THANKFUL FOR ALL THAT GOD HAS DELIVERED US FROM!

"The First Fruits" The Lord God said, " When you come into the land which the Lord your God gives you for an inheritance, and have taken possession of it, and live in it, you shall take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which you harvest from your land that the Lord your God gives you, and you shall put it in a basket, and you shall go to the place which the Lord your God will choose, to make his name dwell there."
As we gather this evening to celebrate the day of Thanksgiving which comes upon us tomorrow, our thoughts turn to the Pilgrims who came to America and celebrated what we have regarded as the first Thanksgiving. But as you heard the first lesson read this evening from Deuteronomy, the first Thanksgiving was really celebrated by the Israelities as they moved into the promised land. God told them as they came into this land flowing with milk and honey, they were to take the first fruits of the ground, place them in a basket and take it to the priest. There they were to relive through the words of that speech which begins, "A wandering Aramean was my father; and he went down into Egypt and sojourned there, few in number; and there he became a nation, great, mighty and populous," God's deliverance in their lives. Because God had delivered and blessed them, God asked them to return to Him the first fruits of the ground, to give thanksgiving to Him for this act of deliverance in their lives. For the Israelities, their thanksgiving was seen in the action of God as He delivered them from Egypt and brought them into this land flowing with milk and honey. The Pilgrims gave thanks for the deliverance which came to them during their first year on the North American shore. They were delivered from hunger by a good summer crop, they were delivered from war by peacefully living with the Indians, they were delivered from cold by building strong sturdy homes, we could go on and on. Deliverance brought thanksgiving into their hearts.
Can we think of Thanksgiving as deliverance for us?? Think about that for a moment?? Usually, when we think of this time of Thanksgiving, we list all those things we are thankful that we have or been blessed with. But what about being thankful for all those things we have been delivered from, that we don't have to experience ???

HOW TO KNOW GOD'S WILL IN YOUR LIFE

In 10 Steps

Psalms 32:8-9
God doesn't want to lead you with a bridle like a horse or a mule that has to be reigned in. He wants to lead you intelligently by the Holy Spirit according to the Word.
1. Be in harmony with God's Word and LawPsalms 40:81 I delight to do thy will, thy law is within my heart.Isaiah 8:20 Would God lead you into breaking His law? NoPsalm 119:105 His Word is to be a Lamp unto your feet and a light unto your path.

2. Be willing to do God's willJohn 6:38 Jesus is your example. He came to do His Father's will.John 7:17 If you are willing God will show you.James 4:13-15 You shouldn't be planning your own life. You should be trying to do God's will.Jeremiah 29:11 God's will is much more beneficial than your own.Proverbs 16:25 Your ways lead to sorrow, death, and destruction.

3. Fervent faithful prayer for guidanceJames 1:5-6 Ask in faith, nothing wavering.James 5:16 Effectual, fervent prayer of the righteous avails much.I John 5:14 You can have confidence that if you ask according to God's will,He will hear you.

4. Do what lies nearest you first!John 16:12 God has many things to tell us, but we can't bear them now. Do what you can do and what you know to be correct, right now.Then He will show you what to do next.Proverbs 3:6 In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your path.Luke 16:10 Be faithful in the least first and God will give you more.Jeremiah 12:5 If you don't obey God in the small things how will you obey during the big test?


5. Which option will bring the most Glory to God?I Corinthians 10:31-32 Do ALL to the glory of God! Give none offence to either Jew or Gentile or to the Church.I Peter 4:11 That God in ALL things might be glorified!Revelation 14:7 Part of the last warning messages to the world contain these instructions "give glory to Him". This indicates that most of the world will not be giving glory to God at the end of time.
The decisions you make in your daily life indicate whose side you are on.Romans 14:13 Don't cause anyone to stumble.Mark 9:42 Don't hurt ever, the least of God's children.

