning from Luke chapter

#18 And I have to admit, Thanksgiving is probably one of

my favorite holidays. I really do enjoy Thanksgiving.

It's always caused me a little bit of heartburn to know.

That it seems like the way that it works now is it as soon as

November 1st hits, it's all Christmas.

And there's almost no thought of Thanksgiving.

You already see the Christmas decor going up.

You can already see the trees going up.

And those are got to be artificial trees.

There's no way those trees are going to be able to last from

January 1st, well, November 1st, all the way until after.

Christmas. And so people are putting all

those things up and look, if you that's what you want to do,

look, that's between you and the Lord.

All right, I'm not getting involved in what your home decor

decisions are. But I will say there's a lot of

discouragement on my end. The fact that people forget how

wonderful Thanksgiving truly is. And it's amazing to me that we

live probably, what, about 45 minutes from where they would

have celebrated the very first Thanksgiving in Plymouth.

And the governor at that time, William Bradford, wrote in

Plymouth Plantation. The fact that, yes, their

Thanksgiving would have looked a little bit different than ours

would have in the sense that they didn't have stuffing and

pumpkin pie and those types of things.

That they certainly had Turkey as well as other wild fallow.

And they said there was a great store of wild turkeys of which

they took many. Besides venison and other game

meet as well. Now, think about this.

For Thanksgiving 2025, it's estimated that about 30 million

turkeys will be enjoyed, 30 million turkeys here in the

United States alone, nearly 87% of Americans surveyed by the

National Turkey Federation. I'd love to go to one of those

meetings. You know the.

National Turkey Federation. But there's a real group that

has said nearly 87% of Americans surveyed plan to eat Turkey on

Thanksgiving. With the average weight of

turkeys per just for Thanksgiving around 16 lbs, that

means somewhere around £480 million of Turkey will be eaten

on that day, or maybe more accurately, on that day and in

sandwiches the days after Thanksgiving as well.

Of course, we know that the American symbol of the American

bird, if you will, is the bald eagle.

But did you know that Benjamin Franklin was very upset with the

bald eagle being named as the national bird?

He said that the bald eagle had very bad moral character.

Now, I don't know how he knew that.

Maybe sat down with a couple of them and, you know, talk with

him a little bit. I'm not sure.

I'm sure it's because it's a scavenger bird more than

anything. But Benjamin Franklin's idea, by

the way, Benjamin Franklin, a lot of good ideas, one of his

worst ideas, making the Turkey the national bird.

Now thankfully that was wholeheartedly rejected.

The largest Turkey ever raised that that has been found and

raised 86 lbs and 86 LB Turkey. And I have so many questions

about that that we cannot cover in the few minutes that I'm

here. That's a big Turkey.

Now I will say this, that the Bible records an even greater

and larger Turkey, that 87 LB Turkey that I just mentioned.

That Turkey is mentioned in the text that we're in here in Luke

Luke 18 · chapter mention

chapter 18. You say, pastor a real Turkey.

Well, OK, maybe I'm kind of pushing it a little bit, but

there was someone who acts in a way that is very Turkey like.

And there is someone who does not understand truly what being

thankful is all about. And you might say, well, pastor,

listen, we, we love Thanksgiving around here.

We live in New England. Thanksgiving's a big thing.

Listen, you can love the day, you can love the food and not

understand a lick about what true biblical Thanksgiving is

all about. And that's what I want to look

at here this morning from Luke chapter #18 So if you would,

would you please stand for the reading of God's Word, Luke

Luke 18 · chapter mention

chapter 18 in verse #9 By the way, the sermon today is

sponsored by the National Turkey Federation.

I just thought I'd put that out there.

No, that's not true. Verse 9 says And he, this being

Jesus, spake this parable unto certain, which trusted in

themselves that they were righteous and despised others.

Now keep verse 9 in mind. What we're going to read in the

next few verses makes more sense in the context of who Jesus is

speaking this parable to. Two men went up into the temple

to pray, the 1A Pharisee and the other a publican.

The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself.

God, I thank thee that I am not as other men are extortioners,

unjust adulterers, or even as this publican.

I fast twice in the week, I give ties of all that I possess.

And the publican standing afar off, without, lift up much as

his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God, be

merciful to me a Sinner. And Jesus sums up this parable

by saying this. I tell you this man went down to

his house justified rather than the other.

