A daily, Bible-based perspective of hope,
encouragement and exhortation.
Thursday,
November 22, 2018
Daily
prayer:
Father, we praise You in song; we
testify of You in our words and deeds,
and we magnify You when we express words
of thanksgiving and live in a way that
honors and exalts Your name. All we have
needed Your hand has provided. So we
join with Jeremiah in Lamentations 3:22
who declared, right in the midst of a
very difficult time of famine and
desperation, "The steadfast love of
the Lord never ceases. His mercies
never come to an end. They are new
every morning; great is Your
faithfulness, Lord, unto me!"
Thank You for Your faithfulness in every
season of our life. Amen.
We offer these resources to families and church leaders to enrich the spiritual impact of the Thanksgiving holiday. We will post these resources through Thanksgiving Day here in the US (November 22).
"Thankful
For The Thorns": A
family reading and exercise that
is a wonderful way to give a
thoughtful focus around your
Thanksgiving Table. (Note: You
will need a good reader who
should be given the story ahead
of time to review so that it's
read with expression and
clarity.) For many of us the
Thanksgiving celebration
typically includes family coming
together for a huge meal and
hopefully a heartfelt prayer of
thankfulness. However it can
often be difficult to have a
spiritually oriented
conversation. Why not add some
stimulating discussion about the
ways God has worked in your life
over the past year! Here's an
idea for sharing together around
the table the theme of "Thankful
for the Thorns" (printable
webpage).
"A Thanksgiving family exercise" (pdf) We have used this questionnaire as a stimulus for discussion among family members in the past in our home. We encourage you to share results around the table at Thanksgiving before or after the meal.
A Thanksgiving prayer: Written by Joe Sherer, a pastor friend of ours and shared as the benediction at our community Thanksgiving Eve service many years ago. (blog post) For those who enjoy written prayers this would be a beautiful prayer to read together at the Thanksgiving table.
A Thanksgiving Scripture reading: A selection of Old and New Testament readings dealing with thankfulness appropriate for church, family and personal readings. (pdf) (Suitable for printing out and copying.)
A Suggestion for a Family Tradition from our long-time friend Bob Southard: After the turkey, the cranberries, the pie, we all get out our Bibles to read our favorite thanksgiving verse. From the youngest to the oldest we share God’s Word and tell why it is so special to us!
Yesterday
we shared some photos from a visit to the Star Barn
for a meeting on Tuesday. Our friend, Nelson
Longenecker, attended a meeting recently at the barn
and shared this photo taken at the event. Nelson, who
is several years younger than us, shared with me how
he lived near the original Star Barn location growing
up. He shares, "When I showed these pictures and
others to my mom, she told me that she used to take us
there in our strollers. No wonder it feels that I go
way back with the Star Barn!"
(Click to enlarge)
(Click to enlarge)
"A
Thanks That Magnifies"
(Thanksgiving
Day Message)
Message
summary: The Westminster
Catechism declares, "the chief end of
man is to glorify God and enjoy Him
forever." The daily Scripture verse
declares we can glorify God today and
every day with thanksgiving. That is
what we will do!
Listen
to our message
on your audio player.
"I will praise the name of God with song and magnify Him with thanksgiving" (Psalm 69:30).
Yesterday I overheard an expression of thanks that was heartening when an employee said to the company owner, "Thanks for the job!" What if our lives were filled every day with thanks to God and others?
My mom, who made her departure 13 years ago this month, was very persistent in teaching her children basic manners. Even as she aged she continued to reinforce what she had taught her four children many years earlier to her grandchildren. She used a short poem, "Hearts, like doors, swing wide with ease to very, very tiny keys, and don't forget, that two of these are 'Thank you, Sir' and 'If you please'".
Today, here in the USA we celebrate Thanksgiving; a wonderful holiday reminding us to be faithful in giving thanks to God for our blessings. We will be attending a Thanksgiving service this morning and then of course probably have something to eat!
Many years ago our pastor (Jim Gambini at the time) asked, "What do they call Thanksgiving Day in the rest of the world?" I suppose we were wondering what term was used to describe the holiday elsewhere and we were stumped.
Then he answered: "Thursday!" Only the US and Canada have a national day specifically set aside for Thanksgiving. (International readers, by all means correct us we are mistaken on this point.) For many reading our messages in other countries this is just another week and Thursday will simply be another day with no special emphasis on thankfulness.
Yet even as so many have denigrated the true meaning of Christmas, it seems the same is being done to Thanksgiving. It began by changing the object of our thanksgiving toward God to others (such as the Pilgrims simply being thankful to the Indians). Many also just express a generic thankfulness without a focus on God but rather in the sense of having good fortune.
And then there are those who greet others with "Happy Turkey Day" (since we customarily have turkey), though you won't hear Brooksyne or me wishing people Happy Turkey Day, not when we have opportunity to honor the true meaning of this holiday by blessing others with a reminder, "Happy Thanksgiving Day!" which is what we did as we greeted many people yesterday in our chaplain visits and even in our Costco visit.