6. Seek Christian CounselBe careful who you counsel with. Paul wrote at the end of time there would be many who had a Form of Godliness (2Timothy 3:5,7,8) and many false teachers. A good Christian counselor should point you to a "Thus saith the Lord".Proverbs 11:14 There is safety in a multitude of counselors.Psalms 1: 1-2 Don't follow the counsel of the ungodly.Jeremiah 17:5-10 Cursed is the man that puts his trust in man.

7. Listen to the voice of the Holy SpiritIsaiah 30:20-21 Though you go through adversity and affliction, God will talk to you. You will hear a voice behind you as you turn to the right or left. God will show you, "This is the way, walk ye in it."
That still small voice that makes you feel so uncomfortable is the Holy Spirit speaking to you.I Kings 19:11-12 God doesn't speak to you in a earthquake or fire, but in a still small voice.

8. Humbly wait on the LordRevelation 14:12 Those that overcome the beast and his mark have an identifying characteristic of patience. They keep God's commandments (not man's) and they humbly wait for Jesus.Psalms 37:4-7 Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him.Isaiah 49:15-16 He cannot forget you, your problems, or struggles! Trust Him! He thinks about you constantly!!!Psalms 25:9 He guides the meek.

9. Make and implement a decisionJoshua 1:5-6 After you have gone though all these steps move forward in the Lord. Have courage the Lord is with you!Joshua 14:9-12 You have wholly followed the Lord. He has kept you alive to do His will. Now go after it! Be like Joshua and say "Give me this mountain!"

10. God's Providence!2 Corinthians 2:12 Watch for the opened or closed doors.Don't worry about what is on the other side of the door. Move forward with your eyes on Jesus.Watching for His leading. Make sure that you are not violating His Word as you move forward.Isaiah 45:1-3 God will open doors and break in pieces the gates to accomplish His will for your life. You can count on it!Even the mighty city and nation of Babylon was no match for our Lord. All throughout the Bible you can see incident after incident of God's will being accomplished.
As you move forward watch Him remove the obstacles and remember that He often requires you to move first. Why?This tests and shows you the state of your Faith.It causes you to exercise your faith. Is it important to have little tests now prior to the big crisis? ABSOLUTELY!!!Revelation 14:12 The people at the end of time who overcome the beast are described as having the faith of Jesus. What kind of faith did Jesus have in His heavenly father? The Greatest!Revelation 3:8 I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name.

God Guides You in Doing His Will*1
--Has not God said He would give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him? and is not this spirit a real, true actual guide?
Some men seem afraid to take God at His word as though it would be presumption in them. They pray for the Lord to teach us and yet are afraid to credit the pledged word of God and believe we have been taught of Him.
So long as we come to our heavenly Father humbly and with a spirit to be taught, willing and anxious to learn, why should we doubt God's fulfillment of His own promise? You must not for a moment doubt Him and dishonor Him thereby.
When you have sought to know His will, your part in the operation with God is to believe that you will be led and guided and blessed in the doing of His will.
We may mistrust ourselves lest we misinterpret His teachings, but make even this a subject of prayer, and trust Him, still trust Him to the uttermost, that His Holy Spirit will lead you to interpret aright His plans and the working of His providence.
God wants to fill you with peace.
"Seek ye first the kingdom of God,and His righteousness; and all thesethings shall be added unto you."Matthew 6.-33Is there a decision you need to make?
A decision you need to makeFor Jesus?
Make it just now.Please.Make it right now.
You will never be sorry you did

Yolanda Adams- Never give up (lyrics)

THE WORLD MAY HATE US BUT GOD LOVES US!

