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<P><FONT size=4><FONT face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT
size=4>Sermons for Thanksgiving</FONT>:</SPAN> </FONT></FONT></P>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><FONT size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> </SPAN></FONT><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT
size=4>Ephesians 5:20 - </FONT><B><FONT size=4>In All Things Be
</FONT><FONT size=4>Thankful</FONT></B></SPAN></FONT></DIV>
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style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><B><FONT size=4><FONT
face="Times New Roman"></FONT></B></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT size=4 face="Times New Roman"> John 6:25-35 -
<B>Counting Our Spiritual Blessings</B> </FONT></SPAN></DIV>
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face="Times New Roman"></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT size=4
face="Times New Roman"></FONT></SPAN></DIV><FONT size=4><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><B><SPAN style="COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT
size=4>Ephesians 5:</FONT></SPAN></B><SPAN
style="COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT size=4> Back during the dark days of
1929, a group of ministers in the Northeast, all graduates of the Boston School
of Theology, gathered to discuss how they should conduct their Thanksgiving
Sunday services. Things were about as bad as they could get, with no sign of
relief. The bread lines were depressingly long, the stock market had plummeted,
and the term Great Depression seemed an apt description for the mood of the
country. The ministers thought they should only lightly touch upon the subject
Thanksgiving in deference to the human misery all about them. After all, there
was to be thankful for. But it was Dr. William L. Stiger, pastor of a large
congregation in the city that rallied the group. This was not the time, he
suggested, to give mere passing mention to Thanksgiving, just the opposite. This
was the time for the nation to get matters in perspective and thank God for
blessings always present, but perhaps suppressed due to intense
hardship</FONT>.</SPAN></FONT></FONT></DIV>
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face="Times New Roman"></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT size=4 face="Times New Roman">I
suggest to you the ministers struck upon something. The most intense moments of
thankfulness are not found in times of plenty, but when difficulties abound.
Think of the Pilgrims that first Thanksgiving. Half their number dead, men
without a country, but still there was thanksgiving to God. Their gratitude was
not for something but in something. It was that same sense of gratitude that
lead Abraham Lincoln to formally establish the first Thanksgiving Day in the
midst of national civil war, when the butcher’s list of casualties seemed to
have no end and the very nation struggled for survival.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
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face="Times New Roman"></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT size=4
face="Times New Roman">Perhaps in your own life, right now, intense hardship.
You are experiencing your own personal Great Depression. Why should you be
thankful this day? May I suggest three things?</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
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face="Times New Roman"></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT size=4 face="Times New Roman">1. We
must learn to be thankful or we become bitter.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT size=4 face="Times New Roman">2. We
must learn to be thankful or we will become discouraged.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT size=4 face="Times New Roman">3. We
must learn to be thankful or we will grow arrogant and
self-satisfied.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
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face="Times New Roman"></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT size=4 face="Times New Roman">The rest of this
sermon following the outline above can be obtained by joining </FONT><A
href="http://www.eSermons.com"><FONT size=4
face="Times New Roman">www.eSermons.com</FONT></A><FONT size=4
face="Times New Roman">.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
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face="Times New Roman"></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT size=4
face="Times New Roman">____________________________________</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT size=4
face="Times New Roman"></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT size=4><FONT face="Times New Roman"><STRONG>John
6:25-35</STRONG>, the sermon titled “Counting our Spiritual Blessings” by King
Duncan </FONT></FONT></SPAN></DIV>
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face="Times New Roman"></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT size=4 face="Times New Roman">One of my favorite
Peanuts comic strips is the one that came out some years ago just a few days
before Thanksgiving. Lucy’s feeling sorry for herself and she laments, “My life
is a drag. I’m completely fed up. I’ve never felt so low in my life.”
</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=4
face="Times New Roman"></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT size=4 face="Times New Roman">Her little brother
Linus tries to console her and he says, “Lucy, when you’re in a mood like this,
you should try to think of things you have to be thankful for; in other words,
count your blessings.” </FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=4
face="Times New Roman"></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT size=4 face="Times New Roman">To that, Lucy says,
“Ha! That’s a good one! I could count my blessings on one finger! I’ve never had
anything and I never will have anything. I don’t get half the breaks that other
people do. Nothing ever goes right for me! And you talk about counting
blessings! You talk about being thankful! What do I have to be thankful for?”