For everyone that exalted themselves shall be a based.

And he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

There's a key to Thanksgiving that is found here.

Not in the biggest Turkey. I think you figured out who that

was, the Pharisee. But in that humble publican, and

it might not be as simple as you think, that sense that humble

publican doesn't actually go together the way you would think

it would at first. But there's something about his

life that was lacking in the Pharisee that should be an

encouragement and help to us this morning.

Why don't you be seated as we pray together here today.

Heavenly Father, do pray to be with us this morning.

Thank you again for this time. Thank you again for your word.

I pray that we would learn from this Pharisee and this publican

one who had the right outlook on humility and Thanksgiving, the

other did not. Or help us to look at their

lives and make sure that we have the right posture, not just for

this 4th Thursday of November, but Lord that we would have

every day as well. Thank you again for this time

and we ask it all in Jesus name. Amen.

Well, first of all, we see this Thanksgiving Turkey, if you

will, and that Turkey, yes, is the Pharisee.

Now, you might ask yourself this morning, who is a Pharisee or

what is a Pharisee? I know we come from different

backgrounds and some of you have been in church longer and some

of you have been in church not as long.

I think it's important for us to give at least a little bit of an

understanding of who this Pharisee was.

A Pharisee would have been a religious leader at the time.

A Pharisee would have been someone who was highly regarded

and looked upon as very, very spiritual.

It would be nothing for people to see a Pharisee go to the

temple to pray. It would be nothing for people

to see a Pharisee to be standing on a street corner and praying.

The problem with the Pharisee was not what they were doing.

The problem with the Pharisee was the heart behind what they

were doing. The thing was that they had no

real desire to draw closer to God.

They had no real desire to have a real relationship with God.

They constantly wanted to be seen of men.

They constantly wanted to have people look at them and say wow,

look at that Pharisee. Look at how he stresses, look at

what he does. Look at how he prays.

Look, look at how he handles himself.

That truly is a godly man. And this was a man who would

have been respected that as people looked upon the

Pharisees, not knowing the hearts, but just looking on the

outward appearance, people would have looked at the Pharisees and

would have respected them as spiritual leaders.

But listen, this morning this Bible says this in first Samuel

chapter #16 that man looks on the outward appearance, God

looks upon the heart. And here this Pharisee may have

looked good on the outside, but Jesus would later on explain the

Pharisees as this whited sepulchers, meaning this, that

they sure did look good on the outside, but on the inside they

were filled with nothing but death.

And so here's this Pharisee and he had some problems.

The first was that he was unrealistic.

He was unrealistic, He was haughty, and he was proud like

many of the Pharisees. And in his estimation, he had, I

would put it this way, more of God than everyone else did.

In his mind, he was the one that had the corner on religion.

He was the one who had a corner on being able to have a real

relationship with God. But he was unrealistic about who

he was. Look again at verse #11 It says

the Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself.

Now stop right there a moment. No truer words could be found in

this parable than when it says that he prayed with himself,

meaning this God was nowhere near this.

Prayer do. You know this morning that if

you have. Sin in your heart that is

unconfessed that you can pray with yourself, but you can't

pray with God. Blasphemy, you might say God

will always hear me when I pray God, God will always listen to

me. There's never a time that God

won't listen to you. No, it's not that God can't

listen to you. We know what God's abilities

are, that He's omnipresent, that He's omnipotent.

We understand these things, but that God chooses to not hear our

prayers when we have iniquity within our heart.

That's why it says in Psalm 66, verse 18, if I regard iniquity

Psalms 66:18

in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.

This man was unrealistic. He thought he was close to God.

He thought he was doing well. Do you see what he says about

himself? He says I'm not like other

people. We'll look at that in a moment.

I'm not like all of these other people, including this publican.

He says I fast twice in the week.

Now, by the way, that's typically twice more than I fast

in a week. I'm sure not going to fast on

Thanksgiving week unless I'm fasting on Wednesday to make

more room for Thursday. Not fast twice in a week.

I tithe on everything. By the way, that meant that he

gave 10% not just of his money, but 10% of any increase that he

had. Oh man, he was doing everything

that the law told him to do. There's only one problem.

That law was designed to be able to show him his need for God,

and that law instead he took as. How good he was in himself and

he was completely unrealistic about who he was.