There are three things told us in Scripture concerning the nature of God. First, "God is spirit" (John 4:24). In the Greek there is no indefinite article, and to say "God is a spirit" is most objectionable, for it places Him in a class with others. God is "spirit" in the highest sense. Because He is "spirit" He is incorporeal, having no visible substance. Had God a tangible body, He would not be omnipresent, He would be limited to one place; because He is spirit He fills heaven and earth. Second, God is light (1 John 1:5), which is the opposite of "darkness." In Scripture "darkness" stands for sin, evil, death; and "light" for holiness, goodness, life. God is light, means that He is the sum of all excellency. Third, "God is love" (1 John 4:8). It is not simply that God "loves," but that He is Love itself. Love is not merely one of His attributes, but His very nature.
There are many today who talk about the love of God, who are total strangers to the God of love. The Divine love is commonly regarded as a species of amiable weakness, a sort of good-natured indulgence; it is reduced to a mere sickly sentiment, patterned after human emotion. Now the truth is that on this, as on everything else, our thoughts need to be formed and regulated by what is revealed thereon in Holy Scripture. That there is urgent need for this is apparent not only from the ignorance which so generally prevails, but also from the low state of spirituality which is now so sadly evident everywhere among professing Christians. How little real love there is for God. One chief reason for this is because our hearts are so little occupied with His wondrous love for His people. The better we are acquainted with His love—its character, fulness, blessedness—the more will our hearts be drawn out in love to Him.
1. The love of God is uninfluenced. By this we mean, there was nothing whatever in the objects of His love to call it into exercise, nothing in the creature to attract or prompt it. The love which one creature has for another is because of something in them; but the love of God is free, spontaneous, uncaused. The only reason why God loves any is found in His own sovereign will: "The Lord did not set His love upon you, nor choose you because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people: but because the Lord loved thee" (Deut. 7:7,8). God has loved His people from everlasting, and therefore nothing of the creature can be the cause of what is found in God from eternity. He loves from Himself: "according to His own purpose" (2 Tim. 1:9).
"We love Him, because He first loved us" (1 John 4:19). God did not love us because we loved Him, but He loved us before we had a particle of love for Him. Had God loved us in return for ours, then it would not be spontaneous on His part; but because He loved us when we were loveless, it is clear that His love was uninfluenced. It is highly important if God is to be honored and the heart of His child established, that we should be quite clear upon this precious truth. God’s love for me, and for each of "His own," was entirely unmoved by anything in them. What was there in me to attract the heart of God? Absolutely nothing. But, to the contrary, everything to repel Him, everything calculated to make Him loathe me—sinful, depraved, a mass of corruption, with "no good thing" in me.
"What was there in me that could merit esteem,Or give the Creator delight?‘Twas even so, Father, I ever must sing,Because it seemed good, in Thy sight."
2. It is eternal. This of necessity. God Himself is eternal, and God is love; therefore, as God Himself had no beginning, His love had none. Granted that such a concept far transcends the grasp of our feeble minds, nevertheless, where we cannot comprehend, we can bow in adoring worship. How clear is the testimony of Jeremiah 31:3, "I have loved thee with an everlasting love, therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn thee." How blessed to know that the great and holy God loved His people before heaven and earth were called into existence, that He had set His heart upon them from all eternity. Clear proof is this that His love is spontaneous, for He loved them endless ages before they had any being.
The same precious truth is set forth in Ephesians 1:4,5, "According as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him. In love having predestinated us." What praise should this evoke from each of His children! How tranquilizing for the heart: since God’s love toward me had no beginning, it can have no ending! Since it be true that "from everlasting to everlasting" He is God, and since God is "love," then it is equally true that "from everlasting to everlasting" He loves His people.
3. It is sovereign. This also is self-evident. God Himself is sovereign, under obligations to none, a law unto Himself, acting always according to His own imperial pleasure. Since God be sovereign, and since He be love, it necessarily follows that His love is sovereign. Because God is God, He does as He pleases; because God is love, He loves whom He pleases. Such is His own express affirmation: "Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated" (Rom. 9:19). There was no more reason in Jacob why he should be the object of Divine love, than there was in Esau. They both had the same parents, and were born at the same time, being twins; yet God loved the one and hated the other! Why? Because it pleased Him to do so.