</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT size=4 face="Times New Roman">Linus says, “Well,
for one thing, you have a little brother who loves you.” </FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=4
face="Times New Roman"></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT size=4 face="Times New Roman">With that, Lucy runs
and hugs her little brother Linus as she cries tears of joy. And while
she’s hugging him tightly, Linus says, “Every now and then, I say the right
thing.” </FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=4
face="Times New Roman"></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT size=4 face="Times New Roman">Welcome to this
celebration of Thanksgiving. This is a day we count our blessings. For many
of us, our focus will be on our material blessings. Our warm house. The
comfortable car. The stylish clothes. A table bountifully spread. And yet, in
the long run of things, these are the least important of all our blessings.
</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=4
face="Times New Roman"></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT size=4 face="Times New Roman">Our lesson for the
day from John’s Gospel takes place just after Jesus has taken five small barley
loaves and two small fish and had fed about five thousand men and an unknown
number of women and children. Amazing is too small an adjective for such an
extraordinary feat. Now the crowd is seeking him out in earnest.
</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=4
face="Times New Roman"></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT size=4 face="Times New Roman">Jesus isn’t
impressed with their sudden interest. “I tell you the truth,” he says, you
are looking for me . . . because you ate the loaves and had your fill.” Then he
gives a word of warning, “Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that
endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On him God the
Father has placed his seal of approval.” </FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT size=4 face="Times New Roman">What Jesus is saying
is beware of focusing on the physical, the material blessings in your life.
These blessings are generally trivial and transitory. It is a cliché, of course,
to say that money can’t buy happiness. But the proof is bountiful. There are
many, many people who are blessed materially who are
miserable.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT size=4 face="Times New Roman">The rest of Leonard
Sweet's sermon can be obtained by joining www.Sermons.com </FONT></SPAN></DIV>
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face="Times New Roman"></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT size=4
face="Times New Roman">________________________</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=4
face="Times New Roman"></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT size=4 face="Times New Roman">With Heart and Hand
and Voices</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=4
face="Times New Roman"></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT size=4 face="Times New Roman">Martin Rinkert was a
minister in the little town of Eilenburg in Germany some 350 years ago. He was
the son of a poor coppersmith, but somehow, he managed to work his way through
an education. Finally, in the year 1617, he was offered the post of Archdeacon
in his hometown parish. A year later, what has come to be known as the
Thirty-Years-War broke out. His town was caught right in the middle. In 1637,
the massive plague that swept across the continent hit Eilenburg... people died
at the rate of fifty a day and the man called upon to bury most of them was
Martin Rinkert. In all, over 8,000 people died, including Martin's own wife. His
labors finally came to an end about 11 years later, just one year after the
conclusion of the war. His ministry spanned 32 years, all but the first and the
last overwhelmed by the great conflict that engulfed his town. Tough
circumstances in which to be thankful . But he managed. And he wrote these
words:</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=4
face="Times New Roman"></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT size=4 face="Times New Roman">Now thank we all our
God</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT size=4 face="Times New Roman">With heart and hands
and voices;</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT size=4 face="Times New Roman">Who wondrous things
hath done,</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT size=4 face="Times New Roman">In whom his world
rejoices.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=4
face="Times New Roman"></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT size=4 face="Times New Roman">It takes a
magnificent spirit to come through such hardship and express gratitude. Here is
a great lesson. Surrounded by tremendous adversity, thanksgiving will deliver
you...with heart and hand and voices.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=4
face="Times New Roman"></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT size=4 face="Times New Roman">Brett Blair,
www.eSermons.com</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=4
face="Times New Roman"></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT size=4
face="Times New Roman">___________________</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
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style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT size=4
face="Times New Roman"></FONT></SPAN> </DIV></BODY></HTML>