In relation to God today, there's a very basic place that

you can start. Are you realistic about where

you stand with the Lord today? I mean, are you willing to get

real with the Lord here today? Are you far from God this

morning? Perhaps you're not on speaking

terms like you once were. Perhaps you are disobeying Him

and and you're not confessing those sins before the Lord.

Listen at least this morning as you hear the word of God preach

at least this morning. Why you have to stare, hurt me

for the next few minutes at least.

Be realistic about where you are spiritually.

Wouldn't it be a shame to come to church and to leave church

and never be honest about yourself with where you are

spiritually? To never be honest with where

you stand before Him with the gospel, To never be honest with

yourself to that maybe you've fallen far from the Lord.

Listen, can I tell you the people, and I've mentioned this

before, the people that I enjoy pastoring the most, It's not the

people who fast twice a week necessarily and tithe over all

their goods. Now, I don't know who ties on

goods or whatever because I don't count the offerings, but

you understand what I'm saying this morning.

The people that I enjoy working with the most are the ones who

are realistic about where they are.

Spiritually, some of you don't seem to agree with that.

That's OK. You don't have to speak for me,

but I'll speak for me. As a pastor, it's a lot easier

to work with someone who says this, I know who I am and I know

I've got work to do, then for someone to be able to say I, I

am God's gift to the church. I am God's gift to my family.

I am God's gift to listen, when you get to that place and you're

not realistic about where you are spiritually, it's a very

difficult thing. And this man was not realistic

about where he was, but he wasn't just unrealistic, he was

unsympathetic as. Well, did you catch that in

verse #11 I stopped right in the middle as we read it a few

moments ago. He says, God, I thank thee that

I am not as other men. Are extortioners unjust

adulterers? Or even as this publican now?

He looked at the downtrodden. He looked at those who are

having difficulty in their spiritual life.

And instead of having pity, instead of having care, instead

of as a religious leader trying to do what he could to minister

the Lord unto that person, he looks at them and uses them in

an illustration, in his own prayer to God.

He says God. You don't know how good you have

it with me. I could be an extortioner, I

could be an adulterer. I could be like this publican

over here. We'll talk about what that means

in. Just a moment, I could be like

this publican, but instead, Lord, I've got good news.

I'm me, I'm a Pharisee. Well, I'll remind you that there

would have been a Pharisee who, in a different parable of a Good

Samaritan, saw someone in need and his faith, quote UN quote,

didn't even cause him to go across the street to help

someone who needed it. Oh, he was unsympathetic to the

needs of others. Listen, it's hard to be truly

thankful in your spiritual life when you have such a lofty

opinion of yourself. You know why?

Because other people just get in your way.

To be honest with you, there are times the pastor, if I'm not

careful, I get a call. There could be a situation and

my first response could be, I can't believe I have to deal

with this, with that person, with this issue.

Here they go again. You say, pastor, do you really

feel that way? Well, in my flesh I do at times.

Sure, I'm being honest with you today, but aren't you glad that

our Lord and Savior, when we come to Him in prayer, never

says you're here again? How many times have we talked

about this? How many times but but he he's

not the God of second chances. We blew past the second chance a

long time ago, but he's the God of multiple chances, of dozens

of chances and he's still there. And if he could have pity on us

and if he'd see our frame that we are but dust, then we need to

be able to look at others and say, yes, I see their need.

I see their issue. And that doesn't mean I agree

with it. It doesn't mean that I approve

sin. I won't do that, but I will

minister them the love, the mercy, and the grace of Jesus

Christ. But this man just looked at the

downtrodden. This man just looked at those

who are in sin and said this. I'm glad I'm not.

Like them. But here's the problem.

He was unsympathetic, He was unrealistic, but he was also

unjust. Say unjust.

What do you mean? Well Jesus said at the end of

the parable, only one of them left the temple.

Justified meaning this. Only one of them left right with

God. The Pharisee, the respected

religious man, left not right with God.

And isn't that the point of going to the temple for them was

to make sure that they had a right relationship with God?

Think about this. He left not receiving what he

never asked for. The pastor, did you mean to say

that I did? He left not receiving what he

never asked for. What should he have asked for?

Forgiveness. He never asked for it.

So what? He never received it.

