Regional Thanksgiving 2025

Time and time again, His Word returns complete. To His truth I cling, when the night is deep. Faithful He has been, faithful He will be. Faithful He has been, faithful He has been, faithful He has been, faithful He has been, faithful He has been. Through the wilderness, He goes with me and gives me peace.

Gracious He has been, gracious He will be. What I don't deserve, the Father gives to me. Where He leads my feet, I shall not want only. Gracious He has been, gracious He will be. Oh, gracious. God is worthy of my Son. Countless are His awesome deeds. His mighty hand has parted raging seas.

For those He loves, He has redeemed. Worthy He has been, worthy He will be. crowned in endless praise, all earth and heaven sing. Holy is the Lord, who reigns in majesty. Worthy He has been, oh, worthy He will be. Lord, who reigns in majesty. Lord, who reigns in majesty.

Lord, who reigns in majesty. Lord, who reigns in majesty. Lord, who reigns in majesty. Lord, who reigns in majesty. Lord, who reigns in majesty. Lord, who reigns in majesty. Lord, who reigns in majesty. Lord, who reigns in majesty. Lord, who reigns in majesty. Lord, who reigns in majesty. Lord, who reigns in majesty.

Lord, who reigns in majesty. Lord, who reigns in majesty. Lord, who reigns in majesty. Lord, who reigns in majesty. Lord, who reigns in majesty. Lord, who reigns in majesty. Lord, who reigns in majesty. Lord, who reigns in majesty. Lord, who reigns in majesty. And David said, "Blessed are you, O Lord, God of Israel, our Father, forever and ever.

Yours, O Lord, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty. Indeed, everything that is in the heavens and the earth, yours is the dominion, O Lord. And you exalt yourself as head over all. Both riches and honor come from you. You rule over all.

And in your hand is power and might. And it lies in your hand to make great and to strengthen everyone. Now, therefore, our God, we thank you and praise your glorious name." So let's just make that our prayer as we go into our time of praise. Say holy, holy.

Holy, holy is the Son of God. None can stand before His majesty. Beautiful beyond our highest love. Worthy, He is worthy. All glory and honor, all glory and honor, all glory and honor, all glory and honor, all glory and honor. all glory and honor, all glory and honor, all glory and honor, all glory and honor, all power and praise.

be to your name, be to your name, be to your name. be to your name, be to your name, for no one could rival your glory and fame. glory and honor, all glory and honor, all glory and honor, all glory and honor, all glory and praise. be to your name, be to your name, for no one could rival your glory and fame.

be to your name, be to your name, for no one could rival your glory and fame. be to your name, be to your name, for no one could rival your glory and fame. be to your name, be to your name, for no one could rival your glory and fame.

be to your name, be to your name, for no one could rival your glory and fame. be to your name, for no one could rival your glory and fame. be to your name, for no one could rival your glory and fame. be to your name, for no one could rival your glory and fame.

be to your name, for no one could rival your glory and fame. be to your name, for no one could rival your glory and fame. be to your name, for no one could rival your glory and fame. be to your name, for no one could rival your glory and fame.

be to your name, for no one could rival your glory and fame. be to your name, for no one could rival your glory and fame. Amen. Well, I'd like to share some reflections and encouragements for this evening. And as I thought about the topic of Thanksgiving, my heart was already filled because of the Bible study we did in Genesis.

As a matter of fact, as we're going through such huge chunks of time in history, such massive works of God in creation, in his faithfulness to the early generations, a lot of the application at the end of the study is actually, I just need to worship God. Like, I want to be so thankful to my God who has been so powerful, so faithful through all the generations.

And for example, I found myself more, just almost thankful than ever, thinking about how God perseveres with man. So what I'm talking about is, first, as one example, God created us with like an embedded image of the Lord. And that alone is to be something that a reason why we praise God.

But when we think about that, with the fall, with the perversion, and the kind of repeat theme of anything good that God has given, sinful man, corrupted man, tends to pervert and twist. We saw that so many times. But then to think that after God had seen a generation chock full of people where the only thing in their heart, the scripture said that every intent of their heart was evil continually.

He saw that, judged them. And then upon Noah and eight individuals coming out of the ark, he said, "Be fruitful and multiply." Now, I took a moment to just stop and meditate on that. I meditated on it myself. Then I shared it with our youth group. And I was just thinking, think how actually crazy that is.

Where God knows not just one week out, one month out. God knows the future. God knows the way of man. So then for him to continue to execute his plan, beside the fact that we have such a propensity, beside the fact that it's not just, hey, this is risky.

If you give these people numbers, if you allow these people to spread, it's not like that's surprising to God. But his design was already that he desired for mankind to be fruitful, to multiply and spread and fill the earth. So he gave them that commandment, and there was a part of me that was like, of course, if you're going to kill all the wicked ones, and then you start over, in a sense, or you have a new, new generation of individuals, of course you give that command.