Whether or not we have a special day set aside for giving thanks we have so much to be thankful for don't we? (I can still hear Menno Brubaker, who lived past 100, saying that when we first moved to Lancaster County). We are blessed in regard to many things. The size of our homes and the amount of our accumulations may vary. Some have a loving and supportive family, while others have not enjoyed this blessing. Some have had far more heartache in life than others.
But above all the variances of our haves and have nots, we urge you to focus on this great truth – all we who have trusted in Christ equally share in the greatest blessing, specifically our great salvation through Christ! Hallelujah, What A Savior!
In the daily Scripture portion the Psalmist makes a strong declaration, "I will praise the name of God with song and magnify Him with thanksgiving." The Hebrew word for "magnify" is translated throughout the Old Testament with words like advance, lift up, promote, increase, and boast.
We like the word "magnify" and here we are told to "magnify Him with thanksgiving". Let us indeed magnify the Lord by our thankfulness each day and in all circumstances.
The Westminster Catechism declares, "the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever." The daily Scripture verse declares we can glorify God today and every day with thanksgiving. That is what we will do!
Be encouraged today,
Stephen & Brooksyne Weber
"I will praise the name of God with song and magnify Him with thanksgiving" (Psalm 69:30).
Yesterday I overheard an expression of thanks that was heartening when an employee said to the company owner, "Thanks for the job!" What if our lives were filled every day with thanks to God and others?
My mom, who made her departure 13 years ago this month, was very persistent in teaching her children basic manners. Even as she aged she continued to reinforce what she had taught her four children many years earlier to her grandchildren. She used a short poem, "Hearts, like doors, swing wide with ease to very, very tiny keys, and don't forget, that two of these are 'Thank you, Sir' and 'If you please'".
Today, here in the USA we celebrate Thanksgiving; a wonderful holiday reminding us to be faithful in giving thanks to God for our blessings. We will be attending a Thanksgiving service this morning and then of course probably have something to eat!
Many years ago our pastor (Jim Gambini at the time) asked, "What do they call Thanksgiving Day in the rest of the world?" I suppose we were wondering what term was used to describe the holiday elsewhere and we were stumped.
Then he answered: "Thursday!" Only the US and Canada have a national day specifically set aside for Thanksgiving. (International readers, by all means correct us we are mistaken on this point.) For many reading our messages in other countries this is just another week and Thursday will simply be another day with no special emphasis on thankfulness.
Yet even as so many have denigrated the true meaning of Christmas, it seems the same is being done to Thanksgiving. It began by changing the object of our thanksgiving toward God to others (such as the Pilgrims simply being thankful to the Indians). Many also just express a generic thankfulness without a focus on God but rather in the sense of having good fortune.
And then there are those who greet others with "Happy Turkey Day" (since we customarily have turkey), though you won't hear Brooksyne or me wishing people Happy Turkey Day, not when we have opportunity to honor the true meaning of this holiday by blessing others with a reminder, "Happy Thanksgiving Day!" which is what we did as we greeted many people yesterday in our chaplain visits and even in our Costco visit.
Whether or not we have a special day set aside for giving thanks we have so much to be thankful for don't we? (I can still hear Menno Brubaker, who lived past 100, saying that when we first moved to Lancaster County). We are blessed in regard to many things. The size of our homes and the amount of our accumulations may vary. Some have a loving and supportive family, while others have not enjoyed this blessing. Some have had far more heartache in life than others.
But above all the variances of our haves and have nots, we urge you to focus on this great truth – all we who have trusted in Christ equally share in the greatest blessing, specifically our great salvation through Christ! Hallelujah, What A Savior!
In the daily Scripture portion the Psalmist makes a strong declaration, "I will praise the name of God with song and magnify Him with thanksgiving." The Hebrew word for "magnify" is translated throughout the Old Testament with words like advance, lift up, promote, increase, and boast.
We like the word "magnify" and here we are told to "magnify Him with thanksgiving". Let us indeed magnify the Lord by our thankfulness each day and in all circumstances.
The Westminster Catechism declares, "the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever." The daily Scripture verse declares we can glorify God today and every day with thanksgiving. That is what we will do!
Be encouraged today,
Stephen & Brooksyne Weber
Daily
prayer:
Father, we praise You in song; we
testify of You in our words and deeds,
and we magnify You when we express words
of thanksgiving and live in a way that
honors and exalts Your name. All we have
needed Your hand has provided. So we
join with Jeremiah in Lamentations 3:22
who declared, right in the midst of a
very difficult time of famine and
desperation, "The steadfast love of
the Lord never ceases. His mercies
never come to an end. They are new
every morning; great is Your
faithfulness, Lord, unto me!"
Thank You for Your faithfulness in every
season of our life. Amen.
Another
tool collection from the Star Barn,
antique axes and hatchets. Could an
astute Bible student suggest a good
verse that might go with this
collection?
(Click to enlarge)
Nelson
Longenecker shared this photo of the
lower level of the Star Barn.