Wouldn't it be a shame to come to church to get up early?

By by the way, we always look at Sunday being early like it's

usually later than the other days of the week, but we look at

Sunday as being the early day. But let's just say for the sake

of argument, we get up early, we come to church, we we sing the

songs, we give the offerings, we stand up, we sit down, we

worship, we do all the things and leave and never receive what

we never asked for. What is that?

Well, that we leave here closer to God than when we came in.

What does that mean? That while we're here, we

recognize there's sinfulness within my life.

There's things that aren't right.

I want to confess them before the Lord so I can be right with

him. Well, nobody knew this man's

heart. The Pharisee didn't even

recognize his own heart. But here's the thing, God knew

his heart and we could look good on the outside.

We can come and say all the right things and dress the right

way and act the right way. But wouldn't it be ashamed to do

that for days, months, or even years in church and never really

get what this church is all about?

Which is what? Getting right with the Lord.

Make sure that you're right with him.

We don't just come here because it's our Sunday habit.

We don't just come here because it's just the place to be.

We don't come here because the beautiful.

Building Why do we come here? Because this is a place God is

designated for us to meet with him and to get right in our

lives and to be encouraged and to be able to chip away those

things that are not Christ like so that we can be more Christ

like than when we came in. And this biblical Turkey didn't

get any of it. He stood there in church and

missed the point. He left feeling so good about

himself. But Jesus said he didn't leave

justified. He didn't leave right with me.

So compare this Thanksgiving Turkey if you will, to the

thankful tax collector. You say, pastor, where is a tax

collector here? I read this, but I didn't see

anywhere where it mentioned anything about tax collector.

Well, that tax collector would have been the publican.

That publican was another word that they would have used that

time for a tax collector. Now, no one today has a whole

lot of regard for tax collectors.

I, I imagine if you're here and you're working with the IRS,

first of all, thank you for joining us.

Secondly, don't mention anything else about your job.

All right to anyone. Else all right, but I I think

we're all OK here. But listen, just the nervous

laughter you just had shows the regard we have for the tax man.

It was even worse back then. Why?

The publican typically was an extortioner.

The publican typically was a thief.

You say, well, how do you know that?

Zacchaeus is a good example. He took for the government and

then he took for himself. In fact, they were the lowest

regarded of the people because the tax collectors in that time

period there in Israel came from Israel and worked for the Roman

occupiers, which meant this the publicans were typically looked

at as turncoats as well as thieves.

So here you have the publican, or the the the Pharisee rather,

who was respected. But then you have this publican

who was repugnant to the people. Nobody liked him, nobody wanted

to talk to him, nobody wanted to hang around him.

If you saw him on one side of the street and you were walking

on the same side of the street, you'd walk to the other side of

the street because you didn't want him to see you, because he

might ask you for money. And you would have no recourse

but to give him that which he asked for because he was

deputized on behalf of the Roman Empire.

So no one's looking at his public and then saying, hey,

this is a great guy. No one's.

Looking at him and saying this is a man who is right with God,

but yet man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks on the

heart. See, the first thing I see about

this thankful tax collector is that he was unpretentious.

There's no pretense about him. Look at what it says in verse

#13. It says he stood afar off, he

didn't couldn't even bring himself to draw close to the

Lord. It says that he would not so

much lift up his eyes unto heaven.

It says he smote his breast. Do you know what all of these

activities, his posture, if you will, do you know what all of

this suggests? He saw himself for who he was, a

man in need of God. There was no pretense

whatsoever. During the Civil War, someone

reported to Abraham Lincoln that Edwin Stanton, one of his

cabinet members, had referred to him as a fool.

Mr. Lincoln replied. Well, I must check into that,

for I found he is usually correct in his judgments.

He said that of himself. Now, that might be a little bit

extreme, but the idea is this, are we so full of ourself?

Are we so full of where we think we are spiritually that we're

not able to do a little bit of unpretentious introspection into

our life and to say maybe I'm not as far as I thought I was?

Now, I'm not trying to convince you that you're not right with

God this morning. Either you are or you aren't.

But I will say this, every single one of us can do better

in drawing closer to the Lord. In fact, if you came here this

morning, say actually pastor, I'm doing pretty good.

I can't even identify one area of my life that I can find

improvement in my relationship with the Lord.