The sovereignty of God’s love necessarily follows from the fact that it is uninfluenced by anything in the creature. Thus, to affirm that the cause of His love lies in God Himself, is only another way of saying, He loves whom He pleases. For a moment, assume the opposite. Suppose God’s love were regulated by anything else than His will, in such a case He would love by rule, and loving by rule He would be under a law of love, and then so far from being free, God would Himself be ruled by law. "In love having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to"—what? Some excellency which He foresaw in them? No; what then? "According to the good pleasure of His will" (Eph. 1:4,5).
4. It is infinite. Everything about God is infinite. His essence fills heaven and earth. His wisdom is illimitable, for He knows everything of the past, present and future. His power is unbounded, for there is nothing too hard for Him. So His love is without limit. There is a depth to it which none can fathom; there is a height to it which none can scale; there is a length and breadth to it which defies measurement, by any creature-standard. Beautifully is this intimated in Ephesians 2:4: But God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us: the word "great" there is parallel with the "God so loved" of John 3:16. It tells us that the love of God is so transcendent it cannot be estimated.
No tongue can fully express the infinitude of God’s love, or any mind comprehend it: it "passeth knowledge" Eph. 3:19). The most extensive ideas that a finite mind can frame about Divine love, are infinitely below its true nature. The heaven is not so far above the earth as the goodness of God is beyond the most raised conceptions which we are able to form of it. It is an ocean which swells higher than all the mountains of opposition in such as are the objects of it. It is a fountain from which flows all necessary good to all those who are interested in it (John Brine, 1743).
5. It is immutable. As with God Himself there is "no variableness, neither shadow of turning" (James 1:17), so His love knows neither change or diminution. The worm Jacob supplies a forceful example of this: "Jacob have I loved," declared Jehovah, and despite all his unbelief and waywardness, He never ceased to love him. John 13:1 furnishes another beautiful illustration. That very night one of the apostles would say, "Show us the Father"; another would deny Him with cursings; all of them would be scandalized by and forsake Him. Nevertheless "having loved His own which were in the world, He love them unto the end." The Divine love is subject to no vicissitudes. Divine love is "strong as death ... many waters cannot quench it" (Song of Sol. 8:6,7). Nothing can separate from it: Romans 8:35-39.
"His love no end nor measure knows,No change can turn its course,Eternally the same it flowsFrom one eternal source."
6. It is holy. God’s love is not regulated by caprice passion, or sentiment, but by principle. Just as His grace reigns not at the expense of it, but "through righteousness" (Rom. 5:21), so His love never conflicts with His holiness. "God is light" (1 John 1:5) is mentioned before "God is love" (1 John 4:8). God’s love is no mere amiable weakness, or effeminate softness. Scripture declares, "whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth" (Heb. 12:6). God will not wink at sin, even in His own people. His love is pure, unmixed with any maudlin sentimentality.
7. It is gracious. The love and favor of God are inseparable. This is clearly brought out in Romans 8:32-39. What that love is from which there can be no "separation," is easily perceived from the design and scope of the immediate context: it is that goodwill and grace of God which determined Him to give His Son for sinners. That love was the impulsive power of Christ’s incarnation: "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son" (John 3:16). Christ died not in order to make God love us, but because He did love His people, Calvary is the supreme demonstration of Divine love. Whenever you are tempted to doubt the love of God, Christian reader, go back to Calvary.
Here then is abundant cause for trust and patience under Divine affliction. Christ was beloved of the Father, yet He was not exempted from poverty, disgrace, and persecution. He hungered and thirsted. Thus, it was not incompatible with God’s love for Christ when He permitted men to spit upon and smite Him. Then let no Christian call into question God’s love when he is brought under painful afflictions and trials. God did not enrich Christ on earth with temporal prosperity, for "He had not where to lay His head." But He did give Him the Spirit "without measure" (John 3:34). Learn then that spiritual blessings are the principal gifts of Divine love. How blessed to know that when the world hates us ,God loves us!