(Click to enlarge)
Another
view of the room where the bride and her
attendants prepare and dress which used
to be the milkhouse. I photographed
Brooksyne as she was photographing the
very fancy bathroom.
(Click to enlarge)
Yesterday, following
some chaplain visits, we stopped
by our local Lancaster Costco
which was very, very busy. Some
folks are pretty revealing about
their purchases on the buggy
truck bed that is also
supporting a new table (likely
for the grandchildren) at the
big Thanksgiving meal. Looks
like they could use a ratchet
strap tie down or at least a
bungee cord to secure the table
up high!
(Click to
enlarge)
Special
Thanksgiving Resources
We offer these resources to families and church leaders to enrich the spiritual impact of the Thanksgiving holiday. We will post these resources through Thanksgiving Day here in the US (November 22).
"Thankful
For The Thorns": A
family reading and exercise that
is a wonderful way to give a
thoughtful focus around your
Thanksgiving Table. (Note: You
will need a good reader who
should be given the story ahead
of time to review so that it's
read with expression and
clarity.) For many of us the
Thanksgiving celebration
typically includes family coming
together for a huge meal and
hopefully a heartfelt prayer of
thankfulness. However it can
often be difficult to have a
spiritually oriented
conversation. Why not add some
stimulating discussion about the
ways God has worked in your life
over the past year! Here's an
idea for sharing together around
the table the theme of "Thankful
for the Thorns" (printable
webpage)."A Thanksgiving family exercise" (pdf) We have used this questionnaire as a stimulus for discussion among family members in the past in our home. We encourage you to share results around the table at Thanksgiving before or after the meal.
A Thanksgiving prayer: Written by Joe Sherer, a pastor friend of ours and shared as the benediction at our community Thanksgiving Eve service many years ago. (blog post) For those who enjoy written prayers this would be a beautiful prayer to read together at the Thanksgiving table.
A Thanksgiving Scripture reading: A selection of Old and New Testament readings dealing with thankfulness appropriate for church, family and personal readings. (pdf) (Suitable for printing out and copying.)
A Suggestion for a Family Tradition from our long-time friend Bob Southard: After the turkey, the cranberries, the pie, we all get out our Bibles to read our favorite thanksgiving verse. From the youngest to the oldest we share God’s Word and tell why it is so special to us!
We appreciate
listening to and singing the
Thanksgiving hymns and songs.
"In
Everything Give Thanks"
Video
Charlotte Ritchie, Jeff
& Sheri Easter This
song will bring joy to your
heart!
"Now Thank We All Our God" Video Best Loved Hymns
"Come Ye Thankful People Come" Video Traditional version
Contemporary version but thankfully maintaining same tune and lyrics Video
"Thanksgiving Medley" (We Gather Together, For The Beauty Of The Earth, Come Ye Thankful People Come) Video Studio Musicians
"Give Thanks" Video Don Moen
"Thank You Lord" Video Community Choir at a Lancaster Day of Prayer event in 2008.
"Thanks" Video Marshall Hall and the Homecoming Singers
"I Want To Thank You" Video Karen Peck and New River This is a song expressing thankfulness to the many people who impact our lives in big and small ways. It also reminds us of the blessing of seemingly insignificant expressions of faith. From the Gaither Homecoming series.
"Thank You Lord For Your Blessings On Me" Video Gordon Mote & Jason Crabb
"I'm Forever Grateful" Video Willow Creek
"Worthy Is The Lamb, Crown Him, Crown Him With Many Crowns" Video Travis Cottrell
"Thank You, Lord" Video Dennis Jernigan
"10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord)" Video Matt Redman
"Now Thank We All Our God" Video Best Loved Hymns
"Come Ye Thankful People Come" Video Traditional version
Contemporary version but thankfully maintaining same tune and lyrics Video
"Thanksgiving Medley" (We Gather Together, For The Beauty Of The Earth, Come Ye Thankful People Come) Video Studio Musicians
"Give Thanks" Video Don Moen
"Thank You Lord" Video Community Choir at a Lancaster Day of Prayer event in 2008.
"Thanks" Video Marshall Hall and the Homecoming Singers
"I Want To Thank You" Video Karen Peck and New River This is a song expressing thankfulness to the many people who impact our lives in big and small ways. It also reminds us of the blessing of seemingly insignificant expressions of faith. From the Gaither Homecoming series.
"Thank You Lord For Your Blessings On Me" Video Gordon Mote & Jason Crabb
"I'm Forever Grateful" Video Willow Creek
"Worthy Is The Lamb, Crown Him, Crown Him With Many Crowns" Video Travis Cottrell
"Thank You, Lord" Video Dennis Jernigan
"10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord)" Video Matt Redman
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Scripture references are from The Holy Bible: New International Version. © 1984 by International Bible Society; NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, New King James Version (NKJV) Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. and the King James Version.
Personal Mission Statement: "I am created by God to bring Him glory. Through God's Son Jesus Christ I have been redeemed and make it my life's goal to please the Lord. My mission in life is to honor God through my faith and obedience and prepare myself and all whom I may influence for eternity."
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