Well, you might have more in common with the first man than

the second man. Because if I was to stand up

here and give you a list over the next 5 minutes of things

that I need to improve my Christian life, 5 wouldn't.

Minutes wouldn't cover the amount of time I need to write

it all down. Is it?

What were you? Proud of your sin?

No, quite the opposite. I'm just saying He's still

working on me and I know that every day that I need to draw

closer. That's why I need to be in His

Word. That's why I need to be in

prayer, because there's so much that He's chipping away at me.

And until I get to glory every day, I want Him to show me a

little bit more so I can be right with Him.

No pretense. The issue is this, though.

You got to be humble. You know why nobody likes to be

told they're wrong? Now I've got a very interesting

job for 30 to 40 minutes three times a week.

I tell you you're wrong and you can't do anything about it.

Well, I mean, you could, but actually, let's not cover that

part. Yeah, you could not come back.

I guess. I've had a few people stand up

and leave during a sermon. I've had my son a few weeks ago

told me I was fired. And there were a lot of people

that were like, yeah. All right, Yeah.

They wouldn't say it themselves, but they were with AJ, you know?

But you know, humility is the key because you have to be able

to look at yourself and see yourself or who you are.

That's right. Who, who, who was the most

humble of all? Would that not be Jesus Christ?

Who exhibited humility? If anyone, if anyone, could have

ever been exempt from humility, it could have been Jesus.

Why? Because he's.

Everything but yet even Jesus modeled humility to us.

Read Philippians chapter 2 and try to find the fact that he's

Philippians 2 · chapter mention

humble. You'll see it all over that he

humbled himself. The came from the very highest

of heaven to be with us and then we and you say, well, I I didn't

put him on a cross. Your sin did.

You may not have held the hammer, and you may not have

held the nails, but your sin and my sin put them on the cross

just the same. Humility.

Colossians 3, verses 12 through 15.

Colossians 3:12–15

Put on, therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels

of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness,

long-suffering for bearing one another, forgiving one another.

If any man have a quarrel against any, even as Christ

forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things, put

on charity, which is the bond of perfectness, and let the peace

of God rule in your heart parts to which also you're called in

one body. And be ye thankful.

You can't truly understand what thankfulness is all about.

And true, you have a humble posture.

When you're humble, you're grateful for what you.

Receive. When you're grateful for what

you receive, you're able to give thanks.

Maybe you would say something like this.

Well, Pastor, I'm humble. I mean, I, if people knew who I

was, they wouldn't be impressed. You know, that's maybe being

more halfway to humility because I think we all could admit that

to a point. People knew what I thought.

If people knew what I truly did, they wouldn't be impressed.

That's not humility. Humility is this.

I know who I am and I'm not impressed because I know I need

him every minute of every hour of every day.

Even the hymn says I need the every hour.

I need him more than every hour. There's not a minute that goes

by that I don't need him. But I would tell you in my

spiritual pride and arrogance, there are times I think I don't

need him. I run on autopilot.

I'm good. I'm a pastor after all.

Well, I need him just as much as anyone else does.

And you need him as much as anyone else does.

This thankful tax collector was unpretentious.

He was also unambitious. What was the?

Pharisee doing while he was praying, he was praying like

this. I'm sure glad I'm not like him,

but what was this publican doing?

He he wasn't looking at the Pharisee.

In fact he wasn't even looking up at heaven.

He was just looking down. And I'd submit to you.

He's looking to himself. And he didn't like what he saw.

You know, you might feel this morning, Well, I'm not all that

I need to be, but I'm better than my spouse.

You know, I'm not even trying to be cute about this.

This thought can go through our minds if we're not careful.

I'm better than my spouse. I'm better than my children.

I'm better than some of the church people.

I'm better than the people at work.

I'm better than what? What?

Who thought like that? It was the Pharisee.

You know what Second Corinthians chapter 10 verse 12 says?

2 Corinthians 10:12

For we dare not make ourselves of the number or compare

ourselves with some that commend themselves.

But they measuring themselves by themselves and comparing

themselves among themselves are not wise.

We don't get to compare ourselves to other people to see

how well we're doing spiritually.

Well, I'm doing better than the one in the Pew in front of me.

Well, I'm doing better than the one in the Pew behind me.

I'm doing better than someone in my Sunday school class.