But actually, take a moment to pause and think, God could have said something else. He could have said, "I spared you. Please don't multiply." If you think about it, it's kind of funny, right? And as a matter of fact, if there was somebody you knew, where you knew that they were out for you, they were rebellious, they were malicious, and the intent of their heart was wicked, I don't think you would say, "Please, please, I hope you're really fruitful." You'd probably say, "Dude, please don't have any children." Because why would you want that thing, want that group to continue to proceed into the generations?

And so I think about that, and I think, "The purposes of God will not be thwarted by the sins of man." And when I think about that, what's the application? The application is, "God, we praise you." Besides the fact that so many times and so many seasons, we have not obeyed, we have gone wayward as a whole of a people, you still accomplish your plan, and there's nothing to thwart that.

Even if every intent of man was so different, but God, your plan is good. And so for that, we just have to thank the Lord. God is so grand in His power, His control, and then His absolute execution of whatever He deems to be good. And in some sense, I always wondered, Scripture actually says, like, "Who are you to be God's counselor?" And there were a lot of times where even the people of God was like, "Hey, hey, don't!

Don't bless these people!" You guys remember Jonah who was like, "I knew it! If you preach the gospel to these people, you're going to give them mercy, they're going to repent, and then you're going to spare them!" And then God says, "I didn't ask you to be my counselor." He has a mercy that He desires to give, and He will execute that plan.

And so for that, we couldn't do another but to thank Him. A second example of going through the Bible study, and I'm just really sharing my own personal reflection and my own thoughts of this is, I just started to imagine being one of the eight individuals that walked off the boat, waiting 40 days of just pure rain, springs, and gusts of water coming from every which direction, destroying everything, 150 days of waiting for the water to subside, not knowing when it's going to really happen, and then it comes to rest, and then you being one of the first people to walk out.

That's a crazy scene. Like I don't know what I would do. If you would do the dance, you know, like start twirling around like in the dramas, or you do the crazy thing and start kissing the sand. I don't know. I don't know what you'd do. But Pastor Peter, there was a moment I just distinctly remember he asked a funny question, which was, if you were one of the very first people, and then you started thinking about how to rebuild, how to live, where are we going to build our house, where do we get all this stuff, but then the first rain came.

How would you feel? I don't know why, but that question made me laugh so hard inside. I was actually in the side room by myself, and I was just giggling to myself because I just, you know, it's kind of comedic. Like you think about it, and you think half of you would just be like, no.

The other half would be like, who did it? Which one of you guys messed up? Maybe part of you would just tell everybody, get back in the boat right now. And somebody may be like, oh, I don't know. Let's wait this out. And you're just like, no, get back in there.

You would just panic. And then it just hit me that God's promise of a visible sign, God's desire to reassure the heart of man, that's just 100% grace. That's 100% mercy. And then I keep thinking, what's the application to that? I don't know. When God is trying to reassure your heart, what's the application?

You just thank him and receive. To reassure your heart, thank you, God, that when you spare me, I don't have to be in fear. What if you take this back? What if the hand of mercy you extended to me, you say, nah, on second thought, never mind. And then I remember that actually scripture says in Romans chapter 10, I extend my hand all day long to an obstinate people.

God's extended mercy comes by way of reassuring us. Sometimes I wonder, why does God have to repeat a lot of the things? It's because we're hard of learning. But our God is a God who is willing to repeat the same lesson over and over again. That's just 100% mercy.

Our God is such a good father that he tends to our fear. Our God is such a good God that he is not aloof when we're wrought with anxiety. He's not so far that he doesn't see our worries. That's just pure mercy and grace. And so I had such an emotional moment sitting in the room, first laughing, then wanting to cry, then realizing my application is I want to thank my God.

He is a merciful God that he is the one who tells us when you are afraid, trust me. And I remember Pastor Peter going through that lesson saying, when you see this, this is a time to trust God. When you see his promises, the part of the Noahic covenant and what we just read is an anchor and another staple point of God being so faithful.

He is worthy of 100% of our trust. And that's just so amazing. So then I kind of think like, we should be so thankful. And then I start to imagine a little bit more. And then obviously the conviction of, oh my gosh, if I actually was one of the eight people who came out, and I experienced this near death moment, then of course I would be just so elated I'd probably be on my knees.

And came to the conviction it's unfortunate that sometimes like, near death experiences, it's what causes us to be so moved to gratitude. But we who have the name of Christ, we who have salvation, we who have the greatest deliverance of all. In a sense, such a great deliverance, such a grand deliverance that deliverance from the flood pales in comparison to the deliverance we have from the wrath of God.

The full wrath of God. The full wrath of God. Why do we need near death experiences to be so thankful? That's what I started to ask myself. But what's more, as I think about this then, it's just all the scriptures that admonish us. The first Thessalonians five that says rejoice.

The reason why the scriptures can command us is because of this. We are delivered people. We are people who have had near death experiences. It's just that maybe we don't see it with our eyes, but the fact of the matter is there is a near death waiting wrath for every person who doesn't have Christ.