I'm doing better than that new convert.

I'm doing better than listen. The only one you can truly

compare yourself to is this. Listen, Jesus Christ.

And every time we truly compare ourselves to Jesus Christ, we

are found. Wanting because I don't know

about you, but when I compare my life to Jesus, I am far from who

he's called me to be. So I don't get to compare myself

to any of you. I don't get to compare myself to

other pastors. I don't get to compare myself

with my family. The unpretentious, unambitious

nature of the truly humble child of God is this.

Lord, I look at me and I look at you, and I'm in need.

A great killer of a thankful spirit is looking around at what

other people have and what other people are.

You know, it's amazing that people will get gifts.

Sometimes they get big gifts, especially this time of year,

and they're really happy about them until they find out about a

gift that somebody else got that's bigger than their gift.

And the gifts of the world oftentimes have strings

attached, don't they? I always love this time of year

that they have those commercials for a December to remember.

Get get your loved 1, Alexis. Now listen, if you come to my

house, my apartment, and park a Lexus.

In front of our apartment and say, pastor, we got you for

Christmas, Alexis, and here's the lease for you to pay.

I'd say take that back to the dealership.

I don't care if it's the 25th of December, park it in front and

be there when it opens on the 26th.

I don't want, but that's what the world does.

They need bigger, they need better and they need more.

Listen, thankfulness is this. I don't care what other people

have. Lord, I see who you are.

And I see who I am, and that's enough for me.

Contentment is not having what you want, but wanting what you

have. That's what true contentment is

not having. It's not having what you want,

but it's wanting what you have. So this man was unpretentious.

He's unambitious. But here's the best part.

He was unconditionally pardoned. What did Jesus say?

I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather

for than the other. For everyone that exalted

themselves shall be a based and he that humbleth himself shall

be exalted. The Pharisee was supposed to

have the direct path to God. The publican was supposed to be

as far from God as possible. But Jesus flips the script.

He subverts the expectations. He says the Pharisee was the one

who was far. But that man that's Republican,

who was humble was the one who got right with God.

Why? Because it all comes down to the

heart. Now listen to me carefully this

morning. The key to unlocking all

spiritual gifts in your life is humility.

Say, why is that? Can you truly be saved?

Until you're humble, you don't realize your need for salvation.

You don't realize your sin. You don't realize that you can't

save yourself. Well, pastor, I'll just do

enough. Good.

That's not salvation, pastor. I'll just take the vessels of of

the sacraments that give grace through the Church.

That's not salvation. Well, I just I will do.

And every single one of those features, these two words I'll

do. But that's not what salvation

is. The humility is this.

I can't save myself. I see myself for who I am, but I

don't. I do know who can save me.

Jesus Christ, the proud don't ask for help.

I remember not that long ago, before we had GPSS and we get

lost. No man, I say, no man ought to

go in the gas station, ask for directions.

So I asked for, I asked for directions.

The gas station once. Listen, I'm.

Listen, that's between you and the Lord.

But practically speaking, you're dead to me, all right?

I don't want to. I don't want part of that.

All right? Listen, I'd rather be lost for

five hours and go and ask some guy at a gas station how to get

somewhere. You say, well, you're stupid.

Well. Listen, I said.

I had a lot to. Work on all right, I've

mentioned that already. But in our pride, we don't want

help. The humble among us say, I can't

do this myself, I need help. You can't be saved on your own.

You're not going to be just with God.

You won't be right with God. You will never be saved until

you get to the place we say Jesus.

Only you can save me. Have you had that time in your

life? Have you had a time and a place

where you have called upon Jesus Christ?

You know, I didn't ask what time you were baptized as a child.

I didn't ask what you joined a church.

I I didn't ask when you felt like you, you did a good deed

that really made the heart warm of another person.

No, what I'm asking is this. Do you know a time and a place

where you were born again? As Jesus said to Nicodemus, He

said you must be born again. It's a singular event that must

take place in your life and that doesn't happen until you humble

yourself. By the way, it took Nicodemus a

while to humble himself. Have to get to that point

because that night he seemed to think that Jesus didn't quite

have it all together. But we find that at the end of

Jesus life, who was there and who was faithful when many

others weren't. A man who humbled himself named

Nicodemus. But you know, if you are saved

here this morning, humility doesn't stop the day you get

saved. Humility continues.

And if we're to remain right with God, if we're to have a

thankful heart, we must remain humble.

It is the key to Thanksgiving, you know, not the key to the

day, the key to the heart that God calls us to have.

There's a lot of discontentment that pops up in our life.

And I will say this, there's a lot of discontentment that pops

up this time of year. Our expectations are not

fulfilled. What may be family gatherings

aren't all that we hope them to be.

Or we feel like our life isn't something that is from a

painting of Currier and Ives. Or we feel like our Thanksgiving

is not like a Norman Rockwell painting where the mom brings

out that huge Turkey and everyone's looks like they're

about to jump onto it. And we say, well, what do I have

to be thankful for? Child of God, may I remind you

that you have everything to be thankful for.

And you don't understand that until you're truly humble in

your spirit, not just to be saved, but for every moment of

our lives, after you have everything to be thankful for.

First Thessalonians 518 says this in everything, give thanks.

Now I could take an hour to preach just that phrase, and I

don't know we could reach the depths of it.

In everything, give thanks. But what follows is equally as

mind blowing as the first. In everything, give thanks for

this. Is the will of God in Christ

Jesus concerning you. Some of you might have questions

about what's God's will for your life?

What does he have for me? What direction do I need to go?

Where do I need to turn? I can't answer all those

questions for you in specificity this morning, but I can tell you

what God's will for your life is this Give thanks for everything.

Give thanks for everything. You'll never do that until

you're humble. Because there was a Turkey that

thought it was all in himself and he missed it.

And there was a man who on the outside looked like he didn't

have it together, but on the inside he realized this.

If I want to be right with God, I got to humble myself before

him. Are you giving thanks in your

life the way you should? Are you thankful for what you

have? Or you discontent wanting more,

say, pastor you, you're saying that I, I can't have a nice car.

You're saying I can't have a nice house.

Or you're saying I can't have have goods.

No, no, it's OK to have goods as long as those goods don't

control you. God does provide those types of

things and thank the Lord for that.

But when it's never enough, listen, goods will never satisfy

you. They'll never satisfy you.

Every time I get a new phone, I think, man, I'm gonna love this

phone. It's gonna be incredible.

And then after a week, it's like, man, it's pretty much like

the old phone. It's like, yeah, but now I've

got a contract. For another two years, man.

I thought this is going to satisfy no, this one's going to

satisfy me look look I I got before I had a 32 inch TV and

now I got a 42 inch TV and you put it up on the water man, this

is incredible and a couple. Weeks later, you think you know

that wall could really support a bigger TV.

And now it's incredible. They're so cheap.

You can get like a 95 inch TV for like a nickel.

It's unbelievable. But it won't.

Satisfy say, pastor, you're saying I can't have ATV in my

house? When did I say that?

I'm saying this, if you think it's going to satisfy you,

you're missing out. Why don't you just be thankful

for what you have, and if the Lord blesses you with more, be

thankful for that. But in the meantime, just be

thankful for what God has given you.

Are you thankful for the money you have or do you wish it was

more? Oh, here you go, Pastor.

You say I can't make more money. No, I mean we understand that

money is something that we need to live this life.

But you also need to realize that it cannot rule your life.

The Bible doesn't say that money is the root of all evil.

It doesn't say that. People misquote that all the

time. It says the love of money is the

root of all evil. That means this.

You'd be thankful for what you have.

You say I don't have much in the bank account.

You have more than 90% of the world, so you don't even know

what I have in the bank. No, but I understand what 90% of

the world has, and it's not much, and that even the poorest

among us is doing better than some of those who are fairly

wealthy in other countries. Be thankful for what you have.

Are you thankful for your health?

Say, pastor, if you knew my health, there would be much to

be thankful for, and I understand that.

I want to be compassionate about that today, that some of you are

going through some very difficult health things.

I've had some deep and troubling times health wise in my life,

particularly in the last few years.

But I will say this, even the things that I've dealt with, I

knew when I was in the midst of it, I would get better by God's

grace. And there was something mentally

that was helpful. When you know, I don't feel well

today, but in a month I'll feel better.

There's something that can help you.

But when I look at some who have long term illness, including my

wife, and there is no promise of that, You're supposed to be

thankful for that. That's a cruelty of which God is

inflicting upon us. No, it's not.