And so we who gather, we're like survivors, you know? Not because we made shelter and we made all this stuff on the island, but because we've been spared. And then so I started thinking like, wow. So that's, that's the reason why it just makes sense that we have to be thankful for everything.

Every single thing. You know, have you met those individuals who maybe are a little bit more on the, I don't know what the word is, but the best way I can describe it is like a hippie. You know, they're like, wow, look at this clouds. They look at the sun and they're like, look at that sunset.

It's amazing. And they start welling up because so beautiful. And then there are people who just appreciate everything. And then you're almost like, eh, don't overdo it. You know, like all the butterflies, so beautiful. And then they see children are, you know, everything's so beautiful. And then you're just like, ah, it's just awkward, you know?

And half of you wants to say, wow, you just shouldn't be so thankful over the small things because we're thankful over the big things. But again, if you think about somebody who's been spared from not just near death experience, but the greatest judgment ever. Then it only makes sense that everything and anything you're thankful for.

It doesn't make sense for a Christian to be like, I'm so grateful for the grandeur of salvation. And then they're just not thankful for where they live, the car they drive, the people they hang out with, the church that they go to. Like that just is a complete disconnect, right?

Complete disconnect. And on the flip side, obviously, it's a disconnect. If you're so thankful for all the little things on earth, but you never look up to see the grandeur of the spiritual reality. For us, it only makes sense to be thankful for every single thing. And then, so that leads me to the final thought is, man, here at church, it's, I think about what I'm thankful for in this season.

I think about what my life consists of. And I have so many blessings here at church. I am surrounded by fellow survivors. I'm surrounded by people I can rejoice with. And then these moments that I have where I get all emotional and I reflect on God, I get to turn around and say, isn't that amazing?

And then we just rejoice together. That's a huge privilege, you know? That's a huge privilege. And then I realized this is, this was God's plan. All along, that his wisdom will be played out in the church. And all of us, spared, lavished, loved by God, will come together, unite our voices, and just thank God.

This was it. What's happening right now in all the regional homes. What's happening right now in the church right now. What's happening right now. This is what's his design. And he deserves all of it. Amen. I think about Genesis and I just realized God deserves every ounce of gratitude we have.

Because everything we have, we have from the hand of God. There is not a single thing, not a single moment in which we have created for ourselves. But everything has been mercifully given to us. And we're so grateful. And I pray that as that is the case, we would do exactly what Noah did.

Not what I would do. But what Noah did. Worship first. I kind of thought about that because recently I just moved. And I got to be honest with you. Sometimes I just so tunnel vision. If you move, then you got to clean. And oh my gosh, we got to clean.

Because if you don't clean before the stuff furniture is put in, then you got to remove it again. And then clean it. And everything has a sequence. And in survival, it's like that too. You think, oh my gosh, you know what comes first is shelter. Then the next thing is water.

It's not actually food. It's water. Because you can go a little bit without food. And then you got food. And then so I would say, you know, the ladies, you go pick up whatever is dead on the floor. And you could eat. And then go pick it up. And then the guys, you start building the shelter and dah, dah, dah, dah, dah, right?

But with the heart of gratitude, let's all remember, just like Pastor Peter said during our Sunday sermon, priority is worship first. And I'm so thankful for the study in Genesis. Because these pages just come alive with, let us all join our hearts, giving thanks to God. Amen. And I want to give you this encouragement and challenge.

If there is in any season, any particular milestone, any particular moment, a lot of you guys have either maybe sometimes moved from job to job. You actually move physically. You, you know, go into a new stage of life. You get married. Let's do worship and thanksgiving first. Because there's always a million things to do.

But God deserves every ounce of recognition. Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, we thank you and bless your name. You're worthy of it all. Thank you, God, that the security of our lives is not simply in how well we prepare. But what we need to prepare is our hearts for you.

And I pray, God, that you would minister to us in such a way where our spiritual eyes and our spiritual senses would be in tune and we would recognize you in our lives. Help us to see that in every moment you're the one sustaining, providing, leading, guiding, protecting, and loving us.

And I pray, Father God, that with our voices and our hearts gathered, we want to truly say thank you from our hearts. We bless you. It's in Christ's name we pray. Amen. Well, that concludes our time together for the teaching portion. But we encourage you guys to get into groups, have some discussion.

I'm going to give three suggested questions just related to when you are most aware. You know, when are you not just maybe a death-defying moment, but other moments when the scriptures hit you or someone came into your life. When you are super aware of God's grace and provision for you.

There's also a question on how prioritizing gratitude and worship can take effect in your life even now. And then finally, because the church is a place where we can actually express our gratitude the best amongst the life, through the life of the church and through our participation in it.

Just share, what kind of mercies of God did you experience? What kind of things can you do within the church to express your heart of gratitude to the Lord? All right. Blessings, everyone. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Regional Thanksgiving 2025

Transcript