Paul understood this. Remember, Paul dealt with a

thorn in the flesh. We don't know what it was.

I believe it was physical and I believe that it was something

likely, or at least part of it dealt with his eyes.

It seems like he had difficulty with his eyesight.

He had, he had others that would write for him and sometimes he'd

say at the end of a epistle, see mine own handwriting.

It was almost like he knew he had to sign the end of a letter

and it was, it was hard to read because he had difficulty.

Listen, you can believe that or not.

I'm not going to split fellowship with you over that.

I know this. I know that he had some thorn in

his flesh and he asked God three times to take it away.

But listen to this now. I want you to listen carefully

to what I'm saying. God loved him so much that he

didn't take it away. That's hard.

God loved him so much that he didn't take it away.

Why? 2nd Corinthians 12 verses 7

through 9. And lest I should be exalted

above, measure through the abundance of revelations that

was given to me, a thorn in the flesh.

The messenger of Satan to Buffett me, lest I should be

exalted above measure for this thing I besought the Lord

thrice, that it might depart from me.

And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee, for my

strength is made perfect in weakness.

And so this is what Paul says about that.

Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities,

that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

He says this, I don't want my body to be this way.

I'm praying to God to take it away.

But God has revealed to me to be thankful for these situations

because He has multiplied grace upon grace in my life that I can

have the power of God within my life.

He realized how good God was even in the midst.

Of the difficulties, so he could be thankful.

Are you thankful in the midst of your trials?

I'm not going to ask you to raise your hand this morning to

ask who's going through a trial because the problem is probably

most of us would raise our hands to be honest with you.

I'm supposed to be thankful through trial OK pastor now

you're like the money thing OK, I get that you know the health.

I don't know about that but you're saying to be thankful

through trials. Is that are you crazy pastor?

Well, let's just talk to Peter about that He's in first Peter

1 Peter 4:12

chapter 4 verse 12 through verse 14.

Beloved, think not strange concerning the fiery trial which

is to try you as though some. Strange thing happened unto you,

but rejoice in so much as year partakers of Christ's

sufferings, that when his glory shall be revealed, you may be

glad also with exceeding joy, if he be reproached for the name of

Christ. Happier ye for the spirit of

glory, and God rested upon you. On their part he is evil spoken

of, but on your part He is glorified.

Again, Paul says it's in your trials.

You can even give thanks. This is if if you're being tried

in the name of Christ. That means you're not doing

anything wrong, but these trials just coming your way that you

rejoice it. Lord, thank You that You brought

this to my life to make me stronger.

Not thankful for the situation itself, because some of those

situations can be pretty bleak and pretty difficult.

But know that God and his goodness, Romans 828 for the

believer will take the bad things of this life and he will

turn them into good. That's a good guy.

So what about the trials I go through because I've made

mistakes? Well, there's been a few that we

can all admit we've done with those Hebrews.

Hebrews 12 · chapter mention

Chapter 12 reminds us, Hey, lift up your head to understand this.

God's correcting you through the trial because He loves you and

He's part of the family. And if he didn't love you, he

wouldn't correct you. Because He loves you, He's

willing to correct you to bring you back to him.

Man, we've got a good God and we've got a lot to be thankful

for. There is a story of a humble

farmer who went into the city one day and when he did so, he

went to a restaurant. And as his habit was after he

ordered the meal and the meal came, he decided to pray.

He bowed his head and he prayed a simple prayer right there at

his table. As he lifted his head, he heard

a few teenagers behind him laughing, and he turned around

to look at them. And the teenagers said this.

Hey pops, where you come from? Does everybody pray before they

eat? He.

Just kind of looked back at them, he says.

Well, not everybody. The Hogs don't even that man

understood. I need to give thanks.

I need to give thanks for the food that's in front of me.

I need to thank God for everything, listen in

everything. Give thanks for this is the will

of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

Thank Him, but you can't truly thank Him until you have a

posture of a publican and not the posture of a Pharisee.

Thank you for listening to the sermon from the pulpit of

Liberty Baptist Church. If this message was a blessing

to you, or if there's any way we can serve you, please let us

know by contacting us at [email protected].

Or you can visit us this Sunday at 800 Washington St. in Easton,

MA. May the Lord bless you as you

grow in His Word.